Richards gets some answers.

Richard opened his cabin door to find two young ladies bickering with each other.

"What is it?" he answered rather gruffly. He's had a bad day and wanted them to know it.

Tiffany was short for words for once, so Lucia timidly responded, "We... we knew your wife... I mean, she's alive!" She was suddenly alarmed that she was giving the man the wrong impression. "Well alive last we saw..." The young woman suddenly caught herself turning the news sour again. "I mean, we hope she's still alive! They took her alive!"

"The pirates?!" Richard replied with urgency.

"Yeah, the pirates!" Tiffany said, jumping into the conversation. "Aria took on their captain! Almost had him too!" She then muttered, "I would have had my guy too, if it weren't for the boat rocking so much..."

Lucia looked away and rolled her eyes before refocusing the conversation. "We saw the pirate captain take her on their boat with him. They must be taking her hostage, so she must be alive!"

There was hope in her eyes and Richard didn't want to dash it away with his own pessimism over the situation. Besides, if there was hope, he had to think about giving Aria every chance possible to come out of things unscathed. "What is the crew doing about this?" he asked.

"They reported the incident to the coast guard and we are headed to the nearest port to assess damages," Tiffany said.

"They're not going after her?" Richard asked, a bitter rage boiling up inside him.

"They said it's too dangerous to try that, it's best to leave it to the professionals..." Lucia explained.

"Bunch of cowards if you ask me," Tiffany huffed. "I bet if you were awake, you would have went swimming after them, huh, Dick?"

There was a sting to Tiffany's words as Richard realized he had done nothing to help his wife. He may have even made things worse by calling out to her. He grimaced. Lucia elbowed her friend to bring the faux pas to her attention. Realizing what she said may have been taken badly, Tiffany apologized. "Oh. I'm sorry, that was rude of me. Here I am calling you by your name and we haven't even given ours... My name is Tiffany and this is Lucia, we met Aria by the pool earlier and took out out for drinks..."

Richard was only half listening. In his head, plans were churning. "Huh?" he said, looking to the girls again. "Ah, fine, look, I need to talk with someone, if you'll excuse me."

Richard sidled through the pair and headed for the bar. Tiffany and Lucia looked at each other. "So... do we follow him?" Lucia asked.

At the bar, Richard looked around. The place was empty. Everyone was holed up in their quarters, recovering from the shock of the robbery. Everyone, that is, except the old man he had spoken to before. He was cradling a shot of what appeared to be whiskey. Richard sat next to him, signaling the bartender to give him what the old man was having.

"Helluva day, huh?" the elder sighed after a long silence.

The bartender placed Richard's drink in front of him. Richard took a long swig and sighed, "Oh yeah..."

"I heard they took a prisoner," the old man remarked.

"That was my wife," Richard muttered.

The old man paused. He looked at Richard, then went back to staring blankly at the wall. After another pause, he stated plainly, "And you plan to do something about it..."

"I do."

"And I suppose you are here for my help."

"I am."

The old man chuckled, then sighed. "It's been decades since I've sailed these seas, junior. What makes you think an old captain like me will be of any use."

"I figure you know the spots a group of pirates might hide out around these parts. Maybe know a way to get in."

"And what makes you think I'd be inclined to help?"

"I've heard your story..."

The old captain stared into the bottom of his drink. His eyes misted up as he gave a long sigh. Then, as if swallowing up his pain, he emptied the glass and slammed it on the table. he turned to Richard and told him, "We're going to need a boat."