# **TRUE PIECE**
## **Chapter 3: LONG Goals**
Eullian Hound's first crew meeting began without a crew.
They also lacked a ship, money, food, a flag, a destination, and mutual agreement that a meeting was occurring.
Hijo Albino considered this a poor beginning.
They sat beneath a tree on the road between Marine Base Eighteen and Brinehook Harbor.
Smoke rose behind them.
Inside the base, the Marines who had rebelled against Acting Commander Sile Brask were copying six years of illegal records.
Weapons sales.
Prisoner trafficking.
Purchased patrol routes.
False executions.
Payments from pirate crews.
Brask and his loyal officers remained locked inside the western cells.
The eleven witnesses rested nearby under Marine guard, although none of them completely trusted the uniforms protecting them.
That seemed reasonable.
Eullian sat against the tree while Hijo repaired the bandages around his ribs.
The doctor they had rescued had already removed the bullet from Eullian's shoulder.
Eullian had screamed.
Then he had asked to keep the bullet.
The doctor had refused because it was evidence.
Eullian was still offended.
Hijo pushed a needle through the reopened cut along his ribs.
Eullian screamed again.
Several birds abandoned the tree.
"You could warn me," Eullian said.
"I showed you the needle."
"I thought you were threatening me."
"That would also have been a warning."
Hijo pulled the thread tight.
His movements were precise, controlled, and completely lacking in unnecessary kindness.
"You're enjoying this," Eullian accused.
"No."
"You didn't pause."
"Neither did the bleeding."
Eullian gripped the grass.
"Can we vote on the stitches?"
"There are two of us."
"I vote against them."
"I vote for them."
"That is tied."
Hijo pushed the needle through again.
"I possess the needle."
"That feels corrupt."
"Authority frequently does."
Eullian stared at him.
"That was either very wise or very depressing."
"It was both."
Hijo finished the final stitch and tied the thread.
Eullian examined the neat row.
"You can sew."
"Yes."
"Cook?"
"Yes."
"Read?"
"Yes."
"Navigate?"
"Yes."
Eullian's expression brightened.
"You are extremely useful."
Hijo began cleaning the needle.
"I am reconsidering remaining near you."
"You keep saying that while remaining near me."
"I have not finished reconsidering."
A young Marine approached carrying two thick ledgers.
His name was Tomas Rell.
Bruises circled his throat, and two fingernails were missing from his left hand. Brask's officers had removed them while questioning him about his imprisoned brother.
His brother now rested among the freed dockworkers.
"We found more records," Tomas said.
Hijo accepted the first ledger.
"Copies?"
"Four are being made."
"In separate rooms?"
Tomas hesitated.
"No."
"Separate the clerks. If one is threatened or bribed, the others must expose the changes."
"I'll do it."
"And number every page before copying."
Tomas nodded.
"There is another problem."
"There are usually several," Hijo said.
"Captain Vask escaped the courthouse."
Eullian's smile vanished.
"How?"
"He convinced two guards that Base Eighteen had ordered his release. When they opened the records room, he attacked them."
"Are they alive?"
"Yes."
Eullian's shoulders relaxed slightly.
"He reached the harbor and freed six Red Jaw Pirates," Tomas continued. "They stole a fishing vessel and sailed east."
"Did they steal the remaining food?"
"Only enough for their voyage."
"That is still stealing."
"Yes."
"But not all of it."
"No."
Eullian relaxed a little more.
Hijo noticed.
"A corrupt captain has escaped with pirates," he said. "Your first concern was the fish."
"Criminals can be caught later. Hunger happens on schedule."
Hijo considered that answer.
He did not disagree.
Tomas placed the second ledger on the ground.
"Vask will reach another Marine branch within two days. He'll claim pirates attacked Base Eighteen, murdered Brask's officers, and forced the witnesses to sign false statements."
"Then send the records to Marine headquarters," Eullian said.
Tomas looked uncomfortable.
"Which headquarters?"
"The Marine one."
"Five branches are close enough to receive them. Brask traded with two. Vask once served at another. We don't know which commanders can be trusted."
Eullian frowned.
"The Marines need protection from the Marines."
"Yes."
"That seems badly designed."
"It was not designed badly," Hijo said. "It was designed to protect authority before truth."
The rescued witnesses listened from beneath the trees.
The mother held her infant against her chest.
The old man with the crushed hand slept upright.
The two little girls remained side by side, their wrists touching even though their ropes had been removed.
Eullian looked at them.
"What happens if Vask's story arrives first?"
Tomas lowered his voice.
"The witnesses may become wanted criminals."
"For seeing something?"
"For contradicting an official report."
"Can we punch the report?"
"No."
"Paper remains difficult."
Hijo opened one of the ledgers.
"You said your dream is to keep peace until you die."
"Yes."
"How?"
Eullian opened his mouth.
Hijo raised one finger.
"'By keeping peace' is not an answer."
Eullian closed his mouth.
"That was nearly my answer."
"I know."
Tomas sat across from them.
Several witnesses leaned closer.
Eullian looked toward the distant sea.
"I'll go wherever people need help."
"That is not a plan," Hijo said.
"I'll stop bad people."
"You will not always know who they are."
"I'm usually good at knowing."
"Brask threatened an infant while smiling. He was easy."
"That is fair."
"What happens when both sides are frightened?"
Eullian remained quiet.
"When both sides have lost people?" Hijo continued. "When both sides lie? When stopping one army allows another to invade?"
"I don't know."
Hijo waited for embarrassment.
None came.
Eullian said it plainly.
"I'll learn."
"That is still not a plan."
"It is the beginning of one."
Hijo studied him.
Eullian's stupidity was unusual.
It did not make him certain when he lacked information.
He could misunderstand laws, machinery, geography, and basic food safety.
But when he did not know something, he admitted it faster than intelligent men who had built entire careers upon pretending.
Eullian looked at the witnesses again.
"Beating Brask didn't fix this base," he said. "Beating Nella didn't make her pirates good. Feeding Brinehook once won't stop the next storm."
He pointed toward the ledgers.
"And catching Vask won't fix every Marine who helped him."
"No," Tomas said.
"So my goal can't be one fight."
Hijo closed the ledger.
"State it precisely."
Eullian thought so hard that his entire face tightened.
"I want powerful people to stop treating other lives like cheap things."
"That is broader than peace."
"Good."
"Nearly impossible."
"Also good."
"Why is that good?"
"It means we won't finish too early."
No one laughed.
Eullian continued.
"I don't want peace where everyone stays quiet because they're scared. Brask had that."
Tomas lowered his eyes.
"I don't want peace where pirates stop fighting only because someone stronger is watching them. Brinehook has that right now."
Eullian pressed one hand against the ground.
"I want people to have enough safety to disagree."
Hijo's eyes narrowed slightly.
Eullian searched for the right words.
"Enough food to refuse someone."
He pointed toward the witnesses.
"Enough truth that one uniform can't erase them."
Then toward the Marines copying records.
"Enough courage that scared people can choose to help."
He smiled faintly.
"And enough strength that when somebody tries to crush all of that, we can hit them."
"That final part sounded easiest for you," Hijo said.
"It was."
Hijo looked toward the sea.
"A dream that large needs rules."
"I dislike rules."
"That is why you need them."
Eullian sighed.
"What rules?"
Hijo lifted one finger.
"First, learn who will suffer before choosing a side."
A second finger.
"Second, stop the immediate harm before chasing punishment."
A third.
"Third, leave people stronger than you found them. Otherwise, every island will collapse again when you depart."
Eullian stared at the three fingers.
"That is a lot."
"It is three."
"They are long rules."
"You requested a long goal."
Eullian thought about Brinehook.
He had stopped the fighting.
The island still needed food systems, honest records, repairs, and protection from retaliation.
Peace was not a moment when fists stopped moving.
It was what remained afterward.
"I agree," he said.
Hijo raised a fourth finger.
"And we do not kill when another reliable solution exists."
Tomas glanced at him.
The witnesses did too.
The Absolute Killer lowered his hand.
Eullian smiled.
"That one is yours."
"Yes."
"What is your long goal?"
Hijo became still.
"My goals are not dreams."
"What is the difference?"
"Goals have methods."
"Mine has four rules now."
"You acquired them moments ago."
"They still count."
Hijo removed the little white book from inside his coat.
One hundred and nine names filled its pages.
"I want to reach the end of this book," he said.
"You could stop writing names."
"That would not erase the old ones."
"You want forgiveness?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
"Saving one person does not repay killing another. Morality is not a market."
Eullian nodded slowly.
He did not understand every word.
He understood the weight.
Hijo turned to three underlined names.
"The people I killed became conclusions. I decided nothing remained in their futures except harm."
"The three innocent people?"
"Failures of certainty."
Hijo closed the book.
"My goal is to find the answer that exists before killing."
"And when no answer exists?"
"Then I kill."
Tomas flinched.
Eullian did not.
"With me?" Eullian asked.
"Temporarily."
"That counts as joining."
"It does not."
"How long is temporary?"
"Until I determine whether your dream is sincere, foolish, or dangerous."
"It can be all three."
"That is what concerns me."
Eullian held out his hand.
Hijo looked at it.
"What?"
"We have long goals."
"That does not require touching."
"It feels like it should."
"Why?"
"Because they're long."
"That explains nothing."
"It explained enough to me."
Eullian continued holding out his hand.
Ten seconds passed.
A fly landed on his thumb.
Twenty seconds passed.
Hijo finally gripped Eullian's wrist instead.
Eullian gripped his in return.
It did not resemble a proper handshake.
It looked like each man was stopping the other from falling.
That suited them better.
Tomas looked down at the ledgers.
"What is the first step?"
"Breakfast," Eullian said.
"The first strategic step," Hijo corrected.
"A ship."
"You cannot purchase one."
"Then we need money."
"You possess none."
Eullian searched his pockets.
He found two fish scales, a bent spoon, the refrigerator's broken handle, and a pebble shaped like a nose.
He placed everything on the ground.
Hijo stared.
"This is not money."
"The pebble may be valuable."
"It resembles a nose."
"That is its value."
Tomas cleared his throat.
"There is a ship."
Eullian spun toward him.
"Where?"
"Base Eighteen has a transport vessel hidden in a cove south of the harbor. Brask used it to move prisoners illegally."
"Who owns it?" Hijo asked.
"The ship was purchased using money stolen from Brinehook's emergency fund. Officially, it was destroyed in a pirate attack."
Eullian frowned.
"So it belongs to Brinehook."
"Yes."
"Then we can't steal it."
Tomas looked surprised.
Hijo did not.
"The town council could authorize its use," Tomas said. "You could transport copies of the evidence while the witnesses take separate routes. Afterward, the ship could remain under a shared agreement until Brinehook has a functioning government again."
Eullian nodded confidently.
"I understood some of that."
"It means you may borrow the ship," Hijo said.
"For how long?"
"Until the town requests its return."
"Good. That sounds less criminal."
They rose.
Behind them, four independent copies of the evidence were being prepared.
One would travel to a Marine branch with no known connection to Brask.
One would go to a regional newspaper.
One would remain beneath the courthouse.
One would travel with the witnesses.
The original ledgers would be carried aboard the ship.
Truth would no longer depend on one officer, one witness, or one page surviving.
At the top of the hill, Eullian stopped.
The sea stretched beyond Brinehook.
Thousands of islands waited.
Pirates.
Marines.
Kings.
Rebels.
Honest officers serving corrupt systems.
Criminals protecting towns abandoned by the law.
Wars whose beginnings had been rewritten until every side inherited a different past.
Eullian smiled.
"That is a long distance."
"Yes," Hijo said.
"Good."
"Why?"
Eullian walked toward the harbor.
"Short distances don't need dreams."
Hijo followed.
Not because he believed Eullian could keep peace across the entire sea.
Not yet.
He followed because Eullian understood something many powerful people never did.
A long goal was not a promise that one person would succeed.
It was a promise not to declare the work finished simply because one enemy had fallen.