Omg you should please ramble more about this princess/knight Capsize, Sonja, and Martha, I'm devouring it!!
Okay this is just me spitballing a vague plot but the general premise would be something akin to the rise of a Big Bad- whether that be the Shadows or what-have-you i dont know
For the fey-dynamic the world would generally have a "the fey are mysterious and quicked creatures" type deal ye olden europe had, which would encourage Sonja to hide her origins. My thought is that Sonja is one of multiple princesses, a middle child (bc lets be honest what screams Sonja more than forgotten middle child syndrome). There would be an event sparked by the Big Bad TM that caused chaos in the Fey kingdoms (havent decided if theyre be their own realm ala traditional fey storytelling or a collection of fey folk opperating under one general long living ruler) which lead to either the corruption of the Fey Ruler (also havent decided if id go with a classic matriarchy or not) or if the royal family would have been violently removed, but regardless Sonja would have been running for her life. In order to better blend in, her and any siblings she made it out with would have to seperate but keep in contact to avoid their general lump of fey magic from getting detected (since fey would still live around ye olde human folk and thus their magic would naturally linger). Sonja picks being a retainer of Martha both as a "this will be an easy, cushy job" and "if shit starts to hit the fan the royals would know first and i can tell the others to get out of dodge".
For the pirate dynamic it would be workshopped a bit differently than typical pirate-ism. I would imagine the Pirate "Kingdom" would be more so a collection of city states and alliances between different pirate groups, and they would either largely inhabit out of the way islands or go full floating city style. Regardless the "royal" family would be determined more through reknown and via combat- whatever pirate group is considered the most dominant and who ever is the leader of that group is essentially the "rulers." I think i would go to draw some inspo from Pirate of the Caribbean here since they do show a functional group of relative democracy lol. Capsize would be the princess of 7 years, with Redbeard being a prince ofc, but rather than it being a blood relation it would be moreso based on roles- Capsize, being the secondary head of the ruling pirate group would be in place to take over if the current head kicked the bucket (but she is also unofficially adopted by said head, which helps lol). Im not sure if the bounty would be placed on her head for being the next in line or because the current ruler died, etc, but i would likely have the pirate city states also be affected by the catastrophe in the Fey Kingdom due to it upsetting the balance with water-based fey and the general natural magics of the world (here, i would imagine that the pirates are blessed or follow a Water God, whether they be truly divine or something else is to be determined, but its hard not to make a Fianite joke and insert here lol). Capsize would end up going undercover with the general army of the nearest human kingdom that is friendly towards the Water God and end up getting bumped up the ranks because shes seen a shit ton of combat and is good at sniffing out deceit and conspiracies since thats the norm between rivaling pirate factions.
Martha would kinda be the most static character in terms of getting jumped around- she would, of course, already live in the kingdom where the others end up. My thought is that this kingdom follows Ianite as its ruler and divine protection. Whether that means Ianite is her direct mother or she is from a long line of descendants i havent decided, but generally the royal family would consist of Ianite's descendants (with Spark being the Father, ofc, which means if i chose descendants Spark would NOT be Martha's immediate father like he would be if i go direct-mother Ianite). It would still be only Helgrind and Martha for siblings, but they would be long-living and have different specialties. While Ianite is considered the Supreme Ruler or what-have-you, Helgrind and Martha would be tasked with carrying out more down-to-earth tasks. Both would be able to have a direct audience with Ianite, but Martha would be the divine magic specialist, making her in high demand and often moving about the kingdom in order to fulfill the peoples needs. Helgrind would end up being the one to oversee the less magical/divine side of opperations, upholding and enacting law and maintaining the kingdom. Im torn between Helgrind having a deep-seated resentment of Martha for 1) looking much more alike to Ianite than he does and being more magically inclined, making her the more favored of the siblings and the de-facto head in most cases and 2) not having much if any magical power of his own and being expected to not only maintain the human aspect of the kingdom and also to continue the lineage and have children that will inevitably be more magically gifted then him. I would also imagine that Ianite, in this scenario, would favor Martha over Helgrind due to the nature of using divine magic needing a LOT of guidance, which he would take personally (especially since Ianite is meant to represent balance and fairness, which would make him believe Ianite is a hypocrite and is more self-centered than the people make her out to be).
Martha would also be a defense specialist, since her divine magic can change the tides of battle and heal and protect, and so on. She would likely also be the diplomat of the nation, with Helgrind minding the kingdom internally, and thus be required to 1) take on retainers and 2) be battle ready herself. I think this would make her resentful of Helgrind's freedom (or so she sees it as) since he can stay home and with the ones he loves (his family) and is able to actually live like "an actual human being" instead of being treated like a divine object that is there to answer any prayers sent up to Lady Ianite. This could also lead to resentment of Ianite herself, but I would imagine that would be buried deeeeep and be a cause of extreme guilt for Martha because her gifts come from Ianite and she can help so many people with them (even if she can hardly help herself sometimes).
My initial thought is that the story would begin with Capsize's introduction into the royal army and her selection as a retainer for Martha- Sonja would already be in her role and thus considered the "senior" to Capsize, which she HATES because Sonja is clearly not the best swordsman or general fighter at all. Capsize would keep the peace, of course, but would wonder how Sonja even got her position (keep in mind that Sonja would be more well versed in fey magic/using her animal form for attack to trying to adapt to more human methods would put her below her normal fighting strength). This would lead to suspicion when they first get into a scuffle because, despite Sonja's "lackluster" battle skills, she seemed to easily defeat the group trying to causing the ruckus. to Capsize, Sonja would become suspicious- is she pretending to be weak? why? is she plotting something? Or is she actually weak and has an agreement with the local bandits/troublemakers/secret org trying to take out Martha? Sure, Capsize isn't entirely loyal to this kingdom but its in a pirate's honor to see a job out to the end unless if gets you and yours killed, shes going to take this protection gig seriously. This leads to Capsize trying to figure out more about Sonja, which Sonja takes as "holy shit this super cool lady knight that i totally wouldnt mind kissing is interested in me but im undercover what should i do"
On Martha's side, she would have either recently gotten a prophecy from her mother foretelling the rise of the Big Bad or have noticed a rise in whatever forces the Big Bad would be using and start to grow supsicious- especially since Ianite would essentially start ghosting her after this. She would be wrapped up in trying to figure out what is happening and how to protect her people and thus wouldnt notice any slips both Capsize and Sonja might make, but she DOES notice how Capsize seems distrustful of Sonja and how Sonja seems to disappear more and more as time goes on. This would pull Martha into Capsize's prying, worried that maybe Sonja is part of the forces of the Big Bad.
Sonja, on the other hand, would be supsicious of Helgrind. Part of fey lore is being able to know someone's intentions/know when they are lying. I dont think i would specifically give Sonja the ability to know when someone is telling a lie, but i would have her be especially keen towards the Vibes TM and intentions of the people around her- the fey love to talk in sly ways and knowing what others mean and are trying to do is important. She would suspect Helgrind of trying to get rid of Martha (which would be true- but its tied into the Big Bad getting to Helgrind's head like Mianite sorta did s2) and would be trying to charm her way through unravelling secrets and getting information from both attackers and palace staff. This does NOT help Capsize's suspicions of her because Sonja would start wandering off more during "easy" times to get more information and figure out what is happening with Helgrind, which would make her look like a spy of some sort.
Essentially, the story would start with Capsize getting into the retainer job, getting suspicious of Sonja, and getting Martha into the plot. Id rotate POVs, so im not sure if id switch to Sonja first to get the other side shown quicker or go to Martha next since she gets roped in. Id probably go Martha, with her keeping her misgivings about hte Big Bad secret for now and trying to juggle the worries she has about that with the worry that one of her retainers may be a spy or in kahoots with said Big Bad. Then I would either wait til the confrontation to switch to Sonja's POV as a means of upping the intrigue for potential non-informed readers (lol like its gonna be more than us) or switching before that to get the suspicion thrown onto Helgrind while the other two still dont trust Sonja and get the "reveal" from Sonja that she is fey without getting into the actual background.
This was a LOT but honestly i might be getting too into it haha, god help me if i start another long fic
