Theo exited the room quietly, making sure to not ruin the perfect escape she was about to pull off. Once she closed the door behind her, the mission had been considered a success, 15 people in a room and not one of them had woken up. Theo and many others had spent the night in Xyra's infirmary room, much to Jon's dismay. Many of their crew had come in at various parts of the night and checked in on a very drugged up Xyra. Their crew wasn't the only one, others came in large groups to visit Xyra. Jon was in a state of shock all night. Slovenly and drunk pirates roaming through his infirmary, touching things they shouldn't have.
He had abandoned his place of work and retreated upstairs to his quarters when he realized he could not control what the pirates did. Theo should have felt bad but it was comical the way he chased after drunk pirates playing with medicine they didn't know about. She was going to make sure to leave him some money, as a thank you for his establishment more than his services. Some of the pirates that had made their way in never left and they bunched up in Xyra's room for the night.
When Theo saw the sun begin to rise, she began to make her way out of the room, a puzzle if she had ever seen one. By the time she had gotten out of the room and outside, the sun was already in the sky, the beautiful colors from the sunrise having faded. As she walked, the sun burned her eyes and the weariness that she had been resisting had settled into her bones. Theo had managed to nod off for a few hours but had stayed awake for the most part. She felt the exhaustion to her very core and all she needed was one hour to lay in her bed with no one around.
She walked in the direction of the ship for about a minute before she saw a familiar crown of curly red hair. Ava was standing in front of a store window peeking through it to investigate. Theo could walk right past her and to the ship but as much as she wanted to rest, she also wanted to speak to Ava. She was too tired to be upset at the fact that Ava had kept Cooker and Xyra's plan from her. Theo veered off the path and came to stand next to Ava.
"Good morning," Theo said and Ava jumped a bit.
"Good morning," Ava answered, peeling her eyes away from the contents of the shop and over to Theo, "you scared me."
"My apologies," Theo smiled, "I could have sworn you had spent the night at Xyra's."
"I snuck out a few hours ago. I wasn't getting any sleep anyway so I figured I might as well pop out for some fresh air until everyone wakes up," Ava explained.
"Quite the sneak," Theo complimented, "I was going to make my way to the ship for some items if you care to join me on the walk back."
"I would be delighted," Ava said and Theo held her arm out.
Ava took the offer and linked her arm around Theo's. They walked in silence for a bit until Ava, with great predictability, broke the silence with a question.
"What now?"
"Good question," Theo chuckled a bit and Ava did too. She didn't answer for a while, usually private with her plans before she presented to the group but with Ava, she didn't mind sharing, "been thinking about it all night, really. I think the first step is collecting our reward."
"The ship," Ava said.
"Aye," Theo said, "Seal's a little weasel so as soon as Fletching is well enough they are going to set off so it's best to get it now."
"After that?"
"Call an officer's meeting and decide what to do next. We've got two ships, a crew of sixty-eight, three possible continents to scour for answers and an injured first mate," Theo listed off, "can't make any definite decisions by myself."
"Are we going to wait until Xyra is better before we set sail to wherever?" Ava asked.
"Aye, we will spare some time to stay back and rest, Xyra and the whole crew. Uncilo has set the next pirate meeting for three and a half cycles, from now," Theo had heard the news a few hours into the night.
Ava let the silence hang between them for a while until they reached their ship. As they climbed the ramp and walked onto the deck, Ava stopped them, "Are you alright?"
"Aye," Theo offered her a smile.
It was a lie, she wasn't alright. There were a lot of emotions she had buried and they were all threatening to rupture from the pit she had shoved them into. There was nothing anyone could do, so she thought it best to just pretend.
"Okay, Captain," Ava said but she didn't buy it, Theo could tell by the raised eyebrow.
"Thank you for making the journey back with me, I'm going to go to my quarters now," Theo stated and Ava unlocked their arms.
"I will see you later," Ava said and Theo turned from her and made it into her room.
Theo shut the door and pressed her back against it. She hit her head against the wood a few times and shut her eyes tightly. Now, with no one around and nothing left to plan she was forced to take in everything that had happened. Theo knew that it needed to happen which is why she had snuck away but as she stood there she was digging her heels into the ground in an attempt to keep the memories of the past two suns, and even before, from pulling her into a dark pit.
Theo slid onto the ground and thought about the stress of crafting and passing the proposal and the pressure of being on her best foot constantly. She remembered her outburst and how hard she had to work to clear it all up. Theo hadn't completely messed up, she was arguably in a better position amongst the pirates after the meeting than she was before but the victories of the meeting were overshadowed by her greatest mistake. Challenging Fletching.
Theo swore, at the time, that his accusations were an affront to her reputation and it had to be answered for but the truth was far from it. Popular opinion always leaned against Fletching and most of the pirates would not have voted on a proposal backed by Theo if they did not trust her. She knew his comments were something she could ignore but deep down, she had just wanted an excuse to remove his head from his body but she failed to consider all of the consequences. Something that Xyra and Cooker had apparently succeeded at.
Xyra could have gotten killed and it was Theo's fault. Once again, she realized just how inexperienced she really was. All the books on theory and leading that Cooker and her had invested hours into couldn't make up for the fact that she was one of the youngest Captains around and at times unable to rise above pettiness. Immaturity sometimes shone through but she had been raised by pirates, who could blame her?
Everyone that resented her on the basis that she was a woman, she answered her own question.
The negativity was playing on a loop in her head, cycling through all the critiques of her performance in the meetings, what-ifs with things she said during negotiating, the failure to pass her proposal the first time. Eventually, all of those thoughts faded to the background and all she was thinking about was Xyra. A constant cycle of Xyra, Xyra, Xyra. Theo had put her in harm's way and that was a feeling Theo couldn't shake. It just reminded Theo how much power she had, the lengths people were willing to for her and it terrified her. One of the most important people to her had almost faced a death sentence because of her impulsivity. Theo felt the tears begin to well up and she didn't stop them.
Her wall came crashing down and with it, the wave of sobs was unyielding. The reality of their world, the dangers to come, what had just occurred, the unknown with Xyra's recovery and the unknown of what was facing them was all too much and for a moment Theo let it consume her. For a moment, she stopped fighting the tide of despair and let herself feel it for the first time in so long. It was a while before the waves subsided and she could go a minute without breaking down again but finally, she managed it. The weight was still heavy on her chest but it had lightened up. As if Morgana and Navi had been sitting on her and they were replaced with Tuni. It wasn't gone, just more bearable.
Theo got on her knees and began crawling to bed. She pulled herself into it once she arrived and shut her eyes. An innocent attempt to relax turned into a deep slumber.
------
Theo had called a meeting once she had managed to wake up. It was about to be dark outside and she didn't want to keep anyone away from a night of partying. Xyra was awake although a bit foggy from having consumed many different things for the pain. Xyra had stopped taking everything, insisting she needed to be alert for the meeting so Theo wanted to get it done quickly in order for Xyra to get back to taking what she needed. Theo was sitting at the edge of Xyra's bed, Navi sitting on a chair on the other side. While at some point everyone there had gone out for some air or a bite to eat, Navi had stayed by Xyra's side the whole time; no one mentioned it.
They were ready to convene the officer's meeting, all the positions present for the first time since the last quartermaster had resigned over half a length before. Ava had been a staple at their meetings but now all roles were officially filled and Ava's input would carry more weight. It was Xyra who spoke up once the last of them, Iona and Pearl, had joined them.
"We have a ship?" Xyra asked.
"Aye, a small one," Morgana grumbled with her arms crossed over her chest and Tuni placed her hand over Morgana's thigh and patted it.
Theo rolled her eyes but still chuckled, "It is one of his smaller ones, yes. A sloop."
"And we didn't go with taking his flagship because...?" Cooker asked.
"Usually, Cook, when a question is posed in that way it is because there are no good answers which simply doesn't work in this scenario" Theo challenged and Xyra reached over and placed a hand on Theo's arm.
"Reasons please," Xyra steered the conversation back.
"We don't have the crew to expand to a ship that size, we already have a slow and harder to manage ship and we need to diversify. We would be better off with a smaller and more merchant looking ship in the current climate, and a smaller ship can go faster. We can reach some areas we haven't been able to before which is handy at a time like this," Theo listed her reasons, her very good reasons.
"Can't argue with that," Navi interjected.
"I agree with that," Pearl gave her input, "upkeep and sailing for two large ships isn't possible with the size of our crew."
Theo turned to where Cooker and Morgana were sitting and made an elaborate display of raising her middle finger at them. Xyra laughed a little but it was most likely because she was still a little drugged because once she realized she had laughed, she reached out and lowered Theo's hand.
"Does two ships mean we are going two different routes?" Ava asked.
"That is what is on the table," Theo offered, "start us off, what do you think?"
"I think if one ship is faster, it would make sense to go two separate routes. That way the smaller one can get sent on a mission to an area of interest that we wouldn't have been able to reach with the large ship in the time frame we have," Ava gave her analysis, "and if the goal of getting a small ship is to be inconspicuous then sailing it next to a well-known pirate ship wouldn't be helping much."
"I think that makes sense," Morgana provided her input.
"We'd be splitting up the crew," Cooker said and shook her head, "it's not a good idea."
"Red's right though, we would cover more distance if we took separate routes," Xyra threw her hat into the opinion ring.
"We've got other people that are working on leads don't we?" Tuni asked, her position most likely was whatever would keep her crew together and safe.
"Do we trust them?" Navi asked.
"At least a few of them," Cooker nodded.
"I think if we want something done, we need to do it ourselves," Morgana stated.
The room looked at Theo for a response. Ava made good points but so did others. Splitting up her crew was not ideal, especially during a time when pirates were being hunted. On the other hand, the hunting wouldn't stop if they didn't find answers and they wouldn't find answers unless they covered as much ground as possible.
"Navi, you saw the ship. How many people would be needed to sail it?" Theo asked.
'"I could probably sail it by myself," Navi boasted but then got serious again, "With me there? Three others. Without me? I'd say six."
Theo tugged at her bottom lip in thought, splitting them up for a long voyage would be tricky, "Do you have a preference?"
"If I may," Pearl interjected, "Captain, you and Navi have lots of experience navigating through combat and storms. If Navi stayed on the Scorned Woman with you, we'd be leaving the sloop with a navigator who isn't quite as masterful at either."
The way Pearl approached it was timid, never one to want to stir things up. Theo smiled in her direction and nodded slowly, showing appreciation for the input. Theo then glanced over at Navi to gauge her reaction. Navi just shrugged.
"I'll sail the sloop then," Navi said.
Theo nodded and pointed over at Ava and Oceane, "Go to my quarters and pick up the list of the crew from my quarters. We're going to need to make a balanced crew if we are going to be splitting up."
---------------
It had been decided that there would be a total of 25 women that went on a separate journey aboard the unnamed sloop. The number of crew members wasn't the issue everyone was having a problem with, it was who was going to go. There was a lot of discussion, hours of back and forth, and a few passionate speeches from the officers pleading their case as to which ship they should go on. Ava observed as the decision to venture off in different directions began to weigh on Theo. There was not one moment that she eased the concern on her face, not one joke cracked that she had laughed at, and she got less and less patient as the time went on.
The problem was that Theo wanted to let no one go, she wanted her officers within a few hundred feet of her at all times. Theo couldn't get what she wanted and Ava watched as the two sides of her head struggled. One told her to panic over the decision to split them and the other was trying to rationalize that it was the best way to proceed. Ava was not envious of having to call the shots.
Splitting everyone up was a lot more complicated than Ava had originally anticipated and it seemed like every time they moved people around, it just got worse. They had to break from organizing a crew in order to plan a route just as a distraction before revisiting the issue. At one point, Ava was convinced that there would be no end in sight. Finally, they managed to come up with a solution, less than adequate in Ava's eyes, but a solution nonetheless.
Theo, predictably, was going to stay on the Scorned Woman and she would be joined by Cooker, Iona, Oceane, and Tuni. The sloop would be home to Xyra, Ava, Morgana, Navi, and Pearl for the following few cycles. It wasn't an ideal set up, the four people Ava was closest to had ended up on the other ship, but it was arguably the only way to split them up.
The Scorned Woman would likely be a target but the sloop would not, that had to factor into a lot of their decisions. Their route was the other factor. They were going to send the sloop up to visit a handful of eastern Aelizan island before skating down the coast of Elox until they got to Southern Elox. That was the best way to find out the extent of the Center's involvement. The Scorned Woman would be sent to the Eastern Coast of Efriti, to where they had not visited during their time in Efiriti, circle around the south of the island before visiting the Dove's Head in the north of Dove Island where they would meet the sloop at an island known only to them.
Theo couldn't abandon her flagship so there was no question as to her placement. Navi had been already assigned to the sloop and with her came Pearl. Pearl had trained under Navi for a long while and sailing came easy to her. With Pearl on board, they only needed one other sailor which freed up more for the galleon. Oceane would have to man the guns if the Scorned Woman had a fight so Oceane was stationed there along with Tuni who couldn't leave the majority of the crew without medical assistance. Iona, who trained as the second in command for the vanguard, stayed on the Scorned Woman with a large portion of the vanguard while Morgana was assigned to the sloop with a handful of her soldiers. Tuni looked like she was holding back tears as the realization dawned on her that Morgana was going to be away from her for so long.
They had left placing Cooker, Xyra, and Ava for last. Perhaps their hardest decision was where to put Xyra because no one wanted to be the one to suggest to Theo that it was probably best for her to leave on the sloop. In the end, after what seemingly was a great internal battle, Theo was the one who suggested it. Theo looked like she almost couldn't believe she was suggesting parting with her injured first mate but she managed to. It was the most logical way, Xyra couldn't fight if they were attacked so it was safer for her on the sloop. Plus, she was the highest-ranked so command of a second ship technically fell on her shoulders.
Much to her dismay, Ava was placed where Theo was not. Most of the women that were staffing the sloop were newer recruits. The sloop was less risky so the women with less experience were the ones assigned to it. If Theo was attacked by another ship, the crew left behind after the split had to be the most knowledgeable ones when it came to combat. Because the new recruits were still acclimating, everyone felt it was best that the quartermaster accompanies them. That and they were going to Elox so if anyone needed to sweet-talk their way out of something, the redhead would be the one called upon.
Cooker, not just by process of elimination but based on need, was able to stay on the Scorned Woman. She was the one that was the expert in all things land business and given the reclassification and the worrying patterns they found in Gossem, they assumed a lot of people would be losing ownership of their establishment to Theo soon enough. Theo, not having changed in opinion, wanted nothing to do with those businesses but had conceded during the meeting that they were in need of revenue, especially with the promise of funding half of the proposal and not raiding for three cycles. Cooker was needed on the Galleon because a majority of the businesses that the Scorned Woman oversaw was in Efriti and Dove Island, exactly where they were headed.
It was dark by the time they finished and the nighttime activities were raging on outside but none of them made the move to leave. Tuni tried to convince everyone to go out and rest in their own beds and to let Xyra also get some rest but no one budged. Xyra thanked her for the effort but she didn't mind everyone staying. They quickly settled into an easy, normal night from then on. Well, everyone settled except for Theo, her brooding energy from next to Xyra's bed could be felt by everyone but no one said anything and the merriment in the room continued without her.
Navi was showing off her new tattoo to Tuni and Oceane who gasped and guffawed and gave Navi all the attention she was needing. Morgana had captivated the attention of one side of the room and was telling them all about how she got to shoot the hand cannon. As if they hadn't been hearing about the discovery since they arrived, Morgana went into vivid detail about every inch of it. Ava eventually tuned it out, not interested in holding her tongue on the implications of the invention. Theo stood up and straightened her shirt, smoothing it out with her hand.
It was abrupt and it got her many stares, "I'm going to find something to eat. Does anyone want food?"
Nine arms shot up quickly and Theo sighed.
"Of course," Theo walked to the door and looked back at the group, "no, no, I couldn't accept your help. I'm serious, I'm just fine with getting food for the fucking dozen people in here."
"Thanks then, mate," Cooker said with a snarky tone and Theo flipped her off before exiting, leaving the laughing group behind.
The door shut and a few seconds past before Xyra let out a sigh of relief, "I thought she'd never leave."
Oceane got up and dashed to the door and peeked out of it before shutting it once again, "She's out of the building."
"The mission is underway," Navi stood up and bolted out of the door and Ava wished she could have explained what was happening.
There was a lull in whatever the mission was and Xyra snapped her fingers loudly, "Let's go, let's go, let's go! Time is of the essence! Everyone has their duties, go!"
Xyra prompted everyone into action and they scrambled out the door. Ava felt like she should have been doing something so she stood up. Cooker stayed back and slinked over to the bed, standing next to Xyra. Ava heard the door close and saw Oceane with her back pressed to it, looking slightly guilty. It seemed like Ava was being trapped in the room.
"Red," Cooker smiled and motioned to the chair behind Ava, "go ahead and sit."
Ava looked between the three others in the room with a furrowed brow and not a clue of what was going on but she sat back down anyway.
"Theo was away this morning and during that time we were talking..." Cooker started, slowly.
"Speed it up, Cook," Xyra urged.
"Theo needs to get away from things for a while. If she stays here she's just going to hover around Xyra and go out only to seek out gossip and beat herself up about everything and mope around worrying about what's to come,"
"And I cannot handle that," Xyra deadpanned, "it's best if she's away from the city for a while."
"What's this got to do with me?"
"The only scenario in which she willingly leaves here is with you and the promise of a vacation," Cooker explained.
"Me?" Ava pointed at herself, "Why me?"
"Cause you're sleeping together," Oceane piped in from holding the door.
Ava's eyes widened and she knew she was turning red.
"Secret's out, Red," Xyra said with a small shrug, "I'm sorry."
Ava looked over at Oceane and gave her an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
"We'll deal with that later," Oceane said sternly then broke into a smile, "oh my gods, Red! I'm so excited for you! You and Theo are so cute! I've been calling it for forever."
Oceane's excitement came to a halt as she was pushed forward suddenly, the door being pushed open behind her. Navi popped her head in, "The clothes aren't there!"
"Where did you check?" Oceane asked after recovering from her stumble forward.
"Third room on the left," Navi replied.
"Third room on the right," Xyra corrected and Navi cursed then closed the door.
"Clothes?" Ava asked, she felt like maybe she should have been asking more elaborate questions or be concerned about everything happening around her but honestly it all seemed out of her hands so she thought it best just to go with it. She had heard 'vacation' and 'some time away with Theo' and she was sold.
"We had people go into your rooms and pack some clothes for the next few suns,"
"I feel like I should be angry? That's an invasion of privacy," Ava almost laughed.
"There was no time for you to be able to go pack. Better to let the crew do it. They dropped it off while we were in the meeting," Cooker said, then chuckled a bit, "hope they packed comfortable things."
"I'm still not fully understanding what's happening," Ava admitted, "could I maybe just have a really quick rundown
"You and Theo are going to go away for a while and you are to not bring her back until she has a clear head. Your bags have been packed, Morgana is out picking up seven suns worth of food we had arranged for, Pearl is bringing around horses as we speak and they should be strapped with any essentials you might need. There is a place on the other side of the island, it's hidden away, it's called The Grotto. It's her getaway. With me injured, there's a fat chance she'll go unless we force her out and send you along as an apology," Xyra ran her through it.
Ava was not unhappy with the situation. Sure, Theo would probably be a bit miffed for a while at the fact that a plan was hatched so nefariously behind her back but she would get over it. Something told her that Theo would be just as overjoyed at the prospect of spending time together as Ava was, especially with their departure right on the horizon. She just shrugged in response, she didn't want to give away she was excited so she acted like she was reluctantly doing something she wasn't told about.
"Can you ride a horse?" Xyra asked.
Cooker laughed and Ava joined along.
"She asked if you can ride a horse," Cooker wheezed and Ava had no choice but to follow, Xyra did not look happy.
"We do not have time for this! Ava, can you ride a horse?"
Ava wiped a tear from her eye and caught her breath. She was going to correct Xyra on calling her Ava but it wasn't worth the breath, she nodded, "Aye, I can ride a horse. I was rich, remember?"
"Good, there shouldn't be a problem then," Xyra nodded, "we didn't mean to keep this from you, you just happened to be absent this morning when Theo was."
"Understood," Ava said, "glad the plot was to plan an escape to some cave and not a plot to kill me in my sleep."
"It's not a cave," Cooker said.
"She's coming!" Oceane exclaimed and scurried away from the door before ducking behind the side of Xyra's bed, "every man for themselves."
Theo flung open the door, "What the fuck's going on?"
"Captain!" Oceane peeked out from her hiding spot, gaining the courage back to fight for the team "you didn't bring food, did something happen?"
Oceane's attempt at a distraction was brave but it backfired.
"Funny you should ask, Oceane. I saw Okeri and Nan in the tavern and they said the weirdest thing. They wished me a good trip, said they made sure to pack me some warm clothes," Theo shut the door behind her and walked forward, "and on my way here, to ask about what they were saying, I saw half of my officers running around the streets like headless chickens."
"Theo, save the dramatics," Xyra said, Theo had figured things out.
"No! I will not save the dramatics. I will be as dramatic as I want. You might as well have staged a mutiny! This is betrayal and I will not be forced out-"
"I am sending Ava with you," Xyra said with her hands folded in her lap.
Theo closed her mouth and looked over at Ava, faltering for a second before quickly turning her face away and practically huffing, "I will not be spending time away with someone complicit in the mutiny."
"To be fair, I found out this about two minutes ago," Ava jumped in and Theo turned back to face her and narrowed her eyes. Ava couldn't help but laugh at the dramatics and she held up her hands, "I was betrayed by the same people. The enemy of your enemy."
"You have no choice, Theo," Cooker got up and walked to Theo then placed her hands on the captain's shoulders, "There are horses outside and you've got everything you need. Tuni has cleared Xyra, there is nothing immediate here for you to worry about."
"Xyra needs me to be here."
"Theo, I really, really don't," Xyra said and the way she looked at Theo spoke volumes. They exchanged a look and Theo rolled her eyes.
"I'm calling an election for both of your spots when I get back," Theo pushed Cooker's hands away from her and began to walk out.
"I'm appointed," Cooker said.
"Then you're fired!" Theo said as she exited, without turning around.
Ava stayed seated but Xyra urged her to get up, "Get up, go, she won't wait for anyone."