Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

Fortune's Favor

Ava got so into her work that at some times, she had tunnel vision. There was nothing else to worry about except her tasks. It was useful on busy suns, where her shifts started way too early and she could do nothing but think of sleep. Ava would simply focus on the list of responsibilities and in the blink of an eye, it was the end of her shift and time for a nap. However, tunnel vision also made her slightly illogical. If there was an obstacle with one task, it was hard to move on and circle back to it. Which was how she found herself standing outside of Xyra's quarters on the sloop listening in on what seemed to be a very personal conversation.

They were due to leave within a few hours. The sloop and the Scorned Woman were fully stocked with, in her opinion, overpriced goods. The route was set. The roles were redistributed and redecided. The only thing that was left was for all of the hungover pirates to wake up and take their respective positions. Ava was running some last-minute errands, she had woken up early enough to move enough of her stuff back to the Scorned Woman, that was where she was starting the journey. After that, she was checking off last-minute things from her to-do list. Theo had given her a few items to run over to Xyra's quarters before departing, a few small bags full of stuff; what Ava could only assume were snacks Theo collected for Xyra during her time away.

Ava had made a beeline straight from Theo's room, across the two ships, and marched diligently to Xyra's quarters. She almost didn't notice the raised voices engaged in angry conversation. Ava stopped at the last possible second, just barely avoiding walking into a very awkward moment. She figured she would just have to wait it out and then hand the items over to Xyra. Ava took a few steps back and leaned up against the outside of Xyra's quarters, not even considering that she could step away and return after. Not even considering that she could place the snacks down and leave to do other things. Not even considering that she could do anything else but eavesdrop on a very private conversation.

Alas, she did none of those things and instead listened in.

"You were gone for most of the sun," Xyra said, "there was no time to tell you."

"You spent hours with me before I left for the beach, you could have taken any of that time to give me a heads up that you would be on a different fucking ship for three cycles!" Navi raised her voice. Ava couldn't see her but she seemed upset.

"I did not think you would care," Xyra sounded calm compared to Navi.

"Didn't think I would c-" Navi cut herself off with a scoff, "we are supposed to be together now, Xyrabellis, obviously I fucking care if we are going to be apart for a shit ton of time."

"I will still be able to see you occasionally. My second can cover me for a night," Xyra still sounded unbothered while Navi only sounded more frustrated, "it will work itself out, Nav."

"I know what you're doing, Xy, it's so fucking obvious!" Navi's increasingly more agitated state seemed to meet a wall.

"Not sure what you are referring to."

"You're pushing me away," Navi said, "you are self-sabotaging instead of just talking things through with me. Or talking about whatever is causing you to do this."

"Is there a reason you are being a creep?" a voice appeared next to her and Ava jumped, clutching the bag of goods closer to her as a result.

Ava looked over to see Cooker, then scowled a bit, "No, I am waiting to drop something off."

"Dropping something off and eavesdropping on a lover's quarrel are two different things," Cooker pointed out.

"Can I help you?" Ava rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, the bag inconveniencing the movement.

"You look so mad at me," Cooker chuckled.

"I am mad at you."

"Damn, sorry for calling you a creep, then," Cooker apologized but Ava still held her scowl and her crossed arms, "you still look mad at me."

"I've been mad at you," Ava snapped back, "but you're too self-centered to notice."

"Woah, why are you mad at me?" Cooker held her hands up.

"Last time we had an actual, real conversation, you were yelling and threatening me. Then, you did the exact thing you threatened me not to do and didn't even have the courtesy to give me notice," Ava reminded Cooker how she yelled at Ava to not give up her identity before spilling it all to Xyra, "and you have yet to say sorry or take accountability for your own actions."

"Oh," Cooker said and rubbed the back of her neck, "well, I'm sorry, Red. I would have said sorry earlier if I knew you were mad at me."

Ava couldn't help but roll her eyes again, "What do you want?"

"Nothing, just saw you over here and I wanted to be nosy," Cooker shrugged, "but now that I'm here, I might as well let you know that I stocked the library with some new books you might be interested in."

Ava's face softened a little from its scowl before she squinted her eyes, "You got books for me?"

"Not all of them were specifically bought with you in mind," Cooker admitted, "but a good portion of them were. Even the ones that weren't bought with you in mind would be up your alley, you'll enjoy them."

Ava dropped her angry expression and sighed, "Very well. I suppose you are somewhat forgiven."

"You're easy to please," Cooker chuckled and Ava's scowl returned.

"And you're fucking annoying," Ava said, handing the bag to Cooker, "get this to Xyra."

She ignored the complaints coming from Cooker about being stuck with the bag and walked back to her quarters on the Scorned Woman, she had promised Fjord something and wanted to place it in his cabin before she forgot.

----
From being the one trained to being the one training others, Ava had certainly moved up in the ranks quickly. It was a good thing that she was a quick study and had taken copious amounts of notes during her training, or else she would be poorly prepared to help the newcomers transition into pirate life. While there were nights where she had to read over the official ship rules or consult with Theo or Xyra about an upcoming lesson, things were going splendidly. Within the cycle they were at sea, the new crew was settling in nicely. A lot of them were forging bonds and friendships, some had secured themselves jobs on the ship, and they seemed to have a good grasp on what would be expected of them in an emergency.

She taught one group of recruits for three to four suns before switching over to the other ship. While she was gone, the people she left behind would train with Morgana and either work or try to find a job. Ava thought that not having a set home for the journey would be difficult, but it worked out for the best. She had made so many friends over her tenure on the ship that with the two-ship fleet they had, most of them were split up. With switching around, she was able to keep in contact with everyone, speak to everyone, and have dinner with everyone.

It had been a cycle since they had left the roamer island and they were not arriving at the coast a few suns out from Dricaster for at least another half a cycle. With a new sloop to carry things in, the crew had enough supplies in storage to last them that whole time. They didn't stop on land to restock, not even once, and while the other pirates that were experienced with not touching their feet to land for cycles at a time were fine, Ava felt increasingly more anxious to stop seeing endless waters.

The break in her routines every handful of suns made it more bearable, it was a nice change of pace and scenery. She really couldn't imagine how others who couldn't switch ships and crews were feeling. But even with the sameness of her surroundings, the happenings on the ship were never dull. Which was what she needed as a distraction from the impending secret and the confrontation with The Center. Ava tried not to think about it too much, about how she would need to come clean eventually, about how she might have given up on her last cycles with Theo in an attempt to do damage control. Instead, she let herself live in a sort of ignorant bliss; ignoring all her problems until the sun it came around to bite her in the ass. What Ava was nervous about was that somehow, she would be recognized and outed to Theo before she was ready to tell her. Both of her brothers had been put in charge of the navy and the man she had been promised to was so close to capturing Theo, what if at some point any of them came face to face with her?

But she did her best to push those hypotheticals out of her head. In her free time, she hung out with friends. Pearl, Iona, Oceane, Tuni, and even Fjord would grace her with their presence from time to time, for a chat, or during dinner. The downtime she had that she didn't spend with friends she either trained or just stayed in the Captain's quarters of whatever ship she was staying on. With Morgana always training the opposite ship she was on, Ava was left with not a lot of time to work on her own fighting skills. The only times she really did so was during when Oceane was helping her with the bow or during officer trainings, which were not so much training and more so a secret fight ring.

Tuni hated when the crew fought outside of supervised and organized training but Theo believed it was necessary and fun to have fight rings so the officers wouldn't get rusty. So, they would keep it hidden. On the sloop, it was easy to get away with the fight ring. Tuni was stationed on the Scorned Woman so there was never a worry that the healer would walk in; Xyra could beat everyone to shit in peace. The fight ring on the Scorned Woman, however, needed to be diligently planned out and held at odd hours to throw Tuni off their scent.

It wasn't like Tuni never found out, she found out about almost every single one. The secret was kept so she wouldn't break it up once it was happening. Afterward, they would have to go see her to get patched up and she would inevitably figure out what happening. It usually resulted in a lecture, which was worth it, in Ava's opinion. As the cycles passed since she had joined the ship, she had become one of the ones that gave Tuni a headache, no longer a calm presence that didn't bring trouble.

On suns she fought in Xyra's fight ring, she would get beat real hard. Pirates apparently didn't believe in taking it easy on someone below their fighting skill. Her time there usually meant she was taken down and had to tap out sometimes only seconds into the fight. Iona, Pearl, and Xyra pulled no punches and Ava had to learn when it was best to just sit out. On the Scorned Woman, training was a lot more beneficial to her as it was mostly spent partnered with Oceane. Their similar stature and build gave Ava a fair partner. There were less bruises on those suns, both to her body and her ego.

After secretly fighting each other, the officers would often call it a night and Ava would be left with the captains. With Theo, like usual, they fell into a pattern. Theo, who had gotten a lot of help from Cooker in the time they had been apart, needed less and less guidance from Ava with reading. So after they were beaten up and exhausted, each of them would curl up with a good book. Either in the library, their new leisure room, the crow's nest, or the captain's quarters; it all just depended on how many people were around. Theo would read on her own, pausing only to ask Ava about a specific word every once in a while. Surprisingly enough, her relationship to Theo didn't seem to suffer past the initial awkwardness in the first few suns. They shared the same lighthearted, teasing conversation they usually did, delved into nuanced theoretical questions, and shared many tales of their time apart. Both of them avoided any sort of mention of their past time together, for the most part.

Ava had been reading one of the books that Cooker has recently stocked in the library. It Starts At Birth: The Role of The Vault. She had believed that she had been shown the realities of how cruel the world was on her journey since leaving home but it never failed to shock her when Ava discovered something new, showing her how deeply rooted inequalities were and how much power those with last names truly had. Ava was taught by her tutors that everyone, at birth, was registered in The Vault. Those names of the registered were then used to conduct the reclassification and any person within The Vault had an opportunity to be reclassified. Of course, many people didn't get reclassified into a better position, there were a lot of criteria and it was truly only the best and most loyal citizens of Baethos that were committed enough to work hard in order to be reclassified. But, the promise of bettering one's station was a dream that any citizen of Baethos could have and work to achieve.

The reality was that The Vault was just that, a looming structure that was meant to keep people out. For all of those with a last name, from nobility to lesser houses, registration at birth was a right. Those born with a last name were entered into The Vault rather quickly after their birth, the process having been perfected over the many years of The Vault and the classifier's existence. However, those born without a last name had no right or claim to be in The Vault, according to some obscure legislation put into effect many classifications before. Which meant that The Vault could turn away whoever they pleased if they didn't have a last name. And they did. The law became a policy that made it a 10 gold registration fee for anyone born without a last name.

At no point in Ava's life, except for about a cycle before stumbling on the Scorned Woman, did she not have at least 10 gold on her person at a time but most people didn't have that kind of privilege. Most people with no last names were lucky their family could pool 10 gold together in an entire length. Barely anyone had the means to save up or even scrounge up 10 gold after the birth of their children. Even if they did manage to have that, those ten gold would be more crucial in ensuring the survival of a family than being registered in The Vault.

However, being registered in The Vault meant more than just having a name and date of birth written down in the official records of Baethos, it was the ticket to being reclassified. A classifier only came to someone's household if the head of that household was registered in The Vaults. Therefore, if one wasn't registered, they were as good as invisible; they had forfeited their right to be considered for a promotion in society. Even worse than the fact that the 10 gold barrier eliminated over half of the Baethan population from being reclassified was that even those that were registered could be arbitrarily dismissed from consideration. Sometimes, their proof of Vault registration would be rejected on the false grounds of fraud. Other times, the authorities would arrest those eligible no namers around reclassification so that they were ineligible for their classifier visits. Other times, classifiers would dismiss their cases on unknown grounds. Whatever the reason, most of the no namers in Baethos were never even considered for reclassification even after being registered.

It felt like every book she read, made her angrier, made her more disgusted, made her more ashamed. These were the same classifiers that her father had invited over every length to celebrate their work. Their whole town would be full of festivities, something that was recreated in almost every other major city once a length. To have been so oblivious to the needs and the struggles of others overwhelmed her and at times, Ava needed to step away from the book and talk things through with Theo. Most of the times, Theo was sweet and comforting. Making sure to answer any questions that Ava had that were not in the text. Other times, Theo was harsh. Harping on the fact that while Ava was feeling guilty, she had only just brushed the surface of things she needed to learn to truly understand what regular people of Baethos experienced. That the guilt that Ava felt was nothing compared to what they face every sun. It was right and Ava needed to hear it but it wasn't always a great feeling.

When she would read on the sloop, with Xyra doing whatever Xyra did at her own desk, she would keep most of the commentary to herself. The few times she had tried to take a break from her book to talk about it with Xyra went badly. A few times she was told to shut up, a few other times, Xyra just listened with a blank expression on her face, and some times Xyra indulged her with discourse but used such formal language and complex concepts that Ava felt like she was drowning. Instead of turning to Xyra for help understanding the book, she turned to her for more casual conversation.

One night, several suns away from Dricastar, over a cycle into the journey, Ava slammed her book shut while reading in Xyra's room. Xyra looked up from a book of her own and raised an eyebrow, a nonverbal question. Why was she being interrupted? Ava placed down her book on the desk, indicating she was getting ready to ask a barrage of questions. Xyra sighed and rolled her eyes but put her book down too.

"We are almost at Dricaster," Ava stated.

"That we are," Xyra nodded and crossed her arms.

"I have some questions," Ava put her hand on her chin.

"Is this going to be a productive conversation? Something we haven't covered in meetings?" Xyra asked.

Ava nodded, "Who is your family?"

"That has many different answers," Xyra deflected.

"What are their last names?" Ava asked, more specifically.

"Not important," Xyra answered.

"Why did you run away?"

"I will not answer that," Xyra said.

"How many siblings do you have?" Ava rerouted her line of questioning.

"Two."

"What are your parent's names?"

"Does not matter, they are dead," Xyra explained as she picked up her book, Ava was losing Xyra's patience.

"How did they die?" Ava asked and she heard how crass it came off, how insensitive.

"It is common etiquette to avoid questions like that," Xyra said.

"I will give you a free pass on any question about me and my past," Ava bargained, she understood the hesitancy to answer her questions. There usually was pushback from everyone, so she had learned to offer parts of herself. What scared her most was that this was the first time someone that truly knew who she was had the opportunity to ask questions.

"Who is Mallory?" Xyra asked with no hesitation. She had accepted the bargain.

"My sister."

"That much is obvious, Red. Details," Xyra prompted.

"Uh, she's got red hair? She's shorter than me. Older by three lengths," Ava shrugged, Mallory was not as eccentric or stuck up as her other sisters but she was still rude and the bane of Ava's existence when she lived at home, "not to speak ill of those that are not around to defend themselves but she was a bitch."

Xyra laughed at that and nodded her head, "Checks out."

"What does that mean?" Ava laughed along.

"Not at liberty to discuss that," Xyra shrugged.

"I know that she and Cooker had a childhood crush thing going on," Ava provided, "if that is what you are worried about."

"Well, in that case, I just meant that Cooker always goes for the mean ones," Xyra explained her earlier remark, "Is she married?"

"Aye," Ava replied, "to a nobleman's son from The Twins. She still lived at home for half of the length anyway, since her husband was always away on army business."

"What is your father like?" Xyra didn't acknowledge the answer Ava gave, moving right along to her next question.

"He is... cold" Ava paused for a second to reflect, she spent so long pushing thoughts of him away that being asked to speak about him was difficult, "he has the ability to make you feel guilty about breathing by just directing a few calculated sentences your way."

Ava recalled the intense feeling of pressure that was always surrounding her. The anxiety the whole household felt in their constant quest for perfection, all for his approval. She remembered what it felt like to sit in the great hall for dinner and eat in absolute silence, utensils clinking against plates until he engaged someone in conversation.

"So he was not some loving father behind the scenes? It is not something he just turns off at the end of the sun?" Xyra followed up, being a bit softer with the delivery of the question, able to see the slight frown forming on Ava's face.

Ava shrugged, trying to brush off any emotion that came with bringing him up. She was from a fairly large family, had a large estate, and had a very busy father; interacting with him was always limited and short. He didn't consider being a nurturing father his job, his job was to ensure the success of his offspring, "No, there was never a fatherly nature about him,"

"For what it is worth, sorry he was your father. That must have been bad," Xyra tried her best to provide some comfort.

"I was not the subject of his cruelty the way others have been, there's no need for apologies" Ava admitted, "it's my turn. When did your parents die?"

"When I was about seven, a few cycles before I ran away," Xyra provided.

"How?"

Xyra cleared her throat but showed no emotions on her face, "My father killed himself."

Ava's eyes widened a bit, trying to keep it under control to not look too shocked in front of Xyra. She had expected many different scenarios, but never that one. Any follow-up question Ava had felt inappropriate because of the cause of death. She had never met anyone whose parent had passed that way and she wasn't quite sure how to approach it. Xyra could clearly tell Ava was not going to be ready to speak any time soon and continued, voice almost completely devoid of any attachment or emotions.

"It drove my mother mad," Xyra said and tapped her fingers against her chair, "they put her in an institution and she wasted away. Refused food, water, assistance; eventually they just let her be and she died."

"Who put her there?" Ava found herself asking, pushing through the initial shock.

"My brother," Xyra answered, "are you done with your questioning now? Can I get back to my book?"

Ava didn't want to let Xyra do that. She had a lot of questions. How long had her family had a last name? Why did her father do that? Why did she run away? What did her siblings to do push her to run?

"Aye, you can get back to reading," Ava dropped the subject but it wasn't something she stopped thinking about. Eventually, she would get her answers.

----

The dreams had been infecting Ava's sleep for some time. She wasn't sure quite when they started to ramp up to be so frequent, vivid, and horrid but they had. It was sometime before reaching the rendezvous, that was for sure, but they didn't actually get bad until this new leg of the journey started. What was confined to one, maybe two, dreams every night turned into a constant stream of them.

Some nights, the star of the show was Theo. She would dream of them together on some idyllic beach; slow kisses exchanged as the waves crashed into where they were on the shore. Other times, she would be cuddled into bed with Theo, getting sweet nothings whispered into her ear. But the dreams were not all perfect. There were times when she could feel the good dream start to fracture and fall apart in front of her. As if the scene had been a mosaic and the paste holding it together had begun to dissolve. Sometimes, something would take Theo from her. A wave that was too big, a rival ship, a group of soldiers. Other times, Theo would just be gone and Ava was left alone in the small paradise her mind had created for them. On rare occasions, the dreams would take a very dark turn and Theo would turn on her. Doing everything in her power to try and hurt Ava. She didn't know which of the types of dreams she hated more, each of them having its own element of torture.

Sometimes, the subject of her dream would be her father. She had dreams where she was back home, trying to escape the estate but her father kept blocking her. Some of them included her father meeting them out on a battlefield, only to have him kill every single one of her friends. Others where she was on a diplomatic mission with her him, like the ones she was taken on throughout her adolescence, and her and her father were cornered by angry locals. They blamed her for their strife and when she tried to aid them, her father commanded the city to be razed; the people burning before her eyes. There was also a common, recurring dream that she had had before. Her father on a balcony, her hands tied behind her back, her admission to being a traitor and a pirate, and the call for her execution. But a new, altered, version of this dream had begun to appear. This time she was sat next to her father, in the position of his second.

She would see a well-dressed figure be dragged into the great hall, diminished in stature because of her position up high on the overlooking balcony. The figure had a sack over their head and when it was pulled back, it revealed none other than Captain Theo. The charges would be read out, Theo would spew whatever comeback she could, and the crowd would jeer and call for her head. Except, instead of the verdict being handed down by her father, he would turn to her. In every dream, without fail, her mind would struggle against her actions but in the end her body would take on a mind of its own. It uttered the command for Theo's execution.

The dreams with her father were hard on her but, as with the Theo ones, they lost their edge after a while. After a cycle of constant bad dreams, she had come to expect them. She had almost trained herself to know it was a dream, to take on a spectator role rather than get too invested. It had worked, but only for those dreams she learned to recognize. With new ones, it didn't work, being forced to fully immerse herself in them.

"Oi! Time to head out!" a voice came from outside her tavern room door.

Ava took one last glance down at her dress, green with white lace trim all around. It was almost identical to the one she was wearing on her time throughout Elox after running away. The person outside knocked and repeated what they said. Ava felt a sense of panic, this was it. This was the moment they had been preparing for all cycle.

Ava opened the door to see Cooker dressed in a well-fitted outfit, her hair slicked back. In a blur, she was escorted outside and onto a horse-drawn cart. Theo was there, dressed in a matching coat and pants, intricate and elegant details lined every part of her get up. She looked amazing but Ava never expected anything different. Theo helped her onto the cart and they shared a nervous conversation as the bumpy road led them to their destination.

Ava and Theo, with others following behind them, entered a large estate with silver gates and well-dressed servants. It was noisy and loud but everyone seemed to be blurry, the crowds of people attending the ball they were at were just silhouettes. As she carefully picked up her dress and walked up the large staircase and into the estate, Ava forgot exactly what they were there for.

They were at a ball, hosted by someone important. They had a mission to do. They each had a role, but Ava's mind was devoid of any recollection of what hers was. Her arm slipped out of Theo's and she began to walk up ahead of her, eventually turning around to find Theo gone. When Ava faced forward again, she was no longer at the top of the stairs, she was at the edge of a large dance floor. A tall man, not muscled but not lean, appeared next to her and offered his arm. He had a mask on but a sly smile was visible as he offered her a dance. She smiled at the man and felt compelled to take his offer. She did, linking his arm with hers, and allowed herself to be pulled off onto the dancefloor. The music was loud and upbeat as people swirled around them, dancing. He took the lead, and like he had been taking classes his whole life, expertly danced. She kept up, not being too bad at this kind of dancing after having taken lessons on it her whole life as well.

Ava let herself get lost in the music, feeling content with the small breeze that came with twirling and spinning. There was a lack of a conversation between the masked man and herself for a few songs. Until the upbeat tunes had faded and the slower, softer melody picked up, the man had been silent. Once they had slowed down and Ava's arms had shifted to hiis neck, he pulled her closer to him. She felt the first feeling of discomfort she had that whole while and she began to pull back but the hands held her steady in place.

"Always running away from me," the voice said, it was a familiar one, "I thought I recognized you."

Ava couldn't breathe, she began to panic and try and escape the hold she was in but it was no use. She was kept in place, forced to dance. He lifted an arm to take off his mask but even then she was stuck. The face of someone she had barely even thought about since leaving stared back at her. She could find no words to say, her voice stuck in her throat, her mouth agape.

"The rumors are true then," the man spoke calmly, his expression holding an ever-present smile, "you ran off with some pirates and now you're getting fucked by the lady captain at night instead of me."

Ava was still speechless, the words unable to come out. She tried to scream, hopefully someone could hear her, but nothing came out. She was being forced into silence by some invisible force. She slipped her arms out of their place on his shoulders and pushed at his chest in an attempt to get away but she was still trapped, he was sturdy and unmoving. The man in front of her was the one she was once to be married to. General Iri Hoffstater, practically a right hand to her father in all military matters. The Council's golden boy. The pirate scourge.

"I've been after your pirate friends for a long time now, almost half a classification it's been since our paths first crossed," he said as he continued to lead them through the dance, "and it seems you are the prize for my victory over them."

He reached up and brushed her hair out of her face and she flinched away. What did he mean that she was the prize for his victory? What had happened to them? What had he done? He ignored her protests and brushed her cheek with his thumb but in its wake, she felt something wet. Her face scrunched up in disgust as her hand whipped up to wipe off whatever was put there. Bringing her hand within eyesight, she saw it was smeared with red. Her stomach flipped and she became queasy at the sight of what she could only assume was blood.

At her horrified face, Hoffstater released his hold on her and stepped back from their embrace. The music stopped and the dance floor was suddenly clear of people. As he stepped away, he held up his hands and Ava could see that they were dripping with blood. She gasped but again, no noise came out. She looked down to her dress to see it stained with blood, her gaze darted over to the floor that was covered in it. It had begun to seep into her dress, the material soaking up the liquid around her. Ava stumbled back, trying to get away from Hoffstater, just to trip over something and fall backward, splashing into blood behind her. She looked to see what had tripped her to see Xyra, throat sliced and laying in a pool of blood.

Looking around the floor, she saw dozens of lumps on the ground. All bodies of her crewmates. Ava scrambled to her feet, heartbeat in her ears and breath heavy as she looked around for Theo but couldn't find her. Ava trained her focus back on Hoffstater but this time, he was holding Theo with a dagger to her throat.

"All of their blood is on you," Hoffstater spoke directly to Ava but Ava didn't understand why, she hadn't done anything. She was innocent, "they all trusted you, and you betrayed them."

Ava wanted to scream, argue, insult, or do anything other than stay silent but she had no choice. Ava took a step towards them, trying to keep Theo from getting killed too but Hoffstater just drove the dagger deeper against Theo's skin.

"She trusted you most of all," he said and Theo looked panicked, her mouth wasn't covered but she seemed incapable of speech too, "did she ever tell you, Captain, who she really is?"

Ava began to run forward, reaching out in an attempt to stop him from revealing it. Theo began to trash against her captor.

"I feel as if, before you die, it is only right for you to know who you really fell for," Hoffstater kneed Theo in the back to get her to stay still and Ava watched as Theo winced in pain, "the darling Avery Vaith is who you see in front of you. And I will have her back."

Hoffstater didn't even give Theo a chance to process it before he pulled the knife across her throat.

Ava shot up in bed gasping. It wasn't a dream she had ever had before. Her heartbeat was racing so hard she could feel it at the tips of her fingers. She thanked Pelas, the god of luck, for the fact that she was in her own room on the Scorned Woman, alone, rather than being on the sloop in a shared room. It took Ava a solid two minutes of staring at the bedsheets in front of her for her to shake any leftover shock from the dream. From her slightly open window, it looked like the sun was due to break in a matter of minutes. It was a switch morning, which meant Ava would be rehomed to the sloop for another several suns, for the last leg of the journey before landing in Dricaster. She started to get ready as it was only a matter of time before a knock came on her door beckoning her down to the deck.

Ava eventually exited her room and made it onto the deck as the sun was just beginning to rise and the morning crew was arriving at their stations. Like most mornings of a switch, she saw Tuni already on deck dressed fancier than her normal clothes; awaiting her partner to arrive from the other ship. No other officers were on deck besides Navi who was busy at the helm so Ava walked over to the healer.

Ava slipped an arm around Tuni's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, "Good Morning, Tuni."

Tuni reached up and patted the hand that was hanging over her shoulder, "Oh good morning, my dear."

Tuni turned to face Ava, her habit of facing people for a conversation was not going to work in Ava's favor that morning. She could feel the heaviness of her eyelids and the hollow feeling in her cheeks, the healer had a sharp eye for spotting a sleepless face and Ava was caught. Tuni's smile became slightly downturned as she tilted her head.

"Didn't sleep?"

"Just a lot of bad dreams," Ava shrugged, "I don't suppose you know how to interpret those?"

"I am just a healer, my apologies" Tuni smiled and put her hand on Ava's arm, "while I cannot tell you what your dreams mean, you can still talk to me about them."

Tuni gave her arm a gentle squeeze and her inviting presence made Ava want to talk about it but she shrugged off that urge. Dwelling would get her nowhere and having to try and hide things about her dream or lie about them didn't sit right with her.

"Thank you, but I am alright for now," Ava rejected the offer but put her hand over Tuni's "how about some tea while we wait for the sloop to come closer?"

Tuni looked over at the incoming ship with a concerned expression, her body was turned to follow Ava to the kitchen but there was hesitancy, she didn't move. Ava knew that Tuni was a bit superstitious, it didn't take long on the ship to figure it out. For some reason, Tuni felt like she needed to be awaiting Morgana every time they reunited. Ava should have pushed Tuni to come with her, to break the habit. She had the urge to throw back some of Tuni's own advice at her and spew something about taking care of herself first and taking time to relax. But Ava wasn't the one to question why Tuni did things or come in between her commitment to her partner.

So, instead of pulling Tuni to the kitchen, Ava placed a kiss on her forehead and walked away, a move she had seen the healer do to almost everyone on board at some point. Ava made the tea, alongside Rose who was preparing breakfast. Over the course of her time on the ship, she had grown used to coming in the kitchen to do something while Rose was also in there. What once would have terrified her, now only mildly scared her. Rose, as always, said nothing as Ava prepared two cups of steaming tea. Ava made Tuni's the way she liked it, nothing added to it except a fuck ton of sugar. Ava ran it back up to the healer and they sipped the hot beverage in relative silence as they watched the sloop come closer.

They didn't always pull the ships together on switch mornings, in fact, this was only the third time in their whole voyage. Usually, the Scorned Woman would send out a rowboat to transfer the necessary crew. But as their last suns approached until their destination, they were running low on supplies. A quick transfer of food stores and other essentials would be done quickly and then they would be on their way again. What sucked about it was that Ava was fully expected to help coordinate and carry things, and it was too early in the morning for physical exertion. As the crew on both ships began boarding procedures Ava pushed off of the boxes they had been resting against and handed her mug to Tuni.

"Better be one of the first ones over so Xyra can take out her angry morning commands on me and not someone who will give her attitude," Ava gave the excuse so she didn't have to walk the half-full cup of tea back to the kitchen.

"You also give her attitude," Tuni chuckled a bit, seeing through the rouse but taking the cup happily.

Tuni shooed her away, watching as Ava hopped over the edge of one deck and onto the other. Tuni couldn't see Morgana just yet but she was most likely still being pulled out of bed. She smiled to herself and shook her head, she would go wake her up but Xyra had banned Tuni from doing that and on both ships, Xyra outranked her. The logic was that Tuni couldn't come swoop in and wake Mor up because it would be rewarding bad behavior. She didn't fight against the rule, she found it quite amusing. Tuni took the opportunity of a Morgana-free deck to break her gaze away from it and look towards the crew on her own ship. She found someone that was running towards the inside of the ship and she stopped them.

"Run this into the kitchen, will you dear?" Tuni smiled at them, "they need the cups for breakfast."

"Aye," a younger crew member beamed down at her, "I have a tight back from the hammock I'm in. Could I pass by later?"

"Of course. We'll get you some healing salve and then I will have you to take me to your hammock. I want to see how it's set up, maybe I can help with making it more comfortable," Tuni offered with a smile and waved off the person.

As she looked back, Cooker was escorting Morgana out of the lower decks. She looked to be walking extra slow on purpose and it earned her a shove from Cooker. Tuni brought her hand to her mouth to cover the laugh that rose up in her chest. One of her favorite things about Mor was her ability to make light of any situation. Morgana immediately looked over to the Scorned Woman and scanned its deck looking for Tuni and when she locked eyes with her, she gave a goofy wave. Tuni returned it but rather quickly after, Morgana's attention was called by someone else.

She figured it would be a while before Morgana was not needed on the sloop so she got comfortable on the crates. As Morgana's attention was released from the person she was talking to, it was directed back to Tuni who gave her a loving smile and made a shooing motion, telling Morgana to focus on her work first. She was given a thumbs up and Morgana did as Tuni commanded.

As was the case with every small job they did, no one could walk away without at least a little injury. Tuni had just finished up wrapping the last of the wounds, a sprained pinky, when she heard the echo of unmistakable boots. She heard her before she could see her.

"Where is the healer? I've got a broken heart over here that needs mending," Morgana said from somewhere in front of Tuni.

Peeking through the crowd of people that had formed after having consumed Tuni for her services, she saw who she had been waiting for. Tuni hopped off the crate she had been on and squeezed through the small group of people before crashing into Morgana's chest. She was promptly picked up. Tuni squealed as her feet were lifted off the ground before she wrapped her legs around Morgana's torso.

"I'm right here," Tuni placed her forehead against Mor's and smiled so wide it was hurting her mouth, "and I think I have the perfect cure for your condition."

"I'll do anything you recommend, doc," Morgana teased and Tuni leaned forward for a chaste kiss, aware of the people likely staring. Tuni pulled away but it wasn't enough, she pressed another and then another kiss on Morgana's lips before actually stopping. Morgana laughed every time Tuni came back in for more, holding her tightly to her chest, "I feel better already."

Tuni tapped Morgana's shoulder and she obeyed the silent command, setting Tuni down on the deck. She reached up and put a hand to Morgana's cheek, rubbing it with her thumb, "Go do what you're supposed to do. I'll see you later, alright?"

"Training doesn't start 'til the aftermorning, I've got hours until then," Morgana frowned at the implication that they were going to split ways.

"And you've got nothing to do until then?" Tuni raised a brow.

"Talk to Theo but that can happen whenever," Morgana huffed at being caught.

"Go now, come to the infirmary when you're done," Tuni patted her cheek before pulling away. Morgana leaned down and gave Tuni one last kiss before leaving to fulfill her duties.

Tuni made sure no one needed anything else around the deck before waving off the recently ungrappled sloop and heading to the infirmary, slipping into her little desk nook. She pulled a few containers off one of the top shelves of her nook and a jar from inside her desk drawer. She laid them all out on the table in front of her and opened each receptacle. Tuni liked to play around with different ointments, salves, leaves, and whatever other medicine she could find in order to make different new ones. Morgana had always been a supporter of Tuni's scientific adventures and offered her help by being Tuni's experimentation canvas. Tuni never did anything dangerous, but itchy skin or other mildly unpleasant things were always a risk.

Her leaf and sap mixture seemed like it would be promising; it had been a while since Tuni had successfully made something she thought would work and while she had plenty of time with Morgana, she wanted to get the trials of her creations going so they had many suns to see the effects. With all of the containers in front of her, she examined them. After a few minutes of consideration, she placed two of the containers back on their shelves after shutting them and kept the other things on her desk. As she was putting the containers away, the door opened and a few seconds later she felt a hand grab the last container and place it where it belonged. Soon after, arms wrapped around her waist, and a head was placed on her shoulder.

"Welcome home, sai," Tuni said and put her head back against Morgana's chest, putting her arms over Morgana's.

Tuni felt Morgana take a deep breath in and then place a kiss on her shoulder, "Having you in me arms never gets old."

"You do have your ways of charming me, my love, do you not?" Tuni chuckled and closed her eyes, taking in the warmth.

"I'm not trying to be charming, just honest," Morgana pulled away from Tuni and turned her around.

"Well, my plan was to subject you to my experiments," Tuni wrapped her arms around Morgana's neck, standing on her tiptoes, "but I suppose that can wait and we can make better use of our time, somehow."

"Somehow..." Morgana sighed and pretended to think before scooping Tuni up in her arms and carrying her to the bedroom.

-

"Fortune," Morgana whined, "you didn't say it would be cold."

"You fight people for a living," Tuni laughed as she straddled Morgana in place, "I believe that you are able to withstand a little bit of cold."

Morgana huffed and bucked her hips, throwing Tuni slightly out of place. She just laughed again and regained her position, using her legs to cage in Morgana who was propped up on pillows facing her. Tuni regained her grasp on the situation and tilted Morgana's neck aside and began to apply one of her containers. It was a clear, gooey substance that seemed to dry quickly once on the skin. There were plenty of scars that littered Morgana's body. From lash scars on her back to small tiny ones made from cuts sustained while falling, to scars from knives, arrows, and swords. Some of them would begin to hurt Mor at times and Tuni had been working on a way to get them to stop.

As she spread the ointment over Mor's problem scars, she made sure to be gentle with her touches. Once Morgana could feel that Tuni had finished, her wrist was gently grabbed and pulled into Morgana's view.

"Care to explain?" Morgana had a small smirk on her face, "why doesn't my wife have her ring on?"

Tuni rolled her eyes and slapped her chest, "You do this every time."

"You've got your requests, I've got mine," Morgana shrugged, the unbothered smirk on her face was still there.

Tuni unstraddled Morgana and stood up on the floor, the shirt that belonged to Morgana came up to her knees and her fingers were barely visible through the edges of the sleeves. She walked to her small vanity, one Morgana had made for her with the expertise of Evana, and pulled a ring out of her jewelry box. She walked to the front of the bed and pulled one of her sleeves up dramatically, then held up her hand and placed the ring onto her finger.

Morgana got up, only loose pants adorning her body, and walked over to Tuni. She slipped an arm across Tuni's lower back and pulled her close, "Makes me want to take you to bed again."

Tuni laughed and tried to pull away from the embrace but Morgana kept her firmly in place.

"Let me go, brute. I am upset with you."

"For forcing you into a union with me?" Morgana asked.

"Aye," Tuni tried to frown but a smile was still on her face.

"I didn't make you agree to it," Morgana reminded and then reached her free hand out to grab Tuni's and bring it to her face, kissing right below the ring, "I'm just here to enforce your decision."

"So, you admit you are forcing this on me," Tuni teased.

"Absolutely," Morgana nodded, "but if it gets you to be my wife, I'll try anything."

Tuni pulled the person she was promised to down to her lips. Her stomach fluttered at the kiss, like it was their first one, and she pressed herself closer to Morgana, no longer trying to run away.

"Seriously, though," Morgana mumbled against Tuni's lips before pulling away, "you can take it back at any time. You are my wife, in my eyes, union ceremony or not."

"I know, sai, I know," Tuni smiled and wrapped her arms around Morgana, pressing her head against Mor's chest, "I wish you were forcing me to do this, it would be easier to explain to myself."

There was a knowing hum that vibrating through Morgana's chest, like she knew exactly what Tuni meant. Tuni didn't expect anything less, Morgana knew her well and they could sense each other's emotions. Tuni was happy, but there was also a twinge of something negative in her chest that she couldn't put a finger on. It was difficult to let go of all of the rules she had for herself, all of the things she said she would never do. A part of her was still holding onto those rules as a sense of control and breaking one of the cardinal rules made her feel angry, resentful, unable to process it.

Tuni had said yes to one of Morgana's hundreds of union proposals. It was something she never saw herself doing but then Morgana didn't come home to her on time and she had thought that her lover was gone forever. In the time they had spent apart and the time awaiting for Mor's late arrival, Tuni had reconsidered one of the rules she had for herself; to never have a union. Morgana was her life partner, she would never be with anyone else. The idea of ever not being together was unfathomable to both of them, so why had it been so hard to come around to the idea of being in a union. It was something Morgana longed for and Tuni had seen no point in keeping the stupid rule around the second she saw Morgana's face again.

Predictably, Morgana had asked her not even a few hours into their time back together again. They had just finished their campsite on one of the beaches at the rendezvous point and were enjoying the water when Morgana had asked. The shock on Morgana's face when Tuni said yes was enough to make it all worth it. Of course, once the high of the acceptance wore off, Tuni reminded Morgana of her aversion to the concept of a union and Morgana did not hesitate in agreeing to terms.

Tuni did not want to wear a ring, a symbol of their promise to engage in a union; at least until they had announced it to their friends and began planning a ceremony. But she also didn't want to even think of planning the union ceremony or telling their friends until things had cleared up on the pirate front; maybe even waiting until the reclassification was over before they began to plan. Morgana, in return, asked that they would have a serious conversation about the timeline of a ceremony and telling their friends the moment the war was over. Morgana agreed to table the discussion and just be quietly happy in the fact that they were promised to each other, Morgana's only other request was that when they were together and alone, Tuni would wear the ring.

Tuni agreed to it, obviously, it was the least she could do with all the caveats she had presented. But something about the ring made her feel sick at times, like feeling owned. That was not Morgana's intention, but it was how Tuni viewed it. The ring belonged to Mor's mom who had been in a great relationship with Mor's father. The ring for Morgana symbolized love, commitment, promise, a future together. All it reminded Tuni was of the gifts the men her mother would service would give her, it reminded her of the patrons that would make her mother wear their gifted jewelry anytime she was with them. It was a thing she saw happen to most of the women at the brothel she grew up in. They had different experiences but Tuni put aside her discomfort for a few suns in the cycle since leaving the island to make Mor happy. Morgana did so much for Tuni and Tuni wanted to return the favor.

Obviously, if Morgana had known that Tuni felt as strongly about the ring as she did, she would have never made her wear it. But because Tuni had agreed to Morgana's request, the other woman had assumed she was okay with it. Tuni was to blame for that, she always insisted that they be open and honest with each other and Tuni had failed to do that. Morgana knew that agreeing to a union was not going to erase all of Tuni's previous feelings towards the concept, which was why she didn't push back on Tuni's requests, but she didn't know the ring factored into it.

With the negative feelings also came an overwhelming amount of joy and positivity. Which was almost making things worse. Why did she want this? Why was she so okay with throwing aside her personal philosophy? Tuni knew why, it was Morgana. The person who made her happy, who cared for her, who never stopped trying to make others laugh when they were sad, the person who loved her unconditionally and supported her in everything. The thought of standing in front of all of their friends, and in front of Morgana's family, and publicly declaring a lifelong commitment to each other was elating. A tradition and ceremony that used to disgust her was something she felt giddy over. It was an internal battle, feeling guilty about her decision but also being ecstatic. Feeling trapped and confined but feeling more loved than she ever had.

That was probably the reason that she pushed off any sort of conversation about going through with the union. If it was out of mind for a little bit longer, she wouldn't have to grapple with the contradictions she was feeling. She could just be happy with Mor, in a blissful bubble. Like right then, where they were wrapped in each other's arms, head to chest, just basking in each other's presence. Tuni had closed her eyes and let herself feel the traces of Morgana's fingers running up and down her back as they stood in a small huddle.

It stopped suddenly and Morgana tightened under Tuni. Tuni's eyes shot open and she looked up to find Morgana with a pained expression.

"Shit, babe," Morgana brought a hand up to her neck where the concoction had been placed, "it's starting to hurt."

"That's no good," Tuni frowned before dashing out of the room and to her desk, rummaging through what she had. She found a cream that had been effective in neutralizing stinging and pain in the past and ran back to Morgana who had sat down at the edge of the bed. There was mild discomfort on her face but it was still less complaining than when the ointment had been cold; Morgana could handle pain but not a cooler temperature. Tuni barely needed to bend down to attend to the job, with a sitting Morgana practically being the same height as a standing Tuni.

The pain looked like it eased on contact with the cream, Morgana's tenseness exiting her body. Her scrunched eyebrows relaxed and she stared up at Tuni with a smile on her face.

"Don't look at me like that," Tuni practically giggled at the attention, "I just hurt you."

"By trying to help," Morgana shrugged, which made some of the cream brush off. Tuni sighed and reapplied some more where it had rubbed off, "how were the past few suns for you?"

Morgana placed her hands on Tuni's hips, holding her in place as Tuni began to apply the cream to other places that the salve had touched. It always gave Tuni butterflies when Morgana would ask about the things she did. No matter how often it happened, the attentiveness given to her made her feel beyond special.

"I've not been busy at all," Tuni said as she put the finishing touches on her task, ensuring every part that needed to be covered was, "gave me more time to experiment. Oceane and Ava kept me a lot of company too."

"I haven't spent too much time with O on this trip. She good?"

"She seems alright but there is a sparkle in her eye that is missing," Tuni recalled her trip with Oceane so far, "like someone stole the light behind them."

It weighed heavily on Tuni's heart that someone like Oceane, only ever a positive and happy person, had to experience such tragedy.

"And her brother? What's he like? Haven't heard too much about him." Morgana asked. Training had kept her so busy and taken such a toll on her energy that she was usually napping through dinnertime, only waking once Tuni brought her back a plate of food. She hadn't really had a chance to interact with the crew like she usually did.

"He's a copy of Oceane," Tuni smiled, a sadness behind it, "they are both full of energy and jokes and spirit. But that same pain is behind his eyes, I can tell he is hurting."

Tuni sealed the jar of cream and as she finished, she was yanked onto the bed over Morgana. Morgana wiggled around on the bed until she reached her pillows before sitting up, bringing Tuni with her. Tuni laughed the whole time, making sure to be dead weight and not help Morgana get comfortable. As Morgana sat up, Tuni was once again straddling her lap. Morgana always had a way to make a serious conversation end. But Tuni felt a tug on her stomach while talking about Oceane that didn't go away when the conversation ended. She had been thinking about something for a while but didn't want to say anything in case it worried Morgana.

Her expression must have been amiss because Morgana brushed some hair out of her face and put her hand on Tuni's cheek, "I know you feel for them, love, but ya can't blame yourself for their pain."

"It's not that-" Tuni paused to try and collect what she wanted to say, "Mor, I'm worried."

"About?"

"Your family," she whispered, as if saying it louder would make it come true, "remember when Theo told us that The Center had known who Oceane's family was... That they had come to her house?"

"Aye," Morgana's face looked like it was trying to jump to the conclusion of whatever Tuni was getting at.

"What if they know where yours is? What if they've been hurt?" Tuni asked, knowing it was not the best way to present the possibility but it was the only way she could.

Something Tuni couldn't quite make out flashed across Morgana's face. Perhaps it was fear, something Tuni rarely saw from her partner. Morgana's hand slipped from Tuni's cheek.

"Pa's got my sister in school, so she's safe," Morgana frowned, "and he knows better than to talk to pigs or admit anything."

"Alright-"

"A-and didn't they offer Oceane's old man a deal? Like they didn't actually do anything to him until he entered into a deal with them, and then they killed him anyway," Morgana rationalized, Tuni didn't know how Morgana hadn't already thought about it.

"I don't think he had much of a choice, they would have hurt him either way..." Tuni shook her head, "I'm just saying, I think you should reach out to them through mail when we dock... Maybe send them some money and tell them to get out of town for a while. Until this all blows over."

Morgana looked focused, like she was already counting how much money she would be giving and what she would write. Well, what she would have Tuni write. Morgana took Tuni's hands into her own and squeezed them.

"Thank you," Morgana shook her head, "for always thinking of my family, even when I forget."

"They're my family too, my love," Tuni smiled a bit, "I'm sorry I didn't think to mention it earlier, I just assumed you figured it out and didn't want to talk about it."

"They call me meathead for a reason," Morgana chuckled a bit and it brought a smile to Tuni's face. Tuni was about to launch into a monologue about how Morgana was smarter than everybody gave her credit for but she was stopped with a kiss. Morgana's large hands cupping her jaw and the back of her neck.

Tuni relaxed a bit and let Morgana lean them back as they shared a slow kiss. Morgana flipped them over and pinned Tuni's hand above her. Tuni rolled her eyes but still smiled, "We were just having a somber conversation, I don't understand how you can be in the mood."

"The way you care about me gives me a raging boner," Morgana teased and Tuni laughed at the language.

"You know I hate when you say that," Tuni tried to get away from Morgana but it was no use, she was held in place and her neck was assaulted with kisses.

There was a knock on their bedroom door and Morgana buried her face in Tuni's neck before mumbling, "Make them go away."

Tuni laughed and turned her head towards the door, "We'll be right out."

Morgana was already pulling herself off of Tuni before she was told to get her ass into motion.

"Hurry up, Mor!" they heard Cooker yell from the other side of the door, "everyone is getting ready for training."

"They have come for me, my love," Morgana sighed and stood up, finding a new shirt to put on and leaving Tuni with hers.

"Good luck," Tuni smiled and got comfortable on the bed, pulling the blanket around her in case Cooker decided to barge in, "please keep the number of people sent to the infirmary to a minimum."

"I make no promises I can't keep," Morgana gave Tuni a wink before purposely shoving the door open suddenly and aggressively so as to catch Cooker off guard on the other side.

It worked and Tuni heard a yell of pain before bickering ensued as the door was closed behind Morgana. Tuni eventually got up and got fully dressed before sitting outside at her desk, awaiting any injured crew. At least Tuni's request for fewer injuries was taken into consideration, she only had two girls come in. Training partners that had a mishap with their wooden swords, one girl had a split lip and the other had a sprained wrist. Tuni did what she could for them and sent them on their way, instructing them that they were not to go back to train.

Besides that, she was alone in the infirmary for a long while. She eventually got to work on her concoctions again, pulling out her small notebook and updating what had happened. As she took the time off to organize parts of infirmary storage that she had been putting away, Morgana came back.

"Cook says that Rose is using extra spices and shit in tonight's dinner so maybe we will be spared from the nasty rations she's been giving us," Morgana said as she closed the door behind her.

"Rose is working with no fresh food and a supply of goods that has been slowly depleted over the course of a cycle," Tuni acknowledged and walked over to Morgana, giving her a check to make sure she wasn't injured, "please, give her some credit."

"Oi, I'm not saying it's her fault that our food has been nasty, I'm just saying it has been," Morgana defended herself and stopped the check-up to give Tuni a quick peck, "all of that to say I will be joining my wife at dinner tonight."

Tuni beamed, "You will?"

Morgana nodded and opened her arms expectantly. Tuni hopped into them and was promptly spun around. Tuni squished Mor's cheeks between her hands and planted several kisses on her lips.

"Want to come with me to the training room before dinner?" Morgana asked through squished cheeks after the kisses stopped coming, "you can watch me train, maybe help me throw a few daggers."

"Haven't you trained enough?" Tuni tried not to sound too overbearing but sometimes she worried that Morgana overdid it with physical exertion.

"I trained others, I still gotta get me own training time in," Morgana said and before Tuni had even agreed to go, began to walk them outside.

"I am telling Rose to set you aside an extra portion at dinner tonight," Tuni said, "you need to be keeping your energy up if you are going to be training so hard."

"I won't complain about extra food," Morgana chuckled as she walked to the training room, Tuni still hoisted up.

Morgana, under Tuni's supervision, trained by herself for a while. Tuni made sure that she didn't overexert herself. There was bound to be another one of the secret fight rings the officers would organize behind her back and if they were to happen, she wanted Morgana to not be too exhausted to defend herself. After an hour or so, Tuni hopped in to help Morgana with her dagger work. Four lengths of helping her learn how to throw them and Morgana was not much better than when she had started. Tuni was exaggerating, Morgana could at least hit somewhere on the target whereas before she was a danger to anyone within thirty feet of her. But for the leader of a vanguard, she was awful. Throwing hand axes was more her thing, as Morgana frequently reminded her.

They stayed until the dinner bell rang, being one of the first ones in the mess room. It was a fairly quiet dinner, everyone feeling the effects of nonstop sailing. Theo didn't stop by for dinner that night but with a ship that wasn't fully staffed, that had become a common occurrence. Rose did provide Morgana with an extra ration and anyone who might have noticed or cared failed to say anything. Dinner was uneventful and upon their return to their room, Morgana and Tuni found Cooker laying down in one of the infirmary beds. She had missed dinner like Theo had.

Morgana wasted no time in going over to bother Cooker by attempting to push her off the bed. Cooker held onto the bed for dear life, laughing as she struggled to stay on. Tuni saved her breath, telling them to quit wasn't going to do much. So Tuni let them fight it out while she went to her desk and retrieved a small ravci cigarette she had. Cooker was being limited by Theo and Xyra on her substance use, something Tuni was more than happy about. As the healer, she was in charge of administering a safe and healthy amount for Cooker; just enough to help her through such a radical change. As the healer's partner, it was Mor's job when Tuni wasn't around.

They had finished roughhousing and Cooker sat up with Morgana sitting next to her. Cooker reached across the desk and met Tuni halfway, grabbing the ravci. Cooker wasted no time in working to get it lit on one of the hanging lights in the room. Smoke began to fill the area as Cooker took her first few puffs.

"Care for some?" Cooker held out the cigarette but Tuni shook her head.

Morgana, on the other hand, gladly took some. Tuni would have stopped her, knowing ravci gave her bad dreams, but it was good progress that Cooker was sharing. In the cycle they had been at sea, Cooker rarely let anyone take a hit when she was asked and now she was willing to share. Tuni let it be, in the name of progress, and decided she would give Morgana a calming tea and a massage before bed to help with the dreams. They finished the cigarette between themselves, filling the room up with smoke. Tuni felt buzzed just from sitting in the room.

Cooker was done but didn't leave, her and Morgana having a back and forth about something that Tuni honestly hadn't been paying attention to. Tuni's tolerance for drugs or any sort of intoxicant was very low, and the second hand from the ravci was enough to knock her on her ass. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against her chair and listened. Eventually, she caught the tail end of one conversation as it led into a new one she could follow along for. For some reason, the topic had shifted to Xyra's tea she had started to drink in the mornings and the two of them were making fun of its taste.

Xyra had gotten the tea at the beginning of the trip from Tuni, who had a wide collection of different types. Xyra had been looking for something to calm her down and help abate anxious thoughts, Tuni had just the thing. With promising benefits, however, taste was usually what was compromised; Tuni thought of it as nature's tax. She opened her eyes and cleared her throat as she sat up.

"How is she?" Tuni asked.

The conversation came to a halt. Cooker and Morgana exchanged glances before Cooker looked over at Tuni and shrugged, "She's good. Pretty busy being a captain but I think she likes it."

"Why was there a look?" Tuni asked, "is something going on with Xy?"

"There was no look, as I said, she's good," Cooker replied.

"Every time I ask either of you or Red, I get the same answer," Tuni crossed her arms, "she's fine, she's good, she's busy. Not only did I just get the same answer I always get, which is already suspect, but now there was also a look."

"There was no look--" Cooker attempted to deny what Tuni had seen with her own eyes but she was cut off.

"You three are the only way to get information about what's happening on the other ship," Tuni stood up, "Xyra is and always will be my patient, even when she isn't standing in front of me. So, I would like to know how she is doing. Please."

Tuni tried to not get too worked up but she was accidentally a little high and that could sometimes make her fail to reign in her feelings. Tuni was an emotional person but usuallly she tried to take a route of minimal anger and nagging.

"We can't say anything," Morgana let slip, never good with keeping secrets when she was high, "Xyra said we were not allowed to mention her name to you or Theo. Which was an exaggeration, she just meant we weren't allowed to share our thoughts about her with you."

"Will you shut up?" Cooker checked Morgana with her shoulder.

"Mor, baby," Tuni walked over to her partner and placed a hand on her cheek, "tell me what you think."

"Oi," Cooker tugged on Morgana's arm, "resist her. She is trying to seduce you into spilling. Is it worth being dismembered by Xy?"

"Of course it's worth it, she's my wife," Morgana had a goofy smile on her face as she looked up at Tuni, "Xy's just been kind of weird."

"How so?" Tuni asked, ignoring the loud groan that came from Cooker.

"She's almost been, like, normal and shit," Morgana explained, "she comes to dinner, does her job, trains, hangs out with everyone but it's sort of off, more detached than usual. Less mean, too."

"She is less mean," Cooker agreed.

"Anything else you would want to add?" Tuni looked over at Cooker.

"No, I'm not a traitor," Cooker crossed her arms.

"Cook, I'm not trying to corner her with the information you give me. I just want to be in the loop," Tuni tried her hand at convincing Cooker to tell her about Xyra but she knew it was no use, Cooker could be tortured and would likely not break her promise to keep her mouth shut. Cooker turned her head away and Tuni sighed, "One question, and I'll drop it for tonight, has she spoken with Navi yet?"

"She hasn't," Cooker was the one to admit it.

"It's self-sabotage," Morgana chimed in, "She's so alright in every other aspect of her life because she's driving her relationship into the ground. A sort of fucked up balance."

"I'm sure Xyra has a good reason and explanation for what she's doing," Cooker jumped to Xyra's defense, "their relationship is none of our business."

Tuni took a good look at Cooker to try and decipher what she was feeling. Her first instinct was to assume that Cooker still had feelings for Xyra and preferred her to be single. But that wouldn't make sense since it was often Theo that gave Xyra pushback when it came to the topic of Navi; Cooker had always been okay with it. Cooker looked not jealous, but guilty. Cooker knew something that Morgana didn't, something that none of them did. Cooker didn't seem to be the only one with secrets up their sleeves, the way Xyra was withdrawing from Theo and Navi made Tuni think that whatever it was, Cooker and Xyra were both involved in it.

Whatever was going on, Tuni wouldn't likely get to the bottom of it in one night, so she decided to drop it before she asked about it. Cooker was partially right about Xyra and Navi's relationship being none of their business, so Tuni didn't dwell on that either. She observed far more than she was let in on and she had learned a long while before that it was better to just let some things go.

"Well, whatever is going on between them, I hope they solve it soon," Tuni made one final statement, "I don't like seeing Navi so sad."

"Aye, she's been boring lately," Morgana frowned and Cooker shrugged.

"She spent lengths fucking with Xyra's heart and now she expects it all to go her way?" Cooker scoffed, "If Xyra needs some space, then she should get some space without Navi throwing a fit."

"Navi is not throwing a fit. She is reacting appropriately," Tuni shook her head, ignoring the fact that she had told herself to drop things, "Xyra needs to grow up."

"I thought we were not supposed to be involved in their business," Morgana laughed, "I'm hearing a lot of getting involved."

"Aren't you supposed to be fucking asleep or something, grandma?" Cooker snapped her head over to Morgana.

"You think you insult me, small one, but I'm not ashamed of my early bedtime, it means I put in hard work that sun," Morgana stood up and placed a kiss to the top of Tuni's head, "I will be going off to bed though."

Tuni nodded and reached up to cup Morgana's cheek, "Have a good night, my love, I will be in soon."

Tuni would have to skip the tea and massage and just hope that Mor was able to have good dreams. Morgana slipped into their bedroom and closed the door behind them. Tuni crossed her arms and looked over at Cooker. Cooker just smirked at Tuni.

"I've got you riled up," Cooker chuckled.

"You all exist to give me headaches," Tuni shook her head and sat on her desk, "how are you doing?"

"Oh, y'know, craving the feeling of being high all sun as I'm forced to relive the same routine over and over again as the impending doom feels closer with every rise of the sun" Cooker shrugged, "same as it has been."

"I cannot tell if you are being dramatic or if I need to be deeply concerned about you," Tuni was genuinely distressed, the subject of Cooker's struggle was one that hit close to home.

"Have no concern on my behalf, I'll be fine eventually," Cooker hopped off the bed and walked over to Tuni, placing a kiss on her head before leaving the room.

Tuni shook her head with a sigh and put her head in her hands. These girls were going to be the death of her. She stayed out of her bedroom for a few minutes and began to hear Morgana's snoring. She smiled to herself, it would be a loud and long night for her but at least Morgana was going to get a good rest. To avoid having to burst her eardrums while Mor slept, Tuni stayed in her infirmary. She spent some time looking through her journal, trying to piece together what might have gone wrong with the mixture she put on Morgana that morning.

She had managed to plan out another mixture that was pieced together with several other recipes she had tried and after gathering her ingredients, she headed to the empty kitchen. Tuni put a pot of water to boil and began her experiment. She wouldn't be trying it on Morgana any time soon but she wanted to get it done soon so that it could sit for a while prior to application. It took Tuni a few hours to get everything to the consistency she wanted and put away in one of her jars. With the scalding glass in her hands, she walked up to the main deck once again.

When she emerged, she saw a few people doing their night crew duties, and a figure she hadn't seen all sun was leaning against the edge of the deck, Theo. Tuni walked over to her, watching as her black hair flowed wildly in the wind with no hat to keep it at bay. Tuni sidled in next to Theo and looked out onto the ocean, the moon casting a beautiful light over the water.

"It's quite late, Captain," Tuni said and she watched from her periphery as Theo slowly turned her head to look at Tuni, "I thought you had the early shift."

Tuni turned her head to face Theo and Theo flashed her a charming smile.

"I do."

"Then you should be asleep, you know how I feel about you putting yourself through late nights," Tuni reminded, she hated making the girls she was in charge of feel smothered but sometimes, she was the only one looking out for their well being.

"I know," Theo acknowledged with a nod, "but not sleeping is sometimes better than the nightmares."

"Want to talk about that?" Tuni offered with a warm smile, trying to get Theo to be comfortable, not that comfort between them was ever lacking.

"If we talk about it, the conversation will eventually lead back to religion and I don't think you'd be too keen on that," Theo chuckled as she caught a look of the accidental face Tuni made at the mention of religion.

"I'll try to hide my contempt for the divine," Tuni let out a small laugh at the realization of her reaction and neutralized her face. She reached behind Theo and wrapped an arm across her hip, leaning her head on Theo's shoulder, "now, go on."

Theo chuckled again and pulled her arm out from under Tuni's hold and put it around Tuni's shoulder, pulling her to Theo's side, "There isn't much to say about the nightmares, I suppose, it's just my own fears being thrown back at me. Losing the ship, losing my family, failing to save people, falling for a trap. I'm used to those, those are fine."

"So, what's the problem then, if not the nightmares?"

"The other dreams, I guess," Theo spoke as if she was just realizing it as she said it, "Riva has been sending me dreams but none of them make sense. It's like flashing images, nonsensical, lacking coherence... I can't figure it out."

"But they aren't nightmares? What you see in the dreams, is it bad or good?" Tuni asked, trying to help Theo work through whatever religious drama she had going on.

"They aren't nightmares, no," Theo mused then brought her free hand back to push her hair out of her face, taking a moment to breathe, "I can't figure out whether it's good or bad, what she is trying to show me. It's not inherently nightmarish but the stress that comes after, the not being able to figure it out, that is what's scary."

"What if you're not meant to figure it out?" Tuni asked.

"Aye," Theo nodded, "I've been thinking of that recently... But then why would she send them to me in the first place."

"I never had a relationship with a god, I wouldn't know what to tell you," Tuni rubbed Theo's back in her attempt to comfort the captain.

"Guess it's the downside to being this close to Riva," Theo shrugged, "not many people to turn to with questions."

"Sorry for not being able to answer them," Tuni said.

Theo squeezed around Tuni's shoulders, "No need to apologize, my dear Fortune."

Tuni and Theo stepped into silence, falling into a trance looking out onto the water. Tuni never knew how or why she was able to do so but she was innately able to just tell what people were feeling. She was able to tune into people's emotions better than others seemed to. It wasn't magic, she couldn't learn everything from being around someone, it was just a small intuition as to how they were feeling. As she stood next to Theo, up against her side, she felt something weighing on her captain. It was something beyond the dreams though, a tightly wound stress that was separate from the anxiety she felt coming from Theo about whatever Riva was doing. Theo hadn't opened up about that though and Tuni had learned by then to not push pirates on their feelings, lest she wanted to be snapped on. So Tuni left the subject alone, simply keeping her captain company until the emotions coming from Theo made Tuni's head almost fuzzy with how much she could tell it was affecting her.

"Your soul feels heavy, child," Tuni said softly, breaking the silence between them.

She felt Theo's chest jolt with a chuckle, "It is."

"What is the matter?" Tuni asked, not moving her eyes from the ocean's waves.

"I'm not too sure," Theo hummed in thought, "I've felt like I've been just moving without thought for the past cycle; trying to survive, trying to get back to Corinspe on time, trying to find an end to this fucking war, trying to get back to what we are good at which is pirating."

Theo paused to think of her words, Tuni not interrupting the flow of thought.

"I feel at peace but it's uneasy, eerie... isolating," Theo let out a deep breath and Tuni felt as her chest expanded with air once again, "I know part of the way I'm feeling is because the crew has been split up for so long but even the people around me feel withdrawn..."

"Like who, love?" Tuni asked, resuming her rubs against Theo's back.

"Cooker is physically there but lately, even before the rendezvous, she was acting weird. Xyra quite literally abandoned ship and won't fucking come over to talk to me when the ships are together. Oceane is busy with her brother, which I understand... and Red- well, we are fine but shit is still raw. You and Mor are the only ones that are giving me the attention I need to survive," Theo poked fun at herself, "but even then, Mor isn't around a lot and you and I are on opposite schedules."

Tuni felt for the girl. Theo had always been a social person and the family she had formed over her lengths as a captain served to stabilize her. With the tight-knit community she had formed around her beginning to unravel under the current circumstances, it must have made everything exponentially more difficult.

"My door is always open, Theo, at any time," Tuni offered, "opposite schedules or not."

"I know," Theo's smile was visible as Tuni glanced up at the captain but it was still strained.

"There is more," Tuni pointed out and Theo sighed.

"It's Riva," Theo sounded like she was admitting it for the first time. "I- She hasn't appeared to me or answered any of my prayers. I'm just getting the dreams."

"Is that not normal?" Tuni inquired, lost as to how gods worked most of the time.

"Not for me, no," Theo pulled her arm from around Tuni and leaned forward on the edge of the deck, putting her head in her hands for a moment before sighing again and looking forward, "And I pray every night, every morning, even just any time I'm alone. I just keep asking for a sign that isn't a dream or an explanation for the ones I'm having or just to feel her presence again but she's just.... gone. I can't help but think I did something wrong."

"Have you broken the tenets?" Tuni searched her mind for whatever religious knowledge she had. She wasn't sure what the tenets were but she knew that Riva was bound to have them.

"No, I haven't. Or at least I don't think I did. Perhaps in Drokian, releasing those prisoners might have brought more chaos than good, or-" Theo stopped herself, shaking her head at whatever it was she was leaving out.

"Or?" Tuni pressed on, sensing it was okay to do so. Theo hadn't pushed her away just yet.

"Or maybe it's punishment for Oceane," Theo dropped her head, hanging with her eyes closed.

"What does one have to do with the other?"

"I'm the reason Oceane's family was threatened, that her village was burned down," Theo explained her reasoning, "I know I didn't directly cause it but what if she considers that bringing more harm than good to others."

"Theo, this is not the first time others have been hurt by The Center's actions because they were caught in the middle of a chase between you and the government. Riva has never seemed to punish you then," Tuni frowned at Theo's line of thought, "I don't think you should be putting any blame on yourself for what happened to Oceane."

"It's hard not to," Theo whispered, "everyone's family is potentially at risk because they joined my crew, I recruited them."

"You provided a place for them to get money, escape abuse, find shelter, find a new family," Tuni wouldn't stand for Theo blaming herself, "whatever the reason, you've provided nothing but benefits for those on your ship. They have every right to leave, most of them have the means to live out a full life if they wanted to, and even if they didn't you would be more than willing to provide for them what they needed to make sure they were able to leave. We know the risks when joining a pirate crew; death for us and our families if they are identified. What happened was a tragedy but not your fault."

Theo was quiet for a few seconds then nodded, "Thank you, Fortune."

Theo leaned over and pressed a kiss to Tuni's head and Tuni put her arm around Theo's back like she had earlier. Tuni knew that Theo wasn't convinced by what she had said but Theo hearing it was enough, Theo opening up to her was enough, Theo being able to pinpoint her emotions was enough. Enough to keep her from spiraling, from going down the same path as Cooker, from getting too in her head to complete her duties. While there was still more she could talk about with Theo, more she could push her on, more she could advise her on, Tuni was happy with the progress they had made. Theo was the only damned pirate on this ship willing to let Tuni in.

"You know you're my favorite?" Tuni smiled and leaned her head against Theo's arm.

"Woah," Theo feigned a gasp, "even over Morgana?"

"Aye."

"Damn, if I knew I had a chance with you I would have seduced you lengths ago," Theo teased and finally put her arm back around Tuni. Tuni laughed and gave a light slap to Theo's chest before relaxing into the embrace.

"I should get back to my room," Tuni said and pat Theo's chest, after a few minutes of silence, "a snoring Mor awaits me."

"If you need drugs to knock you out to spare yourself from the noise, you know where to find me," Theo joked and Tuni chuckled, slowly pulling away.

As she was removing her hand from Theo's chest, there was a tight grip on her wrist. Theo's hand was wrapped around it, holding Tuni in place. Tuni was confused and a look up at Theo's face showed that she was also confused. Theo held up Tuni's hand to her face and tilted her head.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is Morgana's mum's ring," Theo pointed out, squinting to get a better look at it.

Tuni tugged her hand away from Theo and Theo allowed her to wrench it free, looking at Tuni expectedly. Waiting for an answer. Tuni cursed herself for forgetting to take it off. Of course Theo would be observant enough to notice it amongst all her other rings.

"It is," Tuni put her hand behind her back.

"How long have you been secretly promised to each other?" Theo couldn't help the small frown that spread across her face, Tuni could tell she was trying to hold in any judgment.

"Theo," Tuni sighed and shook her head, "please, keep it to yourself. I don't want anyone to know."

"How long?"

"Only a cycle..."

"Tuni, has she pressured you in any way?" Theo looked concerned, she took a step forward and put a hand on Tuni's shoulder.

If there was anyone else other than Morgana that knew Tuni well, it was Theo. Tuni had logged many late nights in Theo's room talking about things like her rules and her fears of a union.

"No," Tuni said softly with a shake of her hand, "thank you for your concern, Theo, but I agreed to this."

"Alright," Theo nodded and then a small smile replaced the frown, "congratulations, Fortune."

"Theo-"

"My lips are sealed," Theo smiled and leaned over, kissing Tuni on the cheek, "Just a note, I am going to need at least a six cycle notice on the ceremony so I can have the right outfit made for it."

Theo pulled away and gave her a wink before walking away. Tuni shook her head, a laugh bubbling up against her will. She turned on her heels and walked back into her infirmary and then her room, hearing an absence of noise upon her entry. Morgana looked to be half asleep with her eyes slightly open as she sat up on the pillows. It had been several hours since she had fallen asleep and Tuni swore she was going to rest through the night. Mor always had trouble falling back asleep and she knew they would be in for a long evening, so much for her philosophy that a snoring Mor would always stay asleep.

Tuni slipped into bed and pulled herself over to Morgana's side, cuddling up next to her with her head on Morgana's chest. Morgana, without saying anything, began to lay down bringing Tuni with her. Suddenly, Tuni had large arms wrapped tightly around her and she was shifted to being the little spoon. Morgana buried her face in Tuni's neck and Tuni snuck an arm out from being trapped to reach back and run her hands through Morgana's loose hair.

"Talk me to sleep," Morgana mumbled into Tuni's neck which caused her to giggle from the feeling.

Tuni thought for a moment of what she wanted to speak about before launching into a story of one of the lower deck parties they had recently had in the new relaxation room.