Razan woke up in his room, with two hawks and a raven watching him. He sighed, annoyed.
“Good evening,” Nop said, her voice oddly formal. “How are you feeling, emotionally?”
Razan sat up, face perfectly neutral. “I am much better than I was in the darkness, thank you.”
“I am glad to hear it. Unfortunately, you damaged one of our birds. We must now set a few guidelines on conduct which we will expect you to follow.”
Razan bowed, knowing it was better not to speak.
Nop paused, as if expecting him to comment, then continued. “If these guidelines are not followed, you will be sent back to your planet and replaced. Unless you would like to be sent back now?”
He looked up. A chance to go home. To leave these annoying people and return to…
Return to different annoying people.
“I will follow the guidelines, ma’am,” he decided.
“Good. We always prefer it when people we choose decide to stay,” Nop said. “There are seven guidelines which we give people who have shown unrestrained violent tendencies outside of contests and combat-approved areas.”
Peter smiled, listening to Sophie describe the feeling of being on the moon. She’d brought back a pocket full of rocks, and had been disappointed to find they acted like normal rocks.
“You should have come,” she said, leaning against him. “Next time we go to the moon you have to come.”
“I will,” he promised. “Even if it’s another maze.”
“Good. But you have to join whatever we do next,” Sophie warned.
“Of course. Don't want to miss out on seeing Marie do another flip,” he said.
She smiled. “If you’d been there I would have done any number of backflips, just to impress you. It’s a shame I can't think of anything to do here that might impress you… Especially as we aren't allowed to leave our area for another four hours.”
Peter put his arms around her. “I can think of a few things.”
Marie rubbed her elbow, wondering what had possessed her to try such a stupid stunt. She’d learned it when she was eighteen, back when her joints had elasticity in them.
She hoped the review wouldn't show that moment, but she wasn't sure what moments she wanted it to show. Certainly not Razan going catatonic, or Sophie slamming into walls for the first hour as she misjudged her momentum.
Razan finally came out of his room an hour before the door to the common area would unlock. He looked more annoyed than usual.
“Mask’s still got a crack in it,” Marie told him, stirring her chocolate.
He turned on the kettle, then sat down in his usual spot next to her and thumped his head on the table. “I was reprimanded for taking it off.”
“Did they threaten to send you home?” she asked, suddenly worried.
“No.” He sat up to look at her. “They asked if I would like to go home. And then they told me if I get two more reprimands they will reevaluate my position here without my input.”
“So you said you want to stay?”
He sighed, then gave her a rare smile. “A-ee.”
Marie laughed, patting him on the shoulder. “Good. You balance us. I can't risk you leaving to be replaced by someone who’s as timid as Peter. Or worse, as excitable as Sophie. Please don't leave.”
Razan frowned again, then got up as the kettle whistled. “You… appreciate my personality?”
“You’re well-trained,” Marie said slowly. “You know what you’re doing in a fight. You follow orders well. You respect my age and authority. On the outside, your mask, you are what I assume is a perfect samurai.” She turned to look at him. “But underneath that you want to kill everyone and watch the world burn. At twenty I had the same demon inside me. I understand it. More than I understand the man who hides being terrified of pain under a poncho or a thief who becomes excited over worthless rocks.”
He poured boiling water from the kettle into his teapot. “Why did you stop wanting to kill and burn?”
Marie looked into her cup. “I stopped wanting to live. A void opened inside me that ate all emotions. Then I was imprisoned again, and when they let me out I realized my reputation went ahead of me. People saw me as someone who would kill them and set their ships on fire, in that order if I was feeling generous, so they surrendered as soon as I appeared. Made life much easier. And what filled the void was a desire for as much power over as many people as I could get.”
He sat down again, teapot in one hand and a cup in the other. “If I may ask… How many people have you killed?”
“I don't know,” she answered honestly. “I never bothered counting.”
“More than a hundred?”
She leaned back in her chair. “Have you ever been in a true battle? Between more than a dozen on each side?”
He shook his head. “The only battle that size I've been near was the eradication of a gang when I was twelve. I was placed on a nearby roof with orders to shoot anyone who ran. No one did.”
“Well, in a true battle, it’s fairly rare for someone to die at the hand of only one other person,” she explained. “You’ll have someone fighting in front of you, then see another enemy step into range and take the opportunity to slice open their calf. Eventually the enemy will collapse from what you, several allies, a few splinters of wood and an unnoticed rope do to them.” She shrugged. “The number of people I alone have directly killed is probably less than the number of people on this ship. The number of people whose deaths I had a hand in ending is probably eight or nine times that.”
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He finally poured his tea. “Did you regret any?”
She grinned. “For the sake of my soul I will say yes. To any god who’s listening: I deeply regret a good portion of the lives I've taken. I’m incredibly repentant.”
Razan took a long sip of his tea, watching her judgingly. “Not all of them?”
“Hell no. Some of those bastards deserved what I did to them.”
“What did you do to them?”
“What did Peter say?” Marie mused. “Make a list of the worst things a human can do to another and I've done all of them? Well, several of the things he heard were exaggerations. I still don't know who first said I filled a man’s eye sockets with his teeth, but-”
Razan inhaled his tea and spent several seconds coughing.
Marie watched, smiling. “Completely false, but that reaction is why I kept the rumor alive.”
He took a deep breath. “To be absolutely clear: you have never removed a man’s eyes and teeth and-”
“I have not,” she said. “Well, teeth yes, but I’ve never taken out a man’s eye. …Deliberately.”
“Dare I ask what other completely false rumors there are about you?”
She thought it over. “I've never hanged a man with his own entrails. Entrails generally can't support that amount of weight, and I assume a man would die before anyone had time to tie a noose with them. I didn't have a pet shark that I fed people to. Although I know how that one got started. I never forced anyone to eat their own toes. That would be a bit silly to do to a prisoner, and my crew never had to resort to cannibalism.”
“Did other crews… survive by cannibalism?” Razan asked.
“Enough that there are known guidelines on who to eat first should it become necessary,” she shrugged. “That was more of a whaler thing, though. Pirates and privateers suffered more from alcohol poisoning.”
He nodded slowly. “So what was the worst thing you’ve done?”
Marie almost answered with something gruesome, then stopped. She drained her cup, getting up. “I left a man alone on an island with a broken wrist.”
Sophie sat down at a table just outside the correspondence room and began writing.
Dearest Sylvester,
The moon is not made of cheese. It is made of boring grey rocks.
Love,
Sophie
She nodded to herself, folding the paper into thirds.
That should be enough to tell her brother she was alive and well.
“Writing your family?”
Sophie looked up to find Ebba watching her. “Yes, my brother,” she answered cheerfully.
“Older brother?” the Swedish woman guessed.
“Yes. Do you write to your family?”
After a few seconds of judging silence Ebba sat down. “No. I write other people, though.”
“What do you tell them?” Sophie asked. “I haven't been told to keep this place and what we do a secret, but if I told the truth they’d think I was either lying or insane.”
Ebba was smiling a smile that reminded Sophie of a fox about to pounce. “There are a few well-used lies,” she said. “Simply somewhere far away with no details given. A job that requires travel, like working on a train or ship. Or traveling for the sake of traveling with no details given about money. Those last two require the letters to be sent from different locations, though. Where are you sending your letters from?”
Sophie frowned at the page in her hand. “Well, I- London.”
“They’ll see the postage,” Ebba told her. “They’ll think the letters are originating in London.”
“How do the letters get sent, anyways?” she asked. “How do the letters get from here to wherever we say they’re from?”
Before Ebba could answer, Marie walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Yes, how indeed?” Marie asked, taking a seat between them at the small square table. “You know so much, we truly rely on you for information. Ebba.”
Ebba tsked, rolling her eyes. “You’re no fun.”
“I don't mind you going after the other two, but leave the girl alone,” Marie said flatly.
“Just a little fleecing? After all, how is she to learn without experience?” Ebba purred.
“Learn what?” Sophie asked.
Ebba looked at her, eyes shining. “Everything.”
Marie sighed. “Ebba sells information. She can tell you anything you’d like to know for a hefty price.”
“You make it sound so crass.”
Sophie frowned. “But she’s been telling me all sorts of things for free.”
“Of course,” Marie nodded. “If she came up to you and offered information at a price, you wouldn't trust her. But she’s proven she can answer any question you have, so now she’s about to bring money into the equation.”
“I have the answers to all your questions and a source for any thing your heart desires,” Ebba said, grinning.
“What types of things?” Sophie asked.
“Have you ever tried marijuana?”
“No,” Marie said sharply. She turned to Sophie. “Girl, never eat anything she gives you without asking me first.”
“Why do you care?” Ebba asked Marie, tilting her head. “You didn't act like this when I offered you some.”
“I know what it does.”
“How will I find out if I never try it?” Sophie asked, annoyed. Marie was treating her like she was ten, not a few months shy of twenty. She was an adult, and could make her own decisions.
“My question remains: why do you care?” Ebba asked.
“She’s too young to be experimenting with those things,” Marie said.
Ebba sat back. “Of course. Too young. And at nineteen you were… at home, respectfully helping your mother with household chores and never doing anything interesting? At nineteen I know I was a very respectable person who never did anything dangerous or illegal.”
“Aye, and you were burned at the stake for it,” Marie said flatly. She turned to Sophie. “This life is still exciting and happy for you. But in a few years you might want to go home. You might want a life that isn't this. If you get addicted to what she has to sell, leaving will be difficult. You won't be able to have a normal life, as much as you want one. I won't argue in three years, but for now you need to keep the ties to your old life clean.”
Sophie looked down, then back up at Marie. “Captain. I say this with all due respect: there isn't a snowball’s chance in hell I will ever want to go home for anything more than the briefest of visits.”
The old pirate frowned at her, looking deep into her eyes. Then she crossed her arms and turned to Ebba. “Very well. Explain how the bank works.”
Ebba rubbed her hands together. “Thank you.”
Razan looked around as people began gathering in preparation for the report. It was still an hour off, but about half the ship was chattering in the space in front of the wall.
Innoka was not among them.
The rest of her group was, which felt odd to Razan. He hoped she simply wasn’t feeling well. The other option that came to mind was Antoni had somehow forbidden her from joining.
He was debating going up to talk to Chimeg when Sophie walked over and held out a communication device.
“Shall we put our plan in motion?” she asked, smiling sweetly.
Razan took the small thing, glancing around. The Masks were in their usual spot for watching reports. “Yes.”
“Wonderful! Keep me informed,” she said, and spun around. She walked away with a bounce in her step.
Razan moved to the wall. He took up a position between the Masks’ door and the next one over. No one paid him any attention.
He watched the four people in black and grey, wondering what Sophie would find in their rooms.