DKMortals/SessionForty

[ST] As Obligatory claws his way atop the airboat Honor's gas bag, Winter Fish peers out into the hallway. The deck is quiet outside, the hallway empty of visible guards. Voices drift down and up the stairs from both other decks, but nothing stirs here, not even in the room down the hall where the other hostages have been secured. Sawa's hand extends into the center of the hall. Blood has pooled and dried around it. Fish is alone save for corpses and the others huddling in the room behind him.

[ST] Fetching Peach continues to stare at the brained guard and her own blood-flecked hands. Lady Amelia's grandchildren look as if they might start crying again at any moment.

[Fish] He waves for them to be quiet, to stay, one last time, and shuts the door behind him. Two had come down the stairs, more might any moment. He creeps to the other jail-room, careful to watch for another guard. One guard for two rooms? They were lazy, or had too few to take a ship this size. Or they should ahve crammed them all in one room. Higher chance of escape, but a lesser risk. He was becoming disgustedly sure th

[Fish] Or they should ahve crammed them all in one room. Higher chance of escape, but a lesser risk. He was becoming disgustedly sure they had given them two rooms out of concern for their comfort. It galled to be taken by idiots.

[Fish] He listened briefly at the door of the other captive-room. Lily was in there, he hoped.

[ST] As Fish creeps though the common area, still littered with the detritus and corpses of the initial battle, he hears a shouted argument from abovedecks. Seems like a woman and a man. He reaches the door without further incident, pressing his ear against the door. Muffled, he can hear the young Hector raving up a storm, and the Captain shouting back at him. A few quieter voices try to restore order - mostly Jens, the manseverant, but he also hears Lily's voice, evenly asking for silence. The door is locked, but the key Fish lifted from Sami would probably open it.

[Fish] He nods to himself, and leaves them. They would be fine for the moment. He needed to break into the armory first. Or unlock it. If the key worked for that as well, it'd have to have been the captains. Well, he'd suspected a traitor before.

[Fish] He moves to the armory door, listens for a moment, on the off chance that there was something to hear, and tried the key.

[ST] Fish works his way back down the length of the ship. As he inserts the key into the armory door, finding that it turns quite easily, he hears heavy footfalls on the stairs from the top deck. Someone is coming.

[Fish] He opens the door hurriendly and darts in. He keeps the door open slightly, an eye on the hall, head as far in the door as he could manage and have an eye out.

[ST] Fish barely has time to get a look at the room before he shoves his eye into the crack in the door. It appears to be a small anteroom. A corpse slumps in a nailed down chair, blood pooled beneath it. Apparently the armory guard was one of the first to die. In the wall opposite him is a heavy door, standing ajar. The closet beyond contains a staggering variety of personal arms, all confiscated from the passengers.

[ST] As he returns his gaze to the hall, Fish sees the Quiet Woman from the ship - Prudence? Race down the stairs. Shielding her face, she turns and races down the hall away from him, descending the stairs to the cargo deck. Then she is gone.

[Fish] Enough to arm all the hostages. He ticked off what he'd take of what he'd seen in his mind as we watched.

[Fish] She was free. The traitor then? Or one of a few?

[Fish] Well, no time to worry now. He turns back to the weapons, grabbign his own, and snagging a few of the choicest others for the other hostages.

[ST] It's a feat easier said than done. Many of the Haslanti weapons look alike and have been poorly packed together. Perhaps Captain Caraway's crew is particularly untidy when eyes are off them, perhaps the hijackers ransacked the closet. In any case, Fish is only partially through the process when the ship gives a sudden, dramatic lurch, spilling him across the floor. The armory door swings shut heavily, locking with a THUNK.

[Fish] Well, Obligatory made it then. He didn't have much time. And he was not going to ride out the coming crash in a closet full of loose swords. He grabbed what he'd picked so far and ran to the hall, heedless of stealth now. Even if some of the hijackers were running up from the depths of the ship, he doubted they care a whit for him, or notice. He ducked into the first cabin he could, thrust all the blades into a cabinet, and made for the bunk. He'd have a better chance between the mattress and the wood-framed rope bed they were lying in.

[ST] Hijackers are indeed running up from the depths of the ship, shouting in alarm, but none of them note Fish. He slams a door and wedges himself in place just as Obligatory races down from the deck, chased by Falloe.

[Obligatory] "What can I give you, to make you put up your sword?" The muscles are bunched up in his shoulders. His posture is tense, wary, ready to spring any which way. "You will kill me, and then them, for spite?" he is amazed.

[ST] "Not for spite. You don't understand. Of course you don't. This is your last chance. Stand against me, or they will die. Simple as that."

[Obligatory] "I do stand against you," Obligatory says, lifting his chin. "In the way of my people."

[ST] "Then you have killed them, boy. I will tell them this." He takes another step forward, sword raised-

[Obligatory] "The gods will provide for the righteous and the merci-"

[ST] And the Honor strikes the ground with hammerblow force.

[ST]The first impact is the hardest; the airboat jumps like a skipping stone, hammering into a rocky spur below, and the last ten feet of it simply shear away. Pressed tightly against the wall of the crew's quarters, Fish sees the wood splinter and go flying off into space. A pair of bodies go flying from what used to be the engine room below, kicking and screaming.

[ST] From the weapons locker, now open to the elements, spills a steel rain - axes, swords, shields, lost in the snow. The airboat keeps going, rising from the impact before crashing again.

[ST] In the cabin where Obligatory was trying to hide, Falloe staggers, cursing loudly. His temple slams into the corner of an ornate desk. He staggers, sword dropping from his fingers. Lady Amelia's grandchildren are screaming like it is the end of the world. The airboat skids along through snow-covered valleys, kicking up a roostertail of snow and mud, gradually slowing...

[ST] ...and then it slides over the lip of a valley, tumbling several times before coming to rest upside down, its guts open to the world.

[Fish] He disentangles himself form the remains of the bedframe, cursing at the rope burns. That had gone well.

[Obligatory] Obligatory lurches to his feet. He has a seperate bruise on his torso for each time the airboat had hit the ground, he was sure. He staggers over to Falloe, and he is Once Dead enough that the first thing he does is kick the sword away from him. Then he crouches down and checks the man's health.

[ST] Falloe is out, at least for the moment, though he's already beginning to moan and stir, as if he's coming around. He appears to be quite resilient. The room itself is an utter ruin - what bits of furniture that weren't nailed down have fallen and splintered, and those that weren't have spilled their contents on the floor. Shattered perfume fills the air with thick, intermingled stinks.

[ST] Both Obligatory and Fish can hear strangled moans echoing through the ruined ship. Some from above, others from below. Fish hears particularly loud screams from the other side of the wall he's huddled against.

[Fish] He runs over to the cabinet. Or steps, really. But fast! He throws open the cabinet door, grabs the first hilt that presents itself and throws open the cabin door, glaring into the hallway.

[Obligatory] Obligatory Sunshine grimaces then hurriedly takes off his shirt. It wasn't violence, surely, if he just tied his hands loosely. Feeling horribly guilty, he quickly knots Falloe's hands together behind his back, then hurries out the door to where the people were crying.

[ST] The hallway seems to list drunkenly, and some of the bodies that were on the floor are now on the ceiling - which is now the floor. A miraculously unbroken jar of spirits rolls down the inclined hall towards Fish almost casually. From the deck below, he hears voices crying out.

[ST] "Rufe and Jaffa are GONE, they FELL OUT--"

[Obligatory] Obligatory meets Fish's eyes. His own are wide and startled and a little lost. "We have to help them! We need to get everyone out- "

[Fish] He ignores the man's whimpering and moves over to the bound guard, kneeling to check the bindings. Not tight enough, as he'd expected. "Open the doors. We need to get the captive out. I have weapons for them."

[Fish] He tightens the wrist-ties, and cuts some strips off the man's clothing for his ankles, and to bind his thumbs together. Make it harder to pick at the ties.

[Obligatory] "We don't need weapons, there's nothing to fight over anymore." Still, opening the doors make sense, so he does.

[ST] The nearest door opens to reveal the companions Obligatory expected, mostly unharmed. Peach has twisted her ankle in the crash, but the children and Lady Amelia are unharmed. Sami lies crumpled in the corner like a piece of forgotten clothing, her face a mask of blood.

[ST] "She was already dead," Peach explains quietly.

[Obligatory] "What! How?"

[ST] "She broke in on us..." Peach puts a hand to her mouth, clawing at her veil. "There was a fight. I- we had to."

[Obligatory] Obligatory kneels beside her and turns her over gently, but it is as Peach said: she is dead. He closes her eyelids.

[Fish] He is still tying the unconscious guard's thumbs. "Get the otehr door. Check on them!" There were sailors in there, muscle. And Lily, but he couldn't voice interest in her.

[Obligatory] He looks at Peach, and there is quiet reproof in his eyes. "No." He stakes it off. "Come on, we have to get out of here. There mustn't be any more fighting or dying."

[Obligatory] He rises and goes to open the other doors.

[Obligatory] Sami had seemed a kind woman, too, he thinks regretfully as he opens the next.

[ST] Falloe doesn't stir or struggle as Fish works at his bonds. He's either unconscious, or faking, or dead. Obligatory finds he doesn't have to open the other door at all, it swings loosely on its hinges. Within, the short form of Captain Caraway is struggling to cut her bonds on a spur of shattered wood. The two sailors are helping. Hector is unconscious, the bound Jens staring at him while

[ST] blood courses down his face from a broken nose. Neither Lily nor the long-nosed man, Denn, are anywhere to be seen.

[Obligatory] Obligatory picks up another piece of sharp broken wood and saws at Jens' bonds. When they are severed at last, he gives Jens the piece of wood. "I am going to look for Lily and that other one," he says simply. "Everyone should leave the airship, and stay out of fights."

[Obligatory] "Do you know where she went?"

[ST] Jens snorts and spits a thick wad of blood on the inverted deck-ceiling. "I do not know. That man, Denn, took her. Right after the crash. He had already severed his bonds. I do not know where they went. Up or down, if you did not see them here."

[ST] "What of the ones who seized this ship?" He raises an eyebrow. "You are acting unlike a Quiet One."

[Obligatory] "Leave them be. There is no more bone for dogs to fight over." Obligatory looks wounded to be called un-Quiet. "I am only trying to make sure no one else is hurt."

[Fish] Fish steps to the door. "Denn took her?" Damn him for not going to their room first. He glances at Obligatory. "We have to save her." Let them think him a heor, or a pervert. Not ime to do much dissembling now

[Obligatory] "Yes, of course. We have to help anyone in trouble." And of course, Obligatory thinks wistfully, Lily was a very nice girl. "I think he must have taken her out and up."

[Fish] He ignores the other man's wishes. "I saved some blades. In the cabin by the armory." He waves vaguely before runnign off. They'd find it, and makle as good use of it as they would with him to lead most like. What needed doing was obvious. To most, anyway.

[Obligatory] "Better to leave them," Obligatory calls, before sprinting after Fish.

[ST] As Obligatory and Fish work their way up the inverted deck, no small feat with the staircase useless, they hear the sound of frantic sobbing. Fish is the first to lever himself up into the cargo hold, Obligatory following a moment later. It is a scene of utter chaos that it takes the eye a moment to absorb.

[ST] Almost all of the cargo has burst free or shifted. The deck is a twisted mess of shattered crates, slowly leaking barrels, and splintered wood. Wine seeps, and tallow, and syrup, mingling on the floor. Above, two of the three great hatches used to load cargo on the ship have broken. Early morning light streams down into the space from the gaps between the ship's planking and the shattered hatches.

[ST] Solomea, the harsh woman who helped capture Fish, lies dead near the stairs, her head twisted at an impossible angle. A short distance away stand several others: the Shanarinaran guard who disarmed Fish, the massive, hulking Hort, and Jeral himself. The last sobs bitterly. He cradles something in his lap. Prudence, her midsection caved in and blood-splattered. The other two men stare at him with contempt.

[ST] "This is a rough business, you fool," Hort says, not unkindly. "You must be ready."

[Fish] Hort was the dangerous one. His crossbow snaps up, loaded in the blink of an eye,

[Obligatory] Obligatory's eyes grow very wide. Did he...do this...? Gods no. Perhaps his sisters were right. Perhaps he should have let them die rather than join the Once Dead and be a part of this, even accidentally.

[Obligatory] "Don't," he says numbly. "Why kill each other any longer?"

[ST] Jeral raises a finger, pointing at the newcomers.

[ST] "You," he says, voice dripping with anger. "It was you. YOU! I promised not to hurt any of you! I promised!"

[ST] "And this is how you repay me. This..."

[Obligatory] "You promised not to hurt anyone," Obligatory says sadly, his eyes fixed on poor betrayed Prudence. "Put aside your anger. It is time to bury the dead." His gaze moves to the dead mercenary. Poor foolish woman.

[Fish] He gestures with the bow. "No time for you. See the man Denn with the blind girl?"

[ST] "Hort!" Jeral screams. "Kill them! NOW!"

[Fish] He fires. He'd half expected it.

[ST] "Won't solve anything," Hort says almost sadly, turning to face the newcomers. "Won't bring 'mea back, or your girl, it won't-"

[Obligatory] "-no!"

[ST] As Fish's bolt streaks toward him, Hort seems to move... fast, faster than any human being should be able to, dropping into some strange martial stance that pulses with Essence.

[ST] The bolt slams directly into the man's breastbone, but the combination of his breastplate and the unnaturally strong flesh beneath turn it aside harmlessly. He takes a step forward, flexing his enormous, cestus-clad fingers. His tendons creak with a sound that reminds Fish of an ice-ship's mast straining at the wind. Strange fire dances in his eyes. Muscles ripple under pale flesh. This man

[ST] is not human.

[ST] Before Fish can react, Hort churns forward, hurtling a rolling barrel to slide through a patch of wine. Fists the size of dinner plates reach down to grasp at Fish's shoulders.

[Fish] "Anathema" he spits. More to curse than anything else. He had no particular hate for them. He just didn't especially want to die.

[ST] "No, whelp, not Anathema..." the man growls, hefting Fish off the ground, grunting. Breath like old blood washes over Fish's face. "Just a lowly demon blood whose mother wasn't merciful enough to end him. But it could be worse. I could be you."

[Obligatory] "Don't hurt him. Break his fancy crossbow- or- this is pointless. People are hurt below. Wounded." And Lily could be in trouble.

[Fish] He puts a boot to the man's chest and pushes away for all he's worth. Not much.

[Fish] "He'll kill you next. Help me. He's not human, you can kill him!" He didn't know much of the lad's philosophy, but this stood to reason.

[Obligatory] But perhaps the servant was not the person to talk to. Obligatory goes to kneel in front of Jeral. "Please, sir."

[ST] Jeral seems beyond hearing. He stares down at the dead woman in his lap, stroking her hair softly.

[Obligatory] "All that thinks, or feels, or suffers, is sacred," he mutters back to Fish.

[Obligatory] Obligatory turns back to Jeral. "Please, sir. Think of what Prudence would want. It is the only way to honor her now."

[ST] Hort does not respond to Obligatory's entreaty. Instead, he gives a snort. "He's the one started this, kneeler. He's the one who wanted to dance the street dance. And he is the one... who will meet the Stone Prince!" He hurls Fish down to the deck with enough force to splinter it. A moment later, a massive foot follows as he savagely stomps downward.

[ST] There is a sharp, horrific crack. Hort stomps downward - Fish's leg bends outward like a broken thing as his femur shatters like old wood. The pain is excruciating.

[ST] Jeral is looking somewhere far away. "She only wanted to be loved. She only wanted to be safe. You wouldn't let her, none of you H-Haslanti bastards would-"

[Fish] He cries out in pain, and lays there still for a moment. Overmatched. "Going to kill me or just leave me beaten?" he asks the man. He'd said no before he shot him. He might not bother killing him, if he didn't show any more resistance. He was tensed to go for anotehr arrow, though. If he was going to die, he'd die fighting.

[Fish] He turns his head, disgusted. "What the fuck did you expect? You were blameless, of course, hijacking a ship. No, no violence done or expected from that!"

[ST] "You talk too much," Hort says flatly. "Someone has to bleed for what happened today. Might as well be you." He pulls back a massive fist, slamming it down into Fish's chest.

[Obligatory] "She wanted peace. Not just for herself, not just for her people. For everyone. That is what it means to be Quiet, and it was more than a belief for her. It is what she was." She had strayed from the path, but recriminations would do nothing now. Obligatory looks down at her. "But you know that. The only question is, are you the man she believed you?"

[Obligatory] He flinches at the sound of bones breaking. If he had not reached Jeral than, he never would. He stands and walks back tostand over Fish. "Stop this, Hort. He's helpless."

[Fish] He spits up blood, and rolls to the side as he can, reloading as he goes and snapping another shot off as he does.

[Fish] "I didn't crash the ship," he gasps, "go kill who did." Not that he says who he was. He wasn't going to die that much a bastard. And besides, he knew it wouldn't make a difference.

[ST] "Who did, then?" Jeral demands. Has he heard anything Obligatory said? "Who DID?"

[Fish] The bolt was fired from below, so it didn't just go into the man's stomach, it with up. More stuff that way. Whatever it'd hit, it looked like it'd hurt.

[Obligatory] Obligatory turns. "I did," he says calmly. "I thought if the ship were down, no one would have any more reason to fight." He looks at poor Prudence again, and his shoulders slump a little. He guessed they had that in common, and he had not even the excuse of love-blindness to excuse him.

[Fish] *Went up

[ST] Hort staggers back, guts wet with blood. He should be dead, should have taken a killing wound. He's still standing, somehow, glaring down at Fish with killing rage.

[ST] "You?" Jeral shakes his head. "You're one of the Quiet. Why? Why?" He sobs again, huddled into himself.

[Obligatory] "I didn't realize anyone would be hurt. I thought the descent would be slower-" he stops. Why try to excuse himself.

[Obligatory] The shameful thing was done.

[Obligatory] "Fish!" He sounds almost stern, ridiculously like a teacher with naughty pupils. "Please sir, forgive him." He interposes himself again, this time making sure to stand in front of Fish's quarrel as well.

[ST] "You didn't realize? You didn't realize! You fool! Why didn't you-" He stops, burying his head against Prudence's chest, shaking with sobs again. "Why didn't you know someone would get hurt? Why didn't you know?"

[ST] Hort steps towards Obligatory, looming above him massively, flexing blood-covered fists.

[ST] "Hort!" Jeral cries. "Stop! Stop. Enough. Enough killing. Leave them."

[ST] "He hurt me," Hort says flatly. "Bad. Want to return the favor."

[Obligatory] Such uncertainties attended battles like carrion attended to corpses. But then, it hadn't been Obligatory that Jeral had been speaking to.

[Fish] He coughs a wet laugh. "I was repaying, you ugly bastard." The man wasn't going to stop for words. Oblivious was giving him time to reload, though.

[Obligatory] "You crippled his leg. Perhaps it is better to end while you are still ahead." That wasn't very like something a Quiet would say, but...the sentiment was pure. That was enough, surely.

[ST] "You won't get your payment otherwise," Jeral bites out. "That's why you do this, isn't it?"

[ST] "Payment..." Hort spits. "My partner's dead. My guts are torn up. This is the worst job we ever took. 'mea was right. You were bad news. All of this shit, bad news. Don't pay me. I don't care. Don't follow me. I'll kill all of you." He turns, staggering away, curiously black blood falling on the deck as he walks towards the hatch and simply steps out, vanishing into the snow.

[ST] Exposure out there could kill an unprotected person in minutes.

[ST] The remaining Shanarinaran guard pokes his head out hesitantly from behind a barrel.

[Obligatory] "Don't. Shoot. Him!" Obligatory tells Fish sternly. He grabs a heavy fur from where it spilled out of a barrel and dives out into the snow after Hort. "Wait!"

[ST] The man doesn't turn around, plodding away through the snow slowly. Fat flakes are beginning to whip up. It's hard to see more than a few feet ahead.

[Obligatory] He catches up, panting already after all the exertion of the morning. "I am sorry- truly sorry- that it ended so for your partner. But at least- take this fur- it's freezing out here. Not a northerner, maybe you don't realize-"

[Fish] Death gone, he can't keep his arm steady anymore, and it drops to the deck. Or ceiling, whatever. "I don't kill for you, I don't do nothing for you!" He half hoped they both would die out tehre. He certainly hoped the big man would. He wasn't in the nicest of moods. He turns his head to the other. "You got any other brilliant plans? Go bury your woman in your ambition and try to blame us for you using her," he spits

[ST] Hort does not turn around. "No," he says. "You don't realize. You don't realize that you're tempting death by speaking to me." He turns slowly, looming over Obligatory. "Who was your father? What did he do?"

[ST] Jeral shakes his head. "You don't understand. You Haslanti - you treat the Quiet as if they aren't even human, and you're surprised when they bite the hand that feeds. I never used her. I only wanted to be strong enough to help her. I only wanted her to be happy."

[Obligatory] That was as bad as all the rest.Worse than losing Prudence was for Jeral. Hort probably didn't have anyone else. All these lives tangled and burnt by war. It didn't make it better that they had chosen it.

[Fish] "What does that have to do with taking a ship? This was your ambition. Don't pawn it off on her."

[Obligatory] "My father was Calm Ocean. He was...he was a tinker." He had been a fisherman before a group of drunk men caught him and stomped on his legs until he couldn't walk. Then he stayed at home and mended things until he caught sick last winter and died.

[ST] "My father-" Hort gives a harsh laugh. "My father was an Erymanthus." The word is strange and elegant amidst all his others. "A blood ape. His affair with my mother was brief. It left her a cripple, and me a monster. It also left me strong. I won't freeze. I might kill you just to silence your voice. Get away from me."

[ST] He begins to move away through the snow once more.

[Obligatory] "I know you wouldn't do that. You're a good man, Hort, for all that you've chosen a life of violence. If you change your mind, or even if you don't- seek us out. We would never turn you away."

[ST] "I thought..." Jeral stops. "I had to win re-election. The Red Gulls had a strong challenger, and they would have made Nabradia less powerful in the coming war. I had to win. Don't you see?"

[Fish] "And that was what she cared about? Your politics?"

[ST] Hort gives a noncommital grunt, vanishing into the snow.

[ST] "Of course not," Jeral moans, miserable. "They were a means to an end. She wouldn't have understood-"

[Obligatory] He clutches the fur, his teeth chattering. Time to go himself now, unless he wanted to freeze. He turns back into the ship and stomps inside, shaking the snow from his boots. "I-I don't think Lily's outside, u-unless Denn wanted her to freeze to death."

[ST] "Obligatory?" It's Lily's voice, muffled within a crate. There is the sound of a brief argument from within, and then it opens, both Lily and Denn's heads surfacing.

[Obligatory] "Lily! I am glad to see you are all right. I was worried." He smiles at her. "I think the fighting is over."

[ST] She turns her head to look at where Jeral sits. Of course, she doesn't see what is there. "What has happened?"

[ST] "And why are you so interested in Lily?" Denn asks sharply.

[Obligatory] "Jeral told his men to stop fighting. We have a little journey, but we are amply provisioned for it." He looks at Denn. "When I was freeing the prisoners, I did not see her. Naturally I worried." He looks at her, and it would be obvious to a toad he's a little sweet on her.

[ST] "Your pal's in bad shape," Denn notes.

[Obligatory] "If you mean Tr- Fish, he imay not be the only one." Obligatory crouches beside him. "Do you need my assistance?" He looks genuinely concerned. "Your leg is badly hurt. How is your chest? Should I help lift you up?"

[Fish] "I think he broke my breastbone. Rather not move if I don't ahve to," he gasps out. Talking, breathing was painful. And getting worse now that the adrenaline was wearing off. His leg felt like the shards of bone were having fun eating the meat.

[Obligatory] Obligatory nods. "We will have to splint it, then." He is happy that there were ample pieces of broken wood about. He is grateful for the sparse medicine he has learned. He looks at Lily and Denn. "Please, will you go see how many people are hurt, and how badly?"

[Obligatory] He feels Fish's bones gingerly, trying to get an idea of where they are broken. He winces at every flinch and pained grunt.

[ST] "What about this one?" Denn says, kicking the sobbing Jeral in the leg. Prudence's head lolls alarmingly.

[Obligatory] "Don't hurt him!" Obligatory says hottly. Fish is all splinted up. He pats the bandages in an alarmingly cavalier way, then stands to face Denn.

[ST] "Don't hurt him? He would have killed all of us!"

[Fish] He was damned if he was going to cry out in pain when he wasn't being killed. "He can walk home too," he puts in, spitefully. Probably a deadly journey that way. Hopefully it was the longer still.

[Obligatory] "I will never understand those who clutch violence to their chest like a favorite toy. Jeral will not hurt anyone any longer. Leave him be."

[Obligatory] "We're all walking home," Obligatory says calmly.

[ST] "We can light a signal fire," Captain Caraway says, leading the hostages from below up onto the deck. "We're not far off the main routes, they should pick us up soon."

[Obligatory] "Is anyone else seriously hurt?" Obligatory asks anxiously.

[ST] First Mate Fennel arrives last, rubbing at his swollen jaw and casting a baleful glance around. It turns to barely suppressed glee when he spots the wounded Fish.

[Obligatory] He cares all the more because it is his fault if they are.

[ST] "N-no," Peach says. "Everyone is here, or dead. A couple of the Shanarinarans fell out the back of the ship when it crashed."

[Obligatory] Obligatory looks stricken. He had meant well, but awful things had occurred. He swallows. Even if they had survived the crash, they would have frozen soon after. "I am sorry to hear it," he says heavily. He goes to sit beside Jeral.

[Obligatory] He touches him on the arm. "You must make a choice for you and your men. You may stay with us, but I think it likely you will be turned over to the army and questioned. Or you may go into the snow and try to make the trek overland. I will try to make sure you have supplies and depart unharmed."

[Obligatory] Perhaps if he talked fast enough, the others would forget he was Quiet and decide not to beat him for impudence and kill Jeral. Perhaps the others were equally sickened by violence.

[ST] "We'll go." Jeral says. "Prudence and me. Together."

[Fish] "We have first take of supplies. We may have to live off them for a while before a ship passes."

[Obligatory] Obligatory hesitates. "You do not plan anything foolish, do you?"

[ST] Jeral leans back, closing his eyes. "Just let me go. I won't take your supplies. I don't need them."

[Fish] He nods to himself. He wanted to die with her body, let him.

[Obligatory] Obligatory comes the nearest he ever has to slapping someone. Such foolishness! "What would that serve? Do you think your life and duties to others end become you made a mistake? Take Prudence's body back to her parents. It is where it belongs, with her family and her people. After her funeral rites, if you have found no peace, make your choices then."

[ST] "This asshole isn't going anywhere," Caraway snaps, returning to herself. "Not after what he did to my crew and my ship."

[Obligatory] "He lost as much here as you did." More.

[ST] "What did he lose? Nothing but what he chose to."

[Obligatory] "He lost everything that mattered to him. Do not close your heart to compassion." He hesitates. But perhaps if he deflected her anger away from Jeral... "And anyway, I crashed the ship."

[ST] "I say we hang him right now!" Fennel blurts out. "Him and that Quiet whore who stabbed us in the back." He spits. It lands on Prudence's upturned brow. Jeral is far beyond noticing. At Obligatory's pronouncement, the captain shakes her head and curses.

[ST] "Maybe we should hang you too."

[Obligatory] "If you had treated her with ordinary decency, none of this would have happened." He wipes the spit from her face. "I do not see what could be gained from hanging a corpse, but it would hardly hurt her."

[ST] "Take the Shanarinaran and string him up," Caraway orders brusquely. "You, Kneeler, get away from him."

[Fish] He laughs, half out of himself from the pain, and regretting the laugh for more of it as soon as it was out. "Don't want to hang the kneeler, he's got a raven on him as much as I do," he wheezes.

• Obligatory doesn't move. "What possible point could that serve?" It is hard to keep contempt from his voice, but he tries hard. Scorning others is kin to hurting them, he reminds himself. "It will change nothing. Nothing."

[ST] "It'll make me feel better," Fennel says. The other sailors echo him. "Who are you to challenge us?"

[Obligatory] "Honest grieving heals grief. Not bloodshed." He hesitates. He could intimidate them be revealing himself as a Once Dead, little as he liked to intimidate anyone. His mission was torn to shreds in any event. And he wouldn't keep silent if Jeral's life depended on it. But he didn't like to cloak himself in the mantle of the gravemen. It seemed...wrong.

[ST] "A Once Dead? This one?" Captain Caraway scoffs. "I don't believe it."

[Fish] He laughs harder, for a moment, which ends in a bloody coughing fit.

[Obligatory] Obligatory shrugs.

[ST] "Prove it."

[Obligatory] He frowns at her. "If that's what it takes to keep you from murdering Jeral." He pulls the bandage covering the right side of his chest aside, showing the ugly new tatoo they had put on his chest. The ink is ebony black and shiny from newness.

[ST] There is a chorus of gasps, not the least of which from Peach, who leans over to whisper in Lily's ear. Captain Caraway nods tightly, face compressed in a line.

[ST] "Fine. He lives. But when the Ears of the North get ahold of him, he'll be sorry."

[Obligatory] If they do get ahold of him, Obligatory almost mutters rebelliously. A moment's common sense makes him bite his tongue.

[Obligatory] Some time later, a tenative truce has been established. Tables have been set up, flares lit, and supplies salvaged. Jeral and his one remaining soldier remain in a corner, and Obligatory plants himself between them and the others when looks start getting particularly dirty. He has convinced Jeral to let him wash and wrap Prudence's body, and now it is a swathed, indistinct bundle.

[Obligatory] No one, not even Obligatory, has suggested removing Falloe's bonds, though Obligatory cautiously went downstairs and drapped a fur over him, and left food within reach of his mouth. The bread makes him think of Prudence with a pang.

[Obligatory] At last, as people are settling down for the night, Obligatory settles himself at Peach and Lily's table. He doesn't miss the steady glare of Denn two tables away, but he doesn't react to it.

[Obligatory] "I'm glad you made it out okay," he say simply.

[ST] Peach nods at Obligatory slowly. A moment later, Lily greets him as well. "We are glad you are unharmed as well," Lily adds.

[Obligatory] He hopes they aren't mad at him. "I ..am sorry I was not completely...uh..."

[Obligatory] He flounders a bit, reddening.

[ST] "I suppose your interest in me was less innocent than I thought," Lily says. "Eh?"

[Obligatory] "I was supposed to be a spy," Obligatory Sunshine admits. "I am not a very good one. I like you very much though."

[ST] "How endearing," Lily says. She does not sound entirely ungenuine. "A spy? Whatever for? Were you supposed to be watching me?"

[Obligatory] "Yes." He shrugs. "I don't know why. I suppose that's why I'm watching."

[ST] "Have you seen enough?"

[Obligatory] Obligatory pauses. "I'm sorry if I offended you, lady."

[ST] Lily rests her hand on his, softly. "Oh, you foolish, gentle man. You have not offended me."

[Obligatory] He blushes. That, he had never feigned.

[Obligatory] "I am glad."

[Fish] Fish lies accross two chairs nearby, propped up with a heavy rolled cloak as a pillow, drinking a beer, and not watching them in any obvious way. The crew mostly left him alone now. He was sullen and mean, and dangerous. He was happy enough that no one wanted anything to do with him.

[Obligatory] He hesitates again. "I understand if you would wish to avoid me during the remainder of this trip. But when we get home, I would be glad to be friends."

[ST] "Of course," Lily smiles her somehow somber smile. "Although more than friendship may be too expensive for you, yes?"

[Obligatory] "That is true," Obligatory Sunshine agrees. It was a sin anyway, to pay for things that should be given in love. Let the likes of Laughing Jek and and Avir spend half their pay at such places.

[Obligatory] "But I would still look forward to excellant conversation."

[ST] "Of course. In any case, you have done us no insult. Certainly nothing like the Shanarinarans have. The Haslanti will make them pay dearly for this."

[Obligatory] That takes the smile from Obligatory's face. He looks sad. "But to what purpose?"

[ST] "That remains to be seen."

[Obligatory] "I will grieve if more die." He nods to them both. "Please excuse me, I must attend to the others." No one else brought Jeral or Moitgan food or water.