Post by Zen on Oct 24, 2023 11:41:08 GMT -5
Immediately after Gifts and Favors
Upon receiving his directions from Asirikai, Treyjen set about planning the trip to find Piros. The Sea Dragon and the Bright Wing would remain at Mavros along with most of the crew, and he debated on whether or not he should bring Karosh along. He wanted to take only crew who had been with him from before their pirating days, men he could trust implicitly for this venture so this could be done as efficiently as possible. Karosh was certainly among them, but he also needed to leave someone behind who he trusted to keep everyone else in line, and the crew respected Karosh. So he told the man who had been like a brother to him since they were boys the plan, and was assured that he would keep an eye on the crew while Treyjen was gone.
He sought Nalyra next, though it took some time to track her down.
“I’m going,” she insisted, quite prepared to argue.
He sighed, slightly exasperated, but his tone was reassuring, “Of course you are.”
“I don’t care what-... oh…,” her amber gaze narrowed at him suspiciously, “Good.” Her hand came to rest at her chin thoughtfully for a moment before she shook her head, “He is full of surprises, isn’t he?”
Treyjen raised an eyebrow at that, but it didn’t take much to guess who she was talking about, “And you’ll leave him alone going forward.”
She made a noise in the back of her throat and waved her hand dismissively, but then let out a low sort of growl, “I don’t enjoy the thought of being in his debt.”
“Nor I, but there’s no way around it,” he shrugged. It would be what it would be, and he knew the price would be steep in the end, but it would be worth it. The Storm’s Eye would be his, indisputably, and the crew would be free from the bloody sea they’d sailed for turns. He had never imagined a course that would free them from piracy that didn’t end in exile to the eastern isles or being left out for Thread.
She made another displeased noise, “There is, but no one wants to take it.”
He was very aware of how Nalyra felt about the end to their piracy and it was concerning how much she had come to enjoy it. He hoped it was purely for the sheer freedom of it and not any true love for the more violent aspects. She chafed under authority far more than he ever had. She had been the one to suggest piracy, after all… and at such a young age. “Many of the crew have families, Nalyra… they would lose them.”
“I know,” she sounded both displeased and resigned, “And you would too… I….” She sighed, there was annoyance but also guilt, or perhaps there was annoyance because of the guilt. Her voice was soft, “I wouldn’t take them from you again.”
“I never thought of it that way,” he told her softly, but firmly, in return, “I made the choice, not you.”
“But you still did it for me,” her annoyance flared again, “As you so liked to remind me on every possible occasion.”
He winced, as she wasn’t exactly wrong. It was how he justified a lot of things with her when she was being difficult, which was often, more out of anger than anything. He ran his hand through his hair, only just realizing how much he must have contributed to the guilt she felt over the path they had taken. “I’m sorry, Nalyra… I am. You know we both… we both got some of his temper in us. But now we can set it right. We can render him powerless over us.”
Her gaze narrowed up at him and she growled again, “I’d rather just slit his throat.”
“Mm,” Treyjen couldn’t help but agree with the sentiment, but that would cause a new host of problems, and defeat the whole purpose of this venture besides. Still, it was going to be hard to hold back if he ever saw his father again. He had been quite determined that should they ever meet again the man would die. Now he would have to let that go, let him live, and it didn’t sit well with him, not at all. He would have to take pleasure in knowing there was nothing he could do to get the Storm’s Eye back instead, and there was some satisfaction in that. That was assuming that this venture would be successful, anyway. If not, well… killing him was still on the table then, wasn’t it? If it was the last thing he did, he’d count himself pleased. He cleared his throat, leaving that line of thought behind, “I want to leave as soon as possible. Get what you need to the Storm’s Eye.”
Annoyed at having that course of action so easily dismissed, Nalyra simply rolled her eyes and headed off. Treyjen was just glad she didn’t stay to argue the merits of it.
He spent the next two days tracking down the rest of the crew he wanted to take along, and passing along the message that the rest of the crew was free on shore time and Karosh would be staying behind with them. He didn’t compel anyone to come, but no one he asked refused. And then he found Yelanna.
“I’ve heard you’re planning a special trip. You know I’ll come along,” she began the conversation, apparently expecting him to ask.
“No… I want you to stay here,” he told her instead, much to her surprise, “Help Karosh keep an eye on everyone.”
Her eyes narrowed, “That sounds like an excuse. Why don’t you want me along? I can handle myself. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“I don’t know what to expect, Lanna. I have no idea what this venture will ultimately entail. I don’t…. You weren’t there when this began. You don’t need to be there when it ends, either,” he insisted.
“That is a lot of wherryshit,” she argued, “Just because I wasn’t part of your original crew? Treyjen-”
“You’re not going,” he told her flatly.
“Give me a good reason-”
“I don’t need to give you any reason, I’m in charge here!”
She drew in a deep breath, pursing her lips, “Oh. You’re in charge. That’s how you want to play this?” She stepped forward to prod two fingers into his chest, “You abducted me, Treyjen. You held me captive under penalty of death if I tried to leave. But I came to… I care about this crew, about you, despite that! You taught me how to be free. You taught me what a family should be. But now you won’t let me help you free yourself from your past?”
“I wouldn’t be taking anyone if I could sail the Storm’s Eye myself! It’ll be all but a skeleton crew, Lanna. Just enough that we can still make good time. I need sailors, and you can barely call yourself one-”
“I know your games, Treyjen, you can’t push me away by making me angry with insults,” she snapped, “Just be honest with me!”
“You’re. Not. Going!” he growled with a finality in his tone.
She glared up at him for a long moment, but eventually her anger faded into a disappointed sort of resignation, and her voice was surprisingly soft when she spoke, “... Fine.” There were a number of things she could say, some she almost had in the heat of her anger at his refusal to give her a proper explanation. She was very glad she had a better control of her temper than he did, she would feel awful if she’d said any of them to him. The foremost being something about being used to leaving people he loves behind. If she were crueler, pettier, if she didn’t care so sharding much about him, she probably would have said it. But she was still too angry to be reassuring, to try to understand or forgive, so she didn’t say another word, simply turned and walked away from him.
He turned away from her in turn, though he didn’t like it. He didn’t like the guilt that rose in him over the interaction or his inability to tell her the truth: that he didn’t want her with because she was a weakness. He might have tried to leave Nalyra behind for the same reason if he didn’t think that course of action might be more detrimental than taking her along, not to mention the fight his sister would put up over it. Besides… she deserved to go along, even if she could be used against him, and she might know details she’d never shared with him that could be useful. Leaving her behind was out of the question, even if he would have preferred it. Yelanna would only be a liability. He took Asirikai’s warnings about Piros seriously and he wasn’t trying to give anyone any sort of advantage over him when he had no idea what he was walking into. He would much rather be safe than sorry where Yelanna was concerned. He would make it up to her later. For now all that mattered was that she was staying safely at Mavros.
