Heaven Hath No Rage - Book Two

Lucid

Ten suns before, Xyra had received the command to take the lightbringer back to Corinspe. Ten suns before, Theo was rescued then collapsed. Ten suns before, Xyra had been complicit in abandoning one of their crew members. Ten suns had seemed like a classification. So much had happened since they had rescued Theo, yet she wasn't around for any of it. After giving the command to place Red on the other ship and having her sent back to her father, Theo had walked into her new quarters and stood for about ten seconds before she fell over, passed out. She had since been asleep, heavily sedated, and taking her sweet time with recovery. Xyra and Cooker couldn't be removed from Theo's side. All of the treatments and check-ups that she had received in their time since her collapse had been done with the both of them present. No matter how much Tuni insisted, they wouldn't leave. Xyra didn't want to let her out of her sight.

She had convinced herself that Theo would leave them in her sleep if she were to step away from even a moment of fresh air. Her close proximity to Theo's recovery process meant that she had witnessed every injury Theo was sporting. The red, swollen, slightly infected gash that ran across her eye was slowly getting better. Every sun that passed, it scabbed up more and more. Her ribs were purple and blue, showcasing through a nasty patchwork that Theo was more than hurt. Her body had nearly been destroyed. The various cuts and bruises around her body were visible and didn't bother Xyra much but what she couldn't stomach was seeing Theo's back. It hurt her, seeing Riva's symbols defaced. Thinking about the pain it would have caused Theo made Xyra queasy.

Every sun that passed, Xyra felt the hope of ever seeing Theo up and walking again fade. She didn't know what was worse, never having found Theo at all or having come so close to saving her just to fall short. Eventually, Xyra was needed to complete her ship duties. After three suns hovering over Theo, she finally pulled her weight on the crew. If Xyra wasn't attending to interim captain duties, she was at Theo's side. If she wasn't doing either of those, she was at Morgana's side. Cooker, surprisingly, was also around quite a bit. If she wasn't engaged in her responsibilities, she was at the infirmary with her watching over their two rescued pirates.

The lightbringer had arrived back to Corinspian shores six suns prior, four suns after rescuing them, and since the ship had no way of fitting into the bay through the small pathway in between the coral, they had to orchestrate an elaborate mission in order to get their injured back to shore. After almost getting shot at because they brought a lightbringer into Corinspian waters without sending anyone to alert the island, they had managed to get everyone onto the island safely. The journey from recusing Theo back to the island had been eerily calm. It wasn't a welcome kind of calm but it was there anyway.

However, the moment they were within sight of the island everything picked back up into a swirl of chaos. Xyra was barely given a moment to get Theo settled into the infirmary before she was whisked away by Captain Owl to meetings. In their absence, the cleanup and recovery of the island had begun. Navy ships had been gathered, the things of value on them had been collected, and the repair of ships had started. But Xyra hadn't missed it all, she had come just in time to help figure out a system to distribute the spoils of war.

Of course, being known for her administrative capacity and Cooker being known for her charisma and diplomacy put them at the front of the effort to get back to normal. Pirates had already been cooped up on Corinspe preparing for the fight and they were itching to collect the benefit of their sacrifice before getting back into the open ocean. Xyra and Cooker were not alone in the effort to get pirate life running again, the same faces that lead the charge on preparing for the fight were helping with the aftermath. Some faces were missing, most notably Theo's.

There were many nights that Xyra stayed up until the sun rose, swamped with work. Both for the crew and the island. As acting captain, she was the one that represented their crew in deciding which spoils went to them. Almost unanimously, except for some greedy captains, a plan was agreed upon for how to distribute the new riches. First, those who lost ships and incurred heavy losses would be paid back. Either in gold from the fund, valuables or weapons found in the wreckage, or ships from the new stockpile. What was left would be distributed based on the initial contribution to the fight. To make it equitable, a formula created by the finance chair of the council would see pirate crews compensated not on the absolute value of what was given to the effort, but as a percentage of the crews' capability that they gave to the fight. Xyra wasn't interested in the details of the formula, as long as everyone agreed on it and it was fair. And the formula did just that, most pirates were happy with what they received and there were few complaints.