Heaven Hath No Rage - Book Two

Eng, Part, and Erdo (Three, Four, and Five)

Quick TW for mentions and depictions of gore, torture, and violence

CYCLE THREE-CYCLE ENG

Every half a cycle, they had a meeting. On the 13th and 25th sun of the cycle, they would gather and give updates. Of course, most of them knew what was occurring. They were all friends and updates between crew efforts were often shared but it was a needed formality. Kaia and Xyra took notes and identified common themes and issues to be solved at that meeting and at later points. The meeting Theo was at marked their fourth one and marked the end of their second cycle at Niveal. In the morning, they would be entering their third.

Iona had just finished her overview of training. Every sun, more and more people were undergoing vanguard testing and being added to the list of fighters they had on the crew. Others were settling into other areas of the crew. Instead of taking a recruit's word for it, however, their skills were rigorously tested before they were assigned a duty. Theo could never forget the girl that slipped from her hands in the storm after being somewhere she should not have been. Skins had been doing a good job with that. She had hung up her hat as quartermaster but was still interacting with the pirates on a sun to sun basis, placing them in their job roles.

Skins explained her progress next, including mention of how much she had saved them that cycle alone when supply shopping. Cooker piggybacked off of Skins, updating them on the preparations that two of the galleons were undergoing before they were sent to The Twins and Dove Island to attend to Scorned Woman business there. Blue was heading one of those ships and Iona would be in charge of the other one. The training of the vanguard would be taken over by Theo and Cooker. Many combinations of captains were suggested to ensure they had a good crew on both of the ships but it was settled that Iona and Blue could lead the first wave of ships that were sent out.

Everything was operating smoothly. The onboarding process for new recruits, payment for the pirates that were on land, preparation, and planning for a new island once Navi returned with the information were all coming along great. The presence of both Navi and Tuni was missing from the meetings, the healer having joined the dangerous mission to scout a good haven for them. There had been no updates or letters but that wasn't unusual, it had only been a cycle and a few suns since they had left.

Theo dismissed the crew once there was no more business left to discuss. Promises of meeting back up later in the evening were exchanged. They hadn't gotten to do their traditional Nivelean bender. It didn't feel appropriate when they were missing so many and Cooker was trying to avoid using hard drugs. Instead, they had agreed to go out the night of meetings. Anyone was welcome but it was usually confined to those that attended the meetings. Everyone else had plenty of time to party and didn't make a big deal out of it as the officers did.

Theo stood up and began to pick up the drinks and food that were left scattered in the pirate's wake after the meeting. Xyra stayed to help and Kaia held up a letter.

"This got delivered this morning while I was on the ground floor," Kaia said and held up the letter, "pretty fancy seal."

Theo's head snapped up and she walked over, taking the envelope from her hand and placing it inside her jacket pocket. She could feel Xyra staring at her.

"Who's it from?" Xyra asked.

"None of your business," Theo shrugged, "I am allowed to do things without passing it by everyone. It's called having a personal life."

"Is it from Red?" Kaia asked.

"Why would it be from Red?" Xyra walked over in front of Theo, "Have you been in contact with her?"

"No, I haven't," Theo said, "If you must know, I am getting a custom suit and it's a bit more than I budgeted for it and want no judgment about it."

Xyra didn't look convinced and Kaia took her cue from Xyra, also looking unconvinced.