Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

The Feast

Arm in arm, Theo and Ava walked into the mess hall and suddenly all the noise and chatter ceased. The tables were not set up the way they had been before, they formed a square all around the room and made it so that everyone could see each other. The tables were arranged that way symbolically, to allow all members of the crew to equally to be the focus of the celebration of finding treasure. Everyone in the square was staring at Ava and Theo at the front of the room. Suddenly, Ava felt very aware of it may have looked to everyone else that she was walking in together with the captain, holding arms in the way she had seen her sisters do with their betrothed. She slowly slipped her arm away from Theo's and stood next to her silently.

A woman in the far right corner lifted her cup and yelled, "To our captain!"

The women all around the room raised their glasses and shouted back, To our captain! then took a drink.

Theo laughed and reached forward and grabbed a cup off of a table and raised it back to them, "To you all!"

The women around the room shouted To us all and took another drink. Theo took a drink with them then lifted the cup once more.

"To Ava!"

All of the women clamored back To Ava and finished off their drinks.

With that, the crowd went back to eating, laughing, rejoicing and drinking. Refilling their drinks and loading up their plates. Ava was confused she had talked to only about four people on the ship so she doubted any of them knew her name. They probably had no idea who Theo was talking about.

"Looks like someone has a friend," Theo said and pointed over at Tuni. Tuni was waving her arms around and pointing to the empty seat next to her, "I'll walk you over."

Ava nodded and followed as Theo led them over to Tuni, "Why did they all toast back to my name? They don't know who I am and I certainly didn't help find treasure. Toasts are symbolic and should honor those who the occasion is about."

"Astute observation. What you failed to consider is that they are all piss drunk right now and will toast back with whatever you call out. It's my favorite pastime, really," They arrived where Tuni was sitting and Ava sat down in the open chair.

Theo greeted Tuni with a kiss on the head and a squeeze on the shoulder then dismissed herself. Ava watched her make her way around the room, interacting with and conversing with everyone who wanted a moment of her time. Ava pulled away from staring at Theo and turned to face a smiling Tuni and noticed an equally smiling Morgana sitting on the other side of Tuni.

"Hello, Ava! Oh, it's so good to see you out and about and here at supper with us. I hope I didn't bother you by asking you to come," Tuni took Ava's hand.

Ava smiled and shook her head, "No Tuni, it's alright. I was starving so thank you for calling me down. Hello Morgana. How was treasure hunting?"

Morgana grabbed her drink and took a hefty gulp and wiped her mouth before smiling once again, "Oh mate, the fucking best as always. There's nothing quite like picking up that heavy chest and knowing whatever is inside is going to fucking change your life, you know?"

Tuni grabbed a plate of meat that was circling the table and served Ava some meat as Ava laughed and shook her head, "No, I don't but that sounds amazing. What's inside the chest?"

Morgana shrugged and passed Tuni the potato bowl and Tuni began to serve Ava some potatoes.

"We get to go upstairs after the feast and open it under the moonlight. Then we split the spoils. You should stay out there with us tonight. The rooms are no fun alone but this will be. You might even get a turn in picking something if everyone is drunk enough to feel generous." Morgana invited and Ava felt welcomed, a rare feeling as of late.