Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

The Aftermath

Theo was gripping the rails on the upper deck as she heard her crew shouting at her. The second the word 'Vaith' left her mouth there was an uproar from the crew. Through the unintelligible waves of anger emanating from the crowd, Theo managed to catch onto enough of the comments to understand her crew was far from happy. Some of the women had resorted to name-calling, traitor and liar were thrown around quite a bit. Other women had tried their hand at yelling out reminders to Theo as to what exactly Vaith had done to them. Villages destroyed, unfair classifications for their family, decisions he made on the council that affected their lives.

Theo took a deep breath trying to keep down her anger and frustration from being yelled at. She didn't need a reminder as to what Vaith had done, she knew first hand. For many of these women, Vaith had ruined their lives. And if he hadn't, another councilmember most likely had. So Vaith represented the ultimate prize. Whether he directly affected someone or acted as a symbol of the system, Vaith and the other council members were easily the most hated men amongst those lower in Baethean society. After the initial volley of insults and protest the crowd had quieted down enough for Theo to be able to speak.

"I've sat down with all of you at one point or another when you first joined my crew and promised to never lie to you or keep things from you," Theo admitted and the women in the crowd nodded along, some unhappy mutters slipping through, "I broke that promise and I am infinitely sorry. This has weighed on my mind for a while and I promise you I will not keep secrets from you again."

Theo scanned the crowd and saw Ava squeezing past pirates on her way inside the deck. Cooker, Theo noted, followed in pursuit of Ava and slipped into the deck too. Theo was confused but pushed it out of her mind, she had other things to attend to.

"I do not know how to repair the damage I have caused beyond apologizing and asking for your understanding and forgiveness. My door will be open all morning, aftermorning, and night for any concerns or questions you might have. We are going to be sailing for another six suns to Niveal where we are going to dock for an indefinite time until we figure out our next course based on any new leads we get."

"Will you keep those from us too?" A woman from the crew yelled out and it was met with various snickers from the others.

"Clever," Theo said, grip still tight on the railing, "Night crew, your shifts start now. That is all, pirates, thank you."

She pushed herself off from the railing and walked to the helm of the ship waiting for Navi to join. She planned to stay on deck and around the crew until late hoping that burning the midnight oil would make the crew forgive her a little easier. Navi marched up the stairs and positioned herself at the helm, arms crossed in front of her.

"Navi, any updates? We still projecting a six sun journey?" Theo asked.

"Don't know why it would have changed since I told you two hours ago."

"I was just asking."

"I'm not in the mood for small talk, Theo," Navi snapped at Theo and turned to face away, overlooking the crew.

Theo sighed and pushed past Navi and back down the stairs. She knew she was in the wrong but she was not going to deal with Navi's attitude. No productive conversation would come out of it anyway. Navi was just as stubborn as Theo so she knew firsthand the degree of cold shoulder Navi was capable of. Working against the voice in her brain screaming at her to keep Navi and Xyra at a distance, she found Xyra and patted her on the back.

"You're on night duty with Navi tonight. Captain's orders," Theo informed her and quickly made her way inside the deck before Xyra could say anything.

Theo felt a bit lost on her own ship which was an odd feeling. She didn't know where to go or who to talk to, she was positive the majority of the women on the ship were in too sore a mood to be faced with their lying captain. Theo decided it would be best to retreat into the kitchen and help Rose clean up dinner, pirates tended to be messy. She walked into an empty mess hall, Rose in the kitchen. Silently, as Rose preferred, Theo began to pick up the plates and cups from the tables around the room.