Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

Xyra Approves

Ava was up early to meet up with Xyra at breakfast. Theo had informed her that her next position would be training for cabin girl. She had no idea what that meant but it didn't seem too hard. Xyra had cut Ava's breakfast short and was showing her around each cabin. There were two separate rows of cabins, the ones to the right were for newcomers and passengers. The row of cabins to the left was for crew members. Ava also found out that some girls that slept in the lower decks did indeed have cabins, they just chose to sleep elsewhere. Because of that most of the cabins on their side acted as storage spaces.

There was not much to do at all. She was in charge of preparing the rooms and getting newcomers settled but that meant there was nothing to do at that moment. Xyra had gone over all of the basics of the job within two hours and then there was nothing left to do.

"Now what?" Ava asked when they reached the bottom of the stairs and emerged onto the deck.

"Go about your day," Xyra shrugged, "There isn't much to do. The job is practically yours."

"Can I follow you around?" Ava knew the answer was probably no but she figured she might as well put herself out there.

"Why?" Xyra raised an eyebrow.

"I followed Theo around the other day and it was fun. Just thought it could help pass the time," Ava explained.

"Sure, keep up," Xyra said, much to Ava's surprise. So kept up is what Ava did. They traversed all around the ship and Ava didn't understand what Xyra was doing most of the time. She effortlessly switched between languages when speaking to different heads of the ship and Ava was at a loss. It was still fun though and Ava felt official and important. Xyra gave her permission to skip out on training to do something in the storage room. While she loved to train she couldn't pass up an opportunity to stick around with Xyra.

Miss Yurwa was not in the storage room when they got there but that didn't stop Xyra from making herself welcome. She opened some drawers and pulled out different papers.

"What are you doing?" Ava watched as Xyra's eyes skimmed the page.

"None of your business," Xyra said without breaking contact with the pages in front of her.

Ava fell silent after that. Sitting quietly in the storage room was surprisingly growing more common for her. Oceane had made her do it a couple of times too. Ava settled into the corner she had found. It was her preferred spot and the way the barrels and crates were set up felt like it was her throne. She was content sitting in silence, a stark difference from the constant bustle of the ship.

"What's your deal?" Xyra asked, looking up from her papers and over at Ava.

"Thought the point of vetting was to answer these questions," Ava replied, unsure of how to answer her question.

"I don't mean like where you are from. I mean, why this? Why become a pirate? Why are you so..." Xyra motioned around in Ava's general direction.

"Weird?" Ava provided.

"Odd," Xyra smiled a little, "weird is harsh."

"I became a pirate because the opportunity presented itself. As to your question about my oddity, I cannot help you with that one. If you figure it out I'll be more than happy to hear what you've got."

Ava knew she wasn't everyone's cup of tea. She was used to deprecation from her family and others around her. She was a recluse, opting to play in her room rather than with the other children at the estate. Never getting along with many people. Overall causing trouble with her rebellious attitude. She had felt more accepted on the ship though and even Xyra's current line of questioning wasn't too harsh. Ava had seen what Xyra was capable of when it came to intimidation and rude conversations.