A/N: MORE CHARACTERS. MWAHAHA. Well, just one this time. And hopefully a memorable one too. Don't forget, there's a character list for the Corsairs at the bottom of chapter 6 if any of you get confused. :)

Disclaimer: Look at every other chapter. I'm too lazy to copy this time. :p

Feedback: If you don't review, the ghost behind you will EAT YOUR BRAINS. O_O

Warnings: Nothing this time, if you don't count drunken humor.

The next morning, the Amankar looked Sousuke over with a critical eye once Kharim took him on deck to determine his work. It was still very early in the morning; the moon hadn't completely set and the sky to the east was beginning to lighten. Sousuke squelched the urge to yawn in front of Amankar as she circled around him.

"Not very strong then, is he?" She said. She prodded at one of his arms. "He couldn't tend to the sails and we can't have him swabbin' the deck alone after what happened last time." She cast a glare over to where Varsilles was mending a net used to catch fish over the side of the ship.

"He be just an elementalist. If he tried to work the ropes on the sails they would break him in half," Kharim said.

After a few more moments in which Amankar continued her scrutiny, Kharim spoke up again. "Might I suggest the crow's nest, captain? He wouldn't make trouble for Jambalaya."

Amankar snorted. "Nah. I'd be more worried that Jambalaya would crack him before he cracked Jambalaya." She straightened up and rubbed at her chin in thought. "A'right, crow's nest it is."

"For how long?" Kharim said, voicing Sousuke's concern. It was a hot day and the wooden bucket would likely be broiling before too long.

"Give him a bag of biscuits and a canteen before he goes up. He can come back down after midday," Amankar said. "Pack some extra for Jambalaya too. That man's up there 'round the clock. I don't wanna think about what he eats in his spare time. Now get him out of my sight."

Kharim nodded and the captain left them so they could gather their supplies. Of course, scaling to the crow's nest sounded easy, but once faced with the reality of the frail rope-ladder that led up, Sousuke found himself getting cold feet and sweaty palms. His charge seemed to notice his discomfort.

"Haven't done this before, eh, lad?" Kharim said.

"I'm afraid not." Sousuke swallowed.

"Just take it a rung at a time," The Corsair adjusted the bag of rations so that it was slung across his shoulders like a messenger bag.

The words 'just a rung at a time' served to comfort Sousuke for the first five feet before the ladder began sagging under his weight. He froze, feeling his heart pound in his chest.

"Go on. Yer all right," Kharim urged with an encouraging pat to the elementalist's backside that made the color rise in his face.

He tried lifting his foot on another rung and the rope swerved precariously. For a breath-stealing moment, Sousuke thought it was going to twist underneath him and he inhaled a shaky breath.

"I...I can't do this. I'm sorry," He said, although he didn't move from the spot.

"All right, come back down here," Kharim said, beckoning with his fingers. Sousuke had never been so grateful to feel the wooden deck under his feet. "Now get on my back."

"What?" Sousuke stammered.

"You heard me. I can get you up to the crow's nest. It'll be faster, too." Kharim crouched down a bit to make things easier. Sousuke hesitated. This was insane, but he supposed there wasn't any other way. The captain wouldn't be changing her mind anytime soon and there was no way he would be able to work up the nerve to climb the ladder himself.

He climbed onto the Corsair's back, wrapping his arms around the man's neck and curling his legs around the thick waist. He didn't want to know if the other members of the crew were observing this and buried his face in the folds of Kharim's silk coat to hide his embarrassment.

"Comfy, mouse?" Kharim said, amusement audible in his low voice. Before Sousuke could reply, the Corsair hoisted them both on the ladder.

He was a lot quicker than he appeared. They were soon level with the bindings of the lower sail. Kharim showed no signs of tiring. Sousuke felt the man's strength even through their layers of clothes and cursed at himself quietly when he shivered. Even moreso, he remembered the firm grip around him the night before, stroking pleasure into his veins, and had to think of something else before his body betrayed him.

"You all right?" he heard Kharim say and nodded against his back. The wind picked up the further up they got. Sousuke didn't dare look down and tightened his hold subconsciously.

When the rope gave an unexpected hard jerk, he held his breath and closed his eyes. Kharim chuckled and climbed on.

When at last he exhaled, Kharim was swinging his legs into the bucket-shaped crow's nest. He stayed long enough for Sousuke to climb off and shake out his tense limbs. A dark lump leaned against the other side of the bucket. Sousuke counted at least six empty rum bottles strewn around the figure.

Kharim prodded the body with the toe of his boot and the limp man grunted.

"Sleepin' on the job, Jambalaya?" He said, his tone disapproving.

"No, Gram, I'z not sleepin'," Came the slurred reply. The figure batted at Kharim's boot when it nudged him in the side.

"Get up, yer getting some help with yer watch today," Kharim said. Slowly, the dark lump took on the shape of a man as it stood. It had wild hair pulled into thick, frizzled dreadlocks. Winding tattoos decorated the arms and sides, leading into a pair of worn breaches. Sousuke heard the beads woven into his hair chink together as he moved.

"Oy, navigator. Whatz be goin' down?" Jambalaya said, grinning.

"You won't be anytime soon if you keep sleeping on the job." Kharim frowned. He gestured beside him to Sousuke. "Captain Amankar wants this mouse up here with ye fer the time being."

Jambalaya squinted at the elementalist, now taking notice of him for the first time. He took a swig from a half-full bottle in his hand (which miraculously hadn't spilled during his sleep) and sauntered over. He leaned in to Sousuke so closely that he could see the fine stubble that covered his chin and smell the drink on his breath.

"What's youze name?"

"Sousuke."

Sew...Soooous..." The man muttered to himself.

"Sousuke," Sousuke repeated in a helpful voice.

"Ah, yeah. Soo...see...Saspirilla." Jambalaya hiccuped and took a step back, grinning at Kharim. "Don't woarry, he'll b' safe with me."

Kharim gave a little 'hmph' and turned to go back down the ladder. "Go easy on 'im now. Lad's not used to heights, I think."

"Yeah, yeah, Sake and ah'll be juz fine," Jambalaya laid his arm across Sousuke's shoulders. He used the hand still holding the bottle to make a shooing gesture towards Kharim. "You go 'n stare at yer maps like ye always do."

As Kharim descended, Sousuke caught him rolling his eyes before he disappeared behind the rim of the crow's nest.

"What's in the bag?" Jambalaya said, close to his ear.

"Biscuits and water," Sousuke said, lifting the strap over his head. No sooner was it free then Jambalaya made a grab for it.

"An' here I thought the Uragaddy 'ad forgotten about me! I tell ye, me Gram would sendz up a turkey dinner every night if she were 'ere." The Corsair pulled out a handful of the flaky biscuits and retreated back to his corner of the bucket. A few seconds later, when he turned around to smile at Sousuke and took a big gulp from his rum bottle, the biscuits were gone.

"Ye can have the water. Rum's the only thing for me nowadays. When I was still a wee lad at me Gram's, her water gave me the wors' stomach pains an'," Jambalaya paused and his lip suddenly started quivering. Sousuke peered at him in concern and opened his mouth to speak until he was suddenly captured in a debilitating hug. "Oh! Me sweet Gram. Bless 'er 'art!"

"Ah," Sousuke said, uncomfortably, trying to keep them both steady. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Oh, Gram...ye remind me of her, ye know. All fine and proper." Jambalaya released his arms and scrubbed at his eyes, which were slightly bloodshot, although Sousuke couldn't determine if this was because of the rum or the tears.

"I'm sure she was a good woman," Sousuke said.

"Good! She wuz the greatest woman this side of...of...this side, she wuz!" The corsair patted Sousuke's shoulder and tilted his bottle back. Upon realizing it was empty, he cast it aside along with the others and reached for another out of a wooden crate next to the corner wear he had been sleeping. "And look at what she haz to show fer it. A no-good pirate the likes of me."

"But, she would have wanted you to be happy, right? So if you're happy in this life, then she couldn't ask for anything more."

Jambalaya's eyes widened as if an epiphany had dawned on him and he pulled Sousuke close again, this time clapping a hand down around his waist and laughing. "Sasper, me lad, yer a jewel ye are. If you wuz small and shiny, I would putz ye in me pocket and keep youz there fer a thousand years."

"Thanks," Sousuke said slowly. He ducked out from underneath Jambalaya's armpit, which didn't exactly have a pleasant odor to begin with. "So what is it that we do up here?"

"Well," The corsair began, tapping his forehead. "We watch over the ship and make sure nothin' sinks it." He proceeded to take the position he had been in when Kharim and Sousuke had arrived.

"Shouldn't we be watching the water?" Sousuke said, unnerved.

Jambalaya looked up at him. "Do ye see storm clouds?"

"No, but..."

"Do ye see any other ships?"

"No."

"Do ye see any land on the horizon?"

"No." Sousuke sighed.

"Then take a seat, me lad. We'z done fer the day," With a final swig from his new bottle, Jambalaya's head tipped forward and he began to snore quite loudly.

The sides of his mouth twitching, Sousuke sat cross-legged on the other side of the crow's nest and uncorked his canteen. It was going to be a long morning.

He knew it would get hot, but he did not think it was going to be this unbearable. Apparently the higher one up one was from the sea floor, the hotter it grew as the day wore on. When the sun was directly overhead, Sousuke peeled the linen shirt off of his skin and laid it aside. It let the cool breeze cool off his sweat, but other than that it only allowed the sun's rays to hit him directly. He tried to take what little refuge he could in the shadow cast by the mast and the black Corsair flag, but as time went on and the shadow shrunk, he found he could not avoid the heat.

Jambalaya didn't seem to care about the sun. He slept in a drunken daze most of the time, occasionally murmuring about "acres of rum" or "gram's baked muffin cake pies." Unlike Kharim, he snored loud enough that Sousuke was sure someone across the sea in Kryta would be able to hear him. He sometimes rolled over in his sleep or made an unconscious grab for one of the empty grog bottles nearby, but was otherwise still.

It was at times like this when Sousuke wished he had one of the big fans like the ones his mother had hanging in the entrance hall of her house back in Kaineng. It wasn't just the sun, really. When he didn't use his pyromancer skills, the fire energy inside him built up and he would start feeling it like a physical, burning ache. But thus far, with the Corsairs and Kharim's constant presence, he had not had the chance to 'let off some steam,' as it were. If the energy built up too much, it wouldn't hurt him but it would certainly be uncomfortable until the next time he was able to release it.

Now seemed like the perfect time to do it, with Jambalaya asleep and no one else around to see. He had been feeling like there was a ball of fire in the center of his chest that kept getting hotter and hotter for the past couple of days. He rubbed at the spot absentmindedly. He would be able to focus on his situation more easily if he did.

With a glance over at Jambalaya, Sousuke settled back against the mast and cupped his hands together. He pulled at the knot of energy in his chest and drew it through his arms into his palms. A glowing ball flickered to life between them and burst into a dancing flame. Yes, it was another source of heat adding to the already sweltering crow's nest, but he was feeling better with each passing second.

He felt a lazy arm fall heavily across his shoulder. "Pretty fireworks, Sewing needle. Wut else can ye do?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin. Jambalaya had practically draped himself around Sousuke's side in a drunken slump. His hot breath hit Sousuke's face and made him wince at the smell. The fireball vanished.

"Aw, ye dropped it. It almost looked as pretty as me gram's fires when she wud make us oyzter bowlz," Jambalaya said. "Oi, ye din't answer me first qwestiun. Wut else can ye do?"

"I can do a lot of other spells, but I don't want to cast them here. I don't know how flammable this wood is," Sousuke replied.

"That ain't no fun. I wanted t' see fireworks. I asked Uruged to make some fer me before and 'e hit me in the head with a fryin' pan, yellin' something 'bout getting' out of his kitchen. Left a mark, too." Jambalaya pointed to a thin scar on his forehead. "But I get the feelin' yer right. Cap'n wuldn't be too happy with you if ye made the crow's nest asplode."

A sudden thought occurred to Sousuke. "You won't tell the Captain about this, will you?"

"Why wud the Cap'n care? You ain't tryin' to look good in front of her, are ye? Got the hots fer the Cap'n? Want ter get into her skirts or britches or whatever she's wearin'?" Jambalaya said, teasing.

"No! Of course not!" Sousuke exclaimed.

"Nah, you wouldn't. Cuz the Navigator's got ye all to hisself now," Jambalaya said. He had uncurled himself from Sousuke's side and was sitting cross-legged next to him, bottle of rum in hand.

"How do you know about that?"

"Whaddya mean how do I know? Word's out all over the ship about you."

Sousuke hadn't thought about it that way. Of course, Jambalaya would come down from the crow's nest for meals and would hear about the card game and its results from the other crew members. And he would have probably seen the way Kharim felt him up in front of everybody. Even a drunk corsair would be able to put the pieces together.

"Yeah, he's got a good eye, I s'pose. But I wouldn't want to bang you like he does. I'm afraid I don't like the laddies. Sorry to break yer heart." Jambalaya patted Sousuke's head. "It wouldn't 'ave worked out between us anyway."

"What in Tyria are you talking about?!" Sousuke said.

"Now, I know I'm ravishing, but ye've just gotta learn to control yerself," the Corsair said, trying to look masterful and failing miserably. "Ye've got an obliget...ubligation...ye've got ter satisfy yer Master's needs so he won't get bored and make ye walk the plank."

"N-needs?! I would make myself walk the plank before I did anything to satisfy him...that way," he said. And it was true. Submitting to Kharim willingly just seemed like betraying Pankou...or at least the memory that Sousuke had of him. Then again, they had not made any promises to each other during their time on the Zaishen ship, but still, it felt like it was too soon. He couldn't just hop into bed with another man, could he? Especially with someone who was keeping him captive, keeping him for pleasure rather than companionship. It was appalling.

"Well, ye might be sayin' that now, but just wait a few months on the sea and ye might be singin' a different tune?"

"What do you mean?"

Jambalaya took a long drink from his bottle and let out a long exhale when he lowered it again. "I mean, sometimes a person goes bonkers out here. Not righ' in the head. 'Course that wuldn't happen to me none, but ye look like the type who could lose it out 'ere. And when that happens, ye might be the one that the Navigator's workin' to satisfy."

That couldn't possibly happen. Sousuke did not intend to stay out here for a few months, or even a few weeks time. And the image of him trying to seduce the foul privateer in question made him sick. No, Jambalaya was wrong.

"You won't tell the Captain about earlier, right?" For some reason, Sousuke felt comfortable requesting this of Jambalaya. He was not as intimidating as the other crew. There was a playfulness that he felt like he could get used to; that put him at ease, even if he had been on one of the lifeboats that had raided the Zaishen ship. What had been done then was done.

Jambalaya stared at him blankly. "Tell her 'bout what?" He scratched his head underneath his head scarf. "Ohh right. Yer sparks 'r whatever. Yeah, I likes you, Salmonella. Yer secret's safe with me." It was at that moment when he chose to give off a very unsavory belch. Afterwards, he pulled Sousuke close to his side and said, "You 'n I are gonna be like two peas in a pod, like brothers, like...like..."

His voice trailed off to give way to a very loud snoring. Sousuke looked over at him to see that his head had tipped forward with his chin resting on his collar bone. He guided the corsair until he was lying down on his side. He stood up, working his slightly stiff legs and peered out towards the horizon; something he had been periodically doing ever since coming up to the crow's nest when it looked like Jambalaya made no move to do so. He was beginning to understand why Kharim had been the one to see the Zaishen ship first.