A/N- Again, hugely sorry for the lack of updates. I got sick while I was in Egypt, and that carried over into the rest of my vacation time, and then... But, so. Thanks again to Sayosi, who will beta the chapter once she reviews it.

Kudos to Kryssa's Flute, who was the first (and only) person to hazard a guess at the chapter quote. She got it right too, so expect a rather...interesting one-shot coming soon.

Panda- Your birthday present was marvelous. And yes, it's still on my wall. -grins-

Soukyuu- I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. Happy (by now extremely belated) New Year to you too. It took me a month and a bit to get this chapter up, but at least it's a long-ish one. By my standards, at least.

Sayosi- Please have patience, luff. I'm expecting this one to have more mistakes than the last, because I stayed up all night again. And without tea too. I'm proud of myself.

Readers- Nytecat has a story called Genesis Odyssey. It needs more reviews. Go review it. Now. Bossy? Me? Never.

So, replies and excuses (or lack thereof) for not updating sooner aside, there are some things that should be noted. And I'll put them in bold, for those of ya'll that normally skip the A/N.

The first is that I'm fairly sure that Chie isn't older than Natsuki, given the year Natsuki was supposed to be in, but I'm changing it here. The second is that the Atlas I'm using certainly doesn't date back to 1749, but I doubt I could find one that did. The third is that the destination mentioned was never actually given the name that's used for it now, so I won't write that name either.

For the Shizuru fans, I'm sorry she hasn't shown up in quite some time. She will soon though, so I hope you'll wait 'till then. It's killing me as much as it's killing y'all. Oh, also, I re-uploaded a couple of the chapters that Sayosi corrected, so I hope everything's still the same. The page-breaks keep disappearing on me.

April is the cruelest month,

breeding lilacs out of the dead land,

mixing memory and desire,

stirring dull roots with spring rain

-T. S. Eliot


Shifting in her chair and trying very hard not to show how worried she was, Midori firmly placed her elbows on her table-cum-desk and frowned. She'd never had any trouble with her crew before, and she didn't want to start now. For a reason unbeknownst to her, tension was high aboard her ship, and no one seemed to be in the best of spirits. To top it off, they had a hostage of sorts, which meant another mouth to feed. Unlike others of her kind, she had no intention of letting her prisoner starve. But the problems that could create…

Steeling herself, she addressed the two disgruntled people in front of her. Thinking it best to start things off on a lighter note, she began, "You're probably wondering why I wanted to see you both, especially right before lunch. We wouldn't want Mikoto to complain, would we?"

Mai rewarded her rhetorical question with a wry smile, but Chie just made a noise reminiscent of a huff and rested her head on her arm, supported by the chair she was sitting in. Not the most encouraging reaction, but then, it was something. She hoped they'd still be as calm in a few moments.

"It's…about the map."

Hearing this, Chie perked up. This was the first time the subject had been brought up in several days, and Midori knew she was eager to start the treasure hunt. The young artist was almost annoyingly perceptive though, and she picked up on the hesitance in her captain's voice.

"Good news first, then?" she asked with the sort of dry humour she'd became famous for on the ship.

"Right. Well, for starters, we are going the right way. Once we run into the North Atlantic current, we should be able to pass the English Channel fairly easily."

Chie nodded eagerly, which was a good sign. It was the most emotion she'd shown in days. Mai showed some degree of interest, but not as much as Midori had hoped. She knew treasure hunting had never been a huge source of enjoyment for the cook, especially considering their last attempt, but... Finding an idea, she grasped it eagerly.

"So, Mai, you can pay more doctors for information, or whatever it is you're trying to get. That's what you've been doing whenever we land, right? Once we get this, we'll have plenty to spare."

I hope, she added silently to herself. There was the slightest chance that someone had gotten there first, considering how old the map was. Its yellow colouring and the way it threatened to crumble into nothingness whenever she attempted to fold it was proof enough of that. It had gotten to the point where she, fearing for its condition, had placed it between two larger, heavier maps and moved it to a far, flat corner of the room. She'd rather not think on the odds though. Though, not knowing, it was cruel to encourage… But I do know, she thought forcefully. It's still there, and that's that.

At any rate, those words seemed to have heartened Mai, who gave a slightly larger smile and sat up straighter. Chie though, never one to get sidetracked easily, pressed on. "And the bad?"

Breathing deeply, Midori tried to think which strategy would work better. She could try to buy time, but that would be easily seen through. Maybe, if she spoke fast enough, it would be overlooked… Even knowing how foolish that sounded, she decided to try her luck. "It should be easy enough to get out past the Bay of Biscay, if we can just stop for food first and then move east to-"

Chie stood up, and the scraping of her chair as it was pushed back cut Midori off before she could finish. "What, exactly, was that?"

Of course, Midori sighed to herself, you would have heard that. Still, why not try and put this off a little longer. "Moving east?"

Knowing by now that something was up, Chie made to speak, stopped, and sat back down. "No, before that."

No use trying to dull the impact, then. Que sera sera. "Food, then?" Not waiting for an answer, she tried to get it over with quickly. Best thing to do, really. "I'm surprised that none of you asked where our map led. True, acquiring a hostage is a bit of a distraction, but…"

Her words were met with an expectant silence, and she sighed again. "Right. What we're looking for is in, well... The Calm."

If she was expecting pandemonium, she was slightly disappointed. Chie blinked, and Mai's mouth dropped open in a silent 'oh', but neither of them spoke. Knowing the two of them, silence wasn't a good sign. Especially in Chie's case. It would be extremely stupid to try and say anything else for the moment, so she waited. When about half a minute had passed and no knives had been drawn or voices raised and Midori felt she was about to burst, Chie said what Mai hadn't. "Oh."

That seemed to be the signal for the noise to start. Mai took full advantage of the short opening with a very shocked-sounding, very loud, "Whaaat!?"

Well, thought Midori with no small amount of relief, that could have been worse. Beginning to speak again, she was interrupted by Chie, who seemed to have regained the power of speech.

"You want us to sail there."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement. A very toneless statement. It was then that the saying 'It never rains, but it pours', which she'd always found to be rather silly, began to make sense to Midori, as Mai took her opening again.

"You want us to sail there now?" She sounded almost panicked, as if her captain had ordered them to take another foray into the swamp. Trying to explain, Midori was interrupted yet again by Chie, who had by now regained not only the power of speech, but volume to go along with it.

"How can you expect us to do this now, in winter, with the Navy chasing us!" That hadn't been so much panicked as angry. And to be fair, it was a very reasonable question. Well, not so much a question, since it hadn't seemed to require an answer. But she'd give one anyway, because she was beginning to worry about how much more her ears could take.

"Because we need the money, because it should be fun, because you know it won't be as cold there as it will get here, and because if you put in enough effort we should be able to shake the Navy off our trail with no trouble at all."

Having said that all in one breath, she drew one rather nervously. She'd known Mai since birth and Chie for a little over three years now, and she'd chosen them to break the news to because they were the least likely to fly off the handle after hearing it. She shuddered at the thought of telling Natsuki and Nao first. That would have been just short of a disaster. At least at first, since she was relatively sure she could have calmed them down without starting too much of a problem. Relatively. But Mai was relatively calm to begin with, and Chie had a cool head, so hopefully…

It was Mai who broke the silence first, with a resigned but determined, "And how long will it take us to get there?"

"A month and a half at most, less if the weather's on our side."

Chie spoke up next, with a touch of her old eagerness. "Is this taking into consideration the unpredictability of the weather once we actually get there?"

A sense of relief washed over Midori. Of course they wouldn't try a revolt or some such thing. She should have known better. Relaxing her stiffened posture, she began answering questions.


Nao yawned, tried to catch Kuga's eye for the third time in the last five minutes, failed, and busied herself by trying to keep track of how many rolls Mikoto had devoured since they'd come to the galley. Frowning when she realised she'd lost count, Kuga broke the semi-silence, otherwise filled with loud chewing and gulping noises, with, "You've eaten fifteen of those things, you know. You won't have any room left for lunch when Mai gets back."

Mikoto looked at Kuga, then back at the half-eaten roll in her hand. Discarding the warning, she began eating again, with even more enthusiasm than before. Seemed as though there was no stopping her. Oh well. It was on Mikoto's head, not hers. Nao could just say she'd tried to stop the younger girl, and that would be that. Her definition of trying to stop someone was to sniff and give an under-five-word warning, which in this case had been, 'Tokiha'll be mad.' It hadn't had any effect though, and she didn't know why she'd bothered.

Looking at Kuga again, they shared an eye-roll before returning their attention to Mikoto. Five minutes and two rolls later, which was a sign that the black hole was finally getting full, Nao was beginning to get bored. Even more bored than she'd been when she walked into the galley almost half an hour ago, which was saying something.

Tokiha had left with Harada for Midori's cabin before lunch, and that had been some time ago. Nao could cook if she had to or wanted to, but as they had what seemed like a never-ending supply of rolls and she really didn't want to, that was that. Letting Kuga cook was out of the question, as they all still remembered the time she'd managed to find out how long one could cook an oyster before it became a tiny black lump that had taken, as Kuga had later told her, far too long to scrape off the surface it had landed on when it flew out of the fire.

Leaving lunch to Mikoto was a bad idea for two reasons, the first being that she'd very probably eat it before it was finished. The second was that Kuga had shuddered when the idea had been mentioned and volunteered to do it herself, which spoke volumes of how desperate she was not to let the girl cook. So. That left rolls. Rolls which wouldn't be around for much longer, if Mikoto had anything to say about it. And it seemed she did, because over the next few minutes the rolls disappeared into her mouth at an alarming rate, until finally, "The rolls are gone," she spoke up plaintively. Nao sighed. Of course they were.

Watching Mikoto look around for more food, Nao tried to come up with something to distract her long enough for Tokiha to get back. "Hey, so…what did Harada want with you a couple days ago?"

Kuga had told her, with an uncomfortable look on her face, that Mikoto had stayed in the artist's cabin the night before. If nothing else, it would make for a hopefully engaging subject. Engaging enough to make Mikoto stop her massacre of everything edible in the galley.

As she'd hoped, the spiky-haired girl stopped looking around long enough to say, "Chie said she'd teach me how to draw if I promised not to tell…oh."

Ah-hah. Distractions were one thing, but secrets were another. And having anything to use as blackmail against Harada was a rare occurrence indeed. Even Kuga looked interested, abandoning the one roll she'd managed to hold onto to look up at Mikoto, who seemed to realise she'd made a blunder. Now was as good a time as any to strike.

"Promised not to tell…what, exactly?"

"Nothing," Mikoto said at once. It had been too hasty to be truthful though, and Nao lost no time in letting her know she could see right through that. " 'Nothing' meaning what?"

"Nothing," the other girl persisted.

Damn, this wouldn't be quite as easy as she'd thought. Time to switch tactics. Hoping desperately that Kuga would catch on, she shrugged and frowned again. "Alright, fine. If you say so."

Seeming to have let the matter go, she resumed gnawing on her roll. Seemed this batch was older. On the bright side, there weren't any weevils in it. She'd had some very…unpleasant experiences with weevils. Waiting until Mikoto had turned her attention back to the store cupboard, she flicked a crumb across the table to Kuga, who eyed it suspiciously. What?, her eyes asked. Nao pointed a silent finger at Mikoto, then let the smallest of grins slip out. Time for twenty questions, hopefully less.

"Been anywhere near Harada's sketchpad recently?" It was an innocent enough question, which was precisely why she'd asked it. Mikoto turned back around, glaring stubbornly at Nao.

"No…," she said, her answer making it obvious that yes, she had. Deciding she'd said enough, she returned to staring longingly at the cupboard. Perfect. Making sure she had Kuga's full attention, she gave an over-exaggerated shrug and a shake of the head before miming someone walking with her fingers. She got a blank stare in return, which made her wonder if this could be pulled off. Still, no harm trying.

"Kuga, have you?"

Including the other girl in her question made it seem less like she was targeting Mikoto, and, if Kuga could just get it…

"I, um…no?" She looked to Nao for guidance. Well, it was a start. Nodding ever so slightly, she made a motion with her hands as if to say, 'Go on.' Finally getting the idea, Kuga spoke again in a firmer voice.

"No. I, uh…actually, come to think of it, I haven't seen it in a while."

Good, she was getting the hang of it. Raising her roll to her mouth, she pretended to take a bite while looking very pointedly at the table. She received another stare, this one clearly meaning, Have you lost your mind? It looked as though she'd have to start things off.

"She didn't have it when she was on watch last night…"

Catching on at last, Kuga fumbled for a moment before saying, "I didn't see it at breakfast... Or dinner last night," she added after several hand signs from Nao. Mikoto had turned around again, curious to see why they were so interested in Harada's sketchpad. Good, now…

"Hm, maybe it fell overboard."

Seemed Kuga was getting better at this, as she followed up with, "Or maybe a seagull flew away with it."

Time to go for the kill. "Or maybe someone ate it," she said, with a carefully timed glance at Mikoto. Luckily for her and for Kuga, whose foot was tapping the table leg with poorly concealed impatience, the younger girl took the bait.

"I didn't eat it! It was in her room last night before-" Too late, she realised that Nao had won after all. "Um…before I left this morning."

Even Kuga's better at lying than you are, Nao thought to herself with a grin. "So…you got a peek at Harada's journal? What was in it?"

But that was as far as she was going to get, because Mikoto had had enough, and was making her way through Kuga's roll. Pity. She was sure they could have gotten more information if they'd been a bit more careful and a bit less obvious. Well, at least she had something. Something was always better than nothing. Satisfied, she leaned back in her chair and ignored Kuga's angry huff.

The next noise, though, she wasn't able to ignore. It sounded a lot like Tokiha screaming, which wasn't an everyday occurrence. At last, something to dispel the boredom. She made sure to catch Kuga's startled eyes before looking towards the door, then at Mikoto, then back to the door. Making her decision, Nao stood up and began inching her way out of the room. Kuga followed her after only a few moments of hesitation, and in that way they both left as stealthily as possible, which wasn't really necessary considering Mikoto's current conquest; Nao's roll (she'd finished Kuga's) was more than enough to keep her attention away from the two escaping pirates.

Once they'd left the galley, they sped towards Midori's cabin. Tokiha's voice had died down, and now there was only a quiet murmuring floating out. Pressing her ear against the rough wood of the door and wincing when a splinter that had no business being where it was grazed the side of her face, Nao strained her ears, trying to hear the conversation on the other side.

"-about one-hundred and ninety-eight miles to the Basin, then from there we can-"

"-before or after we pass the Bay of Biscay?"

"-depends on whether the wind's blowing towards France or not."

Annoyed at only being able to hear fragments, Nao leaned further into the door, frowning when the splinter dug into her cheek again. She'd be complaining to Midori about that later…

"Okay, good. Then in about ten more days we'll reach them, but when the wind gives out-"

"We'll be lucky if that's all it does. How fast do you think we can tie the sails if things get out of hand?"

"Fast enough. I'm more worried about what will happen if we have to row."

"I wonder if the tapping really drives you insane…"

"Our captain's already crazy enough, Mai."

"I should detract from your share of the loot for that."

At first the eavesdropper had been listening with a light frown on her face, partly from the splinter and partly from the discussing of navigation, which had never been something she delighted in. She'd thought she must just be jumping to conclusions, but the last few sentences had put that thought to rest. Straightening up and rubbing the speck of blood off the door-ward side of her face, Nao turned a stricken face to Kuga. "She wants us to sail there," she semi-whispered, emphasizing her point by tapping her fingers on the wall lightly.

It took a few moments for it to sink in, then the other girl practically flung herself at the door, listening as hard as she could. Watching her facial expressions contort was something Nao would have enjoyed at any other time. After a few moments, she pulled away with a grimace. "She wants us to sail there," she confirmed to herself. They fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts. Kuga leaned against the wall to the right of the door and adopted a pensive expression. For her part, Nao wandered to the rail and looked over.

Of all the annoying, half-baked schemes their captain had come up with… Who would be crazy enough to bury something there, she thought with no small degree of contempt for the older woman. It was insane, this whole thing… She wouldn't be too surprised if they all starved. Or died of thirst, all things considered. Maybe if it didn't get any water… But no, captain would never go along with that. That woman was always so impulsive, so infuriatingly blithe… She briefly considered complaining, but she knew she'd be overruled. Tokiha would side with the captain, Harada and Mikoto would side with Tokiha, and Kuga may or may not. That was the unsure element. Still, either way, the majority would win out.

Damn this. If their captain had an ounce, just an ounce, of sense… Bloody majority ruling, bloody Tokiha and the blasted people that always listen to her, bloody-

"Oi, Nao," muttered Kuga, who'd somehow appeared beside her and was completely oblivious to the fact that she was in the middle of a mental rant. "They're almost done talking, so we should probably get away from the door. Far away."

Nao remained silent, still vaguely surprised that she'd lost track of what she was complaining about, when she remembered she was supposed to say something. "Not the other end of the ship though," she replied, too distracted be annoyed that her sulking had been interrupted. Then, deciding more was necessary, she tacked on a vague, "It would make them suspicious."

Hearing the scraping of chairs protesting against being pushed back and ground into the floor was their signal to start moving. Moving, then running, then a sort of frantic galloping bourne out of not wishing to be caught and thus placed on the receiving end of Tokiha's ladle. When the door opened they were well away from the room, having run to the upper deck and placed themselves very inconspicuously on some empty crates. Catching their breath, Nao was the first to speak.

"Kuga?"

"Eh?"

"Are you going to go along with this?"

"Probably."

"Why?"

"Majority ruling."

There it was again. "Why not complain?"

"Because…it wouldn't do much good, would it?"

You wouldn't have said that two years ago, thought Nao with surprising bitterness. It was a foolish thing to be upset over, but… "No, I guess not," she made herself answer. They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Kuga slipped away with a garbled word that Nao translated as 'galley.' Right, lunch would probably be ready by now, if Tokiha wasn't too mad about Mikoto eating most, or possibly all by now, of her rolls.

Perfectly content to wait the next hour or so until dinner, she stretched out on the crates and put her hands behind her head. Things really had changed a lot in three years, but… Maybe not all of it was bad. Hey, she thought to herself, at least you've got a home now. That was a definite improvement.

Not fully able to drift off, she stared at the clouds and frustrated herself in trying to find one shaped like, well, anything. They were all just annoying blobs, and she wondered why Harada spent so much time looking at them. Nevertheless, that was all she had to amuse herself with until Tokiha came up with the first good news she'd heard all day- dinner was ready.


Chie had sat glumly throughout the evening meal, and now she stood even more glumly in the crow's nest, leaning against the flimsy circular barrier that stood between her and a very nasty fall. Shifting her weight from time to time, she sighed. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately, and it annoyed her. She wasn't one for being sappy or dramatic, but…

Well. She wasn't being either one, and it would stay that way. After all, it might not have been her. Oh, of course not, that annoying little voice inside her head said snidely. It was just someone who looked exactly like her. And so? she argued. It's been three years already. She could, maybe… The more pessimistic side of herself was refusing to dignify that with an answer, it seemed, because it didn't reply.

Bored, and beginning to feel her neck ache from being kept up for so long, she let her thoughts drift to dinner. It hadn't been the disastrous conflict their captain had told them to expect, which had been a relief. When everyone had gathered in the galley, there had been much shifting and averting of eyes until Nao had smirked and said, with a very smug expression, 'Conversation's not doing so well tonight, hm?' So of course, the captain had explained exactly what was happening. Instead of the expected and prepared for outburst, there had been silence. Then Nao had looked at Natsuki, Natsuki had looked at Nao, and they'd shrugged. 'Whatever,' was the answer Nao had given for both of them. It was almost eerie. Or…unusual.

Aoi had liked that word, she remembered. She'd always tease Chie about her sketches, calling them 'unusual but good,' until the artist had dragged more descriptive praise out of her. Stopping her thoughts in their tracks, she berated herself. She was not going to start thinking about that again.

It had been a while though. Maybe this girl just looked like her, and that was why she'd wanted to think… No, not wanted, she told herself. She didn't, and that…person wasn't, and so. Shaking her head ever so slightly, she tried to concentrate on what she was supposed to be doing; watching. Of all the times to get the first night shift, when all she wanted was to go back to her cabin and sleep until mid-afternoon. Whether or not that was an option, the idea sounded fine.

Then there was the knowledge that they'd be at some port by this time the next day, and that she was probably on of the ones Midori would chose to go into town and get food. She didn't relish the thought. She would have, but… She liked her measure of peace and quiet too, and town would be anything but. Vendors, townsfolk, possibly the Navy…

And if the Navy was there, maybe then- no. No, she couldn't afford to be wishing… Which she wasn't. Not at all.

Ah, denial was lovely. It let one think about anything else. Like the sky, with its ever-changing cloud patterns. She remembered a time not so long ago when she'd been convinced she could sketch them all. It hadn't taken too long to learn that they changed from one moment to the next though, and in knowing this, she'd felt slightly disappointed. Still, if one couldn't take down what one saw, one could look. Look, just to lose oneself in the shifting picture…

The picture was dark tonight, with a hint of heavier clouds on the horizon that she didn't like. Heavy meant potentially stormy, which was something that should be reported to the captain. Not that it would make much of a difference; they were leaving in a couple days anyway. But it might help, since escaping was easier under the cover of rain. Rain… It had been spring then, hadn't it?

'It's…a bit ruined, I'm afraid,' was all she'd been able to say, presenting the picture with her usual grin. Aoi had smiled and taken it, placing it on the table inside.

'It's…unusual,' she'd said with a teasing grin of her own, before giving in and smiling. 'It's wonderful Chie, honestly.'

'It's wet,' Chie had replied, not sure why she'd said that. She'd been trying to paint storm clouds and lightning for Aoi, but storms came with those clouds, and storms meant rain. And rain, of course, got things wet. Mostly her, but also the part of the paper she hadn't been able to shield with her body. Annoyed at herself for not being able to give her friend a better picture, she frowned. Noticing this, Aoi returned the frown with an inquisitive look before gasping.

'You're soaking! Here, come in and I'll-'

'Nah, I'm fine. Besides, they won't be happy if they see me inside the house,' she half-quipped. 'Half' because the other half was well-concealed bitterness, but Aoi could never guess that. So.

'See you soon,' was all she'd said before disappearing back into the rain. She'd been freezing that night, and had developed a bit of a cold. Still, when she'd come back to the house a few days later, Aoi had lost no time in showing her the now dry picture from her window. It had looked much better, and Chie hadn't been able to wipe the proud grin off her face.

Returning to the present, she replaced the frown with a full-fledged scowl. Couldn't those memories just leave her alone? But it seemed every little thing… Wiping the scowl off her face and replacing it with a neutral look, she tilted her head up and closed her eyes. It couldn't hurt to take a short break, now could it.

'A short break' turned out to be a little over two hours, and she found herself being shaken awake by an irritated Natsuki.

"Harada, oi, Harada."

"Whazzat?"

"Do you want to be caught asleep?"

"Are you going to report me, O most-heroic-yet-hypocritical Natsuki?"

She wouldn't, and Chie knew it. Because, only yesterday, the younger girl had done exactly the same thing. She'd argued that she hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before, and she certainly looked like it. So, Chie had let her off with a happily uttered, 'You owe me.'

Predictable as ever, Natsuki narrowed her eyes as the slightest hint of a blush spread across her face. "No…"

"Many thanks," the artist grinned, glad to be relieved of her watch duties. Happy that she'd finally be able to go back to her cabin, Chie shimmied down the mast and jumped the last couple feet to the bottom. Bed, sleep, not waking up until Midori or Mai tried to knock her door down. That sounded wonderful.


'Sir… Sir please, they weren't…'

Ms. Ho was desperately trying to convince the captain to abandon his intent, whatever it was, and then…

'Mr. Wong, if you would…'

There was steel around her wrists, so cold it bit at them, and she had to get to the man, to show everyone what kind of monster he was, and Yukino was screaming, and the steel-

"Haruka… Please wake up…," a worried voice called softly.

Go away, whoever you are. I'm not getting up until the bell rings.

"Haruka…" The voice had changed from worried to frantic, and Haruka wondered if maybe she should be doing something about that. After all, it did sound familiar…

"Haruka…" It was pleading now, and she wanted to tell the person to shut up until a sudden bolt of recognition went through her. Yukino?

Groaning, she opened her eyes and struggled to sit up. Almost immediately, the dull pain in her head increased tenfold, and she swayed dangerously. Feeling herself being steadied by careful hands, she leaned into the body next to her.

"What...happened?"

Relief flooding her voice, Yukino started speaking almost too quickly to understand. "You were trying to talk, but the captain…the captain…and then he told him to take us to the brig, and he was smiling, and I couldn't do anything, and you've been unconscious for a day… I'm sorry, so sorry, Haruka…"

Trying to make some sense of the sentence and failing, Haruka focused on the one thing she could understand, which was that Yukino seemed to be apologising for something.

"It's alright, Yukino. We'll get him back, just wait and see."

"Haruka…," The younger woman started, then tried to restrain her when she began to sit up again. "Don't, you'll-"

Working her way into a sitting position, she realised why her wrists ached so much, and why it had been so hard to get up in the first place. Her hands were still being restrained, and, she noted with a glance, so were Yukino's. Blast. Still, there would be a way out of this. That, she was sure of. The pain in her head receding, she began to discuss escape plans with a surprisingly non-enthusiastic Yukino.


November 7th, 1749

Day 7

Little has changed. I remain a prisoner on this ship, however loosely the term may be applied. Nothing of importance has occurred, save for an argument that didn't last long enough to make much of a note of. Still… Could there be a way to use that to my advantage? Perhaps. The crew has been of a solemn mind for several days, none of them seeming to speak overmuch to each other.

In the short time that I have been here, no one has come to taunt me, threaten me, or bother me in any way. Indeed, they don't seem to be much interested in me at all. It may be a ruse, something designed to put me off my guard. If that is their plan, they shall see I am not so naïve. Although…I do find it strange.

She has offered no further information about herself since that night, and I have not attempted to pry. She doesn't seem openly hostile though, only wary. Even that, though, has become more relaxed. If that's not also part of the ruse, she will regret not being more cautious. Yet…it is odd.