A/N: Enjoy my lovelies! :)

Episode 21

The Sirius was anchored at a small, uninhabited island that the pirates came across a long time ago, whenever they needed to fix up minor damages or recuperate. It was in a secluded area, nowhere near any nations or other islands and it couldn't be found in most maps. However, the Sirius pirates never stayed there longer than they needed to.

This time around, they were only staying long enough until they fixed some minor damages. Eduardo managed to get them out of the edge of the Moldor territorial waters, but they were caught by a Navy ship that just came back from another nation. It was easy enough to evade, but the ship didn't escape totally unharmed.

"The amount of times we've had to fix these railings is insane!" Russell complained as the men gathered on the deck to inspect where the damages were concentrated. Broken wood was scattered all over, but it wouldn't take them too long to fix up everything.

"This wouldn't take long to fix... We should be able to set sail in the morning." Nathan picked up a large chunk of wood that used to be part of the railings on the deck and turned to Russell, "The sooner we get to it, the sooner I can fix us some food."

At the thought of Nathan's food, Russell's eyes shone with excitement. He eagerly followed Nathan to collect the materials they needed.

"I'll start sweeping up this mess then... Thomas, can you help me please?" Christopher smiled at Thomas, who replied, "Aye, I'll grab the brooms."

Morgan was left standing with Eduardo, who turned to him with a serious look on his face.

"Where to from here, Captain?" Eduardo asked Morgan, who crinkled his forehead in thought.

He gestured for Eduardo to follow him. They went into the navigation room, where Morgan plopped down on a chair and rested his feet on top of the table. "I have to inform the other captain leaders of Cecil's treachery. So the next step is to organise a Captain's Meeting, which should be interesting as Cecil is the leader of the North seas."

Eduardo nodded in agreement and leaned back against his seat.

Captain continued, "I'll have to get Cecil to confess, so I'll have to borrow that letter he wrote to Donatello. Do you still have that?"

"Yea, it's right here." Eduardo took out the letter out of his pocket and handed it to Captain. His father gave the letter back to him, promising that he would try finding more evidence to uncover Donatello and Cecil's unlawful partnership. He wanted to clear Mara's father's name once and for all.

Eduardo could only imagine how Mara felt about all this and wondered how she was coping. They hadn't seen her out and about since they left Moldor – she wasn't eating properly and all she did was sleep. In the meantime, Thomas moved to the warehouse temporarily until Mara recovered. The infection was gone and the bullet-graze wound was healing rather well, but they were getting worried about the state of her mind.

As if reading his mind, Morgan cleared his throat and said, "I'm worried about Mara – she doesn't seem to have much fight left in her nowadays..."

Eduardo didn't say anything, but Morgan knew that he was just as worried.

"We'll wait until she's ready... and we'll talk to her about what she wants to do. She's very much involved now. The balance of the Navy and pirates has been disturbed thanks to Donatello and Cecil – and she's smack bang in the middle of it all." Morgan frowned and then looked at Eduardo, "We have to protect her no matter what happens... You know that, right?"

Morgan looked at Eduardo expectantly, as if he wanted him to say something in particular. This took Eduardo by surprise, but he just nodded quietly instead of asking what exactly he was trying to imply.

"If I didn't know any better..." Morgan began, giving Eduardo a knowing look which somehow bothered the hell out of him.

"Whatever it is you're going to say, Captain... don't." Eduardo glared at him and stalked out of the navigation room, Morgan's laughter ringing in his ears before he slammed the door shut.

The damage on the ship was almost fixed by sundown, with Eduardo and Captain also joining in to help. They would've been able to set sail that night if they kept going, but after a few hours of working, Nathan had to stop to prepare lunch. Now they all had to stop again because he was preparing dinner. Since he was the one with the most shipwright skills, the others had no choice but to stop too.

The kitchen was warm from tonight's menu – traditional beef stew with chunky vegetables and freshly baked bread rolls. Nathan was busy stirring the stew and keeping an eye on the bread rolls when someone entered the kitchen.

"Anything I can help you with?"

He turned around and saw Mara. Instinctively, he reached for her as if she needed support to stand up.

"What are you doing up and about? You should be resting!" He almost shouted at her, concern laced in his voice.

He was right, she should still be resting. There were dark circles under her eyes and her cheeks looked sunken – she looked like she was going to shrink into nothing.

Mara had been bedridden for a few days and that was starting to drive her mad. She couldn't control the thoughts and nightmares that entered her mind – it wasn't that she wanted time to herself, but she was so overwhelmed by everything that happened so far that she couldn't even hold a proper conversation whenever one of them would bring in meals or check in on her.

The entire ordeal in Moldor was a nightmare. They were supposed to find the journal and get out – but that plan really didn't work out. She knew that there was a possibility that she would see Leonardo, but she never thought that she would end up being his captive.

"...Mara, I worry about you."

Nathan's voice brought her back to reality. Lately she'd been enveloped in her thoughts so much that she felt out of touch with everything else.

She gave Nathan a faint smile and walked towards the pot of beef stew boiling away on the stove top.

Then she took a big whiff of the delicious smell and said, "This smells great. I can't wait to taste it."

Nathan gave her a look – she knew he meant it when he said he worried. Everyone was, but she didn't want them to. They've done so much for her since she came on board – she didn't want to cause them anymore problems.

"Don't worry about me, I'm tough cookie." Mara averted her gaze and stirred the stew, feeling his eyes on her.

Nathan turned the stove off and pulled her aside without saying anything. All that could be heard was the dim bubbling noise of the stew that had just come off the boil.

He put his arms on her shoulder and looked her squarely in the eyes, "Are you sure you're feeling alright? And I'm not just talking about your wound."

She blinked a few times and sighed quietly. It was obvious that she wasn't okay, but she shook it off and replied, "I'm still overwhelmed and anxious... and there's a thousand questions running through my mind – But there's no use in moping around. That won't solve anything. I have to carry on, otherwise I'm just going to be a nuisance to everyone."

"I know we all thought you were a nuisance at first... Hell, you annoyed the shit out of me when you first got on board – but these past few weeks, you've become someone important to m-" Nathan paused and went a shade of red. He let go of her shoulders and adjusted his bandana to mask his embarrassment.

"I mean... You've become an important member of the crew," he corrected himself after clearing his throat, "This is coming from everyone... even Eduardo."

Mara giggled a little and gave him a high wattage smile for someone who wasn't feeling one hundred percent, "I knew he didn't mind me deep down inside... He just doesn't show it very well!"

Something about what she'd said caught Nathan's attention as his face turned serious. Then he asked her something rather direct, "Do you like Eduardo?"

She didn't think for too long before replying, "Well, we've had our differences – I seem to irritate him for some reason and I get too worked up over it. But in saying that, he has saved my bacon a few times now... So I guess... Yea, I like him. I hope we can get along better in the future."

Mara smiled again, but Nathan just looked at her with a blank expression. He muttered something along the lines of "That's not what I meant by liking him, but nevermind," and walked over to the stove.

She gave him a look of confusion and was about to ask him to reiterate, but he was already preparing the finished meal into serving dishes, so she decided to let it go and reminded herself to ask him later instead.

She also had to remind herself to tell everyone about the contents of the journal...

...That it was a series of letters written to her by her birth parents... disclosing something that made her head spin by just thinking about it.

The unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach came back and she pushed it down as she quietly followed Nathan to the dining room, carrying the bread. All of that can wait until after dinner.

End of Episode 21