I don't own anything except for my OC.

Author's Note: Thank you all for your patience with this update!

xxx

"Let's go little one, we can properly fix your lack of apparent scarab problem back at the Bone Palace", Joko beckoned as he turned to leave Twilight Oasis towards Palawadan once more.

The boat ride back to the mainland of Elona had been less-than uneventful, especially when the boat had half the crew compared to its journey forward. Of course, the chatty nobles had been left back in Palawadan, which meant it was considerably more quiet without their gossiping squabble. Save for only one mortal woman on the journey back, the entirely of the current crew were Awakened. The functionality that the undead didn't really require rest or sleep, was seen as quite the advantageous asset given that it meant they could work endlessly up until they were practically falling apart from their stitched together seams filled in between with tar.

The majority of those within the Awakened brigand had remained on the top deck with their ruler, as most were excitedly conversing about the bloodshed that had just occurred back in Twilight Oasis. A few scarce others were flitting about their undead ruler in hopes of catching any kind of praise from The Eternal Monarch of All as he remained lingering about the middle section of the deck. Those few Awakened that weren't concerned with trying to earn a stray compliment were instead manning the ship and all of its working parts, though that was few and far between.

Julianna had hid herself away in the lower bowels of the ship in an attempt to catch up on sleep, but it seemed that was an unfeasible quest. Her mind was still too occupied with the traumatic events that she had just barely been able to walk away from.

Her sunken-looking eyes stared up at the wooded ceiling above her as she swayed lightly to and fro in the scratchy wool cot. It reminded her all too well of the dust-ridden bed that was awaiting her back in the Desolation. And whether it was in a poor condition or not, she was looking forward to the familiarity of her drab-looking room once again. A lazy, naked foot hung over the side as she moved it rhythmically with no real movement behind it and listened to the sound of waves crashing against the outside of the ship.

Some seconds ticked by before she brought her marred arm back in front of her to obscure her vision for the umpteenth time again as she stared at the blotchy-looking dark mark that was staining the surface of her ivory skin. She couldn't yet look over that the horrible figure of Palawa Joko whom was responsible for uprooting her entire life, was also the very same one who had healed her with his own necromantic magic not just once, but now on two separate occasions.

A single finger hesitated just above it the dark sinewy mass of iridescent-looking color, before she pulled it down across the length of its mark. Since arriving to the ship again in the Palawadan harbor, her intention was to try and sleep through the boat ride back into the mainland, but it seemed a peaceful slumber wasn't going to come as easily when her brain was constantly recycling questions through her brain.

"Joko has now had more than enough opportunities to turn me into an Awakened servant yet he still chooses not to", she thought to herself. "But why?"

She then began to start back with at the beginning with the same question that had been rolling around in her head. The wayward healer began to think of her own relationship with the terrible ruling lich and thought about what it's current standpoint was. She hadn't exactly hated him, even though she was still immensely fearful of him and still held some slight resentment as to what he had done. But the fear was was mostly deeply ingrained because she had first hand seen and experienced what the powerful, and unpredictable Necromancer was capable of.

Back in the earlier days of when she had first met the infamous ruler, she had sworn to retain her sense of stubbornness around him, as it was one of the incredibly few things she had left to fight back with. And proudly enough, she had been holding herself to that promise since then, even though it had caused her a number of problems of the varying sort.

Julianna thoughts moved forward to around the time shortly after her capture, as she pieced together that something had happened when she had decided to start sharing seemingly innocent conversations with him back during the early days of her working as a healer to the Awakened within the Bone Palace. She had made it a habit to find the time to come talk to him whenever her work was finished, as she really had no one else in macabre fortress to talk to. Those seemingly naive conversations were certainly spurred by taunts and suggestive comments from the lich, and she figured that had unknowingly helped spur that bizarre affiliation from her own reactions to playing along with it.

"Doylak spit...", she cursed aloud as she realized the inevitable answer that was at the end of the question she kept asking herself. The frustrated woman scratched feverishly at the mark on her arm before throwing her hands into the curls of her head and letting them getting tangled within her blonde locks as she continued to just lay there in a frustrated mess of pouts and grumbles.

The irked looking person decided a change of conversation and scenery was desperately needed to help shift her conflicted feelings. She peered over to the occupied cot right next to hers, as they were among dozens of others that were strung every which way between whatever two beams were available on this level of the ship. Her eyes locked with the sleeping pair of the Awakened one next to her.

"Hey, Crabby", she beckoned with a hushed tone as she tried to wake him back up. "Are you awake still?"

"I am now...", he grumbled with irritation in his tone, daring to open one of his sharp yellow eyes to glare at the pest right next to him. It was just his luck that he had been on the half of the battalion that was coming back to the Bone Palace with their leader. Had he been ordered to stay back in Palawadan to clean up the mess in Twilight Harbor, it would have meant he wouldn't have to be here currently to deal with the obnoxious doctor.

He assumed he must have had the worst luck in the entirety of the whole Awakened army as he just continued to get stuck with the stubborn Doylak of a woman at every which possible way.

"Do you happen to know where the grumpy bag of bones is right now", she asked with an obvious uncertainty in her tone, her hand subconsciously moving to play with the ring on her finger.

"How should I know?" Crabby replied back as he turned so his massive back was now facing towards her. "You're the one attached at his hip most times these days. I'm honestly taken aback you wouldn't know."

"Very funny... I'll just go find him myself then", Julianna replied back just as snappily. She quickly maneuvered herself awkwardly around in the hanging cloth as she tried to free herself.

"Watch your foot so it doesn't get entangled and you-" Crabby tried, but he spoke too soon as he immediately heard the woman fall in a heap to the floorboard below.

He finished the last few words. "Fall on your face... as per usual." He rolled his eyes, not at all surprised that the predictable woman who had a lack of awareness to most things had done exactly what he had tried to warn against. He listened to the string of immature curses that rolled out from her mouth as she righted herself back up on two standing legs again.

The Awakened soldier continued. "I'm amazed you've never accidentally fallen into the sulfurous river right outside the Bone Palace", Crabby said with a chuckle as he thought back to when she had been tripping over things even on the way to Istan. Although his back was still turned in the cot, he could only imagine that the woman had likely stuck her tongue straight out towards him before retreating up the ladder to the upper deck of the ship again.

xxx

Joko had quite literally gotten himself stuck between a rock and a hard place as he was subject to listening to one of his Archons ramble to him about matters that he had zero care about. The lich slowly dragged his hands down his face in hope that the thickheaded minion would take a hint, but he was questioning if the poor sod even had a brain anymore given he didn't pick up on it.

At this point in time, he would have rather listened to Grand Vizier Utumishi rambling off in a tangent about imported soaps as his adviser often did whenever the opportunity arose.

Julianna meanwhile ascended to the top of the ladder, keeping her head just above the floor's open descent as she scouted around the deck's surface for the person she was in search for. She frowned when she was suddenly hit with a gust of the salty, cold wind from the surrounding sea. It was quickly realized from the colder temperate that she was going to need a new coat of some kind, as the ratty looking trench coat she had become somewhat fond of had been carelessly left behind in the Sunspear house without much second thought during her fleeting escape from a murderous rebel.

Upon spotting the familiar figure of the tall undead ruler adorned in an obnoxious amount of tarnished ornaments, she pulled herself atop the open deck and made headway towards the center of the ship with ambition in her steps. Her bare feet sounded like light footsteps as they padded upon the wooden planks. She wasn't even sure why she was going ahead with the sudden need to seek the one person that had been bothering her thoughts so much. But there was a greater need pulling her to go have a conversation with him.

Any second guesses she had been having about the person were eliminated when she had picked up on the change of the lich's facial expression when he took notice of who was approaching him. Although his features were often hard to read anyway given the undead ruler had a knack for remaining indecipherable, he did seem to perk up considerably as he had been looking quite displeased just before.

"So it would appear the little tart has finally decided to make an appearance again after nearly dying to some lowly Sunspear, how admirable", he began, moving away from the Archon and surrounding group of Awakened. To him, anything would have been a step up from the grating conversation he was currently listening to, but the familiar face of his favorite source of entertainment was an immediate added bonus.

The doctor didn't say anything as she approached, instead biting her tongue to prevent her from saying anything rash that would get her into more trouble.

"Very funny... I just came to talk", she said sheepishly as she scratched at the mark on her arm again and avoided making eye contact as she focused on anywhere else. The bubbling pit of fear in her stomach from being within the intimidating presence of the necromancer was short lived this time around.

"Oh? Reminiscing for the old days, are you?" he asked, turning his head to the side as he thought back to the familiarity of when his healer would come seeking him out for the same thing after a day of routine work. Of course, he certainly knew that he wouldn't have admitted it aloud to anyone but himself, but he had found himself looking forward to the little talks at the end of each day when they were allowed.

"No", she stubbornly shot back before realizing that was basically the exact reason why she had come back topside. She was briefly stunned that he had so easily pinpointed the unknown ambition she herself had been struggling to understand just before. "Well, I mean maybe. But I also wanted to ask about the scarab again."

"You mean your lack of one thereof?" he asked amused, eyes darting down to where his magic had temporarily blocked the condition of the injury on her arm. It wasn't quite fixed, but it also wasn't bleeding copiously anymore which was exactly what he had needed as it would mean that putting a new scarab in her arm would be all the more easier when it came to that time.

He continued, crossing her arms across his broad chest. "Like I said before, I'll be putting a new one back in the same area of your muscle once we arrive to the Bone Palace again. The magic I put on your arm currently will at least leave it at a standstill."

"Imp gall...", she muttered as she finally dared to make eye contact with the much taller figure, her own dark eyes meeting a blue pair. "You wouldn't trust me enough to not have one this time around?"

"No", Joko replied with zero hesitation. His trust with her had been recovered to some extent, but it wasn't going to be fully restored again for quite some time. He watched as she crossed the short threshold to the ship's railing and placed her elbows atop it before letting her chin rest in her hands.

"Of course... let's talk about something else then", she mumbled. "Did you enjoy those diplomatic trips you went on with your mother?" she asked, looking out to what looked like a never-ending seascape as she thought back to the trail of similar conversation they had shared on the way to Istan.

The brooding lich didn't answer immediately, instead leaving a long pause to the question as he tried to decipher what she was doing. He moved to go stand next to his healer, his own clawed feet ticking against the hard wood of the floor as he deciphered she just actually wanted to talk and there was no hidden game in her agenda. "They ended up being beneficial in more ways than one", he replied with a click of his tongue, still feeling baffled as to why the woman was so curious about his past living life.

Eventually the conversation between the two had mostly become one-sided as Julianna had been the one mostly leveling questions at the undead ruler which he was more than happy to answer given it was bolstering his own egotistical and self-centered personality. The questions were mostly around asking him again about what his past life was like before he had become a tyrannical undead ruler that was hellbent on taking over a continent with his use of intimidating tactics and thoughtful sabotage. Julianna had found it incredibly amusing that at some point, he had very likely traveled to a young and immature region of Kryta. Ironically, the very same place that had housed Lion's Arch, which in turn became the place she had called home for a period of time in her life. Though given how old the lich actually was, meant that it was likely a incredibly time long before she would have ever stepped foot in the sea-faring harbor.

Later on after some vanishing hour had passed, there was a point when there was finally a lull in the conversation and Joko decided to shift the conversation into something else entirely as he wished to divulge into his own greedy and self-fulfilling needs.

"You know, curiosity killed the griffon, but I'm oh-so curious about the continuation of that little game between the two of us", he began, moving himself to lean sideways against the railing as he was able to more closely observe the person's facial expressions next to him. He grinned when he could see how it immediately made the woman shift uncomfortably and tense up from the comment.

"What about it?" she asked, biting the bottom of her lip as she continued staring ahead while now refusing to make eye contact with the much taller undead that was now staring right at her as though she were a specimen on display.

"It's technically still your turn to enact upon", he said with a bored wave of a hand as he examined the pointed digits of his hand. "Since apparently with the last one, I had indulged back into it and lost a turn. And lest we not forget, you chose to entirely not count the drunken one from the night before."

"Well, with good reason on that last one...", she muttered, unfortunately just loud enough for the other person to hear as the words were rolling out before she had a chance to think them over. A hand flew to her mouth in a vain attempt to cover the spoken words though it was far too late.

"Oh? Did I just hear that correctly?" Joko asked as his eyes crinkled with sheer amusement upon easily picking up the words. "I mean, I can certainly vouch for you and agree that everything about it was sloppy and much less than delightful. Though I will say it was a nice surprise to say the least."

Julianna moved her head just slightly to shoot a glare, though she could feel her face burning with embarrassment as he described in detail how poorly that moment of brief intimacy had gone during her moment of heavy inebriation. Although she believed she had made up for the next morning after, the memory was still an awkward blunder for her and she wished she could have had the experience completely erased.

"But I digress, it's technically still your turn, tart", he continued after taking the time to observe her bluster.

The woman mulled over the words, and suddenly a terrible idea hatched within her stubborn-thinking head because she realized what possible move she could enact on this supposed turn of hers. The red blotchy color slowly drained back from her face, and she fully turned to face the lich with a less-than innocent looking smile on her freckled face. She beckoned the much taller figure next to her with a single finger, a wordless exchange given that she would need him to lean down considerably given their drastic height difference.

Joko raised a brow high into his headdress, immediately suspicious of the woman's sudden boldness which seemed completely out of character given her usual disposition.

"What could you possibly be getting at-" he replied with a mirrored smile of his own as he thought of what this was potentially leading up to, though it was quickly wiped from his face when the only thing he received was a quick peck on one his his sunken-looking cheeks when the woman stood up on her toes to gift it to him. The welcomed heat from her own self was but a wisp at it had disappeared almost as quickly as it had come.

The Scourge went to stand back up to his full towering height much too quickly again, and was now looking incredibly bemused from the act as he leered down to see the incredibly charmed looking face the woman was now sporting as her face held the visual cue that she knew exactly what little game she was pulling strings at.

"Perfidy. That shouldn't count as one", he quickly shot back, his gravely tone completely devoid of entertainment. His face looked far less than pleased, as his brows were tightly drawn together and he leered back at the amused face that was still watching his own.

"Except we never had set parameters in effect for this so-called game", she said with a coy-looking smile as she cocked her head to the side.

"So it would seem...", he muttered in a disappointed tone, rubbing his cheek of the area where the woman's mouth had just been for a short second. His disappointment was quickly replaced with annoyance when she playfully stuck her tongue up towards him in a silent jeer of her own.

His hand moved back away from his face again as it instead moved down to grip the woman's chin, swiftly interrupting her charade as he held the delicate flesh in his grip. "Then from now on, it's been restricted to lips only. Unless of course you'd prefer elsewhere", he said with finality as he pressed her cheeks together with a thumb and pointer finger.

"Don't push your luck grumpy bag of bones", she said awkwardly through pushed lips as her stubborn behavior wasn't going to allow him that much leeway so soon. Although she could feel her face burning with embarrassment from the suggestion, she had at least gained the upper hand on him for once, and it was obvious he was quite miffed about it.

He released the hold on her chin, and the petite woman remained awkwardly standing there next to the deck's railing as she just watched him remain just a few feet away from her. Not seconds had ticked by before a terrible idea of his own arose and that familiar coy smile was now on his jewelry decorated face again and he placed his arms behind his back and stood tall. He could see her own face quickly falter when she immediately realized he wasn't going to enact upon that new rule so soon.

Julianna's victory was short lived, as once again, it seemed nothing could have gone right for too long.

Joko presented a short wink to his favorite source of entertainment before stalking away to return with matters aboard the ship once more as he actively looked around for one his archons to pester with questions. He had decided that in a show of petty revenge, he was going to let the woman stew in that uncertainty for a bit as she was now having to wait around on eggshells for him to enact on his move since it was now effectively his turn.

The wayward healer continued to stand there, watching the egotistical ruler walk away as she kept a displeased frown on her face. Her hands returned back to the messy curls of her hair as she let them get tangled in another fit of pouts upon realizing she had circled completely around from her previous dilemma and was right back to that familiar question once again.