Chapter Nine—Wrong Answer

'General, sir, if you don't mind my asking—'

'I do.'

'Sir?'

'I do mind your asking, Faudry.'

'But I haven't asked—'

'Whatever you are about to ask, I can assure you that it is a question that I most definitely do mind.'

A pause.

'General, sir, I'm afraid I must insist…'

'Proceed according to your discretion, Commodore, but note that you have been warned.'

'Of course.'

'Well, then?'

'Sir, what was that—woman—doing in your room?'

Though none of the paperwork on his desk truly called for his attention, Link was focused on it intently to avoid having to face the commodore. For the same reason, he wasn't sitting at his desk, but rather was standing in front of it, with his back towards the cabin door where Faudry stood. At the question, he placed both hands on the smooth wood of the desk and let his head hang. He could not think of a single answer that wouldn't invite trouble…a single plausible answer, at least.

In the end, he decided that as much as he hated pulling rank, some people deserved it, and Faudry was foremost of these.

'As your commanding officer, I refuse to be questioned,' he said sharply. 'Get out of my cabin. Now,' he added, cutting off the words he knew without turning around were on Faudry's lips.

'Yes, General, sir,' came the sullen, begrudging reply, followed by the sounds of footsteps and a door closing.

When he was alone, Link let out a long sigh that quickly turned into a moan, then a growl, then something like a contained roar of fury as he dropped his head back. Why did life have to be so hard? He was beginning to wish he and Zelda had never found each other again.

No sooner did this thought cross his mind than he retracted it. Whatever the cost, he was glad to have Zelda back in his life again.

Of course, he hadn't seen all the costs yet…and he knew there was still a great deal of hell left to pay.

"Well," he muttered to himself, "goddesses willing, I can stop it."


"You know, love, it's going to be harder and harder to keep on rescuing you from this Link person if you insist on sleeping with him every time you see him," Jack muttered.

Tetra didn't answer him, but kept her eyes on the ground and reminded herself to be grateful that he had at least sobered up a bit; after a drink of water, and after dunking his head, he seemed to be back to his usual self. He was still under the influence of the alcohol to a certain extent, but then, he always was. Tetra had for awhile thought that his behaviour on the night she had met him was unusual, but it had quickly become apparent that it wasn't.

She could tell that Link's soldiers were at the moment wondering if this was some kind of joke, and she couldn't blame them. After all, Jack's dripping wet hair was trailing water as he walked, and his gait was always something of a performance. Tetra suspected he hadn't slept yet, and that the Dragon's Wing hadn't been open already so much as open still.

But nevertheless, she had faith in him. Jack had impressed Link at their first meeting, and so if he came to their second in a completely different state, it would probably be a good thing. It would throw Link off. That, at least, was what Tetra insisted to herself.

'Who's he?'

They had reached the Red Lion, and the instant they stepped onto the deck, they were face to face with Faudry, who had fixed Jack with the same look he might give an unusual and singularly unpleasant new beast he had discovered in a foreign land.

'He's—'

"Captain Jack Sparrow," Jack interrupted the Felicitovente soldier, extending a hand; Tetra knew he hadn't understood the question, but he could take a guess at it. "And you are?"

Faudry's expression swelled with disgust as he cast it upon Jack's hand. Choosing to ignore this man he deemed so far beneath him, he instead addressed himself to their escorts in clipped tones. 'The general is waiting in his cabin. For the lady,' he added dryly, glancing at the two pirates, as if he didn't believe either one of them fit the description.

"Well, the lady is bringing her captain," Tetra informed him icily, with a smile to match, "so step out of our way."

'Of course.' Faudry's voice was barely more civil than a growl as he let the two of them pass, still followed by the other men.

"Who's the head of the welcoming committee?" Jack muttered to Tetra, glancing over his shoulder when they weren't quite out of Faudry's earshot.

"Commodore Faudry," Tetra answered bitterly. "He's… Well, he's lots of things. Long story, I'll tell you later."

They had reached the door, and Tetra squared her shoulders and put on a determined expression, then opened it. Jack followed her in, and the three others remained outside as guards.

The uniformed figure within was standing facing his desk, and turned around when he heard the visitors arrive.

'Ze—Oh.'

It was strange to Jack to look at this man, General Reyga, who had once kidnapped his first mate, and accept this time who he really was. One of Tetra's oldest friends, who was now apparently much more. At least now he understood why their previous interaction hadn't seemed like a typical business or political encounter.

Link, as Jack was now forced to think of him, leaned against his desk and folded his arms across his chest, his gaze lingering on Jack. In a voice that was obviously much more disgruntled than he would have liked, he asked, "Why are you here?"

"Because my interests concern him," Tetra replied.

Link opened his mouth, but Jack spoke first, saying coolly, "I make it a point to stay well-informed about my sailors' personal lives. Especially when they happen to interact so…intimately with politics. Savvy?"

Scowling, Link turned to Tetra and said sharply, "Quis arrire?"

This time it was Tetra whom Jack pre-empted. "I think we've repeated ourselves enough for one day," he warned them. "Perhaps you two didn't pick up on it, but we're all doing the same thing over again that we did only a day or two ago, and as a general rule—pardon the pun—that doesn't work. Well," he continued, still not allowing either of them room to speak, "obviously neither of you have picked up on that pattern, or else we wouldn't be having this same meeting again because you made the same mistakes again. I mean, honestly. Link, mate—"

"The name is General Reyga, if you don't mind," he interrupted in a growl; his eyes, narrowing as Jack spoke, had by now almost disappeared.

"Doesn't matter. Mate, if a girl calls out the rescue team to get away from you, take the hint the first time."

As Link flushed, from rage or embarrassment was impossible to say, Jack turned to Tetra.

"And you, love… I nearly had to kill you both to save you from your own mess last time. I never would have imagined you'd be stupid enough to walk into the 'lion's den,' as you so aptly dubbed it, twice."

The smirk she had been wearing as she had listened to him insult Link dropped instantly into an expression of shock, as if he had just thrown something at her.

"So," Jack summarized, having silenced them both, "since you are both clearly incapable of making any rational decision concerning each other, I'm afraid I'll be the one having to lay down the ground rules here. For example, keep to a language everyone can understand. This may have began the same way as our last encounter, but it won't end that way, savvy?"

"No," Link agreed, rather ominously, "it won't."

"Is that a threat?" Tetra demanded viciously.

"Of course not," Link assured her, having the grace to look offended by such an accusation. "I don't know why you're so worried about me, Zelda. If nothing else, you should know by now that I would never hurt you."

Jack expected a furious retort from Tetra, expected her to begin on a recitation of every wrong Link had ever done her. At the very least, he expected her to chastise him harshly for the use of the name of a princess that she refused to be. When she did no such thing, Jack looked over at her, and saw to his amazement that her expression had actually softened.

"That much is true, isn't it?" Link asked calmly.

"Yes," Tetra acquiesced, though she sounded loath to do so.

"All right, then." Link stood up straight and began what sounded like a rehearsed speech. "This shouldn't take long. I really just have one thing to say, and then…"

He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Look, Zelda—"

"I'm Tetra, Link."

Jack was reassured; at least she hadn't gone completely crazy.

"Fine. Tetra. You're not safe as long as you're on a pirate ship. And even if you claim to have reformed, that won't be good enough for Felicitovente, and especially not for Faudry. They'll still want to catch you."

"Well, it's not like I ever would—"

"But," Link spoke over her doggedly, "there's one way that you could convince them to let you go."

He paused, perhaps waiting for Tetra's objection, but she gave none. She was opting to reserve judgment. Link took a deep breath.

"They wouldn't object to you if you had a formal, legal alliance with someone they trust."

"What are you saying?" Tetra asked slowly.

"I'm saying…" he stumbled, glancing at Jack, then took another breath and started again. "A ma tuay. And then you'll be safe."

Tetra's eyebrows shot up as her mouth dropped open. "WHAT?"

"Say it in English, mate," Jack spoke up. He didn't like being shut out of the conversation. Both of the others ignored him, though they at least didn't begin speaking their own language.

"I know, I know, it sounds insane—"

"It is insane! Link…no! I can't, I won't!"

"What—?" Jack began to demand

"But you'll be safe," Link insisted again.

"You keep saying that!" Tetra shouted. "I don't think you know what 'safe' is! 'Safe' means I'm not stuck somewhere I don't want to be with people who don't want me there. 'Safe' is not what I would be if I was…" Twisting her face into a look of revulsion, she spat, "Your wife!"

Jack recoiled slightly when he realized what Link had asked her to do.

The general gave an irritated sigh that was almost a growl. He was clearly not overly surprised with her reaction. "Please. I'm asking you nicely."

"Oh, well, then, how can I refuse?" she commented in a scathing voice that was positively oozing icy sarcasm.

"Can't you just trust me?" Link asked, almost pleadingly.

"Why should I if your empire can't trust me?" she retorted angrily.

Jack knew instantly that her words were a mistake, by the ugly shadow that crossed Link's face. She, however, either didn't notice or didn't care, but continued to glare at him, unmoving, even when he gave a sharp, shrill whistle.

"Fine," Link said shortly, as the door opened and his three men stepped in. "You won't listen to reason, then you'll listen to force. You're under arrest."

"Wha—!"

"Both of you."

"Hey!"

Before either Jack or Tetra could protest, Link's guards had advanced on them, and seized hold of them to bind their hands behind their backs. While Jack knew that the best thing to do would not be to attempt a break out yet, it seemed Tetra was less rational.

"You…complete…traitor!" she snarled, bristling like a wild animal as she tried to throw off the man that had grabbed her arm. "You can't do this to me, Link! If you think I'm coming willingly, you don't know me!"

Link was scowling at her with eyes like chips of ice. "You don't know what you're talking about, Zelda. You don't understand. This is for your own good."

She ignored his contradictions, growling bestially, but the soldiers continued to drag her and Jack out of the cabin.

"No! Link, you don't know what you're talking about! You don't even know who you're talking about! You can't do this!"

He folded his arms. "Well…I just did."


Of course Commodore Faudry knew that Reyga wouldn't tolerate insolence on the part of his men, and that would definitely include waiting outside the cabin to see how his meeting with that woman and her captain turned out. But that was just too bad.

Who were they? Faudry wondered furiously. He stood at the bow, slumping against it with his arms folded, apparently watching the crew as they went about their business, but really keeping his attention focused on Reyga's cabin door. He stood up straighter when he heard a sharp whistle from within, and, obeying the signal, the three guards outside immediately charged through the door. Faudry knew by the many shifting pairs of eyes that wasn't the only one trying to conceal how interested he was in what the general and his visitors were doing.

Who were they?

Well, really, Faudry corrected himself, the only real question was who was he. The name of Captain Jack Sparrow was completely unfamiliar to him. The woman who had conveniently neglected to introduce herself…Faudry knew who she was. That whore could be none other than Tetra, Queen of Pirates, whose face was tattooed onto his memory. He knew her story, her life, her friends…which was why he had no idea what she was doing claiming subservience to an unknown pirate captain and spending the night with the head of Felicitovente's armed forces. Both behaviours were completely out of character for a woman who had so long prided herself on her independence.

So, given that, he supposed he did have to wonder just who she really was.

Only a few seconds after they entered, the three sailors emerged again, this time accompanied by the pirates.

'Link! Link!'

Tetra was shrieking at the top of her lungs, struggling like a cornered animal against the two soldiers who were trying to hold her back. Her hands were bound, but that hardly seemed to make her less of a threat, judging by the difficulty the men were having in restraining her. Several additional soldiers hurried from their posts to assist.

"Tetra!" her captain was yelling at her, "Tetra, stop—"

'No!' she hollered. 'Link, you traitor, you absolute—'

'Someone shut her up!' ordered an exasperated soldier, shouting to be heard over the stream of insults she was still bellowing towards the cabin. Reyga was nowhere to be seen, and as Faudry was the next highest ranking officer on the ship, he made towards the scuffle to control it.

"Tetra!" Jack was roaring more forcefully, at least as incensed at her as the rest of the crew. But she didn't listen to him any more than she did to anyone else.

'No! You're a bastard, Link, you're—'

Out of the tangle, Faudry saw a man's arm swing out, clutching a sword; the hilt of it connected hard with Tetra's temple, and she gave a short cry of pain even as she crumpled into unconsciousness.

'Finally,' muttered the man who had been making the greatest effort to hold her back, the one who had asked someone to shut her up. Heaving her up and slinging her over his shoulder, the sailor then told his peers, 'We're just taking them under arrest, no big deal.'

Faudry's eyes, like those of many around him, were trained not on Tetra but on Jack. The pirate captain remained utterly passive, though there was a coldness in his eyes. Faudry never trusted a prisoner who was so receptive to the loss of liberty, and therefore added Jack Sparrow, whoever he was, to his mental black list. After the crowd had dispersed, he watched to see if Reyga would emerge.

He didn't. The commodore therefore casually strolled forward, and entered the cabin to investigate. Peering through the door, he found that the general was nowhere in immediate sight, but guessed he was sitting in the chair behind the desk that was turned to face the wall.

'General, sir—'

'Go away.'

There was as alarming amount of fire suppressed even in those two words.

'But sir—'

'Faudry,' Reyga went on in the same intimidating voice, 'before you disobey me, remember this…'

The chair turned halfway, and like a flash of lightening, a dagger had flown from Reyga's hand across the room to embed itself in the wood of the doorframe only a few inches from Faudry's ear. The general fixed the commodore with a cold stare over his shoulder, one that made him look like a soulless being animated.

'I am the greatest warrior the Great Sea has ever known. In any man-to-man fight, I'll kill you.' He turned his back to the wall and reiterated, 'Now go away.'

Faudry nodded, though Reyga couldn't see him, and said, 'Yes, sir.' He closed the door behind him with a quiet click. Then he gritted his teeth and balled his fists furiously, allowing himself to express his anger only as a quiet growl.

Reyga wasn't bragging; he right about his skill. That was simply all there was to it. He had never lost a fight. Ever. So it was obvious to Faudry what he had to do—take on the general at a level above that which he dominated. In other words, this was no longer man-to-man.


For a moment, Tetra had no idea why she was waking up. When had she gone to sleep?

Then she shifted on the wooden planks, felt the familiar rocking of the ship, and remembered. She hadn't gone to sleep. She had been arrested, and incapacitated when she refused to go quietly.

Other pieces were coming back to her now. Link's men had arrested her. On Link's orders. Because—

Because she had turned him down! When he had proposed to her! If you could call it a proposal. More of a suggestion for a diplomatic legal transaction.

But it wasn't as though she cared; the lack of romance had nothing to do with why she was so angry.

She sat up quickly, and paid for it when her slight headache became violently worse. With a moan, she rubbed her forehead with one hand, the other stabilizing her as she tried to remain sitting up.

"Good morning, sunshine."

Tetra looked sideways, and saw that Jack was locked in another cell only a few feet from the one that housed her. He was sitting in the middle of his own, hat pulled down over his eyes, unconcernedly picking at his fingernails with the tip of his cutlass, and hadn't looked up at her.

"Is it morning?" she asked, surprised. If that was the case, then she had been unconscious for a full day.

"They haven't brought us any lunch yet," Jack reasoned, "so presumably it is still morning. Unless, of course, Link intends to starve you into agreeing to be his wife." With a grin, he chuckled, "Personally, I can think of a host of more effective ways to win a woman's heart…but what do I know about the torrid affairs of epic figures?"

"Oh, shut up, Jack," Tetra sighed, leaning against the cold metal bars and folding her arms crossly.

He did so, and thus they sat in silence for a few more moments. Tetra, unmoving, listened to the water lapping against the hull. Jack sheathed his weapon presently, once he was satisfied with the condition of his hands, and began fidgeting. Tetra presumed he was trying to get comfortable, a goal she could appreciate as she had metal bars digging into her back, but she quickly got tired of his shifting position every five seconds.

"Would you just hold still?" she snapped sharply.

He did so, looking at her. Then he said mildly, "Sorry, love. Just trying to find the softest bit of floor in this cell."

She immediately felt stupid. After all, wasn't it her fault they were in here to begin with?

No, she corrected herself aggressively. It was Link's fault—If he didn't know her well enough to realize that she would rather eat her own left hand than put a wedding ring on it, then he was just an idiot.

After mulling on these thoughts, it occurred to her to wonder aloud, "Where are we going?"

"Good question," Jack said, grinning at her. "I asked the soldiers, while they were locking us up. You know, while you were lying there on the floor out cold," he elaborated, indicating her cell. "Well…I'm not sure. Do you know? Or remember? It depends on how hard they hit you—"

"Get to the point."

"Felicitovente, love."

Tetra stared. "What?"

"That's the point."

"Wh—You mean…we're going to Felicitovente?"

"Congratulations, you said it right. It's really not that hard, you know."

"Answer the question," Tetra ordered him. "Are we going to Felicitovente?"

Jack nodded.

Tetra's heart plummeted with dizzying speed. "Oh, son of a bitch!"

Jack, raised his eyebrows. "You know, love, there are enough people doubting that you're a lady without you using that language."

Tetra glared at him, warning him with her eyes that the speech was coming before it began. He sighed, and leaned back on his elbows with his legs extended before him.

"All right, go ahead and yell."

"First of all, I don't care of people think I'm a lady, because, let's face it, I'm not. Second, any man who's going to think less of me because I use the same language he does, isn't a man whose opinion I care about. Third, you have no idea what going back to my homeland means to me, so you can't criticize me for being mad about this. And fourth, would you please just get a little bit mad, too? Nayru! You're being dragged off to a foreign nation that's goddesses only know how far away from your home, and you don't even seem to care!"

Jack cocked his head at her. "Don't worry. I care."

"Then why—"

"But I'm not worried." Adjusting his position so that he was facing her, once leg tucked underneath him, one arm resting on his other knee, he explained, "Here's what's going to happen. The Pearl's going to notice us gone, and they're going to find us. They attack, Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt, and we're back on our ship. Sorry…my ship."

Tetra simply stared at him as he said this, and continued to do so after he had finished. Jack awaited her assessment.

"Who are Bob and Fanny?" she asked slowly.

"They're—It's just an expression," Jack told her.

"An expression," Tetra echoed.

"An idiom," he clarified.

"Naturally," she agreed doubtfully.

"It's not important," he said impatiently, brushing this irrelevant tangent aside with a wave of his hand. "What matters is that my men have gotten me out of tighter scrapes before. Well," he admitted, smiling at her, "a combination of my men and my sheer brilliance and madness."

Tetra could not believe what he was saying. "Look," she said, speaking very carefully, fighting the hysteria in her voice, "I have all he faith in the world in our men. You men. The Pearl's men. Whoever you want to call them. But I have just a little bit more faith in Link."

"I've seen those soldiers," Jack said lazily. "Our crew can beat them."

Tetra lunged forward, reaching through the bars of her cell to gesture angrily towards him with her fists; his refusal to face facts was really getting on her nerves. "Jack, you don't get it!" she hissed, clenching the cold metal in a white-knuckled grip. "No matter how tough your crew is, Link will beat them all. You can't even imagine the things he's done."

"So they're my crew now."

"What?"

"Not our crew. Just mine."

Tetra snarled. "Whatever. It doesn't matter. The point is, they're all as good as dead if Link decides they should be. I mean…if your crew wipes out all of Link's men, I mean every last one, without even breaking a sweat—Link will still kill them all."

Jack frowned. "Tell me, love… If this general friend of your is so intimidating, how did you have the courage to turn him down?"

Sitting up straighter, Tetra said in a dignified voice, "I'm not scared of him."

"And my men aren't scared of you," Jack finished pleasantly. "So they shouldn't be afraid of Link."

Tetra sighed and leaned back against the wall, giving up on making him understand. "If that's the case, then your men are just stupid."

"Exactly whose side are you on, love?"

"My own side, mate," Tetra bit back. "That's the only one I can count on."

Jack didn't answer immediately. When he did, it was to suggest very quietly, "Perhaps more people would be on your side if it was Princess Zelda's side."

She saw him jump slightly in his cell when she flung herself at the bars again and hissed, more desperately than angrily, "Jack, don't ever, ever, ever mention that name while we're aboard this ship or in my empire's territory, all right? Trust me. These people would not be happy to see…her."

Eyes narrowed, Jack asked suspiciously, "Why not?"

Tetra, whose entire body had been taut as she held the bars in a death grip, relaxed, and looked rather helpless for it. "I don't really know," she said, almost forlornly. "I mean, I sort of know, but really…I don't. The reasons just aren't really clear."

Once again, Jack took his time to answer tactfully, "Link seems like he would be happy to see her, though."

"Link can go—Well, use your imagination to figure out what I want him to do to himself."

She could tell he was trying not to laugh at her words, but he did let out a short chuckle. To her frustration, she found she was fighting down a smirk as well.

"I can't say I know for certain what you're thinking of," Jack spoke up matter-of-factly, "but what I'm envisioning involves a great deal of fire…"

"Sounds about right."

"…and a chicken."

Despite her simmering rage, Tetra felt something swelling within her. She couldn't help it—She laughed.

Jack grinned at her proudly, watching as her laughter only increased, uncontrollable once it had started. She went silent only when she could no longer breath for mirth, and lay convulsing slightly on the floor of her cell. After several minutes, she began making faint whimpering noises as she tried to regain control of herself.

"Oh," she sighed when she had achieved this, "my cheeks are killing me. And my stomach. Oh…" She wiped her eyes and cast Jack an affectionate smile. "Thanks," she said sincerely, "I needed a laugh. At Link's expense."

Jack shrugged. "What are friends for?"

"Yeah…" She agreed, still smiling. After a brief moment's silence, she told him fondly, "You know, if I had to be stabbed in the back by someone who I thought was my absolute best friend and then taken prisoner by my own nation and locked up in this hole…I'm glad I'm locked up with you."

"Likewise, love," Jack replied with a courteous nod. "That is, it would be likewise if I was the one who'd been stabbed in the back and imprisoned by my own nation at all of that."

She grinned; it may have sounded a bit depressing, but it really was a very nice compliment. "Thanks, Jack."


Commodore Faudry lay in his bunk, leaning close to the candle to read his papers. He had thought he knew everything there was to know about Tetra, Queen of Pirates, but today have proven him wrong spectacularly. Therefore he had dragged out all his pages of notes and was rereading them carefully, looking for anything that he might have wrongfully thought was an unimportant detail.

He also had with him Reyga's official files; he had stolen them months ago while in Felicitovente, because he really wasn't technically allowed access to that kind of information about his superiors. He was looking for flaws, places where Reyga's record was stained, something to explain his liasing with pirates. The problem was that Reyga's files were so perfect—All the reports of him as a private, captain, commodore, and so on through the ranks listed him as exemplary in his role, a talented sailor, an innovative problem solver, and most especially, a fighter of such talent that it was truly beyond words. Faudry quickly grew tired of reading words and phrases such as "unbeatable," "flawless," "fearless," "perfect technique," "top of his class," and "truly remarkable." Was there nothing he had ever done wrong? Perhaps most irritating, these lavish praises were often followed by "especially for someone of his age." Few people knew how old this man really was, because, as was written in the reports, it might cause older and lower ranking officers to distrust him. Faudry himself had been stunned to learn that Reyga had become general at age seventeen, and was currently only twenty. Five years younger than himself.

Faudry tried to keep his thoughts on what mattered, but it wasn't easy, and wasn't much less frustrating when he succeeded. So far, though he had scoured the records thoroughly, it seemed that Reyga and Tetra had never met before the day when the Red Lion had first encountered the Black Pearl, only days earlier. Even then the records were sketchy; they said that Tetra had been in custody overnight, and that Reyga had interrogated her, but she had refused to give any useful information. Given the compromising position Faudry had found them in in Reyga's room, however, he smelled a lie.

He ground his teeth and let out a low growl of frustration, kicking himself for what felt like the dozenth time—If only he had been there to catch them! But he hadn't even been aboard the Red Lion. Instead, he had been supervising the goings on of another Felicitovente vessel, the Warhorse; he had only changed ships because it seemed to him that General Reyga needed more close supervision than did the highly competent captain of the Warhorse, even if it came from a lower-ranking officer.

But still, whatever Faudry may have thought of Reyga, he simple couldn't reconcile the information in his mind. The general had always, even when he was just a private, stood out for more even than his innumerable talents—He was just weird. Though he was friendly enough to everyone, he never really made any close friends. He also picked up English remarkably quickly, and was the only high ranking man in all of Felicitovente who was fluent; he explained this away by saying that he had heard it spoken by travellers who sometimes visited the island where he grew up, but the problem with this explanation was that hardly anyone from English-speaking nations ever covered such great distances. Further, he could predict the wind with such accuracy that there was a joke in the navy that he could control it. All these apparently unconnected pieces of information had to have a common thread. All this meant something, but Faudry had no idea what.

And there was yet another odd fact about Reyga, which had never really concerned anyone, but which concerned Faudry now. It was common practice, when sailors made long journeys away from home, for them to pick up women on the islands they visited. Reyga, however, never did. When asked about it, he had always said he had a girlfriend back home on Outset who would kill him; while other men in the same situation didn't seem to see this as a problem for themselves, they were willing to let Reyga do as he wished. Even at twenty years old, though no one had ever met his girlfriend, though he no longer mentioned her, though he had moved from Outset to Windfall, he still abstained from the carnal indulgences that were expected from men in his position. It had just become understood about him.

What, then, made Tetra different from every other female in the world?

If he could answer that question, Faudry thought, the world would open up to him. He could hand over Tetra to the empire, publicly humiliate Reyga, and take the rewards for himself. And someday, he knew, he would answer that question.

With this sweet thought to carry him on, Faudry lay down his papers and put out his candle to go to sleep.


"What was that word you said before?"

Tetra frowned at Jack; his shape was an unclear silhouette in the increasing darkness around them. Night had fallen, but both of them were still wide awake; Jack had taken a long nap in the afternoon. "What word?" she asked.

"I don't know."

"Well, how am I supposed to…"

"I'm guessing it was something in your other language. Something with an N."

Tetra mentally scanned their previous conversation, and picked out the word he meant. "Nayru?"

"Aye, that's the one."

"What about it?"

"What is it? What does it mean?"

Tetra shrugged. "It's one of our goddesses. Well, one of the ancient goddesses. No one believes in them anymore."

"Do you?"

Tetra extracted the gold chain from her shirt; the golden pendant caught the faint moon light drifting in through the portholes as it hung from her fingers. "What do you think?"

Jack nodded slowly, eyes fixed on the gold.

Tucking it back, Tetra explained, "Nayru is my goddess, the goddess of Wisdom."

"Does Link have one? A goddess?"

Tetra nodded. "Farore is the goddess of Courage."

Jack nodded as well. "I see. Who else is there?"

"Din. Goddess of Power."

"And…?"

"That's it."

"Ah."

They lapsed into silence again.

"Why do you care?" Tetra asked after a moment.

Jack shrugged. "I think that if I'm going to your world, I might want to learn a thing or two about it."

"I see. Well, first lesson is this: Don't mention anything that has to do with ancient Hyrule." Glancing around, she added, "Come to think of it, we really shouldn't even be discussing it here."

"Such as Princ—Well, her," he finished, changing direction in mid-word at a warning glare from his fellow captive that he could see even in the dark.

"Yes," she told him shortly.

"Why not?"

"Someone might catch us."

"And they wouldn't like it?"

"Definitely. Definitely not, I mean."

"You said that before."

"I know I did."

"And I still don't understand it."

"That's the problem," Tetra sighed. "Neither do I! I've heard bits and pieces of info, that anything to do with the old world is condemned under the new imperial rulers, but I have no idea why! I don't think I know anything about the world that used to be my home anymore."

Jack considered this. "Right, then," he concluded, "if I can't learn about your culture, maybe you could teach me something else."

"Such as?"

"How about your language?"

Tetra looked at him disbelievingly. "You want to learn to speak Hylian?"

"We've got a long journey ahead of us, love," he pointed out. "Might as well find a hobby."

Tetra gave a weak laugh that was really more of a sigh. "You're right about that. All right, then," she consented, shifting her position so that she was sitting facing him, cross-legged. "Should be fun," she admitted, a slow smile spreading over her face. "I just want to see you tell off Link in his native tongue."

Jack chuckled as well. "Oh, you and I both, love."