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Debt
Sigurd made sure to keep his face calm as he breezed through Kika's room like a gray whirlwind. Inside, he was shaking, but he didn't dare show it. He wanted to go out and throttle Hervey and Dario for being a pair of damned idiots, but he couldn't do that, either.
So he settled on searching through Kika's room, "accidentally" glimpsing some of her unmentionables on a quest for bandages and ointments.
Why did she have to hide her medical supplies and leave her plunder in plain view? Where was the sense in that? Medical supplies needed to be kept in places with easy access; stolen articles needed to be difficult to find unless you knew what you were doing. Basic laws of the dangerous trade known as "piracy".
At length, he found the sack of bandages and a case of ointments. He slung the sack over one shoulder and held the case to his side with an elbow, then strode from the room, shouldering his way through the heavy curtains separating her quarters from the rest of the cave.
"You found it?" Hervey asked.
Sigurd couldn't help but notice that Hervey's face was pale.
Good, Sigurd thought. Serves the idiot right. What the hell was he THINKING, letting Dario pick a fight with them!
"Yeah, I found it," he muttered. "Everybody, step back and let her get some air." He pointed at a table close by. "You, clear off. I need space to work."
Something in his voice drove the pirates (and their food) away from the table, scurrying the way mice did when you set fire to their tails.
"You, put her on the table," he pointed to the pirates with her in their arms. "And get me a lantern."
The underlings deposited Kika on the table.
"Hervey, strip her to the waist and lift her torso. I need to wrap her ribs."
Hervey nearly objected. Sigurd looked him in the eyes and watched Hervey swallow the lump in his throat.
Hervey did as Sigurd bade, and Sigurd began to wrap cloth around Kika's ribs. He pulled tightly where needed, resisting the less appropriate urges to take a little advantage.
If he'd been in Middleport's fleet still, there would have been no reason to resist. Times like these, where he tried to repay Kika for all she'd done for him, always made him look back on what he'd been. Looking back was no time of pleasant nostalgia- the man he'd been seven years earlier made him feel sick to his stomach.
He tied off the ends of the bandages and helped Hervey dress her again. After that, he and Hervey carried her into her room.
He brushed the curtains hiding her bed aside and tucked her in. If his hand lingered for just a little while on that red-gold hair... Well. No matter.
And if he paused for just a little too long in closing the curtains, that wasn't anything, either. Just making sure her breathing was alright, that he hadn't tied the bandages too tightly.
And so what if Hervey had seen? Hervey couldn't say anything- Sigurd owed Kika far more than Hervey owed her, and Hervey was obviously head over heels in love with her. Orphen had come up to him with one of Hervey's comments.
We agreed to work with you, but the deal's off if anything bad happens to Lady Kika.
"You too, huh?" Hervey asked, grinning stupidly, as he pried Dario's tankard out of slack hands.
Sigurd remained silent. This was one of those times where you kept your own counsel. He owed that much to Kika, not to complicate things for her... And to his pride.
