Author's Note: Glad to see people didn't mind the last chapter! I was expecting people to shout at me for using characters that don't belong in this story, and revisiting the worse thing I've ever written with the romance. So I'm glad that was avoided.


The spider story? As far as I know, it's true (scary, huh?). Read it in a student magazine under amazing stories, and they said they didn't know if it was actually true, but seemed to think it was. Apparently it spun webs inside her skull cavity and everything. She kept hearing a scratching she thought was from a migraine but was actually from it crawling around. It even left egg sacs they had to remove.

Urm. I'm gonna stop typing about that now. I've got a bit of a headache right now and I'm not gonna start thinking about my skull with a spider in! I'm already feeling a bit sick just from typing that! I mean, it's not squeamish, it's damn right logical to be scared of a spider being inside your head! (And no, I haven't heard of chiggers, but if I hear somebody mention them being around, I'm gonna run in the opposite direction).

Ahem. Onto other things. Next storyline starts, which I've had some help with from TheFrogKiller, so the idea for this storyline goes to him. I've tried to mix drama and humour, which is a bit odd here, but I wanted to re-establish the comedy of the Destiny crew and had to do some serious drama. Bit more I wanna say about that, but I'll say it afterwards. (Sorry, means there are two author's notes again!)

Oh, and sorry this is up later than usual. Had a few events sprung on me today I didn't know I'd have to do (no camping though luckily!).

CHAPTER 43

MAIL

Olose strode into the little bar, specifically built for the crew, paid for by Arcadia, as part of the house she had built for her bodyguards, waving a piece of paper around.

"Mail call!" He announced.

"Since when did we have a mail call?" Nadia asked, taking a break from her busy act of drinking.

"Since we received mail." Olose rolled his eyes like it was obvious. "Trevs, this one's for you!"
"Don't call me that." She said, walking over from the table where her and Suse were playing cards (not gambling for money of course, Olose wouldn't let them be a bad influence on Suse like that). "Therrrre's a clear 'ia' bit on the end of my name." She took the letter. "See?" She pointed to her name on the letter.

"Yeah, yeah." Olose sighed.

"That it?" Nadia asked casually.

"Well, yeah." Olose answered.

"Well, why didn't you just say 'Trevia got a letter' instead of 'mail call' then?" Nadia questioned.

"Sounded better." Olose shrugged. Trevia read the letter, and for a moment every part of her tensed up, before she threw the letter in the nearest bin and sat down, back to play cards. Olose could smell the change in her. Something was wrong. Everybody looked at her oddly.

"What was it?" Suse asked, blinking in confusion.

"Just some junk." She sighed.

"Junk?" Nadia questioned.

"Yeah." Trevia answered. "Unless you're interested in joining a mail order book club." She added with a particularly Olose-like grin. Nadia smirked.

"You mean you came in here and caused all that attention for nothing?" She asked Olose.

"Actually, there was a letter for you." He grinned sinisterly. "From your mother. Shall I hand it to you here?"

"No!" Nadia said quickly, getting up and running out. Olose burst out laughing. Trevia blinked.

"What was that about?" She asked. Olose looked at her curiously for a moment. Something was clearly bothering her, and she was trying to get it off of her mind.

"Oh, her mother likes to send her things. You know, help out. This time it was a knitted scarf." He laughed. "I think she may be embarrassed." He added, looking at the door. Trevia laughed, along with Suse. Phabrizoe smirked, who had been up until that point distracted by his drink.

"Remind me to mock her for that." He chipped in.

"Will do!" Olose saluted, turning and leaving.

Later that evening Trevia was sprawled on her bed in her room, looking at the ceiling. She sighed, and rolled over, looking out the window. It was cold, especially cold compared to the climate she had grown up in. She shivered, considering wrapping the blanket she had around herself. She got up first, doing her usual check to make sure nobody was around to see her wrapped up in it. She had an image to maintain after all, you can't be a respected assassin wrapped up in a blanket. In fact, she had noticed a considerable slump in her ways, she hadn't actually assassinated anybody in a long time. And she had been playing cards, drinking, generally socialising with her friends. That wasn't something she used to do either. She sighed. It was clearly Olose's fault.

A knock came on the door, and she was quickly thankful she had bothered to check the area. She quickly threw the blanket down the side of the bed and opened the door.

"Hi." Olose waved.

"Urm, hello." She said, a little confused. Olose never called on her late at night ,unless they had a job to do. "What's up?" She asked.

"Why'd ya throw the letter away?" Olose shot.

"Urm, it was just junk." She answered, trying her best to sound confused. Olose just stared at her. "Well, it may as well have been."

"It's a letter from your parents." He said bluntly. He held up the screwed up letter. "You should have at least torn it or something."

"I don't have any parrrrrents." She replied. "They'rrrrrre dead as far as I'm concerrrrrned."

"What? Why?" Olose asked.

"They cared more about me marrying then they did about my will. So I packed up and left." Trevia answered simply.

"Urm, care to explain?" Olose questioned.

"You've read the letter. You know." She told him. Olose paused.

"Yeah. So I read. They want you to return to Kazham and take your husband." He told her. "And I'm no fool. I've read about Kazham. I know that once you leave Kazham, you're an exile. They don't just invite you back. Something special must be going on here. What is it?" She paused, and sat down on her bed, beginning to wish she was wrapped in her blanket.

"Urm, the way marriage worrrrrks in Kazham is a bit odd." She explained. "Because male mithra are in such shorrrrrt supply, it's a great honour to be selected for marriage. Or at least it's supposed to be."

"What does that mean?" Olose asked, leaning against the wall and folding his arms.

"Well, I got picked. In Kazham it's as simple as that. You get picked, your supposed to be honoured and take your husband." She paused. "I think it's barrrrbarrrric. Taking away yourrrr rrrrrights like that. My family were shocked when I said no. They disowned me, and claimed I had dishonoured their whole line. I just picked up and left. I was only young at the time. Twelve. A few months later, and I was doing my first assassination jobs."

"At twelve?" Olose exclaimed.

"Well, yeah." She answered, before pausing. "Dammit! I've never told anybody this beforrrre. What is it about you?"

"I'm just great." Olose laughed sarcastically. "So, what now?"

"What do you mean? I can just ignorrrre it." She shrugged.

"But do you want too?" Olose asked.

"Yes." She answered plainly. Olose rolled his eyes.

"Maybe if you go back and talk to them you can get out of this." Olose suggested.

"Do you rrrrrreally think they'll listen?" She asked.

"Well, put it this way, this guy must still want to marry you, or else he'd of chosen someone else. He must care a lot for you." Olose suggested.

"He only knew me when I was young." She pointed out.

"Well, whatever the reason, he still cares. You can exploit that. Make him realise it's best for you to go, and if he cares enough to track you down, he'll leave you alone and you won't need to worry about it." Olose paused. "Besides, I never got a proper honeymoon with Arcadia, and Kazham sounds like a lovely place."

"It's a xenophobic oppressive village in the dangerrrrrous jungle." Trevia stated bluntly.

"Yeah, but I'm a werewolf, everybody hates me, so what difference does it make?" Olose paused as Trevia rolled her eyes. "And look on the bright side, if anything goes wrong, who can stop us from escaping?"

"The Kazham authorities are powerrrrrful." Trevia told him. "Do not take the mithran warrrrrriorrrrrs for fools."

"Okay, even if things got bad, need I remind you I'm more than slightly immortal." He said with a cocky laugh. "And let's admit it, you're no pushover yourself." Trevia smiled slightly.

"I would think not. I went toe to toe with you, didn't I?" She gave another Olose-style grin.

"I went easy!" Olose protested. "Urm. Easyish." He corrected as Trevia shot him an icy stare. It didn't fate. "Urm, normal?" It persisted. "Urm, I was trying really hard?
"That's morrrre like it." She smirked. "Okay. We'll go. But only so that I can get out of it and get it off of my mind. If you even trrrry to make me get involved then I'll-" She stopped, expecting Olose to interrupt her. He didn't. "Well, I'm not entirrrrrely surrrre what I'll do yet, but I'll think of something!" Olose laughed. That sounded like the kind of threat he would make.

It was the following day that the mighty Destiny II crashed through the waters, the waves breaking helplessly, being trampled by its mighty hull. The golden metal that wrapped around the hull gleamed brightly, protecting the multiple rows of cannons that lined the ship. The flags billowed proudly, all evidence of the red of the Cardinal that had ordained them eliminated, replaced by clear white sails, and an impressive looking black flag with the skull of a wolf, and two crossed bones upon it (the stitch work of Suse, surprisingly). And on deck, the mighty vessel's captain moaned.

"It's like driving a really large slug!" He whined. "Except, worse."

"It's a fine ship, Captain." Phabrizoe pointed out.

"But it's so slow. And big. And unresponsive." He complained with all the skill of a young toddler. "I mean, all we've gained is extra room we don't really need, and rows of cannons we never use. And to top it off, we can barely keep it sailing with just the five of us. We have to work around the clock to keep it going. It's useless!"

"It's a mighty warship Captain." Phabrizoe said, slightly amused.

"Yeah, but it ain't no Destiny." Olose replied, throwing the rules of grammar out of the window.

"Yes it is!" Beamed Suse. "It says so on the side!" Olose laughed.

"Yeah, I meant metaphorically." He told her. "It's not like the old Destiny. It's too clean. Too strong. Too perfect."

"Too elvaan?" Nadia suggested.

"Not exactly." Olose grumbled. "I'm just saying this ship has none of the charm, none of the speed, nothing that made our old ship our old ship. I just don't like it!"

"I love this ship!" Arcadia declared, walking up on deck, prompting a few giggles from among the crew due to her timing. "It is so much more luxurious than that old vessel you had. I can sleep in comfort without worrying about waking up with my feet wet."

"That only happened once!" Olose snapped. "Urr, I mean, the Destiny was a perfectly reliable ship." Arcadia looked at him in shock.

"You mean you woke up while it was sinking once?" She spluttered, originally having been making a joke, and quite worried to discover that the actual ship had encountered that problem.

"Well, not exactly." Olose confessed.

"Suse went to wake him up, but fell over and spilled her drink over him." Nadia explained.

"It was an accident!" Suse cried. "The ship rocked funny."

"See? This ship does not rock funny." Arcadia said with a smirk.

"Yeah, but it also takes us forever to get anywhere." Olose muttered from the wheel.

"I'm sure if you want the old Destiny back, you can swim down and get it, Captain." Phabrizoe said smirking, prompting the crew to laugh.

Trevia was below decks, shut in her quarters. The larger ship and the smallness of the crew meant that each crew member now had their own place to stay in, which was nice for the privacy. She was staring at the ceiling and in deep thought. She had a horribly feeling she had made a mistake. She couldn't shake the thought that as soon as she ended up in Kazham she'd be thrown into shackles and chains. Or worse, a wedding dress.

Her brain was revolted at the thought. Eugh, her mind spat. When was the last time she had worn a dress? She tried to remember, but couldn't quite find the memory. Maybe she never had. No, she was sure her parents had dressed her in one. Probably all the time when she was little. Not that she would remember that. She could barely still picture her parent's faces. Forcing herself to forget everything, who she was, who her family was, it was the only way to leave it all behind. And be a killer. She had no emotional attachments, and that made killing easy. She couldn't understand the pain she caused others because she felt nothing. Then he came and messed it all up.

Olose Sampson. Expert interferer. Now she knew people. She had friends. People she cared about. She knew what it was like. She tried to imagine how she would feel if somebody took her friends from her. She remembered looking over Olose's body before it regenerated and that gut wrenching sadness she had felt. She thought she was going to be sick.

Was that a tear? Salty water emerged from one of her eyes and she cursed, quickly mopping it away. She was an assassin! A warrior! She didn't cry. She never cried. But apparently her brain wasn't listening to her screaming thoughts, because she cried harder. She turned over and buried her face against the pillow to try and quell the tears.

Guilt. Fear. Love. All emotions she shouldn't feel. Emotions made people weak. She didn't want them. Why wouldn't they go away? If she had been able to wish away her memories, why couldn't she wish away her emotions? Why wouldn't they go? That burning guilt about all the lives she had taken. That fear of what would happen to her back in Kazham. That love for everybody she had met. She cared so deeply for them that she would do anything. Anything.

She found herself crying harder, and punched the pillow. She shouldn't feel like this! She couldn't! Suse could cry. Arcadia would. Even Nadia had been sad at times about her disability. But not her. She was an assassin! She was a warrior! She was not some pathetic little girl who cried when things got a little too emotional for her.

"Trevs?" Came a gentle voice from the doorway, on the other side of the door. It was Olose. He could clearly tell how she felt. It was that dammed werewolf nose of his.
"Yes?" She croaked in answer, trying to sound like everything was fine, but failing horribly.

"Urm, I meant Trevia." He corrected. "Pesky 'ia' bit, always evades me." Trevia smirked slightly at Olose's rather lame joke, it helped her feel a little better, laughing. "Urm, we're approaching Kazham." He told her. "I don't expect you to come up on deck, not yet, but I thought I'd tell you."

"Thanks." She sniffed, cursing in her mind how weak she must have sounded.

"We can't take this stupid bulky thing ashore, we'll need to anchor it and take the rowing boats. We've got eight of them now though. That's more than one each! Although, unless you're planning to put on weight, I don't think we'll need that many." Another lame joke, but another laugh. It did make her feel better. "Anyway, come up on deck when you're ready." She heard him leave and sighed on the bed. He was kind, but she hated how he knew her vulnerabilities. It made her feel so weak around him. And she hated that weak feeling. She hated it as much as it was possible to hate something.

She sighed, grabbed her katana, strapped it to her back, flung on her belt of more minor weapons and walked to the door, pausing to wipe the final tears from her eyes. She looked in the battered mirror to make sure it wasn't clear she had been upset. Her eyes were swollen and her cheeks were puffy. Damn. She looked down at the wool covering over the bed and came up with an idea.

She'd just claim she was allergic to wool.

Author's Note: Urm, I hope nobody thinks I went overboard with Trevia there, making her seem like too much of a weak character, because she's still meant to be the toughest on the crew (other than Olose, who's obviously immortal). I was trying to give her some emotion, but I hope she doesn't sound too much like she's gone soft, I'm trying to develop her character (which I'm clearly not very good at) while keeping her the same type of person. Which I didn't do very well there. But basically, she's still meant to be a really tough warrior, but she's showing emotion this time, which hopefully doesn't look too bad.

Another thanks to the TheFrogKiller for the continued help with this plotline!

And all my reviewers, of course!