A Better Place

by Waywatcher

I can remember a world where I was safe, where war was a notion meant for more violent countries, and where the internet gave me unlimited entertainment and knowledge with a few keystrokes. That world is not this one, and I miss it dearly. At least I have Morgan to keep me alive and sane, and I can provide some use to this world with my knowledge of Awakening. Self-insert.

8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening, all rights to the owners.

I had to do some thinking about how L'isle de Argent factors into the story overall and what Nah's situation is. I wasn't sure if this would be one chapter or three. I had some fun with worldbuilding when it came to the island though. I actually didn't know there was a large island there until I took a good look at the map. Knowing it's an island makes it really obvious how out of the way it is and how much of a detour it would be for the Shepherds to go there. The same can be said of Cynthia's paralogue, as well as Emmeryn's, Severa's, and Gangrel's. It's odd that the Shepherds would go there in-game without some foreknowledge. Especially when the Valm arc hits, how would the Shepherds have time to go on random detours? I guess it's just game logic.

We actually don't even get to the island this chapter. I didn't realize how long this was at first, but holy crap this one week boat ride might be two chapters in itself.

---

So the ship smells awful, but the food isn't half bad. Surprisingly it's not just fish.

The captain made good on his promise to answer our questions, and it's interesting. Well, interesting to me, if not particularly relevant. Kjelle is coming along on this impromptu tour because she wants to make sure the food is actually being kept well and we won't be eating maggots, and Morgan is coming out of mild curiosity but also just because of me I think. It's the same way I follow her around when she shops. Noire went straight to the room. She said she didn't want to be out when the sailors got here because… I have no idea actually. She didn't explain.

"So, the food." The captain chuckles. "Since the lady knight is so concerned about it." He swings his staff and taps some barrels. "We keep all the food and drink in these."

"Those are just normal barrels." Kjelle growls.

"Not quite lass." The captain grabs the lid of one of the barrels and deftly pulls it off. Peering over, I can see… water. It's just water.

"It's water." Kjelle states flatly, apparently agreeing with me.

"Then yer looking at the wrong thing." The captain says. "Look at the barrel."

I don't see what he's talking about and apparently neither does Kjelle, but Morgan is more perceptive than us. "It's thick."

"Right you are." The blind man says with a smile. "Barrel's got two walls to it, and an inch o' salt between 'em. Ain't many bugs or vermin that are gonna fancy digging through that to get to the goods. Not cheap to make, but it if keeps the food an' drink safe who are we t'argue?" He puts the lid back on. "Also, when removin' food or drink a sailor now gotta have clean hands. Didn't before, and sometimes it caused some nasty molds of funguses. A simple fix, but a mighty useful one."

"Hmm…" Kjelle frowns. It's unclear if she's convinced or just annoyed that she was proven wrong about the food being terrible.

"We also got a ship cat. Don't know where the little lady has gone off to, but she keeps the rats away." The captain continues. "O'course we can't do anythin' about the food gettin' old, so it ain't gonna be fresh, but we can keep it from rottin' or getting eaten by somethin' else. Smokin' or boilin' the food before eatin' it also helps to stave off the bugs, just as a safety measure."

That's honestly not half bad. I was expecting a much more lackadaisical attitude towards food safety considering the time period, but he seems to have most of the bases covered. Clean hands, pest control, additional measures to kill anything on the food before eating it... that's pretty solid.

"I'm surprised it took so long to come up with this." Morgan muses. "Was it really that hard to think up?"

"Mostly it was just that no one wanted to put in the money." The captain huffs. "Salt ain't expensive, but several dozen kilograms o' anything except dirt ain't exactly cheap. Once it got figured out that we'd have to put some money into it, we got far pretty quickly. I think I still have one o' the older tries…"

He takes a moment to tap around with his staff, occasionally pushing aside a crate or barrel. Eventually he finds what he's looking for and waves us over.

"See this here?" He taps a unique crate. It has a concave curve to its sides and metal studs dotting every edge. "Originally this was what we were goin' with. The shape keeps rats from bein' able to bite the sides, an' the metal stops 'em from chewin' through the edges. Didn't deal with the bugs though, so no one went for it."

"Couldn't you have just made this two-walled and used salt as well?"

"Sure." The captain nods. "But that's even more money and effort than the barrel because of the studs, and it takes up a lot more space 'cause of the shape. The barrel made more sense in the end."

"Cool…" And I mean that genuinely. This is fascinating to me, if not particularly relevant to anything. I just like learning new things (as long as it doesn't involve homework or something, that really kills the enjoyment).

"That's really all there is to the new food measures." The captain admits. "A new barrel and clean hands, but it's made a world o' difference."

"I'll take your word for it." I nod.

"I'll believe it when I taste my food." Kjelle mutters. However, with her curiosity satisfied, she leaves to join Noire in the room.

"I think she doesn't like it when she's wrong." Morgan notes cheerfully. "Anyhow, that was enlightening."

"Glad you're interested." The captain smiles. "It's not often someone is enthusiastic about learning such things."

"It's fun to learn." I say. I mean that with only partially honestly. It's fun to know how things work, even if you'll inevitably forget in two days. The effort to remember something through repetition is zero fun, homework in school has proven that time and time again, but the facts themselves are interesting.

"Aye." The captain smiles. He looks like he's going to say more, but footsteps and loud voices become audible above deck. I can't make out what they're saying, but I can tell by their tone that some of them are complaining or bickering. "And there are the boys… I better wrangle them to order. We'll leave soon, just stay outta the way as we prepare. I'll tap on yer door when we're underway. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes."

Me and Morgan make our way to our room as the captain splits off from us to go above deck. I can see his entire demeanor change as he walks up the stairs. He goes from calm, and walking with a smooth gait to suddenly having a swagger and holding his head up so he's looking down his nose at everyone when he emerges on deck. His voice also suddenly raises to a harsh shout as he barks orders and yells down complaints and excuses from his men.

"There we go." Morgan nods. "That's more what I expected."

"What do you mean?"

"Well when I found him yesterday he was yelling at his men, so I was a bit surprised this morning when he was all nice and calm." Morgan explains. "I mean, he was calmer when I talked to him too, but with all his men around I think he wanted to keep a tough front at the time."

Ahh, okay. So it's that sort of culture. Gotta look strong and manly or the men won't respect you, right? Maybe? Okay, I don't really know, I'm making a guess. Maybe he doesn't mind acting tough. I don't need to jump to the conclusion that he puts on a mask.

Opening the door, me and Morgan get our first look at what will be our room for the next week. It's… literally just beds, which is to be expected. At least the beds have mattresses though. Maybe not good ones, but hey, we have blankets and bedrolls to pad those out if we need to.

The first thing Kjelle says when we enter is: "There are no bugs in the beds, I checked." She sounds off-put by that. I think she's just looking for something to complain about at this point. She wants to find something wrong.

"Cool!" Morgan gazes at the two bunk beds and points at one. "I call top!"

I shoot that down instantly. "No way."

"What? Why not!?"

"Need I recall a certain burned face you got?"

"What does that have to do with-"

"I'm not going to let you into a position where you'll roll out of bed and fall two meters to the ground." I say. "You're on the bottom."

"You just want the top, don't you?"

"No, actually, I really don't feel comfortable on the top."

That peaks Morgan's interest. "You've slept in beds like this before?"

"Bunk beds? Yeah. I have three siblings. When we were younger we had two bunk beds."

"So you're just being mean then." Morgan pouts.

"Yes, I'm being cruel, condemning you to the lower bunk like the lowlife you are."

Mogan makes an exaggerated gasp. "How dare you! A lowlife? Call me anything else, but not a lowlife! Such a label is the ultimate insult!"

"Anything else?"

"Call me a bitch, a whore, or any other name! I care not!" Morgan proclaims. "And give me the top bunk!"

"Know your place." I huff, and turn up my nose at her. "A woman's place is on the bottom, you… you…"

Morgan waits for me to finish so she can continue the joke, but when I hesitate a smile creeps across her face. "Nathan, I basically just gave you permission to insult me."

"Well, as a joke…"

"Nathan, you can insult me if it's a joke or sarcastic." She leans forward and wiggles her eyebrows. "Or for fun times, if we get to that point."

"There are other fucking people in the room!" Kjelle says loudly. I'm actually glad for the interruption this time, because it means I don't have to fumble through an answer to Morgan's words. "You can sort out your beds without innuendos thank you very much."

"That's no fun." Morgan huffs. "But fine… I'm on top."

"I already said no, and I stand by that." I retort. "I won't have you cracking your head open when you fall off."

"Umm…" Noire says quietly. "Couldn't me and Kjelle just take the top beds…?"

"Don't give them leeway Noire." Kjelle mutters to the other girl. "They can sort it out themselves, on their side of the room."

"Come on Nathan!"

"If you try to go on top I'm tying you to the bed so you don't fall." I threaten.

Morgan's smile quirks into a wide grin, and she's visibly fighting not to joke about that. I'm starting to think my jokes about Morgan being a lewd girl are much more accurate than I ever expected them to be. That's certainly a character trait that didn't come up in the game. "But you just said you don't like being on top either."

"Can you two not speak in innuendo?" Kjelle snaps.

I kinda hadn't realized I was doing that. Judging by Morgan's barely contained laugh, she very much knew. I expect my face is red at the moment, though I don't want to ask to confirm. "I- well- I'm just concerned that-"

"Fiiiiine, I'll sleep on the bottom." Morgan interrupts with an amused huff. "But you can join me if you want."

"Morgan." Kjelle growls darkly.

Morgan actively ignores Kjelle. "It'll be like back in the inn when we met, yeah? If you don't want the top, but don't want me to have it because we're worried, then we can just share. It's not like we haven't before, right?"

"Uh, right." I blink. That was not the result I was expecting, though by this point I think I should be anticipating Morgan's utter confidence and lack of embarrassment to result in suggestions like this. "S-Sure. That works."

Morgan then turns towards Kjelle with a wide, mocking smile and a simpering tone. "There, we sorted out our side of the room. Are you happy, lady knight?"

"Fuck you." Kjelle replies flatly.

She doesn't tell us to change the plan though. Morgan looks very smug after that.

###

Morgan has no fear. A room full of big burly men who've done nothing but cuss and complain and shout all day? Not intimidating at all to Morgan. She's ready to stride into the mess room without a single worry. Even Kjelle looks reluctant, and Noire outright worried. I'm feeling a bit nervous myself. I'll be in trouble if I have to talk to any of the sailors I think. I'm awkward at the best of times, and I'm not sure how much I can hide behind Morgan here.

Morgan is either oblivious to our apprehension (unlikely) or choosing not to talk about it. She does grab my arm before we walk in though, giving me some level of reassurance.

It's not that all eyes in the room turn to us, just most of them. The sailors look exactly like I expected them to look. Tall, muscular, sometimes tattooed, always intimidating.

Well, intimidating to me, because I'm a coward. Being the same height as them in this body really doesn't help. I mostly try not to look at them, instead choosing to focus on Morgan and trying to ignore the stares. Kjelle is apparently going with the "glare at everyone" strategy while Noire is doing her best to not be seen at all by hiding behind me and Kjelle.

There's no food selection. Everyone has the same thing. That said, the meal is well-rounded. There's a large slice of meat, some dried peaches, some cheese, and some simple bread. (How expensive is cheese? Actually, how expensive is meat? How expensive is this meal? If it is expensive, how can a sailing crew afford all of it?) Also, water. There's beer, but our whole group takes water, even Kjelle. I was expecting her to take beer to be honest.

No one tries to talk to us as we get our food from the cook and sit down at an empty table in the corner of the room. It's fairly notable how the talk in the room has died down though. I don't want to look up to see everyone staring at us. I don't want to see the expressions on their faces.

Morgan jumps into the corner seat as soon as quick as she can, and I take a seat next to her. Kjelle sits across from Morgan and next to me with her back facing the room, and Noire takes the seat next to them and across from me.

"So Kjelle." Morgan says cheerfully, after the rest of us have taken a few nervous bites. "How's the food?"

I recognize the taunt for what it is. Kjelle does to, but they're in a room full of people who probably wouldn't appreciate her making a negative comment about their cook so regardless of her actual opinion she's forced to say (albeit with a glare and gritted teeth) "It's fine..."

The food actually is fine. I mean, I'm an extraordinarily picky eater, so I wouldn't say I like most of the food, but it's no worse than anything else we've eaten so far.

With Morgan's taunt to break the tension, all of us relax slightly. We're still on alert, but none of us constantly feel the urge to look over our shoulders. Besides, I've noticed that Morgan is doing that for us. She's sitting in the corner, so that means she's facing the rest of the room, and while she does glance at us when talking she also lets her eyes wander over the rest of the room.

I wonder if she intentionally took the corner seat so she could do that.

I'm tempted to ask what she's noticed, because there are times when her eyes rest on something that I don't want to turn my head to see for fear of drawing attention. I don't want to ask now though, so I mostly stay quiet.

As we eat, our own table is relatively quiet, so I listen to the talk coming from the other tables. There's a lot of general stuff. Tall tales about giant wolves and monsters (that are apparently super dangerous but they all managed to beat single-handedly. I call bullshit), bragging about skill in the most arbitrary things like flipping coins to always land on a certain side, sometimes talk of family (usually parents and siblings), and also a lot of talk of what they hope to do when they reach port.

Apparently a lot of the sailors have an interest in the… women there. Actually, it's mostly talk of their beauty and how "it would be nice to get a high class lady". So I guess there's a lot of rich people on the island? I guess that makes sense. It's literally called the island of money… or silver. I can't remember. I never liked learning French.

Some of the talk is vulgar, and I mostly try to tune that out. There's not as much of it as I expected which is nice, it's still there.

As our meal drags on (there's quite a bit of food on our plates just as there is for the sailors, they eat a lot apparently) people in the room get progressively more drunk. Though when I hear some raised voices that might signify a fight, it's immediately followed by a bark from the captain as he orders both of the men to their beds, and to my surprise the two listen without putting up much of a fight (although with no lack of grumbling). Judging by the chuckles that follow, this is a standard occurrence.

We go through almost the entire meal without any sort of interaction from the rest of the room. I don't know if that's because of Morgan or not. Maybe her occasional pauses are her staring someone down? I don't know. However, I did say "almost" the entire meal. Someone does decide they have to talk to us as we're finishing up our meals. I realize they're coming by Morgan suddenly shifting her attention to something to my left and visibly straightening up in her chair.

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised that he's slightly drunk. He swaggers up to our table (though the effect is a bit ruined by a stumble at the last second) and leans into the space between Kjelle and Noire. "Greetings there ladies." He says with a wide, dopey smile. "Uh, and you." He nods clumsily to me, clearly as an afterthought. "The captain said we had some rich-like passengers this trip. We don't usually get those 'cause they all take them fancy boats or have their own, s-so I'm curious why you're all travellin' with us folk."

The question seems mostly directed at Noire, because that's who the man is mostly looking at, but it's Morgan who responds. "Funnily enough, money." Morgan says calmly. She locks eyes with the man when he looks her way, keeping his attention on her. "A nice ride is pricey, and there's no reason to waste money on that when there's a perfectly good ride available here for a far more reasonable price."

Morgan must have said something right, because the man's smile gets even wider and he starts to nod rapidly. "Ain't it? It's been a long time since we had some nice fa… nice people on board with us. Nice to have smart people."

That's a bit of a non sequitur, but hey, he's drunk, and he doesn't seem that bad. When he staggered up to the table I was expecting some bad flirting, but he was just curious. That's not so bad.

The man babbles for a minute or two, during which Morgan when he eventually realizes he has nothing more to say or ask, and I feel a lot more calm for the rest of the meal.

I do take the chance to talk with Morgan before we have to turn in for the night. I'm still curious about her looking around the room. "Hey Morgan."

"Hmm?" She hums while studying the chess board in front of her. Her hands hover over her bishop then flick to a pawn before pulling back indecisively.

"What did you notice during dinner?" I question. "You did a lot of looking around."

"I was just taking stock of the room and the people in it." She explains absently. "Captain sits in the middle of the room so he can hear everything, probably so he can stop fights. He intentionally left us a corner table free so we could avoid attention as much as possible if we wanted. There's no reason that table would be unoccupied otherwise, because some of the other tables were looking quite cramped. Second in command took a corner of the room like me so he could see everything. He was watching us for the first ten minutes or so. Also, I think the corner table we got was chosen because it was the furthest away from where the potential problem people usually sit. All the louder and more vulgar sailors seemed to be on the other side of the room."

"Oh." I blink. I was expecting a few minor notes, or maybe an observation on some unusual way someone dressed or a trinket they had or personality traits, not an analysis of the seating plan. I forget she's a tactician, so in hindsight it makes sense that she'd take stock of the positions of important people and possible threats. Also, she confirmed that she intentionally took the corner seat to watch the room.

"Also." She murmurs in a more quiet voice. From the way she glances at the other bunk (we're playing on our bed right now). "That guy that was talking to us near the end?"

"Yeah?"

"He was glancing at Noire the whole night. I'm pretty sure he was going to hit on her and then chickened out when I replied rather than her." Morgan whispers. "Not that I think he was any particular threat, he was just interested, but still. Noire knew she would attract more attention than the rest of us, and she'd be unhappy to know she was right."

"What do you mean she'd attract more attention?" I whisper back.

Morgan raises an eyebrow. Rather than say something, she gestures towards her chest, makes a cupping motion, then subtly towards Noire. Even I'm not stupid enough to mistake what she means, and in hindsight it's obvious. Noire is easily the most physically attractive of all of us (at least by common standards), so of course she'd attract more attention. Morgan was specifically referring to the fact that Noire is busty, but in hindsight that was really obvious and I just wasn't thinking. I nod to show my understanding.

Morgan wins the game to the surprise of exactly no one, and with the sound of footsteps and the ship's crew going to sleep, we collectively decide it's time to turn in.

###

Normally I'd wake up well after Morgan, but it's a bit hard to stay asleep with her crawling over me to get out of bed. That's not really a problem though. I might sleep for ten hours, but I only really need six, so when she says she's going to get breakfast I follow along.

Kjelle's bed is empty, she must already be up. Probably training. Noire, as expected, is still sound asleep.

The mess room is much less crowded than it was at dinner, probably because some people are already working. I have to watch my step as I move through the room due to the swaying of the ship. It's a lot more noticeable today than it was yesterday. Morgan's balance is much better than mine. I think it might be because she's less top-heavy, or maybe it's her combat training.

Everything is a lot less noisy now too. There's generally less talking… maybe because people are hungover. Actually, that's probably it now that I think about it more.

"You know." Morgan says through a mouthful of food. "It-" she swallows, realizing she can't talk like that. "It occurs to me that we never asked about the island. I have a few guesses, but asking around couldn't hurt. We want to know what we're getting into."

"Right."

"Though I can make a few guesses from last night." Morgan adds. "That guy who talked to us mentioned expensive boats to the island, so I'm going to guess the island is a real rich person's place. I mean, that's the reason I got us a ride on a supply ship. All the other rides were really expensive."

"This is a supply ship?"

"Yeah, what did you think it was?"

"Uh…" I actually have no idea. "I didn't give it that much thought."

Morgan rolls her eyes, amused.

"But an expensive getaway place huh? Is this like a resort?" I muse.

"A what?"

"A resort."

"What's a resort?"

"Vacation place, generally with lodging and entertainment and activities and such."

"I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist in this world." Morgan says. "I meant more that I think rich people have homes or cottages here or something like that."

"Oh." I mumble. "That makes a lot more sense." Something then occurs to me. "Hey… I've mentioned how Nah's paralogue goes before, right?"

"Something about her walking around in a Risen-infested manor."

"Yeah, and that supports the idea that the island is a rich place. There's at least one manor on it."

"True." Morgan nods. "I have to wonder how Nah got into an abandoned manor though."

"Who says it's abandoned beforehand?" I offer.

"Ahh…" Morgan's brow furrows in consideration. "That's true. That might make finding her more complicated too if we can't find that manor as a starting point."

"Assuming she's even around there at the moment. She might be wandering the island." I add. "Who knows how long she was in the manor before the Shepherds arrived in her paralogue. It might be a week, it might be less than an hour."

"That's true." Morgan says. "Okay, so we'll have to find some other search method."

"And what method might that be?"

"I don't know." She shrugs. "I'll think of something."

###

Me and Morgan come up on deck to find an odd sight. Kjelle is apparently up here, and she has some sailor pinned to the deck while several others cheer her on. Even the captain is listening to the spectacle with a smirk on his face.

"Should I be surprised Kjelle got into a fight so quickly?" I whisper to Morgan.

"I'm surprised it took this long to begin with!" She says cheerfully. "I was expecting this to happen yesterday!"

Morgan moves over to the captain and I follow behind, casting nervous glances at the… wrestling match(?) going on a little ways down deck.

"So, who pissed her off?" Morgan asks the man eagerly. Pulls herself up onto a barrel and kicks her legs. "Or did she anger someone else?"

"She was trainin'." The captain chuckles. "One o' the lads had the bright idea to challenge her to a spar, thinkin' it would be an easy way to impress her."

"He thought it would be an easy win?" Morgan snickers.

"Yep. I told him otherwise, so this is all on him." The captain says. "This is the closest fight it's been, from what I was told she almost threw knocked 'im overboard when they were usin' weapons."

If this is the closest fight so far, the other ones must have been total curbstomps. Kjelle is half this guy's height and not nearly as muscular as him, but she's got him face-down on the deck while she sits on his waist and has his arms forced behind his back. The expression on his face is a cross between furious and a sneering smile.

I think she's having fun. Fun in the self-righteous noob-stomping sort of way, but fun. To each their own I suppose.

"By the way, where are the nervous ones?" The captain asks. "The men are curious. They've been wantin' to talk to all of ya since yesterday, but I told 'em to hold 'emselves back for a bit. Ain't gonna last the whole week though."

"The nervous one? You mean Noire?"

"And the boy. Yer partner."

"Uhh…" I mumble. "I'm here."

"Ah, you're quiet boy."

Not really. I think everyone else is just noisy.

"You might have to do some talkin' today. Just to let ya know."

"Noted." I say quietly. That doesn't sound fun.

We all watch (or listen to in the captain's case) the wrestling match for another minute until the poor sailor taps out. Then Morgan speaks again. "Hey, Nathan."

"Yeah?"

"Should I try? I want to try."

I'm confused. "Try what?"

"Sparring, wrestling! I wanna see how it'll go! I've never tried wrestling."

"That… doesn't sound like something you'll win."

"You'd be surprised!" Morgan chirps. "I'm gonna do it."

"Go ahead…?" She doesn't need my permission. She was probably going to do that regardless of my response. Why is she dragging this out?

She turns and looks at me for a second. This feels like another one of those moments where I'm missing something she thinks is extremely obvious. I can't think of what that would be though. Am I supposed to be concerned for her safety?

"You don't see a problem, do you?"

"No…?"

"Letting your girlfriend wrestle with burly men?"

Oh, okay. I guess it was the danger. "I mean, it's not like you're in danger here, so…"

Morgan stares again, then smiles and randomly gives me a hug. I awkwardly return the gesture, not exactly sure what it's about. "I'm glad you're not the jealous type."

Oh. That's what she meant by letting her wrestle with burly men. Okay, again, in hindsight that was obvious. How often do I miss things this obvious? "I'm not about to try and dictate what you can and can't do. Do what you want regardless of what I say."

"I wouldn't go that far." Morgan says. "Your opinion isn't irrelevant, I was just happy you weren't going to be petty about it."

"Right." I made this too serious again, didn't I? "Have fun."

"I will! Hold my coat." She quickly slides out of her coat and hands it to me. "I'm gonna wrestle someone to the ground, just you watch!"

I take and carefully fold her coat. I can feel bulges and hard places where she has things stored in the pockets. Hopefully there's nothing too delicate in there. "Sure. I'll have a vulnerary ready when that inevitably doesn't happen."

"Just you wait, I'm to prove you wrong. I'm going to win because I'm a genius." Morgan brags.

"And genius has always been the deciding factor in tests of strength." I reply sarcastically. It's also occurring to me that I've almost never seen Morgan without her coat on. It's nothing remarkable, she still has her baggy beige shirt and pants on as well as her boots, but it's something I haven't really seen before. It never really occurred to me how thin she was. The belt around her hips gives me an idea of her actual size because it's tight to her body, and I could probably fit my hands around her waist if the belt is any indication. Also, her arms are pretty thin too. Not stick-thin, but there's not a lot of meat on them. I could probably make a ring around her forearm with my pointer and thumb.

It's also occurring to me that if she's thin now, who knows how thin she might have been beforehand. We still don't know if she came from a bad future or not, so I have no idea if she's recovering from malnourishment and that's why she's so thin or just because she's naturally small. Also, my perspective of her size is very skewed by my new body. Maybe she's a lot more normal than I think and it's just because everyone looks smaller than I'm used to from my old body that she looks really thin.

"She's an eager one, ain't she?" The captain says.

It takes me a moment to realize he's talking to me. I nod silently, remember he's blind, then say "Ah, uh, yeah. She is. No fear."

"I can tell that. From what Rory, that's my second, told me she was starin' people down all last night."

"From what I'm aware she was just reading the room." I say honestly.

"Maybe so. It was just a guess from Rory." The captain shrugs.

With Kjelle's fight over, Morgan walks straight into the middle of the group and, without any preamble, chirps "I want to fight too!"

The reaction to that is mixed. Some sailors scoff, some laugh, and some elbow each other and mutter something while grinning. I'm fairly sure most of them think Morgan is being ridiculous. Once they're done laughing or whatever, one of the sailors steps forward with a smile on his face that I can only describe as haughty. "If you're really sure about it girl, I'll happily play with ya."

You'd think after Kjelle thoroughly mopped the floor with them that they'd be less overconfident. Also, "play" with her? How patronizing.

"So, is Albinus going to lose?" The captain asks as Morgan and the sailor set the terms of the match. No weapons, no eye gouging or permanent injuries, otherwise anything goes. First one to surrender or be put in a position where they can't escape for more than ten seconds loses.

"Well…" As much as I joked that Morgan was going to lose, I've sparred with her before, even unarmed, and she's always won. "Does he have any combat training?"

"Not really."

"Yeah he's screwed." Morgan holds back when she spars with me for the purposes of teaching, so if she doesn't have to hold back she's probably going to win this. It's not a wrestling match like I expected. If this was a wrestling match then Morgan might lose, but in a hand-to-hand fight against someone untrained I expect her to kick ass.

The fight takes a few minutes, though that's only because both sides are toying with the other. Morgan spends the first five seconds after the match starts studying her opponent, and Albinus, being cocky, waits with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow. When Morgan suddenly takes a step forward he scoffs and slowly unfolds his arms… which gives Morgan the time to kick him sharply in the side of the stomach.

Albinus grunts in surprise and swings an arm to try and bat Morgan away, and Morgan promptly grabs him by the wrist and twists his arm in response to such a clumsy attack.

That gets a yelp and a growl out of the sailor and he actually starts trying to a certain extent. He kicks and punches to get Morgant to let go (which Morgan does, though she seems amused as she does it. I think she's toying with him because she's realized he doesn't actually know how to fight). As soon as she does he takes a step back while grabbing his wrist, then (probably realizing that everyone is watching him and snickering) he straightens up and says "so you actually know what you're doing, huh? I suppose I'll have to start trying."

"Oh good, I was feeling a bit underwhelmed!" Morgan says cheerfully. "I was expecting a fight, not a training dummy."

The man's expression darkens a bit, and an angry smile crosses his face. "You'll get a fight if you want it."

Morgan waits for her foe to attack. Albinus rushes forwards and stretches his arms out, going for some sort of grab, and Morgan effortlessly ducks under one of his arms and trips him with her leg. He falls hard to the floor, and Morgan says. "So, when exactly were you going to start trying? Should I wait a moment, or…?"

Albinus is silent as he rolls to his feet and lets fly a series of punches at the girl. Morgan calmly dodges and deflects his flailing arms without any sort of counter attack for a few seconds.

"Oh, is this what you meant?" She asks, feigning disappointment. "Well, if that's all, then I suppose I should fight back."

"Don't mock me you little-" Albinus is cut short by Morgan snapping out a jab that hits his throat and sends him staggering back, weezing, until he falls onto his butt. He's still gasping for breath while Morgan walks up and calmly plants a foot on his chest, forcing him fully to the ground.

"So, anyhow, you lose." Morgan says calmly. She glances up at everyone watching, some of them are laughing and some of them look genuinely surprised. Kjelle is nodding approvingly with a smirk on her face. She then looks to me, smiles widely, and waves an arm. "See Nathan? I won! Because I'm a genius!"

It had nothing to do with you being a genius. Albinus was incompetant. However I say something simple to respond because I don't want to be snarky or sarcastic when there are other people listening. Besides, she was still rather impressive. "Indeed you did. Good job Morg."

Morgan looks like she's going to say something else, but apparently Albinus decided he wasn't done yet despite having clearly lost. With his breath (mostly) regained he grabs Morgan by the leg and pulls it out from under her. "You- You bitch. Did you think I would-"

He's cut short again because Morgan doesn't really care if he has time to say his bit or not. As soon as she's pulled to the ground she uses her other leg to plant a kick squarely in his face, and she grabs one of his fingers that are holding her leg and starts to harshly pull it backwards, forcing him to release her so he can pull away or risk her breaking it.

"Albinus!" The captain barks, but it's unnecessary. Within two seconds there are six pairs of hands on the sailor pulling him away, and Kjelle is looming over him with her spear, her actual one, held in her hand.

I shrink back as the captain stomps forward to yell at Albinus, who now has blood on his face. Morgan returns to me looking rather unaffected. She's smiling in fact. I silently hand her back her coat and she slips it back on while saying "I think that went rather well!"

"Sure."

"You're freaking out, aren't you?"

"Only slightly. It's not me who just broke someone's nose."

"His finger actually. That blood is from his lip." She says cheerfully. "You'd be surprised how much power solid boots can add to a kick. I think I might have hit the right spot to chip a tooth or two!"

"Uh, right." Okay, there's her sadism. Guess the game wasn't totally inaccurate about that.

"Anyhow, I don't expect we'll have any issues from now on." Morgan hums. "We can tell Noire she doesn't have to be so worried."

There were probably better ways to stop people from hitting on her, but I guess this works too. "Sure."

"You have no idea what to say, do you?"

"Not really."

"So." The captain's voice cuts in as he walks over to us. I can't read his expression. "Normally I'd apologize, but you sound mighty pleased with yerself lass. Somethin's tellin' me that went accordin' to a plan o' yours."

"Pretty much." Morgan says, unabashed. "I didn't expect to take it that far, but I was trying to make a point."

The captain crosses his arms. "Well consider it made. None of the boys want anythin' to do with you after that. I'll thank you to not intentionally start a real fight next time though."

"I won't. It shouldn't be necessary." Morgan says, still sounding quite smug and not at all apologetic.

The captain shakes his head and walks off. That could have gone better, but at least we didn't get punished for it.

"Morgan." I mutter as we move to the front of the ship. "Did you only take that fight to make a point?"

"Pretty much." Morgan hums.

Right. Just say it. "So you lied to me."

Morgan straightens, her grin faltering. "What?"

"You told me that you wanted to try wrestling, not that you were planning on making a point." I murmur.

"Ah, well I figured you'd be nervous about that so I didn't mention it. I was actually hoping to wrestle and make a point, but making a point came first." Morgan explains. Her hands are out in front of her, gesturing as she speaks. She doesn't normally do that.

"Right." I frown. "So not a lie?"

"An omission." She admits.

"Okay." I'm not trying to make this a big deal. I need to just speak my mind rather than dancing around the issue I see. "I'd rather you tell me outright next time what your plan is, or at least tell me that you don't want to tell me. It's not a big deal this time, but in the future, especially if something involves me…"

"Right." Morgan says rather quietly. "Sorry."

I hope I'm not making a big deal out of something that didn't happen. She didn't lie to me exactly, she just didn't explain her motives. Maybe it's too much to ask that she confides her plans in me. Maybe that was an unreasonable ask. Fuck. "Again, you don't have to tell me, just… no deception towards me please. Just making this clear now in case it's important in the future."

"Got it." Morgan nods.

"I-I hope that doesn't sound unreasonable-"

"No, it makes sense." Morgan agrees. "It's not unreasonable to ask me to be trustworthy Nathan."

"Ah, good." My heart beat slows down. I didn't realized my adrenaline had started to pump until it starts to wear off. "What exactly was the plan anyways? Did you encourage him to fight you specifically, or…?"

"Nah. Anyone would have been fine. Kjelle already proved she was strong, so I just wanted to knock someone around." Morgan explains. "So if both of us proved that we shouldn't be messed with, then the sailors would be unlikely to bother Noire because they'd assume she was strong too."

"That makes a certain amount of sense." I agree. "I didn't realize you were worried about that still."

"Not worried exactly. Noire could handle herself." Morgan shrugs. "But if it makes things easy on her, I might as well, right?"

"Yeah." I nod. "Though maybe you shouldn't tell her you broke someone's finger for her sake."

"Maybe not." Morgan agrees.

A few hours later Kjelle complains that no one wants to spar with her anymore, and we both feign ignorance. Nobody talks to us at dinner that night.

###

The crew now treats Morgan with caution, and honestly she seems to enjoy it. She has no problem with walking right up to them and asking something, even if they're gathered in a group, without a hint of trepidation. It's impressive, at least for me, to watch her march right up to a group of ten large men who probably don't like her very much, get right up in their personal space, and ask some simple question with her nose slightly turned up at them, get a curt answer, then strut away without any sort of shame. She knows she intimidates them and is throwing her weight around a bit.

The crew have softened a bit on Kjelle as she genuinely just wants to spar and hasn't been getting up in their faces, and they treat Noire politely (as politely as they know how) but distantly, apparently taking the approach that they don't know if she'll be like Kjelle or Morgan and don't want to take their chances.

Noire is relieved, though I don't think anyone told her why the crew now avoids her.

As for how the crew treats me, well…

Usually I stick with Morgan. There really isn't much to do on the ship, so naturally we're in each other's company all the time. That means I've never actually interacted with any of the crew one-on-one except for the Captain, and with Morgan around they've obviously been more focused on her than me.

However, the one moment Morgan isn't around (we were having lunch, and she stepped out to use the restroom) one of the crew immediately marches straight over to me, obviously having been waiting for just the moment when Morgan wasn't around, plants his hands on the table, and leans over me with a deep scowl on his face.

"Listen 'ere ya bastard." He growls. "You can't be lettin' yer girl run amok like these. All of 'em! You let 'em fight and walk 'round wherever they want without any sort o' discipline!"

Yeah, sure. I doubt you had a problem before Morgan wrecked Albinus. You probably would have been more than happy to spar with her or have a chance to talk with her. It's only now that she intimidates you that there's a problem. I could take the antagonistic route and say "what? Scared of a little girl?" but that seems like a bad idea, I'm too much of a coward, and honestly they have a good reason to be wary of Morgan. Instead I say "I'm not in charge of Morgan. Actually, she's in charge of our little group, so if anything she's in charge of me."

"You let a little girl order you around?" He sounds disgusted, or maybe disappointed? His scowl has turned to an ugly sneer. "What? Are you a servant?"

"Well no…" My voice is quavering. I hate confrontation.

"So you're just pathetic then." The man scoffs. He leans even closer. His face is probably only a few inches away. "Look. Man up and keep that bitch under control, or we will."

"Oh really?" Morgan's voice, cheerful and amused and probably fake, cuts through the air. The man instantly turns his head around to locate her, only to find that she's right next to him and leaning in just as close to his face as he is to mine. I hadn't even noticed that Morgan had returned. I do notice she not-so-subtly has one hand on her sword though. "Keep me under control, hmm? Do tell me how, I'd be more than happy to have another fight. The last one was so unsatisfying. If you want to volunteer to spar I'd more than welcome another round."

The man's jaw works as he tries to find the right words to say. He shoves off the table and tries to loom over Morgan, and she replies by taking a calm step towards him to which he instantly takes a step back, ruining his attempt at intimidation and solidifying Morgan's.

"Look." Morgan says with a smile on her face and ice in her voice. "If you have a problem with me, you talk to me. If you scare my boyfriend again, I will go into your room at night and chop off your dick. Understood?"

That certainly gets a reaction out of everyone in the room. There were some other sailors in the room that were listening in that stiffen in their seats, and the man who threatened me visibly flinches. There's silence in the room for a minute, then the man gathers his nerve and starts speaking, only for his voice to quickly raise to a shout. "I don't know who ya think ya are that you can just come onto our ship and start pushin' us around, but we ain't gonna put up with that! I don't care if the captain let's ya get away with it, we'll throw you overboard before putin' up with your shit for a second longer!"

"So you try and get Nathan to keep me in line?" Morgan scoffs. She stands up straight, completely unfazed, and looks down her nose at the man. "Like I said before, if you have a problem with me, talk with me. We can sort it out. Don't think you can get away with threatening someone's companions and get away with it. Don't pretend you have some sort of moral high ground here."

"Oh sure, talk!" The man snaps. "Like you gave Alb the chance to talk before breakin' a finger! Don't lie to me! You wouldn't give us a chance!"

"Oh, is that it?" Morgan sneers outright, abandoning her calm facade. "Conveniently forgetting that he attacked me when the fight was over, are we? How short your memory is for things that don't suit you."

"That's not what this is about!"

"Isn't it? You just brought up that I broke his finger." Morgan leans forward into his personal space again, though this time the man doesn't/ back down so they remain nose-to-nose.

"You've been pushin' us around all day." The man growls back. "That's what this is about."

"I've been keeping you in your place." Morgan says with a savage smile. "Because you might all be big, but I proved that you're all just thugs who rely on intimidation to get what you want, and as soon as you find someone who actually knows how to fight then you're just weak."

"We are not!"

Morgan's hand goes to her sword, and he backsteps. "Sorry, what was that?"

"I- look here." He growls. "I don't know what your problem is. You were starin' us down well before that fight when we didn't do nothin'."

"Don't think I didn't notice you all staring at Noire before." Morgan says. "She was nervous. She was obviously nervous, yet one of you tried to hit on her the very first night."

"He was drunk." The man says in exasperation. "Besides, this is our ship, we can get drunk on it if we want to! You paid to be here when you coulda taken another ship! We're a shippin' vessel, we don't usually take people across! If we ain't the picture o' politeness that's your damn problem! We don't work on 'ere to act all polite, your fuckin' highness!"

Silence again falls over the room as the two of them stare each other down. I'm still watching from the sidelines, desperately hoping this will be over soon. I don't know if I should try and defuse the situation or maybe pull Morgan away, or if that would just make things worse. I don't necessarily think either side is totally innocent. Morgan has been throwing her weight around and intentionally antagonizing the crew, and this guy does have a point that it's unreasonable to expect them to change everything they're doing just because us four came aboard, but at the same time drunkenness is not an excuse for poor behaviour nor was Albinus taking a cheap shot when the fight was already over acceptable.

Actually, that one guy that tried to flirt wasn't all that bad. Morgan cut him off before he really had the chance to say anything to Noire, but considering his introductory ramble he was actually rather polite about it. It's not a crime to flirt. He chose an unbelievably bad target at a very poor time, but… well, I've been oblivious before. Who's to say he wasn't as well? So the real problem is Albinus, and any leering that might have happened (not that I would know, I was avoiding looking at anyone).

It's occurring to me now that this whole situation was basically set up for a conflict to happen. All four of us assumed there was poor intention from the crew without confirming anything, and then Morgan jumped at the chance to punish negative behaviour and extrapolate Albinus' negative attitude to be the attitude of the whole crew and accordingly treated them as dangers to be kept in their place.

At least, that's what I think happened. I'm also usually awful at reading situations, so I could be very wrong. It also doesn't help me figure out what to do at the moment.

Thankfully, I don't have to do anything, because the captain is here. I think he might have been here for a bit, he was just letting the two of them shout each hoarse (or maybe he was listening to both sides) before he stepped in. "Alright you two, sit down."

"Captain-!" They both say at the same time, with obvious pleading in their voice for intervention on their half. The hard furrow to his brow stops them in their tracks, and both the man and Morgan do as he says and sit.

"Look here." The captain sighs. He too takes a seat. He first points to Morgan. "You have intentionally been intentionally causin' trouble, pushin' around my crew, and you been doin' in when I outright told ya not to."

"But-" Morgan tries to protest, but the captain holds up a hand.

"I know you have reasons. You feel like you gotta protect the shy ones." The captain says. "But I don't care at the moment. You ain't been goin' about it well." He then points to the other man. "And you, and Albinus I s'pose. I already talked with 'im. I told all o' you to keep your opinions in check, and yet Rory been tellin' me that you all been laughing and jokin' behind my back about our passengers, or makin' unsavory comments 'bout the ladies, and you know what I think about that. I don't want to hear ya defendin' Albinus either. He went to far and got punished, plain an' simple. "

The man cringes in his seat, looking appropriately ashamed.

"I'm gonna talk with the rest o' the crew 'bout this too." The captain says. "But I expect y'all, both sides 'ere, to stop trying to start a fight an' to stop tryin' to scare the other, got it? No more pushin' the crew 'round lass, and Jarvin, if I hear 'bout you threatenin' one o' the passengers again, 'specially one who wasn't even part o' this problem, I'm throwin' you off the ship meself."

"Yes Captain." The man, Jarvin, says quickly.

"Fine…" Morgan grumbles. The captain crosses his arms, and I frown and nudge Morgan, and she reluctantly complies by saying: "Yes Captain."

"Good. Now I don't want to hear any more complaints for the rest o' the trip from either side, got it?" The captain warns. He then gets up and grabs his staff. "Jarvin."

"Y-Yes Captain?"

"Pass on what I said to the rest o' the crew."

"Yes Captain!"

Jarvin quickly flees the room as soon as the Captain leaves. Me and Morgan silently finish our food and drink before returning to our own room.

As soon as we're safely in our room (alone actually. Noire is up on deck with Kjelle, practicing with her dagger). Morgan speaks.

"I guess the captain isn't as nice as he first looked." She huffs. "Letting his crew get away with whatever they want for only a slap on the wrist, and then trying to scold me for it? Rude."

"Not… really." I say hesitantly. "In my opinion he was rather lenient on both sides. You're not all in the right here either."

"What?" Morgan doesn't sound indignant exactly, just surprised. I think she expected me to agree with her.

"You have been bullying the crew." I remind her. "Maybe Albinus deserved part of what he got, and even then you arguably went too far by breaking his finger, and I appreciate you coming to my defence just now, but overall you haven't exactly been nice to them."

"They were scaring Noire!"

"That's partially just because Noire is really shy though." I remind her. "I'm not saying not to defend her, but you've been treating all of them, even the people who haven't done anything, like they're beneath you."

"So you agree with the captain?" Morgan huffs.

"I… yes." I admit reluctantly. "Yeah, I do."

"Auuuugh." Morgan flops back onto the bed. "Fuck." She throws up her hands. "Fuck!"

"It's not that bad. You got off light."

"Yeah." Morgan grumbles. "But I felt like I was doing the right thing."

"Well I'd hope so, or else you were just being an ass for no reason at all."

"You're my boyfriend, aren't you supposed to take my side?" Morgan complains.

"I'm pretty sure that's not how it works."

"Yeah I know." She sighs. "I'm just bitter."

I speak before I think. "Hi Bitter."

Morgan rolls her eyes to the ceiling. "Really?"

"Right, sorry." I say with a straight face. "Hi Just Bitter."

A small laugh, more of a huff, exits Morgan's mouth and she groans right after. "Why am I laughing at that?"

"Because you have extremely low standards." I offer, now smiling. "And because you're slightly stressed."

"Yeah yeah…"

###

"So, Nathan."

"Hmm?"

"You had a family, right? I mean, obviously to some extent, but…"

"Parents, three younger brothers." I say quietly.

"What were they like?"

"Mom had high-paying jobs. Most recently she was chief compliance officer of a major investment firm. Think… like a bank. Not exactly like that, but sorta. Dad stayed at home raising us." I say. "Good with making things, and knows how to do electrical stuff. Never got a licence for it or anything, but there have been times when he's known more about what to do in a situation than actual electricians."

"And your brothers."

"Brats. Same with me actually. The one just below me is egotistical, and not in a fun way. He thinks everything is a joke and he can get away with being a dick because he assumes it's funny to everyone. He's gotten better over time, but it's never gone away." I say. "The one just under him I get along with best. We used to play together a lot. Board games, video games… we've drifted over time. He's also better than me at most things now. The youngest is weird. Has an attention disorder, couldn't read properly until he was ten, always copies us and refuses to admit that's what he's doing. Refuses to admit he's wrong in arguments as well. A real pain in the ass sometimes, but he's gotten better over time as well."

"Do you miss them?"

"My parents sure. My brothers… less so. I miss them more in the sense that I know they'll still be sad I'm gone and I don't like that, but it's not like I interacted much with them anymore." I say quietly. "My biggest problem is just that they don't know I'm alright. Being here would be a lot more tolerable if I knew my family knew I was alright or… or if they'd forgotten me because of weird magic, that would also make this better."

"Really?" Morgan sounds genuinely surprised.

"I mean, it would suck if they didn't know me, but I wouldn't have to worry about them anymore." I say quietly.

"You want closure."

"Yeah."

"Hopefully you'll be able to get it. Though I'm not exactly sure how." Morgan admits reluctantly. "We'll find some sort of magic, or… something."

"Yeah." I say again, still quiet. "Thanks."

I think Morgan feels bad about asking at all judging by how quiet she becomes herself, so I lean into her a bit to show there's no hard feelings.

###

"So…" I say at dinner one night as a thought creeps into my head. It's nothing important, I'm just curious. "What do you all plan to do when we get to Ylisstol eventually? Aside from finding your parents obviously."

"Oh, I want clothes!" Morgan chirps instantly. "I mean, I love my coat and all, but it would be nice to have something less warm, and also something more flattering because my coat is pretty bulky."

"How impractical." Kjelle scoffs.

"Hey, just because you're an ape who doesn't care about looks doesn't mean we all are." Morgan shoots back. "Anyhow… clothes would be nice, but I also want some more reading material, and maybe another board game would be nice. Oh, and I want to see a play! I remember Father taking me to a play once, I want to see another."

"I-I want to see the palace." Noire mumbles. "I never got to see it in our world. Brady told me it has all sorts of tapestries and colored glass windows. He… well he actually said it was big and borning, but it sounds cool to me. I also wouldn't mind getting some clothes I'm more used to."

"So what I'm hearing is that we're going to have a group shopping trip for clothes!" Morgan says cheerfully.

"You can shop for clothes. I don't need any." Kjelle huffs. "I want to find a blacksmith that will take custom orders for a new spear, and I could use some javelins for the future."

"Come on. Your outfit is just basic cloth." Morgan says, gesturing to what Kjelle is currently wearing. "You don't want any new clothes? None at all? Not something more comfy, or something that looks more impressive and important?"

"Well…"

"Aha!" Morgan smiles smugly. "You do! You want some!"

Kjelle folds her arms. "I'm not coming with you to get them."

"Aww c'mon… are we really that scary?" Morgan teases.

"You're annoying, not scary."

"You just know I'm going to look fantastic and don't want me to show you up."

"That is not it." Kjelle growls. "I don't care about that shit."

"Then you can come with us!" Morgan says triumphantly.

"No."

"Killjoy." Morgan pouts. Then she looks at me. "So what about you Nathan? What are you going to do?"

"Uh…" I blink. I hadn't considered that. "Probably also get new clothes so I don't look like a brigand. Start looking into the outrealm portal. Also… probably look at board games too. I doubt they'll be as good as back home, but there might be something fun."

"You just think our world sucks, don't you?" Kjelle asks accusingly.

"Yeah, pretty much." I say honestly. "Transportation is inconvenient and slow, entertainment is extraordinarily limited and often underwhelming, heating is inefficient and ineffective, there's no such thing as AC, it's hard to get access to information because the internet doesn't exist… yeah, this world kinda sucks compared to Earth, or at least compared to Canada. I mean, there are still some places on Earth that are real shitshows, but where I came from is not one of them."

"You better learn to like if you're going to be stuck here." Kjelle sneers.

"Oh I'll learn to live with it. But that will just mean I've lowered my standards, not that this world is any better than I thought it was." I shoot back.

Kjelle's face contorts in disgust. I imagine she's feeling insulted at the moment, but I'm not backing down on this. This world does suck compared to Earth. It's not the worst thing ever, it could be even more primitive, but it is flat-out worse. Yes, I'm speaking from a place of privilege here; my experience is upper-middle class on Earth so being reduced to medieval standards is that much more of a downgrade compared to someone already used to less-than-pleasant conditions, especially considering I was a shut-in that didn't deal with the outdoors where the outdoors is mandatory in medieval times, but that doesn't make the fact that this world is worse any less true, just more jarring for me specifically. By this point I've more-or-less gotten used to the inconveniences of this world, but being used to them doesn't make them any less unpleasant.

I also imagine if I ever had to live without Morgan this world would be that much more annoying, because she's been my replacement for the constant distraction the internet provided. I can't listen to songs or play video games all the time, but I can talk and play games with Morgan.

"You might not like this world, but you can't complain about the people in it, hmm?" Morgan asks with a grin. "You wouldn't insult your own girlfriend, would you?"

"I mean, you did give me permission." I say cheekily.

"No flirting at the table." Kjelle snaps. "I swear to Naga…"

Morgan promptly leans over and wraps her arms around one of mine and rests her head on my shoulder. She sticks out her tongue as Kjelle fumes, and I decide to join in and stroke Morgan's hair with my other hand while keeping a flat expression as I gaze towards Kjelle.

"I hate you both."

Morgan blows a kiss and winks.

---

So I've been having an internal debate on how exactly to handle what Morgan's character flaw should be, because before this chapter she really didn't have one. I didn't want to go with sadism, at least not primarily, because that didn't quite seem to fit this version of the character. Instead I went with making one of her greatest strengths (her absolute self-confidence) also a weakness in that she never considers for even a second that she might be doing something wrong unless it's explicitly pointed out to her because she has just that much faith in her own intelligence and moral compass.

I didn't come into this chapter expecting to deal with the ship trip for more than three thousand words. Instead it ended up being an entire ten thousand word chapter because it suddenly occurred to me that I had a perfect opportunity to explore Morgan's personality more and how it's not just Nathan that can mess up situations.