"Now go, Quartermaster Frasier! That's an order!" Sanya grinned as she sent him down the gangplank to the shore. Actually she had been smiling so much lately that it made her face hurt. She really did love spending so much time with Jak but every waking (and sleeping) moment left her little time to herself or to consult privately with other members of her crew.

"Aye, aye, Captain." He gave her a deep bow with a flourish of his hat and then blew her a kiss. Sometimes she worried that the way they carried on would blow any sense of order on her ship to Dxun but the crew seemed honestly happy for her so she allowed her anxieties flow by the wayside and decided just to enjoy her present state of being.

She waited till he was out of sight down the crooked little path to the village where he and a few other of the men were bargaining for supplies that would feed them for the trip back up river. Then she hurried toward their cabin calling for Mhaegen on her way. She had been dying to discuss everything that had happened with another female and to make sure that her previous medical treatment was still in effect.

…

Sanya certainly wasn't expecting Jak to come back from his mission so soon, especially not at that exact moment when she had thrown back her head and was biting her lip so as not to cry out in reaction to what her medic was so intently working on between her bare knees.

Well, what other conclusion was he supposed to reach? He burst through the cabin door and stared at them for a moment before he babbled something unintelligible, turned to go, and slammed the door shut behind him.

"Would you like me to finish this later?" Mhaegen asked with a smirk.

Sanya sighed. "No. I'd rather be done with it."

A while later when the instruments had been put away and the medic returned to her med bay, the captain had to order the quartermaster to come into her presence. It sounded as if he was planning on slinging up a hammock once again with the rest of the crew down below. She'd have to set him straight there but for now she just crossed her arms over her chest and waited for him to voice his grievance.

He paced the room angrily and then finally he spoke. "I thought since I'd moved into your cabin you wouldn't go looking elsewhere for…"

"Jak, Marlon is my physician, the only person I trust with my… health."

His head shot up and he stared at her. "Y-you don't mean that you're… that we're…"

"No!" she adamantly denied. "No, of course not. Marlon gave me a sort of medication ages ago to keep that from happening, just in case."

"Aye, just in case!" He threw up his hands dramatically and started pacing again.

"You know I didn't test its effectiveness until you and I…" she countered.

Jak scoffed and waved towards the closed door. "Not even with the practicing healer?"

"Jak," she tried again. "I wanted to make sure that I was still healthy because… well… generally a woman knows that she's with child when she doesn't have… and I haven't since I had the dose of that medication. Not that I ever wanted to but.. I don't know if I'll ever be able…"

He crossed the cabin to her in two strides. "I don't care about that. You know I don't need an heir. But if you're going to be running off with someone else everytime by back is turned!"

"I wasn't running off with anyone!" She knocked his hands away.

"I saw Marlon between your legs! And you looked…"

"Like I was in pain?" she asked.

"No," he frowned uncomfortably. "It was the way you sometimes look when…"

"Maybe I'd gone to my… happy place," she shrugged.

"Were you… in pain?" he asked, concerned now that she mentioned it.

"No I… well aye, a bit. Marlon isn't only my physician, but also the only tattoo artist I trust. What can I say? She's good with a needle."

She didn't catch the slip but he did.

"She?"

Sanya covered her mouth in horror. "Kriff! I didn't mean to say anything!"

"Well I suppose that explains a few things. Have you always known?"

She nodded. "She was like Freya, wanted to get away from that life but several of my crew members knew her as a woman and she was afraid that they wouldn't want to be treated…"

"By a former whore," he finished the thought without any malice.

"I told her it didn't matter, that I would stand up for her and make the men see reason."

Jak ran his fingers through his hair making it stand on end. "I thought she was in love with you, and then when I saw…"

"I think it might have been you she had feelings for actually." The captain began to ramble. "But not now. That healer of Kira's was certainly interested in her. I think he might have suspected something. I don't know if she told him or…"

"I don't want to talk about them." He stopped her suddenly and then gave her a sheepish smile. "You have a new tattoo. Can I see it?"

Sanya rolled her eyes. "I asked her to put it in a place that only you would be able to see it. I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Well it certainly is surprising!"

She winced slightly as she removed her breeches to show him the spot that was still surrounded by an angry red patch of skin. There on her inner thigh in a place that surely wouldn't be visible to anyone who wasn't privy to witness her without her pants and with her legs spread was the blue inked image of an anchor artfully entwined with the letters J. A. K.

He gently traced the shapes with his fingers. "I'm flattered. Though," he looked up into her eyes. "Do you really think of me as an anchor, holding you back?"

"No." she assured him. "You hold me fast. You're like a safe harbor in a storm, more than any…"

He silenced her with a kiss before she could go on and gave her shoulders a little shake as if you get the idea through to her. "I love you, Nya."

"And I love you."

…

Hiram Gerrera didn't want to aid the northerners. But when he saw where they were heading he couldn't stop himself from jumping on his dalgo and racing along the riverbank to stop them, shouting to the small figures on deck.

"Hey!" He shouted. "Stop! You can't go there!"

At first it looked like the crew of the Bloody Galia was going to ignore him, but then Marlon the medic appeared at the rail. He wasn't wearing his usual breastplate and leaned over the railing, giving Hiram the great temptation to study the sailor's chest and confirm what he thought he'd noticed when he flew over the ship in the first place.

"Why not?" Marlon asked. "Something you want sailing away on this ship?"

It was starting to look more and more like it but… "Your heading isn't safe!"

"Safety?" Marlon rolled his eyes, not that Hiram could really see. "We're pirates. Safety isn't a big concern for us."

"It should be when you have my friend in your brig."

Marlon shrugged. "He's not a big concern either."

"He should be."

"Why? Because he's some high-flying Kira who rules the jungle? If he was really something special he would be ruling the planet instead of Dendup."

"He didn't want that. He gave up the throne so he could be with his people and the beasts."

"And how does that help anyone? Nevermind," Marlon changed the subject. "I don't suppose I care. He's just a prisoner in the brig. But don't worry, I'll make sure we throw him some ship's biscuit eventually."

"There won't be an eventually if you keep on your current heading."

Just then he heard someone else call out: "Ship up ahead! Looks abandoned."

"Then it's free pickings," The captain said from somewhere unseen. "Drop anchor once we get close enough."

"Marlon, don't go there! It's a trap!"

"Sorry, I can't hear you from all the way over here!" Marlon shouted, the dig probably holding a nugget of truth. "These sailing ships go so much faster than your southern beasts." And then he disappeared on the deck.

Hiram cursed under his breath. True, he didn't much care what happened to the pirates. But he did care what happened to Drokko … and to Marlon, for some odd reason. He spurred his dalgo on, hoping to catch up before too much blood was spilled.

…

The ship which the mate in the nest had spotted wouldn't have passed even the most basic of testing at Harkon Hall. It had been slapped together by unskilled southern shipwrights for short river journeys where land was never farther than the bank. But even though the vessel was shoddy it could very well hold treasure that would go a long way in keeping Sanya's crew happy.

As they pulled up to the other ship Jak came up beside her. "Do you think it's maybe just...I don't know."

"Don't know what?"

Jak looked hesitant but continued. "Isn't this a little too easy?"

Warning bells sounded in Sanya's head and not a moment too soon. A harpoon rocketed past her and sunk into another sailor's chest.

"Kriff!" Sanya swore. They were in it now. This section of the river wasn't wide or deep enough for them to maneuver out of the way like they could on the open sea. Then she screamed, drew her knives, and threw herself into the fray.

The crew didn't need any other signal. They may have been caught off guard but the pirates were always ready for a fight. If it was fated to be their last, may they go down with a glorious battle cry!

But the other crew, the rivermen, were also ready. They poured into the fight with blades drawn and bloodthirsty vengeance. And most alarming of all, they outnumbered the crew of the Bloody Galia two to one. Sanya was dancing dangerously close to death or captivity when she realized what needed to be done. With a quick "cover me!" to Jak she raced off to the brig.

Drokko Kira perked up when she entered, no doubt wondering what all the excitement was about. "Ran into the rivermen, did you?"

"I hate to ask you this," she said, unlocking his cell door. "But we need your help."

He exited the cell and she — stupidly — held out one of her knives, half expecting him to slash at her with it. But Drokko just smiled and took it. "Excellent."

And then he charged into the fray. Salt gods, he was like a whirlwind! The other beast rider had also caught up with them and took on the enemy from behind. Together, they turned the tide.

Sanya was beginning to really enjoy herself when she found herself fighting back to back with Kira. They were like two gears in the same machine and she could tell he thought the same when he called back over his shoulder, "So does this mean you're setting me free, Captain?"

"Not kriffing likely!" she skewered an opponent and then kicked out to dislodge the body from her blade. "You're still as much my prisoner now as when we dragged you aboard!"

Drokko laughed. "I wouldn't expect anything less!"

She started to turn but before she could confront him face to face something else caught her eye. Her medic was engaged in a duel of her own with one of the rivermen.

Mhaegen was holding her own valiantly but someone else was standing by in case she should have need of assistance. Hiram Gerrera studied her as she fought and smiled when she dispatched the killing blow.

It was one of the last battles on the deck so it held nearly everyone's attention. But then… it happened very fast. The dying man reached up in a last effort to stand and grabbed at the medic's tunic. The fabric ripped, exposing the true nature of the Bloody Galia's ship's surgeon to one and all.

Mhaegen grabbed at the scraps of her garment trying to cover herself. She was saved the trouble as Hiram quickly advanced, removing his own shirt and handing it to her.

"Looks like we have some work to do." He lowered his gaze while she pulled the shirt on over her head, offering a shred of dignity that her own crew abandoned as they stared at her in shock at the realization.

"Aye." she sighed, ready to get to the task at hand.