Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or the characters, they belong to Eiichiro Oda.

The First Thread Woven

The night carried on peacefully with Killer taking up bedside guard beneath the tree, one of his extra pelts wrapped around his shoulders to ward off the cold. Kid took to the fire after his cousin forced him to relinquish his cloak for the sick woman. He knew she needed the extra warmth more than he did, but he had already spared her for stealing from him, he didn't want to part with any of his comforts for her sake.

He still draped the heavy fur cloak over her after Killer finished arranging his pelts into a more comfortable bed for her close to the fire, but he cursed her endlessly for it until he hunkered onto a log opposite her prone form. He spent the first hour glaring at the fire until his eyes watered. It was better than staring at her, though his gaze still crept toward her from time to time, as did his thoughts. Blinding himself in the flames provided a temporary distraction from the questions he wasn't likely to have answered until the morning, assuming she managed to wake from her fevered state.

After that first hour, he found he was too restless to remain there. He couldn't explain what bothered him that night. He couldn't entirely blame it on the woman, though he swore she was a large part of his agitation, but even before she appeared, he couldn't stifle the crawling sensation of being watched.

The forest around them was perfectly still, had been the whole night, save for the moment he caught the trace movement from the woman hiding outside their camp. Other than her existence, he would have sworn their camp had been cut off from the rest of the world, an island of peace and safety in a world that was anything but. It was likely why Killer had slept through the woman's thievery.

That didn't sit right with him.

He felt no danger, but that only made him raise his guard even higher than he typically would. A world with no threat was likely hiding dangers far worse than he could imagine. Was it witchcraft? Was it the gods? Was this a test or a trap? He didn't think it a test, that came with battle, and there were no battles to be had around him. That meant a trap, and possibly the woman was bait, which meant he had already been snared.

That made him angry again.

Instead of taking it out on the unconscious woman, Kid stood from the fire and stalked off toward their horses. He had nothing better to do, and he wasn't going to wander too far from camp and leave Killer to fight alone should his unease prove well founded.

He checked the bags he had hung in the tree with additional provisions – mostly dry bread and nuts, but he had some extra strips of smoked meat hidden in there. Everything seemed to be where it was supposed to be, so she had only searched through the bag within her reach. She was certainly desperate, but smart enough to take the easy target. With that worry eased, Kid checked the horses and then grabbed one of their bows and a few arrows to keep nearby, just in case.

He still felt as though he were being watched.

When he settled down by the fire again, he snatched the sword he kept hidden behind his fallen log, and the whetstone he had within his pack, and set to work sharpening his blade. It would keep his hands busy, and if he was lucky, his mind, too.

He caught Killer frowning at him from the trunk of the tree.

"What?" he grunted, fixing his attention on the sword in his lap.

"Something wrong?" Killer asked quietly, mindful of the sleeping woman.

"No. Not particularly," he lied while carefully smoothing his whetstone over the steel.

Killer hummed and slowly pushed himself up to come closer to the fire. "You've been restless all night, and now you're sharpening your sword… again. I can't help but think something's troubling you."

Kid scowled at his friend's assessment and refused to answer.

Killer sighed heavily, and sank down between he and the woman.

"Is it her?"

"Not really," he said. It technically wasn't a lie. He had been agitated before she came around. "The forest is too still."

"It's a peaceful spot. That's why we picked it."

"Something's watching us, though."

"I haven't seen anyone or anything come around." Killer stole a look at the woman. "Except for her."

Kid hummed, eyes narrowing on a gleam of light from the fire that reflected off the polished blade.

"Do you think someone's looking for her?" Killer asked then, staring thoughtfully at their charge.

Kid's brow rose. "I'd be more surprised if there wasn't. That ain't what's bothering me… Though, watch this woman lead an army of her kin straight to us, and then have us mistaken for abductors." He barked a laugh. "Now that'd be a way to repay my kindness. Maybe we can ransom her."

His friend rebuked him with a sharply spoken "Kid," but he waved off the warning.

"Gotta find out her story first, see if she's even worth a ransom." He ignored Killer's responding sigh and went back to work on his sword.

He could practically feel his friend roll his eyes. He ignored that, too.

They sat in silence, the only sounds around them the crackling of their fire and the steel edge of his sword passing over the whetstone. Stillness sank into the forest, just as it had all night. Nothing else seemed to exist outside of the yew tree's reach.

Until he heard the soft snap of a twig.

He was up in a flash, sword gripped tight in his hand as he searched the dark forest around him. Killer stood near him, his guard up as he looked around, too. His eyes settled on a spot of tan that glowed in the pre-dawn mist, and he listened to Killer sigh.

"It's just a deer," Killer said, tension melting from him. "You're being paranoid over an animal."

Kid growled in annoyance but set down his sword in favor of the bow and arrows nearby. There was something strange about the animal. It seemed as though it were trying to hide behind the trunk of an elm tree, but it's body stuck out; an easy target.

"I could go for a good flank of roast venison," Kid mused as he nocked an arrow and aimed. "And killing something might make me feel better."

He waited for one breath and then let his arrow loose. Right as his fingers released, he heard the hoarse call of a woman, and then the animal kicked away from the tree. His arrow missed it by a hair, and Kid growled in annoyance as he grabbed another arrow.

"Wait, Kid," Killer said, gripping his arm to restrain him. "Don't kill it."

"What? Why?" he grunted, and glanced over his shoulder at the other man.

"What's a reindeer doing this far south?" Killer gestured toward the animal that bounded away. "And without his herd?"

Kid frowned and stared after the animal. His scowl deepened as he watched it pause in its escape to look back at them. He didn't know what to make of it when he saw glittering eyes settle on the woman sleeping in their camp.

They heard a woman call again, and the animal bounded off in the direction of her voice, their gazes following after the young buck. Kid felt his jaw drop when he caught a faint, eerie glow sweep between birch and elm; the form of a woman walking away. Silver grey hair hung down her back in waves, and she was clad in a yellow and blue dress, gold rings wrapping around her waist and upper arms. She held a long, twisted wooden staff that she seemed to use as a cane, but he had a suspicion she used it for something else entirely.

She glanced back, letting him see a weathered face that belied her ageless aura.

She smiled and then nodded toward their unconscious ward. Kid and Killer turned to gape at the woman beneath their furs, and when they looked back to the woman and the reindeer that had been trotting alongside her, they found both had vanished into the night.

As did the creeping unease of being watched.

Kid looked back at the woman on the other side of the fire. His eyes narrowed as he watched her smile in her sleep and nestle under the furs.

"Was that…?" Killer began to ask, still stunned at what they just witnessed. "Eir?"

Kid grunted. He couldn't really be sure. If it was, he didn't know why the goddess might have appeared in the form of a crone, with a reindeer, of all creatures. All he knew was that they were responsible for bringing the starved and sick woman into his care. At least one question had been answered, though it left a hundred new ones in its wake.

He sank down to his log again and set a heavy glare on the woman across the fire from him.

She had better wake. And soon.

Nami's pains had fallen away as she slipped into a sea of darkness. A part of her thought that she should be afraid as the black swallowed her up, but she couldn't find the energy to fear it.

The dark was warm.

She could have remained there forever. No pain. No cold. No hunger. No fear. Floating in a peaceful void more comfortable than what she knew in the waking world.

But then the nightmare returned.

This time the dream that came was filled with vivid, inescapable detail, even in its continued intangibility. A giant loomed over them, his blue skin covered in dirt and sweat and blood, his lips curled in a fanged snarl threatening to devour his prey without remorse. The fear that was missing in her void came back to course through her veins, freezing her in place as the giant moved through the smoke and haze. He would kill all of them.

All of them, except for her.

He intended to possess her.

This time when she saw the wolf, he was struggling to stand. He bore his own frothing snarl as he growled at the monster that bore down on him. The fur around one eye was matted with blood and forced to close. The other was open, letting her see the rusty brown iris set on the giant stalking toward it.

There was a flash of movement. A scream strangled in her throat. A sea of red.

She shot up gasping for air, eyes wide and burning with tears. Her side throbbed while pain once more lanced through her arm, nearly making her crumple back to the furs beneath her.

As the dream cleared, her conscious mind finally took note of those furs. She stared at the pelts before taking a look around, trying to remember where she was and how she came to be sleeping in such a warm make-shift bed.

She stifled a scream when she found a man sitting across the fire from her, a knife stuck in the stomach of a fish as he watched her, frozen with an expression she could only describe as abject horror. It took her a moment longer to realize he was the man who caught her stealing his provisions, what she thought to be brown hair in the dark actually turned out to be a deep, crimson red in the light of early morning. The recognition pushed her to scramble away, but she was hampered by the furs and her injuries. She clumsily sought out the axe that had hung at her hip. Her search came up empty and she realized there was no way he'd leave her armed.

Though she wondered how he could leave her alive after he found her.

"Kid, what did you do?" another man spoke up as he came toward the camp, a wooden bowl in his hands with water sloshing over the side.

The man across from her shook away his horrified look to glare at his friend. "I didn't do anything," he said in defense, pulling his knife from the fish to wave around. "She just woke up like that."

Nami watched, wide-eyed with fear, as the two men settled on glaring at each other. She recognized the blond as the one who had been asleep when she crept into their camp. His long hair fell halfway down his back in a loose braid. He was tall, his frame built with lean muscle beneath a blue linen shirt.

His scowl relaxed with a long sigh, and he turned to her with a hint of a smile. She watched him warily as he went to set the bowl by the fire. He pulled a small silver cup from a leather bag, scooped it in the water, and then turned to offer it to her. She shrunk away instinctively. Even if the men had showed her kindness, she refused to let her guard down. They were strangers. Strangers she had stolen from. By all rights they should be doing their worst to her.

The man across the fire from her, Kid his friend had called him, sighed heavily and went back to gutting the fish in his hand. "Just take the damn water, woman. He ain't gonna bite."

She glanced toward the blond, still uncertain, but when his brow rose expectantly, she took the cup and gave him a grateful nod. She took a sip of the water and felt all tension leave her as it washed down her parched throat. As she eagerly drank the rest of it, the blond turned back to the fire and the fish they had skewered over it. The camp drifted into silence for a whole of one minute.

"So, now that you're awake - What the fuck is going on with you?" Kid growled, the end of his knife pointed at her. "Who are you? Why are ya out here wandering around by yourself? Why'd you think it was a good idea to steal from me? And why in the world should I forgive you for it?"

"Kid," the blond reprimanded while Nami leaned away, her fear returning in the face of a strained temper.

"I got a lot of questions, and I want answers," said Kid.

"She just woke up," the other sighed. "At least ask one question at a time."

Kid growled, and then huffed, turning back to her with a glare. "What's your name?"

She pursed her lips in thought and glanced between both men. When her interrogator growled impatiently, she cleared her throat and shifted to sit straight in the fur bed they had given her. They had spared her whatever punishment she was due, and let her sleep in their camp. It wouldn't hurt to answer some of their questions.

"Nami," she answered.

Kid's shoulders relaxed with a grunt, and he used his knife to gesture at his friend. "Right. Well, that's Killer…" Her eyes went wide at that name, and she swallowed down the urge to whimper. He had to be a mercenary to have that sort of name. That couldn't bode well for her. "And I'm Kid," he finished, ignoring her unease as he went back to gutting and skewering their fish. "Where are you from?"

She really didn't want to answer that question, but when he slanted a narrow-eyed gaze up at her, she felt she had little choice. "Svealand." His brow rose expectantly, not satisfied with that broad answer. "Tingstad, Götaland."

This time his brows furrowed. He had no idea where that was, and as far as she was concerned, he didn't need to know.

After a minute he grunted and went back to work. She knew he was far from done with his questions, but seemed to be pondering which to ask next.

"How'd you get here?"

"I sailed," she answered shortly and was once again met with an expectant look. "What?"

"Where are the people you sailed here with?" he asked, placing the fish over the fire and then leaning over his knees to stare at her. She had his full, undivided attention. That was going to be an annoyance. He gestured at her with his knife, and while she knew it wasn't meant to be a threat, she still inched back and swallowed thickly. A whole fire might be between them, but she wouldn't put it past him to charge right through it. "Yer dressed too nicely to be a vagrant, and got plenty of silver in your purse to pay for a crew to transport you to wherever you were goin'. So what's a woman like you wandering around the forest with an infected arm, starving to death, by herself? I ain't buyin' that you sailed here alone. Not through the straits. Would've been suicide."

She huffed. "Well, I did. I got caught in a storm and my boat turned over. I washed up on shore a few days ago." Then she realized what else he had just said, and sat up straight to pat at her waist for her purse. Wide eyes snapped to him. "You took my purse!"

He snorted an amused laugh and reached behind his log to pull out the leather purse that had been on her belt. Waving it side to side, he said, "You offered to pay me for the food you stole, and while we were tending to your arm, I figured I'd help myself to our just compensation and the fine for your theft."

"Those scraps were not worth that much silver, you thief! Give that back!" she shouted, flinging her furs away to prepare to stand. How dare he take her belongings?

He glared. "I don't want to be called that by you, woman. And the scraps might not be worth much, but I think we're due something for patching up that wound." He gestured to her left arm and the clean wrappings over her gash. She glowered at her torn dress while he continued. "On top of that, we let you sleep in our camp and even stood watch."

"That's still not worth ten ounces of silver," she argued. "Two, maybe. Not ten."

Kid shrugged indifferently. "Well, once we find out where you're headed, we might be willing to consider escorting you there." Now he grinned, and she clutched at her empty cup, overcome with the urge to throw it at him. "That's easily worth another five, barring it's a peaceful journey, but if you're on the run, or someone attacks us, then it's only fair we're reimbursed for protecting you."

She growled, grasping onto her anger at his blatant attempt at robbery to find the energy to stand. She ignored the ache lingering in her side, and the shooting pain in her arm that came as she pushed off the furs. She blinked away a wave of dizziness the moment she was on her feet.

"I don't need your protection," she said as coldly as she could, glaring at the man who was now frowning back at her. "I'll give you three ounces of silver as thanks for your hospitality and mercy. Return the rest of my things, and I'll be on my way."

Kid's eyes raked over her, his scowl deepening. She straightened her back, head held high, and tried not to wince when it only served to make her side cramp. When he looked back up at her, he smiled.

"All right." He held out her purse but made no move to get up. "Take it."

"I had an axe, too," she bit out, bracing herself where she stood.

"It's right over here," he said, smile growing as he nodded behind him where she spotted the smooth handle of her weapon peeking out over the log.

He still made no move to stand. He was intent on making her suffer, no doubt. Bastard.

"Kid, just give it back to her," Killer urged, glowering at him.

"No. If she thinks she can walk away and find where she needs to be on her own, then she can take a few steps to reclaim her property," Kid said flatly, a silent warning passed to his friend that said she would have no further help from the blond. Despite his name, he seemed the more reasonable one, but he ultimately wasn't the one in charge. "It's all of three steps, maybe four. You can handle that, can't you, Nami?"

She sneered, which only seemed to amuse him as he waved her purse out toward her. She should have thrown that cup at his head.

With an indignant huff, she took a step toward him, careful not to put too much weight on her injured side. She swayed with her next step when she felt her hip protest, but shook it off when she saw Kid's observant gaze snap down to watch the unsteady movement. Taking a deep breath, she made the last two steps as quickly as she could and snatched her purse from his hand the second it was in reach.

He scowled again.

"Guess you're all healed up. Miracle of the gods, I'm sure," Kid said sarcastically as he turned to grab her axe and hold it out to her. She ripped it from his hand with an annoyed glare, and slipped it into her belt before searching through her bag to see everything was still there.

When she found all her silver, she took out three pieces and held it over to him. "Here. As promised. And now I'll be on my way. Thank you for your kindness."

Kid grunted and held his palm out for her to drop the silver into his hand. He turned back to the fire, silently dismissing her.

That was easy. Easier than she anticipated. Now she just had to grab her cloak from where it lay beside the furs, and she could head off toward the north again. Hopefully putting as much distance as possible between her and the men.

But her stomach just had to growl.

"You're welcome to stay for a meal," Kid said blandly, gaze still on the fish over the fire as he turned them over. "It'll cost you a few more ounces of silver, of course."

He wasn't looking at her when she shot him a hard stare, but he surely heard her hiss before she spun on her heel, still intent on leaving. Certainly she was grateful to them for helping her, but they were strangers, and she had no reason to trust them. She was better off alone.

And there was no way she would part with what little valuables she had left.

She got two steps from Kid when she had to pause as her vision turned spotty and her whole body felt heavy with fatigue. She swayed, and then felt a strong hand grip her arm to keep her upright. Glancing over her shoulder, she found Kid standing behind her, sickly amused, and glared at him.

"Let go of me," she warned, weakly tugging at her arm.

His brow rose, but he released her without argument.

Her legs immediately gave without his support. Before she could crumple to the ground, he moved fast to snatch her up by the arm and toss her over his shoulder. She cried out when her bruised side landed on his hard frame and nearly passed out from the pain clawing through her abdomen. She wanted to scream and curse the man, but she could barely catch her breath until he dumped her back onto the fur bed.

"Looks to me like you're stuck with us a while longer, woman," Kid said, grinning down at her.

She tried to glare, but she imagined it wasn't as potent as she wished it to be as she panted to catch her breath. Her head felt as if it were on fire, but icy cold at the same time, and her mind spun even as she sat safely on the ground. She watched his eyes trail to the side she clutched, his amusement waning as he crouched in front of her.

"What's wrong there?" he asked, gesturing to the spot she held.

"It's just a bruise," she hissed tiredly. "If you hadn't manhandled me like a sack of rye, it'd be just fine."

He glared. "If I hadn't treated you like a sack of rye, you would have fallen straight into our fire, so deal with it, woman." She growled, but he shot her a hard look of warning that made her instinctively back down. He was terrifyingly large, and even if she was healthy, she would be completely defenseless against him. "You're stuck with us for the time being. We'll head off to my village after we eat. We should be roughly a day's ride away. Once you're there, I'll have my healers take a look at you."

"And I expect you'll want to help yourself to the rest of my purse?" She sneered.

Kid's brow rose. Humming, he cocked his head to the side. "Depends on my mood when we get there. You obviously have nowhere else to go right now. A woman can always make herself useful in a home, and I'm sure we can put you to work once you're well enough. You can work off your debts to me, and have a place to stay in the meantime."

Her eyes widened at the offer. It was surprisingly generous.

"Then again, I might be sick of your face and whining by the end of it, and want nothing more to do with you. Then I'd rather have your silver than see you around my village," he added with that wide grin he seemed to favor.

She hissed in annoyance but knew better than to argue. He had a point. She had nowhere else to go and she could use a place to stay. She had set out without any destination in mind, only the need to escape Jarl Arlong's ambitions and intentions. She had the Skagerrak and some of the Kattegat between them now, he shouldn't be able to find her any time soon.

It would only be temporary, she told herself.

"I'd be happy to repay my debts to you that way," she forced herself to say with a false smile.

"Smart woman," he chuckled, and gave her head a pat as he picked himself up. She swatted him away, but he ignored her ire. "Killer, give her some food."

As Kid made his way back to his log, Killer dug out a plate for one of the fish that was done cooking, along with a handful of berries and nuts from a pouch.

"You'll get used to him," he whispered as he held over the meal.

Nami frowned at the remark. No, she wouldn't get used to him. To either of them. She'd take advantage of their unexpected kindness until she had a direction to go in. She couldn't stay long enough to grow used to their behavior.

When he moved away to eat, and Kid settled in with his own well served plate, Nami thought she might be spared any further questioning. Killer didn't appear talkative, save for the moments he rebuked his friend for his attitude, and Kid seemed too engrossed in his meal to think back to the conversation she had averted in favor of reclaiming her things.

She unfortunately thought wrong.

"What made you leave... Where was it? Tingstad?" He stared at her with furrowed brows to gauge whether he remembered correctly. He brushed off her silence, as if the place was unimportant. It was, as far as she was concerned, so she was fine with that. "Why'd you leave that place by yourself? I still don't think there's any way you could have sailed that far alone."

"I did," she said, sighing. "I admit, it was reckless, but I had little choice." He grunted to bid she elaborate on that, and she sighed again. "It's not your business to know."

He looked up sharply. "If I'm bringing you into my village and home, then you'd better think again. I need to know if there's people looking for you."

She pursed her lips, unwilling to confirm that suspicion.

"You have any kin?" he asked, voice low with impatience.

"No." It was the truth. She had no blood kin left in all of Svealand, at least.

His eyes narrowed. "Truly? No brother? No father? No uncle that might come to claim you?"

"No," she repeated, shaking her head.

"Then a jarl or king? Fine clothes like that, you had to be in a good house," he pressed on. "Is a warlord going to come searching for you?"

She couldn't look at him as she shook her head. There was something about the weight of his gaze, as though he were reading every movement she made to see if she lied.

She heard him growl, and looked up to see his sneer.

"Nami," Killer interrupted before his friend could lose his temper. "He might not look it, but Kid is a jarl." Her eyes widened as she looked upon the slowly calming man across the fire. "If he brings you into his household, he can provide protection from another jarl if you seek it. But we need to know what kind of danger you might bring to our people."

She brushed away her shock to settle an appraising gaze on Kid. "You're a jarl?" she asked, one part out of disbelief, and another part out to avoid that course of conversation.

"Just as he said." Kid nodded. "Jarl Eustass of Drafn."

She snorted. "And how did you accomplish that? Kill the last jarl?"

"Yes," he answered honestly.

Her jaw dropped. She had asked that question in jest. Even if he certainly looked like a cold-blooded killer, she hadn't put him so low.

"You usurped him?" she asked, still surprised. She was quickly beginning to rethink their offer of aid.

Kid's eyes narrowed. "I was given the title," he explained. "Though it ain't any of your business how. We're talking about you and who you're running from, not my battles."

She couldn't trust him, she realized that now. He was just as ambitious as him, and apparently just as bloodthirsty. She wanted nothing to do with men like that.

"If that's the case, I'd be far better off on my own than with a man who will slaughter innocent people for his own gain."

"Then you'll be hard pressed to find a man to protect you. Or are you that ignorant of what we do when we go raiding other lands?" Kid bit out, temper dangerously thin again.

"Those aren't Northmen you fight," she reasoned.

"No, but they're still people, flesh and blood humans like the rest of us, though I'll admit many of them are far from innocent. And who said I slaughtered anyone innocent in gaining my Jarldom?" he asked, brow cocked high. "I'm not a good man, but there are plenty out there who make me look like a cute little pup."

"Are you saying your former jarl is one of them?"

Kid considered her closely for a moment before answering. When he looked down, his shoulders relaxing, and dug back into his fish, she wondered if he wasn't going to bother.

"He was a lowlife jerk who robbed his people of their lands and share of wealth from the raids," Kid explained. "Killer had a farm in his territory, right on the river, and I had myself a small parcel that abutted his with a boathouse. I built all of the jarl's ships since I was sixteen. We had a deal that I'd get a certain allotment from the raids in compensation for my work, both at home, and in battle against the Saxons. I knew he was holding out on me and everyone, but I got to build my ships and fight, so I didn't really care. I'd get my due in the end."

He paused, glancing up to see that she listened, and then continued on with a grunt.

"Couple years ago, I found out he was killing some of the neighboring karls and seizing their land in his name. The other farmers began to take up arms against him, and came to us asking for help. I wasn't too inclined to lend them a hand at first, but then that bastard tried to claim some of Killer's lands, and I couldn't ignore the threat any longer." He looked entirely unaffected as he told his story, even shrugged at the thought of his neighbors being harmed. He obviously cared about his friend more than he did any of the others, but apparently the rest of the area hadn't mattered much to him. At least that was what she thought until he growled and clenched his hand in a fist. "Found out the bastard had taken some measures to keep me from finding out just how much he was screwing me and my friends over, too. One of the healers I know – sewed his mouth shut to keep him from talking after he overheard the jarl talking with his brother about me."

"So you killed him and took his title," Nami summed up the rest of it before he dove into the more personal offenses of the former jarl.

"I didn't take it," Kid growled. "As I said, it was given to me. I led the revolt and killed that bastard. When it was all over, I sat down with the farmers to divide the land he took from them, and they all agreed to name me the new jarl."

He was mincing words. It sounded as though he took charge on his own once the previous jarl was dead, and the other land-owners just didn't dare contest it. He had killed his predecessor, though. Typically, that made him the jarl, barring there was no one to inherit the title by blood relation.

"What of the man's kin?" she asked once that thought came to her. "You said you didn't kill anyone innocent."

"I killed him and his brother. His wife chose to follow her husband into death," he explained grimly. "They had one daughter left. Their sons had died in past battles. I sent the daughter to live with her mother's family."

At least he hadn't held her hostage. He could have married her to one of his men, or himself, to seal his claim.

Kid shifted and leaned forward with a knowing grin as she thought on his tale. She stared back, confused with the look.

"So who's this usurper you're runnin' from?" he asked, his smile widening at the same time her eyes did. "All this bitchin' about how I got my title, it's obvious now why you're running. Someone killed your jarl, and you escaped in the confusion of battle."

She glowered at the astute guess, though he was off with some of his assumptions. He wasn't going to let the topic lie until he got a satisfying answer, though.

"My jarl isn't dead," she explained in a tone of sullen defeat. "He was enslaved."

Both men went wide-eyed at that. It was a grave insult to do that to a former jarl. At least Kid allowed his predecessor the honor of dying in battle.

"This usurper sounds like a bigger bastard than me," Kid said thoughtfully.

She silently agreed as she picked at the thin fish bones and grey skin left on her plate.

"He killed my mother, and has kept me hostage for the past eight years," she finished quietly, hoping the thick despair she let creep into her voice would hint that they not tread on the subject any longer.

"Eight years?" Kid asked, apparently unsympathetic to her feelings. "And you're just now running?"

"I was only a child. Where would a ten-year-old run?"

"And what would this man need of a ten-year-old, anyway?" he asked skeptically.

"He's a maniac! How would I know?" she shrieked. She knew exactly what Arlong was thinking when he kept her, but Kid absolutely did not need to know that much about her. "I thought he only meant to keep me hostage to keep the rest of the village in line. They wouldn't question his taxes and fines if they thought I was in danger."

"So you were that special, huh? But the former jarl wasn't blood kin, according to you. So what was your relation to him?"

"I was his ward," she said firmly. It was close to the truth. "He had adopted me into his household."

Kid hummed, eyes sweeping over her in thought. "So why'd you choose now to run? You're still as helpless as a child out here right now."

"His ambition was becoming dangerous for me," she answered in cryptic honesty. "I'm better off on my own."

Another hum followed by a nod, and Kid seemed to accept the story. She could have breathed a sigh of relief if she didn't know that it would give away that there was more to her than that.

"One more question," Kid began as he finished off the last of his fish. "How'd you come stumbling upon our camp without either of us noticing?"

Nami stared blankly for a moment, and then let out a wry laugh. "Would you believe me if I said a reindeer carried me here?"

Kid and Killer shared a look, the former snorting as he bowed his head to hide a faint smirk. "Actually… I would," he said, much to her surprise.

She was left to ponder that answer for the rest of the morning.

A/N: About Eir/Kureha - there seem to be some disagreements among scholars about whether Eir was a goddess or a valkyrie (or just a general term for any supernatural/ mystical healer). There's even some thoughts that she could be related to the Norns (Fates) and a practitioner of seid (or seidhr or any number of spellings, which is a form of magic which will be heavily incorporated/referenced later on). Obviously in this context I went with goddess. But that was my preference. She's usually described as looking younger, but we all know Kureha swears she looks young, so whatever. It was just too good a fit for Kureha to play a minor role, as ambiguous as it was.

As for reindeer, and thus Chopper, in Norse mythology - I couldn't really find anything for him, but the gods are known to use animals as guides and protectors and messengers, so it works with the liberties I'm taking. The closest I found was the theory that Santa's reindeer were taken from Thor's chariot which was pulled by two magical goats. Reindeer at least definitely exist in Scandinavia. I even learned that reindeer herding is a legally protected livelihood for the Sami, an indigenous population living in the farthest north regions Scandinavia and parts of Russia. But other than that, I failed to find a good mythological context for him. But it doesn't matter. He needed to save Nami. Because that's what he does.

And as you can see, Nami's eighteen in this, so Kid's twenty-one, and Killer's twenty-five.

Thanks again for the reviews so far.