Chapter 8

Joyce woke up early in the morning, light trickling its way into the heavy stale air of the cabin. It didn't take long after the excitement of last night for everyone to retreat into the decks below. There was a damn near exodus of women. As intriguing as it was to see the captain heal from a fatal wound, the fear of getting shot by a drunk woman with a gun was hanging over their heads.

It was her first night aboard the pirate ship, and she didn't sleep very well at all. It was evident that most girls were not awake yet. She was sure that most were sleeping off the alcohol still, but Joyce was awoken by her thirst. Gathering her sky blue dress from last night, she began to leave. Getting through the narrow doorway with so much fabric seemed to be a task that was just as difficult as she remembered from the night before. With a huff, she hoisted her dress high above her waist and untied the petticoat fasteners. As the large pile of fluff fell to the ground at her ankles, she fixed her silhouette, removing any strange bumps and trying her best to determine if this was appropriate.

But she was on a damn pirate ship. High fashion wasn't exactly important here, and that tended to work in her favor. Joyce traversed the levels of the ship to make it to the canteen. There, two men worked with sweat dripping down their noses.

"Pardon me?" She got their attention. "Is there maybe some tea I could have?"

The two men looked at her as if she was just one of the chickens roaming around the deck, and was clucking just a little too loudly. "No tea aboard 'cept the stuff in the captain's quarters. You're welcome to ask 'im," said the scrawny looking man.

His heavier, much heavier, mate grumbled and gave the pirate a tap on the leg, to focus him back on his work of peeling onions. Joyce couldn't tell if the advice to go to the pirate for some tea was serious or not. But what could it hurt? She thought about that for a moment. She could get shot, but it seemed unlikely to bring her aboard just to shoot her. At worst, Joyce assumed she would get the captain in a bad mood, but her parched throat begged for something other than wine or rum. Water alone, as she had learned over the few months aboard the charter ship, did not keep well at sea. In order to tolerate it in the slightest, it was almost a requirement to mix it with something to cover the taste.

Joyce climbed the four flights of stairs to the main deck, where the wooden door from yesterday stood closed. She was about to knock when she hear the sound of women's voices behind her. Joyce withheld her knock, looking to see two women, both of whom she met last night joined at the arms and discussing something in great depth.

"Stella. Olimpia. Glad to see I'm not the only one awake."

Both women snapped their attention to Joyce. "Joyce. Did you just speak to the captain?" Stella asked.

"No, I was actually just going to ask for a sliver of tea. I was headed in there now."

The two girls exchanged glances. "Well, let's join you then." Stella said. The three girls stood in front of the looming door. It was at least two heads taller than Joyce, even when her hair was styled, which it currently wasn't. They all waited in the early morning sun for a heavy moment before Joyce finally bit down on her lip and knocked firmly. She hoped the other two girls couldn't hear her heart pounding with nerves.

A muffled voice called from within. "Yes?"

Joyce put her hand on the gold doorknob, and turned it slowly. Once the door was cracked open you could feel the cooler air and the scent of smoke hung in the air. It was too dark to see inside with the sun over head, so Joyce apprehensively stuck her head inside.

"Oh," Joyce heard a man say. Directly in front of her sat the captain at his desk. His face looked like he hadn't expected to see three women waiting behind the door. He stood in his surprise. "I thought you were Harry, my cook." There was another moment, where Joyce, Stella, and Olimpia said nothing. Captain Jonas stood there, unsure what to say to the three of them. "Uhm," he stammered, "Come in. What can I do for you?" He looked frantically at the clutter on his desk.

Joyce entered first. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, she was taken aback by not only the size, but the amount of belongings he owned. Every shelf held a wide array of precious jewels and artifacts. There were floor-to-ceiling paintings of battles on the walls, multiple persian rugs overlapping each other on the floor, and ornate crown moulding above a carved marble fireplace that was currently doused. On the opposite the side of the room, there was a canopy bed, with sheer fabric draping over a mound of blankets and furs. Jonas stood in front of an enormous black armchair, with carvings of skulls and rams horns. The entire room was made even more dark by the heavy black curtains that hung on the back wall, presumably over windows, blocking all light.

The entire room seemed fitting for a king or the devil, and from what Joyce understood, Captain Jonas was both. It was no surprise that the three women stood there in shock, taking in the surroundings. Olimpia even inched her way behind Stella, to hide herself from view.

"I…" Joyce started to say, but her voice cracked. She cleared her throat and with more resolve said, "I personally came to ask if there was a way I could make some tea this morning?"

Jonas, seeing the shock on the girls' faces at his choice of decor, came around from the desk. "Of course. I have some here you could have." He travelled to the shelving near the fireplace and opened a small crate. Inside were maybe 20 bricks of tea, each of which could supply nearly a year of daily tea kettles. Jonas took one out, and gave it to Joyce.

"Oh," Joyce started to say, "I really didn't need this much tea."

"Yes, but there are a lot of you. Share it amongst yourselves. Give the rest to the crew if you wish, though I doubt they'd have much use for it. Their tastes are a bit stronger."

Joyce took the hefty tea brick in her hands. She was inspecting it thoroughly, but it just appeared to be an unassuming East India Trading Company brick.

"Captain Jonas, I'm afraid, we didn't come to request tea. We were hoping to get some insight, on various things." Stella still stood in front of Olimpia still, but her resolve was stronger. Her chin stuck out straight and she held her shoulder back. Jonas was caught off guard, still sliding the crate lid back into place when she spoke up.

"Oh," was all Jonas said.

Stella seemed frustrated by his lack of response, but took it as an invitation to elaborate. "You see, I'm a trained apothecary, and Olimpia here is as well." Stella left out the fact that Olimpia was still training under her parents' guidance, because she felt it would help their credibility. "I'm sure you didn't intend to get, uh, shot last night. However, it was almost impossible to miss the fact that you had no wounds. Is this by some medicinal herb? Perhaps a daily supplement?"

Jonas, glanced around his quarters, seemingly searching for the words that refused to come. There was so much to say, and even he still had more questions than answers concerning his... arrangement.

There was a slight ruffle of fabric behind them, coming from the bed. From under the duvet came a sweaty mop of bright red hair and a light snore. Jonas noticed Cordelia starting to rouse in the bed first, and a grimace appeared on his face, as if he didn't want to wake her yet.

"Stella," he said, surprising her. She hadn't introduced herself yet. "Joyce, Olimpia. It still fairly early in the day. Why don't you all join me in one of our sitting rooms? I'd intended the largest one on deck five to be for you all to use during the day anyway. We can make your tea there, Joyce."

Without an answer from any of the three girls, he led them out the door. He held it open for them, and they followed like obedient ducklings down to the fifth deck.

They'd gotten to the sitting room, and he unlocked the door with a large set of keys. The theme of the room seemed to be the color yellow, because every piece of fabric displayed the vibrant hue. Large sitting stools dotted the room, and a plush couch sat in the center. The room was stocked with china and various tools for daily living and convenience. He took a seat, seeming misplaced in such a cheery and bright room with his black hair and overall dark aura. Joyce noticed in the back there was another, much smaller fireplace. She wondered where the chimneys for the multiple fireplaces were leading to, as she couldn't recall seeing any smoke yesterday. Or rather, any smoke that wasn't related to the destruction of the charter ship. She pulled away from the rest of them and went to start the kettle over the stove.

Jonas sat on one of the cushions and invited Stella and Olimpia over with a wave of his hand. They sat adjacent to him.

"Before you begin asking your questions, I'd like to make a couple things clear. I cannot tell you everything. There are certain things that everyone aboard this ship would be safer not knowing about. Tell me where you'd like to start, and let's go from there."

"Well," Stella began, "I would like to know how you healed yourself like that."

"I've been able to heal myself since I was a young boy- since I became a pirate."

"How'd you do it?"

Jonas seemed unsure how to answer. "I don't really know. I don't have control of it if that's what you're wondering. I just… heal. There's not much to it.

"But is it something we can duplicate? Could this be the cure to all ailments, for example."

Jonas chucked, "No, I don't think anyone else could gain this ability, nor would they want to. It comes with some steep consequences."

This time, Olimpia was the one who spoke up. "If only you can do it, can you heal others?"

"No."

"Have you tried?" Olimpia pushed.

"Yes." Jonas said, his voice becoming more stern, as if it brought up bad memories.

There was a brief pause in the conversation. The one who broke it was Joyce, bringing a small serving tray with four cups of tea on it. Joyce felt strange and shaky carrying the tray, as she'd never carried one before. Every time she'd entertained her friends in London, her house maids would serve them.

"Can you only heal?" Stella began the interrogation once again. Joyce and Olimpia both took a cup from the tray, while Stella was focused on studying Jonas' every movement and answer.

Jonas seemed reluctant to give away this information, but he must've decided against withholding it. "No, but I'm not sure how to describe the rest."

"Could you try your best?"

"Very well then," he began, "I guess I also have the ability to understand what people think. Not exactly the words, but more so the intentions behind it. If you wanted me to guess that your neighbor was a murderer, I would really only be able to understand that he was a bad person, or good depending on how you perceive him. Names are pretty much the only 'words' that come to mind. This particular ability is actually not as strong as you may think. I can't rely on it as faithfully as my healing."

"So that explains how you knew my name, before I'd said it," Stella said, mostly to herself.

Jonas nodded.

"Then how did you get these abilities?"

"That-" he began, "That is something I can't tell you." His eyes seemed to dart over to the wall next to the door. Only Olimpia noticed this, but when she looked over she saw nothing.

"What about these consequences you mentioned?" Stella kept pushing.

It was obvious Jonas was getting uncomfortable with the interview. His eyes darted around the room, and his breath quickened. "I'm sorry ladies. Please feel free to enjoy your tea, but I must return to my quarters for now." His words fell from his mouth quickly, and he worried they would ask for more answers but they didn't. He stood, keeping his head down, and left the sitting room. The three girls stood there in slightly stunned silence. Joyce found a spot on the floor to stare at, while she sipped her tea. She was quite happy not getting involved in this drama the captain was wrapped up in. Instead, after a moment of stunned silence, Stella and Olimpia began tittering away with theories on how to harness his healing ability and techniques he may not have tried yet when using it.

The door to the sitting room opened just a crack, and a mop of brown hair peered into the room. Brett saw the three girls sitting in the lemon colored room, and opened the door wide. "Hey, I didn't know we could be in here," she said, admiring the unusual decor. "Pretty sure I just saw the captain come from here, too."

Behind her three more girls appeared in the doorway, curiosity coating their expressions as they too admired the plush sitting room.

Thanks everyone for their patience waiting for this chapter to come out. I'm on Christmas break for all of December. Almost all day I'm with my family visiting them, and it's pretty hard to find time where I'm just sitting to write.

I've found a routine though, so hopefully you won't have to wait as long this next time around. Also, I think the coming chapters will probably be mostly in the POV of Cordelia or Jonas (most likely Jonas) as the story develops the plot.

Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing! If you have any ideas for your characters you'd like me to implement, please PM me! I've gotten a couple of fun ideas planned but I love seeing what everyone comes up with. This includes Pinterest! I love seeing all the aesthetics!

Also, if you guys are interested and haven't already seen our Discord chat, feel free to join! It's a very welcoming server, and we talk about almost everything. Here's the link (remove the spaces): discord. gg/ bfY5mmT

Till next chapter!