Episode 10: Scallywag Swagger

11th of Verimensis

As he gradually became more aware of his surroundings, Jeremie occupied himself with thoughts of the events that had occurred over the past few days. Emily and her crew had finished preparing the ship, and they had set sail during the afternoon the day before. The Heroes, as well as Patrick and Sam, had met some of the more important members of the crew. The ones who had stood out the most to Jeremie were Christophe M'Bala and Heïdi Klinger. Christophe was a human from the Uncharted South, so he boasted exceptional strength, a tall build and skin the color of chocolate. He also seemed to like music, and he and Aelita had bonded almost immediately when she heard him singing a slave song. He served as quartermaster, second only to Emily herself. Heïdi was a dwarf from Gathola, an underground city in Deutschland, and she had short blonde hair and pale green eyes. She enjoyed making poisons and grenades, and seemed to like the color pink. She served as boatswain, overseeing the deck.

Jeremie had to admit, Emily and her crew had been far more generous than he had any right to expect. Not only was she providing them with safe passage to the island city of Carthage, she had also provided all eight teens with a private cabin. He couldn't help but think that the pirate queen would expect something else from them in the future, something more difficult to provide than unnecessary backup during a duel.

He sat up, deciding that it was time to begin his first full day on the ship. He grabbed his spectacles and pushed them up the bridge of his nose. Jeremie looked to his side and was only slightly surprised to find that Aelita had left, likely for her own cabin. She had said that she respected his privacy, and that keeping how far their relationship had progressed a secret from the rest of the group was the best way to maintain balance.

The Wise Man understood where she was coming from, and certainly he didn't want to pressure her towards something she wasn't ready for. Odd would likely tease them—Aelita had told him that she had to bribe him to remain quiet—Yumi would be uncomfortably supportive, and he didn't even want to begin to contemplate how Laura or Ulrich would react. If Sam found out, she likely wouldn't care, but she might tell Patrick. Patrick would likely tell Michael, and Jeremie wasn't sure how his father would react.

And yet as he made his bed and prepared for the day, he couldn't help but wonder if those consequences would be worth it to just once experience what it felt like to wake up next to her.

Aelita sat in her cabin, looking deep into the Eluvian. She ran her fingers over the glass, leaving ripples behind as she touched it. A knock came to the door. "Come in!" She called.

Emily poked her head inside. "Decent?" She asked. Aelita smiled, and the pirate queen entered her cabin, quietly closing the door behind her. She jumped onto the bed, sending the younger elf into the air a bit. "Whoa! Careful, now."

Aelita smiled wider, and she pushed a clump of hair behind her ear. "I can't thank you enough for what you've done. Everything is wonderful." She said. Suddenly she frowned, and she asked, "Do you have a parrot-sparrow, Emily?"

Emily scrunched up her nose in confusion. The question had come out of nowhere. "What would I want a parrot-sparrow for?" She asked.

She tilted her head. "What about a claw or a hook for a hand?"

"You can see that I don't, dear."

"Eye patch?"

Emily laughed. "I'm disappointing you terribly, aren't I? And no peg leg, either."

Now Aelita scrunched her nose. "It seems to me Jeremie's story of Petra Pots is very inaccurate."

"He knows, dear. He likes it better that way." She explained. Smirking, almost maliciously, she asked, "When did he tell you that story?"

"Last night," She said, having dropped her guard. Quickly, she added, "A-at dinner. He told all of us that story."

"But I was with you last night. Could it be that you weren't satisfied with Rosa's meal so you went into Jeremie's cabin last night to eat… something else?"

Aelita buried her face into her hands. "By the blood of the Creation Father! C-can we talk about something else, please?"

Giggling, Emily brushed her long hair. Aelita off-handedly commented how jealous she was of Emily's hair—three years had granted Emily hair that reached her shoulder blades, while the Outcast's rosy hair seemed to only grow out. The pirate queen asked quietly, "You really like him, don't you? Jeremie, I mean."

She blushed slightly. "He's clever, brave, caring and wonderful. Before I met him, I… I had forgotten how nice it was to be held by… by someone…" She sighed. "How could anyone not love him?"

"Oh, I could write you a sodding book but that would probably just bore you." She said, ignoring the flash that darted across the younger elf's face. "So, back to the important part… did you get naked?"

Aelita's face turned bright red, and she covered her mouth with her hands. "Emily!" She exclaimed.

"Oh, look at that blush! That good, huh?" The pirate queen teased.

The Outcast stood, throwing her hands over her head. "Fine, fine. I give up. If you promise not to tell my friends, I'll let you…" She shook her head. "…just get it out of your system."

Emily jumped at the chance. "Did he… dwarf your beard? Praise your Creator? Grope your grinder? Fire his cannon? Pudding your peach? Charge your Underdark?" Suddenly, she could barely breathe from laughing.

Aelita didn't seem in the least bit amused. "Are you quite finished?"

"Not even close!" She shouted. "Did you tell him about your routine in the Hungry Gypsy? How much did it take to make the Nightingale sing?" She kept laughing as she added, "I may be splitting hairs, but I'm glad someone is splitting yours. I've heard that the People have special magic passed down from generation to generation. Is that true? Did you, how you say, go wild?"

She shook her head. "I cannot believe I am having this conversation."

"I've also heard that the wilders are forbidden from lying with humans. How sweet does he find your forbidden fruits?" Emily asked.

"My… my fruits?"

"It looks like Belpois is a pureblooded descendant of the Tundrastriders. How much of your tundra has he stridden?"

It appeared that Emily had more to add, but the Outcast could take no more. She reached out and slapped her. "Enough!" She demanded.

The older elf laughed, rubbing her cheek to stop the stinging. "But, really, Aelita. I'm glad you've found someone. I was afraid that, after everything you and I went through, you would be afraid of men."

"Jeremie is different. He's… special." Aelita smiled. "He is ma vhenan, my heart."

Emily smiled sweetly. "You deserve all of the happiness in the world, 'Lita." She stood and stretched. "I'd better get back to work. A ship doesn't captain herself, you know."

17th of Verimensis

Seven days on the high sea had left Odd dreadfully stir-crazy. He looked out on the main deck, feeling the ocean's breeze as it hit his face. Everywhere he looked he saw water, and admittedly, it made him feel a little sick.

He turned when someone tapped his shoulder. Odd smiled when he saw Aelita, though she did not return it. In fact, very little of her posture conveyed her usual perky self—she seemed more concerned than anything else. "What's up, Aelita? I thought you were taking the whole day to gossip with your mother via the Eluvian." He grinned. "Don't tell me—you somehow got onto the topic of Jeremie and hit a bump on your road to paradise?"

Aelita shook her head. "This isn't about Jeremie and I. This is about you."

"Me? Why does your mother want to talk to me?" Odd asked.

"Mamae doesn't want to speak to you." She said, "Talia Dorfelas does."

Odd's eyes opened wider. He'd pushed Talia out of his mind as much as possible, and to hear her name again brought back memories he'd sooner have forgotten. The wolf grew angrier, and it became harder for the Scout to see the difference between Aelita and Talia. Gods, they looked similar in this light—Aelita's hair looked fairly dark as a cloud passed over the sun, and when the wolf grew angry, it was harder for Odd to see details like the gentle features that marked Aelita, and so she came across sharper like Talia. The urge to strike at something burned in his veins, and he hid his arm behind his back. "Well, I don't want to talk to her!"

Aelita pressed her hands together. "I know you don't, but she said it was really important!"

Suddenly, Aelita had collapsed on the deck, holding her face in her hand. She was also several feet from him, and when Odd looked down at his hand, he saw blood on his fingers and clawed gauntlet. He realized that he'd struck her, though he didn't remember it. Odd rushed to her side, and he helped her sit up. He pried her hand away from her face, examining the wound. The Scout had cut her around her eye and her cheekbone. "Oh, gods! Aelita, I'm so sorry!" He apologized sincerely, panic obvious in his eyes. "I… I guess I don't know my own strength." Aelita looked as if she were about to heal herself, but he shook his head as Patrick ran closer. "He'll sense it. Don't." He whispered.

Patrick helped Aelita to her feet, and he looked at Odd as if he were confused. "What happened? Why did he hit you?" He asked.

"I'm fine. I'll go get Laura to heal me before Jeremie finds out. Odd, the least you can do now is go talk to Talia." Aelita said, glaring at the Scout as she covered her wounds.

He blinked, as if betrayed. "But…"

"Odd. Talia. Now." Patrick said firmly, offering the Outcast a cloth.

He huffed, and he stormed to the elf's cabin. Odd looked at the Eluvian, and rather than seeing the nothing that the enchanted mirror normally reflected, he saw Talia standing in front of Anthea in the Sarethari estate. "You have a lot of nerve contacting me after what you did." Odd hissed.

"You can't prove anything." Talia said, placing her hands on her hips. "But… it is related."

"Make it quick, beef roast. My patience wears thin."

The changeling pushed back her hair. "Okay, here goes…" Taking a deep breath in, she said, "I'm pregnant."

Odd shook his head. "Fuck off."

"What?!"

"What?"

Talia started again. "I'm… pregnant?"

Odd struggled to come to terms with that statement. "…with emotion?"

"With a baby!" She said sharply, and muttered, "You're the father."

"I'm the father?"

"Yes!"

He could speak to her no longer. He demanded that Anthea explain to him how to sever the connection, and when she had, he swiftly ended communications. He fled Aelita's cabin to his own, hiding in the space between his bed and the wall.

How had this happened? He hadn't wanted to sleep with Talia, and then she convinced him that no one would believe him if he told them what had happened. Now she was pregnant, and the idea of him being a father to a child he hadn't even considered born of a woman he hadn't liked caused him great distress. Odd pulled his knees up to his chin, convincing himself that it wasn't true, that she was lying or trying to get money from him. Yet as his eyes grew hot and itchy as tears tried to come, the wolf would not let him cry—weakness, it growled inside of him, and it would not be tolerated.

Patrick entered the room, and he jumped onto the bed. "Are… you okay? Did Talia give you some bad news?"

It came gushing out, like a geyser that had long since been sealed suddenly regaining pressure. Odd confessed everything to Patrick except the wolf—how Talia had drugged him and taken advantage of him, how she'd told him no one would believe him because of his past, how he'd tried to push it out of his mind and live like it hadn't happened, how she was pregnant now and how terrified he was. He admitted that he didn't even know what he was afraid of—was he afraid of Talia, or the idea of being a father, or the chance that the baby would be a constant reminded of that night? Obviously Talia wanted Odd to be in the baby's life, at least financially; she wouldn't have contacted him otherwise.

Patrick could offer no help. He'd never been trusted with such a secret. Hiding the sadness that stabbed at his heart, he crawled next to Odd and held him firmly. The magistrate whispered quietly that everything would be okay—that he would speak to Aelita about what had happened so she could get Anthea to pursue justice, that they could debate what to do with the baby when, or even if it was born, that the Scout didn't have to be afraid because Patrick would be there for him.

And Odd beat back the wolf spirit. He started to cry. Patrick forced a warm smile, and he pushed up on Odd's chin so they could look into each other's eyes. He blinked when he noticed the brown spots in Odd's eyes, and he wondered how often they changed colors. The Scout smiled through his tears, and nervously, he leaned forward. The two teenagers shared a kiss.