Eleanor shares her feelings of guilt over her father's death with Rogers now that she knows Vane's motive behind it. The mysterious deadly fever may be largely caused by contaminated water. Rogers grows increasingly weaker and eventually slips into delirium. Max warns Eleanor to come to the tavern to witness the trouble brewing at the beach.

Chapter 29 - Alone

Rogers slept, rested and was awake at intervals. But slowly his state worsened, rather than getting better. Eleanor had managed to get him to eat some clear soup. "First the bread," she had said. "I know it's dry, but it will act like a sponge. That's what my mother always said." While the mysterious fever did not seem to involve issues with intestines, Eleanor did not want to take any chances.

"This early afternoon," he coughed. "Chamberlain was not making it too hard on you, was he?"

Eleanor stood by the window, watching the sun set. Life could be a mess, but one could rely on the sunset always being beautiful, and yet never the same. Sometimes the clouds in the sky were more orange, at other times slightly more purple. And when there were no clouds at all, it was just a giant fireball and an almost greenish sky going to dark blue. "After swearing a few times, he called me Miss Guthrie and gave me to understand that he might have provoked me." She turned around and smiled at him. "We made our peace, because we have mutual interests."

Woodes chuckled, followed by coughs that made her heart jump. "Oh my. And those are?"

"Seeing you safe and ensuring New Providence remains English." She walked to his bed, lifted the tray and brought it to the office for Dyson to pick up. When she returned, she rearranged his sheet and his pillows. "Charles did not sign the mercy plea," she said. "I left it there for him to reconsider."

"I didn't think he would." Rogers watched her guardedly.

She sat down on the bedside, with her back to him, looking out at the darkened purple and pink streaks of color in the sky after the sun had left them minutes ago. "I tried to leave," she whispered.

Rogers reached for her hand in her lap, gently prying open her fingers. "And he didn't let you."

She looked down at his hand that tried to curl her fingers. She smiled at the gesture and took his in her lap with both her hands."No."

"That's when you did this." Rogers brushed his thumb against the dry wounds of her knuckles.

Eyes closed, Eleanor nodded. She knew she ought to feel ashamed for it, but it had been cathartic. "I wanted to kill him," she mumbled, while she brushed his thumb in response.

"But you didn't." Rogers studied her profile. "I'm sorry, Eleanor, that it didn't go as we both hoped."

She felt the pressure behind her eyes build again and her throat was thick with emotion. She shook her head. Her voice trembled, when she finally spoke. "There is no need to be sorry. Though it was horrific, it helped. I know now why he did it."

"Why?" he whispered, dreading the answer.

"He believes he did it for love." A single tear rolled down her cheek. It felt hot on her cheek. "He saw my father as a rival for my affections, thought it would free me from wanting my father's love and approval."

"That's horrible."

Her breath came in shudders. "It's my fault. If I had never been with him in the first place, my father might still be alive."

He freed his hand, wrapped it around her waist and pulled her head to his chest, squeezing her, stroking her. As she wept her tears on his heart, Rogers thought about the horrible things people did in the name of love. Crimes of passion they were called. "You couldn't have known he would be this obsessed." He caressed her soft, silky hair, trying to soothe her. And the soapy smell of her hair intermingled with her own soothed him. Though her clutching hurt him where he was bruised and stiff, he bore it. "Eleanor you mustn't blame yourself." He whispered to her, "You expected him to retaliate, against you directly. But he didn't. You know why now. No rational nor empathic human being could have foreseen his choice, let alone why. You need to forgive yourself. You cannot let your own life or how you feel about yourself be determined by another man's choices."

Eleanor lifted her head and wiped her tears from her eyes, smiling. "Someone else told me something like that before."

Rogers took her hand in his again. It was delicate and small against his. "Who?"

"John Silver."

He grimaced and patted her hand that he was holding with his other. "Apart from being a murdering pirate with one leg, he seems to have some wisdom as well." He looked serious again. "Earlier today we discussed unfair Venus's and Cupid's anger towards Psyche seems. At the end though Psyche does make a fatal mistake."

"She opens the box of beauty."

"Despite the fact she was expressly told not to. It turns out not to harbor beauty but eternal sleep. Psyche is responsible for what befalls her there."

Eleanor nodded. "It is not vanity that makes her do it though. She does it for Cupid."

"Perhaps," Rogers said. "Whether it is insecurity, or vanity, it matters little. The crucial point to me seems that exactly when Psyche is responsible, has shown herself to be flawed, Cupid returns to her to revive her with a kiss." He brought the broken skin of her knuckles to his dry, chapped lips and kissed them.

"He forgives her," Eleanor whispered. "He loves her despite her mistakes and flaws."

"Indeed. To love truly is to forgive, Eleanor." And as he said it, Rogers realized he had never loved Sarah in that way. He never truly forgave her. "If you must blame yourself over your father's death, at least try to forgive yourself." He closed his eyes, feeling tired.

By late night, there still was no news from Hornigold. Flint either gave him a good fight or stayed ahead in a chase. But Perkins arrived with a report on the exercises from Chamberlain, as well as the preparations underway for the HMS Shark to leave Nassau and return to London with Charles Vane.

"Is that you, Lieutenant?" Woodes said from his bedroom. Eleanor had left the door ajar, in case Woodes needed her. She did not want him to exert himself in order to call her. "Please, come in."

"Go on," Eleanor urged the man, who was only a few years younger than herself.

From the doorway, she watched Perkins as he visited the governor, who was propping himself up. He had dark hair, light blue eyes, and was handsome. She was sure several women here on the island must fancy him. He had never treated her with any particular reverence, but was never discourteous either. To her he was one of Woodes' men, except she saw him as often as Dyson. And she knew less of him than she knew of Dyson. But his regular presence made him a confidant in Woodes' household.

"What news, Lieutenant?" Woodes said with a brave smile. Perkins gave Woodes a similar account as he had already passed on to Eleanor. She realized it was hard for the governor not to let go of his state of affairs. "I want fifty more men in the fort," Woodes said.

"It will be done immediately, sir," said Perkins.

"And Miss Guthrie mentioned something about water earlier on."

"Water, sir?" Perkins said puzzled.

Woodes waved his hand in the air impatiently. "The water source at the barracks!"

"Ah, yes, they take the water from an underground river nearby the fort."

Woodes squinted. "Miss Guthrie, would you be so kind to bring the maps."

Eleanor wanted to say he need not trouble himself with that, but as he made a show of strength and ability to Perkins, she walked to the box with maps, pulled out several and brought them to him. While Woodes fussed over this map and that map, Eleanor knew the water source Perkins was talking about – it got its water from the rivulet she had crossed that morning. "You might try the earliest map, when they started to rebuild the town and named it Nassau in 1695, my lord." She pulled it from underneath the bottom of the pile and opened it for him. "It would have the old sewage system marked on it. Parts of it were destroyed in the Rosario Raid, and in the last eight years I tried to have some repaired or newly built." Then she saw it. "There!" she pointed. "There's an old sewage drain that reaches into this river ahead of the point where the barracks get their water, an abandoned area that nobody cared about. But with the new settlers having moved in the area?" She then took another map, more recent. "This is the water source for the majority of town."

They all stared at one another. Nobody needed to utter the words to realize that the barracks had drank contaminated water. Woodes let go of the maps. "Have them ordered to get their water from the other source, Lieutenant. I know it's further away, but it might be safer."

"Of course, immediately, my lord!"

Woodes began to cough and laid back. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

Eleanor showed Perkins out, but this time she did close the door. "It does not explain the clerk, let alone the governor getting sick," Perkins said. "Unless your kitchen uses the same water source as the barracks?"

Eleanor rubbed her forehead and sighed. "No, we use the main one like the rest of town. Perhaps the governor drank water offered to him at the fort? But the clerk? I will speak to the doctor about it. If there is no decrease in reported cases by next week, then at least we can exclude water from causing it." Perkins lingered and met her eyes for a moment, and she asked, "Is there something else, Lieutenant?"

"Thank you, miss," the lieutenant said. "For letting me see him. If anyone asks, I will tell them that he seemed himself as always."

Eleanor took a closer look at the young man. Perkins had not been truly fooled by Woodes' pretense and he was worried. But he also wanted to let her know that he could be trusted not to leak alarming reports of the governor's condition. Eleanor smiled a little at that. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

Dr. Marcus arrived when Woodes slept. She discussed the idea about the contaminated water source and what measures were being taken. Her intuition told her it was water related, but she could not explain the few mansion related cases. Dr. Marcus inspected Woodes' fever and warned her that it would get worse still. Many of the patients were often in delirious states. "Has he been able to keep his food in?"

"Yes. He complains of a mild headache though, other than coughing and of course the fever."

Dr. Marcus nodded. "These are the most common symptoms." He rubbed his chin in thought. "A few vomited mildly at the start and felt nauseous, or lost their appetite. But some of the earliest patients seem to develop diarrhea, green like pea soup. And one in three have rose spots on their abdomen. Maybe it are different diseases?" He looked at her. "Well, at the moment you are doing what you can – administer poultices to relieve the fever sensations and keep the governor hydrated and fed. But make sure you get some rest yourself, Miss Guthrie. The worst I fear is still to come."

Eleanor dared not sleep. Instead, she lit all the chandeliers in the room, had Dyson bring in extra pitchers of water for the fever compresses, changed them regularly and read, with the chirping crickets for background music. She had no wish to read Marmion by herself, and finally decided to peruse Woodes' bible. She had not opened a bible since the Rosario Raid. But people claimed to find comfort in it. As a child, she had been mostly fond of the stories of the Old Testament, that were more akin to fairytales or legends: Rebecca at the well, Joseph and his jealous older brothers and his dreams, Moses in his reed basket, Samson and Delilah, David against Goliath and his love for Bathsheba, Solomon's judgment, Queen Esther and her feasts, and Daniel in the Lion's Den. Eleanor started at the beginning, until eventually she dragged herself exhausted into Woodes' bed. She fell asleep, in her clothes, her hand on his restlessly rumbling heart.

The morning brought no improvement, on the contrary. Woodes had been restless throughout the night. She had never felt a man to be so hot at the touch. It was as if he was boiling. He woke several times, complaining of thirst. She sent Dyson to fetch Dr. Marcus as soon as the night sky lightened. But the doctor said they could do little else than what they were doing already. Seven more men had died at the sick bay that night.

Rogers' dreams were strange with shades of disturbing colors, shapes and lights that moved unnaturally. As he waded in this strange world, which he expected to be as light as air, it felt instead as the air weighed a ton. And when he walked it was as if he was on board of a ship, or inside of it, something that moved on waves. He never had been seasick in his life, but he feared he would for the first time. It was oppressing, strange and scary and… slimy?

Then her face appeared in the darkness – Sarah's. He saw the halo of her blonde hair and at first her face was shadowy and hazy. But as she came closer, her features turned sharper and he could see her brown eyes. He squeezed his eyes closed, for her eyes seemed to burn and his scar itched and crackled as if it was on fire. She reached out with her hand to him, a claw, and he jerked away from her. "Shush now, I won't hurt you," she said soothingly. "You're safe now."

The light altered, so did his surroundings. He lay in bed in his home at Bristol. Though the room was filled with a misty veil, it was so bright it hurt his eyes and he needed to squint. He heard movement and his wife sat at his bedside. "Sarah?" he asked stunned.

But when he said her name, she looked heartbroken. "Don't you know who I am?"

He closed his eyes again and fell into a dream state, where he was locked in a room by his wife. She had bound him to his bed with needles. "No more island business for you. You are mine. I am the mother of your children." He tried to scream, but the air seemed to swallow all sound and then everything faded to black.

Eleanor clutched his hand. He had opened his eyes for a moment and looked straight at her with glazed eyes full of surprise and fear. She had smiled reassuringly at him and then he called her by his wife's name. She had tried not to show any disturbance at that, for clearly this was the fever speaking. He closed his eyes again after and seemed to be dreaming, sometimes mumbling unintelligently. Still, she could not completely shake the fact that, disorientated and delirious from fever, he thought of his wife first. He expects his wife to care for him when he is ill. Not me. He was frightened of me.

For inexplicable reasons, Eleanor picked up the bible again, and leafed through it in search of her most favorite story - Jonah and the Whale. There were whole chapters about decrees how to prepare food and such, and the return to Israel from Egypt seemed to have far more chapters than she remembered. Chapter after chapter handled the wars to retake Israel and several Judges, none of which she recognized much or that grabbed her interest. Though she took note of there being a woman mentioned who went to war, Deborah. Ah, Samson! Finally, something she recognized. But where is David? There he is! And then came Solomon, followed by a repeated cycle of all the previous. Eleanor grew desperate, seemingly not finding Jonah. She had never really known the order of the bible all that well. Her mother used to open it where she knew a story to be, and either read aloud or lay it open before Eleanor for her to read herself. She nearly wanted to give up, believing that perhaps she had imagined or dreamed Jonah and the Whale. Eleanor picked through the chapters, skipping many pages all at once, and suddenly, finally, there it was.

To read it as an adult was quite different than as a child. She remembered that Jonah fled from God, but she had forgotten why. And while she thought it was about a whale, she noticed it was simply called a big fish. Eleanor had also believed the story ended with Jonah being spit out by the whale, and did not know the story continued with Jonah warning Nineveh, nor that he was angry for God forgiving the city and its people. It struck her that Jonah had feared to be the herald of destruction of the sinful city, but then was angry when people repented swiftly and were forgiven. It was much like the pirates and her fearing the coming of England, sure that England was set out to destroy Nassau. Instead Woodes arrived to pardon them all, and the pirates on the beach surrendered their arms with great relief. Meanwhile, Flint and Rackham seemed angry like Jonah that England did not raze Nassau after all. She remembered Woodes' earlier words about love being forgiveness. She had come to a similar conclusion herself when she was in the belly of the fort, in Charles' cell. Eleanor recognized the same message in Jonah's story – resist and flee the inevitable and it would incur wrath and misery for all, but repent and mercy could be given.

After reading it the first time, Eleanor went back and reread the first part, about the storm, the drawing of lots and the seamen sacrificing Jonah for they blamed him. She realized why she had sought the story then. The pirates believed I was the problem, and that if they could just hand me over to Captain Hume the English storm would be appeased. And they were not so wrong – my resistance was futile. She had been in the belly of a whale, in Newgate. But her prayer had been a different one than Jonah's. I begged for justice. I offered acceptance of my fate and having loved Charles once in return for it. And then Woodes arrived. She looked up from the bible and watched Woodes in his fever sleep, him who told her to forgive herself. Eleanor was unsure what her fate would be when all was said and done, except that it was bound to him and an English Nassau. Somebody knocked on the door. Eleanor put the bible down, leaving it open at Jonah's prayer, got up, walked to the door and slipped out.

It was one of the guards. "A messenger came, asking for you, Miss Guthrie. She said her name is Eme, was sent by Max, and that you must needs go to the tavern urgently."

Eleanor frowned. Did Max discover who the spy? She looked at the door behind her. I cannot just leave him like that. Then she had an idea. "Could you please send for Mrs. Hudson, Lieutenant."

"At once, miss."

She entered the governor's bedroom again, closed the bible and laid it on the window sill. At least their spy of Spain could make herself useful in this way. Mrs. Hudson would never tell a soul, other than her contact of Spain what state Woodes was in. And Mrs. Hudson ought to see what her saying too much about Jack Rackham to her Spanish contact had caused. As Eleanor looked at Woodes, she realized she was about to leave him. Perhaps it would be better if I remain. If Woodes is afraid of me, then how will he react if he finds Mrs. Hudson here? And yet Max would not request her without good reason. She sat down beside him, on the bedside and laid her hand on his heart. He gasped and furrowed his brow. "I'm sorry, I need to go for a while. I will return as soon as I can," she promised. Then she whispered, "I know I'm not your wife, nor the mother of your children and that she ought to be here. That you wish for her to be here. I understand I cannot truly replace her for you." She closed her eyes for a moment. "I love you, even if you do not love me in the same way." Eleanor dipped the cloth in the basin of fresh water, wrenched out the extra water and dabbed it against his forehead that was hot like a furnace, his cheeks, throat, neck and chest. He wrenched his face away from her.

The door opened behind her. "You sent for me?" said Mrs. Hudson.

Without turning to look at the woman, Eleanor laid the cloth back into the basin, and rested her hand on his heart. She did not care that Mrs. Hudson saw it or would disapprove of it. As he slept and was somewhere else in his delirious mind, it was the sole connection she had left to him. "Dr. Marcus says that the stress of receiving visitors is aggravating his condition, so I will seal off this room from today. No one will be permitted in, other than myself and the doctor. As long as this state of affairs is necessary, I would like you to tend to him."

"Of course." Mrs. Hudson approached until she stood right behind Eleanor. "How long has he been asleep?" she demanded. Woodes cringed.

Gentling her own voice to soothe him, Eleanor said, "He woke a few hours ago, just for a moment."

"Did you inform him of this plan to sequester him?" Mrs. Hudson asked in her skeptical tone.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because he looked at me and addressed me as Sarah. He thought I was his wife." At least Mrs. Hudson can feel victorious that Woodes is a constant man, after all, Eleanor thought. She let go of his heart, turned and got up from the bed. "He was delirious with fever." Mrs. Hudson looked at her and Woodes dumbfounded. "If his condition changes, please send word."

Downstairs, her usual escort already awaited her. Though she knew their names to be William Johnson and Thomas Searberg, in her mind she thought of the pair as Tall and Shorty. "Let's go," she said, and briskly made her way to the inn, and entered Max's office. Max stood out on the balcony in a beautiful dress of white with wine-red swirl pattern. As Eleanor neared, she asked, "What is it?"

"When I sent for you, there were approximately twenty of them. In ten minutes, it has grown two-fold."

As Eleanor stationed herself on the balcony, beside Max, she stood close enough to note the heavy perfume that Max preferred - dark, exotic, woody, bringing hot sweltering nights and rum to mind. A group of men gathered on the beach, encircling a young speaker. "What is he saying?"

"That the law and order promised by the new regime is little more than a veneer, behind which Eleanor Guthrie has returned to settle old scores and restore her tyranny over Nassau once again."

And there it was, the moment she had feared since the beginning. Eleanor appraised the young man in the distance. Young, handsome in a rough kind of way and a charming smile – far better looking than Lilywhite. She remembered him. When he first arrived on the island, he had introduced himself to her, drunk on rum, as Jacob Garrett, asked for her hand and kissed it. "One day, I will be a famous pirate who will make you richer than Flint and Charles Vane combined, my lady." She had merely smiled at the big talker, and he had gone on the account with Captain Naft of the Intrepid as Carpenter's Mate.

Max watched Eleanor from the corner of her eye. Mrs. Mapleton had confirmed her the identity of the spy the day before - Idelle. It had puzzled her that the brothel madam had not gone directly to Eleanor about it, as she had done half a year ago about the Urca gold in the hope to destroy Max. It would have been a great opportunity to destroy Max. If Eleanor (and god forbid the governor) knew that Idelle was the spy, then Max would look as having betrayed them. Max had asked Mrs. Mapleton why she had not gone to Eleanor with her information. Mrs. Mapleton's reply had intrigued her – while Eleanor may be wearing different clothes and might have new friends, she still looked the same to her, a woman who only knew who she was through the eyes of her enemies and made more of them.

"I hear they will threaten to stand in the way of any attempt to remove Charles Vane off the island," said Max. Eleanor looked at her. "That if he's to be tried, it must be here, in the open, where they can see it with their own eyes."

"You're fucking kidding me! Vane is scheduled to be moved from the fort to the Shark in a few hours. Chamberlain is making arrangements right now. Is there anything you can do about this?"

"To dispel what is building down there, it is going to require appeasement or it is going to require force."

"Appeasement? Hold his trial here?" Eleanor said incredulous and looked at Max askew. "To begin with, the lawyers aren't even sure that we have the authority to do that without a judge yet appointed, and even if it were legitimate, proceeding like that would last weeks. Dredge up a dark past just when progress is so near at hand?"

"If the alternative is an armed clash between those men and the dozens of soldiers it would take to subdue them, a little time spent confronting the past may be the lesser evil." Max also thought it might benefit Eleanor. The whole street believed that Charles Vane had solely been excluded from the pardon, because Eleanor, the governor's mistress, had turned the governor against Captain Vane for the murder of her father. By having a trial, in Nassau, in the open, Eleanor could prove the opposite.

Eleanor narrowed her eyes at the speaker and the crowd of men listening to him. This had nothing really to do with her. Jacob was using the former hatred for her within those men off the account as a propaganda for his own agenda. "I can't believe this is a coincidence -a plot to steal the cache followed so closely by something as choreographed as this." Max touted her lips and remained silent. Eleanor turned. "I'll take this to the governor."

"You should be careful," Max said as Eleanor started to leave. She froze. "I understand the governor has tasked you with being his eyes and ears while he convalesces. In this particular instance, you would be wise to make sure, whatever happens to Captain Vane, those men have no reason to believe it happened because of you."

Max agreed with Mrs. Mapleton that Eleanor was not that different from the person she had always been at heart. However, Max believed they had all misjudged her from the very beginning. They had wanted to see Eleanor as their enemy, for their own reasons – some for greed, some for envy, and both Vane and she because Eleanor did not love them the way they desired from her. They had bonded in their hatred for her, until Eleanor was left all alone and finally felt she had no other choice than to become their enemy. And then they sacrificed her, celebrated and believed all their problems were solved. But Vane had been listless and like a ship without a rudder. Flint turned into a real monster. Jack could run Nassau no better than a brothel. And Max was still consumed with hatred for Eleanor, using Anne to soothe the pain.

When Max warned her, Eleanor felt a coldness around her heart. Stiffly, she said, "Whatever happens will be the governor's decision, of course." She was alone in this.

(Typhoid fever - Dr. Marcus describes its symptoms. It killed off the first settlers in Virginia and more soldiers in the 18th and 19th century than the fighting did, because of poor sanitary conditions. At the start of the 18th century, Typhoid was not yet identified, and since there was a variation of symptoms it was not always clear it was the same disease. There was no treatment for it (no antibiotics). Micro-organisms had been identified under the microscope a few decades before this, but nobody yet associated them with the ability to cause disease. The source of the contamination also makes the "refreshment" at the underwordly fort "deadly", and thus fits with the symbolism of not accepting food or drinks in the underworld.

Malaria - Though I find it hard to expand the timeline for this, it is possible that the show intends to have more time elapsed between 3x05 and 3x07 as Featherstone mentions Colonel Andrews having been a customer for "weeks" to Idelle when he asks her to find out the route. If at least 3 weeks have passed after landing at Nassau, then Woodes Rogers may be suffering from malaria. Anyhow, to leave the medical issue ambiguous, I have the redcoats suffer from Typhoid fever, but disconnect the Clerk's and Rogers' illness from the contamination source.

Delirium - include hallucinations, disorientation, not recognizing people, and broken cycle of sleep and wakefulness. Typically, the patient develops a paranoia for the caretaker. Here, Rogers fears his caretaker Sarah, while Eleanor is the actual caretaker and interpretes it as Rogers wanting Sarah and fearing her. The interpretation that Rogers says Sarah's name while delirious means he loves Sarah is likely wrong, exactly because it is delirium.

Jonah and the Whale - (I'm an atheist) With the anglofication of Eleanor, she peruses the bible. Eleanor's search is like someone who is familiar with the stories, but not the structure. Jonah's prayer shares "acceptance" of Eleanor's Othello like prayer. Though Eleanor vowed to accept her fate in chapter 1, only now is she required to fulfill it. The belly of the fish/whale as well as the near drowning of Jonah narrate a typical mythological underworld experience. Jonah parallels Eleanor's struggle against England in S1 and S2, as well as Flint and Rackham fighting an England that pardons. It's a sea related story. The delirious dream hints that Rogers may have an inside-the-whale experience.

Cupid & Psyche - Eleanor feels lonely with the impossible task of keeping all the balls in the air. Like, Miranda tells Flint that he can't yet see that he's not alone, Eleanor is no truly alone either. Max attempts to help and support her several times. Though Eleanor sees the legend as one lover forgiving the other one's flaw, Rogers gives the psychological interpretation of self-love through forgiving yourself.

Max as Orual: C.S. Lewis's wrote a modern retelling of the legend ("Till We Have Faces",1956) narrated by Psyche's sister Orual. Classically, Psyche's sisters urge her to betray her husband out of envy. Lewis has Orual urge Psyche out of love for Psyche. When Orual visits Psyche, she sees no palace, no riches, only a bare mountain top and thinks Psyche dillusional. Making Psyche see the "truth", she causes Psyche's banishment from her mountain god. Orual meets the mountain god herself, and angrily blames the gods for not showing the truth sooner. While Psyche wanders alone, Orual acquires all sorts of skills, becomes queen, but she is forever alone. When old she hears her sister's legend and how she's wrongfully portrayed as the evil, envious sister. She dreams of having to do the same tasks as Psyche and realizes she was envious of the gods getting to enjoy Psyche's love. Psyche opens the box of beauty for a dying Orual, while the mountain god descends to be with Psyche. Twice the god tells Orual that she "too will be Psyche". The first time, Orual thinks it means she will suffer like Psyche. The second time she understands it means being forgiven.

Max's motivations appear to others as envy of Eleanor's power and blond-blue-eyed white status. In truth she is envious of the island and Rogers who get to have Eleanor's love. She hopes to advize Eleanor against having an affair with Rogers, but the opposite happens. And when she tries to be a friend and equally get Eleanor away from Rogers' regime, Eleanor distances herself from Max. She herself says "in this moment I am you". Both Eleanor and Anne Bonny are attached to their man. Max became the Queen of the Street and chairwoman of the Nassau council, but she feels very lonely.)