Raw Winter

Chapter 30: Trickery

Rawintr sat with her crew around her in the pub and pointed to Mesmar as a tankard and a steaming plate of meat and potatoes was placed in front of her. She said, "I don't intend to keep you from your meal, but I recall someone staying behind on the ship. Would you mind fetching them for me?"

"Was there?" He replied before he nodded quite a few times, "Aye, I remember who. I'll go get him, captain." He rose, but Whistle had already appeared in the doorway. Rawintr motioned to Mesmar again, and the man sat back down.

Most of the blood was washed away, and he didn't look too bad, but a bruise was forming on his forehead even as he walked over to join them.

"Come, sit with me," she said to him, having someone nearby pull up a chair beside her and she slid her food and tankard over to him so that he could eat before her. Her eye narrowed as she noticed the bruising. "What happened? We would have returned." She felt awkward. She didn't know what to say about it. She wouldn't have assumed the captain would have returned for her either, but this looked bad.

"I hit myself while mopping. It was really messy and embarrassing," he said automatically, wanting to set her mind at ease, though it surprised him she cared to begin with as she continued to study it. "It really wasn't that bad."

"Sure, of course," she answered, but she was already motioning Yulsylus closer. The doctor also appeared concerned and started reaching to touch it to test it, but he quickly reached up to swat his hand away.

"I'm fine," he said sharply, even as the doctor continued to attempt to get a better look at him with a single-minded focus.

Rawintr reached out and took Yulsylus' hand in hers, somewhat surprised because he was usually so reasonable. "The man said he was fine. I'm sure he's fine." She would not leave it, and was going to have him looked at after they returned to the ship, but felt he probably felt embarrassed, especially if he found himself on the wrong end of a mop. Yulsylus looked at her and then back at him, and sat back down on the other side of her.

She gave Whistle a curt nod and said, "I wanted to know what you thought about me and about whether you're going to stay with us. I know Hades meant a lot to you, but I never got the chance to speak with you about it. I knew I would hurt the crew if I did what I did, and I'm sorry about that. I know you were especially fond of the captain and I wanted to apologize to you personally, and if you really cannot stand to serve me, I intended to give you enough to take care of yourself while you're finding a new place."

"Oh," he said, not expecting anything like this as she was brought another plate and tankard that she sipped lightly. "I guess I may have a bad feeling or two, ma'am, but not enough to leave the ship I love. I don't think you need to worry about that. I don't want to hurt this ship and crew."

He braced himself as if expecting a strike. Rawintr could see that. She reached out, and as he tensed, she gripped his shoulder lightly. "I respect what you have to say about it. I was hoping you would be honest with me. I didn't expect as much support as I've gotten in this, and I hope we can all be honest with each other in the future."

She looked around at them, but her eyes went back to him. The rest had been open about supporting her, even if some of them felt the same way about Hades' death. He was the only one to tell her outright. They made her aware about him being on the Red Liar the longest, despite also being one of the youngest.

She said, "You're going to be very important to me in the coming days. I want you to be at my side and tell me how Hades used to do things, and I want you to tell me more about him. I regret killing him so soon, but it was something he and I knew had to be done." This wasn't quite the truth, but it wasn't a lie either. They had talked about her being the one to kill him many times. She imagined he and his crew hadn't planned on it being so quick, even if Hades was getting on in years and nobody would have been surprised if he died any other way. He had many rivals, and many were gunning for him.