***
November 4, 1800, 4:00 am
Sehyun Han, Suzy Aranaz

"Tell me, Suzy, what you told everyone else yesterday," said Sehyun Han, running a hand through his hair and squinting his eyes. No matter how he tried in the morning, he couldn't hide the fact that he was tired and hadn't slept. He hadn't even faced Marty yesterday who was now sleeping in his room.

Then Suzy proceeded to inform Sehyun about her encounter with Suzy.

Falling onto the floor, Sehyun groaned. On the main deck, anyone could come by and see him in such an odd position, but he didn't care. "Why do I always end up having to do all the hard things? Is it so bad that I don't want to do anything in life other than exist and be rich?"

Ignoring her captain, Suzy suggested, "You still have an hour or two until dawn. Go to sleep."

"If I sleep now, I won't wake up until tomorrow."

"That's alright."

Han held out a hand. "Help me up."

Instead of assisting the captain into a standing position, Suzy laid down next to him. "Please don't mind."

"Why would I?"

The two laid in silence, watching the stars be taken over by a warm orange glow.

"What are you planning to do today, captain?"

He sighed, watching the arm he kept floating in the air for no reason. "I was going to ask you."

She gave it a moment of thought. "Well, first I would suggest you meet Marty and Maya. They're sleeping right now, but I'm sure they felt bad you didn't even bother saying hi. That was rude, Captain."

He gave it a thought and let it go. There was no point in feeling guilty for being overwhelmed yesterday. The meeting with Hades was a lot to take in, especially the debate he had himself about killing another. "Didn't they bring a dog with them?"

"They did, but just have a reunion with them, Captain. Maya seems especially off. Then I suggest you catch everyone up to speed and find out what orders you plan on giving Iona, Illorin, and Reyna. And then tomorrow we have to collect Asra and then make a few plans."

He nodded. "Where did Aeryn go?"

Suzy reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper as elegant as the one she received from Hades but in a much brighter colour scheme. "I forgot to tell you, but Poseidon summoned her."

Taking the note from her hand, Sehyun read the words half-heartedly, often reading sentences wrong and having to re-read them. "Interesting. Well, it's nice the ship will be quiet for some time. Maybe, hopefully, Poseidon zaps her somewhere far from this ship."

"Didn't you say that you wanted to be her friend?"

"That was before I found out how annoying she is? I keep giving her the benefit of the doubt, but it's impossible to talk to someone who's already decided you're a monster of some sort."

"Elaborate."

He turned to his side and rested his face on his palm. "Every sentence that comes out of her mouth is very inconsiderate. You see, I'm too shy to say what I actually think to her face because she's going to throw some sort of tantrum and ruin the atmosphere of the ship and she's going to make me feel really awkward about it. Honestly, I can't be anything more than someone she plays poker with. It's the one thing she's good at."

Suzy raised a brow. "I didn't know you thought like that."

"What'd you expect then?"

Suzy giggled. "I never heard you say you're shy. Most of the time you're boasting about yourself whenever it's appropriate."

"I mean, it's not like I'm not shy." He huffed. "I don't know, Suzy. Aeryn's the type of person I don't really like. I thought at first that was just her defence mechanism and that with time she would shed that...skin. But she didn't. Or at least not yet. I don't know."

"Do you not enjoy your banter with her?"

"I used to, but too much of anything gets boring quickly."

The ship swayed as the sun rose. Soon the crew would slowly start filtering onto the main deck, rubbing their eyes and sending their yawns around in circles.

"Do you have any intention of building a relationship with her?"

Now it was his turn to raise a brow. "Not really."

"You never answer questions with a yes or no."

"So?"

She cleared her throat. "But why not? Aeryn is fine in my eyes."

"Because she doesn't treat you like a murderer."

"I've told her many times that I have the largest body count on the ship though." Suzy sat up. "You know what I think? I think she dislikes you for abandoning her when Kronos showed up. Her ship sank, and she's looking for someone to blame."

"So what? I have my own crew to think about. Besides, I managed to get the Tiger's Ruby on board safely, deterred one of the ship's captains by sending him to the book, and I'm not dead. I saved her life on top of that."

"I think that's an excuse, Captain. You asked her for an alliance on Querilke and abandoned her in return and everyone in her crew died except for two. And one got kidnapped."

He reached for his pen. Remembering it was in his room, he scowled. "Maybe," he said, sounding like a guilty puppy. He sat up, debating which way he should stand up. Which method would require the least amount of energy? "But the past can't be changed."

Suzy sprang to her feet, offering a hand to help Sehyun to his feet. "And that's why you two will never be friends in my opinion. Just enjoy each other as allies, alright Cap'?"

"Alright, Quartermaster," he said, grabbing her hand to stand.

Looking intently at the quartermaster who had become an older sister to him in more ways than one, Sehyun gave a second's hesitation before hugging Suzy. "Don't tell anyone I did this."

Returning the embrace, Suzy told him not to worry and to go to sleep.

***

Once the sun rose to a level where waking up wouldn't be inappropriate, Sehyun peeked out of his room, rubbing his eyes, a way to show Suzy that he had been sleeping for the last two hours. A perfect act to fool her into thinking he actually cared about his health. He even ran a hand through his hair and squinted his eyes to match his tiredness. All for nothing since she wasn't even on the main deck.

Instead, he sat on one of the chairs of the main deck, waiting for Marty and Maya to arrive. Since doing nothing wasn't something Han could do, he diverted his energy into wondering how much longer it would take for Aeryn to return from her meeting with Poseidon (considering Suzy was gone for only two hours) and where the dog Marty and Maya brought with them was.

Sehyun found the answer to the latter much quicker than he expected and in a way he could have never predicted.

Alongside the perfect Australian Shepherd running across the deck towards him was Marty trying to catch the wild beast.

"Don't chase it," said Han, his eyes on the dog, completely unaware that it was Marty chasing the dog. "You'll make her or him or whatever run away even more. It's what dogs like to do, so just make yourself boring and it'll return to you."

The dog ran and hid behind Sehyun, ready to pounce and run away at the tiniest sense of danger.

Debating with himself for a second on whether he should play with the dog or do nothing, he looked up, finding Marty panting across the deck.

What to do? How does one greet another? Was he to run or walk towards Marty? What would come off as rude? Too much?

By the time Han found his answer, Marty had already closed the distance.

"Get some decency and at least say hello," he said, beaming at the captain with a grin no one but Marty could pull off. Despite his face looking scary when doing nothing, the second he smiled, it would brighten up Sehyun's mood if only just a tad.

Han stumbled on himself, thinking of the perfect statement to describe what happened. "My brain took a moment to catch up with the moment."

Marty pulled Han into a hug.

Sehyun took a moment to process what Marty had done and returned the embrace much like a cat. Acting as if he didn't want to, but his warmth proving him otherwise.

Both of them clutched onto each other as if the last time they saw each other was years ago rather than a couple of months.

Even Indie exited her playful state and pranced back to where she came from.

"You have to tell me everything that happened, Hannie."

Sehyun gave a humourless laugh. Just the thought of having to explain everything that had happened made him want to bang his head against the table and somehow transfer the information into Marty's head.

Regardless, Sehyun started speaking and didn't stop until he believed everything was shared.

He started from the moment he met Aeryn at Querilke and how he shot a bullet in her ear, then the attack on the wedding, then the casino at Waihg, then how Iona, Reyna, and Illorin had to escort Maya and Juele to the Arce Ace but got arrested instead (according to what Maya had told Suzy), and then how Maya escaped and Juele stayed behind to try and deter the war, and then how Kronos and Cronas attacked them a while back resulting in the death of every White Crow crew member and Erel's kidnapping, and finally his favourite part. The part when Suzy and Sehyun completely fooled Kronos' son whose name was a single letter. I. By leading him to the book capable of murder rather than the Ruby, Han was safely able to collect the Tiger's Ruby and keep it on the Black Egret under his supervision.

Then came trying to explain the gods and the Empress of the Sea, Emperor of the Dead, and Sovereign of the Worlds.

"Ah, I see," said Marty, his brain lost in trying to piece together the sentences thrown at him in no order—especially chronological order. Han had gone back and forth so much that Marty was about to tell him to just stay silent.

But this time, the sun was right above their heads, meaning it was about time Maya would wake up and make her way to the main deck.

As if on cue, Maya came out of her room rubbing her eyes and settling her hair with a hand and Indie following her. When her eyes finally opened and landed on Sehyun, she ran across the room to give him a hug.

Unfortunately for her, Sehyun only accepted hugs from Marty and Suzy. Back when he was a child, he would occasionally let his younger brother embrace him, but only after making a deal of some sort. 

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WORD COUNT 1900