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Aeryn Branche, Sehyun Han
November 1, 1800

Aeryn Branche's eyes fluttered open for the first time in five days.

From the darkness in the room, sunrise would be hours away, and from the sweet scent of caramel, she knew Sehyun Han was nearby. The chamber was oddly warm; the flame in the fireplace maintained the heat, and the candles were placed around the room with no pattern.

It took her a minute to recognize where she was, but when she identified the messy desk to her right, her heart skipped a beat.

She was in Han's room.

Aeryn stumbled down the bunk bed's ladder, losing her footing at the last step. But she didn't fall. She floated in the air for a brief second before being let down onto the floor softly.

The thud of shoeless feet entered her ears, causing her to straighten her back.

"Shut up, Margrett. I already told you, I'm not interested in murdering your daughter or your husband-you too, Wyatt. I'm not in the mood of torturing your country's king because he taxed you extra. I swear, if I didn't have pneumonia, I wouldn't even hear your voices," Han's voice said as he came closer to his room. He then yelled something in Spanish, using the same tone. "I've already met my quota for this year."

Aeryn's first instinct was to hide, but she kept her feet planted on the wood, noticing the new clothes on herself for the first time.

Han kicked open the door to his room with a blanket draped on his shoulders and a mug full of a steamy drink in his hand. But what caused Aeryn to smile was his eyes, too puffed for him to see, and his nose that was as red as a baby's butt.

He kept muttering something about why Suzy insisted on keeping so many candles lit as he turned, locking his eyes with Aeryn.

"Survivor, nice to see you alive and well," he said with a tone that said the opposite. "I got pneumonia because of you-Margrett!" he exclaimed at the space next to him. "I don't need advice on proposing marriage to her. I'm not interested in women, or anybody for that matter. Even if I was, I still wouldn't kill your family."

Aeryn didn't know how to react or how to respond. She didn't know what to say to him.

After a moment of silence, Han growled at what seemed to be nothing to her and slammed the door shut, yelling, "Don't bother me for at least three days. I won't even consider your requests if either of you dares to make even the slightest of sounds."

Han then sunk into his chair, looking to the sky before downing the entire mug of coffee or tea-Aeryn couldn't tell. There was so much milk in it that a cow's life force must've been used to make his beverage.

He then spent a few seconds coughing, sneezing, and scratching his eyes.

When Han appeared approachable, Aeryn took a few steps towards him, already sweating from the heat. "Han?"

"What?" he snapped, annoyed. Despite his stuffy nose, Han's voice wasn't as stuffy as it should've been. Realizing he was speaking to Aeryn and not a ghost, he corrected himself and said, "How can I help you?"

Aeryn sat on the seat parallel to him, her mind swirling with questions for him. "What did you mean when you said you got pneumonia because of me?"

He rolled his eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Yes, that's why I asked."

"Well, I first dived into ice-cold water to save you, something that must've had no impact on you considering you're the Empress of the Sea."

Aeryn was about to interrupt him and ask what being the Empress of the Sea meant. Why was the Empress so important? Why was it something Sehyun knew better than she? But she stopped herself to hear the rest of what he had to say.

"Then when Suzy dried you up-all while I waited outside, still in wet clothing, might I add-I came inside to stitch up that huge gash on your back-while my clothes were still wet with ice-cold water."

Aeryn twisted her back, somehow expecting to see the injury Han spoke of. She felt no pain. "What are you talking about? I feel no pain, and doesn't being the Empress mean my injuries heal almost instantly?"

"Not feeling pain must be a perk of being the Empress, but injuries have a hard time healing when there are splinters and wood chips in the wound." He reached to drink from his mug, not realizing it was empty. He still fought to get that final drop. "You are so lucky that I studied medicine."

"If you studied medicine, wouldn't you know better than to roam around in wet clothes?"

Han coughed as a reply, the croup sounding so forced.

Taking it as a sign of Han no longer wanting to talk about pneumonia or injuries, she suggested something she knew Han would say yes to. "Poker?"

Sehyun wanted to refuse to take revenge against Aeryn, but his need to play outweighed his pettiness. "Fine," he grumped. He pulled out a deck of playing cards from his drawer and instructed Aeryn to grab the chips from the left side of his room as vaguely as possible.

"How about instead of poker chips, we bet questions?"

"Elaborate."

Aeryn frowned, feeling awake and healthy. Except she was hungry. "I will after I get some food."

"Go get it yourself. Suzy's out on the main deck. Just ask her, and she'll help you."

Her frown evolved into a scowl, and the second she stood up, memories flooded her brain. Memories of the White Crow sinking, memories of River, Ryker, Brooks, and the rest of her crew dying, memories of losing Erel despite her being inches away from her.

Aeryn fell backward, her rear hitting the wood with a thud. She gasped, inhaling and exhaling much faster than average.

"What is it?" Han asked, trying to remain aloof as ever, but the crack in his voice was about the most concern he'd ever shown her. "Are you going to die?"

She gave no reply.

Standing and looking around the room, Han looked for his pen, wanting to twirl it around. "I would help you, but I don't want you to catch my illness, so I'm going to fetch Suzy. I'll be back, don't worry."

Han crept open the door, groaning at having to run errands with an illness bestowed upon him.

He then returned, pushing Suzy through the doorway, whispering commands into her ear. "Just check and see if she's fine."

"How?" the quartermaster asked, her movements tired. They had lost a few crew members when Cronas and Kronos attacked, and Suzy had to take over for them.

"I don't know--"

"You're a doctor."

Han wanted to point out that he wasn't a licensed practitioner of medicine, but Suzy would merely bring up the fact that he was a pirate. "What makes you think I know how to deal with that?" he said, pointing at Aeryn, hugging her knees to her chest, a few tears falling out of her eyes. "I can't diagnose her if I don't know what's wrong?"

Suzy slapped a hand onto her forehead. "You know, for a normally functioning human being, it's frustrating to see you not be able to tell she's feeling sad."

Sehyun wanted to retaliate, saying that Suzy only knew Aeryn was sad because she studied emotions and expressions in her free time or that he spent most of his time alone or around Marty who made smiling look easy. However, he didn't want to hurt her feelings, so he said, "Do you fix sadness with a hug? Or mango juice? Didn't we collect some mangoes from Waihg?"

"We did, but allow me to show you how to cure sadness." Suzy dragged herself to Aeryn, crouching in front of her. She held her shoulder and said, "Are you okay?" with a tone Han never heard before.

It was a soft, beautiful sound compared to her usual manly voice.

Aeryn stared at the wall past Suzy, her mind fixated on the death she had seen days ago.

"What's the date?" she muttered.

Han was the first to reply. "November first, eighteen-hundred."

Aeryn rushed to her feet, running out the door to see if the Black Egret saved anyone else. If one of her crew members were alive.

But as she ran onto the main deck, the only people there were the crew members of the Black Egret.

She was the only survivor, and everything screamed déjà vu before her legs gave out.

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Word Count: 1400