Theo stumbled to bed that night with a lot on her mind. She had been holed up in the storage room for a reason. Ava couldn't just let her stare at their new wealth in disdain. She had to come in and talk to Theo about emotions and problems, which was not on Theo's agenda for the night. She was a little rude to Ava, which she felt bad about but drunk Theo was not the blueprint for patience. And while drunk, non-patient Theo was very upset about the intrusion, sober Theo was thankful for it.

After sleeping on the things clouding her mind, she woke up with a clearer picture of everything. There was truth in what Ava had said the night before. It mimicked what Xyra had told her a while back. She had a support system and no one was going to blame her for a wrong choice, they were bound to happen. Still, it was hard to convince her mind of that. It was difficult to push past the fear and the uncertainty but doing so was the first step in being a good captain. Navigating through the unknown was her job and she was going to attempt to stop the fear of failure from getting in the way.

Waking up was difficult and there was a persistent throb in her temples and the back of her head as she got up and got ready for the day. They were already on the move, Theo could tell by the way the ship was rocking. It would be a long trip to Corinspe and most likely a boring one. There would be nowhere to stop between their location and the pirate island so raiding would have to take place in order to restock on food and supplies. Besides the occasional raid, which would more than likely be peaceful, there would be nothing but an uninterrupted ocean for the next cycle. Theo loved the sea but mentally preparing for sun after sun of endless blue was harder than it seemed.

Theo finished getting ready and pulled on her final piece of clothing, a furry warm coat that would keep the chill at bay. She walked out and squinted at the bright light. Theo gave a wave to Navi at the helm and then made her way into the ship. While the night before was a bit hazy, Ava's words were not. She had caused a small rift between her and her sisters by being rude the night before and her first order of business was to apologize. She walked to Xyra's cabin first and knocked loudly on her door.

There was some shuffling on the other side and Xyra opened the door, "Theo?"

"Xy," Theo nodded, "Can I come in?"

Xyra tilted her head and scrunched her eyebrows but let the captain in any way, "What is it?"

Theo took a look around the room and saw a lump on the bed. Navi was upstairs so that had to be someone else. Theo's eyes went wide and she walked over to the figure and pulled the covers back enough to see their face and if they were clothed. It was Cooker and she did have her clothes on. Cooker's eyes opened and stared up at Theo in sleepy confusion.

"Oh, sorry," Theo whispered, "thought Xy was sleeping around with the crew."

"Can you imagine Xyra trying to pick up a girl from the crew?" Cooker laughed a little as she sat up and stretched. Cooker's hands went behind her back and she cleared her throat and dropped it to match Xyra's, "I think it would be best if you quietly followed me to my chambers so we might engage in some intercourse. Keep up."

Theo had to bite down hard on her lip to keep from laughing but the cheeky smile that spread across her face could not be hidden. She schooled herself into trying to regain a neutral expression, she came here to apologize for being abrasive the night before, not to make fun of her friend.

"I wouldn't have woken up if I knew I would be berated so early in the morning," Xyra said and then climbed back into bed, "I have no objections to kicking you both out."

"Honestly, I'm surprised Cooker was even allowed to sleep over," Theo feigned shocked, "What would Navi say about that?"

"Wouldn't know, I'm not speaking with her at the moment," Xyra muttered and pulled the blanket over herself again, turning her back towards them.

Theo looked at Cooker who confirmed the news with a nod and shrug. Theo climbed over Cooker and squeezed herself into the bed between them. She put her forehead against Xyra's back and brought an arm over Xyra's side.

"Xy, I'm sorry," Theo whispered to her friend and hugged her tight, "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Xyra said.

"Xy was the one that broke things off," Cooker gossiped from her side of the bed. She had scooted closer to Theo and whispered it into her ear.

"You didn't tell me. I would have given you some time off or something," Theo stated. How long had it been since they broke off whatever they were doing? Had Xyra been silently suffering for a while and Theo just hadn't checked in?

"I didn't want an I told you so," Xyra shifted a bit so she was on her back and not her side, "It's fine though. I'm fine."

"I'm sorry I made it so that you felt like you couldn't come to talk to me." Theo said and also moved to her back, "that's actually why I came here, to apologize for some stuff. I'm sorry for being dismissive and rude last night. I'm having trouble with this whole insurmountable sum of gold and jewels we have and I shouldn't have taken it out on you all."

Theo didn't think she would divulge that much but when she was surrounded by the people that knew her best, it was hard to keep her thoughts in.

"We are here to help, Theo," Cooker said.

"Aye, there are a lot of decisions to be made in the future but we'll be there to assist you with it," Xyra added.

"I know and that is why I came to you," Theo admitted, "I think I'm going to need all the help I can get."

Xyra turned on her side to face Theo and rested her cheek on Theo's shoulder. Her long leg came to rest over Theo's lower body and then Cooker took the hint and joined in. Soon enough, Theo was buried under several limbs. Cooker and Xyra had her tightly wrapped up in their embrace and Theo pretended to struggle to get out before giving up. They didn't talk much after that but they did manage to fall back asleep, squished together on a bed too small for the three of them, ignoring their morning duties.

------------------

The trip to Corinspe was as blue and as endless as Theo thought it to be. The only break up in the daily routine was the occasional small merchant vessel they would board. Every time they were halfway through their supplies, they would raise the flag and board someone. Both fortunately and unfortunately, they were all peaceful endeavors and there was no damage or loss on either side.

While the journey was endless and repetitive it was a nice change of pace. They were not constantly stopping off at cities which meant Theo's captain duties were limited. She had to do her daily checks on the ships and talk to a few of the crew here or there but it barely took up half of her morning. Aftermornings and early night times were usually spent strategizing and making key decisions about their loot and their future.

Each woman got 400 gold pieces- if they joined at Alenroux they only received 200 gold- a gem they desired, and their choice of expensive rarities. Cooker organized the last part of the payment process. She gathered the crew together one night after dragging all the excess items from the storage room into the mess hall. By a random draw of numbers, an order was determined and the women were allowed to pick one item on each of their turns until the room was empty. It worked out pretty well and Theo did not even need to lift a finger to make it happen. With all the items of no value to the ship's fund gone and the women being paid their share, the harder decisions had to be made.

All in all, after the silver and gems were converted into gold coins, they were looking at over 35,000 gold pieces in the ship's fund. With one raid, which wasn't even planned, they managed to double what had previously been in the fund. Theo was excited yet stressed, neither emotion was able to be present without the other. They had never carried around that much money before, only ever carrying a maximum of 5,000 gold on the ship from the fund at any given time. Because of that, their first priority was to make it to their secret spot, their burial place for any treasure they wanted to hide.

Their burial spot was only a two sun journey from Corinspe so it was conveniently on the way. There was a bit of discussion between the officers of the ship whether or not Ava should be involved in the process of burying treasure since she was so new in the fold. It was decided that it would be fine. If Ava did turn out to be an evil spy, there would be no way for her to retrace their steps as she was not a navigator and the map to the island was never put on paper. With their destination in mind and the money on its way to being secure, they were left with the question of what to do with so much money.

That was the part they got stuck on. Night after night of discussions took place around the question: what now? With the threat of a mysterious enemy and the pirate council convening, it was hard to predict what was next once they got to Corinspe. Coming up with too many plans was useless, they tried that but each of their suggestions banked on extremely specific scenarios to unfold before that plan was able to work. They came up with one solid plan if they walked out of Corinspe and they had nothing to worry about and nothing to fight against then they would invest some of the money into a ship and begin going port city to port city to recruit crew members. Cooker tried to bring up the idea of multiple land businesses again, more than the ones Theo had recently acquired, but she was shot down. Their plan was to exclude trying to fund and found land businesses.

They also spent time as a group of officers, minus Pearl who was gone, deciding if their battle plans and strategies were up to par with the threats they were facing. There wasn't much they changed when they reviewed their ship's procedures for different scenarios and emergencies but they did keep the frequent ship training sessions. Whether or not they could predict this looming big bad didn't mean they couldn't be ready if something descended upon the crew.

The aforementioned looming threat of an unknown person or thing or group that was out for pirate blood was something they had many talks about as well. None of them ever went anywhere though. They hypothesized, speculated, brainstormed, and ruminated over what it was or who was behind it. They wondered if the hit on them was related to other pirate disappearances or had they just been targeted by someone on a solo mission to see them dead. Theo put a stop to the conversations halfway through their journey, there was nothing productive about them and the hypotheticals only served to work up the crew.

Ava was holding her own during their multiple meetings and long hours holed up in Theo's room. As Ava learned more about the sea, the ship, and pirating, her questions would pop up less often. She was seamlessly melding into the dynamic of their group and Theo couldn't remember a time where Ava hadn't been there, giving her input. Ava kept Theo's suns and nights from fusing together and they grew closer during their voyage away from Gossem. Closer than Theo had expected.

Ava's presence was a constant, even if she wasn't around. If Theo wasn't around Ava then she was hearing about what Ava had done on the ship that sun. The girls were growing to love her more and more and Ava doing her job meant less work for Theo. Over the course of their voyage, less and less people came to bother her and went straight to Ava. When Ava wasn't working, she was in the library reading, with Oceane training, or with Theo doing things no one else knew about.

Much to Theo's dismay, Ava had ended her nightly training sessions with Theo. They had decided it would be better to put a pause on the up-close combat and see if Ava was any good with a bow. They had limited people on the ship that were good with archery and Oceane seemed thrilled to be able to teach someone new. Ava didn't give up on Theo's end of the deal though, she was still by Theo's side almost every night to teach her how to read. Theo was leaps and bounds better than she was when she started and was now able to get through a page or two of documents without having to ask for help.

Somewhere in between Theo's schedule and Ava's, they still managed to find each other at the end of the day. It wasn't every night that they slept together but it was most nights. Even if they weren't sleeping together, they would still spend the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning together. They also often fell asleep together, wrapped up in each other's arms until one of them woke up and they went their separate ways, always before the first break of light.

They were six suns away from their destination, it was dark outside and no noises could be heard from the deck. Theo was propped up against Ava's headboard and Ava was sitting between Theo's legs. Ava's back was pressed up against Theo's chest and her red curly hair tickled Theo's skin. Theo's arms were wrapped around Ava, her chin coming down to rest on Ava's bare shoulder. Ava was animatedly moving her hands around telling a story about one of the cooks from her father's kitchen that always snuck her extra treats.

"You never talk about your family," Theo pointed out. It wasn't accusatory, it was just something she had noticed. Anytime Ava would talk about her time growing up, it never featured a family member. Theo felt Ava somewhat tense in her arms, she had hit a soft spot.

"There isn't anything to talk about, really," Ava said and brought her hands back down to her lap.

"I don't mean like that. I mean, none of your stories have them in it. But you've mentioned you had siblings before so I guess I was just wondering why they aren't ever in your tales of home?" Theo thought maybe she should try and avoid the topic since it made Ava a bit shifty but her curiosity got the better of her.

"I don't have any stories with them, no good ones at least," Ava said, Theo could hear the sadness in her voice but there was something else laced in with sadness that she couldn't pinpoint, "my family was rude, especially to those not like them. I was blood but I wasn't one of them and they knew that."

"They treated you badly?" Theo asked, Ava had alluded to a bad relationship with her family before but never gave any details.

"At times, yes. But most of the time they didn't pay enough attention to me to treat me any certain way," Ava explained, "Most of my stories are with the helpers we had around the estate because they are who I spent most of my time with."

"I'm sorry for bringing it up," Theo said and tilted her head to place a kiss on Ava's neck, a soft one.

Ava brought one hand to rest over Theo's arm and she looked back at Theo, "My turn. Do you have any siblings?"

Theo chuckled a bit. She should have known there was no question she could ask that wouldn't be thrown back at her, "No, I don't have any siblings unless you count Cook and Xy."

"An only child," Ava hummed then tapped Theo's arm, "your turn."

"My turn?" Theo laughed, "Is this a game?"

"Aye, to level the playing field we each get a question," Ava explained.

"Hm," Theo paused to think, chin back on Ava's shoulder. There was a lot of mystery surrounding Ava but Theo assumed it was probably less because there were things hidden about her and more that she never talked about her life before coming aboard because there wasn't much to it, "You said you were to be married, did you know him?"

"Aye, I spent a few summers with him," Ava said, "Not the nicest man in Baethos and certainly not the gentlest. I was to be married to General Hoffster."

Theo almost recoiled at the name. She had encountered General Hoffster, it was before he had become general but she couldn't imagine he got any more pleasant the more titles he acquired. Ava certainly dodged a miserable life. The last she had heard of the General, he was escorting councilmen around on the lightbringers. It was then that Theo remembered hearing about him spending his summers with the Vaith family.

Every noble family held summer court for the children of the greater houses they oversaw and other friendly noble houses. The children that were allowed in court were usually the ones that belonged to higher-ranking family members and not random offshoots of the family branch. Ava had mentioned that her father was the face of the Ableworth family but she never mentioned she spent her summers in Aubermasse.

"Hoffster spent his summers at the Vaith residence, which means you did too. Why didn't you ever mention you knew the Vaith family?" Theo asked.

Ava's relaxed form went rigid again and she bit her lip, "That name carries a lot of weight out here...Thought it would be best to not mention I used to spend my summers with the most hated man in Baethos. Could ruin the image."

"Did you personally know him?" Theo questioned, she rarely came across anyone that had interacted with him.

"Aye, I have had some conversations with him," Ava admitted, "you got three questions though. Now I get my round. Three questions."

Theo would have rather kept asking Ava. about her experience with the councilman but rules were rules.

"Go on then."

"Your old captain, the one that you were first with, Captain Uncilo? What happened to him?" Ava asked, she had clearly been reading up on Theo again.

"He's still alive," Theo answered, knowing that's what the question really was, "he's the head of the pirate council at Corinspe. He technically is not a captain anymore since he doesn't command a crew but it's an honorary title he still holds."

"Aren't you on the pirate council too?"

"Aye, every captain of a crew registered in Corinspe has a seat at the table," Theo explained, they had not yet delved into the politics of their pirate underworld but now that they were nearing their arrival she needed to carve out a time for that.

"And how is it? Like, seeing him and having to work together," Ava asked

"Fine? Why would there be an issue?" Theo chuckled at the questions being asked.

"I mean, he made you kill people and you were just a child," Ava pointed out as if it was obvious.

"He also protected me from a lot of the bad things that could have happened to me all alone in the world," Theo defended, "He gave me a place to sleep and food to eat."

"You don't hold a grudge?"

"That was four questions," Theo stopped her but Ava just pouted and turned back to look at Theo. Theo laughed, "Fine, our relationship is complicated. I don't hold a grudge but I also know he had no business sending in a bunch of children to do his dirty work."

"I have so many more questions," Ava let out a pained whisper and went limp in Theo's arms, "I guess it's your turn."

Theo shook her head with a smile and thought hard about her next question. This was her chance to get answers to anything she wanted.

"The whole Niveal thing. Like, you sleeping with someone. Can you tell me about it?" Theo asked.

Ava turned around and scooted away from Theo's chest to face her. She raised an eyebrow, "Why? Are you jealous?"

"No," Theo laughed, "just curious as to what happened and with who."

"Is that your polite way of asking me if the first time being laid was by someone at a brothel?" Ava asked.

"Yes," Theo admitted and Ava laughed at her.

Ava crossed her legs and placed her elbows on either knee and bent forward closer to Theo's face, "I did go to a brothel but I didn't pay for sex. Or, I guess I did in a way but the money had nothing to do with the sex."

"You've lost me," Theo admitted.

"I gave Zeal a lot of gold and he split it between him and his roommates. They were grateful and wanted to meet me to say thank you. I ended up staying for a while, we chatted, somehow it always comes up but me being unlaid was a hot topic of conversation," Ava shrugged, "They just asked me if I wanted to have sex with them and I said yes."

"Them? Like, multiple people?" Theo asked, with her eyebrows scrunched and lines on her forehead.

"Aye," Ava chuckled a bit, "three."

Theo's mouth fell open but she laughed at Ava's words. Ava was surely just fucking around with Theo. Or that is what she thought before she examined Ava's face to find a smile, not a cheeky one though, just a regular expecting smile. She seemed to be serious.

"Three?"

"Correct."

"You went from not sleeping with anyone the entire time you have been alive to doing it for the first time with three people?" Theo asked again, slowly to make sure she was hitting all the points.

"Correct," Ava repeated and then laughed.

"Who?" Theo asked then realized how intrusive her questions were. She didn't care that Ava had slept with three people, she was just shocked that the redhead was brave enough to do so, "I'm sorry. You don't have to answer. I already took my turn."

Ava just shrugged with a smile, "I don't mind giving you a free answer. Angeli, Kit, and Specs."

"I know we've gone over this but I just need to confirm," Theo chuckled after Ava rolled her eyes, "all at the same time?"

"Yes!" Ava exclaimed, it was one of the first times since becoming a pirate that Ava had broken her habit of saying 'aye'.

"Alright, alright, sorry," Theo held her hands up, "very impressive and pirate-y of you."

"Wanna know a secret though?"

"Hm?"

"You were my first kiss," Ava said with the most adorable smile Theo had ever seen.

Her nose was scrunched in a way that made Theo's heart melt just by looking at her. She had gotten so used to their time together and their talks. Theo was comfortable around Ava, willing to relax and let herself enjoy the moment. Ava brought out a childlike playfulness in Theo that she rarely got to experience in her life. Theo couldn't keep her thoughts and emotions at bay and they overflowed. She placed her hands on the bed in front of Ava and leaned forward to bring Ava into a kiss.

Ava brought up her hands to cup around Theo's cheeks and kissed back, lips still plump from the multiple hours of kissing they had just gone through. Well, kissing and other things. Theo pulled away and opened her eyes in time to see Ava's still closed, a smile breaking out across her face.

"You can't distract me, it's my turn," Ava said but her red cheeks gave away that she hadn't minded the distraction.

"How awful of me. Please, do go on," Theo said and leaned her elbows back onto the bed.

"What happened to your parents?" Ava asked.

Theo's throat went dry and she sat back up, clearing her throat. That hadn't been where she had expected Ava to go. Theo's childhood and her parents were never going to stop being a touchy subject for her and she didn't see herself being able to share that part of her with Ava just yet. That was something very few people were privy to and while she liked Ava and trusted her, it was too painful of a thing to talk about at that moment. Whenever she went back there, in her memories, she wasn't ever in a good mood after and Theo would have preferred to not be a dick to Ava in the near future.

"They're dead," Theo said plainly.

"That's a nonanswer," Ava pointed out.

"That's the answer you get," Theo retorted.

"Then I get a redo," Ava complained, not pushing the question further. Theo motioned for her to go ahead, "Who is Vivexa?."

Another question she hadn't been expecting. She was trying to figure out how to even introduce the whole Viv things but she didn't know where to start. Theo was quiet and Ava shifted impatiently from her spot.

"It's just, I've heard the name around a lot and you also mentioned a Viv that first night in Niveal. I'm not even sure they are the same person but if they are then..." Ava shrugged, "She just seemed like a person of interest and as quartermaster, I feel like I should be looped in."

"You get to ask questions, you don't have to explain why you want to know," Theo said to assure Ava she didn't need to come up with more excuses, "Vivexa was a friend of ours from when we were kids. When I got control of my own ship and got my own crew, she joined us."

"But she left," Ava said.

"She was kicked off," Theo said and Ava's face looked surprised, "She was caught siphoning our leads and information to another pirate crew."

"Oh," Ava looked sad as if she had been one of the crewmembers that were personally wronged by Viv, "everyone always seemed so paranoid of spies and I thought maybe it was a personal phobia thing with some people."

Theo laughed at that, the way Ava's brain factored presented evidence always baffled her, "No, our caution about people infiltrating our ship comes from personal experience."

Ava nodded along and went to say something but hesitated. Theo watched as she struggled with keeping her next question at bay. Theo had spent enough time with her by then to know what Ava looked like when she had something at the tip of her tongue that she couldn't hold back.

"You and her were personally involved with each other?" Ava asked, the phrasing of the question meant to be vague.

"We had a relationship, aye. It ended for obvious reasons," Theo admitted. Ava had gotten far more than her share in questions but Theo allowed it. Ava was just taking an interest in Theo, and Theo didn't want to make it seem like she wasn't up to getting closer with her quartermaster. It was a scary thought that she was willingly walking herself into the centuries-old trap, infatuation.

"But it didn't end. You and her slept together in Niveal," Ava said.

"Aye, we have slept together since she left from time to time, usually whenever she shows up somewhere I am at. I just meant that the romantic feelings between us were gone once she left," Theo explained. It was not the full truth though, the feelings she had for Viv did not subside for a long time. Viv, on the other hand, most likely never had any feelings for Theo in the first place.

"Did you love her?" Ava asked, voice registering just under a whisper.

Theo drew in a deep breath. She should have seen the question coming but didn't. It wasn't that she was blindsided, per se, it was just that she hadn't thought about that painful period in her life in a while. The truth was she had been in love with Vivexa, hopelessly so. There was nothing that Viv could have done to make Theo stop loving her except lying to her the way she did. There was a lot of learning that Theo had to do after Vivexa left a catastrophe in her wake. A long period of growth and regaining her emotional strength.

"I did love her, very much so," Theo said softly, "at least I think it was love."

"Did you not want her kicked off?" Ava prodded.

"She hurt me and my crew. She lied to us and that was something I couldn't tolerate. I made no move to save her from the crew's decision," Theo admitted, remembering what it was like to stand at the back of the mess hall and watch as the group cast their votes against Viv.

She remembered what it was like to try and push the tears down as she watched the woman she loved lash out with insults and screams at the crew she had claimed to be a part of. Theo remembered what it was like to stand passively by and just watch the person she had grown to know unmask her true self. Theo remembered watching as Vivexa became hysterical, exposing to the crew the layers of lies and manipulations she had made Theo believe, just to drive the dagger into Theo's heart

"Did she love you?"

"I don't know," Theo said with a painful honesty in her voice, "I don't know."

Ava said nothing else on the subject. She just crawled up so she was sitting next to Theo in bed and she wrapped an arm around Theo's waist. Theo flashed a small smile at the redhead to let her know she didn't need to be comforted but Ava didn't remove her arm. Instead, she cuddled in closer, putting her head on Theo's shoulder. They sat in silence, their breaths synching up with each other until Theo felt her back start to hurt from her position. She pulled away from Ava and stood up.

"I should probably get going," Theo said with a yawn and began to pull on her clothes.

"Wouldn't want anyone seeing the Captain leaving someone else's room in the morning and getting the wrong idea," Ava hummed.

"Technically speaking, they would be getting the right idea," Theo laughed at herself and finished putting on her clothes.

Ava laughed and crawled to the edge of the bed expectantly. Theo grabbed her boots in her hand and then leaned forward to where Ava was on the bed and planted a gentle kiss to her lips.

"Goodnight Captain," Ava sultrily put as they pulled away, a tone that had Theo itching to just get back in bed with Ava for another round of fun. Theo gained control of her thoughts and was able to leave the room, Ava waving goodbye as she closed the door to it.