The last time that Diana had drank this much, it had been her eighteenth birthday celebration. It was the legal drinking age in the Magi Kingdom, and an awful idea from her friends and cousins. Half of them were Sorceresses, some Druids, a Wizard, and all of them royal and rich. She was dating at the time, a man she thought she might marry. He said she was fun, but her female friends and relatives called her stiff. She and her mother called it practical. After the festivities, Aiko took up the same job that it did now, except that now Diana was alone, with nobody to help her counter the tiger’s judgment.

She sat down in the metal cell of her cabin's shower, legs hanging out, staring up at the spraying head. Her mouth hung open like an eager baby bird trying to wash the foulness from her tongue. Her head sat against the steel wall, arms across her belly, the chill did little to relieve the throbbing of her brain. Through the open door, past the disapproving tiger, came the late afternoon light. The sun was fine to blind her as she hid her face from it. She wanted someone, a more comforting presence than the tiger.

Aiko growled low. To her mind came memories that were not her own, but the tiger’s low perspective on the night’s events. Diana at the start of the night, nervous, searching around between every introduction. The Pirate’s arm tightly around her shoulder, encouraging her to keep focused, keep drinking. It wasn’t enough to do the speech, now she had to sell the persona. The Druid princess, the Hero to replace the others. Nothing so clear had been said, but it should have been shouted, for it was the only thing that made sense. As the drinks kept coming, urged through toasts, that from the tiger’s view were shallow, it was obvious this was revenge. Angelina wanted her drunk, to make a fool of herself. The side eyes and glaring over the rim of tankards. How dare this young girl push in on my territory?

Her obliviousness and compliance was too painful to relive for Diana. One drink kept coming after the other. Her cheeks had become red and she stopped looking for help. In the back of her mind, she knew it was wrong. At that point, she was too tipsy to care. Now it was quite sharp.

“Stop it,” she mumbled, waving at the tiger.

Aiko yowled, grumbling. It flashed back to the moments of Angelina guilting her into accepting the half truth. Then came the image of her sister’s bed with an angry growl from the tiger, it didn’t need to show Luann.

“Stop it!” she cried, holding her head. She coughed, sputtering on the water flowing over her.

Then played the memory of Jonah promising to be there for her, all through the door of the dark diner bathroom. After it came the two of them parting ways in Graycliff. Where had he gone? Why couldn't she find him? Why didn't he look for her?

“Gods, I wish you could just bloody talk,” she seethed, glaring at the tiger. "I know everything is wrong, I don't need to be reminded."

Its blue eyes blinked slowly at her. In their depths she could see herself. The reflectiveness was magical, a purposeful introspective for its owner.

“I need to be a Hero, I cannot do anything without Angelina, without this blasted ship and the fame,” she said with a pitiful sound. "I'd rather be out here and suffering than sitting and doing nothing at home. I know that misery, it's why we left."

Still seeing herself, wallowing in pity, she saw flashes of her resting on Jonah’s chest in the diner. She was pouring her soul out to him. Confessing that she finally felt herself again, she felt that relief once more. The comfort she had rarely felt since her sister died.

“What? Stop it, please,” she said to the mirrored eyes.

Aiko chuffed.

I’ve betrayed everything I stood for…

“I stand for vengeance… I should be willing to let myself go. I don't need to feel like myself anymore…”

She saw herself leaning over the ship's rail, admitting that she knew it would be long before she got a shot at Blodwyn. Then the terror she felt flying for Grayhill, that chance that shook her to her core. The grip of Jonah’s hand. His presence beside hers.

Then it all came back to last night, when she tried to look for Jonah. The drink had fuzzed out the harsh words to her mind then. Now she could understand them fully. “I don’t think you should be worried about the boy, Diana. He’s not really worth your time,” Angelina said plainly, holding onto her around the shoulders. “You’re a Hero now, you don’t need a friend without any real magic. He's a deckhand with some replaced limbs, nothing special about that.”

She saw a fractured memory of the Witch on the docks, something she had forgotten until now. The bubbling brew on the wood. The older Paladin talking vaguely about Jonah, that he was safe and away. Old Bill wanted her to play along with Angelina and Fia, but there was only so much she could do without losing herself in that equation.

Diana understood the complex balancing act, and sighed in relief. It was a difficult act, but knowing what to do made her feel lighter. She pressed her head into the shower wall, staring up at the spray of water, now running straight off her face. Aiko made its way between her legs, setting its massive head on her lap. Her hands scratched behind its ears and under its chin, a heavy breath of resolve coming out from her chest.

“I will not sell my soul fully to Angelina. I will not lose myself anymore than I have,” she said quietly.

It took a great deal of effort for Diana to heal herself, hydrate her body and fix the aches. By the time she was dressed in her traveling clothes, there was a dull pain in her head and along her joints. She had rubbed her jars of creams into her skin, massaging her poor feet that had been in wonderfully supportive boots, but had wandered drunkenly across an entire town.

Brushing out her hair, Aiko caught sounds on the top deck. Memories of the crew laying out, face down, came to her then. Her early morning arrival was the most recent, but also the most jumbled. It was keen with the tiger's perspective. Slipping on her shoes and summoning her staff to her hand, Diana and Aiko rushed up to the top deck.

The ship was docked and the town of Grayhill shone in the sunlight. Still lining the streets were remains of the festival and soldiers cleaning it up. Up the dock came the two younger Paladins. Warren Whittaker with Jonah supported by one arm. Sammy Whittaker with Kalyah held by her bottom over her shoulder. The most commotion was Coal circling about, raising a happy alarm. Lucy was clopping around, struggling to open the rails for the gangplank. From the center mast table came Angelina, as rested as ever, and the Witch, wearing nothing but a black silk nightie. The latter woman scrambled to the swinging rails, focused keenly on Jonah. She still bore all the damage she had in the early dawn hours, except that her mask of bruises had darkened.

As the Paladins made it to the end of gangplank, they were rushed by both Diana and Angelina. Warren frowned, handing over Jonah with hesitation as Diana reached for him. Jonah’s face was pale and he stank of sweat and grime.

Coal landed on the railing. “They return! They return! The rest of the crew has returned to us!” he called loudly.

Kalyah was set down, staggering in place, eyes half awake.

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“Well, where were you two?” Angelina asked, joyfully inspecting them. “We looked everywhere for you.” There was an undertone of frustration to her voice.

Sammy held up the Pixie elf. “They were taken out of the rodeo early,” she said. Both her and her cousin wore their greatcoats still, no sign of wear on their enchanted surfaces.

“How is that?” the Pirate asked.

“I think they hit the liquor pretty hard,” Warren replied with a shrug.

“I thought you were meant to be watching over him,” Diana spoke up, supporting Jonah by the waist. He groaned, the smell of booze him, but not on his breath. Aiko's sharp nose could smell the difference. The excuse didn’t sit right with her.

There was a shadow across the Paladins’ eyes. She remembered the promise of their elder clearly. The man was not the type to lie. Old Bill wanted her to play along, and for their sake she didn’t pry anymore to them.

“Some job they did,” Angelina said, making a show of smelling the alcohol on Jonah. “Seems like the boy was enjoying himself quite a bit.” She ran a finger across his cheek and tasted it. “Yep, that’s the salt of a mermaid’s kiss. No doubt about it.” She leaned towards him. “I don’t blame you, big boy, there were lots of pretty women there last night.” She patted his face in a patronizing manner.

Jonah looked down and Diana noticed his nervousness shining through his sickly facade. The vial on the dock, the stare the Witch was giving him now, and the comment from the older Paladin. Diana had no doubt that the Witch was up to some wickedness, that Angelina wasn’t above a great deal herself. Her recent resolve had not faded, even seeing Jonah as he was now. The ship she stood on, it was the only way she could travel the world in her search. The only thing keeping her from home. Those truths she couldn’t escape.

Some ruse had been concocted though and Angelina was happy to fall for it. The Paladins remained quiet. There was an alertness fading in and out of Kalyah’s eyes. A silent urging to go along with it. The lynchpin was Jonah and he was terrible at deceit. He wore everything on his sleeve. Having recovered recently from drunkenness, she knew that his legs didn’t hold that weakness, that his eyes weren’t burning in the sun, and that most assuredly his head wasn’t pounding with the dryness of dehydration. His heart was thudding though, anxious to pretend.

This played perfectly into Angelina’s desires, so the Pirate was already telling Lucy and her first mate to drag the late comers off to their cabins. “We’ll be setting off soon, so let’s have them rest,” she said, hands on her hips. "For now at least."

As the dwarf came towards Diana, she brushed him off. “No thank you, I shall take him to his cabin by myself,” she said firmly.

Angelina whirled on her. “Princess, are you still fawning over the boy when he spent the night with the mermaids? I don’t have to explain a man’s fickle ways to you,” she said, pointing to the subject of her animosity.

Diana took a deep breath and a long moment to consider her response. The deck was silent with the weight of the insult to her. She wanted to snarl and shout, like she had often on the ship, but it wouldn't help her now. The calming influence of a nervous man had done a lot in such a short time.

“I don’t know what your issue is with him, other than it keeps me from worshiping you,” she said, evenly, locking eyes with the Pirate. “I know you adore being worshiped. I am your public voice, Angelina. I spent an entire night by your side, getting kissed on the cheeks by mermaids. I have not known Jonah to tell a lie, so I ask him now, did you engage with the mermaids? Did they do anything more than kiss you?”

His eyes grew wide and he stood up straighter to his full height. “No,” he admitted, dropping all signs of supposed drunkenness.

Kalyah huffed through her nose.

“As I expected,” Diana said, holding Jonah’s hand. “Now, I know someone is perfectly fine with lying to me.” She stared firmly at the now sneering Angelina. “I know my place, your bloody subordinate, but I will not have my ally taken from me. There is something more going on, a thing I doubt you will be honest on. Such as the reason that all the crew here were face down on the top deck this morning.”

A surge of shock, pretend or genuine, she couldn’t tell, came to Angelina’s face. She jerked her head back to the Witch, who’s disheveled composure gave away nothing. The rest of the crew, the victims, were all similarly placid in their expression, as if none of them could hear what was being said.

“You have lied to me and Jonah, to the world, I need an honest person beside me, Angelina,” Diana went on as the woman turned back, half lost in thought. She wondered if the Hero was regretting her honesty. “So from this point, I, as royal princess of the Magi Kingdom, am declaring Jonah… What is your surname?”

“Um, Godfrey,” he answered, brow furrowed.

“That Jonah Godfrey is under royal protection,” she declared. “Any threats against him shall be equal to ones against myself. So if you throw him in the ocean, you had better be prepared to throw me as well. Once you have, the might of the Magi military will be on you and no lies will help you there. I am well tracked, Hero---”

Angelina held up her hand with a growl of indignation. “I get it!” she snapped. “What I have told you, what I told the public, is for their own good…” She made certain to glance at the Paladins. “What I do, I only do for the betterment of this world. I was furious and not in a clear head when I said what I did, Diana. When Gregore and Ozwalt became what they are, they had the future of the world on their mind. You don’t know how violent and deadly the war was at the start. Thousands of people could be killed in seconds by the Order. We were fighting an uphill battle from the start. Their lasers, their tanks, their flying ships. There wouldn’t be any Heroes if it wasn’t for what we did.” Her hand clenched into a tight fist. “Have your boy, I don’t care, but I’m not about to let you lounge around the ship like you have been doing. We’re down two Heroes and you’re not enough to fill in even half of Gregore. If we face any actual threat, I can’t have you fold like you did before. I’m going to train you, my magic is more than enough to help you with yours.”

A bolt of shame stuck in Diana at her lack of training. “I would appreciate the help,” she said plainly. “I am well aware of your power, it is incredibly strong for innate magic.”

The Pirate scoffed. “Go on, you two, no need to witness anymore drama,” she said to the Paladins.

As the two officials bowed, Diana knew she had to press her luck an inch further. “Before you go, I need you to ward this ship,” she said. “It seems we have had a problem with undead finding their way on it at night. Angelina has done all she can to keep them off, but she needs more holy hands than what she has available.”

The mermaid’s eyes narrowed. It was only fitting to bend the truth in front of her. Diana wondered if she appreciated that, or if her jaw was tight in pure fury instead.

“Undead? On the Pirate’s ship?” Warren asked, the disbelief not exactly sincere in his voice. Jonah did his best to stifle a gasp as well and Kalyah’s eyes darted about in stunned silence. Mumbling to herself, the Witch took a seat back at the table, while the crew had chattering reactions of concern.

“Why didn’t you tell me, captain?” Coal cried, flapping up into the air. “I would have slayed the beasts myself!”

“It was a minor thing, but I wouldn’t mind the extra protection,” Angelina said with a deep exhale, grinning at the Paladins. “Go ahead, do your thing. The smell was on the top deck, so you can start there.” She stalked off towards the table, hedging questions of sincere worry from most of her crew.

There were too many battles and Diana had her prize, an anxious man that made her feel better in her grieving and sometimes wrathful state. She and him wished farewell to Paladins, who set about their work. They were below deck and Jonah frowned as Kalyah followed behind with her lips pursed and arms folded.

From Jonah’s arm came his glass screen and upon it a flurry of letters that Diana had to stop to read. “There’s a lot of bad stuff going on. We were supposed to trick you and Angelina. I was supposed to keep away from you. I was going to be charmed like the rest. Kalyah isn’t… So, I was ready to not see you. That was crazy, she didn’t expect you to argue with Angelina like that.”

“Ah, you can write without pressing your fingers into it,” Diana commented, trying to remain calm after the whole affair.

His eyes went between her and the phone, as if she didn’t read it. “Yes, I can,” he said.

“Don’t worry about anything,” she said. “I am smarter than you think. I know duplicity when I see it.” She glanced back at the miffed elf. “You made a promise, Jonah, to be here for me. On the first night we knew each other you were certain you had come to the world to help me, and you have. It is only fair that I am here for you in return.”

He stood proudly beside her, looking over her head as he smiled. The sunlight of the portholes shone warmly on his face. “Thank you, I still want to keep that promise,” he said firmly.

She reached up and took his salt dusted cheek. “May I kiss you?” she asked.

He swelled up in surprise, but nodded.

She pressed her lips to his full set, delighted by the spark of something more that shot off in her heart. Her thumb ran along the ridges of his lips, smiling. “A lovely pair you have,” she commented.

He grinned back flustered.

“I just wanted you to both be safe," Kalyah said, stomping past them and turning to point. "Be careful, just be careful…" She threw up her hands and stormed off, mumbling to herself.