It had taken Ethi merely an hour of exploring Rocka’s ship to verify her initial assessment: that it was a piece of shit.

She’d already had her suspicions upon seeing bits and pieces of it plunge into the ocean while docked, and needed only hear the way it creaked, cried and groaned when set to sea for it to become certainty.

It smelled like fish, too. It didn’t have to smell like fucking fish, but it did. Every nook and cranny of the vessel was drenched in the awful odour. Isla had said it was a fishing ship, but even that didn’t explain just how much it smelled like fish.

She preferred to wallow in the disgust than let her mind rest however. With the threat of gangers out of her head, Ethi’s thoughts kept drifting to her home, and then to her family, and in that there was only despair to be found.

Would they care if they knew what she’d been through? No, it would certainly reaffirm their judgement of her. She failed and rather than redeem herself decided to find peace at the bottom of a bottle. Not a hair short of pathetic.

And it had all culminated in her killing a man. She’d actually killed a person. A mund, no less, with her very own magic.

And I’d do it again if I had to.

The strength of her conviction surprised her.

But did I have to?

And it was gone. Was there another way to stop the Eksha man? If there was, she certainly couldn’t have found it while drunk.

Word from Cut that Isla wanted to see them both took her out of her mind, and Ethi was grateful. She made her way for the cafeteria to meet them.

***

The cafeteria smelled like fish too.

What would I have done without the uniformity?

Isla and Lachlan sat around a table by the corner, standing next to them like a statue given life was the Jhonan woman. She was going to be coming along too, Ethi had been told. She wasn’t sure how scared she’d have been to know that, without the visible fear on Isla’s face as she revealed it. Didn’t know what the giant wanted either.

She was certain prying would get her no answers, so she had done the sensible and respectful thing and merely eavesdropped. Isla was good at being discreet, the only thing Ethi had been able to learn from the woman’s conversations with Lachlan was that this was a change of plans, and not an at all welcome one.

Ethi and Cut were soon seated. There was an image of a man on the table, a Unixian from the look of it.

“That the bloke we’re killing?” Lachlan asked.

“We’re killing someone?” Ethi gasped, too surprised to hide her alarm.

“I’m not a fucking wet alright,” Cut growled, voice hard in that instant way it had. “I’m not doing anyone who isn’t trying to do me first.”

“We’re not killing anyone.” Isla cut in as she cauterized the room with her glare, sparing a brief glare at Lachlan. “He has a document we need to retrieve. The only thing we’re going to do is take it from him.” She stressed her words as if voicing them to children. A smart choice, Ethi reckoned.

“Alright, so I assume he’s at Dahgfort?” Cut sighed. “It’s where this ship is going, what else do we know about him?”

Isla grimaced. “Not much else.”

“Well, fuck.” Lachlan grunted. “So we could be going up against a homeless man with a mean stick, or a retired, unmedicated Wrathman with free time and a pension.”

“Which is why we need to have a plan.” Isla agreed. “I say we-”

“Wait a minute,” Lachlan barged in. The man’s eyes were on on Cut, as if seeing the woman for the very first time.

“Is there something I can help you with?” Cut asked. Her voice told of how little she appreciated the stare.

“I know you from somewhere.” Lachlan announced.

Ethi saw Cut tense at that, the way she’d come to expect from the woman right before a fight. It was Isla who spoke. “Lach, I don’t think we have time for your games-”

“The fucking Net!” Lachlan shouted, seeming to barely hear Isla at all. “Yeah, been ‘round there a few times.” He continued. “”You’re that freak they have for a champion, well I guess had now that you’re leaving.”

“Don’t fucking call me that.” Cut near growled.

Lachlan tilted his head at that and he suddenly wore the visage of a cat identifying the most fun way of playing with its prey.

“Do you fuck yourself?” He asked, lips curving upwards at the edges. Ethi didn’t know what he was getting at but she had sense enough to tell that Cut did not want him going there. “I’m just saying, if I had the facilities you had-”

Lachlan was on the floor in moments, clutching his face and groaning. Cut had punched him in the face, had clearly wanted to do more in fact, but Isla had been quick in putting herself between them to keep that from happening.

Lachlan groggily got to his feet, nose pink where knuckles had kissed it and teeth stained red from his streaming blood. He looked half-mad as his eyes fell on Cut. “I let you get away with the first one, but this time-”

“You’re going to let them get away with it too.” Isla interrupted, eyes falling on him like acid rain.

Cut shoved Isla to the side with such force that the woman went stumbling away. It made Ethi wonder why the smaller woman had been able to hold her back in the first place. Concern, she realised. Cut’s concern. She’d been trying not to hurt her.

“I’m done, I’m not working with this piece of shit.” Cut spat, making her way out of the cafeteria.

She didn’t even get halfway to the door.

“You are.” Isla replied, words like ice. Freezing Cut’s fiery rage, freezing Cut’s thunderous gait. The bigger of the pair turned around, and it was Cut who suddenly looked smaller as Isla continued.

“We had a deal, we fought off Eksha for you and got you on this piece of shit ship off the island, so you will work with whoever the fuck I tell you to. Are we clear?”

Cut met her eyes and then Lachlan’s. A look passed between the pair, and though Ethi couldn’t make sense of it she knew there was nothing friendly about the exchange. She wondered for a moment what exactly Isla would do if Cut refused. Surely nothing. Surely she was just bluffing. Surely she’d shown, already, the extent of her and Lachlan’s abilities.

Silently and wordlessly, Cut took her seat. And so did Lachlan.

“Good,” Isla sighed, remaining standing. “Now let’s get down to business.”

The business in question was rather brief and unevenful. Isla had explained that the target was known to have been in Dahgfort no more than a day.

They would split up into two groups, visit various pubs and inns to ask if a man matching his description has been seen in the area. The next step would be to regroup to exchange what information they’d learnt, and ideally launch a coordinated attack on his location whenever it would be least expected.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

It was bare bones but Ethi couldn’t fault it, there were far too many variables for anything concrete to be made.

The moment their meeting was concluded, Cut was hasty in freeing herself from Lachlan’s presence. Ethi followed as she paced away. “Cut.” She called out. No response. “Cut!” None again. Ethi grabbed her arm and the woman turned on her sharply.

“What?!” She yelled and Ethi flinched. Cut’s eyes fogged with regret. She palmed her forehead seeming to wring the emotion from herself as she did, calming in moments. “What?” She asked again, cooler frustration replacing burning anger.

“I was just worried about you is all.” Ethi replied, surprised to hear the edge in her own voice.

Cut did not reply likewise, simply sighing. “I’m fine.” She answered, glaring daggers at something behind Ethi, Lachlan.

“Why…” Ethi began, hesitated, then continued. “Why did he say those things about you?”

Cut set her eyes to Ethi, as tense as if she’d been preparing herself for a blow. “Because I have a dick and a cunt.” She sighed, reluctant. Resigned.

Ethi blinked. “What? Oh… oh.”

“Will that be a problem?” Cut asked, still taut.

“No?” Ethi replied quickly. It answered a fair bit of her questions. The third sex was not a thing unheard of in Takawa, and while Ethi had not personally met any she had also never never heard anything of ill omen about them. It seemed that was not the case in Unix.. “No it isn’t… Should it be?”

Cut sighed and Ethi couldn’t mistake the relief in her eyes. “No. No it shouldn’t.” Cut said softly, and then she had her back turned. “I’m going to look for somewhere that doesn’t smell like fish, you do smell like fish so don’t follow me.”

Ethi smiled at that and watched Cut disappear down the hallway. Her joy didn’t last long, with nowhere else to go she sat alone back in the cafeteria, where thoughts of home needled their way back into her mind.

It felt wrong, Ethi had to admit, it felt fucking wrong that she was banished from her own home because she couldn’t distinguish herself amongst a continent’s best- a crime that ninety percent of women her age would be found guilty of.

Thoughts of her betrayal shook her conviction. She had turned her blade on an ally to get ahead. Disgraced herself by that alone.

But that’s not what I’m being punished for, am I? It’s not fucking fair.

“I assume not many things are?” Isla’s voice rang out behind her and Ethi turned to the woman. Her smile was easy-going, like everything else about her, including the very waves beneath them seemed unable to shake her poise.

Ethi stared at her confused, and then she realised she’d been thinking out loud. She winced,wondering just how much she’d said. “I.. sorry.”

Isla waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t apologise for feeling like shit,” she said, planting herself in a seat across from Ethi.

Not quite sure what to say to that, she simply half-smiled.

Isla tilted her head curiously. “Now I have a question, and do feel free to tell me to fuck off if you please, but I’d like to know why a sieve contender from the world of Arcane is fleeing from a bunch of gangers and wets.”

Ethi felt her throat tighten and she almost immediately forced herself to calm. But not quickly enough to flee the thousand worries spawned by Isla’s question.

She’d seen her compete. Seen her magic proven insubstantial against Crow, seen her deception bypassed in damned minutes by Unity fucking Eden and his infuriating mind. Ethi swallowed the frustration before it could deepen.

“Not many people who look like me here.” Easy to identify, easy to recognize, another reason she was glad to get off the island.

“You’re hard to miss.” Isla concurred, apologetically.

Ethi decided to keep her troubles to herself, whining about it would solve nothing. “I’d rather not talk about it.” She answered.

Isla nodded, seeming surprisingly nonplussed about her refusal. It almost made her feel bad for walling herself off. “That’s fine, do you mind telling me about Arcane however? I’ve always wanted to go.” As she said it, her eyes became alight, and for a moment Ethi would have thought the other woman a child.

“Oh, well, I’m from Takawa, it’s an island off the coast so not exactly attached to the main land mass-”

“Close enough.” Isla interrupted, leaning in and Ethi felt the woman’s attention squarely on her.

“Okay then.” Ethi nodded. “In Takawa, West Takawa to be exact, it’s amazing… Uh.” Curious, to think that she lived there all her life and yet the moment she was asked a single thing about it Ethi’s mind went blank. It made her feel a fool and yet Isla wasn’t laughing, the woman only patiently waited.

“We fish.” Ethi said. Well that was a start. “So not unlike Udrebam I suppose, though the air is much cleaner, doesn’t feel like I’m inhaling dung.” She half laughed. “My family aren’t nobility but we are respected in our town. Every winter we would host the Siwash, it’s uh… a celebration of the dead and all who have passed on to the other side.”

“You celebrate death?” Isla asked, an incredulous eyebrow raised.

“It’s a natural part of the cycle.” Ethi shot back, surprised at the defensiveness in her tone.

Isla seemed just as blindsided for she nodded immediately.

“Of course, I’m sorry.”

Ethi chose not to dwell on it. “The festival’s the best part of the year, all neighbours put aside their differences to come together and celebrate- mum often said the best time to steal your friend’s boat was the night before Swiash.”

Shit. She’d never see her mother again.

Something wet ran down her cheek, she’d been crying. Ethi sniffed, wiping her eyes as ever more tears threatened to break free. Trembling, suddenly, at the humiliation of it all. “Sorry.” She whispered, barely able to make herself say even that much.

Isla wore her concern openly. Her expression was a curious thing, it held sympathy without pity, as if to say; ‘Yes, I understand you’re in pain, and I trust you to move past it.’

“Why aren’t you on your way back now?” Isla asked and Ethi told her. The woman for her part stayed silent as Ethi walked her through her performance in the Sieve up to the killing of the Eksha boy, her expression only seemed to flicker a shade when she mentioned her reason for banishment.

“Well, fuck.” Isla sighed once she was done.

“Fuck, indeed.” Ethi concured.

Ethi saw the conflict in Isla’s eyes, her features were the shadow of an internal conversation that she was not privy to, and when it had concluded Isla cursed under her breath.

“Listen… what I’m about to tell you stays between us okay?”

Isla didn’t need to say that it was a matter of life and death, her eyes practically screamed the fact. Ethi felt her throat dry. She nodded.

The woman’s eyes flickered across the room as if checking for someone.

The Johnan Perhaps.

Isla didn’t seem to find her so she set her attention back on Ethi. “The job I’m taking on, it’s from a Haven noble.” She whispered. “If I do this, I get paid in nobility, Haven nobility.” As she said it, her face erupted into childlike excitement. The expression of a starved woman seeing meat slapped down on her plate where she expected gruel.

Ethi stared at Isla, smothering the joy as it threatened to bloom. She would not give herself false hope. “What are you trying to say?” Ethi asked, surprised to hear her voice with a soft croak, as if any higher pitch might scare the woman and her favour off.

“Well…” She shrugged, half grinning. “Would a Have noble taking you in be a worthy enough achievement?”

“I… Yes, of course, fuck, of course.” Ethi laughed. “Certainly, thank you, thank you so mu-”

“Keep it down.” Isla scolded, voice harsh.

Ethi did so.

Isla smiled. “But… Yes, you’re welcome.” She got to her feet with a groan. “Now, all we need to do is find that fucker and we’re all set.”

Ethi watched Isla go, trying and failing to keep the grin off of her face. She was going home, she was going to see her family again.