The storm on the horizon never let up. It chased them, slowly gaining a little each day. But the sky above them stayed clear enough for flying. Sirius and Amanda took the pegasus out again the next day, and the day after that. There was never a shortage of observers and by the end of the third day others were already asking for a go. At this point Amanda had learnt most of their names and considered a few of them almost friends. Micheal mostly kept his distance although he did glare at her whenever he saw her.

She spent her days helping out where she could and trying to learn the operations of a ship. She helped them clear out the rest of the beetles and do a search through some of the other boxes. She even helped out in the kitchen for one lunch although after tasting her food Shiv did politely suggest that maybe she should leave the chef and kitchen hand to their work and find something else to occupy her time with. Sirius managed to locate a brush for the pegasus. He and Shiv spent a lot of time going over inventory and navigation plans. Sirius also spent a fair amount of time on deck among the crew while Shiv was more distant during the day. Amanda got the impression Sirius used that time to keep in touch with what the crew were thinking. Later in the evenings he tended to disappear while Shiv became more social. Amanda spent her evenings playing cards, drinking, and listening to stories from the crew. They had some wild tales, stories about mermaids and monsters, pirates and scavengers. She was almost certain that at least half of them were made up but she wasn’t sure entirely which ones.

After their ride on the third day, as she was brushing down the pegasus, Sirius stopped in at the door. She didn’t notice him at first, not until the pegasus tossed his head and his ears flicked about. Then she turned to find Sirius leaning comfortably against the wall. She wondered, not for the first time, how long he’d been there watching her. He smiled at her when she looked at him and then he walked over to pat the pegasus who took a step forward to meet him.

“He likes you,” Amanda told him with a soft laugh.

Sirius smiled but a moment later his expression took on a more serious look. “We’ll be approaching Wildwater soon. It’s best we don’t take him out for any more rides until we’re past.”

Amanda frowned as she considered how many days that would be cooped up for the pegasus. She knew from talking with the crew that they weren’t likely to reach Wildwater until tomorrow evening. She had figured that would have left time in the afternoon before they got there but if he was saying this now. Putting the stop on flying a days out meant he’d likely want the same on the other side, when they left Wildwater, plus however many days they planned to stay there. And given the storm… Amanda paused. She’d forgotten about the storm. That would make flying hard anyway.

Sirius was watching her closely while still patting the pegasus. He appeared to be waiting to see how she would react.

She gave a resigned sigh. “Can we still walk him around inside the ship?”

She noticed he relaxed a little.

Sirius nodded. “I know it won’t stretch his wings, but anyone on shore sees that we have a pegasus then it becomes a high value target.”

“You don’t usually carry such things?” Amanda asked out of genuine curiosity. While pegasus were valuable they certainly weren’t the most valuable thing a ship could transport. A ship like of this size, she had assumed would carry things far more valuable than a pegasus. One look at Sirius’s face told her she was right.

“It doesn’t do to advertise it.” he replied noncommittally. She’d noticed that he never seemed to lie about anything. Instead if asked a question that he’d rather not respond to he tended to dance around the answer giving a reply that was still true but not always a direct answer to the question. He was more of an honest diplomat if there ever was such a thing. She’d noted a couple of conversations he’d had with his crew where it would have been easier to lie about the reason for doing something a certain way, or at least it would have been quicker, but he never did. Amanda couldn’t have said that she’d have done the same if she’d been in his position but she couldn’t help but respect it.

As she got to know him she was finding him easier to read, even though he probably talked the least of all his crew. She could see when he was worried, when he was unsure, when he was content. That morning she’d been up early and she’d taken a walk around the deck to get some fresh air. There had been hardly anyone about, just the last few skeleton crew from the night shift. She’d rounded a corner and she’d seen him sitting with his legs dangling over the side of the edge of the ship. He’d been looking out at the sea, watching a few birds circling for fish, his expression showing such an appreciation of beauty that she’d felt like she’d interrupted something sacred. She’d slinked off fast as a snake, least he turn and have his moment interrupted. But she’d thought about that face and the expression on it all morning.

“Surely they wouldn’t see us in the morning?”

Sirius shook his head. “Too many other ships come through here and there will be people out watching that storm, feeding back information to the land.”

Amanda nodded. “How long will we be there?”

“That depends on the storm. Ideally no more than a day.”

She nodded again.

Sirius gave the pegasus one more pat and then pulled his hand away. “I need to get back.”

Amanda gave a half-hearted smile, raised her eyebrows in acknowledgment, and then took over patting the pegasus. She said nothing as Sirius left but she felt a little disheartened although she wasn’t sure why. Had she hoped he’d stay down here a little longer? They’d had a few conversations over the last few days and Amanda had felt like she was getting to know him but she also felt like he was maybe trying to keep his distance too. They’d had a really nice chat after that first ride on the pegasus. He’d shown her some navigation tricks, and talked a bit about the running of the ship, and told her stories about the crew. He had always been more hesitant with questions about his own past but as they had neared Wildwater he had become even more withdrawn.

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Later that evening she played a few rounds of poker with the crew as usual. About the time they started to threaten no more hands if she kept on winning she decided to cut out early. She palmed one of the spare decks of cards without their notice and then used tiredness as an excuse to leave. They didn’t question it too much as it made all their odds better in the next poker game. In truth the moment she was out of the room she went in search of Sirius. She knew roughly where his cabin was although she’d never seen inside it.

She was surprised to find that his door was open.

“This is your room?”

He looked up from where he’d been going through some papers at a desk. “It is.”

“I thought it’d be bigger.”

It was bigger than her own room but only just. Enough room for a double bed, two small nightstands, the table which he was currently using as a desk, and two chairs.

“It’s as big as it needs to be.”

She smiled at that.

“I thought you’d be playing poker with the crew?” he asked.

“I was for a bit but they won’t let me play anymore. Say if I do they won’t have any money left for food.”

He gave a small chuckle. “You’re that good are you?”

Amanda felt daring. She stepped forward into the room and took a seat on the other chair so she was sitting at the side of his desk. His smile fell, his eyes grew wary.

“I am.” She laid her borrowed deck on the table between them. “You want to play?”

He got over his surprise of having her enter his own private room and he smiled again. “After you’ve just been telling me how you’ve been robbing my crew blind?”

“Oh we don’t have to play poker. I have another game.”

He narrowed his eyes but folded away his papers. “Good because truth be told I’m not very good at poker. I can never remember if a straight beats a full house or not.”

“It doesn’t,” Amanda told him as she lay the cards in a tall pyramid shape. “This game is called Bluff.”

“Sounds like poker.”

“It’s not, well not really. We can bet if you want but we’ll start without it.”

“Is this the part where you play really badly to trick me into losing more later?” Sirius asked.

“I don’t hustle,” Amanda replied with sly smile, “and we can bet on the first round if you want.”

“That wouldn’t be fair, I don’t know how good you are,” he replied.

Amanda laughed and had to bite her lip not to lose it completely. When she finally had a hold of herself and she looked up at his face she could see the satisfied smile and twinkle in his eye. It took away any more impulse she had to laugh and for a moment she was captivated by him and the joy in his face.

“Okay, how do we play?” he asked gently and Amanda realised she’d been staring far too long.

She moved the cards into a large triangle shape consisting of seven rows then placed two, one at each corner of the base, in a sideways fashion so it was obvious where they were. All cards were facedown. “It doesn’t matter what’s on the two cards,” she explained “As long as we can’t see them. So what happens is we each take turns taking a card from the pile. We look at it but don’t show the other. Then you tell me what it is but you’re allowed to lie. Then you move ahead one for a red card, two for black, unless I call ‘bluff’. If I call ‘bluff’ you show me your card. If you were telling the truth you move ahead that many and I go back one. If you were lying you go back one. We play until the deck is exhausted. You get a point for reaching the top of the pyramid. And you have to reach the top of the pyramid exactly. Got it?”

Sirius nodded. “I have to say exactly what the card is? The suit and number?”

“Yup.”

“Okay.”

“You first.” Amanda offered.

“Okay.” He drew a card. Then he met her eyes. “Jack of Clubs.”

“Bluff.”

He smiled and turned over a red card. “I stay where I am I assume?”

She nodded.

“I figured there wasn’t much risk to bluffing the first one.”

Amanda smiled and drew her own card. “Queen of Hearts.” She moved her piece forward one and then met his eyes.

“Hmm.” Sirius frowned now seeing the risk he’d taken. However, he could also see that if he played honestly then the winner came down to the luck of the draw. It was certainly safer though. They played through a few games. He played mostly honestly. On the occasion that he did bluff she always seemed to catch him at it. He called bluff on her after she got three blacks in a row but it turned out she’d been telling the truth. He was certain she’d bluffed at least one of them although he couldn’t be sure which one. Of the five games they played he managed to win only once.

Seeing he was perhaps starting to tire of losing. Amanda changed tack. “You know back at home we have another way we play this, it started with cards but you know how people are…” As she caught the look in his eye she wondered if he did know. There was a sadness there, a loss. She trailed off as she caught it and then picked up again. “Anyway it became more of a truth-telling game. Like people would say something true about themselves or a lie and if someone called bluff and it was true then they moved forward two. If it was a lie then they moved back one. If no one challenged them then they moved forward one.

Sirius could guess where she was going with this but he wasn’t sure he wanted to play. “I have a question first,” he ventured, hoping it might distract her from asking any of her own, although he didn’t seem to be having the best luck with that.

She leaned back in her chair comfortably. “Shoot.”

“What’s with the pyramid shape? If the goal is to get to the top, why not just two lines.”

“Well usually you play with more people and there’s rules about occupying the same space and stuff. I guess you’re right we could have just played in a straight line.” She eyed the board as if seeing it with a different perspective.

Sirius shrugged. “It gives the game personality.”

The smile she gave in response made his heart jump.

“I guess it does a bit doesn’t it.”

“So what are the other rules? If we played with two pieces each would that still work?”

Amanda blinked in surprise. “I suppose.” Her brown eyes darted upwards to study his own face, searching for something. “It depends.”

“Depends on what?”

“On if you’re just trying to dodge answering any questions.”

Sirius paused and then met her eyes. “Why’d you come here tonight?”

He watched as her eyebrows flicked up in surprise. The rest of her remained in a laid back position however. Eventually she gave a soft laugh. “That’s a bold question.”

“It was bold coming up here.” There was a question still on the end of his sentence. She was charming and witty, and she’d managed to get him to agree to let the pegasus out for flying and now here she was in his room being far less subtle than usual and Sirius was afraid. She wanted something from him, something he couldn’t give. She knew he was sending her away tomorrow. The second they landed he was going to find her another ship and send her home. He knew she didn’t want that. Because if she wasn’t here then she had no chance at that pegasus which she very obviously still thought she could get. But first she needed to get him to allow her to stay. So here she was the night before in his room. The ploy was obvious and yet he was worried if he kept talking with her, playing her games, even just a second longer he might just start to wonder why he was sending her away.

“You’re not staying,” he told her. “Tomorrow, when we land, you’ll be on your way. Once the storm’s past there will be ships heading back to Little Rock. You’ll board one of them, I’ll cover the fare, and you’ll head back home. Nothing you say here tonight is going to change that.”

He watched her face harden. “Maybe I just came here to chat,” she replied briskly. “Not everything someone does is a scheme you know.” With that she packed up the cards and stormed out of the room.

For a moment he wanted to stop her, wanted to chat to her more, but he held himself back. It was for his own good.