Witness

She let the last of the pirates get ahead of her before she slipped into the crowd, following closely behind the group. They walked off the main road into a less crowded street and she fell back further careful not to give herself away. They arrived at a three-story building that looked to be somewhat busy and went inside. If Ava followed, one of the pirates was bound to see her. She looked around for anything that would give her a line of sight. All of a sudden, a group of people rushed out from the building the pirates had just been in. That wasn't a coincidence. Her heart began to beat faster, were they raiding the place? She found a tree across the street from the building and began to climb it. She climbed until she found a good view into the second-floor window, where she saw a dozen or more naked girls around the room, pirate crew and three men in front of them.

That was the pirate business? Visiting a brothel? Ava was about to climb down when she saw Theo draw her sword. Theo looked around the room and said something and the girls all scurried out of the room. She stepped forward to the window and looked out onto the streets and the other buildings to see if anyone was looking. As Theo was scanning to see if anyone was looking she locked eyes with Ava and her expression hardened. Now that Ava was caught and Theo did not look like she was about to interrupt whatever was going on to get her to stop watching, so she stayed. Theo turned away from the window with a scowl and stomped back over to the three men.

"Get them on their knees," Theo spat out and three women stepped forward quickly, pushing the men to their knees, "You see, last time I was here I recall being merciful. I made you a deal, you treat the girls right and pay them their cut and I wouldn't castrate you."

Theo paced in front of them, twisting and turning her sword expertly in her hand, "I can't quite wrap my head around why you won't pay these women what they deserve. I'll let you explain it though. You are on trial here, after all."

"W-we're struggling. It's not business like it used to be. And-" the man in the middle gulped and wrung his hand in front of him, "and it's the three of us trying to p-provide for all of them."

"See, I thought you would say something like that. So, I had my friend Xyra over there make some calculations for me. Xyra, how would you say business is at the grand ol' Three's a Crowd."

Xyra stepped forward and looked down at a piece of paper she had, "Given that this here is a reputable establishment, they charge a standard rate of four gold an hour. The women work for ten hours a sun which means each of them brings in forty gold each sun."

"And how many would you say work here, good sir?" Theo pointed her sword to the one to her left.

"F-Forty, Captain."

"Forty," Theo repeated, "Xyra, please tell what does that put them at for the night?"

"Assuming some customers go for more than the standard rate, a minimum of 1,600 gold. Which means they each take home way over 500 gold each night," Xyra calculated then took a deep breath before saying, "More than 250,000 gold coins for each of them each length."

Theo let out a wry laugh and pressed her sword against the same man's neck, drawing blood, "But I didn't even need her to tell me that to know you were lying because when business is bad I don't wear thousands of gold worth of jewelry on me and silk robes while my workers starve every night."

The man in the middle began sputtering tears and he held his hands up begging, "Please! Please, we'll pay them equally, we will. I'm sorry," he sobbed, "I'm sorry."

Theo kicked his hands away and knelt in front of him, "You let disgusting men come in here and use these women, cycle after cycle and give them nothing. One gold every sun. You take 39 gold pieces from them every fucking night for what? What could you possibly need to buy that you don't already have?"

The man struggled to answer and when he came up with nothing he resorted to more pleas.

Theo stood back up and walked over to the man on her right, "Your business partner here doesn't have an answer for me. And neither will you. Do you know why? Because there is no reason you do these things. There's no sense to what you do to these women, you just do it to hurt them. You do it because you can because you want power over them, you want them to feel weaker and like they need you."

Theo pushed her sword slowly into the man's neck, watching the blood begin to pour out. His wheezing breaths got raspier and wetter until blood filled his lungs and he fell forward. She made her way to the man on the left and he was shaking in fear, "See, I don't enjoy this. Having to come all the way back over here and prove that I wasn't throwing around empty threats. Having to come back and see that the women I thought would be in good hands are still suffering. But killing the likes of you lot makes all the other hassle worth it."

She plunged her sword into the man's chest and kicked him backward and off of it and she looked at the last man left alive, "Now that your two associates are gone I know you must be dying to know what's going to happen to all your money and your business. Well, lucky for you I happen to be a master at business, and I have found that when you believe and invest in women, they tend to flourish. So, you'll be happy to hear the recipients of your assets will be the lovely women here. Think of it as a grand repayment for all they've done for you."

Theo lifted her sword and brought it down but stopped right before hitting the man. She laughed then waved her sword near his crotch and clicked her tongue, "How embarrassing you seem to have pissed yourself. Ladies!" Theo called and some of the naked women from before were now clothed and they filed back into the room and Theo took a few steps back, "He's all yours."

Theo turned away and made her way to the back to the room. Xyra followed and Theo turned to her, "I have to go settle something outside. Will you make sure the money they find gets distributed between them. The crew gets none alright?"

Xyra nodded, "Be safe. I'll see you on the ship."

Theo squeezed her shoulders and made her way down to the first floor; the sounds of the man's screams prominent in the background. She made her way outside and ran to the tree where she had seen Ava, but Ava was no longer up there. Theo was livid that Ava did not listen to her when she said it was not business that concerned her. She needed to find Ava, she was afraid that she had scared her away but was also concerned that she would run and tell the authorities and there was no way they would leave port before they were caught.

"Ava!" Theo yelled and spun in circles looking for her then began to jog down the street. Ava watched her jog by and away from the small alleyway she had snuck into after she bolted away from the scene. Once she had seen Theo separate from the rest, she scurried down the tree and ran, lest she be executed the same way those men were there to keep her mouth shut.

She took quick shaky breaths and she began to panic. She had nowhere in Jarth to go because of her stupid age and their stupid rules. This is how she would have to live her life now, homeless on the street picking up sewer cleaning jobs to make ends meet. She began to feel tears prick up in her eyes, there was no way she could go back to that ship. Theo had gone in there and just killed people without batting an eye, what was to stop her from doing that to Ava. She had felt so foolish, befriending Theo and spending her nights chatting with a cold-blooded murderer, as if she wasn't a pirate who stole and killed for a living.

She tried to stop her crying, but she couldn't. She had never seen someone die at the hands of someone else before. All of the tournaments and duels put on for her father's expense were always when she was confined to her bedroom on punishment or she openly rebelled by not attending. That, coupled with the fact that the killing was mostly done by someone she had just literally broken bread with had her head reeling. She knew crying would get her nowhere, she had to regroup her thoughts and get somewhere safer, but she felt paralyzed in place. Ava's heavy breathing stopped when she heard footsteps approaching.

She looked up and a person began to walk down the alley. Upon looking at their face, Ava saw it was a man. He was large and had a large scar running down his face, "Looks like I've got a proper young one, eh? Have you been crying, little one?"

He began quickly approaching her with a twisted smile on his face. Ava took a step back for every one he took forward, the threat of Theo was slipping from her mind now that a much more real threat was in front of her. Her arms and legs were filled with a dreaded cold sensation she could only associate with pure fear. She felt something cold and hard against her back and realized she had hit the wall. Somehow, it had been the second time within a cycle that she had found herself in a dangerous situation, back against a wall, and a man trying to attack her.

"Oh, come now, don't be all scared about it." He stood directly in front of her and roughly pushed her to the wall and began clawing at her shirt. Ava began yelling and fought off every swipe of his hand until he reached up a large hand and slapped her across the face with the back of it. She fell to the ground with a small yelp and covered her face. How did she get here? Barely an hour before she was enjoying freshly baked bread with a friend and now, she was about to get defiled then killed by some street grunt.

Ava felt herself being lifted off the ground and she stood herself upright. She wouldn't let him get his way that easily. She began to kick and punch the air in front of her wildly hoping to get a lucky hit and knock him out. He was bothered by her movements and he slammed her back against the wall, knocking the air out of her. Ava fell to the ground once again and she was too hurt to move. Oddly enough, Ava heard the air leave his chest and he dropped to his knees, too. His eyes were now parallel with Ava and they looked pained like life was draining from them.

She looked up and above her stood Xyra with a dripping dagger in her hand, "So you make it a fucking habit of getting snatched in alleyways? What were you thinking following us?!"

Ava flinched from her place on the floor and looked around the alleyway. Morgana stood at the entrance and Theo came running and skidded to a stop next to her, "Xyra. Back up, now. She's terrified."

Xyra stayed in place, unmoving.

Theo took two steps forward and yelled, "Now!"

Xyra glared at her and twisted her dagger in between her fingers staring at Ava with a spiteful look that could kill. She turned on her heel and walked away, pushing roughly between Theo and Morgana. Ava pushed herself further back into the fall and took deep breaths trying to recollect what had happened in such a short amount of time. The pirates were right there in front of her but none of them made any move to come and kill her. Xyra had the perfect opportunity and gave it up, so Ava felt confident immediate death wasn't on the table.

Theo stayed where she was but squatted down to get on Ava's eye level. She proceeded with her next words very calmly, "Ava. There was a reason I asked you to steer clear. I know what happened back there looked bad but there is an explanation for it if you want to ask those questions later. Right now, can we take you back to the ship? You've just been through something that might be hard to process."

Ava didn't answer, all she did was shake her head. Theo's brows pinched together and she continued, "That's okay. Morgana is going to be waiting right here in case you decide you want to come back to the ship and sail with us."

"What happens if I don't?" Ava said weakly, her voice sounded small even to her.

"Nothing," Theo answered, "You have freedom of choice, Ava. Stay or leave it's up to you."

With that, Theo began backing up. Ava could see different emotions boiling to her surface. Concern filled her face but her stance was angry and tense. Soon enough, everyone was gone except for Morgana. Ava sat in her same spot for a long time, staring at the man in front of her. He was alive only a short while before and now he was lying in a pool of his own blood just inches from Ava. She cleared her head and focused on making her decision. The events that had unfolded after the dead man there had gotten a stabbing introduced a new factor into her decision.

Theo seemed collected and not the deranged killer Ava had built her up to be in the minutes following the previous deaths. She actively stopped Xyra from threateningly looming over her for Ava's sake and even offered to answer any questions she had. Ava was alive and was being offered to make her own choice which is much more than she thought she would have just a while before. She could stay in Jarth with no money and no guardian or any idea of the culture or customs of The Twins or she could go on a boat filled with pirates who make a living doing illegal things like murdering people.

She knew she was being dramatic. The people on the ship had proven to be more than just pirates. They were a community of people who live by more chaotic rules than the average civilian but they were helpful and hospitable and damned her heart some had even become her friends. She had made her decision. When her legs stopped to shiver and her hands shook less, she finally gathered the courage to stand up.

Morgana, who had sat down after she realized Ava wasn't intending on moving anytime soon, quickly stood up as she saw Ava slowly approaching. Ava looked at Morgana and nodded, "I'd like to go back."

Morgana smiled at her, "Glad to hear that, lass. Quite liked having you around."

Ava nodded and stayed silent walking with Morgana slowly back to the ship. The sun was getting lower and it was only a matter of hours before they set sail and she hoped that nothing made her change her mind again. Morgana looked over at Ava several times and opened her mouth before closing it and going back to walking every time. When they were almost at the ship, Morgana finally spoke up.

"Listen, Ava. Back there, the whole big scary man assaulting you than dying is kind of a lot to handle. I know this is all new to you and where you come from pirates don't roam the streets and thugs don't pull you into alleyways to get their way with you. So if you need anyone to talk to, everyone on the ship is willing to listen."

Ava found herself smiling and she leaned to the side and bumped into Morgana a little, "Thank you, Mor. Truthfully, you're the only reason I'm staying. How could I leave your beautiful face."

"Woah, careful there Ava. Word might get around to that girl of mine and she is willing to throw anyone off the plank for me," Morgana played along and walked up to the ship. When they got to the top, Ava could see Theo waiting outside her quarters looking towards the entrance to the ship. They locked eyes and Theo quickly looked away.

"Looks like the lady captain awaits. Boy, I would not want to be on your side of things!" Morgana called out as she retreated towards the infirmary.

Ava walked over to Theo and Theo wordlessly walked inside and to her desk. She motions to the chair in front of the desk inviting Ava to sit as she propped her feet up on the desk. Theo said nothing, just sat there waiting for Ava to join. When Ava did, Theo still said nothing so Ava took the lead, "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" Theo replied calmly.

"Don't be coy. Why did you kill those men?" Ava asked.

Theo took a deep breath before answering, "This is the only time I will justify my behavior to you or to any person who is not on my crew. I like you Ava and that is why I offered you a place on this ship after directly going against what I said but I do not appreciate insolence so do not make it a habit."

"You're right," she admitted. "I shouldn't have done what I did, I was curious and it was stupid. But I saw what you did and you promised me answers."

Theo scowled but nodded, "Very well. A while ago we came to Jarth and visited the place we were at. A whorehouse is what people like to call those places. Sometimes we frequent them, and when we do we ask questions. How much are the girls paid, are they treated well, what kind of people frequent the establishment; those kinds of things. When we started asking questions at this particular place we did not like what we were hearing. So I gave the owners an ultimatum. Start treating the girls better or I would hurt them."

"To hurt isn't to kill," Ava deadpanned.

Theo shook her head, "They agreed. They swore and they promised and they begged and we let them go in good faith. It only got worse once we left. The girls took a pay cut, they started getting longer hours and worse treatment. We got a letter about it from one of the women asking for help, we came back and helped."

"Theo, you can't justify taking a human life," Ava tried to reason with her and Theo began to look angry.

"You and I come from very different places and we have very different views on morality. Tell me, was this the first time you've seen someone be killed?" Theo asked.

"Yes," she said softly.

"I saw my first murder at 4. Where I'm from, a human life can be justified over a piece of stale bread. Three men died so forty women would stop suffering and finally be able to break the cycle of suffering and poverty for them and their children. I don't kill for the pleasure of it. For me and most of us out here there is a justification for taking a life. At least we try to kill only when necessary, we have no quarrels over stale bread," Theo finished and took a deep breath.

Ava sat in her chair for a while processing what Theo said. It made sense, of course, it did. The reason she killed those men, the help she brought through it, the fact that they were not from the same background. She still didn't agree but she reserved her judgments. She felt guilty about her spiral into demonizing Theo and the crew but not even three cycles ago she was having a bath drawn by her chambermaid daily and being sheltered and pampered. Death was not something tangible and real to her until that aftermorning and she was a bit in shock.

"I apologize for questioning you. I don't have to agree with you on your way of doing things but I can recognize you're not senseless. I behaved badly and then reacted in an even worse way. I'm sorry." Ava said and she truly meant it. She was a tad dramatic earlier in the morning and the crew had no responsibility to her and didn't have to save her.

Theo's tense demeanor softened and little and her scowl faded, "It's okay. I'm sorry for withholding that the whole pirate business thing was murdering lowlives. Also, are you alright?"

Ava nodded, "Yeah. I'm okay. I did think you were going to murder me to keep me silent but now I'm over that."

Theo let out a laugh, "Murder you? Never. That's actually insane. I meant about the whole alley thing with the big dead guy."

"Oh," Ava said, so much for the dramatics before, "I think I'm alright. I'm probably going to have a few bruises but I'm sure I'll be alright."

"These things tend to affect you more up here," Theo pointed to her head, "than physically. So if you feel unsafe or have any weird emotions I'm here to talk. Tuni too, I know you two have been close."

Ava stood up and nodded, "Thanks. I think I'll be heading to my room now. I'm pretty tired."

Theo nodded and stood up to let her out, after opening the door for her, she reached out and touched Ava gently, "Hey, if you're not comfortable here, I understand. I can give you some money to get you started. I know The Twins can have some expensive restrictions."

Ava thought about it. She should have taken the money. She could start a new life and never have to worry about paying it back. She could get on her feet and maybe even start a business. Life would be easy here if she had just a bit of extra cash. Everything in her screamed for her to just nod her head, take the easy way. Stop looking for trouble and just settle down but she shook her head, no. She was comfortable here. A part of her wanted to wrestle away that comfort and flee as fast as she could from pirates and death and the rocking of the ocean but she didn't. It was bewildering to her how just a few hours prior she was spiraling about being homeless and out of options thinking she was about to be murdered for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and now she was smiling at the captain of a pirate ship and turning down free money.

"Theo. Thank you, that's very generous but I can't. I'm okay here, I promise. The fact that this is an actual pirate ship might take some getting used to but I'll live," Ava tried joking and Theo flashed a smile.

"I have been telling you since the beginning that we are an actual pirate ship. Killing and all," Theo admitted then retreated into her room, "Goodnight, Ava."

"Goodnight, Theo," Ava returned, as she walked out and caught a glimpse of the setting sun.

Theo waited for a few seconds before letting out a deep breath and closing the door. The whole situation could have gone a lot worse, the men could have had backup, Ava could have run to the authorities, she could have been hurt by that man. All in all, Theo would say it was a successful excursion onto land, besides that one small hiccup. Theo had never had to explain her actions to someone that wasn't her crew nor did she feel the need to give justification for her actions to anyone, but somehow she did with Ava. Theo was thinking about that and the fact that she somewhat actually cared what a practical stranger thought of her affairs when Xyra walked in.

"Cap?" Xyra prodded.

"Hm? What's needed?" Theo snapped out of her daze and Xyra walked over to her and pulled her into a hug.

Theo was shocked for a second, Xyra was rarely the one to initiate affection but her embrace remained firm around Theo. After a beat, Theo reciprocated the hug and let herself be held up against Xyra; her cheek squished against Xyra's chest. Xyra pulled away but kept her hands on Theo's arms holding her at a short distance.

"Nothing. I just wanted to check in on you. See how you were doing. We're ready to sail but I can do that. Just stick to the morning shift for tomorrow," Xyra offered and Theo quickly shook her head.

"I'll be fine to sail. Nothing happened to me," Theo pointed out and Xyra fixed her with a knowing look.

"Your tough exterior fools everyone, including me sometimes, but I know that these deaths affect you. It's a lot to put on your shoulders, you need to let other people do the dirty work every once in a while," Xyra said in a tone less pointed than usual. She wanted Theo to learn to lean on her crew, on those women who would lay down their lives for the ship and their captain. Xyra knew Theo needed to be slowly introduced to these concepts and not pushed to them so forcefully.

"It's my decision who the ship goes after and what we do. I will not ask them just to have my crew's consciousness unnecessarily weighed down by this when I can take care of it myself. I will not ask my women to kill for me," Theo said then pulled away from Xyra walking over to her desk and fiddling with papers on it as an attempt to distract herself.

"You wouldn't be asking, Theo. Any one of those women would have delivered the killing blow. Happily," Xyra

"You don't speak for them, Xyra. I know you know them but we give everyone their own voice here," Theo reminded her.

"Then, I speak for myself. I am your first mate, your best friend. I would lay down my life for yours and would do what was asked of me. We have been side by side in everything for lengths and just because you are a captain doesn't mean you have to stop relying on me. Theo, I know being in command is hard and I can't pretend to know the struggles you go through but let me help," Xyra said, her tone almost pleading and Theo was shocked at how vulnerable Xyra looked.

"This is really affecting you," Theo stated and Xyra responded with a nod.

"I'm worried if you keep down this path of trying to protect everyone and shouldering the responsibilities that we'll lose you. We lose a piece of your humanity every time we kill someone, Theo. You aren't numb to it like you make it seem. You aren't weak for needing your crew, only men think like that and they often wind up dead a lot quicker than us. Leave fragile egos to the boys, yeah?"

And dammit, Xyra was right even if Theo didn't want her to be. It wasn't humanity she lost every time she killed someone, it was something else, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. It didn't get easier and she wasn't numb to it, each person that died by her sword was a weight on her mind she couldn't shake. Sometimes, she thought of herself as a monster who played god and made up justifications just to kill. But that was her mind playing tricks on her, telling her she was something she wasn't. Xyra had not spoken in a few minutes, just waiting on Theo to speak up.

"You're right," Theo admitted softly, "It-"

Theo shook her head and took a deep breath and Xyra encouraged her to continue," Theo, it's me. You can tell me. "

"It does hurt to have to do this, it really does," Theo admitted and paused in contemplation before continuing, "I'll let you in on some of it. Just you though and it's only because you insist. No other women carry out hits but us. I don't want blood on their hands."

"They've killed already. Every time there is a raid or a fight they get blood on their hands, why is it different?" Xyra asked, her tone still not urgent or pressing.

"Self-defense is different than in cold blood, Xyra, you should know that. I won't ask anyone to put themselves through that. That is final," Theo closed the conversation and all Xyra could do was nod and take the small win.

"Very well," Xyra conceded, "I'll start prepping the crew for the journey."

"I'll be out to start sailing in a bit," Theo promised, not letting Xyra also get away with making her rest through the night.

Xyra made her way out of the quarters and Theo slumped back against her desk chair. She closed her eyes and let the events of the sun play over in her head. She wanted to unwind and cursed her pride and need to be an example for turning down Xyra's offer. Theo reasoned the sooner they started the sooner she could get to bed. She made her way out of the room and looked around at the pirates already beginning to prepare the ship for sailing.

"Alright! Let's get this show on the road, ladies!", Theo yelled as she made her way to the helm.