Artemisia trotted down the steps into the underdeck, scouring for Omero. She double checked the galley first, to make sure he hadn't gone back for more food. With no luck, Artemisia headed for the operating room where she had found him this morning.
She stepped into the room and smiled brightly as she found him. "Well there you are!" Artemisia exclaimed as she approached him, looking him over to see if he felt worse or better.

"I spoke with Emilio, our captain. He wants me to be apart of the boarding party tonight. How are you feeling? He said if you felt better, you could come with me, or stay here on board."

"A boarding party"? Omero had been taking slightly by surprise, he had only just finished his conversation with Alastair and was about to head up to the top deck. Now he was being told that the captain was offering him to take part in a boarding party. But why? Omero hadn't even spoken to the captain let alone demonstrated his fighting skills. Even more puzzling was why he would have chosen Artemisia to take part. Though she certainly didn't lack the bravery needed, to Omero's knowledge she didn't have any combat experience.
"Why would he choice either of us to go on a boarding party"?

She heard the doubt in the voice as Omero spoke, causing her to furrow her brows until he finished. Finally her face relaxed, and again she grinned.
"Well if you're feeling strong enough that is, if not you'll stay behind. On the other hand, we're not going back to Sintra any time soon, so I might as well do something interesting. When opportunity calls, I have a tendency to take it." Artemisia placed a hand on her hip and shifted her weight. 
"As for why us, I think the captain is just looking for any willing participants to be able to board the ship and take it over."
"We'll go in under the cover of darkness, drop the sails, extinguish the lights and drift towards them. I guess the idea is to take them out before they take us out." Artemisia added.

Omero paused and started thinking to himself, the strategy itself was a good one. However if something went wrong then the boarding party would be in most danger, was it worth the risk? Though Omero could tell from Artemisia's demeanour that she was going regardless of how dangerous it was. A half hidden smile appeared on Omero's face. She had saved his life, and at the very least he could return the favour by looking out for her now. Besides Omero was never one to hide from a good fight.

"Well then, I suppose we better prepare" Omero said before changing his tone to a more serious one "Have you ever been in a fight before"?

Her silver eyes flashed in the darkness of the doctor's operating room, as Omero questioned her about her fighting skills. It was followed by a deeply engraved frown as she recalled her former glory days as a pick-pocket and thief. Quite frankly, Artemisia had never taken a life, though she had threatened to. She had been in countless bar brawls with other drunken performers and vagrants, but never had she pushed a blade into a living being.
At least Omero had chosen to come along, "No, I haven't been in a fight before. I've been in a couple bar brawls, but never have I taken a life. It is not in my nature to do so. If I needed to, I know enough to defend myself, but I wasn't particularly trained to kill by any means." Artemisia answered, her eyes lingering above, studying the shafts of light poking through the floorboards.

"In which case let me tell you this now" The calm and light-hearted tone in Omero's voice was now gone; replaced with a much colder and heavier one. 
"When in battle, do not let honour or mercy get in the way, otherwise you are dead". Omero stared firmly at Artemisia, he needed to make sure this message got through to her. Too often he had seen honourable fools or idealistic amateurs rush into battle believing their will and morality somehow made them invincible, and they were always the first ones to fall because of it.

Listening intently to his words, Artemisia couldn't avoid his firm, stoic gaze that locked her in place. There was a skip in her beating heart that made her palms sweaty, like the way the captain made her feel as he held her hand. She righted herself and nodded vigorously at Omero, "Aye."
"I do not desire to take leave to life so readily, especially in a fight like this." Her husky voice had changed, matching Omero's tone, changing from a light hearted one to a tone that meant business. The gypsy woman valued her own life much before that of others, but yet, she couldn't help feel a twinge of caring in the pit of her stomach. 
"Your wound... Will it hinder you tonight?" Artemisia asked softly, biting her lip after she spoke.

"No. I believe it has healed sufficiently enough" Omero said as he looked down to his side. The pain had already greatly dulled since this morning.
"Besides, I have fought with worse injuries before" Omero said as he pointed to the scar over his eye.

Her face flushed red as Omero pointed to his eye, she had wondered what had taken his eye, but Artemisia had never bothered to ask. She took the chance to ask now since Omero gestured at it, "What...uh...exactly happened, if you don't mind my asking?" 
In her mind’s eye, she could picture only a fantastical creature tearing out his other blue eye, perhaps with vicious talons or even a hooked beak. She shivered violently at the thought alone.

Omero paused for a moment. He couldn't exactly reveal the truth about what happened; all missions involving the Red Cross were meant to remain confidential. At the same time lying to Artemisia just didn't sit right with him.
"Let’s just say the person who did this to me was more creature than man". That was the best Omero could do. "Maybe some point in the future, when I am ready, I will tell you the full story".

She let out a gasp, a slow and momentous one as her eyes widened in curiosity, as Omero gave her only a mere idea of what possibly happened to him. A being more creature than human, she could only wonder at what that entailed. Perhaps a man with a deformity and an ill-mind, or perhaps even a night walker.
To Artemisia, night walkers were creatures of the unimaginable that stalked the night hours, be they human, pure magickal, or even a monster in itself. The idea itself seemed fantastical, but she decided that waiting would only provide the truest answer. Only a tale that Omero could tell, and Artemisia would have to wait.

Nodding with a sigh, she let a small smile come upon her face, as she muttered dreamily, "A tale best left told when circumstances are better, and mayhap with a mug of ale in hand and sitting about a fire." There was a strange twinkle in her eye, one that reflected the desire to know more. Stories were always her favorite, they offered an escape from reality, and the one of mythic tales entertained her mind the best.
Omero smiled again, as he returned to his regular light hearted self. He was glad that she had not pressured him to tell her more, but he could tell from the look in her eye that he was going to have to reveal it at some point.

"Now that is an idea I like" Omero laughed. "Perhaps we could continue this conversation on deck" Omero said as he once again realised the smell and surroundings of the surgery. "After all the surgery room certainly isn't the best place for small talk".

Artemisia brushed back a few strands of black hair that had fallen loose from her hapless braid, she nodded, only now regarding the smell, which reminded her of the times when the priests would visit their home in an attempt to faithlessly heal one of her siblings. The smell of struggle, the struggle to cling to life and survive is what caressed her nostrils. 

"If you want I can mend your clothes as well, so you at least have something to wear for the engagement tonight, but you're right. The smell in here is far too pungent. I hadn't noticed because I wanted to find you right away. Let us go above deck where the air is cleaner." With that Artemisia looked to Omero and then proceeded out of the room, waiting for him to accompany her to the upper deck.

"I would greatly appreciate that" Omero said. Omero took one last look around the room making sure he hadn't left anything before he too proceeded to leave to room alongside Artemisia.


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