There was no wind to fill the sails. The ship had been becalmed for nearly a week. Tensions were rising. The ship was not equipped with oars so the only thing to do was wait and the crew was growing impatient with idleness. Petra paced around the deck and stopped to lean over the rail as if she could see the wind coming. She finally felt fully recovered from the battle with the kracken. She sighed deeply. Boredom typically did not find her but it had been days since there was any need of her. No one was getting injured doing all those common place tasks of sailing because without the wind there was no sailing. The Captain had also not called a meeting of the officers in days and although Petra typically did not greatly care for the meetings that always seemed to end with the captain and quartermaster squaring but never actually fighting, now she would welcome the distraction. After the encounter with the sea monster all that needed her help had received it. Those beyond her help had been commended to the deep. So manny people had died. Some of the crew she had met from Goldhaven, others from the merchant ships they had taken. There had been so manny she could not help. But she knew she could not dwell on that. Once the wind started up again the ship would be once more full of activity as the now much smaller crew sailed the large ship.

She made a fire ball in her hand and lazily played with it dancing it from the palm to the back and and around her hand.

“It seems I always find you like this Petsha.” a familiar voice said.

Petra smiled and turned at the sound of Dimitri's voice.

“Dima, yes I am out here a lot. We are stuck with nothing to do so no one needs me right now and it is safer to play with fire out in the open than below decks.” She smiled. She no longer felt embarrassed of her rambling sentences around him.

“Yes, playing with fire.” He smiled his ever charming smile and put a hand on the railing so they were close and facing each other. With the other hand he gently caressed the back of her hand with his fingertips and closed her fist extinguishing the fireball “come with me.” he invited.

“Alright” she responded. He took her hand and led her below deck to her own corner that had become the surgery aboard the ship. He circled the small space.

“Petsha I need to talk to you.” he paused looking at her closely. She waited for him to talk.

“Of course” he said his smile still reached his eyes “my quiet one, strong, silent, smart.”

“My poet” she smiled remembering their first encounter. She stood against the long side of the table. He closed the distance between them and put a hand on the table on either side of her. He saw how she stiffened in alarm. He exhaled through his nose and his face was gentle.

“How is your back kitten.” he asked.

“It is fine, it healed weeks ago, it does not bother me.” she answered truthfully a bit surprised that he was bringing it up.

“You healed it.” he emphasized

“That is what I do.” she smiled.

“You do so much, do you think they appreciate it?” he asked.

“Who is they?” she replied confused.

“Esmerelda, Sezjeck, Tornas the rest of these people you help. Do you think they deserve it?” he pressed her.

“It does not matter if they deserve it. It is what I do. I fix people. I help people” she maintained.

“But wouldn't you rather have people appreciate you for all that you are? You nearly kill yourself fighting a god's damned abomination from the deep and you still have to pretend to theses people that you are a cleric.” He said.

“That does not matter. I still am what I am and I do what I do.” Petra affirmed. Dimitri was being odd she thought.

“Petra, they punished you for what you are, for who you are, she punished you.” Dimitri said.

“No,” Petra said “I broke the rules. I got too angry. And Jimothy receive a harsher punishment than me. And all of that is in the past, it was more than a month ago why are you bringing this up?” she asked. It had been hard enough to justify this all to herself and to push it out of her mind. She did not like having to explain this to him.

“You should not have been punished for defending yourself against that asshole.” Dimitri insisted.

“But there are rules.” She maintained again.

“Petsha!” he said grasping her by the arms, “what if it didn't have to be that way.”

She stared at him unsure of what to say.

“We could change things. We are changing things. You don't need to deal with the people that hate you for what you are.” He said.

“But thats just my life, I always have to deal with that. Its no more on board than it was before.” Petra responded.

“Petra you're not listening to me. Do you want to have to deal with it?”

“Well no, but” She began.

“but What?” He cut her off.

“It is just the way it is.” She said.

“It does not have to be.” He insisted.

“How?” Petra asked exasperated and confused by Dimitri's insistence on this.

Dimitri paused for a second and studied her “We are going to take the ship.”

“Take the ship? Who is we?!” Petra asked shocked.

“Lower your voice!” Dimitri hissed. Then continued “Yes we have the support we need. Esmerelda has been at the helm for too long and look where it has gotten us. A thin pilfering and heavy damage from a merchant ships, an encounter with sea monsters we barely survived and only thanks to you, and now, becalmed in a doldrum. Her leadership has lead us from bad to worse and it is time for a change.” He concluded.

“But I thought” Petra stuttered “But there has to be an election.”

“We have the support, what we need now is action. What we need now is you.” Dimitri said.

“Me?” Petra asked.

“You are a sorceress, you are the most powerful person on this ship by a landslide. No one here could reasonably hope to stand against you. Not after what you've shown us.” Dimitri said.

“But, the captain is the one who put me on this ship who gave me this opportunity.” Petra protested.

“The captain is the one who had you flogged for merely defending yourself after saving the ship from a fire.” Dimitri reminded her.

“But I fought with a crew mate, I broke the rules.” Petra insisted again.

“Petsha we are going around in circles listen to me!” he griped her by the arms. “Are you with us?”

“Dima, this is all too much, I cannot be part of a mutiny. I will stand by you in the next election but this mutiny, I am sorry, I cannot.” she reached out both hands and held is face and looked deeply into his eyes.

“Very well then” he said taking a deep breath looking down and then meeting her eye. “I can't have you getting in our way.” With swift grace Dimitri unsheathed his hidden dagger and stabbed into her gut.

Petra was too shocked even to scream.

“It didn't have to be this way.” he crooned removing the knife and slashing across her chest. She stared at him, petrified and confused “but like I said we could not stand a chance against you.” he finished and plunged the knife again into her belly.

Petra stuttered unable to speak, horrified at the betrayal. Dimitri took her face in his hand and whispered to her “we could have been so good together.” and pushed her tumbling over the table and onto the floor.

As she lay mortally wounded on the floor hidden from view he went to find Etheldred to put things in their final motion. Petra watched him walk away.