Captain Markis had the Polaia anchor just off the coast of a small island. Apparently this was where they were meant to be. The island looked uninhabited, as far as Theonis could tell. It was just forest and a bit of rocky terrain. Theonis was not looking forward to trekking through the wilderness.

Everyone else on the team was spending the day getting ready for the expedition. Since he didn’t have anything to do, Theonis mostly just milled about on deck or wandered the halls for the better part of the day. At dinner, he ate alone, but Dimileios did come over and asked Theonis to come with him once dinner was over.

“Where are we going?” Theonis asked as he followed the bearded man through an empty hallway.

“Just a final meeting before we set out tomorrow, to make sure everyone is ready. Come on.”

They entered a room to find the other five party members already gathered around a small table where a map had been laid out. Everyone turned to stare at Theonis in confusion. Dimileios cleared his throat to get their attention.

“What do you have for me, Lias?” he asked.

Lias, the lanky cartographer, replied, “I suspect it’ll take us the better part of two days to arrive at the site if our information is accurate.”

“I’ve already secured the supplies,” Kosgoris said, adjusting his eyeglasses. “We’ll have enough food to stay for two weeks. I’m hoping we’re done and ready to leave in twelve days, though.”

Other members of the group gave their own input, but Theonis didn’t pay that much attention. All he really cared about was how long it would take before he got home. Two days travel there, fourteen days on site, two days travel back, and then however long it took to get to the capital and then to Stemini. It could be a month or more before he got back home.

Finally, the meeting seemed to wind down. People were still casting confused glances in Theonis’ direction, but nobody had asked why he was there yet. Lias started rolling up the map and everyone started muttering among themselves. Again, Dimileios cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.

“Before we adjourn, I’d like to announce that Theonis here will be joining us on the expedition.”

Satiria, the researcher, was the first to react.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“We could use the assistance. Having an extra pair of hands will make things more efficient. We’re more likely to finish within our projected time with more help.”

“You can’t possibly trust him,” Satiria said. “He’s a pirate.”

Dimileios replied, “Theonis is not a pirate. He simply comes from a community where piracy was common.”

“That isn’t any better,” Satiria insisted. “Who knows what kind of values he’s been taught?”

“I was taught how to work hard and follow orders,” Theonis replied curtly.

The rainbow-eyed mage spoke up next.

“He isn’t one of the group,” Myrova said. “He doesn’t belong with us and there’s no way he’ll be able to meaningfully contribute to our work in any way.”

Theonis flared his nostrils. He’d heard that attitude before, from Yoris on board the Kikikleio. And Yoris had gone so far as to throw Theonis overboard.

He snarled, “I don’t need to take that kind of attitude from you. You don’t know anything about me. Who do you think you are to judge me like that?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Myrova insisted. “All our supplies are packed. We don’t have enough food for him, right?”

She turned to look at Kosgoris, who just adjusted his glasses and mumbled, “I’ve already taken the extra rations into account.”

“You knew about this?”

Kosgoris nodded.

“I can’t believe this.”

Dimileios asked, “Does anyone else have any objections?”

The tall, buff guard Kateni folded her arms but didn’t say anything. Kosgoris and Lias exchanged a glance, but they too were silent. Dimileios nodded.

“Regardless of how you feel,” he continued, “the decision is out of your hands. Theonis will be joining us on this expedition. Kosgoris, you’ll be responsible for making sure that Theonis is safe and aware of everything he needs to know.”

“I object!” Kosgoris cried, standing up as tall as his small stature would let him. “I’m going to be busy taking care of our supplies. I can’t keep an eye on him the entire time.”

“I don’t need to be watched,” Theonis insisted. “I’m not a child.”

“But you are inexperienced,” Dimileios reminded him. “It won’t do us any good if you get injured or lost on the way there or back. My decision is final. This meeting is adjourned.”

Dimileios got quite a few angry glares as he left the room, but nobody said anything more. Theonis decided to take his leave before they turned their anger toward him. He had a feeling that things were going to be tense over the next few days.

Morning came all too quickly. Theonis was at least getting used to being up at the crack of dawn, so he wasn’t as tired as he could have been. He was up on deck at the same time as everyone else. They were waiting to get on a little boat that would take him to the shore.

Once everyone was on the sandy beach, everyone helped each other get their packs on while the boats brought several pack animals to the shore: a few donkeys and mules. Theonis held still while the cartographer Lias lifted a pack onto his back and started fastening it. Kosgoris must have been overjoyed to learn that he’d have another person to carry supplies, as if he didn’t have enough animals already. Everyone seemed to be carrying their own weight, at least.

Theonis stayed toward the middle of the group. Myrova and Satiria were walking as far away from Theonis as possible. He was happy to avoid Myrova after what she had said about him. Satiria would occasionally glance in his direction with a worried look on her face. Clearly she was still afraid of him.

“You’re slowing down,” Kosgoris snapped. “Keep up. We need to go at a certain pace or it’ll take too long to get there and we won’t have as much time to work.”

Theonis grumbled but didn’t talk back. It was hard walking swiftly with a heavy pack on. The only person who didn’t seem to be having any trouble at all was Kateni, the foreigner. Every time Theonis glanced over at her, she was eyeballing him. She probably also thought that he was a threat to the group. Kateni did have a curved sword hanging at her belt, along with two wooden swords and a bow sticking out of her pack for some reason. She certainly did seem ready for a fight.

Kosgoris continued, “Be alert for predators in the wild. If you hear growls or large animals nearby, let everyone know. And don’t eat anything you can’t identify. We brought enough food that we don’t need to forage, and if we need extra food Kateni will catch something for us.”

“Understood,” Theonis replied brusquely.

After what felt like forever, Kosgoris had the group stop and took off his pack to rummage for rations to pass out to everyone. Theonis was given barely two handfuls of sheep jerky and dried fruit pieces.

“You only really need enough to keep the hunger pains away for now,” Kosgoris said. “You’ll get more at dinner. Once we’re on site and the cooking station is set up, you’ll get better meals, I promise.”

Everybody sat down to rest for a bit while they ate. Occasionally somebody would start up a brief conversation, but nobody was feeling very talkative. Maybe this was just how these expeditions always went, but Theonis couldn’t shake the feeling that he was to blame for everyone’s dour mood.

Kateni was still staring at Theonis. Neither Myrova nor Satiria would look in his general direction. Kosgoris was sitting as far away from him as possible. The only people who didn’t have a problem with Theonis, it seemed, was Dimileios and the cartographer Lias.

It wasn’t long before everyone was done and the group started walking again. Lias stayed in the lead, occasionally stopping to reference a map for a few moments. After a while, Dimileios gestured for Theonis to fall back with him.

“I wanted to talk to you,” he said quietly. “Don’t worry about them. They were just surprised to hear that you were coming along and just need time to adjust to the idea of you being here. Before long, it’ll be like you’ve always been a member of the team.”

“Are you sure that the reason they dislike me isn’t because they think of me as a pirate?” Theonis asked.

“You’ll be able to win them over with hard work,” Dimileios insisted.

“I’ve worked hard for people who didn’t respect me in the past,” Theonis admitted. “It didn’t exactly win their hearts.”

“Give them a chance.”

Theonis grunted in reply and sped up, coming to a stop when he was at the front of the group with Lias, who was double-checking the map.

“How are you doing?” Lias asked.

“Fine.”

“It’s a lot to get used to. Don’t worry. Two weeks is far from the longest expedition we’ve been on. Time will pass before you know it and you’ll be on your way home.”

Theonis didn’t answer. Lias didn’t push the matter. They walked in silence for a bit. But with nothing else to do, Theonis eventually gave into boredom.

“How long do these trips usually last?”

“It depends on the settlement. Sometimes we don’t find anything and return empty-handed. Other times we find a large city and have to keep going back to the ship for supplies. We’ve pretty much found all the coastal ruins, though, so any new discoveries usually mean a lot of walking for at least part of the journey.”

Theonis listened as Lias went on. At least someone here didn’t hate him. He’d need a friend if he was going to get through two whole weeks with this group.

That evening, Kosgoris showed Theonis how to set up his tent. It was just a spare tent that had been in the ship's storage, so there were a few tears in the fabric, but Theonis pretended not to care. It wasn’t a big deal anyway.

A small fire had been set up and everyone was eating a small meal of nuts and salted meat. Theonis wasn’t exactly hungry, but it was hardly a full meal. Once he was done eating, Theonis returned to his little tent and laid out on the bedroll. As it started to get dark, Theonis heard someone approach his tent.

“I wanted to let you know—” It was Dimileios. “—I’m going to bed, but the rest of the team are going to be up around the fire for a bit of bonding time. You’re welcome to join them.”

“I’ll pass,” Theonis said. He didn’t need to get caught up in any more awkward conversations. And he didn’t need to make friends with everybody. Theonis didn’t belong there; he was only there to get home a little faster.

“Very well, then.”

Dimileios went to bed. Theonis listened to the sound of quiet conversation around the cackling fire and waited to drift off to sleep. Before too long, he started to hear soft snores coming from another tent. That must have been Dimileios sleeping.

“Alright, I think they’re asleep,” Theonis heard Kosgoris say. “This was a terrible idea.”

“He should have told us he was planning to bring the kid along,” Kateni grunted.

“He did tell one of us,” Myrova spat. “Kosgoris, you should have said something.”

“I assumed that everyone had been told. If he knew that this was going to be controversial, he should have consulted all of us as a group first.”

“He’s not that bad,” Lias said. “But I would have liked to know earlier than the night before.”

Myrova spoke up, “Like I said before, he doesn’t belong here and he doesn’t have any way to meaningfully contribute. We’ve been working together for literally years and we have a very good arrangement that works well for everyone. Adding someone out of nowhere like that, someone who doesn’t even specialize in anything, does nothing good. You don’t need to add meaningless cogs to an operational clock, because it will just cause problems.”

“We were all new at one point,” Kosgoris reminded her.

“That’s not what I mean,” Myrova replied. “That kid isn’t even really a new member. He’s just here temporarily. He won’t even have time to learn how things work and find his place here. This is just another one of Dimileios’ bad ideas that he won’t ever follow up on.”

“I don’t see why we can’t give him a chance,” Lias said. “If we treat him like he’s the enemy, he’s going to act like our enemy.”

Kateni cut in, “We should give him a test to prove himself. If he passes, we allow him to join us without any further conflict. If not, then we avoid him whenever possible.”

“What kind of test?”

Before Kateni could answer, Myrova said, “You’re not getting it. None of this matters. This guy is just something that we have to put up with for a while and then he’ll be out of our lives. We don’t need to put too much thought into how to handle this.”

“We might as well just get used to it, then,” Kosgoris suggested. “I don’t like it anymore than anyone else, but he’ll be gone before too long regardless of how we react.”

Finally, Satiria the researcher spoke up.

“We can’t trust him. That’s the simple truth.”

“Why not?”

“He’s a pirate.”

“He’s not actually—”

But Satiria interrupted, “He’s a pirate at heart even if not literally. People… are shaped by the environment that they live in. And they absorb the bad parts of that environment just as much if not more than the good parts. People have to always fight those bad parts of themselves if they want to prove that they deserve trust and respect. And I don’t think that the kid understands that.”

The conversation quickly petered out after that. One by one, everyone else started going to bed. Eventually, there was silence and Theonis was finally able to sleep.

QuillRabbit

Gosh, poor Theonis. He's just going through so much right now, isn't he? Don't worry; things get even more complicated for him next chapter when he meets the first Apositan artefact of the story.

If you want to see that chapter now, though, you totally can! The chapter is already available for my patrons for only $3. If you want more of the story, $6+ patrons get every chapter two weeks early instead, as well as additional perks. My $9 patrons of honor also get special mention at the end of every chapter I write. However, if you want to give but don't feel like making it a monthly commitment, you can make a small donation to my work here for only $3! Other ways you can help include rating the story, leaving a comment, reading my other works, leaving reviews on anything you especially enjoyed, and sharing my stories with your friends. Every little bit does help, I promise.

Special thanks to my patrons of honor: Grymmette and Alex.