A Mark

Serenica didn't get Myorka to say much that time. Maybe it was all too painful to speak of. What she did get, though, was the motivation to set things straight with Spade.

She found him at the helm, sober for once.

"You have been drugging my wife," he said, turning the helm with the force of his massive arms.

Serenica's heart jumped. "It was all with the intention of getting her to speak about -"

"I know, I know. Is it necessary? You know something is wrong with her. Why can't you just do what you do best?"

"I will not play a blind surgeon," Serenica said. "If you have a problem with it, I can stop. But she won't be pleased. Do you even want to be a father?"

The captain was silent for a long while. After fixing his scarves, he finally said:"It's about needs, not wants. You know how some people are. They need to leave a lasting mark on the world, and I am not talking about terrorizing merchants and gathering gold. I need to leave a mark of love, not only one of dread."

"I do understand," Serenica said quietly. "And I am sorry about how I have treated you. I believe you do what you must. This crew is your family, after all."

"You believe me? How is that a little hard to swallow..."

Serenica drew a sharp breath in and held it. She had to be patient. She had to be kind.

"I read one of those books you gave me."

"So that's why you're still up. Shouldn't you get some sleep?"

The sky was dark, and it felt like heavens were heavier than usual, hanging above them closer than usual.

"I don't want to," she whispered. "I want to have a witch to a witch talk."

"Brilliant." Spade gestured to the Admiral, who took over the helm. "Come with me."

Myorka was away. There was a pile of papers on the table, again.

Serenica sat down in the dim candlelight.

"Again, I apologize for my attitude towards your craft," she said. "Seems to me that us witches need to stick together."

"I agree. But why the sudden change of mind?" The captain raised an eyebrow.

Serenica weighed her options; telling the truth would only cause the man to retreat further into his shell, and there was no meaningful lies that she could manage to formulate on such a short notice.

She decided to go around the truth without bypassing it completely.

"I thought of things from your perspective," she said. "There's little I wouldn't do for my loved ones. I believe we are similar in that regard."

"You and I, we're nothing alike," Spade protested. "You stumble in the world like a blind giant. Me, I see in the dark."

"Teach me how to see, then," Serenica demanded, not out of humility, but out of pride and some madness that made her increasingly interested in whatever the captain was hiding in his left hand.

"You want to see, hm?"

Spade played with the mysterious object. It looked like an amulet made of stone, but it was hard to tell.

"I'll teach you. Are you a scrier, Serenica Ingram?"

"Hardly," Serenica confessed. "I'm working on it."

It was a lie. She was doing nothing to increase her foresight. She wondered if that made her lazy or fatalistic.

"Fill that tub with water, I don't care if it comes from the sea or not," the captain finally said. "We're going to take a little peek into Kinley's mind."

The tub was filled and Spade explained that they could not, in fact, look directly into Kinley's head. It would have been too dangerous, as a reasonable witch of her status was likely to have some form of a barrier around her thoughts.

When Serenica asked if they, too, needed such protections, the captain shook his head.

"Bloodsight is a secret that very few know of. Those who do, consider it dangerous enough to not try it. After all, what does Kinley know, she thinks you're just some poor wench in exile, doesn't she? And she is hardly interesteď in pirate matters, so I think I am safe as well. We don't have any significance to her. It would be rather egoistic to think otherwise."

He gave her a bottle of blood to pour into the bath.

Serenica was terribly glad that Spade had finally shut up.

"We are not going to go for Kinley, as I said."

The captain placed a few crystals around the bath.

"No, we are going for people around her. Whatever you find out visiting their heads, take note of everything and come back wiser."

"Wait." Serenica was nervous about scrying in general, and bloodsight sounded like the ultimate sacrilegious extension of that.

"Hm?"

"Does it have to be me?"

"You want to learn, is that right? Brave little healer." Spade laughed and patted her on the shoulder. "Now, we must get you unconscious. Get in the tub."

"Do I take my clothes off?"

"Do I look like I care?"

Serenica stripped down to her undergarments and slid her body into the cold, bloody water.

"How does that unconscious part happen?" she asked.

"That is the dangerous part," the captain admitted. "You probably know a safer method for that."

Serenica had a tincture of the desired strength. She had been saving it for later, though, as it was fairly expensive and the only thing she owned that could possibly knock out a grown human being. Besides her pistol, of course, but she didn't like the idea of being hit on the head with heavy objects.

She let Spade fetch the tincture. She took it with a sip of rum and closed her eyes.

While waiting for it to take effect, she relaxed as much as she could while shivering in the water.

The captain pressed his fingers on her closed eyelids.

"This is...just blood. Don't mind me, just some final preparations. Try not to be seen."

"Anything else I should keep in mind while down under?"

"Do not under any circumstances look at your reflection if you happen to see a mirror. It's like a dream, except what you see will be...real."

Those cryptic words were the last thing Serenica heard before she lost consciousness and slid into a strange, terrifyingly deep slumber.