The Naga’s snake-like body fell to the ground.

At first, Evan felt fear. Then, he felt relief. Then, he felt an unmistakable rush of fury coursing through his veins. That Naga was about to say something important. Something that could change his life.

And now there was no one around to tell it.

When the ringing in his ears stopped, he looked up to see who was wielding the gun that had just shot his chances of success to the ground.

When the smoke dissipated, he was mildly surprised.

“Elameere?” he asked. “What the hell?!”

Elameere frowned. “She was about to kill you, I saw-”

Evan shouted in incandescent fury. “You saw wrong! She was about to tell me my future, you dipshit!”

Elameere ground his teeth, glaring through his aviator sunglasses. “If you resort to name calling, I assume you won’t thank me for saving your ass.”

“You did not save my ass. You might have just sentenced it to death,” Evan roared.

Elameere scoffed. “That viper lady couldn’t have said anything that important.”

Evan cried out in frustration. He laughed mirthlessly. “You don’t know the half of it, moron.”

Elameere sighed, putting his head in his hands. “Gods, Evan, you’re so stubborn. I’m sorry, alright? Where’s Ashi?”

Evan scowled and pointed to Ashi’s still body. Elameere gasped and sprinted over to the other man. “What in the lovely fuck was that smoke? Will he be okay?” Elameere asked as he examined Ashi’s unconscious body.

“I don’t know,” Evan rasped, his voice hoarse from the strange green smoke that was now beginning to dissipate. “That cryptic Naga didn’t say anything about it except that it was temporary. It also didn’t seem to affect me as much as it did…” he gestured around to all of the people around him collapsed on the floor, “all of them.”

Elameere pondered this for a moment. “Well, she was aiming to knock all of them out, right? Not you? So it makes sense that it affected you much less than it did them. You’re okay, right?”

“I’m alright. Just plain starving,” Evan said.

Elameere laughed. “You can go get something from the kitchen.”

Evan nodded. “You should get Ashi to his bed. He’ll need to sleep.”

“And maybe while he’s deep in slumber I can throw him off the boat,” Elameere murmured thoughtfully, snickering.

Evan rolled his eyes and made a crude gesture with his hand. “If you flung him off the boat, there would be no one to get us to Luminaria and my mission would be a failure. You don’t want that, right?”

Elameere sulked. “No…”

Evan wanted to laugh at the expression on the older man’s face. He spent another minute wondering, again, what the relationship was between Ashi and Elameere. It seemed to be a bit more than friendship, but he was sure Elameere would fervently deny that.

“Evan, go to the supplies closet and get a stretcher,” Elameere murmured, gazing at Ashi’s face curiously.

“Alright.” Evan watched as Elameere caressed Ashi’s face when he thought his back was turned. He saw the small, secret smile play across his face. It seemed to torture Elameere to be away from Ashi. So why?

And then, suddenly, Evan realized exactly why they were required to keep away from each other.

The voice of his previous self swam in his head. “I am an assassin. I am trained to kill, and I am not allowed to grow emotional attachments. It gets in the way of my complicated work.”

Evan began to wonder how hard it would be to stay away from the one you love like that. He considered himself lucky that he didn’t have a life before he became an assassin. Elameere had friends (and probably even lovers) before he trained to be an assassin. He couldn’t fathom how difficult it would be to have to cut ties with your lovers, friends, and family. And now he understood why Ashi had left for so long. He’d have to ask the sailor when he woke up.

Elameere began to run his hands through Ashi’s dark, curly hair and Evan decided it was past due time for him to leave. He quietly exited the room and closed the door behind him, heading down to the kitchen to get a snack.

Evan found the slow yet violent rocking of the boat on water comforting and, like most things on this boat, familiar. But the anxiety filling his veins from the encounter with the Naga left him on edge. He wanted to get off of this ship as quickly as possible, but it would be pointless to turn back now. Only five more grueling days to get to Luminaria and complete my first mission, Evan thought miserably. The more time he spent on the boat, the more ill at ease he felt. He decided it was high time to relax, perhaps spend some time sunbathing with a nice book on the deck.

He wrinkled his nose as he opened the door to the kitchen, where he was met with a rather unpleasant smell. As was expected of the Bonavis’ kitchen. As Evan looked around, he realized that close to nothing had really changed about the gallery. The filthy counters, chunky soup left over from the night before or perhaps earlier, and the sink full of pungent dishes hadn’t changed from the years he had worked there, even after the drastic change in budget.

A voice called out from behind the grimy counter, one that Evan recognized.

Good old Chef Archimagirus.

Evan sighed. He wasn’t going to be able to relax today after all.

“Eh, I’ll need your identification,” the grumpy old chef growled in his easily recognizable accent. “An’ you better not be one of them stowaways or I just might have ter whip ya’ with my golden spatula!”

Evan raised his hands up over his head, taking another couple of steps into the horrid smelling kitchen. “I pose no threat, Chef,” he said, holding back laughter. Chef Archimagirus gasped.

“Evan? Gods above, is that you, boy?” Archimagirus asked in awe. “Holy Hevali, how you’ve grown!” He laughed jovially.

Evan smiled. “Nice to see you, Archi.”

Chef Archimagirus then narrowed his eyes. “They didn’t say that them Nagas are shapeshifters, did they?”

Evan shrugged. “I’m not sure—”

“What did Elameere wear for my 67th birthday?” Archimarirus asked suddenly, interrupting Evan and patting his bulging belly. “That’s how this ol’ cook’ll know if you’re truly Evan, aye?”

Evan began to cackle. “Shit,” he sighed. “He wore a very revealing flowery dress with the tallest bright pink high heels I’ve ever seen. Ashi was fucking drooling.”

Archimarius let out a booming laugh. “It’s you alright,” he said.

“No more questions?” Evan laughed.

“I still have one,” Archimagirus confirmed, smiling from ear to ear. “Are you hungry, m’boy?”

Evan nodded dutifully. “Yes, chef.”

“Aye! We ‘ave leftover mystery soup that even I dunno what the ingredients are, an’ some burnt chicken with charred rice.”

The dubious menu was typical of the eccentric chef, but he’d expected the food to be better after the expanding of the budget. He almost expected there to be an entirely new kitchen staff on the Bonavis. “Eh, I know what yer thinkin’ m’boy. These sailors don’ really care what quality of food they get, so I spend most of my time up deck drinking fine wine. Why not hire another chef? ‘Cause I ‘bring team morale up,’ as Captain Ashi said. So I’m stayin’,” the kooky cook said proudly.

Evan smiled. “You do bring team morale up. You do a good job with that. But your food? Your cooking is almost as bad as Elmeere’s. That’s saying a lot.”

He let out another booming laugh. “Ah, I see, you’re insulting’ my food now aren’tcha? Well, then I might’ not give you any dinner tonight.”

Evan glared at him playfully. “Did you forget that I am an assassin? I could kill you with one swish of my mighty blade—”

The kitchen door opened. “I sure as hell hope you’re not killing my cook, Mr. Assassin,” Ashi teased. He walked in with Elameere close behind. Ashi greeted the cook with a hearty high five.

Evan gazed at Ashi. His raven hair was disheveled and he was pale as a ghost, but he seemed to be alright. “Ashi, you’re awake,” he commented.

“Yeah,” he looked towards Elameere, “true love’s kiss woke me up.”

Elameere’s face flushed. “Shut up,” he growled defensively as Ashi snickered. “For the record, I didn’t kiss you.”

Ashi made loud kissing sounds as Elameere banged his head on the table. “I really should have thrown you off of the boat while I had a chance,” he deadpanned.

Ashi shoved him impishly. “You know you love me,” he teased.

“As if,” Elameere sneered, a blush still apparent on his cheeks.

Evan looked over to the chef, who was red with suppressed laughter. Evan gave him an annoyed look that said “this is what I have to deal with.”

“You need some food?” Archimarius asked. “I ‘ave some stuff prepared—”

“NO!” Ashi and Elameere said in unison.

“I mean,” Elameere started, “it’s not that I don’t absolutely love your food, but I think I’ll just grab some fruit or something. Seriously. Thanks.”

Ashi shrugged. “I just hate your food, Archi.”

Elameere smacked him with the back of his hand. “You have no manners.”

“You don’t need manners when you’re the captain of a ship,” Ashi shot back.

Elameere pouted. “Shut up.”

“You have an exceptional vocabulary, love,” Ashi spoke flirtatiously.

Elameere stood up quickly, mumbling something about needing to wash up; leaving Evan, the cook, and a dejected Ashi behind.

Evan plastered on a smile. “Well Archi, I’m starving enough to eat something. I’ll have the mystery soup.”

Archimagirus smiled back, seemingly noticing the grim mood. “You’ll love it. I think. Haven’t tasted it yet and by the looks of the damn soup I probably won’t.”

Ashi looked downcast. He gave Evan a pitiful look. “Did I say something wrong?”

Evan shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. He’s just a little… touchy.”

He didn’t want to explain the “no relationships” rule. He almost didn’t want the poor man to give up hope. So when Ashi grabbed two bowls of soup, one to bring back to Elameere, and ran back to the cabins to try and get an explanation out of him, Evan said nothing.

The door swung shut behind Ashi.

Evan turned to Archimagirus. “So… they have a past, right?”

Archimagirus sighed. “I know I’m just an ol’ man and I shouldn’ be assuming nothin’, but yes. I believe so. Before Elameere started training as an assassin, they were lovers. I’m not sure what they are anymore.”

Evan nodded. “Yeah. I assumed that would be the case. I don’t know exactly how hard that is, but one can assume.”

“I’d bet it’s torture.”

Archimagirus dished him up a bowl of soup. The room was uncomfortably silent.

Evan did not think it was a particularly good bowl of soup—it was hardly edible—but he ate it anyway. He would have eaten it no matter what, he was absolutely starved. “Thanks for the food, Archi, it was horrid,” he smiled.

Archi rolled his eyes. “The ungrateful youth of today, I say,” he grumbled.

Evan made his way back to his bunk, exhausted after the long day of cryptid attacks and romance drama. He just wanted to drift off into peaceful slumber. He unpacked his bags, yawning, and when he finally finished, he laid down on his cot. His eyes were heavy.

But when he finally drifted off to sleep, a mysterious shadow crept across his wall. Evan was unaware of the looming threat just beyond the thin curtains of his reality.

An ominous voice whispered from the gloom.

He sleeps peacefully.

For now.