The sight of it was enough to bring tears to her eyes. She reached out to touch the apparatus, and then she looked at the three in the room. "Thank you," she said before wiping her eyes.
"It is nearly complete, but your wound won't support it yet. You will need another week to heal before it is safe."
"Understood," Anne said as she dried her eyes.
The gesture warmed her heart, but it did little to quell her anger at the man responsible for her injury. It only served to focus her mind away from her lost limb and towards a way to finish the battle with minimal casualties.
"Where's William?"
"He's ashore, managing the crew," Victoria replied. "I'll take you."
After a few more words of thanks to Alexandre and Nassir for their craftsmanship, Anne left with Victoria to go ashore. It took quite a bit of time to get above deck, and with each minute wasted, she grew increasingly impatient, but she managed the ordeal with little incident.
On the weather deck, Anne did see a few crewmates on watch, weapons at the ready and cannons nearby loaded. William must have overseen some of the deck cannons returning to the ship after the incident with the crew.
The crew left their posts to greet her and ask after her wellbeing. Though there was evident concern in their eyes, none were insensitive about her appearance and frailty. Anne tried to rush things along, the delays irritating her despite her crew's concern. After the crew were done seeing how she was, they helped her and Victoria into a longboat to take to shore.
In the boat, it was just Victoria and Anne. Anne rested as Victoria rowed the boat to shore. It would be a short trip, and Victoria was capable enough, but Anne wished she had the strength to help just to make the trip that much quicker.
With nowhere to go, Anne's irritation stewed within her, and the sight of the town and the fortified walls off in the distance only served to incense her further. Knowing that Silver Eyes was in his villa unharmed and unburdened by what his actions had wrought made her skin itch.
Anne needed to calm herself, and so she decided to look at Victoria instead. It was the first time in a while that the two were alone, and the first time in a while that Anne actually took note of the woman.
Despite all knowing her nature as a woman, she kept her black hair short enough that most would mistake her for a boy. Her clothes, too, showed little of her femininity. Anne had an inkling of the reasons.
She had heard about what had happened to Victoria at Calico Jack's hand. She saw the way that she shirked away from most men, nay, all men save Alexandre. It was not from a lack of ability; with her lithe form, she could kill a man three distinct ways before he had his belt unbuckled. That kind of skittishness reminded Anne of Edward at times. Times when memories came unbidden into the mind. Times of turmoil, of pain, of helplessness. It seemed that even for her, the years had not healed the wounds put upon her.
"How do you deal with the anger?" Anne said. Victoria stopped rowing for a moment and looked at Anne. Anne realized that she had said what she was thinking aloud without the usual preamble. "Apologies. What I mean to say is… with all that you've been through, how do you deal with the anger from it?"
Victoria was silent for a moment, and then she began rowing again. "Anger's a shield at your front and wind at your back. It'll get the job done, but it won't last long. Once it's gone, you'll wish you had it protecting you still." Victoria tapped on her temple. "Use it while it lasts."
Anne nodded and didn't ask any further. The two women remained in silence for the rest of the short trip.
On shore, Christina, Pukuh, Jack, and William were all waiting along with a small contingent of the crew. William helped Anne disembark.
William said no words, but from the look in his eyes, Anne could tell that he was remaining strong for her sake. He probably blamed himself for not being there to help her but would not say the words in public.
Anne placed a hand on his chest as she came down from the longboat and gave him a warm smile that she hoped would tell him all that he needed to hear. He took hold of her hand and squeezed it gently as he placed it back on her crutch. To everyone else, it would look as though he were simply helping her back into her crutches. It was his way of remaining close yet respectful.
After settling herself, Christina came up to her. She was already in tears again and hugged Anne tight. Christina began whispering apologies and sobbing into Anne's shoulder, and Anne tried her best to console the young woman. "Worry not." "It's just a leg." "The one I blame is Silver Eyes."
Then, after Christina had calmed herself enough to pull away from Anne, Anne turned it around by giving her own apology. "I'm sorry… for Tala."
Christina shook her head so vigorously Anne thought it hurt the girl. "No, don't apologize. I should have trained her better."
Anne rubbed Christina's shoulder. Though she was holding it in, it was clear that the loss of Tala pained Christina. They had been inseparable since meeting near Pukuh's village. Anne remembered how the two of them had fought a bear and won, just
