The Silver Queen [AU]

[Isabela]

"Jalzaid," she says, softly. "Maybe it's time I stopped running and..." She waves a hand to indicate the ship.

[Tethras Clan]

"My love, if you want to stop the pirating," adventuring really, "and settle somewhere, I'd not be leaving you, I'd be coming with. I'm here for you, not the ship.I have friends here, yes, but..." He shrugs. "At the least, however, I would suggest perhaps somewhere less... here. Sweetwater perhaps?"

[Isabela]

"It's not the pirating, it's... everything." She takes a deep breath. 

[Tethras Clan]

Everything meaning.... "Go on," Zevran says softly, watching her carefully.

[Isabela]

"Isabela's no better than Naishe," she says bitterly. 

[Tethras Clan]

"...I think that says more about how strong Niashe is, than how weak Isabela is," Zevran says carefully. "Both were... hurt by those around them. Both did what they had to in order to survive. Niashe was younger, less tempered, so she... needed help, but that is not a sin."

[Isabela]

"But you said yourself, there's no way to be safe. There's no world where men don't abuse and control women, where the strong don't take what they want from the weak. There's nowhere to run."

[Tethras Clan]

Zevran smiles sadly. "There are no guarantees, not for anything. You can stack the deck, take precautions but... no, there's nothing you or anyone can do to ensure perfect safety. That is...  a very painful lesson to learn. But the same applies to good things. People... It is hard, to remember the good when one is hurting."

[Isabela]

"I'm done," she says quietly. "I can't."

She looks up at him, then, and her face is as broken as it was on the Sixth of Kaijin: her eyes dry again, but distant, the tracks of tears drying on her cheeks, as her amber eyes seem to stare into the future and find nothing but bleak, hopeless tears ahead of her. On the Sixth, she'd been holding his knife, cradling it to her like it was her only lifeline; now, she is pulling back from him, preparing to run, to flee, to leave him behind. To go where he cannot follow. 

[Tethras Clan]

"Of course you can," Zevran says firmly. "You're not alone, my love. You know this pain. You know it fades, that it gets better. And this time will be easier, between family and... well, the toughness of scar tissue." I will not give up on you, nor allow you to do so.

[Isabela]

She takes a deep breath, closing those hopeless eyes. When she opens them again, there's more life in them -- a disguise, or truth? Impossible to say. 

"I'm tired," she says quietly. "Can we go lay down?"

[Tethras Clan]

"Of course," he says softly. "You rest, I'll sit with you and keep watch, okay?"

[Isabela]

"Rest," she says bitterly, knowing full well it'll be nightmares the whole way. Still, she moves past him, into the bedroom, where she sheds her robe and crawls into bed, curling up tightly under the covers.

[Tethras Clan]

"Do you... do you want a tonic? Something to help you sleep or..."

[Isabela]

She hesitates, then nods. "I might as well. You'll.. you'll stand watch, right?"