Squirt was a no good, terrible, very bad firelizard. Or at least, that is what Tiernan had told him. For candlemarks after he had retired for the evening, Tiernan had begged and pleaded with him to take a message to someone. Anyone. He didn't even care who received it, just so long as someone heard of their plight. He'd eventually resorted to screaming incoherent strings of expletives at Squirt, until Squirt felt very sad. He'd finally collapsed in a pile on the floor, and was snoring softly.
Squirt made a noise that sounded suspiciously like the firelizard version of a **HARRUMPH** and flicked his wings back. He was no longer cowering in a little ball in the back of the drawer, but instead was standing on the floor, eyeing Tiernan critically. Didn't the big man know that the storms were scary? And he hadn't tried to comfort Squirt at all. What a mean big man. Squirt didn't really know why he was afraid of storms, as he'd never been inconvenienced by one much, but he knew that he did not like them at all. Especially when the bright light split the sky open, and the world rumbled in response. And Squirt liked the water - when it was below him. He wasn't much of a fan of it falling onto his head.
Squirt had slept through most of the storm, relatively unharmed in his safe spot, save for a few times when he was pitched about. And one really awful time when a knife that was in the drawer almost cut his wing. That was no good at all. He had hidden that knife good. It wouldn't bother him again!
Now he was awake, and he was hungry, and Tiernan was asleep. There was a bit of bread next to him, which he'd dropped when he'd passed out. Squirt peaked and poked around, finding a few bites here and there. But he was still hungry, and he knew that Tiernan wasn't the only person aboard who would give him a bit to eat, so he popped /between/ and reappeared in the Mess.
It was empty.
This perplexed Squirt. He landed on a table, and cocked his head to the side. There was ALWAYS someone in the Mess. It was a ship, there was always some people that were awake. Squirt flew up to the main deck, and there was no one. No one at the wheel, no one up in the rigging. This wasn't right at all. Who was to feed poor Squirt?
Then he remembered something. The one thing that he was never supposed to do. Perch on the wheel! Excited, he flew over to it, and landed neatly atop it. But... he didn't stay there for long. The fickle thing moved! With an unhappy chirp, he tried to land on it once more. And it moved out from under him again.
Temporary amusement gone, he flew around the ship, finding a few wet rolls to eat. It wasn't ideal, but his stomach wasn't empty any more, and that made Squirt quite happy. Now what to do with himself...
He had picked the image of a chest out of Tiernan's mind while he was trying to get him to take the message. He had recognized the chest. The skinny boy owned it. He had lots of shiny things in there, that Squirt had liked to look at. The boy liked Squirt a whole lot. He had always wanted a firelizard of his own; at least, that's what he told Squirt. Squirt liked the boy because when he had time, he would scratch Squirt's itchy spots, and feed him little bits of food. Squirt knew that the best shinies the boy had weren't all in the chest. Some of them were hidden between some of the boards of the walls.
His master had seemed interested in the boy... perhaps Squirt could get him to forgive him by getting the shinies from the wall! That would do quite nicely, Squirt decided.
Squirt peered at the wall in question for a moment, debating how he'd get the shinies out. He saw a small piece of hide poking out, and he tugged at it. It wouldn't give. So he tugged harder, chirping with frustration as it stubbornly stuck in place. Finally, he tugged one last time, with all his might, wings flapping furiously, and the piece of hide came loose. Both firelizard and hide tumbled into a heap on the floor, and Squirt cheeped in surprise.
He had gotten more than he'd anticipated. The hide had been folded into a rough envelope, and when Squirt peered inside, he found all manner of things. There were scribbled notes, which he dismissed quickly because of his lack of reading ability. There was a portrait of a young girl, that was surprisingly realistic. Squirt looked at it curiously. She was pretty, in the firelizard's opinion. There were also several braided gold chains, one with a locket. And a betrothal ring, although Squirt didn't recognize it as such.
Tucking the contents safely back inside, Squirt grabbed the envelope, and blinked /between/, reappearing next to Tiernan. He dropped the envelope at his master's feet, cheeped proudly, then snuggled up into Tiernan's neck for a nap. Master would be so proud of him when he woke up and saw what he had brought to him! In a few short moments, Squirt was asleep, snoring softly, with pleasant dreams of the adventures to come.