In one moment they gathered up some cloth, mostly rags, and made a makeshift flag, furiously waving it in their hands. Relief flooded through their veins when their mad dance on their small boat proved to be a success when the large ship turned towards them.
To their luck it didn't take long and ship brushed by the boats side, stopping for the brief moment as not to leave the boat behind.
A rope ladder was thrown to the girls with additional 3 thick ropes.
"Tie it to your boat!" The clear command made the girls dash to quickly get the job done. "Good thing that Erika taught me the ties," Ann thought while tying the last knot on the front of their boat albeit a bit clumsily though hard enough for the ship not to drift away.
Not a moment later did they get onto the deck with the small boat securely tagging along on the 3 thick lines.
A few minutes of being questioned about how they ended up here, what happened coupled with some basic introductions, both of them were given a blanket and a mug of hot chocolate. The captain, a seemingly in her 50ies, woman with sharp features, a very characteristic pointy nose, brown hair with stripes of grey, a bit on the lean side with her height ending just above Ann's head, kindly smiled at them.
"Well, you two, you had luck we were here. Normally it's rare for any ships to cruise here as it's a region full of sea kings. Good for you that we had to do a detour to deliver some goods."
She latched onto the explanation of the territory having heard the girls' problems regarding their vague understanding of their location from their story.
It looked like the merchant's destination, Busket island to unload their cargo there, was roughly 3 or 4 weeks from the Sabaody Archipelago. Yet the most reassuring part was that the captain, Helen Brosnic, told them that they could come with them as the island was about 2 or 3 days away. It brightened their mood considerably and the girls both bowed down to profusely thank for the rescue only to be brushed off by the merchant captain that they could help on the ship while they were here.
Later on Ann and Erika would hear from some more light-hearted crew members about the almost unbelievably shy nature of Mrs Brosnic who had a soft spot for children or anyone younger which she tried to hide with a harsh exterior.
Seeing as it was almost late in the afternoon, the girls were led to the dinning area where they got at last a hot soup and some old bread.
Some of the older men liked to joke that they would have to wait till they reached the island for fresh bread and vegetables. But considering how little the both of them had to eat the previous weeks, the girls simply ignored them and devoured, some happy moans or squeaks in between, the goulash made from old tomatoes and sausages. The surprise of the members grew all the more when they saw tears dripping from Ann's face, snot rushing from her nose and the vibrant blush on the cheeks of Erika whose green eyes shone an unnatural amount of gratefulness.
Someone, a woman, seemingly in her mid-to-late twenties, dark skin and afro-locks, good-naturedly joked whether they had been eating only nuts or fruits.
The glistening unshed tears in both their eyes left no room to joke as both of them looked ready to kneel down with their utmost thanks for the given meal which made the rougher boys cringe in awkward smiles.
Somehow from then on everything seemed a little bit too rushed for Ann and even Erika to properly comprehend.
Afterwards left the girls breathless as they were shown a bed where they could sleep, it turned out that there weren't enough beddings so they would have to deal with sharing though truthfully at this point Anna told them that they would be happy enough to sleep on the ground as long as they had blankets and a roof above their heads.
"Really, if anything I could kiss this floor, heck, even the whole room after having spent too much time in that poor excuse of a beach. Or likely the living imitation of hell," Ann added without much care too tired to think straight.
The ensuing laughing seemed to be contagious as almost everyone in the large cabin, that could put up at least 15-20 beds alone, were chuckling, snickering or smirking.
When the girls finally sat down, Ann managed to get a proper look at the people and the room.
From her previous inquiries, this side of the ship housed the women, some mechanics, mainly nurses and the cooks, while the left side housed the men who were also divided in terms of ability and strength raging from cooks, mechanic and navigation to the simple fighters and powerhouses that helped carry the heavy cargo; the center was used for the many storages.
Somehow the women with whom they would be sharing the room for the next 2 or 3 days took their appearance (Erika, her long-sleeved blue work dress, that could be seen in factories, torn and dirty and Ann with her non-fashionably ripped jeans that made her legs and feet even more worse off while specks of blood dotted her attire from waist down) as a sort of challenge, giving them some of their old work pants, shirts and surprisingly even a pair of boot-like shoes albeit pretty worn-down with one sole needing to be reattached as it tried to come off. Nonetheless Ann was over the moon seeing them as her bloodied feet would get their much needed protection.
"Screw the overprized converse, pumas, now that is true gold," she grinned maliciously, making a few wonder about her strange behavior. The only one used to it, though only a bit deterred at the mad glint, remained Erika who was also tackled by the group of women, failingly blushing a nice shade of crimson almost matching the vibrant shade of angry red of her hair.
That was how Erika ended up with a grey t-shirt, hanging off like a rag, and a jeans blouse for the cold nights and big brown cotton pants stolen from the men compartment by some vigorous woman. The only part left were her more or less maintained tennis shoes, to which Ann managed to gather from her mumbling words that it was the pair which she had stolen from the 'guy'. As a sort of encouragement she put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it extra reassuringly getting a shy smile from her. Of course the crowding females, seeing the very cute face of the younger, simply squealed in delight, hugging the Erika till she couldn't breathe.
The next fashion victim was of course Anna who won the fight to keep her beloved hoodie with zipped pockets mostly used as a bag for her earphones and MP4 player, a sad remainder of her world. Yet couldn't protest much when she saw the nice pair of black soft cotton pants. The good quality albeit a bit worn out from the too much use made her droll despite its rough softness in comparison to the scratchy stuff of her beloved jeans which material couldn't withstand the force of nature and her own blood combined.
She vividly blushed at how everyone teased her, "Love at first sight." Which made for another wave of laughter.
But the best of all was the proper treatment of her and Erika's wounds.
Nothing could beat a proper first aid despite the frightening sternness of the 40-year old nurse who oozed a deathly tension while giving Ann, as she was the older one of the duo, a tongue-lashing of her life from the carelessness of bandaging with dirty cloth to the luck which helped her not getting a serious infection from all that. Ann, hunched shoulders, simply couldn't care less about the words being too engrossed at having contact with people who cared and were nice.
Thankfully Erika got off with a less strict treatment both due to her visible shyness and ugly fist-shaped bruising mostly on her stomach and back. It seemed that the nurses and other women caught on Erika's rough past judging from the sympathetic stares or outright disturbed ones.
Yet Ann's gratefulness was directed to their tact of not asking more than necessary.
After all the hovering and treatment coupled with the excited shrill of the woman, Ann, and by default Erika as well, thanked them for the umpteenth time and told them they better go to bed even though it was still early evening. No one questioned that seeing as both were simply swaying on their legs, too exhausted to even get to the bathing point.
Even the snickering at the 'adorable, very cute picture' of the two embracing each other on the screeching bed couldn't force them to care much.
After all that Ann couldn't remember the last time she was this socially exhausted.
The first thought that struck Ann upon seeing the sluggish movement indicating the half-awake state of the redhead was: "Bath. We both need it."
It seemed like a sheer coincidence that the first to be seen when they woke up were the lone mechanic women, 3 of them, putting on their blue overalls at the crack of dawn.
They smiled at them, or more at the tangled mess of limbs stretching out in all directions, visibly turning to the door.
Ann quickly stood up, crashing head fist to the ground from the jelly-like legs, eliciting soft laughter.
"It feels like I'm the walking joke of this world," she thought while getting up to her feet. Gulping down the embarrassment and some shyness of her, she asked them where the bathroom was.
And just like that Anna and Erika ended up following them to the nearest bathroom, which turned out to be 5 stalls and an adjoined toilet next door. Briefly explaining them the mechanism of the toilet and the showers, giving them some spare towels and some grey soap, they left them to their own devices, as they were on a tight schedule.
It turned out that taking a shower, a mundane and easy chore for the modern people, after such a long time of having to survive with no usable water, was a challenge on its own also due to the freshly bandaged wounds.
At first Anna wasn't sure whether she should unwrap the bandages or not, yet seeing that they both had only bruises or light wounds that would only end up bleeding, she decided to take them off.
Carefully she unwrapped the ones around the redheads torso and stomach, neatly putting the bandages on one of the shelves in front of the stalls. For a quick moment she had to pause at the ugly sight of the hand-shaped and foot-shaped markings.
Then she proceeded to her own legs yet was stopped by Erika who seemed to want to return the favor. The bloodied bandages could only land in the trash bin near the toilet.
After that the most embarrassing followed, namely stripping and getting to the shower.
Being a very, very private person, the next moments her face flourished with a healthy flush, embarrassment shaking her body. The awkwardness didn't abandon her even during the shower. Her normally healthy albeit rounded body, seemed to have lost some of her nice chubbiness, leaving unhealthy patches of flesh hanging off in some parts of her body with ribs in plain sight, all in all marred with bigger or smaller scratches mainly from the storm of her first island, the most mortifying though thankfully very few smaller ones being on her inner thighs and lower stomach yet too close to her intimate sphere for her liking.
Somehow her state, both mental and physical, didn't much differ from Erika's.
Overall she had to scrub her with the grating piece of soap every part of her body to get rid off the dirt.
Her dark brown hair seemed to have also changed, even after much washing with the blissfully but scorching hot water (it really left her squeaking the first minutes) and the barest hints of the grey mush, from the dark chocolate to a more brownish black. Or the mirror and her mind seemed to like to play games with her.
Having been done with the much needed attention to her whole body, she turned off her shower and grabbed the hanging towel from the stall door, thoroughly drying herself off and putting back on her newly gained cloths, though having the same unwashed underwear did give off a strange feeling. The same thoughts were currently shared by the younger one.
"Well, think they are gonna let us wash our underwear?"
The answer was yes, having been cornered by the same terrifying nurse after getting back to the cabin.
Ann, and judging by the equally red-faced Erika, didn't know what could be more shameful. Hearing the same old lecture about proper hygiene, especially out in the seas, which Ann mentally thanked that she did get to know very well having spend her first days using only thoroughly very clean leaves (which even then she was reluctant to use) as toilet paper and using splashes of sea water to keep her body odor at bay while pleading to God to get some proper bath (her pleas were at last heard), or listening to it with an audience of mature woman snickering or cruelly laughing at the twos flushing state.
Plus points of the long lecture, which spread around the ship faster than wildfire, having gotten to the captain herself that left her also try to bite off her chuckles, were her freshly washed underwear, the given clothes being relatively clean (the waiting in the cabin was agonizing enough for Ann and Erika to want to forget it) and new information on what to do in case of her or Erika's period showing up. Who knew that pads or tampons were scarce material on the sea just before restocking, as such was the case here, and a good alternative proved to be bandages or even clean cut-off sleeves.
Of course having enough of being ashamed and left more embarrassed, Ann put on a saccharine smile and almost theatrically bowed down to express her gratitude for the concern and treatment as her whereabouts left her and also Erika lacking in the department of proper hygiene, altogether with the fact that Ann, being from an inland town situated far away from the sea, didn't have much knowledge of the basics on the sea.
She even clasped her hands on the nurse's own and thanked her for the very informative lesson and asked whether she could come and ask her more if the need arouse.
Needless to say the room was left speechless in the face of the radiant grin of Ann.
And to do more damage, she swiftly added: "I think that more people should know about the importance of hygiene. Especially refreshing such basics can help even the most experienced people as many may tend to forget it in favor of staying above the sea water or doing equally exhausting time-consuming tasks which might lead to such neglect."
The ignited fire in the blonde's blue eyes made the other women in the cabin want to scream murder and flee the scene at the same time.
"Just some nicely put words, proper manner and the situation handles itself," she thought feeling triumphant for the first time since her so-called 'rescue' of Erika.
Having put up a shaky end to the quickly spread rumors thanks to the newly gained ally in form of the stern and terror-inspiring rotund nurse Leila who had such a tight reign that absolutely everyone, even the head doctor couldn't help but cower thus dampening the exciting information ( it didn't help that the moment someone made fun of it, Leila latched into a new lecture of hygiene and diseases, making the poor soul cry to the sky for forgiveness), they got to eat another scarce, as they were running low on their supplies, breakfast consisting of a glass of water, a few loafs of bread, and a small helping of scrambled eggs. Yet in their minds they were on could nine with such food. The nuts and fruits or whatever else Erika had to put up either made the bland food extremely tasty and blissful to their hungered stomachs.
Of course as their obviously displayed thank you the two ended up trying to help out with the work on the ship. To the shame of the older, the younger was more proficient with the chores earning quite a lot praise for her hard work. A few crewmen who looked like in heir 20es tried to unashamedly tease Ann, a way to make up for the lectures given by the nurse, with a few comments about her overall slow pace, clumsy movement with obvious chores like cleaning the deck and the lack of strength in comparison to most of the girls her age or whatever else they could come up with.
For her it were some less than friendly comments that could be brushed off as some teenage gossip if not for the hint of truth in them which was kind of grating on her nerves.
The only thing she could do was somehow uphold her dignity and try to lessen the killing intent of her companion who was glaring daggers at the man who dared to make fun of her rescuer.
"Really?" Anna said trying to come off with a condescending tone. "You know, I may be making you uncomfortable seeing your the lack of interaction with girls my age but you needn't be shy. I don't bite nor am I out to kill you. No need to worry. I'm as much of a person as you are." To that she grinned at them in an as much as she could demure and innocent way.
At the reddening faces she quickly added fuel to the fire. A glint of mischief in her eye.
"Oh, and by the way if you are really that much interested in my share of work as to vividly talk about then you don't have to lurk around me. Simply asking: 'Could we do the cleaning for you?' would suffice. I'm not going to take offence at that."
With that she turned around and continued cleaning the deck.
"Hopefully I didn't get too arrogant. Wouldn't do good to look like a wannabe literate," she thought anxiously.
Unbeknownst to her, her little companion came up to them with a smug expression. The ones that were harassing Ann quickly shut up.
At least Ann didn't have to deal with another rude remarks for the rest of the day, with Erika being obviously giddy on her feet from Ann's sharp tongue.
This didn't miss the ears of the captain who also got a little smug. The same night at the late dinner when the woman made her way to the table the moment she came close to the boyish youngsters she remarked aloud:
"Why so down? I thought that you were up a little intellectually not to get down by some clumsy dorkish girl, right?"
The hall roared with laughter much to the shame of the guys and surprisingly the girl who also was a little bit red from the sudden praise.
Truthfully Anna was more than happy to get with Erika to her bed, too much emotionally drained to even consider further interaction.