A/N- Sorry it's been a while since I've updated! Been really busy lately… but I'll leave you to the story without further ado!
It was on the third day of travel that it happened. They were about a third of the way to Port Caynn (not yet to the area around Pirate's Swoop) when the sun rose an orangish-yellow. "Tha's bad news, tha' is," the head gunner, Parker, thought aloud. "Bad luck, an orange sun. A storm's a conjurin' and goin' t' meet us to our doom."
"I don't believe in superstitions," Aoife said defiantly. There was a superstition that women on board a pirate ship were bad luck as well.
"Yessir." Parker went back to his work.
Later in the day, the sky ahead grew fogged. Heavy dark clouds surrounded the sky. Wind roared, ripping at their ears. Aoife's sensitive ears were nearly ringing as people held on to the closest heavy object so as not to blow away. "We should turn around!" someone yelled.
"No! We can brave this! Bring the sails in before they're tattered to pieces!" Aoife shouted back, turning the steering wheel so the wind would blow them straight ahead. "I've seen worse, much worse!" The white lie seemed weak, an excuse to keep going. She would prove superstitions wrong! Women are just as good as men!
The water ahead seemed to swirl around in a rough circle. A whirlwind was forming, Aoife realized with horror. She gripped the helm with all her might and pulled to the side. She didn't feel strong enough to be able to speak.
The hurricane was seducing them closer. She was turning with all her might, but without much success. Water splashed on the deck. "Get... get that water out of my ship!" she managed to say. It seemed to come out in a whisper in the earsplitting wind.
"Get the water out of here!" She heard not the barely audible whisper of Wokai, but a clear, crisp, perfectly commanding tone. She was sure it was him, though, and she smiled thankfully. Just as she did so, it began to pour. Her clothes were drenched in seconds and stuck to her body. The wheel became harder to grip and it became harder to control as water filled the inside through a small bullet-sized hole.
The whirlwind was too strong. Her hold on the wheel slipped. She did all she could, and she felt it okay to let it the entirety go all of a sudden. But then she remembered the fate of a storm such as this. People died. She couldn't let anything happen to her crew. They were her responsibility.
She couldn't give up. Her hold on the wheel was rejuvenated, and she turned it with all of her new strength. The boat turned 180 degrees and it slowly started to slip away from the rage. The rain ever so slowly decreased in intensity, and Knade chanced a breath of relief.
She stumbled and fell down. Strong arms lifted her and in the next second she felt the warmth of a fire and a blanket around her. Finally surrendering, she fell in a deep sleep for a long time.
Shouts awoke her much-needed slumber. Something felt wrong. She sat up and ran on deck. She stopped the nearest person to ask them what was wrong.
"The storm. It's back! See, Lazarus –one of the sailors, if you remember– took over the steering, because he's the best at navigation –well, excluding you– and , well, he's a bit of a slacker, so after you got all settled in your rooms and whatnot…"
"Are you going to babble all day or tell me what happened?" Aoife said crossly.
"Uh, sorry, sir. He set a slow pace for the ship and the storm caught us by surprise."
She grumbled, and looked out over the horizon. Sure enough, everywhere she looked, there were dark clouds. "Why is it so calm?" she asked, confused. It seemed to be a downpour with the wind wailing everywhere around the ship.
"We're in the eye of the storm. Soon we'll be out and the ship's going to go," Wokai told her.
"Don't be so depressed." She punched the Bazhir's shoulder lightly, determination once again filling her eyes. "I'm ready."