In contrast to the cannon fire that she half-expected to be woken by, it was instead the sound of island birds singing that Blue heard that morning. Upon further inspection of her surroundings, she found nothing amiss and that the brigantines of Golden Sands had disappeared without a trace. It seemed that she and her shipmate would be allowed to go about their day without any interruptions.

"So what is it about this island?" Blue asked as they ate breakfast.

If his exaggerated chuckle was anything to go by, Z was quite amused. "Y' like swimmin'?"

She sighed in defeat, and because her half of the splashtail they shared had no more fins to yield to her. "I can tolerate it. Must we?"

"All the merms hang out in the water," he reasoned. She sighed again.

They finished their breakfast and Blue changed into some clothes that she didn't care too much about and would not be a hindrance in the water. Z spent that entire time waiting for her on the quarter-deck, apparently indifferent to what he swam in.

"So this is Mermaid's Hideaway," Blue stated once she was up on the deck with him.

"Yeah…" He gave her an unimpressed but curious look. "What do you mean?"

"Will we be finding any mer here?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. They are everywhere in the water."

She huffed; that wasn't quite what she meant and he was being difficult. It didn't help that she got the feeling that he was purposefully toying with her by giving her those noncommittal responses. She motioned at him.

"Very well, lead the way."

Z grinned before throwing himself off the side of the ship. At first, she thought that he might lead her to the crack in the island she spotted before disembarking, but that wasn't the case. Looking more forward, she now saw the mouth of a cave that must have been their destination.

When they were close to it, it was clear to Blue that they would be diving into the water that went underneath the island. Previously, she would have refused to entertain such a notion, but as unpleasant as it probably was, she didn't fear drowning anymore. Besides, if Z could make the swim, she surely could, too. That was what she told herself as they left the surface and entered the tunnel.

The way turned sharply to the left. Just when Blue wondered how far it would go, the path opened up into a cavern thick with coral and foliage. Despite the low light and the burning in her lungs, it was a gorgeous sight. Curiosity took root when she spotted a primitive-looking statue of what must have been meant to represent a merfolk in the middle of the chamber.

They breached the surface for a breath. Blue took in her surroundings as she did, noting a wooden platform. A ladder was attached to it that led from the water all the way to an opening at the top; sky was visible from it. Z seemed to be waiting for something from her, allowing a whisper of a smirk across his face.

"What is this?"

"Jus' Mermaid's Hideaway. There's like…" He looked down and about. "Maybe three ways into here. Plus up there," he said, motioning to the upper land entrance before back to the water.

That response wasn't very satisfying, but she nodded to him nonetheless. Then she dove on her own accord, taking another look at the entire room from where she was. All about it was seaweed and grass and coral, some of which was so extravagant that it seemed to create extra shelving in the already layered cave. On one rocky shelf was an opened treasure chest and clay containers, seemingly thrown away. It was all that Blue found worth noting so she surfaced again.

"And what is this cave?"

Z shrugged his shoulders. "Yer guess is as good as mine. C'mon."

That wasn't a very good answer. He didn't allow Blue any time to consider it or give a response before he dove again. She watched where he went before taking a deep breath. From there, they went through another tunnel. To her surprise, it led them to the pool in the centre of the island, but that couldn't be right: these tunnels connected the pool and ocean, yet this water lacked the sea's salt.

Her expression must have shown her confusion as Z inquired: "What?"

"This pond is freshwater, is it not?"

He nodded. There was a small school of pondies that confirmed what she asked. Blue stared at him for a moment and then shook her head of the thought; it wasn't worth the headache. More curious was the presence of two more statues on either side of the tunnel's exit, positioned as though they guarded it.

Blue pointed to these statues. "You have seen these… have you not?"

"No, I haven't. Huh." It was evident by his expression.

She stared at him, then looked back to the carvings. They were crude and made her deeply curious, but without knowing the slightest thing about the mer, she couldn't even begin to wonder in a productive manner. She couldn't shake one question, though.

"Why do the mer help us when we are at sea?" she asked, making her way to shore.

"I'm not sure," Z said once he began following her. "Some say it's 'cause the Pirate Lord struck a deal with 'em."

"A deal?"

"Uh huh. No one's ever said what that deal is, though. It's that or they're lookin' for people to turn into 'em."

On land now, Blue froze. "To turn… Surely you do not mean that the merfolk turn people into more merfolk?"

Z stopped wringing his shirt out to give her an unimpressed look. "Maybe they do, maybe they don't. Ain't any way anyone can tell us, anyway."

She made a face. "If we do not speak the same languages, how could the Pirate Lord have made a deal with them?"

Z paused again before giving her an elaborate shrug.

"Have you never thought about this?"

"Can't say I have."

She gave him an incredulous look before turning away. This quick tour of the island's underwater tunnels had been interesting, yet dissatisfying. Perhaps there was more to the Sea of Thieves than pirates.

"I have two questions," she said, beginning to press water out of her hair.

Z groaned. "Oh, I don't want another bath already."

She rose a brow. "I see no point when we have to swim back to the ship still…" They exchanged looks. "Now then. My questions are… unrelated, I believe."

"Shoot."

"Pirates did not carve those stones into the statues we see now. They also did not make all the weathered paintings that dot the island in this place, did they?" Z shook his head. "I did not think so. Now… I have heard the title before, but who is the Pirate Lord?"

"Well, he's the Pirate Lord, y'see?" he said. Blue wanted to smack him. "He's been makin' the rules here for…" She wasn't sure if he tried and failed to give her an exact number or if his head just wasn't screwed on tight enough. "For a while. He makes things fair, I guess."

Blue considered his words. She didn't feel it was a very good explanation, but it was satisfactory for now. This was not the time or place for a history run down of the Sea of Thieves, new or old.

"Hey, can I ask a question now?"

She looked at him. "… Shoot."

"Why'd ya do that with yer hair if we still gotta swim back to the ship?"

Hands buried in her hair, Blue froze. She had said it herself. She had no good explanation for why she had bothered trying to accelerate its drying when it would soon be soaked again.

"Shut the fuck up."

Perhaps that had been rude. Any inkling of regret Blue might have felt for her tone disappeared when she heard her shipmate laughing behind her. It was only when they were about the jump off the ledge high on the island's west side that he stopped his giggling.

To the south, there were no more known islands so they headed somewhat east. Sailor's Knot Stronghold was a known skeleton occupation but when they got there, it was as abandoned as Old Boot Fort had been. While they were there, the decision to go to Plunder Valley was made as Discovery Ridge was more out of the way.

Plunder Valley, however, irked Z quite a lot. When Blue confirmed that she wasn't imagining his bad mood, she asked him what was so wrong with the island and received a simple response of "Everything." That didn't clarify anything at all but she let the matter go. She, on the other hand, had plenty of fun finding a way to the top of the island to spend the evening and watch the horizon.

From there, they were one good day's worth of sailing away from Plunder Outpost. If conditions were not good, and they weren't, they could stop at Lost Gold Fort.

Despite being another abandoned skeleton occupation, Blue found the place to be pleasant. Unlike the other fortresses she had visited, this one still had quite a lot of foliage that gave it character. And also like the others, it had a rickety building at the top of it that she enjoyed climbing to the top of, finding it just sturdy enough. One question did linger in her mind that she wasn't sure when she'd be willing to voice: who built them?

From Lost Gold Fort, Plunder Outpost was an easy sail. A galleon had been spotted to the north and a sloop to the west past where they had just been, but no ships were at the island proper so they took the opportunity to freshen up supplies and get a kitchen-made meal. The matter of what to do about those ships remained.

"It is very unlikely that the sloop crew are carrying deliveries for the Merchant Alliance. There are no liaisons in that section of the region."

Z seemed to consider those words. Blue continued.

"The galleon, however, might be. They are in the area of Snake Island and Crook's Hollow; the latter does often have one representative that can usually be found somewhere by the dock."

"So the gally's busy doin' something that might be runnin' cargo."

"Correct. And it is a galleon. It is not worth going out of our way to pester that crew. The sloop, though… I cannot guess what the sloop's crew may be doing."

"There's an old shipwreck on Ol' Salt. They might be scavenging it."

"If it is old, then there is nothing for them to find." Z shrugged at her words. "Depending on prior crews' investigations…? Hm."

"If the gally's out of the question and this sloop's pokin' 'round a shipwreck, we'll go for them instead." Blue sat up a little straighter when he said that. "That is it, right? Y' don't want to go pokin' a gally, so that's yer choice and mine is that we go after that sloop. What else we gonna do with our time?"

"Mm." Blue stretched her hands out against each other. "Very well. You make a good point. We will…" Hesitating, uncertain what exactly to say to this operation they had agreed upon, Blue narrowed her eyes. "… investigate the sloop with our cannons."

"Now y're talkin'."

"First thing in the morn—"

"Why not now?"

She sighed. "It is already quite late. And there are only so many places that sloop can go, correct? They can go east this way, or they can go north into the Shores of Plenty. If they disappear from our sight, it will not be difficult to guess where they have gone."

He made a thoughtful noise and thought for a moment. "Alright then. We leave first thing in the mornin', and no breakfast at the tavern."

"Very well. Shall I wake you?"

"If you ain't willin' t' sail solo."

She narrowed her eyes at his quip.

That was their agreement and so when she awoke, Blue forced herself to get up right away instead of dozing as she so liked to. Z was snoring obnoxiously loudly down in the hold so waking him was an easy task. He only jumped a little and grumbled less when he recalled their plans, visibly excited. Between him almost trying to get up without replacing his prosthetic and the infection he had let take hold before, he acted like he hadn't lost the leg so long ago and that made her wonder, though not enough to wonder aloud.

"Get us something to eat," she commanded of him. It was the least he could do after getting more sleep — even if it was by mere minutes — while simultaneously allowing him to spend his time waking up down in the hold away from her.

They had just resupplied at Plunder Outpost the day before so there was plenty to pick from. When Z came topside with a reheated fish and tankard of grog for both of them, Blue was astonished. It wasn't a bad breakfast, but it could have been so much more. She reminded herself of his nature and let the matter go.

As they scanned the horizon for their target, it seemed missing. Z pointed the ship out and she needed a moment longer to reacquire it. Though they had pointed out that there was much open ocean to the south and west of the other sloop and that it was unlikely to go those directions, it had in fact gone south. This was quite curious until they were close enough to spot a huge flock of seagulls in the same area.

"Gulls. Shipwreck?"

"Prob'ly."

This would explain the sloop's behaviour. A scavenging crew would happily follow the final journey of a lost ship if it meant easy pickings. The problem with that, however, was that there was no easy way to get close to them, no island that they could pretend to have an excuse to visit or simply pass by.

Blue was astonished by how close they got to the ship before it responded to their presence by lowering its sail. Being similarly sized ships meant that they couldn't put any significant distance between themselves and the Forlorn Phoenix, so she wondered what their plan might be. They couldn't run forever and she didn't think they would fight. That is, until the ship began to turn. She couldn't fathom why there had been a delay; had the crew debating options amongst each other, the lookout dozing? She wondered if one had been left behind in the water and forced to wait for a merfolk to take them back to their ship — knowing their speed now, she wondered if this would even be visible from afar.

More pressing was the matter of the ship turning on them. She doubted that they were interested in a friendly chat at this point, though it would be convenient. Glancing down at Z on the main-deck, he was already looking to her.

"You stay up there. I'll tell ya what I need."

Blue simply nodded back to him. Her manning the helm gave him the freedom to do as he liked and she was more comfortable on the quarter-deck anyway.

"Turn left — keep on their rear."

"Working on it."

It was good that they were on the same page, if slightly annoying, too. Everything about him was annoying, somehow, no matter the situation, she was finding. Blue knew how to manage herself in combat; it was him she worried for.

The sloop's reaction to their presence was indeed a violent one; despite their lack of an angle, one of the crew tried their hand at landing cannonballs; their aim left something to be desired. Blue made note of their aggression and turned the wheel; there was still a lot of distance between the sloops, but she trusted Z to take the shots and maybe land some. She was surprised when, after three cannonballs were fired to test the angle, he succeeded. The sound of wood cracking could be heard as the other sloop's upper decks and stern were pummelled.

As much as Blue would have liked to keep this up, the other ship turned in the opposite direction, denying them. A decision on how to turn the wheel took Blue longer than it needed to and their favourable positioning was not so favourable anymore. One shot was fired from the rival sloop — it narrowly missed them — and then Z had an angle once more. The accuracy he possessed was downright impressive; once he found the arc he needed, he denied the pirates a chance to man their cannon, alternating his aim slightly so that cannonballs alternated between ripping through the side of their ship and landing on the deck.

"You got this?" he asked, now standing closer to the muzzle of the cannon.

"Probably."

Blue was unsurprised to watch him climb into the cannon and shoot himself out of it. What she was curious of is where he intended to land. Rolling and crumpling up on land was one thing — did he intend to land on the deck of their ship now? He didn't manage that; Blue saw the splash quite far ahead of the sloop's prow, but it made her wonder. What an advantageous position landing on their deck would have been.

With Z off ship, her focus shifted between the quarter-deck and manning the cannon herself. The sail and wheel were where she thought they ought to be so she vaulted over to the gun, taking shots as well as she could. It took four test shots before she found the ship's hull. Luckily for her, she was not fired back upon for her shipmate had found their ladder and climbed aboard, causing chaos as its gunner and helmsman went to attack him personally. Blue heard a blunderbuss go off and spied swords colliding before she left the cannon and went back to the quarter-deck.

Keeping an eye on the other ship's deck, Blue raised the sail of the Forlorn Phoenix halfway. Then she turned the wheel to bring the ship in closer as Z had dropped the other's anchor, outright halting its movement. She pulled the sail up completely so the ship would drift to the other's side. The two of them exchanged looks. Based on his now calm demeanour…

"I take it you won the hand-to-hand fight?"

"Uh huh," he responded, grinning a grin of self-indulgence. The blood trailing down the side of his face seemed to bother him none.

Blue tilted her head at the other ship's groaning. It listed to one side before the rolling motion of a wave mostly corrected it. "And have they anything?"

"I saw some goodies down low. We'll grab 'em when they float up."

Sinking the ship seemed unnecessary at this point. Expending the effort and materials to patch it up, however, seemed like a waste. Still, something didn't feel quite right; Blue kept those thoughts to herself as Z climbed back onto the Forlorn Phoenix and the other ship began to dip under the waves.

"What sort?" Blue asked. When he gave her a look and she knew that he didn't understand, she clarified: "The goods. Of what sort were they?"

"Oh, a bit of this, a bit of that. They found all kinds'a things."

"So they were scavengers."

"Damned good ones at that. There was a lot of stuff in their lower decks."

"I will take your word for it," Blue said as she stepped off the quarter-deck and made her way to the hold. "I am going to make some tea while we wait." Anything besides just sitting there and waiting for things to float up from the depths below…

When the items finally came to the surface, Blue was astonished by the variety. Most of the treasure chests were in poor condition, the brackets appearing as though someone had taken a hammer to them, barnacles coating the containers. It seemed as though the saltwater had attempted to corrode them open, to no avail. Crates that the Merchant Alliance would accept were in better condition, though that didn't surprise her. All of the skulls they found seemed to be in the best of conditions and Blue found herself wondering if they could deteriorate. That raised more questions that she quickly pushed from her mind.

"This is… impressive," she said as she looked over their yield.

"Yeah, it is. I wonder if they stole any of it."

Blue shared that curiosity now. It was that or this crew was very good at finding shipwrecks just after they had gone down to discover that much loot within them. Now it was all theirs.

"Is Golden Sands or Plunder Outpost closer?"

Z looked up from a crate he was trying to identify, peering about. "They're both pretty far."

"That they are. Plunder, then? It was vacant last we saw with only the galleon in the north."

He nodded, then asked, "Hey, what is this?"

"Uncategorised gemstones." She got a kick out of the realisation that spread across his face.

Plunder Outpost was a far sail from where the scavengers had taken them. The Forlorn Phoenix made good time across that portion of the Ancient Isles thanks to a crosswind that persisted for half of their sailing. From there they could still see the galleon, if only barely.

The time it took Blue and Z to sell their contraband made her appreciate the time spent on the brigantine with his friend. Everything was worthwhile, but the number of times they made the walk from the ship to a Trading Company representative was dizzying. A fresh meal from the tavern was well appreciated.

"How much did we make?" Blue asked after downing half of what was on her plate.

Z hummed contently, playing with a gold coin. "More than what we got from Hidden Springs. And we only hafta split it two ways," he said as he pushed a fat pouch to her side of the table.

"A fair point."

"See? It's not so bad."

Blue rose a brow at that comment but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth responding to, instead changing the subject entirely.

"Now that we have more coin to our name, is it acceptable that we stop at an island for some time?"

Z gave her a hesitant look. "… Sure." It was almost a question. Then: "What for?"

"We have been travelling for quite some time and now carry the supplies to fix my sail. Is resting for a few days while I do that not acceptable to you?"

He seem to consider those words for a moment, tapping the coin against the table, then nodded. "That's acceptable."

"Good."

They sat in the tavern and finished their meal. Z insisted on spending some of their newly earned coin on drink; the pastime wasn't for Blue so she spent the evening on the ship's mid-deck. It was unsurprising when her shipmate stumbled past some time later, somehow without being as drunk as she had expected. Because of that, he went to bed early and woke early so they got breakfast at the inn before heading out.

Lookout Point was just to the southwest of Plunder Outpost. Though it was a small island, it was quite vertical with one area that was certainly responsible for its namesake. The view of the Ancient Isles from the highest point was fantastic with a similarly pretty cliff-side. The only downfall to this island was its small size.

After getting comfortable at the island, Z had absconded from the ship. This bothered Blue none as it allowed her to work to repair the torn sail in peace. She was in the literal middle of it when he returned with a rowboat.

"Where did you get that?" she inquired.

"West side'a the island."

"Ah." That made sense; they had come around from the east and stopped the ship on the south side.

"Ooh, it's got stuff in it," she heard him say from the stern.

"Is any of it of value?"

A long moment passed and Blue was about to turn and see what his problem was when a pineapple collided with the back of her head. Hands buried in fabric, she simply glared at him. "… was that really necessary?"

Z didn't look like he had really meant that. He shrugged after stepping onto the mid-deck, arms full of ammunition and planks. Blue ignored him as he put those away and kept her attention on the task at hand. As much as she could, of course. It seemed that he had already become bored, standing on the other side of the ship to look over everything spread across the deck.

"So how's it comin'?"

Blue counted to twelve before she answered. "As well as I had hoped. The tear is clean and only requires a strong, simple stitch." She looked to the box of golden silk she had torn to use as thread for this task. Most of the sail was crumpled into an organised pile while the side that was torn was laid out flat. Z seemed curious about it and she was, too.

"Do you recognise this sail?"

"Can't say I do, but it's nice jus' like everything else on this ship."

She rose a brow at those words. "And what do you make of that?"

Z leaned against the mast and crossed his arms. "Nothin' much. It's jus' a nice ship."

"And others are not?"

He looked away and made a high-pitched noise. "Some are nicer than others."

"What you mean is that some are better taken care of than others, correct?"

"Sure, let's go with that."

Blue shook her head. He was impossible and she only wanted some peace and quiet. "Go see if you can find some coconuts fat with water for us, will you?"

He made another noise before stepping away to do as asked. Blue was just glad that he did so without bickering.

Looking over the sail, she gauged that she was about a quarter of the way done with it. She had thought this would take a lot of time, but pulling the thick fabric together took more effort than she expected; more time would be required to fix this. Then, to make it a much simpler process than it had been on her own, she would need to convince Z to help take the replacement sail down and put the correct one up. Or perhaps she could explain it as a chore of the ship that he shouldn't complain about in the first place.

Blue worked the sail while she considered her options. Her shipmate was quite a confrontational one. Why he was so difficult was something she couldn't be certain of, but if anything, she thought that he got a kick out of it. Being problematic and making others uncomfortable seemed to be something he took pleasure in being good at.

He was getting better at finding the right kinds of coconuts, at least. She was pleased to see him return with the exact sort she had asked for. Would convincing him to help with the sail be as easy?

She gave him a cordial thanks as a coconut was handed off. Now was as good a time as any for a break so Blue sat against the closest cannon, retrieving her dagger from her hip to pierce open the top of the coconut. Z stood nearby, doing the same with a plain voting dagger. He eyed the damaged sail.

"What is it?" she asked.

"How long's it gonna take to fix that?"

"A while."

He wrinkled his nose, like he didn't believe her. Instead of stating that as she expected, he asked, "Did it get pulled all the way apart?"

"Nearly. The other sloop rolled as it was sinking and its mast struck mine. Had it torn all the way, this might be easier."

"Why not finish tearing it?"

"Easier said than done… And I would rather not risk. The damage is bad enough as is."

He shrugged. "If you say so."

"So I say. You are welcome to pick up a needle and help if it is not being mended fast enough for your liking." He made an expression as though he were considering it. She wondered something else. "You do know how to sew, do you not?"

"Not sure I know how to sew to yer likin'."

"Fair enough." That was a good answer, and probably correct.

"I'll stay outta yer way."

"And refrain from interrupting?"

He sighed. "Sure."

"The faster I get this done, the faster we can move on."

Z stood there a moment longer before nodding and disappearing down to the hold.