The night spent at Old Boot Fort had been a strange one. Blue's shipmate had been quiet for the remainder of it after their conversation and she was very thankful for that. When she was done gathering more supplies from the island, she lingered at the top of the structure. It was more than a pretty sight, useful for watching the storm in the Wilds — that could prove to be problematic for them depending on where it went through the night.

When she did finally sleep, Blue was true to her word and slept on the canopy. She awoke early when it was still dark and chilly, having shot upright, breathing heavy. Nothing seemed amiss. It was just when she was about to get mad at herself for panicking over nothing when she heard a loud splash on the other side of the fort that she spotted the brigantine. The ship was still sailing, riding the crosswind and blitzing away. She hadn't dreamt of the cannon fire.

Knees bent, unable to stand fast enough, Blue froze as someone on the island spotted her and spoke first. "Oh, why hello there!"

Wasn't the whole point of being here that no one would bother them? Blue now knew who to be angry at about this.

It was still very dark with only a little moonlight to aid her vision, but Blue was just barely able to make out a second, similarly dressed pirate further inland on the ramp. "Salutations. What brings you here?"

"Supplies. There's fightin' food on these forts," the one on the edge near her replied.

"Ah." If there was anything that would attract others, it would be the same thing that brought them here. Blue looked at him for a moment, then clearly looked to his partner at the back wall, the one that was climbing up the ramp to the upper section. She looked back to the man closest to her and said, "Then you and your mate will find what remains at the top of the island."

In the back, the far pirate now bounded upwards with much more purpose. Closer to her, the other pirate gave her a salute. "Thank'ee very much." He started to turn around, then paused. "You know, if you ever get tired of that little thing, my brother and I could use another set of hands."

Though she was cautious by nature and would never take up his offer, Blue got the feeling that it was genuine. As far as she could tell, there was no reason for him to lie to her and none of their behaviours had unsettled her. It raised a question, however: "You let your brigantine ghost sail?"

He blinked. "Uh…"

"Oi, move it!"

Yes, yes they had. Blue bit the inside of her cheek to hold her laughter back. The pirate up high launched himself from there into the water to the nearby merfolk splashing at the water's surface — Blue just now noticed it and realised that she was unable to hear its song. His nearby mate sheepishly hurried to fill his pocket's with something useful and chased after. He gave her another wave before departing with a gurgle with a second merfolk.

Only when she was certain that the brigantine was not going to turn around did Blue relax, letting out a long breath when she fell back onto the canopy. The encounter had been neutral and brief, but it could have been so much worse. A noise down low at the mid-deck caught her attention, pulling her away from her thoughts before she dove into them. In her distress, she had forgotten all about Z. Neither of them said anything, only exchanged looks of acknowledgement from their separate levels before he ducked back down.

Blue wasn't sure what what to make of any of this. There was no doubt in her mind that her shipmate would want to talk about it later; she wasn't keen to talk about something that was done and over with. The only thing she wanted to do was go back to sleep, but that wasn't going to happen. She pulled her blanket back over herself and rolled onto her side, counting the number of times she heard the water splash against the side of the sloop while she watched the horizon.

"Are we goin' t' talk about earlier?"

"Are we going to talk about your unkempt face?"

Z was quiet for a long moment. Though she was at the wheel, Blue was certain that it was because he was trying to glare up at her through the planks of the quarter-deck.

"Is this the time when y' come down and jus' so happen t' have a razor t' hand me?"

Blue wanted to laugh; she almost did. She just shook her head to herself. Even if she could fish a razor out of the barrels, she knew she had no mirror for him to use.

"We will worry about it later, yes?"

"How much later y' thinkin'? I don't think we're gettin' anywhere with that storm in our way."

Z was right. The storm that she had spotted had moved into the area they needed to go through. It was large and strong enough that even only halfway across the shipping channel, they were beginning to feel its effects. The air was cooler, the wind was stronger, and now some of the suggestions Blue had made earlier — a quick conversation of which Z was given little choice in debating over anyway — were now much less choices and more necessities. They would have to stop and weather the storm.

"Perhaps not too much later," she said. He just laughed and she sighed.

Blue continued: "If I recall correctly, you are the one that stopped us at a skeleton fortress." She paused just long enough for him to start making obnoxious noises, then added, "And you did so without prior discussion. This time, we have done so and we agreed to stop at the next charted island."

He made a quiet mocking noise that she found amusing.

"Oh, hush. We are making good time."

"And then we can sit with our thumbs up each other's arses for a few days and do a whole lotta nothin' in the cold rain," Z whined.

"I cannot think of a better way to spend the time you need to heal."

Z groaned loudly. Blue just smiled to herself and readjusted her grip on the wheel as they entered the Wilds.

Shipwreck Bay was a large, foreboding island surrounded by numerous smaller islets. Its namesake was obvious for multiple beached and dilapidated ships littering its shoreline. Though Blue had visited the locale a few times before, she had never stayed for an extended period of time. She enjoyed the challenge of sailing around the giant rocks and islets until a proper beach to stop at was found. The southeastern side of the island was chosen this time, near the largest shipwreck.

"So how much time do y' reckon we'll be spendin' here?"

Already, Blue wanted to strangle her shipmate. "As much time as we need to." She pulled the ropes of the sail tight, making sure it was furled well.

"Ha ha, fine, but really."

Blue considered going down there and striking him. Instead, she climbed the ladder to the crow's nest and peered about. There was nothing of interest but the storm. Dagger Tooth Outpost was fully enveloped by it and it was impossible to tell which direction it was heading after.

Z had made his way to the main-deck while she was up there and he waited near the mast for her to come down. He had stayed his tongue until then, but with her back on deck, he was adamant on an answer. Blue just held a hand up to hush him.

"We will stay for the night and see where the storm has wandered to in the morning. Is that acceptable?"

He looked as though he was debating being difficult. "Fine."

"In the meantime, make yourself comfortable, hm? I am sure I can find something to amuse myself with on the island."

"Uh huh. Uh…" There was that look, that tone. She was starting to despise it.

"What?"

"You… y' talk like y've never explored this place."

"I make my deliveries here when needed and leave as quickly as possible. I do not loiter. It is the Wilds, after all."

She let that statement hang in the grey air until she was certain that he wouldn't speak anymore. Then she turned away from him so that she could move the rowboat and turn it into a stepping stone from the ship to the beach and disembarked entirely.

Shipwreck Bay was a strange island. It was wide with a sharp height in the middle of it. No island came close to having as many ships run aground, either. The more she looked around, the more she felt like something was wrong about that.

The verticality was mostly confined to one rock formation, but it was impressive. Beside it was a ship that Blue was sure was grand beyond words when it was seaworthy. She spied an easy walk from its bowsprit to the rocky mass she could use when she was ready. For now, she climbed into what remained of the captain's quarters and rested there. A small respite from her shipmate was relieving.

"Explorin' the Blackwyche, are you?"

If only a brief respite.

"I saw the nameplate," she sighed. How did— no, why was he here? She could hear him ascending and stayed where she was. The sight of his pegleg was infuriating.

"A little stroll won't hurt me," Z said, reading her expression.

"Uh huh."

"Really."

If Z could see how truly unhappy she was, he might have left her alone. As it was currently, his tone was only slightly more reassuring than it normally was.

"Really. Really, I'll be fine. Come on. Instead of wanderin' 'round like a lost puppy, I'll show you 'round. Besides, it's already late and that storm's comin' this way."

She rose a brow. "Is it now?"

"Yeah. And I swea—"

"If I promise to not scold you for that right now—" she gestured vaguely to his leg "—will you stop begging for my forgiveness?"

The response came immediately: "Yes."

"Then I solemnly swear that I shall not lecture you at this moment or unnecessarily so after tonight's rest when you will certainly feel the repercussions of this moronic decision."

"Close enough." He seemed happy with that. "So, the Blackwyche— … why are y' sat in that corner?"

She waved him off. "It is comfortable. Go on…"

"Right." Z fixed his crooked brow and continued. "Ahem, right, the Blackwyche— a fine ship in her day by all accounts, the few there are. Most pirates don't talk too much 'bout old ships like this. Her captain and crew, too. They were pretty fine, too, but here their ship is, all washed up like any other ol' wreckage. An unspecial end for all of them."

Blue was so certain that he would have had more to say about this ship and crew. "Is that all?"

"All I know. I don't hang 'round t' hear stories about dead men and dead ships; ain't nothin' t' take off'a ones this old." He froze so briefly that Blue almost missed it, then he shrugged. He turned and motioned to a painting. "Guess that's the captain."

"A shame that you are not one for stories; a captain with a lovely portrait like that was surely someone of some importance."

Blue could tell her shipmate was losing interest in the matter when he shrugged again. "Has this island always had this name?" she asked.

"Far as I know."

"I suppose it is one of those things you pirates do not question, hm? An island called Shipwreck Bay, surrounded by smaller islands and full of ships beached and abandoned and destroyed — an apt name by all accounts."

Z gave her a small but exasperated glare. That seemed fitting, both his reaction and the island's name. Neither of them pushed the subject further; rather, Blue decided that it was time to move on. She was up on her feet and atop the ship's stern in no time at all, crossing the gap between that and the bow effortlessly. She waited on the forecastle for her shipmate to follow. It took him just long enough to follow that she felt the slightest impatience.

"I do not see anything interesting on the other side here."

"Nah, this thing was cleaned out ages ago. The top's a lot more in'erestin', though. C'mon." Far quicker than he had any right be, Z bounded up the bowsprit and crossed from it onto the beginning of the island's peak. Blue saw nothing of any interest from where she was, but she followed nonetheless.

Once across, she discovered that some of the rocky formation was hollowed out. There were three openings, but it could provide shelter if needed. Had there not been a perfectly good ship down below, this would have been useful. For now, she would keep this knowledge in the back of her mind.

"Come, come."

Z was adamant on taking her through one of those openings to… somewhere. It led upwards along the rock, just steep enough that Blue would never have considered climbing it just a week ago. Now she only hesitated a little. Should she fall, she would only want the fall to kill her properly. Again.

Her shipmate was very excited and Blue supposed she couldn't blame him: the view from up here was incredible. To the south, a great deal of the Ancient Isles was visible across the channel. To the east and north was the rest of the Wilds, though much of it was hidden by the storm that Blue could now track. Out to the west and northwest was the Shores of Plenty, further out in the distance. In the general west direction were three large, uncharted islands, unused by anyone for a higher purpose. A galleon was at the largest of them.

"Well now." Having seen what she could from her perch, and by how he acted to get here, Blue's gut told her that her shipmate had been stood here before. His reasons had likely been very different, but the purpose was similar enough. The view was invaluable.

"I have seen worse storms," she started, peering through her spyglass to better judge its movement; "I would still like to avoid this one. Its rotation should not bring it too close to us."

"So what're y' thinkin'?"

"I would like to rest and you need to rest, so it is unavoidable. We will wait here and suffer what rain and wind we must. Going elsewhere would force us to fight it and I am uninterested."

He made an unenthused noise. "What are y' interested in fightin'?"

She rose a brow as she pocketed her spyglass. "Nothing, I suppose. Did we not have this conversation already?"

"We did, after you came back from the Ferry all pissy."

Blue bit the inside of her cheek. Coming through a trip from the Sea of the Damned was a lot like getting slammed against the side of a cliff during high tide, but describing it like that seemed inappropriate. Annoying, too. This rock was starting to feel slippery, somehow, and she turned, heading back down.

"Nevertheless, I have paperwork to tend to before the storm moves in and makes that an impossibility."

"Wha- y're headin' back down already? With this view?"

She could hear Z scampering behind her. "As I said, I have—"

"How well's that paperwork goin' t' stop a sword in yer side?" he shot with such agitation that she was somewhat surprised he hadn't thrown her off the Blackwyche's bowsprit.

Blue waited until she was on the slanted forecastle of the ruined ship to address that question. "It will keep me out of that situation in the first place," she said. She was certain this had also been stated before.

"Not always." Z made his way past her, walking with purpose. She watched him step into the grass, searching for something. He bent down and eventually returned with two sticks in hand.

"I am quite confident in my abilities."

"I'm not." He tossed a branch her way.

Catching the ramshackle sparring stick, Blue rose a brow. Did he really think this was a good idea?

"As I have said, I—"

"Avoid fights and do yer fancy paperwork. Uh huh." Z paced about, feeling the weight of his new weapon as he did.

"It works well enough."

"Didn't work so well with me, now did it?"

"By my recollection, I bested you both times. Once I had you pinned down in the bottom of my ship, anyone in your situation — with the knowledge that I had at the time — should not have even considered doing what you did."

He raised his arms in a haughty boast. "And yet here we are."

"Yet here we are," Blue sighed.

The both of them seemed well acquainted with their sticks now. She was sure that her shipmate expected the both of them to walk away from this with bruises. But…

"What is it you want out of this?"

"I want t' see how many new tricks I can teach you," Z responded.

"And the rules?"

"No rules." He moved as though to lunge at her and she refused to budge.

"Well, that will just not do." She ignored the exasperated noise he made. "If this were truly of no consequence, we could simply grab our cutlasses and dance the dance of death with those. Instead…"

"Fine: no pointy, slashy, stabby things." Smart man.

That was sufficient and it was all Z said before truly lunging forward. The speed at which he moved his bulk was surprising, impressive, and Blue found that the jab at her upper arm stung noticeably. She wasn't sure where the second swing landed, only that she brought her stick up to block the third. The both of them pull away, hopping backwards.

The dance was more clear now: fight. Though they did not hold bladed weapons, it did not dissuade Z's aggression, and every swing from him came with great intent. With the ground slanted some, the Blackwyche on three sides and the open water on the fourth, Blue was only just able to side-step his attacks or block them. The latter became a less opportune choice when he began pressing into her guard, forcing her to disengage anyway.

Finally, Blue saw an opportunity to strike. Moving forward and slightly to his left, she expected Z to back away and block her attempt to whack him. She would have parried this and swung into another strike. Instead, Z twisted around to meet her and she lifted her arm to block his swing, but then he jumped. No matter which way she might have moved, the branch hit and she was left dumbfounded and with the start of a headache.

Blue leapt away. The situation had become annoying and she was sore. More so, she felt like she was receiving the brunt of whatever frustrations her shipmate had felt the last few days. It didn't feel like this fight was doing anyone any actual good.

Before she could voice these thoughts, yield and spare the both of them energy and bruises, Z lifted his sparring stick over his head in a curious motion. She had seen other pirates do it before, seen what happened after they did this. Just as she realised that and rushed to figure out how the hell she was supposed to counter that, Blue needed another moment to understand that she was now staring up at the evening sky.

"Eh, that's enough for now."

"What the hell does that mean?" Pain made it difficult to quell her rage. "That's enough?" she repeated as she sat up. One hand helped keep her like that while the other held her throbbing head. She could taste metal, too. "The hell was the point of that?"

Z made a noise she didn't fully understand. "After seein' how y' fought when we met, I thought y'd… put up more of a fight?" He grinned sheepishly and recoiled when her scowl intensified. "You just… y' kind of darted 'round ev'rywhere on the ship and threw me down like yer life re— … like your life depended on it." Realisation couldn't have hit him harder if she keelhauled him on a galleon in the worst storm of her life.

Wordlessly, he bent down, taking her arm and pulling her up to her feet.

"I did ask about rules," she reminded.

"Yeah. My bad."

That was probably the closest she was getting to an apology. If it settled his conscious so he didn't pester her throughout the whole storm, that was good enough. Blue was less tolerant of the sleeve he brought to her face, but when she jerked away and saw the blood, she stayed still.

"Always fight like your life depends on it. Just 'cause the Ferry's out and about nowadays doesn't mean it's a given. Doesn't mean anyone y' run across will even kill you if y' lose a fight to 'em. Death isn't the worst thing t' happen out here."

Z paused to examine his sleeve. Even in the black fabric, blood was clearly visible purely due to the amount. He seemed to linger, staring at it, and Blue couldn't blame him, her own mind was full of thoughts now. The Sea of the Damned must have complicated the way people behaved quite a lot. A pirate paradise, indeed.

"A fair point," she finally said. Z looked at her with what she could only see as shock. "Perhaps we will try this again another day."

With no resistance, she pulled away from her shipmate and they made their way back to the ship. No words were spoken or considered; plenty had been said. Blue did wonder if this sparring had come about from the deal they had made or something else, but she decided it was best not to ask.

Another thought had crossed Blue's mind during the walk and she could not shake it. Her arms were deep in a clothing chest in the belly of the ship when she finally asked, "What do you fight for?"

Z stopped his rustling at the table. "What do you mean?"

"What do you fight for?" she repeated more sternly. For once, she wanted him to talk.

His apprehension was palatable and kept him quiet for a long while. A long enough time passed that Blue had gathered her hammock out of storage and brought it up to the mid-deck and was starting to prepare it to be hung.

"What are you gettin' at, Blue?"

"Would it not have been easier to simply tell me to everything that you did?" she asked. "What was the point of spending all that energy, and with your leg like that, only to tell me that I should fight confidently? Surely you see how ridiculous that seems to me."

Z looked much like a child who did not want to be punished. "I thought y' weren't goin' t' lecture me t'night?"

"Only about your leg."

He scoffed and turned away from her.

Rather than press the matter, Blue focused on getting her hammock hung. Proper storage made this an easy task; in the fading light, the most difficulty she had was finding the eye bolts on either side of the mid-deck's ceiling to hook it onto. The next order of business was food and blankets. She went back downstairs and threw a splashtail on the pan to heat while she fished for the correct blankets: something to curl up on, a makeshift pillow, a cover-up, and extra layers for when the wind picked up. She moved armfuls of fabric as needed.

On the mid-deck, Z hadn't moved much, but he did at least watch her as she finished up with her hammock. "What's that fer?"

"For me to sleep in, of course."

His face scrunched up.

"It is cold here in the Wilds and the storm will double that. Did you think I would sleep on the canopy in the rain?"

"No."

"Mhm. Did you think I was going to make you sleep up there?" she asked, tone slightly playful. That got an eye roll out of him, but he also seemed to see the humour. "That would be just as silly as sharing the bed with you." He wasn't laughing, but Blue thought that was funny. Two could play the teasing game.

The fish was becoming fragrant now, so Blue dipped back below deck to tend to it. A coconut was plucked from the barrel and cracked in half with the blunt side of her dagger, the water split evenly in the halves. When the fish was cool enough to touch, she cut it in half, lengthwise. When it was placed in front of him on the table, Z didn't immediately accept it. Blue sat on the map table and wasn't surprised to watch him eventually accept his rations, the allure of good food irresistible.

For a while, they ate in silence, ignoring each other. It was only when Z was mostly done picking at the meat of his coconut that he asked, "What do you mean, 'what do I fight for'?"

Blue stared at him for a long moment. "Well, what do you fight for?" He looked like he was about to fling the coconut at her. "Besides the… thrill of a fight, besides protecting yourself, why do you pick up a blade? What… what induces such a response from you? Do you protect the weak from the cruel or are you the one they must be protected from? Do you fight in the name of those whose ideals you share and believe in? Or is that—"

"You, you… whoa, alright…" Z held his hands up, lowered them slowly. He needed to breathe. "That's a lot to think about, don't y' think?"

"No."

He made an exasperated noise.

"It is not necessary for you to answer, I am only curious. We can curl up in our separate corners until the storm passes and then make our way to Dagger Tooth before cutting east for Galleon's Grave. Is that acceptable?"

He started to fight the idea, then stopped. Z was quiet for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, that works."

Blue stared at him for a moment longer before turning her attention back to what remained of her dinner. This would be a very long night.