These visits to the Ferry of the Damned were becoming a habit. Curiosity compelled Blue to walk over to the Well of Fates and pluck a light from it. Red was a new one to her, but she remembered its meaning: fire. The event that had brought her here now came vividly to mind. She couldn't believe her luck. She didn't necessarily trust the men that she sailed with, but she believed that they were not threats to her. That didn't seem to be the case anymore.

"Taken a trip to the Roar?" An older pirate sat in the empty cannon carriage, peering at her with some interest. Blue was less enthused.

"Something like that."

The man laughed. "Don't worry, it happens to the best of us. The Roar is unkind to us all."

"I will keep that in mind," she responded sharply. The door of the captain's cabin swung open and she looked over to it. "I will be taking my leave now."

"That's a good idea, lady; y'might still need to help yer crew with the fires."

She gave him a polite nod before making her way to the portal and stepped through.

Blue noticed a growing sense of unease. She realised she was hunched over a barrel, regaining her composure. She now recalled that there had been uncertainty in where she would find herself after stepping through the portal to the land of the living. Seeing that she was aboard the brigantine, she only felt confusion. There was no continuing deal, so there couldn't have been anything to learn from… from the explosion? How odd. Why did that happen? A moment passed and she recalled someone shooting the stockpile, but why?

Once she felt up to it, she made her way towards the aft, up the stairs. She coughed hard, announcing her presence. Jackson greeted her at the top.

"Hey! Enjoy your trip?"

She glared and his giddy expression faltered.

"Told ya!" Z shouted from a vertical distance.

Certainly, there was more to this situation that Blue had initially thought. The lack of hostility, the men's playfulness…

"Is someone going to explain what happened to me?" she asked as she strode properly onto the main-deck.

Z was busy sliding down the ladder from the crow's nest so it was up to Jackson to explain.

"Anybody that sails with us gets that with their first fort that we get."

"Uh huh," Z chimed in.

Blue put her hands on her hips. "Is that so? And are you two aware of how valuable those stronghold powder kegs are?"

"Yeah, and how strong they are," Z said mimicking her stance. "We don't carry 'em for that reason."

At first, she wanted to chastise them. The so aptly nicknamed mega-kegs did pack quite a punch. Blue had never seen it in action before the galleon at Ancient Spire. When she had taken that shot, she expected a smaller explosion, one that would certainly knock the main-mast down, maybe the other two. Instead, a grand explosion had rocked the entire ship, allowing Z alone to finish off the crew and ensure the vessel sunk.

They were crude in their ways and jokes, but the men had been right: the stronghold keg would have been a liability.

"You have a point. But was it really necessary to blow me up with it?"

"Yes," both of her shipmates declared.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine then." She looked about, noting that they were stopped at a large island. "This is…?"

Z answered: "Lone Cove. It's been two days."

"Oh." Though she was a little tired, it felt as though no time had passed. Blue wasn't sure that she would ever get used to this phenomenon.

"We figured you'd like to be here when we sold instead of just taking our word for your cut," Jackson said.

"Ah." That she did indeed appreciate. She gave them a polite nod. Though… "Why have you turned back for Sanctuary? Dagger Tooth is closer to Hidden Spring Keep, is it not?"

"Mm, not quite. It's usually a smoother ride with the waves, though," Z commented.

"And we decided to turn back to Sanctuary in case anyone else showed up late."

Blue rose a brow. "Really? By the way you spoke, I thought perhaps anyone that showed up so late would have to find something else to do with their time."

Jackson laughed. "I'm not that heartless."

"And I do actually have some business comin' up 'round Galleon's Grave."

Blue gave Z an incredulous look. After the initial lie he had given her, she wasn't sure that she actually believed that. Then again…

"So we came out for only this little adventure?"

A small, nervous smile crossed Jackson's face. "Yeah. It's worth headin' back to an outpost after clearing one of these forts anyway. You don't get paid 'til you turn it in."

"Fair enough. That is a good idea."

"Let's get going then, eh?"

Despite the sense that the two made, Blue couldn't shake the sensation of how strange it was that they would decide to end the voyage already. A conversation must have been had between them that she would need to hear to understand. She didn't need to understand, however, and knew this. They had made their choice and she only wanted to tag along anyway. A short voyage shouldn't bother her.

Z had all ready begun preparing the fore-mast, angling but not lowering it to catch the wind when they turned towards their destination. Before Jackson ducked downstairs, he motioned to the main-mast and asked her to do the same. She did so without comment, mirroring the fore-mast's configuration.

"We will head straight for Sanctuary?" she asked.

"Uh huh. The gally's finally left so we'll have the outpost all to ourselves."

She made a noise of acknowledgement to Z. It would be nice to be able to make their sales without the prying eyes of pirates. That was a nice thing about the Merchant Alliance — they were right there on the dock so no one had time to get any funny ideas. Blue cursed their assortment of treasures.

There was something funny about the wind, too. On the deck of the ship, it didn't feel very strong. Glancing up at the Jolly Roger flag the ship flew, it only flicked about so much.

"Did the winds die down while I was away?"

"It's been like this since the morning after. Don't worry about it, the brig doesn't need much."

"This vessel is a fair bit heavier than a sloop…"

"And with more than double the sails."

"And a shallower draft."

Z paused for a moment. "Yeah."

Blue wasn't sure if he realised that she was now agreeing with him, or if she needed to explain what a draft was to him. Before she could decide which it was, Jackson was back on deck.

"Should we get goin' then?"

Everyone agreed to that. It was too late in the afternoon to traverse the distance they needed to on a sloop, but as they had discussed, this was a brigantine; this ship would get there in a timely manner. It didn't hurt that her shipmates didn't seem to mind the darkness of night, either.

Soon enough, the call came out to lower the sails and they were off. Just as expected, the brig moved swiftly despite the mild winds, rocking gently over the waves. No, it would not take very long for them to get to the outpost. With these conditions, Blue expected they would get there some time before nightfall. Selling their goods would be an easy task if that was the case. She could only hope.

It seemed that Z was chronically attached to the brigantine's bowsprit. Despite the advantages of having someone stood there at all times, Blue found herself annoyed by his position for reasons she couldn't pinpoint. With him there, she stayed at the stern of the ship with Jackson. She leaned against the railing, got as comfortable as she could, and soon enough he seemed to take that as an invitation to talk to her.

"So how exactly did ya get on Z's good side?"

"I am not sure I would say that. More like… we had an agreement. I brought him to Sanctuary Outpost in exchange for information. There was nothing more to it."

He paused, thinking on her words. Then: "So how'd you two meet exactly then?"

Blue groaned. "That is… quite a story. I—"

"Hey!" Z hollered. "There's some merms over at the shoreline."

That got everyone's attention. From what Blue understood, that meant that there was a pirate — or few — around. Jackson certainly knew. Both him and Z seemed on edge now, perhaps… excited? She wasn't sure what exactly to make of their dispositions.

"We are not alone then?" she asked, just to be sure.

"Prob'ly not," Z responded, rolling the fore-sail up.

"And what is your protocol for this?"

"We load ourselves into the cannons, fire off, an' go look for stragglers 'til we find 'em or the merms go away."

Blue just stared at him.

"What?"

"You really do not think about what you say, do you?"

Jackson was giving her a look similar to her own. She sighed and shook her head at him. Z made a face and looked away, no doubt trying not to laugh.

"It is nothing. That is a fine idea," she quickly said, making her way to the cannons that Jackson was presenting to the island.

Z couldn't help snickering. "Climb in, I'll fire you off."

"Uh huh."

Some of the things he said just weren't right. Still, Blue did as commanded. Climbing feet-first into a cannon was… awkward. It was strange how the cannons fired normal cannonballs but could easily accommodate an entire person, too. More strange was the comfort of her pockets full of fruit — she would be able to shrug off a rough landing, should it be.

The cannon was tilted upwards and then she was fired from it, exactly as was the plan. Flying through the air was a disorienting experience. The wind whipped violently past her face, attempting and nearly succeeding in both deafening and blinding her. Blue managed to keep her bearings enough to keep her feet pointed towards the earth, though landing was messy. Crumpling, she avoided any serious harm, rolling forwards until her momentum was spent and she bumped into a palm tree. The smell of sand was more welcoming now than ever before.

With a splash, she heard Z land nearby in the shallowest of water. She got to her feet, hopefully before he could spy her in the brush. He strode with a casual gait, weapons sheathed. Blue thought this strange but decided against inquiring openly. Perhaps the idea was to not give away that they were searching for whoever was certainly lurking about, but surely the way they had approached the island had already done that.

Though she mimicked Z and strode into the weaponsmith's shop to look for anyone who did not belong, Blue was at a loss. She found nothing amiss and bid the shopkeeper farewell, her hand now resting on her cutlass's grip.

Z had checked the shipwright's area, and presumably her sloop nearby, and was now busy fussing about the dilapidated building that was above the Order of Souls' tent. Next he would check the Gold Hoarders' little tent as it was nearby. Blue would check the equipment shop. Once again, she greeted the shopkeeper, made the smallest amount of idle conversation that she could and looked about the building. It, too, was clean.

They ended up meeting just outside the clothing store. Blue had checked it as well and found nothing amiss.

"Any luck?"

"None. The shops are all clean."

He nodded. "Go back t' the dock and help Jack start comin' in. I'll check the tavern and see if that's clear. Whoever's here is well hidden. That or the merms are bein' frisky t'day."

As per usual, his phrasing was strange, though Blue found herself questioning his line of thinking more than she usually did. Call the ship in before they had properly cleared the island? She kept her concerns to herself as she made her way to the pier, waving their brigantine in. Jackson waved back in acknowledgement and began moving the ship again. She watched for only a moment. Surely Jackson could manage to dock it himself…

With that in mind, Blue turned and made her way inland again. Z had gone to clear the tavern of any rivals, so she went there first. Inside, it was empty save for the barmaid behind the counter who was busy cleaning a few tankards. Nothing seemed to have been disturbed, either; in fact, the spacious room looked as though it had recently been cleaned up. Absolutely nothing was amiss here.

Strangely, there was a lack of a shipmate here, too. Blue wondered if he was checking the surroundings of the building and stepped back outside to look. She cleared the perimeter twice over before coming to the conclusion that he was not there, either.

In the middle of Sanctuary Outpost was a large rock formation. On one side, the tavern had been built up against it; on the other was nothing of note. There were plenty of hiding places, though they offered no visibility towards the dock. If someone was determined, she supposed one might hide in that area. Upon investigating it, she found no signs of unwanted company or her missing shipmate.

Now Blue was at a loss of what to think. As far as she could tell — and she was certain she had done a good job of scouring the area — there was no one here but her own crew. Also as far as she could tell, Z had disappeared and there were no signs of what might have happened to him. Jackson seemed entirely unperturbed, calmly docking the brigantine so that they could offload their goods.

As she was passing the tavern, Z stepped out. She stopped, spinning on her heel to give him an incredulous look. He seemed confused.

"What?"

"Where were you?"

"At the bar. It's clear in there. Did y—"

"I looked; you were not in there."

He shrugged. "Did you check behind th—"

"Yes, I did."

"Alright, we're clear then. Just a bunch'a fish people bein' weird."

Blue stared at him for a moment. "And that is… a normal thing to say here."

He chuckled. "Uh huh."

She sighed and the two of them made their way back to the ship together. She had been in and around that building — he had not been there. It was a ridiculous notion for him to tell her that wasn't the case, but she let it go. Arguing the point would get them nowhere with how stubborn he was.

"Start grabbin' stuff and let's get it sold," Jackson told them as he passed by on the dock, a massive golden chest in his arms.

Blue thought he looked ridiculous, but that chest was probably full of gold. She pretended to not notice Z grabbing another and hauling it onto the dock, instead opting to grab a crate of tea. That was much lighter, and the point of sale was far closer. Both men gave her a look as she made idle talk with the Trader and opted to focus on selling the rest of their Merchant goods. No one said anything to one another with Blue busying herself and the men hauling the heaviest items the furthest. She didn't loiter, though, and once those goods were sold, she grabbed a skull in each hand and ferried them to the purple tent.

The skulls were… unsettling. They were not new items to her; she had come across a few stray skulls in her travels, but they still made her skin crawl. Holding the whispering heads of those who had been cursed, bested in combat, and then sold like a sack of sugar would never stop being weird to her. Blue didn't have the heart to ask what the Order of Souls did with them. The money didn't hurt, either, though that also rose some questions.

Selling everything they had taken some time. Some of the things that they had sold were… not impressive. When the three of them were sat in the tavern putting the money they'd earned together, Blue was astonished to find that the Gold Hoarders had paid the least for their items.

"They are greedy bastards," Z commented. "Each and every one'a them. They're all cursed t' show it, too."

"And you insist that the chests cannot be opened via any means but their keys?"

The both of them chimed, "Uh huh."

"Then why would anyone work for them?"

"Beats me. I guess some people just like gettin' their hands dirty," Jackson reasoned.

"And not in any of the fun ways," Z clarified.

Blue gave him a look, then decided against asking. "Everything we obtained for the Merchant Alliance and Order were worth so much more." Z shrugged and so did Jackson after downing his current tankard of grog. "There is no point worrying ourselves over the poor payment of the Gold Hoarders, is there? Business with them seems quite necessary."

"Yeah. They're all awful t' deal with, though."

"Mm. Now then, how are our totals looking?"

"Pretty good, actually," Z stated, hands still fiddling over the many pouches of coins. "Do we split after counting every one'a them or roughly?"

Jackson shifted, looking at her as though he wanted to say something. Blue quickly voiced her vote: "Roughly."

"Works for me."

Z seemed pleased about the little amount of effort he had to exert to separate all the pouches into three piles. "Rough it is, then," he said, pushing the piles to each respective crew member.

Blue had never seen this much gold from one single payout. She quietly admired it, chin resting in her palm. The other two had feverishly pocketed their shares.

"So I think I messed up," Jackson declared after a time.

Z shifted. "What?"

"I think I might've told the others to meet up at Golden Sands."

Blue and Z stared at him for a moment. Z laughed. Blue was less amused for the sake of whoever the others might have been.

"That seems problematic."

"Right?" Jackson snickered. "I feel kinda bad about it."

"That's why I always ask you twice where we're meetin' up," Z said.

"Yeah, I remember now. You asked if I meant Golden Sands when I said Sanctuary. I was so annoyed that I doubled down on Sanctuary."

"We do us'ally meet down south. All the smarties are down in the Ancient Isles or the Roar. Things are quiet up here."

"Yeah, yeah."

Blue looked between them. The conversation hadn't gone anywhere. "Make your point, please."

"You guys mind if I head down there on my own? I feel awful I left 'em down there waiting, if they're still there."

"Who all'd you tell?" Z inquired.

"Mark and Ry. Told 'em to bring friends if they wanted, or their ladies."

Blue tilted her head. "You may have quite the crowd down there then."

"Yeah, yeah I just might. So do you guys mind? You two have a sloop already and the brig might be crowded if they both showed up and brought someone along."

Blue recoiled slightly. Did he think she and Z were friends? She wanted to laugh and ridicule him; she refrained. Z spoke first.

"Go then. Y're the one that screwed up."

"I only screwed up 'cause'a you!"

The both of them laughed.

"I suppose we should clean the ship up before you leave then," Blue reasoned.

The men nodded in agreement and then the three of them were on their feet. Blue finally pocketed her gold before following them out. Getting off the brigantine sounded like a good idea; she couldn't get comfortable on it. She was sure that these shipmates of hers posed no real danger to her now, but that was just the problem: they posed a danger to other sailors. The idea of fighting that second sloop still made her bones itch.

Blue struggled to not look eager to leave the bigger ship as she moved her belongings back to her sloop. As she did, she glanced at every little dark corner, uncertain that it was free of stowaways. If anyone was here, they were very patient, though for what at that point concerned her even more.

"Is that everything?" Jackson asked her as she packaged her bedding. She tightened the last of the strings before she answered him.

"I am certain that this is the last of it."

He nodded to her and then made his way up to the main-deck. Blue followed him shortly after, hopping onto the dock and then into her sloop's quarter-deck with minor glee. The brigantine was fast, capable, but it also felt so cramped and unrefined. It lacked the comforts that she had painstakingly equipped the smaller ship with, something that Blue was surprised she missed so much. Perhaps she was more tired than she realised.

Once again, she made sure that no one lurked in the darker parts of the ship as she ducked into the hold, putting her secondary bedding away in its proper chest. She spied the items that Z had left under the grog barrel and scowled; was he that lazy? She rolled her eyes and went back up to the dock.

Z and Jackson had just pulled away from each other's embrace, finishing a short conversation that she hadn't bothered to listen in on. The latter then turned his attention to her and she offered a hand and they shook.

"Good sailin' with you. Perhaps we can do this again under better circumstances."

Not on that little thing, Blue wanted to say. "Perhaps so." Whether either of them could tell that she was just being polite, she didn't care. She hadn't been overly fond of this experience and only did so much to hide it now.

"Alright then, I'd better be off."

"Uh huh, right, off with you!" Z teased. The both of them laughed and Blue added her own polite chuckle.

Jackson took a step back and waved to them before jumping from the pier to the brigantine. He went from the fore-sail to the stern of the ship, managing the two masts with an expertise that only came from often being alone on a ship of that sort. The sails caught wind and the ship rapidly gained speed. A quick wave was all everyone was allotted by that point.

"Hm."

After what seemed like an eternity, the brigantine was far enough away that it was no longer impolite to turn away and get back to herself. First order of business was to change into something more respectable now that she was back at her own sloop. Blue didn't have the energy for a dress though and settled instead for a more masculine outfit not unlike what the three of them had been wearing, but with far more colour.

Her mind weighed heavily on the experience. The last week or so was dragging her down, swirling about her head. Had it only been that long? Blue hesitated at the mid-deck, considering her next move. Her gold was kept on her person and she grabbed her logbook and a pencil before going up. It would be helpful to go over all of her thoughts and organise the new ones.

Back on the dock, Z only moved when her feet connected with the planks. She saw him turn to look at her, though she couldn't stand to look back, instead heading up the pier to the island.

"Hey, where are—"

Her hand went up to silence him. "I am getting a room, and I am getting some proper rest."