Hours before her departure from Galleon's Grave, Blue recorded the events from earlier in the day in a book and looked over last night's. Then she contemplated what exactly she would be doing. She could go back to working for the Merchant Alliance, but it was that line of work that had brought this whole situation upon her. It was silly to think that way, she knew that the work had no direct influence on what had happened, but she couldn't help being wary of it still. It didn't help matters that she could still hear Z seducing her into stealing materials from that fleet.

Working for one of the other Trading Companies was something that she considered. The Gold Hoarders only ever gave out dirty work — literally. She didn't mind picking those chests up when she found them on her travels, though she was always disappointed by what she was given for them. Blue was not interested in digging in the ground for things that she would be paid very little for. For how heavy those chests were, surely they could afford to pay people better…

The Bilge Rats were also considered. Their name did not inspire any glamorous images, but she knew enough to know better. They tended to know if anything substantial was happening in the Sea of Thieves and apparently had interesting voyages for adventurous sailors to take up. Blue wasn't sure if the gold or the glory was more important to them; she knew what she valued, though.

The last Company that she put thought into was the Order of Souls. She had some past experience with them and after her experience at a near and then fully active skeleton fort, she didn't doubt her ability to complete their requests. Knowledge of the Ferry of the Damned helped, too. Still, she found herself uncertain of this work, so while she did pick up a voyage from the representative at Galleon's Grave, she left the scroll bundled up on the bookcase for the time being.

Blue took the sloop south, leaving the wheel slightly right to pass by a massive rock formation on the way. This path took her to a little island known as Tri-Rock Isle. It was unremarkable but it was perfectly serviceable as a place to do nothing but rest overnight at. Before she left in the morning, she scoured the island, discovering a box with a bounty skull and mermaid gem inside it.

From there, she continued in a southerly direction. Once again, she stopped at the first island she came to and spent the night before continuing onward. When Blue found herself at The Crooked Masts, she considered heading west past Shipwreck Bay to keep her island hopping adventure going and decided that direction would be good as it would take her into the Shores of Plenty. In the middle of the night, distant cannon fire woke her. The sight of a brigantine and sloop fighting on the far side of that island had her wide awake. Being able to see a ship at all meant that she was too close, and for there to be two of them… She wasn't interested in getting caught up in their shenanigans and immediately got the ship going once more.

It was easy enough to go south into the Ancient Isles. She did entertain the idea of heading east into the Devil's Roar, but that was a death sentence alone. The next closest island with her current heading seemed quite far out until she noticed palm trees to her side on the tiniest island she had ever seen, so tiny that making camp on it would be difficult. She had never come across it before and it wasn't on any map she had seen so she made note of it in a notebook. Despite its minuscule, secretive nature, there was a coral reef large enough to calm the ocean's rough waves, so there was that.

Briefly, Blue wondered if there was anything to explore underneath this island. Sometimes the seaweed would hide something of interest, like the shipwreck she and Z had happened upon at Boulder Cay. From where she had stopped the Forlorn Phoenix, she spied nothing interesting and so getting into the water for maybe-something-maybe-nothing was out of the question.

After the tiny island, she made her way to Old Boot Fort. Wary as she was of fortresses now, Blue could not resist the allure of its vantage point; looking out from one of the highest points she knew of in the best location she could think of was an irresistible prospect. After stopping at the dock and waiting what felt like hours to make sure no skeletons came to greet her, she climbed up to the peak. Just as she remembered, it offered a beautiful view of the Ancient Isles and parts of the other regions.

As she had just come from the Wilds, it was unsurprising to see nothing of interest in that direction besides the sloop at Shipwreck Bay, lingering after its victory. The Ancient Isles themselves seemed rather quiet; she spied a galleon at Plunder Outpost and nothing more as the large islands and rock formations could have easily hidden a fleet. Towards the west-northwest, however, there were a handful of ships. At that distance, she couldn't guess whether or not any combination of them were interacting with each other, but such a gathering indicated something going on and she wasn't interested in the least.

The Roar was briefly reconsidered.

Not entirely certain what she wanted to do, Blue did manage to choose to head to Ancient Spire Outpost. She took her time navigating the northern edge of the Ancient Isles, spending two days at Crook's Hollow. This was necessitated by the galleon of Plunder Outpost leaving and sailing past her. It came uncomfortably close, so close she could spy all four of her crew on the deck at one point from the top of the island, but they never showed any interest. She also supposed it was entirely possible that they never saw her ship on the other side, the island's height having hidden it.

When the galleon stopped in her predetermined path at Barnacle Cay, Blue cursed the ship and crew alike and made her way south. Unwilling to travel at night, she stopped at Paradise Spring to kill some time. An abandoned treasure map made that an easy task.

When morning came, she began her usual ritual of getting breakfast and changing clothes. Early on in this routine, she spotted the galleon ahead of her new path at Devil's Ridge. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that they were purposefully trying to annoy her.

Unsure of what to do and tired of this little game, she sat at the island, waiting for the galleon to make the first move. When it finally showed signs of life at midday, she was deeply concerned that it was turning to come towards her. Its prow pointed in her direction and to her relief, it kept turning. The ship set sail in a generally west direction. It could have been a plot to get closer, however, so she took off north shortly after. She kept her eye on the galleon as they sailed; it never changed course.

After backtracking to Crook's Hollow, Blue planned to continue on the path she had originally set. A rest there was required; in the morning she spied the galleon back at Plunder Outpost. It seemed to her that they had been successful in whatever endeavour they had undertaken.

No matter their intentions, a galleon was always trouble, big trouble, and she had been unwilling to risk it. At best, friendly galleon crews consumed time, and lots of it. No, Blue was happy to have avoided this ship entirely.

Finally arriving at Barnacle Cay, it was beginning to feel like she was making progress. Ancient Spire Outpost was an easy day's sail away now, less if the weather and wind stayed agreeable until the next day, which it did. But as she sat in The Unicorn that evening, Blue was stuck wondering what to do next. Despite accomplishing this travel goal, she was nowhere near setting a real one. She still had that furled-up voyage, but it still gave her the collywobbles for a reason she couldn't discern.

Instead, she found herself speaking to Madame Olwen: some skulls needed retrieving. It was not a typical bounty she was begin given as this dread crew had apparently already been dispatched. It was the literal retrieval of a skull, maybe more, that Blue was being tasked with and nothing more. Of course, it certainly couldn't be that simple, but it was all that she was told even after trying to glean more information…

Blue lingered until the next morning. When she got going, she took the Forlorn Phoenix southwest as was required thanks to the rock cluster in her way. This put her on course to The Crow's Nest Fortress. Still wary of islands that were known to occasionally be inhabited by skeletons and with it being early enough in the day, she kept going past it in a more west direction towards a small island. From there, she was glad to see no galleon at Plunder Outpost.

A night was spent resting at Cutlass Cay. After breakfast and making sure that there was indeed no galleon lurking nearby, Blue moved to her target island: Thieves' Haven. She moved around the island to the southwestern side where she then looked about the beach. When she found nothing, she disembarked for a better look. Then she was investigating a cave system that led to a small beach on the north side. All had gone well, but she was losing daylight at this point. The water that sat within those tunnels would wait until checked everywhere else first; the upper level of the island would have to wait until tomorrow.

Blue wasn't sure where to store the ship for the night. She could sit it on the edge of the island, but which side? Should she hide it behind the island, or loudly present it on the northern side to announce her presence to anyone and hope that only attracted those interested in a pleasant conversation? Neither option seemed good and so she took the ship into the middle of the island, the cavern it formed large enough to house two galleons, yet claustrophobic enough to hide them, too. She pressed the sloop against the inner east part of the island, so close that she could simply hop off the ship and hop back onto the ladder.

From there she disembarked to climb the mast of a ship that was on the beach; whether said ship was being built or dismantled, she couldn't tell. What she was sure of was that there was a ladder on the mast, then another one waiting to take her against the island, and another to bring her to the top. There wasn't much to see at that point, but she felt the island was sloped, and to the southern side was a decently sized rock formation.

Walking the sandy path to avoid any quiet snakes, Blue made her way south. The formation was quite impressive and it took her a while to find a way up it without outright climbing. It was to its west side that she found what was the beginning of a path, or a decaying one, as she still had to take a rather large step from grass to stone.

The top of the formation was quite high up. To the north-by-northeast of Thieves' Haven was a massive rock jutting from the water. It had been obtrusive when coming to the island and while it was still taller than the island was, it was much less of an issue from this vantage point. It was no Old Boot Fort, that location was just so ideal, but she still had a fantastical view of the Ancient Isles. It was impossible to see every square inch, ships may have hidden behind the larger islands in the region, but she spotted none and that was good enough for her.

Thanks to the comfortable temperatures of the Ancient Isles, Blue slept well that night. In the morning, she attempted to fish up a fresh splashtail and instead brought up a small, spiky fish. It wasn't the first time she had caught one, but its colouring was different. Now she wasn't sure what the deal with them was. They would bite on anything, though, so she wasn't bothered by catching it and decided this one would do for breakfast.

The spines presented something of an issue. It would certainly do her no good to eat them so Blue attempted to pull them out. This was doable, if difficult. Cooking the fish certainly couldn't make it any worse, she figured. As per usual, once it was cooked, she ate the crispy fins first before moving back to removing the spines; it was easier now, the flaky flesh peeling away from the root of the spikes with ease. She managed to remove all of them quickly enough that the main body was still warm when she ate it. The flavour was mild but pleasant; she wouldn't be disappointed to see them instead of splashtails.

Rested and fed, Blue moved the ship slightly forward and to the left so that she could get back on the island at a different point. She had checked the cave system so now she checked the lower beach inside the island's cavern; all that she found besides a pretty sight was a washed-up crate of wood that was partially filled.

Now there was the outer beach to check. At the furthest west point was one of the entrances to the cavern; with no way to cross it but swimming, Blue considered whether getting wet was really worth it. So far, this work hadn't been the dirtiest, and she didn't think that would last forever, but swimming in the ocean when she didn't need to wasn't an idea she was crazy about…

Returning to the ship, Blue made the hop required to grab the ladder and climbed aboard. Again, she moved it just a little, using the wheel to turn it and a harpoon to pull it close to the opposite beach.

Like the other beaches inside the island, it was small, but it also featured a way to other parts of the island. This one sported a system of wooden walkways up to a little cavern that opened up to the area she had refused to swim to. She worked her way from there down to the sand, moving slow enough to listen for the whispers of a bounty skull in the grass. When she found none, she found herself becoming frustrated. Searching this island was proving to be quite time-consuming and she had barely looked through the upper level yet.

Perhaps Z was right to hate this island.

Following another path that led upwards, Blue found herself passing through what was once a gate. Up here, she saw the path she had taken onto the rock formation. Though the land here didn't connect, a small wooden bridge had been constructed. In the time before that, a good jump would have sufficed. She began moving along the path that took her north. It was only a few strides later that Blue spotted something near the rocky edge.

Just as she had expected, the skull she found was decorated in such a way that it was easy to miss in the tall grass it rested in, and it was alone. Glad to be wearing thick gloves, she picked it up, rolling it into her right palm. The noises it made were close to that of a whispered statement, a question perhaps, but she couldn't discern a single clear word from it. All the skull succeeded in doing was making her uncomfortable during the walk back to the ship.

With her charge retrieved and safely upon the shelf in the mid-deck of the Phoenix, Blue considered the time. It was midday, and while Plunder Outpost was close, she felt it more proper to return to Ancient Spire. While the nearest island in that direction was even closer, the wind was terrible. Besides, the cluster of land there was barely even worth a name.

Rather than rush anywhere, Blue stayed another night at Thieves' Haven, filling the time by jotting down the quiet day in a logbook and fishing up more prickly fish. In the morning, one was eaten as she started northeast, the wind much more agreeable now. A day of a good crosswind and smooth sailing saw her at The Crow's Nest Fortress just after night fell. Though she was more comfortable than before with the idea of staying there, the incident at Hidden Spring Keep lingered in the back of her mind and she slept with her dagger in hand. When morning came, Blue got the ship moving before she did anything else; only then did the usual change of clothes and breakfast come.

The distance to Ancient Spire Outpost wasn't too considerable though the near-perfect sailing conditions of the previous day were no longer present. When she reached her destination, she passed the main dock and instead nestled the sloop against the lesser-used one. This outpost always seemed busy and so staying out of the way of any others seemed a good idea; it usually earned her some early goodwill from other crews.

It was a while before she disembarked with the skull. Its whispering became too annoying to keep listening to even though she found herself deeply curious about what the Order of Souls did with the bounties once they had them. As she traded it for a pouch of gold, she decided that it was of no concern of hers what they did with them — they paid well enough that she wasn't disappointed in her earnings and had no interest in changing that. It had been annoying to sail all that distance for the one skull, but she couldn't argue being paid for work that didn't require a fight.

Blue spent some of her earnings that night on a nice kitchen-cooked dinner. Spending the night up there was also considered, but she much preferred her spot on the canopy of her sloop. When morning came, she left without picking up another voyage, instead deciding to see where the wind took her.

Island hopping was not the most lucrative way of gathering treasure; it was not entirely pointless, either. The shipwrecks that she was so good at finding helped pad her earnings. Blue was able to find an assortment of treasure in these wrecks, as well as the occasionally lost purse. Sometimes the barrels were sealed well enough that the items inside were still worth picking up, too, although it was uncommon that barrels with truly worthwhile things were in that condition.

This went on for a while as she lazily went from one island to another or stopped at something interesting in the water. On this day, Blue found herself stopping at Golden Sands Outpost, having gone all the way west through The Ancient Isles and then started north into The Shores of Plenty. The activity to the east seemed to have calmed down as all Blue could spot was a single galleon on the south end of Wanderer's Refuge. It had been in her view for a day now and hadn't moved an inch.

With her latest batch of goods sold, Blue moved the sloop aside the main dock and spent the evening in the tavern. A kitchen-made meal was always appreciated when it didn't come from Dagger Tooth. It didn't hurt that she had made quite a bit of coin and could more than afford to spend some on luxuries.

Just as always, Blue preferred to sleep on the sloop's canopy. What she didn't prefer was waking up to the sound of other people.

In the early morning hours, Blue was awakened by another crew's chatter. She cursed her decision to sleep with her back to the main dock where she could hear two distinct male voices at. That told her that it was very unlikely to be the galleon that had pulled in. Two-man brigantines were uncommon, though not unheard of, and a full sloop… Well, Blue wasn't sure which of those two she would have preferred should things turn unpleasant.

The men moved about from their ship to the island — most likely selling their goods, she decided — and she stayed still, unwilling to attract their attention quite yet. If the comment they made about another sloop wasn't due to her presence, she was going to be quite annoyed by the party forming at the outpost. That didn't seem to be the case when she chanced a moment of looking around, only spotting a sloop. They were aware of her and she, unknown to them, was aware of their presence.

Blue waited until she heard the crew disappear into the tavern before she moved again. The sun was just beginning to come up, giving off enough golden light so that she could see clearly. She double-checked to make sure there was only one other ship here, stopped at the main dock. From the canopy, she could spy nothing of interest on its main- or mid-decks. They most certainly had sold everything of value at this point; now they must have been spending their coin.

Getting to her feet, Blue went downstairs and quickly changed into a more appropriate outfit, one that she could move in while still being easy on the eye, and got her kit. Hopefully, it wouldn't matter what she wore and a fight would be avoided. When she came topside and came eye-to-eye with them, she briefly wondered just how likely that was.

"'Ello there." The wider of the two had spoken first.

No good person with good intentions ever said that, she decided.

"Good morning. What can I do for you fine men this morning?"

They looked at each other like they were impressed to be called such. The toothpick of a sailor couldn't help grinning.

"We was wonderin' if ye'd be willing t' share breakfast with us."

Somehow, she didn't think that was a request. "It is first light; I had intended to—"

"C'mon," urged the little one; "We insist! We're payin'!"

Blue held her tongue. No, there was a perfectly good sword on her hip, a good musket on her back, and her dagger hidden underneath her forearm. If they wanted trouble, she'd give it to them.

"Very well then," she said with a nod. "I can delay a short while for a hot meal that I do not have to pay for."

She stepped onto the dock and the larger of the two helped her take his arm.

"And what shall I call the two of you?"

"Well, I'm Adam!" the smaller of the men with red hair and blue eyes said.

The wide one with black hair and green eyes said, "And I'm Adam."

Blue stopped, pulling back at the one's arm as she did. They both turned to look at her with surprise in their eyes.

"Does… Does that… Is that ever a problem for you two?"

They looked at each other and then shook their heads.

From the start she had doubted that they were family; now she was certain.

She wanted to ask what sort of problems that might cause for the people that they met, but they didn't strike her as the most sociable sort of people so she stayed her tongue of her curiosity.

"That is… a very unique situation to be in," she said as they started again.

"It's great! We never forget each other's names 'cause of it!"

In her head, that one was Twig and the other one was Trunk. How ridiculous this was.

"Yeah, if we ever ferget, we can jus' remember our own name," the other said with amusement. Despite his lazy tongue, he struck her as the more clever of the two.

"That is a useful trick…"

"And you?"

"Oh?" It took her a moment to realise what he was asking. "Ah, I am called Blue."

As they ate their breakfast, Blue decided that the men weren't terribly awful company. The little Twig to her right side was a little too energetic, a little too loud-mouthed, a little too long-winded in the story he was telling. He had started before they had been given their food, telling her about their encounter with a great white megalodon that was so grand she was doubting this to be a true tale. His friend, to her left, was far quieter, though he interjected every so often to correct a detail.

"Nah, it wasn't nearly as big as a galleon, it was bigger than a gally."

"It was as big as those big gallies, I mean!"

Blue didn't care how big this ghost fish was. Before she could soothe the argument, a noise toward the door caught her attention, giving her reason to hover her hand at her sleeve, ready to retrieve her dagger. She couldn't be certain, but it sure sounded like a footstep. Being sat in the corner like they were, she with her back to the door, she couldn't simply turn to look, no, that would be too obvious…

"And its eye was bigger 'round than a gally's sail-pole!"

"Which eye? They got four of 'em, mate!"

She took a breath in. As soon as she opened her mouth, footsteps rushed at them. The first one to take a blow was Trunk-Adam, Blue having slammed her elbow into the side of his face. In the same motion, she leapt over him, using his bulk as cover so she could bring her dagger out. There was a flurry of crashing and scraping as the interlopers dove into the furniture. She heard a blade slice something and someone screamed.

Turning around, Blue intended to drive her weapon into someone, anyone. The body of the man she had jumped over was kicked off the chair, making her stagger. She remembered lifting her head to see the barrel of a blunderbuss as she stood, and then all was silent.