Sleep did not come easily and neither did a deep sleep find him. On one of the occasions that he shifted in the chair, Z acknowledged to himself that the upcoming day would probably be a terrible one.
After that, there was another time when he shifted, tired but painfully aware of his surroundings at Morrow's Peak. Detecting the presence of something in the dark, he forced his eyes open, scanned the area, and then twisted around in the chair. Blue stood behind him, staring out the window to watch a distant volcano's eruption.
"Can't sleep, eh?" he said.
"Just as you cannot."
Z ignored the bitterness in her voice and stretched out before adjusting how he sat in the chair, leaning his side against its back.
"So what's keepin' ya up?"
She regarded him for longer this time, clearly considering the topic. He halfway expected her to ask him to answer instead, so much so that he had started formulating a response in his head. Surprisingly, she answered him.
"I am considering what might await us. If you are right and there is a Skeleton Lord… what would that make us?"
He thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Hunters?"
"I… I am not sure I appreciate that notion."
He smirked. "What, y' don't like the idea'a bein' Skelly Lord hunters?"
The way she looked at him made him second guess having said that.
"Perhaps you do not understand. The hunting of Graymarrow did not end in some grand battle. It…" She sighed. "They ambushed him. While he rested. Is it really that different to stabbing someone in their sleep?"
He blinked at her words, both because of the subject and the mention of something that he had done in her presence not so long ago. A question stood above all other thoughts.
"Y' don't really feel bad about killin' Graymarrow, do you?"
She turned to him, moving quicker than she had in a while. "I am not fond of the methods the Winter's End employed," she said sharply. Then, less so: "I understand that… that it needed to be done, but that does not mean it was done in an honourable way."
Z couldn't help his smirk. "Y' might be in the wrong place if y're concerned about honour…"
Groaning, Blue turned away from him, placed her hands on the map table and leaned heavily on it. She was quiet for a long moment before saying, "It is… complicated." He made a curious noise and she continued: "I know it had to be done. It needed to be done. Something about the way they went about it… it does not feel right. It was so cowardly. And yet… I do not regret it…" The last few words were quieter.
"Graymarrow was a monster. If he could be slain by lesser means, in normal combat, someone would have done it long ago. I know that, but I still feel…" She shook her head.
"Icky about it?" he suggested.
Blue was still for a long moment. When she turned to look at him, her expression was too subtle in the darkness to even try reading.
"I… I do not feel bad about it at all."
Z blinked at that. Was she supposed to feel bad about it? They had literally fought for their lives and souls. Given the way that she spoke about it, the only 'right' way to go about the matter would have been to meet Graymarrow on the open water in fair combat. That was definitely not the way to go about that fight. Or was he wrong and the run-in with Graymarrow changed the way she thought about things? Probably. Being hurt the way she had been would change anyone, and now Blue's manner of speech was more casual sometimes. He still wasn't entirely sure why that was, or why she no longer hid herself from him. The more he considered the matter, the more of a headache he got.
"I am hungry," Blue declared.
And thank Ramsey's ghost for that.
"Yeah, same."
He tried to stand and nearly fell over, pegleg still sitting on the desk. Blue made a noise and when he looked, she seemed rather amused by what had just happened.
"Aw, shut it."
She allowed herself a small laugh that made him feel a little better.
The sun was soon to begin rising above the horizon and that meant that they still had some time before meeting the crew of the Octavia for breakfast. They split a ripe mango while seated in the crow's nest, watching the sky change colours.
Z was sat on the floor of the crow's nest as he usually was, hanging his legs over the edge through the railing while Blue sat beside him on it. While he had been content to sit up there in the quiet and ponder her personality some more, she had thoughts too loud to keep to herself.
"If there is a Skeleton Lord at Tribute Peak, is there anything I should know?"
He tilted his head to look up at her, only partially hiding his amusement. "I think I oughta be askin' you that." When she gave him a curious look, he added, "Y're the one that killed Graymarrow."
"I—" She caught herself, looked away and he wondered what the hell that had been. He was astonished when she said, "I hardly think I can take all the credit — I doubt I would have survived as I had without your teachings."
He couldn't help a toothy smirk, pleased to know that he had aided her so much, and pleased that she wasn't such a hardass that she couldn't admit to it.
She looked at him. "Oh, would you stop that?" He couldn't help the grin and she shook her head. "Besides, you helped."
He bit the inside of his lip and looked down at the water, recalling the moment she was referring to. He'd never experienced anything like that before…
"Yeah, but y're the one who killed him and fought him the most. You did that." Blue made an unimpressed noise and he insisted: "It was all you. 'Sides, I've never fought a Skeleton Lord before."
"You what?"
They stared at each other for a moment.
"You what?"
"I… I've never fought a Skelly Lord before then?" he repeated. "Y' know, 'cause they're bad news at best and Graymarrow at worst? Or, well, that's how it used t' be, I guess. Now…" He put a hand on his chin. "Well, I guess all the really, ah… problematic ones are dead."
"… dead skeletons?"
He rolled his eyes. "Y' know what I mean: they ain't kickin' around anymore."
She snickered quietly. "Yes, yes, I know what you mean." Her eyes went back to the horizon. "So I suppose that means that you are as unschooled as I am in this regard."
Z nodded. "An' I don't think any'a those pretty gally pirates know any better than we do."
There was a pause before she laughed, a rather loud, genuine laugh. "Ah, here we are, the blind leading the blind to our doom."
Stunned by the sound, it wasn't until she was done talking and then some that Z gained quite the grin. For once, Blue sounded excited, and though the dangers before them were extreme, potentially soul-threatening, he was glad that they were on the same page.
Z despised phoney small talk. They hadn't been in the tavern for very long, just long enough to sit down with the others and get drinks from the tavernkeeper. So far, no one had said anything meaningful.
"So we're goin' t' the Shores of Gold," he said, cutting one of the Octavia's crewmembers off. He ignored the looks he got. "Right?"
"Right," their captain said. "So that means you'll come with us?"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Blue look at him. She had been insistent on going through with this, and if that was how it was going to be, then someone needed to look out for her.
"That's right."
The three crewmen quietly voiced their excitement; Garrett sipped at his grog but somehow looked relieved.
"I'm glad for that," Madeleine said, nodding. "If the rumours are true—"
"Y're gonna need all the help y' can get."
She nodded, giving a small 'mhmm'. "And I can think of no other pirates alive today who are better suited to taking on this challenge."
Z almost made a very impolite statement about his and Blue's role in all this but refrained, reminding himself that most people didn't appreciate being talked down to, even if the statement was a true one.
"That does raise concerns over arrangements, however."
Everyone looked to Madeleine, curious.
"I have already thought that over," Blue piped up. "If you have no qualms, we will follow you as far as we can before we transfer onto the galleon." When she was given curious looks, she explained: "The Shores of Gold are far north, yes? So far that by the time we reach that part of the Devil's Shroud, we will be quite far from any volcanoes. I would prefer to leave my sloop somewhere there rather than leave it to chance here."
And when this was all said and done, it was that much less distance for them all to travel together. Z liked this idea very much.
Madeleine made a thoughtful noise. "It will slow us down, but…" She nodded. "We are used to travelling quickly, but this is a special occasion indeed. It is a good idea — even the volcano here erupts every so often."
"Precisely. Anywhere else that is safe is out of the way of our path, correct?"
Madeleine nodded again. "If we are to go north from here. That's where everyone seems to think the Shores of Gold is."
"Why not make a day-stop at Galleon's Grave?" Rezin now suggested. Everyone regarded him before he continued: "Leave the sloop there, yeah? We might even be able to get some information out of someone with how close the Shroud is there."
"It's a wonder that Galleon's Grave don't get eaten up by the Shroud every now and then," Bean commented. That garnered some murmurs of agreement.
Steering the conversation back on topic, Blue said, "Going to Galleon's Grave is a good idea."
Everyone looked around the table and no one voiced any disagreements. The momentary silence that had settled into the group disappeared when the first round of plates came to them. Though they had shared a piece of fruit earlier, Z found that he was ravenous. As much as he felt the conversation was done and over with, he knew he would be expected to sit and eat with the group so he begrudgingly did so.
Normally, in a situation such as this one, Z would let Blue do the talking and only comment as he felt was necessary. Now he was surprised by how quiet she was. It was a polite silence that she carried, but it felt so strange.
Rezin had just finished explaining how he had met Kata quite some time ago and then again more recently when that prompted a question from Blue.
"And surely you have room for one more?"
That seemed to have perplexed the quartermaster, who then looked to his captain. Madeleine nodded. "For a time, at least."
"Oh, I'd rather not intrude anymore than I must," Garrett said. "I'm only going with you because you insist so."
That seemed to please Blue and Z found that he felt a sense of relief. There was no way he could have tolerated that man on the sloop with them. Tolerating him and four others on a gally that wasn't his… that he could manage, if only just.
Not so interested in being involved in the conversation, Z forced himself to quickly finish his breakfast without being obviously rude. Captain Montagne still noticed.
"Is something wrong?"
"Nothing," he said a little too curtly than he had meant to. "We got a long ways t' go t' get t' Galleon's Grave so I'm gonna go get the sloop ready's all," he said, standing.
As he made his way through the tavern and out the door, he heard Blue say something about helping him. She had eaten maybe half of her plate, so that surprised him. Just out of view, he waited for her, and when she sauntered past him, he quickly placed himself beside her and they made their way down to the dock together.
"You good?" he asked when they made it onto the Forlorn Phoenix's mid-deck.
"They are going to ask," she hissed, not looking up from the books on the desk, then suddenly ducking down into the hold.
Bewildered, he followed her. In the short time she had left his sight, Blue had procured the bottle of pain reliever and opened it. She now appeared to be considering how much she wanted.
"Ask what?"
"About Graymarrow," she said.
"Y' don't hafta tell 'em," he said. Blue gave him an incredulous look and he quickly added, "'Bout the fight with him. It…" He made a thoughtful noise. "Y're worried 'bout… tellin' them all about it? I don't think it's any'a their business."
She huffed. "They have asked us to join them—"
"They prob'ly would've asked any crew t' join 'em. They're lookin' fer meat shields."
For a long moment, she stared at him. Then: "There is a Skeleton Lord."
Z wasn't sure. Maybe there was, maybe not. He figured there would be one, and maybe the others did, or perhaps they were being abundantly cautious. With all the stories he had heard… Well, whatever the case was, he couldn't know for sure. He shrugged.
"'Member what I said? People avoid 'em for good reason." Feeling brave, he then added, "Y' know why now. You know and all they can do is guess what it might be like."
Blue huffed again and looked away from him. She still contemplated the bottle in her hand and, still feeling bold, Z gently put his hand over hers. She slowly looked back at him.
"Get some rum instead, would ya? That's more fun than sleepin', and y've been doin' a lot'a sleepin'."
Her gaze remained steady. Z didn't get the feeling that she was really in much pain right now. No, this was something else, something that he wasn't quite sure what to make of.
"Fine," she finally said. She pulled her hand away from his, corked the bottle and put it away. Then she declared, "But I will be of no help sailing."
"That's fine."
"And if I do join you topside, I make no guarantees that I will not fall overboard and I will blame you entirely for that."
He chuckled. "Fallin' over's part'a the fun!"
Blue narrowed her eyes at him, but as she disappeared to the upper decks he got the feeling that she had made that face at him to avoid smiling.
The wind had been good to them, giving them a crosswind that allowed the sloop to fly north and reach Cinder Islet in no time at all. That did mean that they were fairly close to a sea volcano now, something that would no doubt upset Blue. Z didn't stress over it; he would be awake for a while still. Hell, if anything, an eruption would be a good excuse to get the ship moving again.
Before they had left, Blue had gone up to the tavern to talk to the others. According to her, they were quite understanding of their desire to leave so soon, the sloop's significantly slower top speed a reasonable excuse.
When she returned to the ship, she had done so with freshly bought Devil's Rum and a crate of dried provisions. Her comment from that morning lingered on his mind. Even when she joined him up on the quarter-deck, bottle of rum in hand, shared a little bit with him and agreed with him about the meat shield thing, it lingered, threatening to distract him.
Blue did not like the way that Graymarrow had been handled, but she understood why it happened that way. Most strangely, by her own admittance, she did not regret it. That was good — he was loathe to explain more of Graymarrow's atrocities to her. Still, the encounter had left quite the mark on her and he was beginning to realise that it wasn't just on her arm.
Truth to be told, something felt different about himself, too.
More than ever, he wanted to be sailing, to be stood at the helm of a ship and feel the wind on his face. She was asleep, however, and she very much needed that rest. Instead, he would patiently sit at the desk, doze a little bit, and wish that they had picked up a set of dice or dominoes so that he could play a game while he passed the time.
"Y' still think they're gonna ask?"
Sitting on the deck with her good shoulder leaning against the mast, Blue stopped looking at Galleon's Grave and stood to turn to Z.
"About?"
"'Bout Graymarrow."
"Oh." She looked away. "Perhaps."
"Still agree that it ain't any'a their business?"
"It… It is, though," she argued. She huffed and added quickly: "I don't like thinking about it."
"I don't either," he admitted. "I still don't think it's any'a their business," he firmly repeated. Blue seemed unconvinced. "And if any'a them come askin', y' come t' me and I'll set 'em straight."
There was a subtle uncertainty to her expression. She did not speak, and as he looked her over, Z could see more of it. She didn't seem to embrace this solution, but eventually, his stern expression got a nod out of her. That was good enough. If he didn't like thinking about it, he couldn't imagine how she felt about it.
"Let's go get dinner," he suggested, stepping out from the mid-deck to join her.
Blue looked south to where the Octavia sat. They hadn't noticed it right away, but when they realised the ship had reefed its sails, Z saw that the little rock she was at had a building on it. He couldn't remember if the rock or the building had been there before or not, what with the weird place on the edge of the Sea of Thieves where it resided. His curiosity was not strong enough that he asked Blue what she thought. What he did wonder, however, was what Blue was thinking otherwise as she had been very quiet. She finally noticed his look and looked back.
"That is a fine idea."
"Mhmm."
When his gaze didn't let up, she added, "I am sure they will be here tomorrow morning."
He put his hands up his hips as he looked back to the galleon. Despite his comment of how they probably looked in their eyes, he found that he would have been annoyed to not meet up with them. That would mean that he and Blue could go back to minding their own business, but still…
"Probably. Now, let's go eat."
When noontime came around, Z couldn't resist teasing his crewmate about the Octavia not being there yet. Her response had been less energetic than he had hoped for, only groaning at him.
"That medicine still makin' y' tired?" he asked, trying to save the peaceful mood.
"Something like that."
They both sat at the desk as had become routine, him on the edge of it and she in the chair. He leaned closer to her.
"Somethin' like that?"
She groaned again, loud and exaggerated, and he knew that she wasn't having a good morning. The Octavia's tardiness was only compounding whatever her problem was. Thankfully, she spoke without him having to coax the words out of her.
"I have been considering the… accommodations we may be facing."
"Like?"
"Like the sleeping arrangements. A galleon is spacious enough for a crew of four, perhaps five I suppose, but two more to make seven… I can only imagine the chaos of crowding."
That was a reasonable concern to have, but it seemed like there was more to this. "Is that it?"
"I think I will have better luck sleeping on the floor than in a hammock."
He rose a brow. "Still…?"
"Still." Blue absentmindedly brought her hand onto her shoulder, her expression shifting to one of thoughtfulness after a moment. "Perhaps removing the stitches will help with that."
There might have been some truth to that statement. As far as injuries went, hers had been a significant one and he knew how uncomfortable just a few stitches could be. To have that many, and to have them in for so long…
"I'll get yer kit."
He dove down into the sloop's hold to dig around for her sewing kit. He took his time, mostly to give Blue time to prepare herself. When he returned, he was somehow still surprised to see her without a shirt on. Or was it the scars that unnerved him so? Perhaps it was both. He hoped he never got used to it.
"How's yer shoulder feel?" he asked. When Blue shot him a glare, he quickly added, "The stitches, I mean. Skin healed?"
She made an aggravated noise but dipped her chin slightly.
"I'll start pullin' an' make sure of it."
Without words, Blue handed him her dagger after he grabbed the tweezers out of the box. He nodded his thanks.
"Y' want me to start from the front or back?"
"Back," she said, "so that I do not have to lean forward for so long." She leaned forward against the desk on her good arm, the other simply resting upon it, and closed her eyes, steadying herself.
Though he had seen it before, it still made him uneasy to set his eyes upon her injury. Z let his eyes linger on her back longer than he should have, tracing over other long-since-healed scars. He shook his head and carefully began to undo the stitching at its base near her shoulder blade.
It didn't ooze blood, nor did her skin come apart. That was all good. He pulled some more at the stitching and noticed it tugging at her skin. "I might make y' bleed some now," he said, realising that they had probably left them in for too long.
Blue weakly grunted an acknowledgement to him.
By the time he made it up to the top of her shoulder, he made good on that warning. A few small crimson droplets seeped out from where the stitching had been unwilling to leave her skin. Z knew from experience that it was a deeply unpleasant experience; her calmness impressed him.
"All right, we're done," he declared a short time later.
Leaving her dagger on the desk, he turned away to toss all the trash into the water. When he turned back, Blue had already gotten her vest back on and was currently in the process of getting her heavy coat on. Z bit the inside of his lip, a little jealous of her layers. He must have been staring because Blue looked at him and made a noise to get his attention.
"What?"
"What— you— You are just standing there with a stupid look on your face."
Yep, he'd been staring. Z shook his head and stifled a laugh.
"Well, the Octavia's still not here so I think I'm gonna go buy meself a jacket. It's cold."
Blue managed to look annoyed about that. She didn't voice her thoughts, though, only taking a breath in and sighing. He gave her a curious look.
"It seems we will not be leaving this outpost for a while still."
"If they get in soon, we can still leave before it gets dark. With seven of us, we can take turns sailin'—"
She made a noise. "This is going to be quite the adventure, is it not? Should we really be leaving so late in the day?" They looked at each other for a moment. "It would be best for all of us to be present and awake during the crossing, yes?"
Reluctantly, Z nodded. It seemed that they were in a silent agreement that passing through the Devil's Shroud was one hell of an undertaking. It made him wonder what her entry into the Sea of Thieves had been like, but if he wasn't willing to share his, she certainly wasn't going to tell him about hers.
"Y're not wrong," he said. "So y' think we'll leave t'morrow mornin' at the soonest?"
"Seems that way."
Blue looked past the deck out to where the Octavia was, the great ship still but a spot in their vision. He followed her gaze and they stared out into the open ocean for a time until he stepped around the desk and onto the main-deck.
"Anythin' y' want from the shops while I'm up there?"
She looked to him, then stood. "I could go for something to eat."
He made a noise back to her and they stepped onto the island together.
Tired of sleeping vertically in that damned chair, Z had collected a pillow and a blanket large enough to lay on and wrap around himself so he could sleep on the sloop's canvas top back. Blue's usual sleeping spot wasn't so bad. It wasn't bad at all, in fact. Why she preferred it over the bed she could have been using before they met — well, that had something to do with the scars, didn't it? The same thing went for the dagger she was so fond of.
Z was getting tired of thinking so damn much about that.
Once again, he was failing to get a good, restful sleep. It was sometime after the fifth time that he rolled onto his other side that he realised he heard something and lifted his head to see a galleon entering the calm waters surrounding the outpost. A secondary look identified it as the Octavia. Unperturbed, Z stayed where he was and only vaguely listened to the crew's docking process, dozing through it. When he later heard steps along the dock coming his way, he cracked an eye open just in time to see Rezin contemplating boarding the Forlorn Phoenix.
"Step foot on this ship and I can't guarantee yer safety," he warned without moving.
"Huh. Ah." The quartermaster looked at him and then looked over the little ship. He seemed to take the hint. "Well, when you and your friend wake in the mornin', the cap'n would like for us all to have breakfast before setting out as one crew."
"Got it."
Rezin looked him over once more before nodding and taking that as his cue to return to the galleon.
With that done, Z rolled over once more and tried to get some sleep.
