Z despised being in this situation again, sitting in a tavern with a bunch of people he didn't like. Yes, he had agreed to join the Octavia's crew and Garrett on this quest, and it did make sense to gather as many bodies as possible when considering the danger, but that didn't mean he had to like them.

Blue had been right, too. Rezin was the one to finally ask, "So how'd you two best Graymarrow?" and it took all of Z's self-control to not launch over the table and strangle the man when she tensed up.

She stared at him and he stared back. The rest of his crewmates were, to differing degrees, intimidated and got the hint to not push the subject, but it seemed he would not yield.

"We did what no one else did," Z deadpanned. He was only just aware of the slight snarl that lingered on his face.

"That is putting it mildly," Blue said as she wiped her face clean. Then she was on her feet and out the tavern door.

All of the others looked dumbfounded, embarrassed even, except for Rezin. Z could tell he was the sort to stand his ground and refuse to admit any wrongdoing. Everyone was surprised by Garrett bopping him on the back of the head after a moment.

"Boy, haven't you any sense?"

It hadn't been a particularly savage strike, just one that conveyed how rude he had been, and Z decided that was enough for now. He, too, found his feet and made his way out the door. He stood there for a moment to consider things before leaning against the wall beside the threshold. Hearing incoming footfalls, he looked up in time to see Blue take him by the wrist and drag him away from the building.

"What're you—"

"Enough," she said firmly as she led him up the hill along the western side of Galleon's Grave.

He gave a flustered hiss. Z hadn't decided for sure that he was going to surprise the other man with a well-earned punch, only considered it! How calm Blue was dumbfounded him long enough that he blindly followed her quite a ways up. They came to a stop on the platform that was above the weaponsmith's shop and she finally spoke again.

"Were you really about to start a fight before we've even left the outpost?"

Z wanted to argue the matter and he showed this by silently glowering at her. Before he knew it, she was pulling his ear, firmly stating, "You will not start any fights with them. We will keep the peace however hard it may be, no matter how hard we must bite our tongues."

His eyes shot to hers and he stammered, desperate to argue the matter. He froze when he saw just how tired yet certain Blue looked. They stared at each other for a long time before he pulled his head away from her grip, huffing.

"Fine."

"He is young, and—"

"All right, fine!" he said louder, throwing his hands up in the air. Blue looked annoyed and he regretted that. "I get it: no fightin' no matter how much they deserve it."

He was surprised when she gave him a small laugh. Z looked more closely at her as she said, "Precisely."

She didn't seem angry like he had thought, only… tired? Uncertain once more, he asked, "Y' still sure y' really wanna go do this?"

She tilted her head slightly, a small smile on her face that he couldn't quite pinpoint the tone of.

"This's the point'a no return," he warned.

When her expression stayed strong, he took a step away from her, considering the matter, the transfer of ships. He turned back, scratching at the side of his head, thoughtful but mostly trying to rub away the tingling of her touch.

"What're you lookin' for?" he asked. When Blue recoiled, he added, "What're you tryin' t' get out of this?"

It was controlled, but she looked rather stunned. Z couldn't place what exactly that made him think, especially not when they stared at each other for what felt like forever. She turned away, a hand on her chin, and he expected her to say something, anything in response, but instead, she changed the subject.

"In way of personal effects and supplies, the galleon is ready. Captain Montagne has not asked us for anything."

Z put his hand on his hips, but as much as he wanted an answer, he didn't push it. He only looked away, staring out to the south. "And when it comes t' sleepin'…?"

"I will make do," she said. He knew he didn't look convinced because he was far from it. Blue rolled her eyes and insisted, "I will be fine."

Somehow, he couldn't shake the feeling that she wouldn't be.


"I apologise for my man."

Z could hear the ship's captain talking to Blue on the dock from the middle of the Octavia's main-deck. He put less effort into eavesdropping after hearing that, dipping down into the mid-deck.

They had officially been invited to join the ship and given total freedom to roam about it, something he intended to use to his advantage. For now, at the stove against the ship's starboard side, Bean going through one of the food barrels before they departed caught his attention.

"Hi!"

"Hi," he responded far more calmly, a little perplexed by the other's eager friendliness. He leaned against the base of the staircase and crossed his arms. "We good on food while we're out there?"

"Yeah, we are," she said, closing the lid with an excited nod. "Plenty'a fruit ready to eat and more that'll be ready as we sail."

"How 'bout fightin' food? Mangoes and pineapples?"

"We're good on that, too." She looked… confused? "But I dunno what we might need that for out there."

Z couldn't help a small smirk, shrugging. "Eh, y' never know."

Bean paused and considered his words before nodding in understanding. "I wish we had some meat t' bring, though. Oh! Maybe there'll be some special fish in the Red Sea t' catch!"

"I don't think—"

"Do you guys have any fish t' bring?"

He bit the inside of his cheek. "Not anymore."

He knew that his response was a weird one and it visibly made the other pirate think, but that wasn't a bad thing, he decided. Thankfully, despite her apparent dumbness, she seemed to understand enough to not ask and only nodded, turning to the other food barrel. Z took the opportunity to pass by the other side of the map table in the centre of the area and keep going along the deck.

Against the aft wall, beside the hatch leading to the hold, were barrels that held ammunition and planks. In his opinion, it wasn't the best place to store these things, but it was the standard on a galleon and most pirates didn't complain. That being the well-accepted place for those things made it easier to check the supplies of an enemy ship, he supposed. He personally liked having a crate in a gally's cabin or straight up on the main-deck.

Aboard this ship was a reasonable amount of plank and munitions. More was always better as far as Z was concerned, so long as the ship wasn't substantially slowed by the supply, but this was… reasonable. No, where they were going they should absolutely not encounter any other ships — no other people — but nothing was ever a certainty on the Sea of Thieves.

Briefly, Z wondered what a barrage of cannon fire from a galleon would do to a Skeleton Lord. That'd just be too easy though, wouldn't it?

Like all galleons, the lowest deck was a mess of barrels, crates, and personal spaces. There were two hammocks strewn from the ceiling in the middle of the ship that clearly belonged to the permanent crew. Garrett was busy stringing up a hammock that was surely going to be his towards the front of the hold. The brig's door was ajar and it generally looked unused.

Now that he was wondering where he and Blue would sleep, he was suddenly struck with the realisation that they were really doing this.

Returning to the main-deck, Z looked about. Though she was busy cleaning a cannon, Kata paused to look at him when she noticed how lost he looked.

"Hey, where—"

"Cabin."

"Thanks."

Stepping in, Z decided that it was probably expectations and rules to be followed that the captain was going over with Blue. She was sat at her desk while Blue stood before it — and he took his place beside her. When a 'no fighting' comment came up, he was certain that was what they were talking about and he wasn't sure that he could be more bored of a conversation he had heard less of.

"I will explain everything we have discussed thus far with my shipmate when we are done here," Blue said.

Madeleine was a nice woman and all, but Z could only just tolerate a gally captain in the best of times. He never really liked any of them for one reason or another, and though he couldn't pinpoint one for Madeleine yet, he was sure it would come up eventually.

"As for sleeping quarters, we have plenty of room downstairs for hammocks to be strung—"

"Forgive me," Blue interjected; "but I may have more luck being comfortable on the floor."

That statement caught the other woman off guard. Z supposed that without any context, being told that would surprise anyone.

"Is…" Madeleine cleared her throat and tried again after a moment of extra thought. "Would it help to give you the cabin bed?"

That surprised Z. Hell, it seemed to catch Blue by surprise, too.

"… It would. But I would hate to intrude—"

"It's no intrusion. I am happy to keep my guests happy."

Blue looked stupefied long enough that Madeleine spoke again.

"Or am I offering the cabin to you two?"

It took an effort to keep a straight face and not look at Blue. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep it that way.

"… We would appreciate that."

He was the one getting stuck sleeping on the floor, wasn't he?


It took very little time for the entire crew of seven to be ready for their departure. Z required just about nothing to leave and Blue made a point to pack very light; her not bringing her hammock — for either of them — did make him a tad annoyed, but he would live.

He got the feeling that Blue and Bean had spoken at some point before taking off as Blue had brought the crate of dried meat she bought way back at Morrow's Peak aboard the galleon. That seemed to please everyone, perhaps more than the rum did.

When the time came to loose the sails, they did so slowly. Madeleine had taken to the helm, barked orders to those that would obey, which happened to be everyone but him, though Rezin had refused to allow Blue access to the fore-sail's controls. That he did so out of the good of his heart, Z doubted very much.

As for him, he had been standing on the bowsprit for a while now. He liked knowing what lay before them and the position was especially pleasant on a galleon. The broad bowsprit of the ship was easy to keep his footing on and the way the ship handled waves was far better than a sloop or brigantine did. Something about it just felt good. Sloops might be cosy and brigantines might be delightfully fast, but neither compared to the might of a galleon, even if it was still a little thing compared to ships outside the Devil's Shroud.

As he contemplated that their destination lay past the red mist, he was vaguely aware of Blue behind him. She had to sternly call him to get him to look back and join her on the forecastle.

"As far as I can tell, we will want for nothing supply-wise," she stated, leaning her elbows on the railing. He watched her try and fail to get comfortable before standing properly again. She gave him a quizzical look.

"Nothin'," he said, looking away. "How 'bout the non-essentials?"

"That seems fine as well."

"Mm." He let the silence sit between them for a moment before saying, "But that's not why y' came up here t' bother me, is it?"

She looked annoyed to be called out like that. Still, she regarded him seriously, asking timidly, "You… You remember your crossing, yes?"

He nodded. "And you—"

"Yes."

"So we both know this might go t' hell."

"Rather acutely, yes."

That calmed him slightly. And yet… "But that's still not why y're up here, is it?"

She huffed lightly. "It was a curiosity I could not shake. Besides that, however, I… I went over the books once more."

"The ones y' made me go save from the Winter's End?"

"Yes. In Garrett's recordings of the entire fleet's journey, I realised something: it was this crew that took down the other Skeleton Lord."

"Briggsy?"

"Yes, that one." They were quiet for a moment. "I could argue that their experience with Skeleton Lords is better than ours."

"Did it talk about the fight?"

"Mm, no, and that makes me think they had very little trouble."

"Or a lot of it and were embarrassed 'bout it."

"Perhaps. My gut says otherwise, and they did invite us along… Madeleine is either hiding something, or she is genuine in her want to share this experience with us."

He couldn't help a small smirk. Blue might have been a tad too paranoid for his liking, in not quite the right ways, but more and more was it uniting their thoughts.

"I agree."

She gripped the railing for a moment, then nodded. "Whatever the case, none of them were forthcoming with this information. We — being us, I mean — have also not gone over the book that Grace gave them but I intend to suggest that we all go through it before disembarking, should we have the opportunity to."

"Good idea. Should be somethin' helpful in there, yeah?"

"I hope so."

He didn't like how uncertain she sounded then, but Z also trusted that she would tell him if she was so unsure about things that she had changed her mind. Then again, she was headstrong and that didn't seem like her.

With the conversation done, he looked forward out to a seemingly vast, open ocean. It occurred to him that Blue was waiting to see if he had anything to add, so he looked back to her and said, "Guess y' should go tell Madeleine 'bout that then."


Z wasn't really sure how much time had passed. The steady wind of the day had carried them quite far. It wasn't often he got to look around and see nothing close by. In his opinion, every landmass in the Sea of Thieves was close enough to one another to swim to, so this openness? It instilled a gnawing terror deep within his gut. He could only guess what the sight did to the others.

Blue was sitting on the main-deck, leaning against the gunwale beside the cannon closest to him; he wasn't sure if she was reading or writing. Madeleine was still at the helm, standing beside the wheel with only a single hand on it, her other hand on the railing beside the Shroudbreaker itself. Garrett had taken to the cabin for reasons Z hadn't bothered to listen for. Rezin had made himself comfortable on the deck, adjusted sails as was needed, and one of the other women had gone up to the crow's nest.

It was just when Z was growing bored that he noticed a change in the air. It was slight but quickly grew intense, a foul smell that stuck to his mouth and demanded his attention. Alert, he was now aware that all around them the world had turned red from the sea to the air. He slowly backed down onto the forecastle, discomfort rapidly growing. Then, as the tip of the bowsprit exploded in a bright red cone that surrounded the front half of the ship, he understood. He turned back for a moment, spying a red glow coming from the Shroudbreaker itself. When the ship didn't begin splintering beneath his feet and no one began choking on the air, he decided that its name was well-earned.

Surrounded by the Devil's Shroud in the vast open ocean, it seemed they were in no danger of sinking. What a strange, strange idea. Z was appreciative of the charm, but it just wasn't sitting right with him.

It seemed the others were of a similar mind. When he looked back again, everyone was present on the deck, taking in the sight of the Shroudbreaker's work. Bean let out a cheer of excitement, their victory over the Devil's Shroud well deserving of it. Rezin was stoic, contrasting Garrett's expression of wonder from the main-deck, and Z did spy Madeleine smiling from the helm. He ignored all of them in favour of Blue joining him on the forecastle.

After another moment of being stupefied, he managed out, "Whacha think?"

Her eyes never left the aura as she said, "The Shroudbreaker's powers are rather literal."

He wondered if she would reach out and try to touch it. The thought briefly crossed his mind, then he decided he'd rather not potentially find out what a hook was like for a hand. The pegleg was bad enough.

"Yeah, it is," he finally said. As true as that was, it was also blinding. Seeing through the fog being dispersed before the ship was nearly impossible. He glanced up to the crow's nest for the first time in a while and hoped that Kata had a better view than they did.

With the Red Sea all about them, Z was rather on edge, even with the Shroudbreaker's power piercing through it. He and Blue stood there for a time, silently observing the scene that Kata's voice then sharply contrasted.

"Cap, there's an island ahead of us!" she hollered from the crow's nest. Madeleine looked up from the view, then back to it and back up again at Kata before calling an acknowledgement.

"Guess that's where we're goin'," Z muttered.

"It must be," Blue said with slight amusement. "I am almost certain we have not travelled far enough to properly leave the Sea of Thieves."

He chuckled and said, "Unlucky for you, huh?"

Blue gave him a look that was both annoyed and amused and somehow he found comfort in it.

Less comforting was the call to raise sails — already? That didn't seem right. It had come from Kata first, repeated by the gally's captain.

Looking forward, he could just make out the silhouette of an island before them. He briefly wondered how they hadn't run aground already when he realised that it was a massive island, still far out.

Blue seemed to be noticing the same. "That is…"

"A giant island way out there? Yeah."

It was a truly massive island. The closer they got, the more of their vision it filled and Z was pretty sure it was larger than any other in the Sea of Thieves. He voiced that thought and Blue agreed with him. The whole crew had remarks to make about the landmass, calling them to each other from across the ship, and then those thoughts turned to what might await them there. Would there be another crew? Crews? People who lived there?

No one mentioned the lingering worry of a Skeleton Lord; Blue's lack of participation in the conversation said plenty about that matter.

Finally, as they were closing in on the shoreline, the breaking of the Shroud ceased. Kata called something again. Z didn't understand what had been said until he realised they were coming up on a gentle bay, a large rock in the middle of it. Reefing the sails had been a good idea.

Despite the rock, it wasn't entirely in their way, not even for a galleon. Madeleine seemed to be a decent helm anyway, navigating around it with ease. Rezin pulled the back sails up for her as they got into a good position to stop.

As though to make doubly sure, Z realised he and Blue both had been leaning over either side of the ship's bow to gauge how deep the water was. As though reading their mind, Bean jogged past them on the forecastle and jumped into the water. They looked at the ripples and then to each other before she surfaced, calling out, "We're good!"

He looked about again and found himself wondering why it was called the Shores of Gold when the shoreline looked so normal. Sure, it wasn't anywhere near as dreary as the Wilds looked, but neither did the area remind him of the comfortable Shores of Plenty, and certainly not of the hotter Ancient Isles. No, this… this looked like the Shores of Gold, he supposed, a unique place in of itself.

So they had made it.

The Octavia was still drifting to a stop when he leaned his elbows against the railing, ignoring the sound of Bean swimming to the ship's side to climb back aboard. Nothing had greeted them, not by sea, and as far as anyone could tell, there was nothing on the land waiting for them. Not right here, at least. Being so massive and with a few peaks that easily contended with those of Galleon's Grave or Shipwreck Bay or even Smugglers' Bay, any number of people could have been spying on them. The island was impossibly huge.

"We're gonna get lost here," he muttered.

He saw that Blue had looked at him before looking back to the island; he kept his gaze on her, though.

"So it seems. We…" She sighed, glancing back at the main crew. She turned around and leaned back against the railing, looking over the deck of the galleon. For a moment she stayed like that; then she made a fist and gestured confidently with it before stepping off the forecastle.

She made her way towards the back of the ship, pausing underneath the helm to address the captain. "Madeleine, if we could speak?"

Said captain looked somewhat concerned but did nod to her. "Once we get properly stopped, we'll all gather in the cabin."

"That is a fine idea."

Getting properly stopped didn't take very long at all. The process was mostly complete when that interaction happened and all that was left to do was finish tying up the sails, dropping the anchor to fully stop them — and then pick it up at Z's insistence — and checking their surroundings from the deck once more.

When the time came to assemble within the cabin, Blue chose to sit on a chest at the foot of the bed with her legs crossed. Bean invited herself to sit on the foot of the bed proper; Z stood nearby. Garrett stood politely near the door while Rezin sat himself in the corner across from them on another storage chest, arms crossed like he wasn't interested in being there. Kata leaned against one side of the desk that Madeleine was sitting at with the gifted book before her.

"This is a journal by Captain Briggsy, given to us by the Pirate Lord. I'm not sure when or how it was recovered, but it is now ours for the time being," Madeleine said, holding up the book in question. "He has given us some… advice."

When the gathered group gave her a collective look of curiosity, she began to read the book's contents to them. The first line was fine. The next, with its mention of the truth about this journey and confirmation that the island was indeed properly named Tribute Peak, only thickened the tension in the air.

Z didn't need the reminder that the Devil's Shroud was a moving entity, but he understood why it was mentioned.

"Once," Madeleine read, "it briefly fell away from Tribute Peak. This granted a man whose insatiable greed had poisoned his heart. What he found there transformed him forever."

He didn't even need to look at Blue to know they were both thinking the same thing.

Madeleine read more but Z hardly cared. They were being tasked with taking out another Skeleton Lord. This made three for this entire fiasco by his count. Or was it four?

"Succeed in your quest, and songs of your adventure will fill every tavern on the Sea of Thieves for years to come… Fail, and you forfeit your soul."

Z brought a hand up to his chin, playing with his beard. The scratchy noise he heard indicated he needed to shave, an amusingly mundane task considering what lay before them. Somehow, he figured Blue would still find time to pester him about it and he was surprised she hadn't already.

"As far as I can tell, Briggsy's writings here tell us everything we need to know to proceed," Madeleine said.

It seemed no one was willing to openly speak up about their new task.

"She was talented enough to draw a map and mark where each vault can be found, each holding a… a medallion that goes to a carving of some sort. I imagine they function together as a key."

Rezin shifted and asked, "Does it say what exactly it unlocks?"

"It does not."

Z crossed his arms and found the floor interesting to look at. This didn't sound good. He spoke up: "What exactly are we proceedin' with?"

"Well, Briggsy explains here that all the vaults hold the missing pieces to a central chamber. She doesn't say what filling in the missing pieces will do — I'm assuming it will give us something else instead of the four pieces. That is assuming there are four pieces…"

"Y' don't sound so certain."

Madeleine sighed. "Briggsy couldn't resist documenting her journey, but neither did she detail out the island's secrets. She makes mention of sitting in the throne of a toppled titan after the compass vault yielded its secrets, but not… Well, she's not clear about what that's about, only makes mention of going through a door and down into tunnels."

Bean wiggled. "I bet it'll be clear as we go."

Everyone looked at her in one way or another, annoyed or uncertain or amused or any combination of emotions. Z personally wanted to scream. Being asked to go take out a Skeleton Lord at the Pirate Lord's behest was nothing to take lightly, but couldn't they have been given some more specific instructions? Something clearer? And why now?

Normally, Z would have been all about an adventure like this, but Skeleton Lords were serious business and the only person he knew here wasn't to be trusted in a fight right now.

Despite her condition and the growing bad news, Blue looked as certain as ever. She sounded it, too. "I am sure we have been given enough information to get started," she said firmly. "Whatever uncertainties we must face, I trust we are clever enough to weather them."

That seemed to help allay the fears of those who showed them. A confident tone could do wonders, and Madeleine's wasn't up to snuff. It seemed that Blue was also detecting this.

"There are four vaults, yes? And Briggsy documented her experiences with them?" she asked.

"To a degree."

"Then we should carefully go over what information we have been given, and again tomorrow morn as I think it is rather late to get started. We would best use our time by splitting up and tackling the vaults as teams. Moving as one group may also attract unwanted attention, though three and four will still be quite capable of fending off any danger that comes their way."

Madeleine nodded after a moment's thought. "Those are all good ideas." She looked around the room. "Any objections?"

Z shifted slightly; he didn't like the idea of splitting up, but Blue had a good point. She had just better be in the group of four.

"How do we split the group up?" Kata asked.

"You two seem to work well together," Madeleine said, pointing out Blue and Z. "Our strength comes from each other, but I think we can spare Rezin to go with you." She gave him a look and he forced himself to remain impassive. "And Garrett can also go with you to make four."

Z couldn't have been more annoyed by the roster. He spied Rezin shifting slightly, as though he were of a similar opinion. Neither man voiced their aggravation, however, and Blue took that time to nod and accept it. Garrett seemed unwilling to rock the boat whatsoever, so his silence was unsurprising.

"Now," Blue said, awkwardly scooting off the chest and making her way closer to Madeleine; "What does Briggsy say about the vaults?"

"She drew out a map of the island, marked the location and symbol of each vault, as well as her shipwreck, drew a pair of lines of… something, and also the main central vault. She doesn't say anything about the southern vault, but she did draw three sets of symbols. We've seen them before — I'm sure it will make more sense when we investigate the vault.

"The eastern vault is also poorly documented. She only says that it was too easy for someone like her, but she does note that there were some… minions."

The gathering looked at her and each other. No one openly asked and Z didn't need to.

"The northern vault is best documented with a single sentence: Always four of the same but had to tread carefully.

"The western vault will likely require us to look around the island for a solution."

Blue put her hands on her hips. Kata, who was looking over the captain's arm at the book, also looked curious. It was Rezin who spoke up.

"What does that mean?"

Madeleine looked back down in the book and read, "Up, down and all around. The ancients have hidden secrets in their structures all around this island. Guess it's time to explore!"

Z buried his face in one of his hands and groaned openly.

"These phrases are like riddles," Blue said thoughtfully. "I am sure it will become more obvious what is required of us as we go, while hoping nothing has changed drastically since Briggsy's recordings."

"That'd be terrible," Bean commented.

Murmurs of agreement came from the group before Blue continued.

"Then we have our plan for tomorrow?"

"Not quite," Madeleine said quickly. "There are a few more pages. They are… concerning. Briggsy apparently had to fire herself out of a cannon to get somewhere. The throne, I suppose. She noted an abandoned sloop…"

"The Shroud does waver," Blue pointed out.

"It does. Hopefully it will not do that while we are here." The captain paused, tapping the desk with a finger before looking back down at the book. "It gets worse, though. She says that the tunnels seemed to go on forever. It seems she got lost. … Perhaps in more ways than physically. She said she could not sleep and felt like she was being watched. She even just says she feels like she's going crazy. And—" Madeleine sighed before simply turning the book around to face Blue and pushing it towards her.

Z watched his shipmate approach the desk in earnest, bringing her good arm's hand up to the book. She stared at it for a long moment before flipping back a page, recoiling slightly.

"Are… Are these eyes or gems?"

"I wondered that myself."

Z and Garrett both shifted in curiosity; they looked at each other before Garrett stepped forward first, Z close behind as they came up behind Blue to look over her shoulder.

"Gems that are eyes?" he blurted out once he looked at the page. Blue shuddered.

"Perhaps," Madeleine said.

Garrett nodded his agreement before pointing at a page with a swirl of arrows on it, one word in the middle of the maelstrom. Before he could speak, Blue did.

"What do you think 'cold' means in this context?"

"I haven't any idea," Garrett said.

When Blue looked to the others, she only got shakes of the head or shrugs. Z shrugged, too. With no ideas, Blue turned the page to the last. That was weird.

"Oh! Oh." Garrett sounded surprised, then upset.

Referring to the drawing in the bottom right, Madeleine said: "That would be Wild Rose and George, with Briggsy in the middle. They were friends. The Marauder saved the couple's souls from one of Graymarrow's lackeys."

"Interesting," Blue commented in acknowledgement.

Garrett tapped at the page. "This is very strange," he said quickly, garnering everyone's attention. "These are the same runes Graymarrow coded his messages in."

Blue looked particularly confused. Z felt confused about their confusion.

"He what now?" Blue asked.

"There were two items we needed to rouse Graymarrow from his rest," Garrett explained to Z. He nodded for the other man to continue. "We took the orders from two of his captains — half of it was written plainly while the other half, the way to find the item, was written in glyphs."

"Ah, I understand," Blue said. "But Briggsy… hmm." She earned herself some curious looks and started again. "Briggsy became a Skeleton Lord herself. But if she scribed these glyphs herself, then that would suggest that she and Graymarrow were somehow connected, yes?"

"Unless Skeleton Lords simply happen to know these things innately," Garrett said thoughtfully.

Z just bit at the inside of his cheek.

"Whatever the case," Madeleine started, motioning for the book to be returned to her, "we will have to find out tomorrow at the soonest. I would like to go over this some more, and for all of us to be well rested."

Her crew and Garrett made noises of acknowledgement, but Blue still looked especially thoughtful. "I will be a moment," she said before striding out of the cabin.

Z was not surprised at all to see her return with the three books he had recovered for her and set them on the desk before the captain.

"I would… like them back…" Blue cleared her throat. "But for now I think it would be best that you have them so you can go over all the information your alliance gathered."

Madeleine had given her quite a quizzical look at her request, but in the end she nodded to Blue. "Thank you. That's a fine idea."


Z had spent much of that evening chewing at his lip or the inside of his cheeks. It was only when he tasted blood just after the sun had gone down that he realised how nervous he was. It had been such a long time since he had found himself somewhere unfamiliar. Knowing why they were there offered him no comfort.

Blue had spent some time at his side on the forecastle. Some of her time had been spent in the cabin with Madeleine and Garrett, both of whom had found everything in those books to be fascinating. He didn't ask what they had been talking about exactly and she didn't offer. Instead, they simply stood on the forecastle looking at the island until the cabin was vacated for them for the night.

"So lemme guess: I get t' sleep on the floor," Z said once they were in the room and readying for bed.

Sat on the edge of the bed just after having removed her jacket and pushing the blankets aside, Blue rose a brow at him. "Why would you do that?"

"Wh— whaddya mean? Y' don't mean t' tell me y're all right sharin' the bed with me. Don't y' think those guys'll get ideas—"

She looked at him, unperturbed. "One: it is larger than the sloop's bed. Two: with all of your talk, I thought you might be glad this day has come; I am past caring. Three: they have gotten plenty of ideas in their heads on their own. What we do or do not do will have little effect on that."

It was astounding that Z hadn't chewed a hole through his cheek today. It was sore and he winced, earning another look from her. He looked away and rubbed at his face, not entirely sure of what to think of her words.

"Fine then."

He heard her sigh. "What did you do now?"

"Wha—"

She gestured to her face, mimicking him. It was his turn to sigh.

"I've been thinkin's all."

"Careful with that."

He rolled his eyes. "Ha ha." When it didn't seem like she was going to ask what he had been thinking about, Z wasn't sure if he should offer. Talking about things was supposed to do one good, but was there any point?

"Now what are you thinking about?"

He realised that he had been staring. He shifted and looked away. "It jus'… it's just all not sittin' right with me's all. This crew should be ready t' deal with anythin' on their own."

Blue's expression indicated she understood what he was saying and he left it at that. They'd had this conversation already once before and while he didn't feel the need to force it again, it was still a lingering concern.

"It does not sit right with me, either."

Z got the feeling that she just needed to say something about it, and while he was glad that, once again, they agreed on the matter at hand, it astonished him to actually hear her say it. His expression must have announced that.

"It sits more wrongly with me when I think about refusing Madeleine's offer. I cannot say why, exactly—"

"Y' don't need t'," he blurted out.

Blue paused and then made a thoughtful noise once she looked away from him. Uncertain that the conversation was over, Z made his way over to her, standing nearby and crossing his arms expectantly.

"Can you sleep without a pillow?" she inquired despite knowing the answer. Apparently they were done with the previous topic. He nodded and she said, "Good; then you will have plenty of room if I sleep on my side."

He understood a moment later: two pillows had been left on the bed. Blue took the one from the edge closest to him and put it up against the one against the wall.

He sat on the edge of the bed. "But can y—"

"We will find out. I am tired of sleeping on my back, anyway," she said as she moved away from that side of the bed onto the other.

It felt like forever that she had been sleeping on her back, in her bed, and yet it still felt so weird to see her curling up on her left side, right arm propped up by the second pillow, almost going around it in a gentle hold. Judging by her shifting about, it wasn't the most comfortable way for her to lie, but quickly enough did she stop, leaning forward partially onto the pillow.

"Y' good?"

"This is fine."

He didn't feel totally confident about that, but he let the matter be. Reluctantly, he removed his pegleg and set it on the floor nearby before tucking his legs under the blankets. He spared a glance at Blue's back before pulling her side's blankets over her — earning him a small grunt come from her — and then himself.