The ship's bell is what woke Li next. He immediately recognized that the movements of the Gryphon had changed again. They were still resting at anchor, but the sea was lapping calmly against the side, all rain had stopped, and the wind no longer howled. He could hear the crew moving about the ship, talking, laughing, and moving things about in the hold, likely cleaning from the effects of the storm.

From outside he could hear sounds, not too dissimilar from being in port. There were voices laughing, singing, and calling out to each other. He also heard the distinct sounds of repairs being made in the form of hammering and sawing.

He sat up slowly, his head still aching, and found Ardlac gone. He got slowly to his feet, changed into his set of clothing that hadn't been soaked in the filthy water below, and left the cabin. In the common area he was able to acquire hard bread, but most of the food stores had been damaged in the storm.

"Captain promised me a watertight room," the cook muttered, "but all the magical expenses went toward the baths. Keeps promisin' once we have a storm mage it won't matter. Guess we're lucky he bought a watertight bread pantry at all."

Li nodded along with the complaints. He wasn't bothered by the lack of food because he wasn't certain he would be able to keep anything other than bread down. The pain in his head was causing his stomach to rebel against even the gentle rolling of the ship.

Garstin joined him, along with some other exhausted members of the crew a few minutes later.

"Good to see you still with us," Garstin commented. "When we couldn't wake you after you fell, and we saw all that blood, we thought maybe you'd ended your term of service a bit early."

"Still alive," Li assured him, though he barely felt it. "Is everyone else?"

Garstin sighed. "Lost one. Kalso went over the side trying to pull more sail in. In calmer seas we can usually rescue anyone who goes overboard. In storms we have no chance."

Li grimaced. He'd only met Kalso in passing, but he knew he had been one of the youngest members of the crew, claiming to be seventeen. His scrawny, beardless, youthful appearance made everything think he was younger, but he'd had the sort of agility needed to man the highest of the sails. Li didn't know why he had been on the Gryphon at such a young age, but it wasn't truly his place to ask.

"Few more were injured," Garstin went on. "Not so bad as you, but a bunch are fairly bruised up from being thrown around. Trey fell on the pump and caught his hand in it. Luckily only broke a couple fingers and didn't lose his whole hand. Seen that before, too."

"That sounds awful," Li commented.

Garstin nodded. "It is." He took a bite of his own bread and nodded again. "Captain has part of the crew below cleaning and making repairs. The rest of us are being sent ashore to gather what we can. There's a spring here we use to resupply our water. Much of what we had during the storm was damaged. Plus, there's plenty of fruit trees and an abundant hare population. Should be enough to feed all three crews, us and those from the Phoenix and Stryker. You and Ard are supposed to come with us, if you think you can walk about and carry some hare."

"I'd like to try," Li replied. It would be better than sitting around on the Gryphon while the others went to shore. If he couldn't manage to walk the whole way, he supposed he could sit on the beach and wait for the others. It would still be a refreshing change.

An hour later he sat with Ardlac, Garstin, Jayce, and six others as they rowed one of the Gryphon's small boats to the island in whose sheltered cove they had been waiting out the storm, taking several water barrels with them. It was a lushly vegetated island, and larger than Li had expected. There was already a larger group there, from the crews of the two other ships. They all greeted each other warmly, and the strangers even welcomed Li, voicing their sympathy over his injury but saying how lucky he was to be on his feet already. It felt odd to be welcomed so completely and without question by utter strangers.

The other crews looked no different from the crew of the Gryphon. They dressed in much the same way, had the same sun-tanned skin with a mix of other tones among them. Many sported small pieces of jewelry, some the same style of bracelets as the one Xeliact had given Li, and many an amulet or medallion sporting the likeness or symbols of Quelin. A few of them also wore bandages over wounds presumably received during the storm.

"We've already set some traps," one of the men explained. "Should be able to catch enough for all of us. The spring is flowing steadily, too."

The crew from the Gryphon unloaded their water barrels and rolled them toward a break in the thick trees. Li followed, and quickly realized a stream cut through the forest there. It babbled gently at them as they followed it, using a path just wide enough to roll the barrels down. It was clear to Li that this place had been used by the Mahlon privateers for some time.

It appeared they had also modified the spring itself over the years. It fell down a face of stone from its source, and the stone had been shaped and carved away to fit the water barrels perfectly beneath the flow. Once unsealed, it took several minutes to fill each of the six barrels they had brought from the Gryphon. The other crews were already preparing to roll their barrels back to their ships by the time they arrived.

Ardlac stepped away from the spring and motioned for Li to follow him. "We're going to look for fruits," he explained, handing Li a bag from his shoulder that Li had assumed would be for the hares. Ardlac still carried at least one more himself.

"I won't know what is safe to eat," Li warned him.

"We eradicated all the toxic plants here a very long time ago," Ardlac replied. "I'll look at everything to make certain no one has come here to poison us, but I doubt Dyrai has found this island yet. We would have noticed. Both the Phoenix and the Stryker have Asirim on board."

Li simply nodded and followed Ardlac into the forest, following a narrow path. Immediately, he paused to collect a handful of berries from a bush. Li collected some himself. They were bright blue and looked delicious.

"Try one," Ardlac encouraged, popping one into his own mouth.

Li did so, and found it to be quite sweet, but also slightly bitter. It wasn't a fruit he'd ever had before.

They continued on, collecting berries and larger fruit hanging on trees. Ardlac collected some mushrooms and nuts as well. All around them were hares, darting across the path and through the undergrowth, all larger than Li had ever seen. Above them, birds chirped and chattered at them, warning them away from nests. Li was thankful that the collecting was slow and that Ardlac didn't make him do too much bending or climbing.

Eventually they came across a patch of what Li assumed to be weeds, that Ardlac grabbed large handfuls of and put in a separate sack.

"It's used to help treat wounds," he explained. "I heard the healer saying he needed more."

"There are so many birds here, why don't we hunt them?" Li asked as they continued on.

"If it was another season, we would," Ardlac replied. "When they are nesting they are too aggressive. Once the young leave the nest, that's the perfect time to hunt them. The hare we hunt all year, but the females are pregnant now. Those ones who get trapped will be released so we can have a large population the next time we need to hunt here."

"How can they breed if we take all the males?" Li asked.

Ardlac chuckled, surprising Li. "They're hares. One male could be perfectly happy on his own with an island full of females. They're able to reproduce quite young, also. Any male babies born to the pregnant females we release will be breeding in no time. In other seasons we also hunt the females."

"So this island is less wild than carefully cultivated by the privateer fleet."

"It is," Ardlac replied. "It's been in use for longer than either of us have been alive."

Their bags were full of fruit, herbs, nuts, and mushrooms by the time they returned to the rest of the crew on the beach. Much to Li's surprise, however, not everything they collected went back to any of the ships. A portion was kept back, and fires were built on the sandy beach. That evening they had a gathering of the crews, all enjoying roasted hare with herbs and mushrooms, along with fruit. The Stryker had a store of wine that been undamaged in the storm and cups of it were passed around. Li chose not to drink due to his already aching head, but he watched much of the crew indulge. Even Captain Mond had a cup with the captains of his sister ships.

Ardlac had left him with Garstin and Aricka after the meal, but Li's gaze found him talking to another man and a woman at a fire closer to the sea. The strangers both had darker skin, like Ardlac, and Li could see that they also had many tattoos on their faces, necks, arms, and hands. Ardlac was drinking, he noticed, but the other two were not. He also seemed to be crying, tears glittering in the firelight as they trickled down his cheeks. While Li watched, the woman pulled Ardlac's head against her shoulder and cupped his face with one hand. The man sat behind him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, and leaned close to say something to him. Ardlac looked up and his gaze met Li's across the beach.

Startled, and suddenly feeling guilty for seeing such an emotional and intimate moment, Li looked away, staring into the flames of the nearest fire. For some reason he didn't understand, seeing Ardlac in such a state made his heart ache with sympathy.