Once all the plotting was done and arrangements were made, Mibbet parted with the Mer, albeit only for a short while. She found it unfortunate, but in her current body there was no way she could keep up with the Mer in the water. (She’d really wanted to try it, but had backed out on the grounds that in that direction lay disappointment.)

So she’s agreed to join Captain Acab and the rest of the crew aboard the Wellerman, and headed to port, noticing to her annoyance they were late. But soon enough they docked, and Mibbet boarded, looking around at the crew. She noticed many other crew with eye patches, and figured it was either in support of their captain (unlikely,) or to allow them to preserve their night vision in at least one eye, as she suspected it must get pretty dim below decks.

Soon enough the others joined her, as Mibbet tried to process the impossible, Sir Leeroy was here, and HE WASN’T IN HIS ARMOUR. Nor was Errol, at least she assumed that was who the walking stick figure stood next to Sir Leeroy was. (Of course stood next to Sir Leeroy who had pretty much lived in full plate for the past forty years or so EVERYBODY looked like a stick figure. Mibbet seriously worried that if he flexed all those bits the armour usually enclosed would likely explode under the tension. Maybe that was why he always wore it? As for Errol, Mibbet could only assume that all the shuffling about he had to do to stay in his gear was why he was so skinny. Being him must be like being the clapper of a bell. All things considered it was probably better exercise than hula hooping.)

Meanwhile the islander who according to the Captain didn’t speak their tongue seemed to be doing an admirable job of it. Mibbet couldn’t help being curious about that, so vowed to have a little chat later. After a little while they raised anchor, and started off on their voyage.

Mibbet was decidedly not chuffed however, having only experienced water at swimming levels, and in flat bodies such as ponds, and lakes, she was somewhat unprepared for the sea. Why did nobody mention the whole up and down thing to her sooner? Learning to get human legs to behave themselves for her had been challenging enough back when the ground stood still. Now it was pitching and tossing around under her feet in a most uncooperative manner, and apparently she had days to get used to this before she had to part ways with the ship, at which point she’d be getting into a little boat that did it even more. How messed up was that? Water should behave itself properly in her opinion, not go about throwing tantrums.

Eventually she figured out if she perched herself next to the bowsprit, and held onto it for support she could sit down, and see when the big waves were coming. Though she really wished that figures like the one depicted there were sculpted with tops, she barely knew where to put her eyes. (Human modesty was weird, annoying, and confusing, she’d been swimming around stark naked for her entire life, then suddenly she had a whole bunch more squidgy bits that everybody told her she had to cover. It just made things awkward.

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Addy of course was less concerned with such matters, being essentially an ambulatory pile of rocks her state didn’t really change all that much, water or not. Though she was quite enjoying the music onboard, the dancing was entertaining too. (Even if they got all panicky if she tried to join in. She supposed it was an understandable sentiment, half a tonne of sentient rock was not the ideal thing to dance the hornpipe, and her attempts had made the ship rock about even more than usual, much to The Princesses discomfort.)

She would be staying with the ship after The Princess switched vessels, as she was one of few things on board likely to be able to draw the attention of The Don. For now she had a job to do, she carefully started setting up improvised rope harnesses, doing her best to make them as comfortable as possible. Then carefully securing them to the little jolly-boat. Which with The Princess onboard and seasick as hell was definitely not going to be so jolly. Then she lifted one of the more compact weapons from the ship, and set about anchoring it into the little boat. Alongside multiple spears, all with the ropes removed of course. Not that she was expecting them to stick, but getting that things attention was vital to the success of the plan, as was punctuality. Which apparently could be a bit of an issue for Captain Acab. But there was definitely no time to go about recruiting a replacement for him. Not to mention that even at the best of times the list of volunteers to charge an overgrown shark was rather on the short side. (If she had reflected on her own thought processes even a little she would have been rather proud of her growth lately, but it is amazing how rarely a person notices individual growth without somebody else pointing it out to them, and even then the default response to such data is usually outright denial. Which is why it takes any person bloody ages to realise just how much they’ve changed, usually for the better. But if asked most would insist it was for the worst. It’s a little strange when you think about it, and also kind of sad. They usually accept round about the time somebody gives them a good talking to at least.

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Captain Acab kept the ship on course, just like he always had. He didn’t much like the plan, but it did give him a chance to get revenge, for his eye, and for Polly. As he held his course it never occurred to him that his entire story was absolutely crackers.