The wooden hull creaked. What was left of it, at least. Timber was scattered across the entire length of the beach, with more floating on the water, getting carried farther away with each wave. Shredded sails were lifted up by the gusts of wind, the movement eerie in the otherwise still landscape. Two voices broke the silence, both as furious as the waves crashing against the beach. A group of castaways were huddled together on the patch of grassland touching the sand, beaten down and limp save for the two sailors arguing.

"There is no reason in going forward! The ambassador is gone, our diplomats are gone, our supplies are gone… Everything is gone. There's just us left."

“Not all of the diplomats are dead,” a third voice piped up, of which everyone, not just the two arguing, ignored.

"My point still stands. We need to turn back,” one said.

"With what ship? And supplies? What would you propose we do, swim all the way back?" the other asked.

"Yes, well, we'll figure something out."

"And until then? We're stuck here until we somehow find passage, unless you have conveniently hidden a fully-stocked ship nearby which we somehow missed."

"At least it was an idea. I don’t see you proposing any of your own. All you've done so far is sink everyone's suggestions down."

"If you would come up with a good one I would have no reason to tear it apart."

Before the two sailors could continue their argument, the same person that had commented on their diplomatic situation stood up. "Men, there's no point to fighting amongst ourselves. You were selected for the crew because you came highly recommended, so act like it. We’ll get nothing done if all we do is argue." The two sailors both looked away, refusing to meet his eyes. Rae nodded gratefully, satisfied that for now there would be no more squabbling from them.

"So," Rae continued, "we need to decide what to do, and we need to do it fast. Night is falling. Anyone care to summarise what we have so far?"

An older sailor, torso bound with a piece of fabric, grunted at the effort it took to get up and stare down Rae. "Who died and made you captain?" he challenged. Even in his current state, Birtu was of impressive height and girth, commanding everyone’s attention. The crew looked from the smaller diplomat to the quartermaster, all following the same line of thought- and the same line of succession.

Birtu’s plainspoken cold comment - not surprising to anyone that knew him - raised a good point. The captain had gone overboard shortly before their docking, and no one’s seen any trace of her since they’d picked themselves up and gathered at the outskirts of the beach. As second in command, Birtu’s speech had passed for law on the ship whenever the captain wasn’t around. For the majority of the castaways it made sense defer to him, and the familiarity he brought was enough for them to gloss over the fact that they no longer were at sea. Rae’s inexperience and age, too, played against him, alongside his position as diplomat. Bonds forged on the sea were as fluctuating as the sea, but they held strong; there had been a clear line drawn between the diplomats - the passengers - and the sailors.

Rae didn’t reply, unaware of the shifting of alliances. He went ahead, instead responding to his own question. "Well then. There's a consensus about turning back, only we are down on crew-members and also have no ship. Even if we would figure out a way to repair it or build a new one, we need supplies, which we don't have. That is where our problem comes in. If we want to stay here and wait for someone to come find us, again, very few supplies. We're going to run out soon. I suppose we could look around and see if we can scavenge anything, maybe we'll get lucky-"

Birtu snorted, interrupting him. "We move out. That's the only possibility," he said.

"We don't know that yet. There's bound to be supplies scattered around the beach. Plus, not everyone can move as easily as you." Rae pointedly looked at the arm Birtu kept around his torso. “We should make sure to go through all of our options. Maybe if we look at this from another angle…”

Narrowing his eyes, Birtu moved his hands to his side, then placed them around his torso again a moment later. "If you're implying that I can't move around, boy, you know nothing about enduring. Life at sea is not for everyone. It carves you out until only strength remains." He puffed his chest out and several other injured sailors nodded in agreement, taking their cue from him.

"I wasn't implying anything, but you're not the only one here.” Realising that Birtu’s pride would be the downfall of them, Rae backtracked. “I'm also not completely against your plan. It's as good as any other idea we've come up with. But we have no idea where we've landed. I don't have to be a sailor to figure out that the storm completely messed up with our sense of direction.” Rae looked at their sorry group, counting how many of them could walk easily, pride be damned, and which would need support moving. “Look. We’re going to need to carry some people,” he said quietly. “That’ll slow things down. None of us are at full strength, and no proper slings either. What if we just… scouted instead?” he suggested. “That way we can get a better feel of the place."

Birtu opened his mouth out to argue out of habit, but he could tell that the more cautious of the bunch had already switched to the diplomat's side. "We will scout tomorrow. Then those that stay behind will go through the wreck and look for anything useful."

Rae shrugged. "Fine by me," he said.

"Fine."

——————

The beach extended out westward as far as the eye could see. The band of 3 castaways had been walking from morning to noon, sticking to that patch of land between the beach and hills as they tracked the sun. The in-between mixture of sand and grass was sturdier than just the beach, and straighter than the hills, and Rae reckoned that it made for faster progress. The quartermaster had decided to send people both ways along the coast. The two groups had formed up quickly enough with minimum bickering, save for a low comment from Birtu about "keeping an eye on the child diplomat, gonna trip over his own feet."

Rae didn't mind the lack of conversation as he walked behind Birtu and Hirai. He'd tried to bring Birtu into a conversation to find out more about him, but unless it was to order someone around or boast of his capabilities, the big sailor was a surprisingly quiet fellow. Their other companion was similarly silent, whistling the occasional tune every now and then. Each left to their own devices, they continued onwards, until the sun drew lower and they stopped to eat from their meagre rations.

Rae popped the last of a soggy biscuit into his mouth, chewing slowly. There was no flavour to be drawn out - not unless a mixture of salt, sand, and damp wood was the newest delicacy - but he was almost sad to swallow and brush off nonexistent crumbs from his hands. "We're going to run out of food pretty soon," he spoke once he was certain his companions had finished their own meals. "When should we start heading back?"

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"Don't eat so much then," Birtu snapped habitually, rummaging through the makeshift bundle of cloth where they stored their provisions for the journey. Counting the rations, he sighed. "We've got another day. A day and a half if we find something out here or go hungry. Maybe slightly longer if we Will our way."

"We could split it," Rae said suddenly.

"That's absurd. Even more than we've already done? What do you want, to crawl on the way back? Split it, he says. Ha." Well versed in the craft of rationing during hard times, Birtu had already gone through and split the groups’ supplies in the morning, before they had all split up. He’d fiddled and swapped biscuits around until both even those inclined to disagree with the quartermaster doubted that there would be a better way of doling out the provisions.

"I meant between us.” Rae took a deep breath and before he could be interrupted, he continued, “we could split up as well, someone goes on and then the others turn back."

A choked laugh burst out from Birtu. He fell quiet just as abruptly, laying down and resting his head on the sack. Rae sighed, the gesture not lost on him.

The third member of the group shifted and Rae turned to find her studying him. He'd not talked with Hirai much before, but with her gaze solely on him, he wanted to squirm. It was unsettling, the openness in her face, the lack of outright disdain. He'd become so used to the majority of the crew's disdainful attitude towards strangers over the course of their trip that to be met with neutrality was startling. Especially after becoming more intimate with Birtu's thoughts regarding his worth.

Before either of them could speak, the quartermaster turned on his side, his back to them. "We should probably go fetch some wood to try to start a fire. It’ll be colder during the night," he grumbled out. It was obvious that he wasn't including himself in that "we", and his companions rolled their eyes, hiding their sighs.

"Don't miss me," Rae said as he stood up and started walking towards the grassland, away from the water. He looked back, a question on his face as he looked at Hirai.

"I'm not certain I even can."

Birtu’s parting resort banishing all her doubts that he might have some more instructions for them, she jumped up and followed Rae.

Leaving the beach and their bristly companion behind, the two walked in companionable silence. Stick-figure outlines of moonlight-bathed trees stood up ahead of them, and they angled their steps towards that landmark. They had seen trees before, but never as clustered together as this patch. This looked like a proper forest, not lonesome trees scattered about the hills by chance, and hope urged them on.

With more than enough light to see by, and the refreshing air, the overall cooler temperature was perfect for a stroll in the dark. Had they landed safely in port like planned, Rae doubted the diplomatic talks - talks he wasn't even allowed to actively participate in, on account of his apprenticeship - would ignite such a sense of travel inside of him. The yearning for adventure would have been the same, albeit perhaps less obvious as he would've been busy trying to contort through loops in order to participate in discussions, but his restlessness would’ve been sated either way. Not to say that the sense of urgency and the thought of people dependent on his group to find aid was much more satisfying than bartering for trade deals that had already been drawn out.

He'd have to write this down, everything that had happened so far and everything that was sure to come. Despite the food, despite the lack of security and the uncertainty (and all the misfortune in general, of course), he was thrilled at doing something meaningful on his own.

“You know, I agree with you."

Rae was startled out of his daydreaming and stopped walking. "Oh, hmm?"

"Your plan. It makes sense. We could scout out for longer, and also move faster," Hirai elaborated. She, too, stopped walking, turning to face him.

Now caught up, Rae nodded gratefully, happy that someone was thinking his proposal serious enough to take it into further consideration. “Exactly. And, once the others turn around for more provisions they can come back. Once whoever’s scouting forwards runs out of food, then the distance will be shorter,” he said, excitement making it hard to articulate. “We could meet midway.”

She mulled over his words in her head, lips pursed, before finally nodding. They resumed walking, both quiet until she spoke up again. “You know Birtu’s never going to agree to this, right?” This thought had already been long present in both their minds, but giving breath to it lent the air between them a sour feeling.

Rae sighed. “I was hoping that perhaps we could convince him? Seeing as you also agree with me, he would have to recognise that we have a majority over him.”

“He wouldn’t admit to being wrong if the proof stared him in the face,” she said. “Not without skulking around for a couple of days, anyways.”

“Days which we don’t have,” Rae finished dejectedly, and she nodded. They each retreated to their own thoughts once again, neither willing to break the silence again.

——————

The light that appeared as a mystical aura around the grove of trees diminished as they approached, growing smaller and smaller with each step until it vanished. The sense of the innate wonder it had radiated had gone with it, replaced instead with ecstasy. Scattered between tree trunks were bushes of swollen fruits. Berries. Plump and ripe, they were the most delicious snacks that they had eaten in a long time. Birtu must’ve been wondering what happened to them - if he hadn’t fallen asleep already - but Rae just didn’t care anymore as he and Hirai gorged themselves on the fruits.

“We should start to look for some wood,” Hirai said after some time, looking longingly at the bushes. “That’s what we came for, after all.”

Rae popped another berry into his mouth, but resigned himself to giving them a parting glance before following her. The trees were old, yet brimming with life. It was a struggle to find dead branches that could be used for kindle, as if someone regularly cleaned the forest floor of any sort of debris. Their load was light, moss scattered over the branches in an attempt to make the fire last longer, and they stopped once again next to the berry bushes, to feast after their hard work.

“We should probably bring some back for Birtu. They seem like they could last,” Rae said. They quietly picked a small pile of the fruits, using some moss to keep them from rolling off. “Maybe this will convince him?” he asked as they set off back towards their makeshift camp.

“Nope. He’s going to want to turn back immediately and bring everyone here before we continue.”

“You know a lot about him.”

She shrugged. “Not everyone on the crew was hired separately. A lot of us were already working together before this.” She looked around them furtively, face in a thoughtful expression. “Birtu can see ahead,” she said finally. It sounded like a warning, but Rae couldn’t tell what she was talking about. “Yes. He can see ahead. But he doesn’t deal well with impulsiveness; it’s something that he lacks. He always tells us off for being impulsive, and he always mulls over big decisions before going ahead with them. Hm. He’s a thoughtful leader. Slow. With blind spots. Vengeful. But if you keep your distance, he’s okay.”

Utterly lost with the direction the conversation was going in, the diplomat stayed silent. The sailor didn’t add anything to what she’d already said, but kept shooting looks at him. They, too, were filled with an underlying message. Feeling awkward from the looks he kept catching - looks which Rae was sure were looks that Hirai wanted him to see, and which he had no idea how to deal with - he sighed inwardly, relieved to see the coastline.

Back at the beach, Birtu was already snoring quietly - he’d fallen asleep waiting for them, Rae guessed from his position, oddly touched at that - and they set their bundles down next to the stacked together packs they brought with them.

“He cares?” he couldn’t help asking quietly.

“Ulterior motives. Disciplining and keeping watch.”

“We should take turns keeping a look out then, too. He’s right. We need to be careful here.”

“I’ll wake up if there’s movement.” She added, a glint in her eye, “Feel free to keep watch, however. He’s a heavy sleeper, so you should keep a lookout. You might have difficulty waking him up, short of screaming in his face.”

“Look, er, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rae said, embarrassed. “I just want to find a way to get out of this situation.” Hirai smiled in amusement, but she seemed almost disappointed in him, and he hung his head, annoyed at whatever it was that he was clearly misunderstanding.

“Well then, I’ll be going to sleep. Pity for your plan.”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

“If there’s anything, don’t be an idiot and wake me up.”

“I thought you were a light sleeper?”

“I’m feeling like a heavy sleeper right now, Rae, heavy sleeper. Must have been all the berries we ate.”

And then it hit him. He had to give it to her, he really had been an idiot. Rae looked at the two sleeping forms next to him and smiled.