The days grew quite comfortable after that. Brysys really felt as though she was settling in on the ship, she was even starting to get along with the sailors. It was all going so well that she'd completely forgotten to make the Captain take her to where all the cats lived. 

Anyway, there would be plenty of time for that.

A call went up from somewhere and brought Xasan out on deck. He only spent occasional leisure time out here, and most of that was in the evening when the crew would play songs and games while drinking together. Brysys kept telling him that he should spend more time in the sun, but as their journey progressed she found fewer and fewer reasons to go visit him. It was a bit sad, actually, but she didn't want to bother him, just in case he actually was working.

He found the sailor in question, speaking with him privately a moment before pulling out a spyglass from his jacket and pointing it towards the far horizon. Brysys looked in that direction and saw a ship with bright red sails. It seemed small enough to fit on a shelf at this distance. Brysys approached the two, and the sailor took a respectful step backwards as she did. “What’s there? Are we going to attack something? Is it the Navy?”

Xasan took the small telescope from his face and flashed her a smile. “So violent, and on this beautiful day.”

Was she? It was just that the trip had been so dull. “Well I heard the call, and I thought it might be something pirate related.”

“We’re pirates. Everything we do is pirate related.” He offered her the spyglass. It was heavier than she anticipated. “Have a look.”

She looked through it and tried to line it up with where she’d seen the ship, but it took her a minute to find it without the reference of the sky. “It says Red Sails along the side. Does that mean anything to you?”

“They’re a trading company,” he explained as she continued to look over the scene. “They deal in all manner of goods all over the world, a bit like a legal version of Trove, actually.”

“So they’re your competitors,” Brysys surmised.

“In a manner of speaking. Sometimes they’re our competitors, sometimes we trade with them. It depends on the situation.” Xasan saw Deelah approaching and waved her over. “Deelah! I was just explaining Red Sails to Brysys.”

“Those bastards? What are they doing way over here?”

“I thought they traded all over the world.” Xasan nodded at Brysys’ confusion.

“Yes, I was just telling you that. Some waters are protected, though. This ship either got blown off course or they’re doing something illegal.”

“I’d bet on the latter,” Deelah grumbled. “Those slippery bastards would sell you your own eyes and call it a favor.”

“There’s something in the water nearby,” Brysys noted. “It looks-” She withdrew her eyes from the scene and turned towards Xasan and his partner. “It’s a whale of some sort. Is that a whaling ship?”

“Aye, that tracks,” Deelah agreed. “We’re far enough from the Erralari Empire that they won’t be bothered, so long as they’re discreet.”

“Explain.” She felt the flatness in her voice, but she didn’t care. She could apologize later if she overstepped from annoyed to bitch.

Brysys was getting upset. Xasan knew that druids got up in arms about animals, and it was something Brysys had told him she was passionate about. Better to tell her the truth of it and move on, otherwise he’d be answering questions all day. “There are protections on certain animals that are regularly hunted. Those whales are sacred to the Erralari, and they’ve imposed enough sanctions on other nations that they’ve all made rules about how they’re supposed to be hunted too.”

“And how is that?”

“Well, they’re supposed to use everything, for one,” Deelah interjected. “The whole body is supposed to go to some purpose instead of just the stomach.”

“Why are they taking the stomachs?”

Xasan picked up the thread of conversation. “The whales eat krill, or fish, or something- they eat these small creatures, far too small to sustain them, but they’re magic, you see. Don’t actually exist in our reality most of the time, by the way I understand it. The whales eat them and- somehow make them stay?” He waved a hand. “I’m not sure on exactly how it works, but their stomachs sell for a small fortune because they have uses in magic.”

“So eloquently put, Captain.”

“Thank you, Deelah!” He heard the sarcasm, he just chose to ignore it.

Brysys couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She looked back to the ship, and then more specifically to the body it was leaving behind. It was just floating in the water, deprived of the once full life it had been granted. “They’re just going to leave it there?”

“Too heavy to take aboard a ship like that,” Deelah confirmed. “Why carry all of it when the real money is in one small part? They’ll fill up on stomachs and just bring those back to port. Chopping up the rest takes too long, and you can’t drag it behind without attracting predators.”

How dare they! Killing innocent animals, leaving them to waste, and for what? Money? It was deplorable! “Are we going to do something?”

She turned to him with such sorrow in her eyes. It was difficult to say no, but he had no idea what he was supposed to do about it. This was exactly why he stayed away fron the pirates who dealt in less savory tactics. Eventually emotions splashed all over you and it got messy. He didn’t like feeling uncomfortable. It was so- icky. “What should we do?”

“Well,” Brysys didn’t know what would appeal to them, just that those people needed to be punished. “You could attack them! Didn’t you say they have valuables? Go and take them for yourself!”

Xasan shook his head with a tutting sound. “No you see,” he moved her hands towards the ship. “They’re already moving away. They’ve spotted us, and with how high in the water they are? And a ship of that size? We won’t catch them in enough time to make it worth the detour. They’ve barely started hunting.”

“That sounded almost competent, Captain,” Deelah murmured from behind them. 

“Lucky guess,” Xasan assured her from beside Brysys’ shoulder. His body was warmer than she expected. She just assumed it’d be cool and reptilian like- well, she’d never actually met a dragon before, but she assumed that they were like other reptiles.

“But if they stopped running? Then you’d punish them?”

Xasan answered in confusion. “Well, yes, we could take their things. Maybe bring some of them on as crew, but I doubt they’ll wait for us. Most people doing something illegal don’t want to sit and chat.”

She didn’t like the sound of that second part, but whatever. She calmly reached into a satchel on her hip and pulled out a focus for her spell. She could transform into smaller creatures without one, but for the larger animals it helped to control the magic.

They could take some of the sailors on as crew. She’d explain to them the error of their ways. The ones who wanted to reform would be fine, and the rest could be left dead in the water. “I’ll be right back.” 

Xasan glanced over at Deelah but she shrugged at him. After a second her eyes grew larger and she pointed to Brysys who was running for the ship’s railing. “Wait!” His shout came too slowly. She’s already thrown herself overboard.

His lips parted to put up the call, to rally the sailors to help her, but before he could the biggest bird he’d ever seen was swooping into the air beside his ship. The wind from the roc’s wings heeled his own vessel as it made a beeline towards the Red Sail’s boat.

“Umm, follow that bird?” Deelah took up command out of a sense of curiosity more than anything. She barked the orders to turn the Maiden, get her sailing after their wayward druid. 

Xasan went to the edge of the deck and peered into the water to be sure, but Brysys was nowhere to be seen. “Was that- do you think that’s her?”

Deelah grabbed the spyglass from him and monitored the scene as it played out, relating it to Xasan as it happened. “She’s almost to the ship. I think they’ve seen her. She’s- well their mast isn’t doing anything for them now. That’s” She handed him the spyglass. “I don't think we’ll have any problems catching them now.”

He looked again, the ship was in shambles. It barely remained afloat and Brysys was still picking it apart with opportunist swoops. “We’d better get there before there’s nothing left to plunder.”

She left the boat before it was completely sunk though, flying over to the lifeless body that was left floating nearby. When she reached it she transformed, landing on the whale’s corpse and leaning down towards it. She reached to a pouch at her side and did something he couldn’t see before placing her hands on the body. It shifted, and then fully stirred and her face in the spyglass as the now alive whale starting swimming her back over to The Maiden’s Folly-

He might have to paint it.

“Maybe,” he murmured to no one in particular, “she is my type.”