Feeling the world around her moving, Maya awakened feeling confused and lost, unable to move or feel her body. Opening up her eyes, she was met with an unfamiliar wooden ceiling, with pieces of fabric stuck to the ceiling.

  Somewhere nearby, sunlight shone in the room and the cries of the ocean could still be heard, the smell of salt water filling the air. Feeling her mouth coarse and dry, no sounds came out as she struggled to call for help.

  “Well, guess we ain’t throwing you to the fishes yet!” - a jokingly voice said from somewhere nearby.

  Hearing footsteps moving towards her, Maya braced herself to bite off her own tongue so as not to be made a prisoner, stopping as she saw the old woman standing beside her. A head full with disheveled curly grey hair, gentle eyes and the signs of the years forming on her once beautiful face, that was a smile Maya knew very well.

  “Here, take a sip of this.” - from somewhere nearby, the woman took a spoon and placed it on Maya’s lips, cold fresh water sipping slowly into her throat - “Slowly now…”

  Desperate for something to drink, the woman slurped the water as best as she could, feeling herself almost choke at first. After a couple more patiently fed spoonfuls, the old woman stopped, seeing that she began attempting to talk.

  “W-What…” - she tried to form the words, her voice deep and weak.

  “Slowly dear…” - putting down the spoon on the bed, the old woman came closer, placing her hand on Maya’s forehead - “You’re safe now, they brought you here when you collapsed during the fight.”

  Feeling a sting of pain on her mind, fuzzy glimpses of the past seemed to flash into her mind in a hurry. The trip to the city, the meeting with her old crew, the fight on the docks. As the memory seemed to slowly return, so did the pain, spreading from her head to the rest of her body. While reaching her left side, the sensation suddenly became more intense, quickly spreading throughout her entire left arm.

  “It seems that the poison is wearing off…” - the old woman began moving away, looking for something nearby.

  “Poison?” - Maya managed to ask through gripped teeth, tears forming on her eyes.

  “Yes dear, to numb your body to the pain,” - walking back while carrying a small black snake, the old woman held it calmly on her arm - “when Mahna carried you here it was the best we could do at the time.”

  Picking a small metal cup, the woman held the snake’s head on the edge, pressing it gently as she extracted its venom.

  “No…” - seeing as the woman carried the animal away, Maya started to fear what would come next - “I don’t…”

  “You’re in bad shape my dear,” - the woman poured the liquid from a small bottle inside the cup, mixing it with the venom, before coming closer - “now that I know your mind is fine, I can begin healing your body. For that, you must rest.”

  Too overcomed with pain to struggle or resist, Maya couldn’t do anything as the old woman placed the cup on her lips, forcing her to swallow its content. The snake’s venom mixed with alcohol burned her still sore throat, a sour taste spreading through her mouth as her vision quickly started to grow blurry.

  “Don’t worry,” - the woman smiled as the world turned to darkness - “It’ll all be better when you wake up…”

  ***

  “Fucking bastard!” - almost shouting despite the soreness in her throat, Maya sat at the bed after she woke up again, at least capable of moving her body properly this time. Looking at her side, she saw that her left arm had splints placed on it, while a clean sling held it close to her chest.

  “And to think I almost missed this dirty mouth of yours…”

  “Belle…” - recognizing that voice, the woman looked up to see Belle casually leaning on a wooden pillar, looking honestly happy to see her - “Where the hell am I?”

  The room around them was quite comfortable despite being small, a simple single bed near the wall across from a small wooden window. On the ceiling, pieces of colorful fabric tried to add some life into the dullness of the wooden walls, as an assortment of chests and barrels occupied most of the empty walls.

  “Where do you think?” - stretching her arms to the side, Belle seemed most proud - “You’re in my quarters aboard the Belle.”

  “What? My caravan, I…” - realizing the meaning behind those words, Maya tried too quickly to get up, removing the covers only to reveal her almost naked body. Struggling to get up, her legs failed and almost launched her directly onto the wooden floor.

  “Easy now…” - picking up the woman as she struggled to stay up, Belle helped her to sit back down on the edge of the bed - “We had no other option. We could either leave you to die, or bring you with us.”

  “I need to let them know…” - thinking of how much trouble she would be causing the other guards on the caravan, she could almost hear the complaints from the elders, as well as the mocking from Solo - “How long was I out?”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Around three and a half days, give or take…” - coming closer to the bed, Belle took a stool from nearby and sat right in front of Maya - “The bastard that hit you had an enchanted weapon, we had to restrain you to stop you from convulsing.”

  Looking at the sides of the bed, Maya recognized a few sets of restraints improvised out of what seemed like a soft piece of cloth, the same material which her sling was made of. She couldn’t feel any pain in her arm anymore, in fact, she couldn’t feel any sensation from it at all.

  “What happened?” - trying to leave her fears for later, she decided it was better to try and understand her current situation before making any decision.

  “We were set up…” - leaning closer, Belle’s voice grew lower, as if trying to avoid being heard by anyone else nearby - “Those men arrived exactly as the Belle docked, and were way too prepared for it all to be a coincidence.”

  “Yeah,” - holding her injured arm tightly, Maya knew herself that the attack had been too convenient - “It seemed the timing was too good to be true.”

  “We held them back as best we could, but as more of them started to arrive I decided it was best to just leave.”

  “A good decision indeed, captain!” - deciding to try getting up again, the woman held the edge of the bed, her legs trembling while trying not to fail.

  Despite the clear provocation, Belle’s expression as she looked at Maya was not one of anger, but full of sadness and sorrow. Seeing the warrior weak and emaciated, struggling to even stand on her own, the woman couldn’t help but remember her own past self.

  “Carefull,” - moving quickly to try and help support the woman, Belle got up quickly but her offer was denied with a single glance - “your body’s still recovering from the treatment, and Altha still wants to see you about that arm!”

  “Well, thanks for fixing me up.” - managing to keep her legs firm, despite the rocking of the ship, Maya could feel her body getting better simply by moving a little - “Most of me anyway.”

  “The old hag did the best she could, barely left your side for the first day…” - surprised to see the woman already up, despite being barely alive a day before, Belle couldn’t deny how resilient some humans could be - “Your arm took the brunt of the damage, you’re lucky to still have it.”

  “Yeah, really lucky…”

  “She was able to patch most of the internal wounds because of it,” - giving the woman some space to move, Belle started going through one of the chests near the door - “otherwise you would have probably blown up from the inside.”

  “Alright…Guess I better thank that old hag then…” -the woman said as she headed to the door, the white sling being the only piece of clothing she was wearing.

  “You might want to put some clothes on first!” - standing before the door, Belle offered her the bundle in her hands.

  ***

  “I guess some things really never change!” - wearing the clothes borrowed from Belle, Maya had just reached the quarterdeck of the ship, coming out of the quarters.

  Despite being the one leading the crew and the utmost authority onboard, Belle refused to move from her officer’s quarters and into the captain’s cabin. Being quite a large vessel and holding a very lean crew, The Belle always had enough extra space to share.

  “We have had some changes ever since you left, renovations mostly…” - rubbing her hands against the wooden decals on the walls, Maya could easily remember the countless battles faced on each corner of the ship - “But most of the old crew remains the same!”

  “I can see that.” - Maya added, seeing as the helmsman stared at her angrily.

  “Don’t mind them,” - disregarding the man’s obvious animosity, Belle stopped at the realm briefly to verify the course, before going towards the stairs - “you made quite a few people angry when you left, it’s gonna be a thought welcome home.”

  “That’s one more reason for me not to overstay my welcome.” - following the woman, Maya couldn’t stop worrying about the rest of her group still in the city - “When can you drop me on shore? I need to get back.”

  “I guess that’s gonna take some time…” - Belle spoke softly, leaning against the walls of the ship, looking at the ocean.

  Moving closer to the edge, Maya quickly understood the reason why. No matter which direction her eyes went, nothing but the endless blue water could be seen. In only three days, they had left the continent completely behind, now quickly moving through the open seas.

  “She’s as fast as I remember…”

  “She'd better be, otherwise we would be in a lot of trouble!” - enjoying the smell of the ocean, which always reminded her of home, Belle turned her head to look at Maya - “You’ll be joining the crew temporarily, in exchange for your stay onboard.”

  “I’m guessing there’s no chance I can convince you to drop me close to home?” - despite already knowing the answer, Maya figured she had nothing else to lose. With no weapons, no money, or even the clothes on her body, she was now completely at Belle’s mercy.

  “You know I can’t do that…We’re rationing until we can resupply, and there’s the cargo we didn’t even get to deliver.”

  “How long?” - cutting straight to the chase, Maya could sense that the woman was stalling to get to the point.

  “We’ll try to resupply once we reach the Iron Islands, should take a few weeks probably,” - walking closer to Maya, Belle could recognize the worry on the woman’s expression - “after that, we’ll set a course for the northern ports and leave you there.”

  “Why don’t we go north now?” - Belle’s plan was not making any sense to the woman, who felt as if she was missing a key detail - “Why the Islands?”

  “It’s not safe to sail north too close to the shore right now, let’s leave it at that…”

  “Pirates?” - Maya asked as Belle began climbing down the stairs leading into the main deck.

  “Sea serpents,” - she stopped mid step, her expression darkening as she remembered her last encounter with such creatures - “It’s their mating season. But you can try your luck if you want.”

  “Pass…” - feeling defeated, the woman realized there was close to nothing that could be done now, besides settling in - “I still have things that I need to do…”

  Staring at the calm waves, Maya felt the familiar breeze of the ocean, something she had already almost forgotten. It had been years since she last stood by the helm, an ocean full of possibilities ahead of her. Despite all this, the only thoughts on her mind were of Luna and Solo.

  “Please be safe…”