Open The Soggy Side of Success

[Griblo Jankweed]

Griblo kicked downward through the dim, cloudy water, lungs tight and ears pinned by the cold. The murk swallowed shapes and shadows, but the bag - thank Vulpuz - sat wedged in a patch of soft mud just beneath him. He angled his body, tucked his paws, and plunged the last few feet, snatching the sodden satchel by its strap.

It was heavy and waterlogged, which was annoying...
...But it was his.

His legs pumped hard as he angled upward, dragging the weight behind him. It slowed him, made each stroke burn, but he was no stranger to swimming, even if he’d always loudly insisted he hated the act.

He broke the surface with a gasp and a sputter, lifting the soaked bag above the waves.

"VULPUZ’S CLAWS, I GOT IT!"

He spat seawater, blinking rapidly, just in time to spot two silhouettes drifting in the wrong direction, under the dock’s shadow.

"OI! Ye’re goin’ the WRONG WAY!" he barked, kicking toward the pier.
"De rope’s back over ’ere, ye waterlogged numpties!"

He swam closer to the dock, hooked one arm over a piling, then with a full-body heaved the drenched bag upward. It slapped onto the planks with a sickening, wet THUD-SPLAT, spraying half the dock in muddy droplets.

"Ruff!" he roared upward.
"If yer done flirtin’, maybe ACTUALLY WATCH IT THIS TIME!"

The bag secured, Griblo sucked in another breath, then kicked sideways, angling himself under where Ruffano was braced with the rope. His wet fur plastered to his frame, his teeth bared against the burn in his limbs, he called up:

"Left! LEFT! No... M' left! Hold de rope steady, ye daft fox!"

Ruffano yelled an offended something back.

"I AIN’T HOLDIN’ IT WRONG, YOU’RE HOLDIN’ IT WRONG!" Griblo shot back, bracing himself against the piling and grabbing the rope’s lower line to angle it toward the drifting pair below.

He planted his footpaws hard against the sodden wood, keeping tension steady as he could. Between his splashing, Ruffano’s shouting, and the cold nipping at his spine, he felt the rope tug and sway like a stubborn serpent between them.

"Quit yer wobblin’! Get dat thing right over ‘em!"

His paws tightened. His back hunched. His eyes locked on the shapes beneath the dock. Ready and locked in - finally! - to help haul when the moment came.

 

[Ruffano Quickwhistle]

Ruffano flinched violently as the bag hit the dock beside him with enough force to pelt him in a spray of cold seawater.

"DEAR VULPUZ! Next time warn a beast before ye launch ordnances!" he snapped down at Griblo, shaking droplets off his whiskers in offended disbelief.

But his complaint died the moment he saw the pair of thrashing beasts drift beneath the pier. Izakis and the tiny terror were sliding sideways, carried by the current, away from his carefully positioned rope loop.

"Oh no you don’t! Come back here!"

He hauled the rope up in a flurry, coiling it tightly around one forearm. His footpaws scrambled across the slick planks as he rushed two paces down the dock to re-position. He braced against a sturdy bollard, looped the rope once around it for leverage, then began crafting a second hasty loop with quick, practiced paws.

He ignored the bag. He ignored Griblo’s splashing. He ignored the churning in his stomach.

His eyes were fixed on Izakis alone.

"Hold fast, my cyan-scaled darling! This one’s comin’ right to you!"

He swung the rope outward in a wide, careful arc. The coil slapped the surface, drifting within arm’s reach of the struggling pair beneath the dock.

Griblo’s voice rose behind him like an angry kettle.

"Left! LEFT! M' LEFT!!!"

"I AM moving it, you soggy stoat!" Ruffano shot back, teeth bared in concentration.
"Hold the rope steady or so help me I’ll tie YOU to the pier!"

As much as the two bickered like a barnyard duo, somehow the rope line straightened, the angle corrected by their combined chaos.

Ruffano leaned forward, dangerously far over the edge, rope braced, one paw outstretched toward the water.

"Take hold! Come on! I’ve got you...just a little more...!"

He anchored himself against the bollard, muscles tight, ready to haul the moment a claw, paw, or tail wrapped around the rope. He didn’t care about the bag, the thief, or Griblo. In that moment, he only cared about exactly one thing: Keeping Izakis from sinking beneath the waves again.

 

[Korya]

"Left! LEFT! M'LEFT!"

Like a siren's call, Griblo's voice pierced the water. Korya adjusted her positioning, striking out to her left. Miss! She pulled her body further, swinging her arms as far as they would reach. Whiff! Did he say my left, or his left?

By the time she twisted around to strike to her right, there was a tremendous splash, and her ears popped away from her head, no longer held down by the water. She sucked in air, no time to steady her lungs with a good in and out - the Kraken was fierce and relentless, so too would she be!

Her claw barely had a moment to graze her captor before things spun around, another tentacle attacking her! This one felt fuzzy... grippy. Like some kind of... dock rope?

Claws pinched the nape of her neck, and she was lifted out of the water, the tentacle constricting her body falling away.

Voices were chattering, shouting, there was coughing - some of it hers - and the paralysis seeped through her body. All she could do was limply flick her fingers and twitch her ankles, trying to kick, claw, punch, bite, hiss, and roar, all at once. Her still bleeding nose flooded down her lips, warming her chin.

Paralyzed, naked, waterlogged, and hanging at the mercy of her "rescuers", Korya gently spun in the cool early-winter breeze.

But, most of all, triumphant. Who had ever tangled with the Kraken and lived to tell the tale?

 

[Izakis]

Unlike the kitten, after being pulled out, Izakis lied on the dock unmoving. She bled, lbeit very slowly from quite a few places, her blood being very dense and dark green, showing how much temperature affected her. She was breathing very shallowly and her unblinking eyes were just staring up into the sky.

She did it. The kitten was safe. She did her duty.

And the fact she almost died? It was the second time recently she put someone's physical well-being over hers. She was proud of herself. Before she served others with her body, words and care. Now she actively rescued and fought for the beasts. It felt nice.

Nice enough to keep her alive. Her nude, scaly body however, was heavily affected by combination of hypothermia and exhaustion. She needed warmth. Badly.

But at the same time, just like in the Opera, despite knowing she could die, she was content. Happy that she could help and serve another beasts once more.

That is what she was raised and trained to. That was what she did for her entire life. That was just who she was.

A slave, servant, escort, beast only existing to make sure others are fine.

Why did it warm her heart?

 

[Ruffano Quickwhistle]

With a final heave and a teeth-gritted groan, Ruffano dragged the two sodden creatures up out of the water. First came the small one - claws out, limbs twitching, blood dripping from her nose - hissing and convulsing in some mixture of victory and shock.

"Oh for...YOU again?!"

The kitten’s claws flashed toward him instinctively, and Ruffano jerked back with an offended yelp. He snatched her by the scruff like a wet, angry radish and, with a brisk, dismissive flick of his wrist, deposited her to the side.

"Enough of you, tiny terror…"

But then he took in a sharp gasp. Izakis slid onto the dock next, stiff but limp. Dark green blood beaded along her shoulders and arms. Her eyes stared blankly upward, unblinking, unseeing.

And Ruffano’s heart dropped like a stone.

"Vulpuz! No no no..."

He whipped around toward the nearest dockworker, a wide-eyed otter who froze under the fox’s sudden, crackling authority.

"You! Go get help! NOW! She’s a Smudgie!"

With a shocked nod, he otter bolted off toward shore.

Ruffano was already kneeling, paws slipping under Izakis’ shoulders, turning her gently onto her side. Her skin felt like carved stone beneath his pads, so cold she made his breath steam.

"Easy, love… easy… you’re safe now…"

He brushed a strand of gooey seaweed from her brow, his expression softening in a way no stage could teach him. He eased down beside her and opened his arms, pulling her close, nestling her against his chest in a protective curl. His tail wrapped over her hips like a blanket, shielding her from the late autumn wind.

"Stay with me… you hear? Breathe. That’s it… Attagirl…"

His cheek rested against her damp scales as he held her, lending every ounce of warmth his body had to offer, oblivious to the chaos still lapping at the dock’s edge.

For once, Ruffano Quickwhistle wasn’t thinking about appearances. Or romance. Or getting paid.

He was thinking about the cold, fragile life in his arms, and praying she stayed alight.

 

[Griblo Jankweed]

Griblo shoved upward from below, paws planted on swaying limbs and slick scales, boosting the two half-conscious beasts onto the dock before scrambling after them. He clambered over the pier’s edge like a drowned rat, dripping from every whisker, fur plastered tight to his frame.

"BLOODY FREEZIN’ PIT!!!"

He shook himself violently with a full-body, ferrety explosion that sent stinking harbor droplets flying in all directions. Whoever got hit? Too bad.

His eyes snapped immediately to the little, black-furred menace.

She lay curled on her side, twitching faintly beneath the winter wind. Her nose streamed blood. Her breathing hitched in tiny gasps. Her sightless eyes stared unfocused into nothing.

Griblo’s jaw went slack.

"’Ell’s teeth… it’s jus’ a blind runt, Ruff…" He gasped out with surprised shock, "Jus’ a kitten…"

He crouched beside her, scowling, but with less fire in his eyes than before.

"D’is ain’t the thief at all! Dey must’ve dropped the bag an’ legged it the moment it fell in…"

His grip loosened instantly, paw unclamping from her shoulder. His voice stayed gruff, but the edge dullened.

He grabbed the fox’s abandoned vest from the boards and wrapped it around the kitten’s tiny body, tugging it snug around her shoulders and chest, muttering under his breath the whole time.

"Well oi ain’t gonna be able t’ ask ye if ye saw who tried pinchin’ me bag, I reckon…"

He sat back on his haunches, dripping miserably, studying her with wary confusion as if unsure how to scold something so small and fragile without accidentally cracking it.

Then, with a forced bark of brusque bravado:
"What de heck were ye doin’ down dere, takin’ a peaceable swim alone? Haw haw!"

The laugh was thin, shaky, and not fooling anyone. However it was the closest Griblo could manage to comfort.

 

[Korya]

Korya twitched. Had everybeast had their turn pawing at her like she was a sack of potatoes? Hopefully. She sat up, patting at the vest around her, and slipped her arms through the holes properly. Better than nothing to hide her waterlogged fluff. The wind was nice and invigorating after a good swim and a brawl, and helped her wake up from her ordeal 'neath the waves somewhat.

"I was, actually," she said softly, rubbing at her nose. "I like being in the water! But now there's a kraken in there... I fought it! Did you see? I won! It sounds like someone didn't..."

Her ear twitched nervously. Griblo's bag was all but forgotten in her mind. Perhaps she'd been hero enough for today, winning such a fight.

She stood, slowly, still a little wobbly from the adrenaline and scruff-hold. Then, realizing she again had no idea where she was, she knelt and crawled crab-like, touching the dock with finger tips before taking a shuffling step forward, towards the voice of Ruffano.

"Who is it? That beast who dove in earlier? Is she alright? There's doctors aboard the ship - I think we can... the ship! Is the kraken attacking it?!"

Her tail doubled in size, flicking water. She turned to face the ship, ears swivelling about, catching the distance murmur of life enclosed within the great dark fortress of a vessel. There wasn't a lot of splashing, or screaming, or cannon-fire going on... Or, well, any of that. It all felt... calm. Too calm.

The kraken was surely poised to attack any moment now... She had but won a single tentacle fight. There would be thousands more. The entire harbor was in danger! She sucked in a deep breath...

"KRAKEN! EVERYBEAST 'WARE THE KRAKEN! IT'S TASTED WILDCAT BLOOD AND IT'S OUT FOR REVENGE, GET AWAY FROM THE DOCKS! GET THE SHIPS OUT TO SEA! WARN THE STOATORIANS! WARN THE EMPRESS! WARN THE MISSERTROSS POST! I'LL BUY US TIME, TELL MY PARENTS I'M SORRY AND I LOVE THEM!"

Korya began to shed the vest again, preparing to dive back into the water, shaking her arms out and clenching her fists with determination grit into her fangs.

 

[Tanya Keltoi]

Paperwork was a nightmare terror Tanya had believed well-vanquished in her advancing years: how it had come back to snap at her now. Though the BlackShip was afforded the luxury of sailing under far looser regulations than her sisters in the fleet, Navy paperwork had still advanced to a certain degree. Rotas and rosters, maps and reports and inventory logs; names and numbers and lists on lists. She’d filled out more than her fair share as Admiral, but for a crew nearing eight hundred the BlackShip’s paperwork was a law unto itself. She’d been more than happy to take some of the drudgery off her husband’s paws, but they’d need an Aide sooner or later. Judging by the state of her writing, sooner would be preferable.

Noise and raucous calls on a ship, particularly one of this size, was to be expected; Tanya scratched away at more documents without paying much heed to the shouts and cries outside of the cabin, taking them for standard banter. It was only when her ragged ears registered a shift in tone followed by increasing quiet that something tugged at old instincts. Her napefur prickled. At length curiosity outweighed duty (though it was no challenging decision given her readiness to procrastinate) and the diminutive fox set down her quill to trot out on deck.

Initially little seemed out of order, though it did not take long for her to surmise that something was happening down on the docks. A glance over the railing all but confirmed her concerns, though there was little time afforded to process the tableaux before roared warnings reached her ears. Automatically she was bounding for the gangplank.

It was no insubstantial run down to the gangplank, and though her mind raced to assess the situation there was a detached part of her consciousness impressed by the feline’s inane shouts. Tanya wondered if she was eighty percent lungs: half the harbour would hear that. Good shanty-caller.

Racing down to the dock it did not take much to see what must have happened, blood aside. Her own stomach churned in empathy for the reptile, unsettled fears of drowning roiling in her gut. The todd trying to aid her was familiar, though they had only met briefly, and the little cat was about to throw herself back into the water beside an equally sodden ferret. She had to wonder just what she’d missed. After a beat of gawping, she shook herself into action.

“What in ‘Gates is goin’ on?!” Panting for breath, the vixen stared between the unusual gathering. “There’s a surgeon aboard the BlackShip, shift yerselves in there sharplike, might save her yet.” Smaller a garment though it was, she shrugged off her coat and passed it to Ruffano to use as swaddling or stretcher for the incapacitated skink. “One way to meet again, eh,” she murmured to the todd before rounding on Griblo and Korya. From her own experience she supposed it easier to follow along than tell the girl she had lost the plot. “An’ you, stop ‘er getting back in the water! Missie, you’d do better fightin’ a kraken wi’ cannon than paws, get yourself on the ship and all.”

What a portent of the voyage to come.

 

[Izakis]

The warmth of the todd who gathered her delicate body into his arms did in fact help out Izakis to stay both alive and awake. She was very used to taking the heat from other beasts by bodily contact and even in this case she wasn't shy at all of curling more into him, trying to get as much bodily contact as she could, uncaring for the situation. After all, it was a matter of survival and this Skink right now operated very strongly by the primal instincts as most of her mind just shut off.

However, she was bleeding still and the fact she was getting now more warmth into her system only made her blood flow faster, making her lose it more and more quickly, making her body unable to get out of the cold-induced hibernation.

Her thought process was non-existent at this point, she was basically asleep, only capable of dreaming about the future of doing this over and over again. Sacrificing herself for the greater good.

---

Friedrich stormed out upon hearing the screams about kraken. More specifically, the word blood caught his attention and made him realise this was potentially a serious matter. Being just done with other matters, he didn't bother putting on his armour, instead staying with just his warhammer and bag filled with tools of trade.

Reaching the deck and looking upon the dock... he was anything but impressed. Just an insanity of one wildcat, some blood and suffering of a reptile held by a todd, to him there was nothing to care for. From his professional opinion, the skink would be fine if just given ability to stay in warm place with wounds taken care of in the first place.

...which was exactly the opposite of what that todd was doing. Literally he was making them bleed more, something that made Friedrich snarl. Sure he may have done way way worse experiments on his prisoners, but they were for the sake of knowledge (and his twisted desires). Here what was going on was just malpractice. Something he spent years culling out from his ranks and something he hated thoroughly.

Besides, the skink didn't even seem to suffer. Friedrich didn't like masochists either. They've enjoyed his ministrations too much. There may have been one exception to this rule, but fortunately, the giant rabbit could ignore that thought before it made him furious.

Instead he went down onto the dock, warhammer on his shoulder and stern look of disapproval on his face, accented by snarl showing of his sharpened teeth.

While the Captain Tanya finished giving out orders, he came close behind her and typically of him hit the dock with the butt of his weapon, announcing his arrival.

"You've called for ze surgeon Kapitän?"

 

[Ruffano Quickwhistle]

Ruffano shifted Izakis in his arms, adjusting his position to try to suppress the worsening hemorrhage. She was cold enough that the chill bled straight through his fur. Her breathing was still there, but growing weaker by the second. The dark smear of blood against his sleeve twisted something tight and nauseating in his chest. Still, he clung gamely onward.

He said nothing as footsteps approached, until a familiar voice cut through the dockside noise, sharp with command.

Ruffano glanced up, relief flickering openly across his features as he recognized Tanya. Jeshal’s ship drew his circle like moths to flame. Of course she was here. He exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, some of the tension draining from his shoulders as authority arrived at last.

"Ah. Thank the fates," he breathed, managing a crooked smile. "I was hopin’ someone sensible would turn up eventually."

At her questions, he gave a short, dismissive tilt of his head back toward the dock. As Tanya shrugged off her coat and handed it over, Ruffano accepted it without hesitation. He wrapped it carefully around Izakis, tucking it close, shielding her from the wind with meticulous, almost reverent care.

"She jumped in after a feral, rabid kitten," he said bluntly, irritation edging his voice. "Heroics got the better of her. Griblo over there tried to stop it, but y’know how these things go."

As he spoke, his ears flicked toward the heavier bootsteps that followed. Only when Friedrich addressed Tanya as Captain did Ruffano’s brows lift, charm reflexively stepping in to mask the spike of unease that followed.

"Captain? Well well!"
"Did ol’ Ironclaw decide to crawl back into storybooks and legend? That’s a shame."

He then turned toward Friedrich, urgency overriding any instinct to posture.

"You’re the surgeon? Please, can you help me carry her?"

The words spilled out before he could polish them, honest and unguarded.

"I’m not a healer. I am but an actor, an’ I’m admittedly not good at improvising. I think I might be making her bleed worse."

He adjusted his grip as Friedrich moved closer, unwilling to let go entirely even as they coordinated their hold.

"Please," he added quietly. "She needs warmth… an’ help faster than I can give it."

As they shifted position, the Blackship loomed in his peripheral vision with its dark hull and towering mass, the gangplank stretching out like an invitation to Hell's Gates themselves. His throat bobbed. As they began to move slowly and deliberately toward the ship. Ruffano walked backward at first, guiding, then turned reluctantly back toward the vessel. His ears flattened, tail flicking once as his gaze traced the massive towering flank of the warship.

"Oh, I hate boats," he muttered under his breath. "I've always hated boats. Boats lead unlucky beasts like me to a watery grave!"

 

[Griblo Jankweed]

Griblo didn’t hesitate when the kitten started winding herself up again. One moment she was puffing herself up, tail bristling and ready to go to war, and the next his paw snapped out, gripping her nape and hauling her sharply back against his side.

"Oi! No! No no no!"

He glanced over the dock edge, teeth bared, eyes flicking over the dark water like it might lunge up and take a bite out of him personally.

"It’s still down dere!" he hissed, dragging her another half-step away from the boards. "Ain’t ye listenin’? Dat t’ing’s had a taste now! Ye’ve gone an’ gotten it hungry!”

Whether he was just that gullible, or simply playing along was a mystery to everybeast but himself.

Only when Captain Keltoi’s voice cut through the chaos did Griblo’s head snap back around. Authority. He bristled instinctively, then deflated just as fast, ears flattening as he waved a paw in harried acknowledgement.

"Oi! I’m goin’, I’m goin’!"

Griblo tightened his other paw on Korya’s sleeve, lowering his voice into something conspiratorial and urgent as he steered her along with him.

"Right. Listen close, runt," he muttered. "Dock’s the worst place t’be right now. Krakens love docks. It's like berry bushes to d'em! D'ey hide unner-neath an' pluck beasts off one by one."

He gestured sharply toward the looming hull of the Blackship.

"Ships, though?" His whiskers twitched. "Ships got cannons. Krakens hate cannons. Makes their heads ring somethin’ awful."

With that settled, he hustled them along without letting go of her for a second. He snagged his two satchels off the dock in one practiced motion, relief flashing across his face as he hefted them. One was clearly soaked, dripping steadily onto the planks. The other he gave a quick squeeze, snorting.

"Still sealed," he muttered to himself. "Knew I packed it right."

Finally letting her go, he shoved the drier satchel into Korya’s paws without ceremony.

"Hold dat an' follow me," he ordered. "Don’t drop it or I'll be de one eatin' you."

They passed the cluster near the gangplank as Ruffano hovered over the skink, the big rabbit looming close. Griblo’s hackles rose instantly.

"Oi! Ruff!" he hissed, jerking his chin sharply. "Dat’s..."

Friedrich’s gaze flicked toward him.

Griblo froze for half a heartbeat, then bolted the rest of the way up the planks, muttering something uncharitable under his breath as he dragged Korya with him.

He didn’t slow until the gangplank creaked under his weight. Only then did he risk another glance back toward the water, tail puffed and fur still dripping brine.

"Right," he grumbled, tightening his grip on his remaining bag. "Aboard we go. Ain’t lettin’ no tentacled horror nick me wares."

And with that, Griblo Jankweed clambered up the gangplank - wet, rattled, hoard secured, and with one very loud, very determined kitten firmly in tow.

 

[Korya]

A lot happened very fast. And Korya dangled by the scruff again, footpaws going numb as she was yanked around, with little time to object. She stumbled after Griblo, Ruffano's vest hanging off one shoulder and being used as a leash, paws wrapped tight around the ferret's satchel. She tripped and banged her way up the gangplank with him, and felt the darkness of the ship swallow them.

Better than a kraken's maw, at least.

"B-b-...but..." she stuttered, still shaking out the cobwebs from the paralyzing effect of Griblo's neck-hold, "...but... but I'm not feral, you know! Or rabid. Or a kitten. I'm sixteen! Almost seventeen." She sniffled, raising her snout in what she presumed was a pose of pomp and importance, but just made her seem like a slack-jawed stargazer, her sightless eyes roaming the deck's ceiling. "Well... okay, I might be feral..."

She pattered along as Griblo yanked her further inside. Feeling in her paws started to come back, and she prodded around the satchel, trying to feel what was inside.

"You know, I was just trying to rescue your bag that hit my head... Then the kraken! I fought it off, though, I saved that other beast, the one everyone's worried over... I'm a hero!"

She dropped the satchel to the deck and folded her arms with an attempt at a pouting expression, which looked more like she had stepped on a hedgehog's quill.

"And I want my clothes and my things! They're under the gangplank! I'm going to go get them, I'd be no use with the cannons anyway except as ammunition! But I can swim and I can fight and you can't stop me! You try any more of that neck grabbing and I'll bite! And I have a small bladder and if I can't feel to squeeze then I'm going to widdle on you, too! That kraken's going to regret messing with me more than it already does!"

She gave a short little roar and started windmilling her arms as she about-faced and marched back to the gangplank doorway, ready to knock aside anybeast who dared get in her way this time.

"Holler if you're in my path and get out of the way, I'm not stopping for anybeast, even an admiral! I have a kraken to defeat! For the honor of Frost Fang!"

 

[Tanya Keltoi]

Heroics. The word alone sent her brush twitching. Too many had been lost over the years to good intentions, all fine beasts with lives ahead of them cut brutally short by duty or bravery or simply a heart too kind for the brutality of life at sea. Several had died protecting her; their ghosts never truly exorcised from the vixen’s late-night imaginings. If they were to lose any crew on their voyage, it wouldn’t be this soon.

She’d opened her mouth to reply to Ruffano when heavy pawsteps from behind heralded the arrival of another beast. Her hackles rose at once, for she’d never managed to uncouple such a sound from the weighty steps of badgers. Tanya spun on her heel to regard the rabbit for a moment as she made swift assessment. Ah: this would be the one Kiptooth had mentioned, if only evidenced by his medical lean and the sheer size of him. Though she little appreciated his manner of introduction he was straightforward enough that she could see he would get things done. Right now, that was the priority. “Aye, good timing. Kiptooth should have everything set in the infirmary so get to it. If he’s down there he’ll lend a paw.”

Time was she’d have distracted herself with whatever was going on between ferret and feline, curiosity piqued by the satchel being pressed into Korya’s paws. Ah, she was the cheeky one with the rude gestures! Indeed, small wonder she’d find herself involved in some sort of trouble. Whatever had transpired here the details would have to wait, much as it grieved her, until later. At the very least Tanya could use the excuse of filing incident paperwork to summon the relevant beasts to her office to gather gossip. For now she snorted instead at Ruffano’s hesitance. “She’s a ship, not a boat,” the vixen groused as she gave him a nudge in passing towards the gangplank. “’Sides she’s still docked – you’ll be fine ‘long as you don’t go playing hero yourself.”

Friedrich’s legs were probably as long as the vixen was tall: she didn’t concern herself with trying to keep pace on the way to the infirmary, confident the reptile was in the swiftest paws possible and decided that it would look…unseemly for a vixen of her rank to be racing about. Instead she found herself faced with Korya’s fury, expression caught between baffled shock, indignation and admiration. This was a crucial moment to gauge the leopard cat’s demeanour, and for this reason she did not attempt to stand in the way of windmilling paws.

“Liddle miss, the Admiral’s on deck and widdle or no widdle if you step one paw on that gangplank I’ll have you hauled up the yardarm and used as a windsock for the remainder of the next voyage. You’re soaked through: go dry off and I’ll have your effects collected. For now, infirmary. That’s an order.”