The first altercation between the monster girls and the human crew occurred that afternoon as they continued through The Spine. On The Dauntless, Captain Kolas stepped in and patiently listened to both sides of the story before the former captain called the man every demeaning name Kal had heard and even a few he hadn't. He loudly explained that the crewman's stupidity put his life in danger, then grabbed the man by his tunic, marched him over to the deckrail, and launched him into the predator-infested waters below.
"Was he so bad at sailing you wouldn't even fight for him?" Kal asked as Kolas spun on his heel and stomped away from the crewman's desperate screams before they abruptly ended.
"Nay. I probably could have convinced her to spare him once she calmed down, and I likely will the next time this happens. This was letting the men know I don't value their lives over me own. They also needed to know I won't take their side just because they were my crew. The way I see it, the less arguing I have to do for my men's lives, the better job I'm doing."
News of Kolas tossing the man overboard filtered through the rest of the captured crewmen, causing a marked improvement in their behavior.
Later that day, a scream from The Gazelle heralded another man going overboard after trying to push the 'traitorous' former bosun off the ship. He was the last man to die that day as Kal's warning down in the hold seemed to finally sink in.
Even if Kal disagreed with their methods, Kolas and his officers did an excellent job keeping the men in line.
The following day dawned to a much more agreeable human crew in reasonably high spirits. Kal and Roka later discovered that after working with the men for most of the day, several girls looked past the human's former profession and visited the men's crew quarters that night. A few extra tagged along to chaperone and ensure everyone's safety and their accounts painted the men as surprisingly well-behaved. They only had to get onto a few for being disrespectful or too rough.
A similar scene played out on The Scarlet Bitch but, unsurprisingly, not on The Gazelle. The number of monster girls compared to humans was just too close for the women to feel secure approaching them.
The three ships left the rocky spires of The Spine behind as the sun dipped below the horizon. The predators stayed close to the ships for a while longer before finally breaking away and returning to The Spine. Once beyond the rocks, the small fleet spread out and matched pace with the Scarlet Bitch. When darkness fell, Kal learned that the vessels in a fleet communicated at night using a special lantern with a large lens on the front. A lever opened and closed the two stiff leather flaps in front of the lens, making a pattern of flashes the other ships could read. The large lantern used a different kind of oil that burned much brighter and hotter than normal, and Kal immediately began making preparations to replace the oil with light stones.
Roka was familiar with the lantern and its uses when coming into port at night. But having never been part of a fleet, she had a lot to learn about signaling between ships.
Kal left the bovine to her lesson with The Dauntless's former captain and looked out over the water. Between the three ships, Emru's human body rode atop her larger body. It was his first time seeing it since they entered The Spine. Kal vaulted the deckrail and floated over to the whale. Her avatar stood up to greet him as he came closer.
"How are you doing?" he asked as he landed in front of her.
"Still absorbing everything that's happened. I've never dealt with so much death all at once. Watching those mercenaries get ripped apart the moment they hit the water was terrifying enough, but then ferrying Naura and the others back and forth as sharks and giant squid swam around me just waiting for her to fall off...." Emru shivered. "I know it meant a lot to her, but I'm never doing that again while in The Spine."
"You seem to have a lot on your mind. Would you like me to leave you be?"
The whale's avatar shook her head. "No, but I'd like it if you could just hold me for a little bit."
"I can do that," said Kal as he stepped forward.
---
The next morning Emru led the ships in closer to shore and used her ability to 'see' underwater to steer them around any submerged rocks. About midday, they furled sails. A break in the forest alongside a tiny fishing village revealed where a large stream met the sea.
One longboat went to the village to see if they had anything to trade while the other pulled up next to the stream and its occupants solemnly marched into the forest.
They hiked for more than an hour with a guide from the village to take them beyond the villager's lands. Naura eventually stopped and looked around. The trees were a little bit thinner and you could still see and hear the stream from where they stood. "This looks like a place we would have built a house together," said the otter. Kal stepped forward and began drawing out the area for the fox's grave, then used the spell from back when he planted Eludora's seed to lift up a much larger and deeper plug of earth. As he set it aside, Ria retrieved the vixen's body and laid it beside the hole.
Kal stepped away as Scarlet offered up a beautiful eulogy for the fox girl. She told stories of shared moments of triumph and laughter that left many of the surrounding women crying tears of both sadness and mirth. The vixen's former captain then stepped back to let Naura and the others say a few words.
Kal originally also planned on giving a small eulogy like the others. But as Scarlet spoke, he realized that he really knew nothing about the fox-woman or her life beyond the vixen's visits to his cabin on the Scarlet Bitch. When it came to his turn, he remained silent and nodded for the woman beside him to go ahead. Once everyone was done telling their stories and celebrating the fox's life. Kal and Tavorah arranged the body to better fit the circular hole, and Ria moved the vixen to the bottom.
Each of the mourners took a small handful of dirt and tossed it in before walking away. Leaving Kal and Ria to finish up. Naura's sobs had begun to fade in the distance before the mage began drawing the spell to lift the plug of dirt and place it back in the hole.
"Are you okay Kal? You didn't say anything." Ria asked while storing the large chunks of dirt that fell from the bottom of the plug and placing them around the fox's corpse.
"Yes. I'm just disappointed with myself. I've been so proud of how much I've helped some of these women, but I couldn't help her enough to keep her from throwing her life away."
"That seems a little unfair, Kal. Even those closest to her were surprised by how she died. How could you have known?"
"I understand, Ria. I know that logically I shouldn't be blaming myself any more than I should with the merchant woman. I feel like if I had dug a little deeper she might still be alive just like if I had pushed harder for my nameless merchant to settle in Telsin." Kal poured magic into the spell so it could lift the plug of dirt into the air then pivoted until it floated over the hole before gently setting it inside.
"Will you continue beating yourself up over this like you have with THE merchant lady?" asked the sprite.
