Days slipped by as Wavedance continued through the sea. By some stroke of luck, the damage to Wavedance was almost entirely superficial. The sails had been tattered and torn and railing needed to be replaced. The crew’s ship looked miserable, but she was still fit to sail.

Humbol and Patty worked to clear the deck, saving anything that was salvageable and tossing the rest overboard. They did their best to patch the sails as well. Cyll’s time was entirely spent at the wheel or keeping Maya from getting out of bed as she recovered from her wounds.

Just over a week had passed when Cyll finally let Maya out of her cabin, deeming her wounds healing at a sufficient pace to allow for movement. She emerged, the left side of her head still completely wrapped in bandages, and sighed as she looked out at the deck of Wavedance.

“You did a good job at cleaning the ship up,” Maya told Patty.

“Humbol helped a lot,” the puppet replied, nodding at the jewelry laden man.

Maya’s eyebrow quirked slightly, but she gave Humbol an appreciative nod.

“How are you doing? Cyll’s kept you locked up like you’re made of fine silks and gold,” Humbol said, chuckling at the annoyed expression on the older crewmember’s face.

“I’m not dead,” Maya replied, smirking. Her face twitched as a pulse of pain spread out from her bandaged eye. The captain quickly repressed it and her expression turned back to normal. “I’ve got no clue if I can see out of my eye, though. Cyll won’t let me look out it.”

“It needs a chance to heal,” Cyll replied. “I don’t know if it’s gone or not, but if you don’t leave it alone until we find a real healer, you can kiss it goodbye.”

“I won’t fiddle with the wrappings,” Maya promised. “But was it really necessary to lock me up in my cabin for a week?”

“Yes. You need to consider your actions more, Cap,” Cyll said.

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“You flew off to fight on the galleon, leaving both Patty and I on board. You do realize that, at least at the moment, we’re both stronger than you, right?”

“I’m well aware,” Maya replied, frowning.

“So why would you put yourself at risk? You could have easily sent Patty or I alone with Humbol and kept the ship moving yourself.”

“But we needed to protect the ship!” Maya protested. “If someone else was at the helm and got injured, we wouldn’t have escaped!”

“You were injured because you tried to take on an entire galleon by yourself,” Cyll replied. “A captain’s duty is to their crew. You’ve clearly got the protecting part down, but you’ve failed to realize that keeping yourself alive is part of your job. We don’t have a crew without a captain.”

“You ended up sending Humbol for me anyways,” Patty said, moving to stand beside Maya. She lifted her arm to pat the other woman on the shoulder, then paused. She lowered it and the captain sent her an appreciative nod. The puppet was still working on controlling her strength.

“A crew exists because everyone has a role to play,” Humbol joined in. “We all have our weaknesses and strengths. You’re doing everyone a disservice by trying to do everything yourself.”

Maya drew in a long breath, her eyes flicking across her concerned crewmates.

“You’ve all grouped up on me and discussed this while Cyll had me locked up, didn’t you?”

They nodded. Maya rubbed the bridge of her nose gingerly and pursed her lips. A few moments passed in silence.

“Damn it, fine. You’re right,” Maya admitted, letting out a heavy sigh. “It was stupid of me to try that. I think some part of me just hoped the sea would help if I was in enough danger.”

“What do you mean?” Humbol asked. “You’ve got your cloak, don’t you? I was under the impression you could control water.”

Maya repressed a wince. Humbol still had no idea about the Heart. She thought for a few moments, but it certainly appeared as if Cyll had accepted Humbol as part of the crew. The immortal pirate’s judgement was questionable at times, but Maya was inclined to trust him in matters like this.

“Not exactly,” Maya said, drawing the sentence out.

“He’s in for the long haul,” Cyll put in. “Already grilled him about it.”

Maya shot the man a grateful look before returning her attention to Humbol.

“You remember when you asked about treasure from the island?”

Humbol’s eyes widened.

“You’ve got it hidden away somewhere? I knew there was something there!” He exclaimed. “What was it? Gold?”

“You seem to have lost track of the conversation,” Maya chuckled. It was shocking how much change had gone through the previously haughty man over the course of the past few days, although that might have just been another one of the strange man’s airs as he attempted to investigate Patty.

“Bah. Just tell me what it is already! I’m part of the crew!” Humbol whined.

“It’s within me,” Maya said.

“You ate it?” Humbol asked, aghast. “Why would you eat good gold? It’s useless in your stomach! Spit it out!”

“No, you moron. It wasn’t gold.”

“It wasn’t? What kind of shitty treasure isn’t gold?” Humbol’s eyes grew bright again. “Was it diamonds? Gems and rubies?”

“No.”

“Ah. It was trash, then,” Humbol muttered, looking down at the deck dejectedly.

“It was the Heart of the Sea,” Maya said.

Humbol’s head snapped up and he stared at Maya, his eyes wide. Maya rolled her eyes, preparing for the inevitable barrage of requests to see it.

“What’s that?” Humbol asked, perplexed. “Sounds like a sapphire. Is it a sapp –”

“It’s not a crystal,” Maya interrupted. “It’s alive – I think. And it gave me my powers. I lost my Life-spark, and this was meant to be its replacement. It gives me the power to request things from water.”