First light hits the deck. Hard edges on everything.
No one asks her name. They don't need to. The stares say enough, and the silence more. Garrad minds his tiller and pretends none of this concerns him.
The girl hasn't moved far from where I set her down. Knees scraped, shoulder wrong, but she keeps her balance with one hand on the deck.
Rhaenys approaches with slow steps, nothing in her hands. She stops short.
"Drink," she offers. The cup skids across the wood. "It's clean."
The girl keeps her eyes on both of us before she takes it. She uses her left hand; the right she keeps close to her side. She sips, grimacing at the brine in the water.
"Can you stand?" Rhaenys asks.
The girl nods and tries. Pain stops her halfway. She sits back down without a word.
Rhaenys glances at me. We both know I could fix the swelling with heat and that would scare the whole deck more than they are already scared. So we don't.
Rhaenys lets the thought die and calls out, "Gerrin."
A heavyset woman with callused hands steps over, carrying canvas and a cut length of wood.
"Right," Gerrin says. "Stay still."
The girl does. Only one hiss escapes her when the shoulder is lifted. Canvas looped, knot hauled tight, stick slid in for support.
It's not neat. It'll hold.
Garrad left the tiller to his mate and descended partway down the ladder, keeping his distance. He nodded toward the girl on the deck.
"And who have we fished up?"
"A child," Rhaenys answered, still watching her. "She's hurt."
Garrad studied her a moment, then the bird beside her, and thought better of pressing. He went back up without comment.
The girl breathes easier when no one crowds her. She keeps staring at me. I stare back. Safe game for both of us.
Rhaenys bent at the knee, mindful not to cast a shadow over her."I am Rhae," she said. "But names have their uses. Give me the one you offer strangers."
The deck creaked like an old man's bones. Far overhead a gull cried, thin and hungry.
"Arry," the girl said, barely above the wind.
A lie, or a shield, both served the same purpose.
"Very well," Rhaenys answered. "Arry, you'll come to no harm on this ship. You'll eat. You'll sleep under cover. When the time comes, you may choose your road. Until then, keep the peace as we do."
Garrad grunts his agreement. The men nearby give their own nods after, late but loud enough.
The girl swallows hard and keeps her eyes on the deck, holding herself together by grit, not ease.
I move a step nearer. She raises her chin a fraction, teeth set. Ready to fight with what she has.
I respect the warning and stop where I am.
...
Rhaenys brushed her palms on her trousers and stood.
"Gerrin," she said, "see her fed and find space below. Doesn't need to be grand, just dry."The woman nodded once and went.
"Hobb," she added, without raising her voice, "keep your boys to their work and off this deck."He wiped his hand on his shirt and slipped away quick.
Garrad drifted back to the tiller. "Where to, then?" he called, eyes on the water.
Rhaenys looked up at me.
I moved to the rail, feathers stirring with the wind, and fixed my gaze to the northwest. Garrad watched long enough to understand and put his weight on the rudder.
The bow swung.
Rhaenys turned to the girl. "North for now," she said. "We'll talk when you've had rest."
The girl's brow knit, suspicion waking before fear faded. "Why?"
Rhaenys's gaze slid to me, then back. "The wind isn't ours to argue with," she said, and gave nothing more on a deck full of listening men.
The child studied her splinted arm, then fixed those grey eyes on me. I allowed the inspection.
The crew's whispering didn't last long. A short burst of heat from my throat was enough to remind them what they were sharing deck with.
I kicked off the railing and climbed. The ship shrank below. Wind tore the salt from my feathers.
Behind us, the sea wasn't empty. Two ships held our wake. A third sat further out, broad-shouldered, slow, watching rather than chasing.
I kept to height. Let the wind carry the chill back through me.
But the mind runs the same thing: It's time.
[Quest Updated: Get the Wolf Cub North.]
.....
Toward midmorning, the Arya made her slow way to the rail. The sling kept her stiff, but she bore it without complaint. She watched the grey water with the wary eye of someone who had learned too young that the world had other side.
Rhaenys stood nearby, saying nothing.
After a long while the girl spoke, barely above the wind."Thank you."
The girl dips her head, a small nod, learned long ago.
I glide higher, catching the warmer air above the sails.North and west. One course worth following today.
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