The rest of the night was rather peaceful after the encounter with the sea monster and by morning all of the damage done to the ship and formation had been patched up.
Maria had taken it upon herself to allow the three birds access to coming and going from the ship by adjusting the formation.
They still didn't know what type of power that she had but it must be strong.
After sneaking into the city and ship, hiding for hours in a smelly crate just to battle a ferocious sea monster, Lucia, Olivia and Kristen were extremely tired.
Because of this they ended up sleeping for 2 days straight.
.
.
.
'what...the actual fuckkkk is that smell?'
Kristen was slowly woken by the salty smell of the ocean, reminding her where she was.
Out of the three of them, she was the first to wake.
She drowsily dragged her saggy body to the top of the crows nest and looked out ahead. Met with the sight of endless blue water, she almost went back to sleep just to escape it all.
However, her stomach rumbled like the greedy pig it was and forced her to stay awake.
'UGH.'
Picking herself up with an annoyed grunt she began to get some food and realised that she didn't actually know how to get any.
'Uhhhhhhhh. Fishing? No. I am NOT going into that freakish ocean. Sorry. Not today.'
Memories of the previous black tentacle came back in a flood and upset her stomach even more.
Her stomach growled again.
"Traitor," she muttered, glaring down at her own body.
Below her, Lucia and Olivia were still asleep, both tucked into their feathers like lumps of black velvet. The gentle rocking of the ship hadn't disturbed them at all.
Kristen, however, was suffering.
'Think…think…food…'
Her eyes slowly drifted downward toward the deck.
Morning had fully arrived. The sun hung low over the ocean, turning the water into a sheet of glittering blue. Sailors moved around the deck below, adjusting ropes, scrubbing planks and shouting the occasional order.
But none of that stuff actually mattered, what did matter, was the fact that some of them were eating.
Kristen's eyes locked onto a wooden crate sitting beside the edge of the deck.
A man opened it and revealed that inside there were several large salted fish.
Kristen leaned further over the railing.
'Oh.'
Her stomach growled so violently she nearly lost balance.
'Oh that looks goooooood.'
The sailor grabbed two fish and walked off, leaving the crate half open.
Kristen slowly sank down out of sight.
Her brain immediately split into two voices.
Voice one: That is theft.
Voice two:That is breakfast.
Torn by these two voices, she listed the pros and cons of stealing some of the fish.
'I might lose their trust...but I won't be hungry anymore.'
Both sides were extremely reasonable.
'Okay but technically… I fought a sea monster for them.
That definitely counted as payment.
Probably.
Maybe.
Yes.'
Kristen carefully spread her wings and peeked over the edge again, seeing that no one was near the crate.
Most sailors rarely checked the crows nest unless it was about to break.
Which meant…
"Perfect crime," she whispered.
With a quiet push she dropped from the crow's nest, gliding silently down through the rigging like a falling shadow.
The wind rushed past her feathers as she angled toward the crate.
Three meters.
Two meters.
One.
THUMP.
She landed beside it with surprising grace, nobody even noticed she was there.
Kristen quickly grabbed one of the salted fish with her beak.
It was almost as big as her head.
'Heheeee jackpoot.'
She immediately beat her wings and shot back up into the air.
"HEY!"
A sailor's voice shouted behind her and Kristen flapped faster.
"THE BIRD STOLE THE CAPTAIN'S FISH!"
'CAPTAIN'S WHAT?!'
Kristen nearly choked mid-flight.
She reached the crow's nest and slammed down onto the platform just as Lucia stirred awake.
Olivia blinked sleepily.
Both of them stared at Kristen while she just stood there panting while a giant salted fish hung from her beak.
"…Good morning," she said.
From below came shouting.
"GET IT BACK!"
"IT'S THE BIG ONE FROM THE MAST!"
Lucia slowly looked over the edge.
Then back at Kristen.
"…You stole the food."
Kristen dropped the fish onto the wood.
"Correction," she said defensively.
"I rescued breakfast."
Olivia stared at the fish and then she looked at Kristen again.
"…I'm just saying, I support this completely."