𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 | 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐛 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝

𝐢𝐱.

"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠?! 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩?! 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐞, 𝐈'𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧!"

"I heard ya the first time, Lia," Maisie huffed as Sharpe led the two to their shared room.

The second-in-command leaned against the cabin wall as she watched the two newest crew members argue. Lilia had lowered herself to Maisie's height beganegun scolding the younger girl at a softer volume.

"But you're the princess, and you're beast huntin' and the ocean ain't safe for you either!" Maisie crossed her arms in protest.

"Yes, but I'm older than you, trained with a sword, and I know how to keep myself safe," Lilia said with a frustrated huff.

"Then keep me safe as well! I'm now part of Captain Crow's crew, so help me defend myself!"

The princess stared at Maisie in disbelief before taking in a deep breath. She covered her face with her hands, sighing as she pushed her bangs back, then pulling her hair slightly in frustration.

"Fine! But only if you promise to listen to what I say, and behave," Lilia frowned, holding her pinky out. "Understood?"

"Aye," Maisie nodded, the two linking pinkies briefly.

Sarah cleared her throat, Lilia standing up before the Captain's right-hand-woman pushed herself off the wall, walking over to a bunk bed. Lilia moved aside, pulling Maisie with her as Sharpe looked down at the top bunk where a blanket lay.

The woman yanked the blanket off, revealing all sorts of weaponry – pistols taking up the majority of the bed as one or two daggers could be spotted. Lilia's eyes widened in fear as Maisie let out a noise of awe.

Sharpe picked a pistol up, turning its safety on before picking up one of her cutlasses, smiling at the weapons in pride. The woman tucked her pistol in her sash, packing her cutlass away in her coat as she didn't exchange a single word with the others.

She continued to stash her various daggers onto herself, hiding some in her sleeve, back sheath and boot, then tossing an axe onto a target behind her without looking, or flinching, at all, a mace soon landing dead centre on the target.

Fluffing up a pillow, Sarah tossed it onto the top bunk, looking at the young woman with copper locks.

"You can sleep there, lass."

Lilia nodded in thanks, Sharpe then walked to a nearby second bunk. Thankfully, there weren't any more weapons on the top bunk of the second set of beds, the hunter looking down at Maisie devoid of any expression.

"You, sleep there."

Maisie stared up at Sarah, the girl taking in a deep breath as her amazement had finally settled in.

"You're... Sarah Sharpe," She said before pulling her storybook out of her satchel, flipping to page. 

The illustrated image of Sharpe held a stoic expression as she stared down at the viewers as though they were lower than her.