The Misadventures of Anna Cabbot

Shipbuilding

Anna, still wrapped in her blanket — Breavy's pointed stares and raised eyebrows were lethal — sat in an out of the way place at the stern and stared at the expanse of stars above her. All of her usual constellations were missing. Either they had somehow crossed into the southern hemisphere or she and Carson had wound up somewhere completely different and, honestly, maybe she should be thankful there were still stars there to look at.

Edgar was perched on her left shoulder. She'd glowered at him when he'd first hopped there, and kindly requested he not shit on her. So far he'd obliged.

With the exception of a few lingering glances, the crew didn't bother her. The quiet combined with the gentle roll of the ship — a brigantine, a crewman had told her earlier at dinner — had let her mellow out enough to begin untangling the mess she and Carson had found themselves in.

The Endless Sea, as Jenny had put it, was where those who had spent their nautral lives sailing or had died in water wound up. Anna supposed it wasn't outside the realm of possibility — after all, she dealt with magic, literal death, and an uncomfortable mix of the two on a daily basis.

The waters they sailed...it had to be some sort of middle ground. She still leaned toward Nigel being the one to force it into existence, and there had to be a way to use it to find him.

"How's the thinking coming?" Jenny asked as she made herself comfortable next to Anna, her elbows resting on her bent knees.

Anna waved her hand back and forth. "This whole sailing thing is really, really relaxing."

"Being on the open water is peaceful," she agreed.

"They call you a timber pirate in my world."

Jenny laughed quietly. "Because I am a timber pirate. And a rum runner. I am these things and more. You are not only a witch, are you?"

A ditchwitch and a necromancer, though which category she fell into more was up for grabs.

"I am," Anna said softly. "I am more than my magic." She flexed her fingers, palms itching to put the world around her to paper.

"Most of us are more than we seem. And then there are those of us who are who we appear to be."

Anna tilted her head to the side and breathed out a giggle as Edgar began to preen the part of her hair he could easily reach.

"Is he yours?" Jenny asked, gesturing to the raven.

"He's fairly attached to me, sure, but he's his own bird." She tilted her head further. "He found me when I was floating. Before you rescued me."

"We weren't expecting to see anyone else." Jenny reached over and tucked the blanket more securely across Anna's knees. "Then your friend made a general nuisance of himself, you might have been dead, and the raven was stubbornly clinging to your coat."

"To be fair, Carson might have been a little out of his depth on this one. I know I was." Anna twisted her fingers together and looked up unfamiliar stars. "What is it like? The Endless Sea?"

"It is very much as the name implies," Jenny explained slowly, as though she were picking her words with extra care. "One can sail for, well, eternity and never see another soul. We stopped tracking the days when we realized we hadn't come across another ship nor any sight of land within a usual timeframe. Most of us had the suspicion we'd moved on — I remember the ship in pieces and yet when I woke again it was on the Endless Sea with the Lady whole and hearty. We are exactly as we were at the height of our mischief."

Edgar ceased his preening and hopped off her shoulder to settle in her lap like an underwhelming chicken.

"However, we're not sure which waters we're on," Jenny said after a lengthy pause.