Frey went to his room. It was more flamboyant than his room at home, with more leather furniture than usual. His and Akara’s room were actually very similar, he thought to himself that perhaps they could be good friends; she seemed nice enough after all, and she seemed like she actually cared about the greater good of people. It had been an hour since they had set sail, and yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that EJ was out to get him; by no means was Frey paranoid, well maybe a little, he was a Beholder after all. He laid on his queen bed, staring at the ceiling as the waves rocked the boat back and forth. He thought to himself,
“What the hell was EJ’s problem?”
Surely he wasn’t still hung up on the whole Uvy thing, hell, she was even a bitch to him and the rest of the group. The armored phantoms were a great help, but they lacked much verbal communication. Frey stood up, placing his bat on the ground next to the door, and changed into more comfortable clothing; a blackish cloth shirt, and a dark brown leather jacket, with bottoms resembling sweatpants. He walked outside, the cold yet salty wind blowing hard the further he walked out. The boat was being steered by a phantom, the ship set to go northwest of the ports of Nyxis. Astrea sat within the northeast of Viola when looking at a map; no portions of it sat near the equator, meaning the area they were traveling through was hellishly cold.
Frey shuddered as the frigid wind blew on him, he sat at the front of the ship, allowing his legs to dangle off the bow of the boat. He looked down at the water as it was pushed under the boat, the sun in the distance directly above him. Frey sat like this for about an hour, no one had come up from their rooms, could they have all been mad at him? Or was it just a coincidence that not a single one had come up?
It continued to be silent, Frey paced around the boat's deck for a good two to three more hours. It was now close to supper time, and he had felt the need to eat for a good while now. Perhaps a blessing from the gods above, the sound of muffled running came from behind him. Boot had run up the stairs on all fours, she yawned, stretching like the cat she was.
“Freyyy, I’m hungry.”
He sighed as he walked towards her.
“Well, then cook something in the kitchen; it's on the far end of the ship's bottom floor.”
She perked up from her fatigued state and turned back towards the staircase,
“Frey, maybe I’m going crazy. But I could’ve sworn it smelled like cooked salmon down there, and I love salmon!”
She said the last sentence while licking her lips. Frey walked past her and down the stairwell to the kitchen; Boot wasn’t lying, it smelled like expertly baked salmon. Entering the kitchen Frey saw Akara, she was wearing an apron, and was cooking up dinner for everyone. Boot ran forward and jumped on Akara, almost dragging both of them to the ground, Akara chuckled,
“Ah so I see some of us are up now.”
Boot giggled back at her, and immediately went for the fish; Akara pulled away, almost causing Boot to slam her face into the stone oven.
“Nuh uh uh, not yet Boot. I’m still cooking up some vegetables for the rest of the meal.”
Boots face fell and she slumped down,
“But I’m hungry nowww!”
Akara shook her head like she was dealing with a child; Frey stood in the doorway smiling, and laughing at the situation unfolding before him. Akara tilted her head to Boot,
“Wait upstairs, I’ll call everyone down whenever everything is ready.”
Boot smiled and ran upstairs, leaving Frey and Akara alone for the first time ever.
Frey walked over to her; the salmon still laid in the pan, sizzling with flavor.
“I didn’t know you could cook Akara.”
She chortled at the statement,
“I don’t Frey; I’m sorta just following a recipe in the book over there.”
She motioned towards a cookbook that was laying on the countertop; it was covered in flour as if she had been struggling with the meal for a good hour or two.
“Frey… I want to be useful to the group, I don’t want to feel like I’m just replacing your previous party member.”
Frey looked on with bewilderment as she spoke. He hadn’t even thought about how the death of someone Akara had never met before may have affected her.
“Akara, I didn’t know that Leo’s death hit you so hard.”
She smiled, still staring at the meal cooking in front of her.
“I know that I didn’t know him, but I feel like I just butted in right in the middle of your all’s big adventure. Truth be told, I knew about his death prior to you all telling me.”
Frey looked at her in awe; he was at a loss for words.
“That’s why I baked you know, I wanted to distract you all from the grief you’d feel.”
Frey walked to Akara and put a hand on her back, slowly rubbing it.
“Thank you Akara.”
Frey embraced Akara, a comforting smile strewn across his face,
“Akara, I know you’ll make a valuable member of the team.”
She gasped, and returned the embrace; tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Thank you Frey.”
Akara wiped her face off as the embrace ended. She turned to the now slightly overcooked salmon and took it away from the flame.
“Can you let the others know that the food is done?”
Frey nodded at her request; he pulled out the empty bottle that held the ship, he spoke into it,
“Food is done everyone, come to the bilge if you want any.”
The proclamation booming throughout the ship like an announcement from the principal's office right to a troublemaking student.
S’kelt and Boot were the only two to show their faces in the dining room, Boot had a look of avariciousness covering her face; she ran over to the dining room and swiftly sat down. S’kelt carefully made his way over and sat down, he looked at the duo that had already been sitting for some time,
“So, which of you cooked for us today?”
Akara raised her hand, as if answering a teacher's question.
“I baked us all some salmon. I hope everyone enjoys it!”
She was apprehensive as she spoke, and everyone seemed ready to begin their feast.
S’kelt took a knife and fork off the table, the salmon cut like butter; he lifted the salmon up, citrus dripping down the hefty piece he had, and sinking his teeth into the meat.
“My, my. Akara that truly is delectable! Color me impressed.”
Boot began eating the salmon with her hands, she threw the citrus away, as a picky eater would do to an unwanted vegetable.
“Wow Akara, this is so good!”
She smiled and nodded her head in thankfulness. Frey stood up; he held two plates in his hands,
“I’m gonna go find Blut; I’ll probably end up eating with him, thanks for the food Akara.”
She smiled,
“Alright, I’ll keep EJ’s food in here if he decides to come down here.”
Frey walked up the staircase with two plates in his hands. He peeked into Bluts now open room, thinking to himself that he must’ve gone to the deck. The cold, salty wind blew on his face, the sun had almost completely set now. The ship was still being steered by the specters. He gazed around, but still couldn’t find Blut. Frey finally noticed the crows nest, was there a chance that he climbed all the way up there? He sighed to himself and attempted to finagle both plates into one hand, and with the other he grasped the ladder, ascending the pole. He struggled to reach the top; climbing with only one arm proved to be difficult, and on top of that it was a good twenty five to thirty feet tall. Blut sat at the top, like he was waiting for Frey, or someone to come and find him; he had been drinking some kind of alcohol, the bottle, sitting to his right side.
“Frey, what a pleasant surprise.”
Frey sat down with both plates, handing one to Blut.
“Here. Akara cooked up some salmon.”
Blut happily took the fish and sat it to his side, cutting into it with the silverware, and taking a bite.
“Hehe, Is her cooking always this good?”
He let out a chuckle and continued eating. Frey had also started eating. Before realizing that he had nothing to wash it down.
“Damnit, I didn’t bring any water.”
Blut looked over, motioning his head to the bottle of alcohol. Frey stared at it, he grabbed it, holding it in his hand.
“I don’t know Blut. I’ve had some weak alcohol, but this looks pretty strong.”
Blut shrugged, continuing his supper. Frey looked at the bottle longingly before taking a big swig of the drink.
“AK-KAHK”
Frey coughed up the incredibly strong liquor and placed the jug of it back on ground.
“H-how the hell do you drink that shit water?”
Blut chuckled, placing his plate next to him, and taking a big gulp of the ale.
“You’re still young Frey, you’ll grow into it”
Frey reaches his and out, and Blut places the bottle in his hands, where he takes another, smaller sip of the ale; his face grew sour as it traveled down to his stomach. The two of them finished eating, and sat in the crows nest until the sun set. Frey looked to Blut as they sat in silence,
“Hey Blut, why did you and Leo join the school?”
Blut turned to face Frey, taking another shot of alcohol.
“We simply thought that it was in our best interest in order to join the academy, mainly to become stronger.”
Frey could tell that he wasn’t telling the whole truth; he didn’t push it though, wanting to remain on Bluts good side. Blut looked at Frey and sighed,
“To be entirely honest Frey, at the beginning we were simply using you all to get stronger.”
He ran his fingers through his hair, looking up at the clear sky. He was close to speaking, but Blut interrupted him.
“It wasn’t negative, I assure you, but we just wanted to become stronger, and didn’t really care for your all’s safety.”
Blut paused, before continuing.
“I truly believe that Leo grew attached to you all, which led to his sacrifice; and quite frankly, I myself have even begun to grow attached to each of you.”
Frey smiled and looked away at the sunset, he stood up, picking the plate up.
“Thank you Blut, I’m glad that most of us are friends with each other.”154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBQDFBQSin
154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBJ6gsPZhD
Blut yawned, turning to Frey
“Well, everyone except for EJ that is.”
They both chuckled, and Frey began to climb down the crows nest
“Are you not heading down?”
Blut shook his head,
“I’ll make sure to watch for anything up here, and if I see anything out of the ordinary I’ll ring the bell.”
Frey smiled, and climbed down the ladder, heading to sleep after a long night.
154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfs5ZBds8z
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