Theo had left the training room immediately after her conversation with Ava hoping for a night of quiet but of course, that is not what the gods had in store for her. After a few hours in her room, Navi burst through the door.
"Captain! We've got a storm," Navi yelled from the entrance to the quarters, a wild smile on her face when she ran back out.
Theo bolted up from her chair and ran out of the door. She booked it as fast as she could up the stairs and up to the helm. She slowed her pace as she reached the edge of the helm and stared in front of her. At first, the sky was pitch black, no moon or light in the sky; she could see nothing. Then she heard the distant sound of thunder and lightning illuminated her view. Dark storm clouds were visible in the split second the sky was lit up. Theo felt a gust of wind whip her hair around and she was thankful she didn't bring her hat out. Another crack of thunder brought a series of lightning strikes that gave Theo a better view of the monstrosity they were about the face.
"Fucking shit..." Theo said as she took a few steps backward. They had only about an hour before they were caught in whatever was lying ahead of them. She turned around and ran to the edge of the helm, yelling down below, "Batten down the hatches!"
Theo turned to Navi, who was grinning like she was mad, "Wipe that smile off your face! We could die."
"We won't," Navi challenged, notorious for her love of sailing through storms and Theo had no choice but to laugh at her confidence.
"Furl the sails!" Theo called to Navi as she backed up towards the stairs, "Leave only the jib and the fore topsails!"
"I know how to run a ship into a storm, Captain!" Navi reminded her and got to work calling out instructions to her sailors.
Theo hopped off the stairs with two steps left and ran towards the infirmary. She ran in without knocking and called out, "Storm!"
Most everyone had their roles on the ship, both before the storm and after. Theo's prestorm duty was to inform as many people as she could that there was a storm. There was a very easy and proven method she had adopted in her many years of being the one to alert people, running and yelling. She ran into the lower decks, into storage, into the kitchen, into the library, yelling storm the whole way through. She ran down each of the rows of cabins slamming on the doors and she passed them yelling out every few seconds.
"Storm! We've got a storm on our hands!" Theo yelled as she banged on Xyra's door a little harder than the others and moved on.
Once Theo had done a lap of the ship, she took a breather but only for a minute. She set off again on another round, this time to check things were being done promptly. Oceane was securing the cannons so they didn't have any loose ones rolling around and crushing people. Navi was making sure the sails were furled before the violent winds caught them. Tuni was rounding up all of the people unable to help to keep them safe. Xyra was making sure that all hatches were tarped up and secure. Everyone had a role, even Ava. Theo went to go check on her and she seemed to have a grasp on what was needed.
Ava, as the most recent acting cabin girl, had to go into all cabins to make sure windows were closed and doors were locked. Theo saw a figure at the end of the hallway, fumbling with a ring of keys as the ship began to get rockier.
"Red, everything good?" Theo called down the hallway.
"Aye!" Ava called back, "Where do I go when I'm done?!"
Leave it to Ava to have a question at a time like that, "Lower decks! Find Tuni!"
Theo went back to the helm once she had made sure everything was being done. She thanked her wits and her capable crew for making the preparations necessary beforehand. They had already preemptively secured the cargo, put away any large and loose items, and fixed any part of the ship that threatened to be a problem if a storm came their way. When Theo came back there were two ropes tied to the bottom of the ship's wheel. Navi was already standing with one of the ropes tied around her waist.
"How long until she's on us," Theo asked and bent down to grab the rope. She began to tie it around her waist too and she secured it with a knot she trusted.
"Wind should start pushing us forward soon. Cargo being so heavy will make it easy to navigate through the storm but it's going to be a fucking mission," Navi informed Theo, "Do you need to switch with Xyra or is your shoulder okay?"
"My shoulder is fine," Theo defended. It was, she wouldn't put herself or her crew in danger by lying. It would be hard to hold the wheel and steer the ship even with two people but Theo would be okay.
Xyra ran up the helm, looking between the both of them with ropes tied around them. Theo knew Xyra was fighting with herself to not say anything too solemn. She also knew that Xyra was panicking at the fact that both Navi and Theo were up there, braving the storm alone.
"I'm giving the order. Everyone inside," Theo said, there was no use in having her crew outside. The storm was so big that the crew would not be much use anyway, they would slip and slide around the deck and face the jaws of death that way. All sails had been secured and any rope that slipped would just have to stay that way. They had made the necessary arrangements so that safety for her crew would be possible.
"I'll make sure everyone is secure," Xyra promised, then stepped forward and pulled Theo into a hug, "You need anything and Cooker is there to sound the alarm bells for help."
"I know, Xy. I will be okay. Get inside and make sure water stays the fuck out of this boat," Theo said. Xyra was in charge down below. In case any damage to the ship happened, she had the team and the tools ready to repair damage and pump out water. Besides that, only Cooker would be on the deck, tied to the mast, and ready to yell for help if the need came.
Xyra said her goodbyes to Navi then headed inside. Leaving just Navi and Theo at the helm, facing what felt like impending doom.
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Ava didn't know what a storm on a ship was supposed to be like but this one did not seem normal. She was bruised and sore from all of the banging around she had done while the ship flung her from side to side. It was chaos. At one point there was a loud crash and she heard panic. Somewhere on the lower decks, something had been broken. She felt helpless as she heard yells and screams and instructions being called out, a hole had managed to breakthrough. Ava wanted to help but as she went forward Tuni held her arm in place, forbidding her from moving.
A little while later, she heard commands being shouted between the women and some of them got up to leave. Morgana, Oceane, Iona, Hop, and three other girls couldn't quite see through the dark. They went up and didn't come back down. There was a pit at the bottom of Ava's stomach. What if when they went back out no one was there? What if the storm had wiped them all away? Ava had nerves in her stomach all night, it seemed like the storm would never end. By the time the waves stopped rocking the ship, she was sitting on a few inches of water and her body was shivering from the cold. With no fires on the ship allowed during a storm, there was nothing to keep them warm or lanterns to light the way.
Ava was wrapped up with Tuni, trying to share body heat, when a bright light shone on her face. She squinted and saw that the hatch was being exposed, the tarp keeping water out had been lifted. The tarp was replaced by a smiling face and Ava felt nothing but relief. Peeking through the holes were Theo and Cooker, drenched from the rain.
"Storm is officially behind us!" Theo announced and all those that were awake gave out a small cheer.
Tuni scrambled to her feet and made her way to the exit of the lower decks, stepping over others with the small bit of light provided. She was on a mission to make sure her partner and her crew were okay. Ava followed Tuni's lead but at a slower pace. While she was still a cabin girl, her time being Tuni's assistant technically started that morning. She followed her out and saw just the amount of damage the storm had caused. Pieces of wood were splintered, the deck looked mostly empty. And all nine people who were on the deck the night before were accounted for. Tuni ran to Morgana and let herself get picked up by the vanguard leader.
After getting set down, Tuni immediately called everyone who had been on the deck to come into the infirmary. Ava followed along with everyone else that was requested to go and she tried her best to help Tuni treat the injuries seen. Most were scrapes and cuts, a few bruises, and one broken wrist. Ava had been expecting much worse given that even she was injured and all she did was sit down the whole night. Ava was eventually pushed to the side and only observed as Tuni gave everyone a checkup. Theo had walked over to Ava, avoiding a check-up.
"Theo-" Ava started but didn't know where she was going with it. She wanted to apologize for the night before, ambushing the captain the way she did. She had seen Theo's attitude shift from tough and mighty to hurt and defensive when she found out exactly how Ava knew she couldn't read. Ava couldn't begin to imagine the things Theo thought of her and she had spent most of the storm worrying she would never have a chance to make up for it.
"It's fine, Ava," Theo said, not even letting her finish.
"Still, I'm sorry," Ava whispered, "I never meant it to be malicious."
"As I said, it's fine. Training starts tonight though, be prepared," Theo said and pushed off the wall she was leaning against. Theo walked out of the room, slipping out without Tuni noticing and Ava thought she owed Theo as much as to not rat her out.