Berlin strode over, his steps casual, slow, and a bit wandering; he had things to think about today. He arched a brow at the gathered 'crowd' beside the cannon and looked between them. He thought that Hana seemed to come out of her shell a bit, if he wasn't mistaken. That was good. That woman needed to relax a bit every now and then. Uban, as always, was in good spirits but even more so now that he'd been practicing his ability. Berlin could see not just his golden eyes but the kind of intensified energy that he exuded. That and the sweat on his brow. Rohaan seemed to be off and he allowed himself a very soft, very quiet sigh. If it was Hana that was bothering him, he would need to speak with him and set him straight. After all, she was a member of the crew now and he needed to understand that. There was little he could do about her and Wheel and the tension there, but Rohaan was his responsibility and often needed some prodding in the right direction.

"Why are we electrifying my cannons?" His tone was more curious than upset, in fact he was very interested to see what would come of this. He'd heard the bang and seen the smoke from the previous test and he had a guess as to what was coming next, but he wasn't sure exactly how it would happen or what it would do.
Uban beamed at him. "Scholarly research, Cap'n."
"Aye, I'm sure. Well go on..." Berlin crossed his arms and shifted his weight casually onto one foot, watching.

Uban grinned over at Pieter. "I'm fine, mate!" He looked down at his hands and realized they were shaking slightly. He blinked and then added, "someone feed me after this eh?" Preparing for the cannon fire, Uban shook out his hands as if trying to loosen up a cramp; blue trails of lightning lagged behind his hands as they moved and sparked around them. "Alright, let's do this..."

Uban watched Pieter light the fuse and as it sparkled, he reached out with this extra sense of his and felt for the cannon ball. It was there. He fired the pistol just a moment before the cannon blast sounded, bluish lighting streaking after it like a comet. The large ball arced out over the sea and when it had reached a sufficient distance, Uban flicked one wrist and the lightning around the little bullet abandoned its host and found the cannon ball instead.

Rohaan, ready for the explosion this time, found himself on his toes, peering over the top of the gunnel. Normally he'd have no problem sitting on top of the railing, but for once he actually liked the shield the rail provided since he was still a little nervous about the thing. Nervous, yet undeniably curious. The thing went off with a spectacular bang that the boy felt resonating in his chest. Something about the grand scale of it ignited his love for wanton destruction and he found himself grinning, eyes wide with wonder. He even laughed a little. That was pretty cool, after all. He turned, the scent of sulfurous gunpowder in his nostrils, and looked at Hana. "Um...how did you make it do that? Do um...do all cannon balls explode...?" If they did, then they had clearly been using theirs wrong all this time. And then another thought came to him. "What else can you make explode?" He might have been leery of her magic, but he couldn't deny the siren call of starting fires or smashing things.

Berlin clasped Hana's arm with a wily grin on his face. "Damn, that's good. Your idea?"

Pieter whistled when he saw the explosion. He'd used grenadoes before, and he'd known that it was possible to make a cannonball explode the same way. But since you couldn't know when the damn thing was set to go off, there hadn't been much interest in them. Hana had figured out how to make one work safely. It sure is something, he thought, glancing at Berlin to watch his reaction. The big man had a relaxed air. But if he was here without Wheel, something must have come up.

Rohaan was delighted with the explosion. When he wasn't spooked, he loved anything that could cause mass destruction. Stepping away from the cannon, he listened to Hana say to Rohaan, "Well, the first set of runes on the ball were the same as the medallion, and attracted the lightning. There were runes on the inside of the ball, which would bring the lightning inside to where the powder is. It turns out that if you just run lightning through a trail of powder, it doesn't ignite. It needs to be kept in the powder for a longer moment (Long being a relative term, for us, it's near instantaneous, but of course, from the perspective of the lightning it's a decently long moment), and at that point, the powder ignites, causing the explosion." She tapped a fingernail against her teeth, already working on the next problem in her mind. "I mean, I've heard of some armies launching grenadoes out of cannons, but it's not exactly safe. Since Uban is the one who sends out the lightning, it's less dangerous for us."

Glancing at the excited boy, she continued, "Well, define what you mean by 'explosion'. If something's sealed, all it takes to make it explode is to dramatically raise the pressure. This cannonball thing is a bit of a cheat, since I'm using the blackpowder and Uban's lightning to do all the heavy lifting. In school, we had to make wine bottles shatter by increasing it's internal pressure. It's a pain in the neck, though, and I wouldn't recommend it for fun."

Hana was surprised when the captain clasped her arm, smiling when he complimented her, "Well, it's not exactly a new idea, so I can't take credit, but yes, I thought of using Uban's lightning this way." Her hands twinged, and she grimaced in pain.

"I'm afraid that we're out of examples. It takes a while to carve everything."

Rohaan was very interested to hear Hana's explanation, interested enough that he actually approached her within arms reach--something he hadn't recently been inclined to do. He looked up at her with eyes of an impossible shade of blue like two polished rounds of lapis lazuli, bright and inquisitive, and brushed his sloppy blonde curls out of his face. he did not have perfect corkscrews, nor did he have loose waves but rather had a haphazard mix of both. To his credit, he tried very hard to follow what she said and for a while he thought he did pretty well, but at some point she used words he did not know, and while he was stuck trying to piece them out, he didn't quite take in the rest. He did pick up 'wine bottles shatter' and that piqued his interest. Why wouldn't he want to do that for fun? it sounded plenty fun for him.

Rohaan gave Hana an earnest but very lost expression before glancing questioningly to Berlin, who gave a brief explanation in rapid vokurian, which the boy seemed to take in better. The language had a 'jagged' feel to it, with odd breaks in the middle of words and prominent, hard vowels. Berlin had learned vokurian better than Rohaan had picked up Carisian, and so the man was reasonably fluent, though he had his shortcomings too.

The boy nodded, thinking, then asked, "Oh! Soo....can you...explode Berlin's spyglass?"
A look of mock alarm brushed the man's features. "No, please no."
This made Rohaan smile. "What abouuuuut...." he cast around with his eyes, searching for things to be destroyed. "Umm..." Idly, his finger poked through the bullet hole in his shirt and twirled the fabric around it, unraveled it, then wound it up again. "Wheel's boots? A melon? A crab?" he froze suddenly, eyes going wide in sheer horror as he realized something, then as he looked at her again he seemed almost a little more withdrawn than he was a second ago. "You...wouldn't explode me.....would you?" Nothing about his tone or expression suggested he was joking; in fact, he was gravely serious. Clearly, it was well within his scope of understanding that if someone could, it was very possible they would.

Uban stretched, feeling like he'd just done a hard day's work in the fields or up aloft. It was satisfying in a way, to feel like he had labored for something productive. Except his muscles weren't sore, he just felt shaky and hungry and like he'd earned himself some reclining. He was still laughing to himself softly, absolutely giddy with what he (and Hana) had just done. There were so many things he hadn't thought of doing with his ability, and this was one of them. He turned, silently watching Hana as she spoke to Rohaan. Damn, she's smart. Hell of a lot smarter than me. Uban caught himself grinning and, shaking his head as if to clear something away, went to go down to the hold and find himself some food. He rejoined the rest once he'd pilfered some salt pork, the last of the bread (which was now fairly dry) and some tea to wash it down. He needed to do that kind exercise more often, he decided, because he felt wiped out now.

"That was absolutely incredible," he said. "Maybe next time you could teach me the runes or draw them out with charcoal first and I could help you carve them? I dunno what kind of tools you got, but if you need proper ones Rohaan here can get you some next time we dock." Uban slid one hand over the boy's head to sweep pale blonde curls into his face.
Rohaan playfully slapped Uban's arm and 'fixed' his hair, which only meant sweeping it back so that some strands lay back down and others stuck straight up. But he looked at Hana and, taking pride in his renown as an...obtainer of things, he stuck his chin up proudly and with his arms folded across his chest he boasted, "I can get anything."

Hana tapped a nail against her teeth, playing along with the boy and Berlin, "Wellllllll, the telescope would be pretty easy to explode, since it's already sealed. I don't think the captain would be very happy with me if I did. It'd be harder to make boots explode, since they're not sealed. Setting them on fire, or making the person who wears them get blisters is a lot easier." Hana had a small smile on her face as she mentioned the blisters, remembering an old prank. "Blowing up a melon sounds messy, but it'd be pretty easy." Hana's smile faded as the conversation took a darker turn. It's a lot harder for me to kill you than for you to eat me. "I don't know why anyone would want to blow up a crab. Or you, for that matter." Glancing furtively at the captain for guidance, she straightened to her full height looking coolly at the ragged blond boy, she said, "I promise not to blow you up if you promise not to eat me." Oh virtues I hope that was the right thing to say.

---

Wheel heard Uban walk into the galley. His footsteps were heavy and slow, he must have exhausted himself. He couldn't stay polishing swords all day. With a grim certainty, he set aside the cutlass and the rag, and went to join Uban. Passing through the door to the galley, he saw Uban struggling to pour the hot water from the kettle into the mug while holding a plate piled high with pork and bread. "Here, I can pour the tea, hold the mug." Wheel said after he had crossed the room. Taking the kettle from him, Wheel steadily poured the tea, seemingly unaffected by the rocking motion. "How did Hana's experiment go?"

There was sheer glee in those unnaturally blue eyes as Hana informed him that blowing up melons was easy. He liked melons, especially the ones that were red inside and green outside, but he once saw one drop off a cart at a market and since then he'd always thought about how fun it would be to wreck one somehow. Slicing, smashing, dropping, squishing, and now exploding. That settled it. He would absolutely have to track down a melon at the nearest opportunity and give it to her. That was worth swabbing the deck for.

Honestly though, he was a little surprised to hear her say that she couldn't think of a reason for blowing him up. A crab he could understand--who would actually want to blow up a crab? But him? No one had ever tried to explode him, per se, but he had enough evidence in his short life to conclude that someone would. He thought that she knew that. Certainly if she hated vokurians that would be the case--those people looked for excuses to destroy his people. So maybe she didn't? If she couldn't think of a reason to blow him up, maybe she wasn't so bad as he'd originally thought.

Rohaan shrugged, quieting a little as he stared at his grimy toes. "I dunno. Other people do." He said this with a kind of grim certainty that no ten year old should possess. And in that moment it was clear that what childhood innocence he had was long ago stripped away from him. Yet he had come a long way since he'd escaped the Barizians, and under Berlin's care and tutelage he had regained a little of the carefree joy that was entitled to a boy his age. He looked up at her, considering deeply with a thoughtful frown, and then with a toothy smile he stuck out his hand for her to shake. "Okay, deal! I don't wanna eat everybody, just people that try to hurt me. And if you don't wanna hurt me then I don't wanna eat you," he said brightly. "If I did, who would teach me reading?"

Berlin, who had intentionally stayed silent during this exchange, watched the lad quietly with no small amount of pride welling up in his chest. He really had come a long way. He looked to Hana too and gave the tiniest little nod of approval. There was relief in his eyes; clearly he wanted the two of them to work and seeing progress in that direction heartened him. "Lad, there was something you were going to ask her, wasn't there?"
Rohaan thought for a moment, then, "oh! Uh...yeah.." He seemed to get a little nervous again, but only a little. "Do you, um...well tonight I'm gonna go on a long flight to spy on the Bar-i-zi-ans?" He looked to Berlin, who nodded. The word was new to him even though he knew who they were, and his particular dialect of vokurian did not have 'z' as one of their sounds, nor did they have 'p', which was part of the reason he never called Berlin 'Cap'n' and instead opted for 'Ca-mm'. "Anyway I'm sore from training with Wheel yesterday and I was wondering if...uh, do you have stuff to make sore muscles feel better? Annndd....can we do letters again?"

---

Uban had a hunk of very dry bread in his mouth when Wheel took the kettle from him, so instead of actually saying 'thank you' he really just made some muffled noises of appreciation. He held out the mug in one hand; it shook in his grip. Swallowing his mouthful he nodded exuberantly and said, "Mm, yeah! It was fantastic! Man, you missed the finale--between her and me, we made something like grenadoes except they're a bit different. I set them off so they go off when I want them to. And like, I figured out how to arc to a fired ball so it's almost like shooting lightning, but they have to be engraved with this special...rune thing or something, an enchantment, and then I can...can connect to it. I didn't know I could do that at all until she showed me this medallion of hers. I'm doing all kinds of new things! Summoning drunk colossal turtles, making cannonballs explode..." His eyes were a bright gold, giving his expression a kind of wild vibe.

Pieter glanced meaningfully to Berlin during Hana's and Rio's exchange. He wasn't sure he liked the idea of giving the boy more access to exploding... objects, but he was glad that the mage and the boy were making progress. The boy certainly had justified trouble trusting others, but if they were going to be crew, they'd better trust one another. He raised an eyebrow at his comment about reading. Leave someone with an Elb, and they'll turn into a scholar. Still, knowing how to read was something everyone benefited from. He wasn't too sure how well Wheel could read, but the berserker didn't exactly live by the same rules as everyone else. Hana shook his hand, a small smile returning to her face. She said, "Deal's a deal." Giving a quick glance to the sun to make sure it was past breakfast, Pieter unstoppered a ceramic flask of rum, taking a swig. Hana continued, "I'd be more than happy to help with both. However, the liniment can't be used if you're covered in dirt. You'll have to take a bath."

Pieter gagged, spraying rum across the deck.

---

Despite the thrumming pain behind Wheel's right eye, the steaming kettle was held steady, and none of the tea scalded Uban. "Lightning grenadoes, huh? Now that's quite the trick." He set the kettle back on the stove, "I knew your party trick could do more than kill farmers." His tone was conversational, the idea that what he'd said could be offensive didn't cross his mind. "Huh, what I'd give for some turtle soup. Next time you see a drunk turtle, toss a grenadoe at it, we'll have some good eating, huh?" He clapped Uban on the shoulder, a wry grin on his face.

Berlin was eternally grateful for the way the conversation was progressing. In a way, he'd forgotten what it was like to meet a vokurian for the first time, forgotten just how frightening it actually was to see one up close and see what they could do. He'd been determined when he brought Rohaan on, and that helped him push through, but seeing Hana's small admission of worry about being eaten made him remember what it was like. Part of him wished he had prepared her a little more for the whole experience. Still, that hesitation served to bring the two understanding, as Rohaan was very sympathetic to fear and it rarely occurred to him that people could be afraid of him as he was of them. That realization humanized her in the lad's mind, Berlin thought.

It would be nice not to have to worry about those two. Berlin had enough on his mind. Not to mention, his mind was reeling with the kinds of things they could accomplish together like she and Uban had. But all that satisfaction and relief bled away like warmth in a winter storm when Hana mentioned a bath. Pieter actively spat out his drink--Berlin might have too, if he was drinking something--and a silence fell upon them like night. Berlin broke it with a whispered, "Damn..."

Rohaan's smile was wiped immediately clean and he looked at her with a distrustful eye as though they had not just shaken hands. He rolled his shoulders a little, weighing how worthwhile it would be to agree. It wasn't that he hated being clean, nor did he necessarily hate water or being in a bath. In fact, he enjoyed them when they were either warm, or in the summer if they were cool. But he did NOT like soap. Growing up, his village bathed in the ocean and scrubbed themselves with fine sand, then rinsed the saltwater off from rain barrels. He never minded doing that and would do it semi-regularly if they were in warm enough waters. But he did not like being cold and he hated the way that soap got in his eyes, the way that the slimy substance clung to his skin. And sometimes it smelled funny.

And then there was his hair. It hadn't been cut since he'd left home two years ago and that was fine with him--he could tie it back like Berlin and Uban did with theirs if he wanted to. But his curls were irregular and wild, ranging from loose waves to tight spirals, and trying to keep it untangled was a hopeless endeavor. So it just got more tangled. And if she thought he was going to let her pull out his hair with a stupid comb, she had another thing coming.

But he looked at her, calculating, and with his eyes slightly narrowed he said slowly, "okay. Fine."
Berlin shook his head; that was FAR too easy. "Rheoaan Rohaan Rio Ja'aisen, you look me in the eye. That's an order, lad." The boy complied. "Don't you dare test her, do you hear me? Draw blood like you did with Uban and I WILL hang you by your ankle and send you up the mast like a damn flag, got it?" Rohaan just sort of grumbled, but Berlin reached out and grabbed the boy's wrist with a very firm grip. He didn't use his ability, as he'd made promises to the lad about use of force, but he simply held it, and Berlin the Bear towered over him. "The answer I'm looking for is aye Captain..."
Rohaan glowered at him. "It's coooold..."
"Deal with it. I quite agree--it's high time you had one and I'll stand by her on this. So you'll do it. Without trouble."

Rohaan grumbled and tried to pull his arm away, but Berlin's grip was iron. "Still waiting, sailor..."
Another grumble, then a very reluctant, "Aye Ca-mm..." Berlin let him go and the lad stalked off to find the accursed soap and a scrub brush, muttering in vokurian all the way.

Berlin looked to Hana. "You've got a hefty set on you, I tell you what. He'll do most of it on his own if you shout at him enough and make him do it proper. But ain't nobody on this ship gonna save you if you come at him with a comb. You're authorized to use force, if necessary."

Rohaan, still glowering, brought the stupid nasty soap and the brush to the aft deck where most of the rain barrels were kept. Unlike everyone else, he was small enough to actually fit into a barrel, so he selected one that was a little more than half full. The lad tossed off his clothes without much of a care (he had zero qualms with nudity and failed to see why anyone else did) though he was very unhappy about the cool autumn breeze and shivered. The round pink scar from his recent encounter with a rifle stood out from his suntanned skin, as did a white line across his side where someone had swung at him with a knife. One of his ribs, too, looked like it had once been broken and never properly set back into place so it sat awkwardly under the skin. The lad slithered into the barrel and shivered, scowling powerfully.

--

"Oh, rude," Uban said with mock indignation, though the light in his eyes showed he really wasn't bothered by Wheel's remark about his past. Like he'd told Hana, he had a lot of time to think on that mistake, time to curse fate and hate himself and feel guilt and anger and eventually acceptance. He'd come to terms with that a long time ago and no one would use it against him again. "You just wait, I have some more ideas I want to try. Speaking of, you wanna spar a little with some knives?" Uban had a mischievous look in his eye. There was indeed something he wanted to try, but he wasn't about to do it on anyone but Wheel.

He shoved some dried meat in his mouth and chewed. Something about his expression darkened at the remark about the turtle. He gave a decidedly nervous smile and shook his head. "Uh, no...I don't think so. Not one of those. They're like...the size of a galleon, Wheel. That thing could have eaten the Borealis if it wanted to." He shivered visibly. "A grenado would just piss it off horribly." He thought of the way it came up to him, whispering in his ear...

What exactly had it said, anyway? He never really did think much on it, though he remembered it with perfect clarity. Maybe he'd write it down...or ask Hana to help him. He was more literate than Rohaan, but not by much. He'd have to think about it some more, he thought as he rejoined the rest of the crew topside while balancing the mug on his plate with a shaking hand. It wasn't the ship's lurching that made his hold unsteady, just his own body. The mug rattled lightly as he perched on a barrel, noting a tension in the air. He looked to Pieter. "Geez. Who died?" He asked through a mouthful.

Hana had known the boy disliked bathing, but the look in his eyes nearly made her step back. What else in his childhood had he been subjected to, that he hated to bathe? Berlin's stern instructions to the boy, and the authorization of force did little to settle her concerns. When Rio turned away to drag water barrels, she fled to her cabin on the pretext of getting soaps. Inside the safety of her small cabin, she calmed down and took a bar of sweet smelling lavender soap and a satchel of salts from her chest. She'd purchased the soaps before she boarded the Borealis, and it's scent brought to mind memories of home. Pushing aside the unbidden thoughts, she marched out of her room to the top deck. There, she found Rio sitting in a barrel. The scowl on his face, the rumpled clothes laying on the deck, the barrel, it made Hana giggle. "Hehe, I- ahem. Well, I can tell you're -hehe- happy as you are. However, if you'd like," Hana's grin threatened to overwhelm her, and through force of will, kept it from erupting, "I could warm the water so you're not bathing in cold water." Dragging another rain barrel near Rio, she placed a hand on each barrel. Tapping a tempo on the empty barrel with one hand, she began a separate rhythm on Rio's barrel. Eyes fixed in concentration, she began to chant under her breath, the rhythm of her words syncopated to the two tempos of her hands. At first, it seemed that nothing happened. She began to move her hands up and down the barrels, keeping the two rhythms. In the part of Hana's mind that functioned independently of her actions, she wondered if it'd have been easier to start a fire to boil the water. Still, as she continued, the water in Rio's barrel began to subtly warm, and small bubbles rose and broke at the surface. Pausing briefly, she said, "Let me know when you're happy with the temperature," and resumed her chanting. The water continued to warm, and a single bead of sweat rolled down Hana's shoulder blades.

---

The sore behind Wheel's eye eased a degree at the thought of sparring. "Aye, let me get the knives, I'll meet you above." Strolling out, he said, "We've sunk galleons before, how hard could a lizard be?"

"YOU are laughing at me!" Rohaan huffed, his tone petulant. "Don't you dare laugh at me or I will rub Wheel's stinky socks on your pillow!" It was a mark of both how far he had come since Berlin picked him up but also of the points Hana received in his mind for promising not to blow him up that he did not growl or threaten to bite. He wasn't ready to give her use of his second name just yet, but that promise had done a lot to improve his view of her. That and Berlin's seal of approval, of course. "This is NOT funny," he asserted, arms folded across his chest as if to make himself as small as possible in order to conserve heat.

She offered to make the water warmer and this also won her some points in the book of Rohaan. Warm was nice. And considering how he was actively shivering he wasn't going to argue with that. He expected her to go down to the galley and fetch a few hot stones to put in the water--that's what his mother always did. But instead she dragged over a different barrel and started...chanting? He stood in the barrel, confused, but then he felt the water suddenly grow notably warmer. It wasn't an immediate switch to hot, but it was enough of a movement that he felt it change. Rohaan gave a soft yelp of surprise, a small "eep!" as he put his hands on the rim of the barrel, preparing to launch out of it at any moment. Instead he waited, feeling the water gradually get warmer and warmer. Actually it was kind of nice. He did think for a grim moment that if she wanted to, she could boil him alive like a crab, and though he assumed that her promise not to explode him meant that she didn't want to hurt him in general, it crossed his mind that maybe that assurance had been more specific to exploding, not boiling.

"Okay okay! That's good," he said when the water began to gently steam. "Ai'eda," he said softly. Rohaan thought for a minute and then added, "It means um, thank you." No longer cold, Rohaan gleefully sank down so that only his nose was above water, and eventually put that under too and started to snort bubbles; Rohaan liked water and would swim often when it was warm and they docked somewhere. He had to squat to fit completely under the water, and that left him very little space, so he decided to turn into a deep red octopus and swirl silkily around the barrel. He even reached two squashy tentacles out at her hand, wiggling them at her like a tiny version of the ship-sinking monsters depicted in paintings and spoken of in legend.

--

"...You didn't see it's mouth..." Uban muttered, grabbing an apple and taking it up with him. He tied back his wavy light-brown hair and slid out of his shirt, which he hung loosely over a cleat. It was his nice shirt, after all, and he didn't want to rip it sparring. He immediately shivered as the breeze attacked his exposed skin, though he knew he'd welcome that breeze once they got going. When Wheel joined him with the practice blades, Uban took his, hefted its weight a bit, then dropped into a loose, springy stance and swung.

Hana cackled with glee, and shot back, "Oh yeah? Well, I'll put jam between your toes!" The threat had been used by her older sister to keep her in line, and she'd spent sleepless nights watching her bedroom door. "Besides, I think it's plenty funny." Hana stretched after the water steamed. There were plenty of better ways to heat up a barrel of water, but she hadn't wanted to use more of her supplies. Most of them were expensive or hard to get, and it'd be better to keep them for when they were needed, and not to just speed up a task. Leaving the boy-octopus swim in the barrel, she went to her cabin to get Des Enrolo's travelogue. Returning, she sat on the railing next to the barrel, enjoying the pleasant day as she read. When two squishy tentacles reached up over the lip of the barrel, she let out a mock "eep!" and the tentacles retreated, pleased. The next time the tentacles reached up, she was ready. A sliver of ice was held up so that when the tentacle flexed, it rubbed against it. Giggling, Hana tossed the ice into the barrel.

---

Wheel chuckled and followed Uban up the stairs. Rolling his shoulders, he went to his place on the deck. There was no marker to tell them where to stand, they'd all just sparred so much that they knew where to stand. His curse receded. The ache still reached as far as it had before, but it's grip wasn't so tight. Sparring could help. It could also make things worse. Most things made it worse. Wheel looked Uban up and down as he eased into a fighting position. He seemed eager, more than he should be for just a practice match. Resigning himself to being shocked, he flicked his wrist, the dull blade catching in the light. He darted forward, slapping with the blades flat at Uban's side.

"Ew," was his first response to Hana's retort. Would that be like stepping on a jellyfish? Squishy and sticky? Probably. What a silly thing to do! Rohaan leaned forward to mock sneer at her, his expression almost haughty. "Well then I will put that jam on your toast when I have galley duty! Ha hah!" He seemed very pleased with this comeback. Rohaan enjoyed pranks, as Wheel could very angrily testify, mostly because he was good at them. He was nothing if not resourceful and was not limited to merely the ground. When they made port, sometimes Rohaan would go off and pull pranks on strangers, usually after he picked their pockets.

The octopus' glossy skin reflected the sunlight as it dashed in and out of the barrel, slapping around to find her hand and suction onto it, only to let go and withdraw into the 'depths'. The flesh of the sea creature was soft and squishy but the control he had over every inch of it showed just how strong octopi could be for their size. It was no wonder large ones were feared by sailors and fishermen all around Carisia. Rohaan liked how octopus form gave him ultimate, almost liquid flexibility and yet precise control. His own body had bones that limited just how he could move--he could not roll his forearm into a tight scroll like he could a tentacle. And each little sucker, he had control of too. Moving around in the water as one made him feel like a dancer.

And then something shockingly cold fell into the grasp of his outstretched tentacle and it shot rapidly back into the still steaming barrel with a wet plop. With a bit of a splash of sloshing, displaced water, there was a drenched blonde boy in the barrel again. He'd thought he'd touched metal, but when Hana threw the thing in the barrel with him, Rohaan then assumed it was glass. It was the only thing that was both clear and solid except gemstones. It floated...odd. He scooped it up and the perplexed look on his little face melted into pure shock. That was NOT glass. The lump sat in his hand, very cold, but unmoving except that it...leaked water? From where...? He shook it next to his ear like he expected to hear the slosh of water inside but he heard nothing. Did it look smaller...?

He finally looked up at her with lapis eyes wide, though not exactly horrified. He did look a bit like he'd just seen the very laws of nature turn upside down in a moment, but there was undeniable curiosity there too. He held it out on his palm as it dripped, unsure of what to do with it. "What...is...it? Why is it leaking water?" Rohaan, who came from a very tropical region, had never before seen ice. He might have heard it mentioned once or twice, but he didn't equate the picture in his head to what he held in his hands; surely water couldn't be...solid? No, this had to be something else.

---

Uban was good with a knife, better than he was with a sword by a small margin. He sparred with vigor, feeling a welcome strain in his muscles as he moved, blocked, swung, dodged and--ow! And, apparently, as he was slapped in the ribs. Wheel had an unfair advantage when it came to swordplay, hand to hand, or any other such combat, so Uban could never hope to best him, but he always learned from the man and used him to build his own skills.

"Got two things I wanna try," he said between swipes. Before they'd started, Uban had placed one of the engraved balls that Hana had given him for testing inside a crate near the gunnel. As he traded blows with Wheel, he focused and tried sending a little jet of lightning at it even while he still sparred. He wanted to be able to multitask, to hit targets while being engaged in a fight. Of course, his focus meant that he was slightly less focused on the sparring, hesitated, and that earned him another slap to the ribs with the flat of Wheel's blade. "Damn!" he growled. He would try again, and again, until he could do it effortlessly. It took a few attempts, but he quickly managed to keep enough focus on Wheel to stay engaged while also hitting his distant target.

And now for the second thing. Uban swung, leapt back to dodge a blow to the leg and twisted around to block a very rapid second blow. The worn deck felt comfortable under his bare feet even as it tilted and lurched. He was used to that now and even got a bit wobbly on land at first. The two men danced to the beat of clanging steel until Uban grinned and gave warning, "Brace yourself!" At Wheel's next strike, Uban moved swiftly to block, but just as both were locked into their moves by momentum, Uban's blade lit up with a harsh, crackling blue lightning that made the air buzz and the hair on their arms stand up. He'd tested electrifying his blade with Berlin, but never with this much power behind it.

Hana smiled easily as the boy puzzled over the ice. "It's frozen water. When it gets cold, it becomes hard. Hold it in your hand and it turns back into water." Nodding to the ice barrel, she said, "There's more there." She hoped that he would accept the ice without too much worry.

---

Wheel sparred with lazy purpose. His blade darted as he sought out the gaps in Uban's defense. He didn't break any ribs, and he considered himself lenient. Whether or not Uban would agree, he couldn't say. He noticed that Uban's attention was split, he wasn't striking at as many openings as he normally would. Swinging his blade in a downstroke, he caught Uban's flashing dagger. There was a flash of light, and the next thing he knew, he was on his ass. The curse clamped down, keeping the edge off the pain. His arm felt like it was on fire, and his teeth ached. The dagger had been flung to the side, the cloth hilt wrapping charred at the edges.

Shaking his head, he said, "What the fuck happened?"

Rohaan blinked in absolute surprise as if she'd just told him that pigs were not just capable but adept at flight. That just didn't seem...possible. He'd been in cold weather before, colder than it had ever been at home but he never saw the ocean get hard and freeze like that. Had it just not been cold enough? How cold did it need to be? He looked over at the barrel she gestured to and in order to reach it, he had to stand up and plant his feet on the sides of the barrel somewhere in the middle, feet clinging there with expert skill as he leaned over to stretch and grab a handful of ice bits. He plopped them down in the water his own barrel except one, which he timidly put in his mouth and sucked on. Yep. Water. He crunched it and gave a soft laugh. He had so many questions! What did one use ice for? Did ice happen in nature or did she make it happen with magic? Was it possible to--

His inhumanly bright blue eyes widened in sudden realization and he looked at the chunks that he scooped up in his hands and then at her. "Did you...you took the warm out of that water and put it in here, didn't you? So this barrel has extra warm but that one has none? So it got hard and cold?" He frowned, troubled. "Could you take the warm out of me?" He even cringed a little as he asked that. But then curiosity overruled his nerves again and he added, "would I get frozen and hard?" He seemed to be asking less whether or not she WOULD do it, but more about the theoretical idea that she could and what might happen if she did. He liked to know how things worked and he was a little less afraid of magic that he could puzzle together. And he was a little less afraid of her, too. Just a little.

--

Uban had expected a bit of a bang or a pop, but nothing like what actually happened. It sounded like someone had slapped two sheets of steel together, a sharp echoing crack that made his ears ring a little. The force of it made him have to take a backstep in order to steady himself, but it knocked Wheel straight on his ass. Wheel.

Berlin had been more focused on Rohaan, keeping one ear peeled for cussing, excessive splashing, or cries for help. Apparently she hadn't made him scrub yet because he was pretty quiet. But with his attention half on the horizon and half on his young charge, the bang startled him horribly. "Shit!" He turned, covering the distance between him and Wheel in only a few long strides. Everyone was alive--check. But Wheel actually went down. Briefly, but that alone was a feat hard to manage. And there was Uban, practically drunk with power, laughing. He wasn't laughing at Wheel, but just the sheer euphoria of the power he held. His expression, combined with the now very bright golden eyes of his, made him look almost cracked.

"Tevira's tits, lad!! Some WARNING for the rest of us next time!" Berlin reprimanded sternly, his voice resonant. He would be impressed eventually, but only after he made sure his crew was okay and he recovered from the shock of the sudden crack. "Damn, Wheel, you good?" Berlin knew not to smother him but he did offer his flask to the man. Curse or no, that couldn't have been pleasant to go through.

Hana politely averted her gaze when Rio splashed out of the barrel. The water sprayed her bare feet. When she looked up, he was back in the barrel, chewing on the ice. His expression was of blank curiosity as he crunched. Answering his theorizing, she said, "You pretty much summed up the process. Only freshwater can freeze, the salt in the ocean keeps it from freezing. You're alive, so you make warmth. Freezing living things is possible, but it's also possible that I could beat Wheel in a fistfight." Holding out the sweet smelling soap, she said "Okay, time to clean."

--

Wheel shook his head, leaned to the side, and spat. It caught on his lips, and the spittle hung on the side of his mouth. He chuckled, and started to stand up. His limbs felt like jelly, and he slumped down again. Lying on his back, he shaded his face with his hands. Uban hadn't stopped laughing. Hells. Groaning, he took the proffered flask. Propping himself on a arm, he drank. Holding onto it, he said, "Uban. Don't do that to someone you want to live."

Rohaan enjoyed that joke and openly giggled. He looked over at the lower deck where they were all gathered around a downed Wheel and an absolutely manic Uban. Rohaan hooked a thumb over at them. "But I mean, looks like Uban just did. I think that's the first time anyone ever got him." He seemed to puff out his chest a little as he said, "I probably could but Berlin won't let us really spar. Like, we do with knives and stuff but like, not really for real. He says we're too...vol...volalol? Kikhira. Like a fire with too much wood." He shrugged and played with the chunks of ice floating in his barrel, dragging them under and watching them pop back to the surface, or squeezing them and watching them shrink. "But like, let's say you did take the warm out of me. Would I be crunchy too? Can people get crunchy?" He thought this idea was fascinating. He didn't know that things could change shape too, just like him. "Can other things get crunchy just from cold?"

All his curiosity and playfulness vaporized the moment she held out the soap. His face soured instantly. This stuff smelled better than the usual garbage Berlin made him scrub with, but that didn't necessarily improve his mood at seeing it. What was wrong with sand? Or a smooth stone? Those scrubbed just fine and the skin always felt smooth and clean afterward. He thought soap gave his skin an almost...oily feel. Quickly and with a heavy plop, Rohaan plunged underneath the water and his form changed back into the octopus. He lurked at the bottom, staring up at her with his still blue but oddly shaped eyes, and showed no sign of coming back up.

--

Uban was trying to contain himself, but he found the more he used his ability, the more...hyper it made him. That wasn't quite the word. Euphoric? Energized? It was adrenaline in a pure form. He bit his lip to try and hide his grin but it didn't work. As he ran a hand over his tied-back hair, a couple small arcs sprang up at the passing of his hand. "Oh man, I'm sorry mate." He might not have looked sorry, but he was. He honestly hadn't thought it would hit Wheel that hard. Sure, he had the sense not to do that to someone un-cursed, or at least not that strong. But he hadn't been sure what it would actually do or what the limits of his powers really were. He thought he'd known, but Hana had recently challenged his perception and her ideas had pushed him to explore new limits. Just how far could he go? "I mean, I knew I had to try it on you since it wouldn't kill you but like...I didn't know I could do...that."

Berlin frowned, but there was a twinkle of amusement in his eye. His priority had been to see that everyone was alive and undamaged (mostly) and seeing that done, he could allow himself a little mirth. "I always thought it would be Rheoaan that caught this ship on fire someday, but now I think I have to worry about you..."
Uban snorted in laughter. "Hey, c'mon, don't put me up there with the half-pint arsonist...I'm not that bad."
Berlin looked him over. "For the sake of science, how are you feeling after that?"
Uban beamed at him like he had some truly incredible, amazing news but then said "I'm going to crash in an hour," he said brightly.
Berlin gave a dry chuckle. "Right. Keep you out of the rigging today then. Wheel, I think you've earned yourself an extra ration of rum for enduring that."

Hana gave a concerned glance to Wheel and Uban. She hadn't seen Wheel go down, but he was lying there, clutching a flask. She didn't fully understand Wheel's power, but she'd never seen him knocked down by anything. She knew Uban's power was impressive, and she wondered what they'd discover next. She tutted, and turned back to the boy hiding at the bottom of the barrel. And she'd been doing so well! Remembering Berlin's instructions, she crossly said, "If you don't wash the dirt off of you, the liniment won't work. Come on now."

---

Wheel groaned again, and sat up, taking another swig from the flask. He made sure not to show it, but he was worried. The curse should have let him brush off the shock, but it hadn't. Was it because it knew that it wasn't a real fight? Was it angry with him? The headache was gone, at least. If there was a lesson here, Wheel couldn't figure it out. He wasn't injured, so the curse had protected him. Standing up, he tried to weakly joke, "I didn't know we rationed the rum."

Though Rohaan had been initially sour about having to take a bath in the first place, the warm water was a welcome surprise. It felt delightful on his sore and tired muscles, and he did not feel inclined to ruin the niceness of it with vile soap. The only response that came from the barrel was a wet, deep-red tentacle that slid silently up over the surface of the warm water and curled around one of the few remaining ice chunks floating there. With surprisingly keen aim, considering he couldn't see her from his watery fortress, Rohaan tossed the little ice chunk at Hana, then withdrew the tentacle back into the depths. It left no ripple in the water's surface except for the gentle sloshing back and forth caused by the soft listing of the ship.

---

Berlin smiled and shrugged. "I suppose we don't. But be sure to get a little extra anyway. And I might even have a small stash of limes, too, if you felt so inclined..." He slapped Wheel's shoulder and left to survey the horizon and make sure of their heading before eventually returning to Pieter's side with a cup of mint tea in a dented tin mug. "You've got yourself a fine apprentice there, Pieter. I don't think he has any idea what he's truly capable of. None of us have ever downed Wheel...I'm not sure if I should present him with an award or be concerned for my berserker's health..." There was a surface note of jest in his tone, but his gray eyes were deep in thought. Those eyes strayed to the aft deck where Hana sat over a suspiciously still and quiet barrel. She was still composed, but he thought he could detect a hint of frustration in her expression. Just a little.

Berlin looked back to Pieter with a very poorly concealed smile fighting to break out one his lips. "Poor, brave soul..." he sighed, shaking his head.

--

Uban was beginning to cool down a little, though his eyes were still a somewhat disturbing shade of bright gold. "Really mate, I didn't realize it would be like that. I didn't even know I could do anything that...intense. Sorry." He did look a bit more bashful now that the adrenaline was wearing off. "I'll buy you a few rounds next time we make port, eh?"

The ice cube landed on Hana's foot, sliding coolly to the planks. She shuddered involuntarily and shook her foot to get the icy water off her. Her toe slammed into the metal band around the barrel, hard. Gasping at the sudden pain, she twisted away instinctively. Off balance, she flung her arms out still on one foot to try and regain balance. She posed on one foot, her arms pinwheeling to keep control.The [i]Borealis[i] rocked, and Hana fell over. The bar of soap flew from her hand. Dropping straight down, she landed flat on her ass and than her back. The wind was knocked out of her, and she stared frantically at the sky. The bar of soap completed it's arc, and dunked directly into the makeshift tub. Bathwater splashed itself on her sore toe.

---

Pieter scratched his beard and nodded idly. He was thinking about what Uban's power meant for the priesthood. The sea had it's own magic, and he wondered what the Salt would think of lightning. He had turned to Berlin to say something, but sudden movement caught his eye. He saw Hana flailing, and couldn't help the chuckle that started.

---

Wheel clapped Uban on the shoulder, smiling, "Ah, don't worry about it. Next time I'll be ready, huh?" The curse buzzed at the thought, and a surge of joy came over him. "Come on, I'm gonna get some limes, maybe a drink'll do something about those coins you got for eyes." He heard Pieter laughed, and looked around. When he saw what was going on, a grin spread across his face.

Rohaan wasn't sure what to expect in retaliation for his cheek. Berlin would have given one last warning before he dumped the ice barrel into his, and Uban would have (rather foolishly) attempted to reach in and grab him in the hopes of wrestling the lad into submission. And he supposed that he expected Hana to either try more coaxing or at worst, perform some kind of magic on him. Instead of any of that, he only felt a soft thump on the side of the barrel. Curious and wary, he shifted back to his natural form and peeked out over the lip of the barrel to find a teetering Hana. She toppled over right as a rolling wave hit the side of the ship and sent it lurching starboard. He couldn't help but giggle a little as she hit the deck. She didn't look really hurt, just thrown a bit off balance. Served her right for trying to--

Thwack! The soap bar hit him squarely between the eyes and splashed into the water with a plop. Not only did the warm water immediately start to dissolve the bar, fouling the nice clean(ish) water with it's oily feel and decidedly floral scent, but when he opened his eyes they stung a little; the soap had gotten in. Clamping his eyes shut he squealed like an impaled animal and rubbed at his face under the water. He could now taste the soap and its residue in the water as he'd inadvertently opened his mouth. The boy spat, still scrubbing at his face.

--

Uban took a moment to work out what Wheel meant, but the second he did he broke into hearty laughter. Coins. That was good. That laughter continued as he followed the man's gaze toward Hana and the chaos unfolding there. What had appeared to be an unfortunate slip actually worked out in her favor, as now the near-feral shifter was momentarily blinded and distracted. Now, she had an advantage to press.

"Get him, Hana! Get him while you can!" He shouted. "Show no mercy in war!" He was still laughing, and Berlin was too as he watched. And for a moment, all the subtle, built up stress of recent events and the anticipation of future ones was lifted as the whole crew shared in just a small moment of laughter.

Black dots swam in Hana's vision as she took shallow breathes. The crew was laughing, and despite her embarrassment, she started to laugh weakly, her sides aching with the effort. Regaining her breath, she stood up, clutching the side of the barrel. She waited, panting, until Rio lifted his head from the water.
"If you don't scrub yourself with the soap until you're sparkling, I'll knock the barrel over with you in it."

---

Pieter smiled at the scene played out on his deck before turning his focus back to the seas ahead of him. There was a shadow near the horizon, a ship, and fast moving. "Captain, your spyglass."