Hana had bent to work the moment the ship had gotten underway. She had begun at the bottom, magically waterproofing the surfaces of the bilge. Though thankfully it was empty of water, the entire space reeked of something she couldn't decide smelled more of rotting kelp or fermented fish. Dragging a heavy knife through the wood, she carved out an oval on the walls and floors of the bilge. Reaching her hand into a bucket of animal fat, she layered it onto the indentations she'd made. Mixed with herbs and charcoal, the fat would keep the spell tied to the wood, waterproofing the bilge for a season or two. The spell itself, however, would have to wait. From there, She worked her way up to the crowded storage space. That took moving the crates and barrels to let her trace a complete oval. Wheel helped her, silently lifting the boxes as she crawled on her hands and knees, smearing the animal fat into the grooves. It was a cold day, and she had to warm the fat between her hands as she worked, making them greasy. She lost herself in the task, and didn't realize that she had finished the storage area until she looked up for the next set of crates to move and saw Wheel climbing up the ladder to take a smoke.
She went up on the topdeck after that, her back aching as she dulled the knife of the planking. She stretched for a minute before she made her second loop of the ship, this time pressing the fat into the grooves she'd made. Finally, she went to her room to retrieve the thurible that held the incense she'd burn as she cast the enchantment. Until this point she'd had no point for self doubt. But now, about to cast the enchantment, she briefly froze up. 
She knew she could cast the spell, she'd done it plenty of times before. But, holding the thurible by it's chain, she thought she'd forgotten the words, and that it'd fail. She thought about the certainty of her own failure the entire time she descended into the bilge, smoky incense filling the air of the small space. 
She began the spell. Stopped, coughing on nothing. Her blood pounded in her ears. She began again, and this time recited the entire spell flawlessly. The wood of the bilge was slick, and water rolled on top of it. It wouldn't mold, and bugs wouldn't find their home in it. 

She went up to the next room. Repeated the spell. Coming up onto the top deck, Hana smiled and cast the spell, walking the perimeter of the ship as she spoke. Testing it by dribbling water from the bucket of rainwater they kept, the water rolled along the deck, sitting in a puddle, unabsorbed into the planking. The spell had worked. Hana nodded to herself, then went to put away the thurible. 

---

Pieter tapped the stem of his pipe against his teeth as he thought. "Well, me and Uban can ask around."