[center][h2]At Day's End[/h2][/center]
	A deep, gutteral growl rumbled out aways of the distant and blackened sky, prompting the newly minted crew of The Eagle's Deliverance to shiver in agreement with their terse host. Suddenly a gleam sparkled in Caleb's eye, and all the quickly he exclaimed, "H-Hold On! Just one more thing!", before making a mad dash for the captain's cabin with Ribbon and Flower gleefully trailing after the boy's frenetic exit. The other half of the crew, alongside their gracious hosts, could only stare after him in bewliderment.

"...well...Well then--", a noticeably less projectile-vomit-shade-of-green Rainbow began, still clutching his stomach but lacking the previous accompanied stupor of an abject drunk, "--It's been, ehr, pleasant making your aquaintance your "Majesty" - admittedly we might not have made it this far without the..." At this point his eyes temporarily twitched, locking deadset on the hippocampus sat beside the larger Merman and his Siren companion: "...[i]intuitive[/i] intervention of our newest mate, but I have a feeling he'll be a little more considerate about that when we head for this next shortcu---"

A short burst of [b]WHACK, CHOP, CRACK, CRACK[/b]s erupted from out of the aftward cabin, jolting the fuzzy little gremlin mid-scathe and streaking a ripple of disgust at the discordant melody playing across their hosts' presence. Ribbon bolted out of the doorway ahead of her companions, barking triumphantly between a jawfull of a table leg; Rainbow was looking to turn green again.

"I've got it, I've Got It!", Caleb cried with a similar glee to his canine companion and the white gull screeching approvingly out and overhead of him as he slammed the door back open and charged down the brine-soaked planks. The three stopped just short of colliding with their miniature admiral and sending the lot of them tumbling over the railings, and the boy produced a hastily procurred, but nonetheless equisite wood-carved mold of a bear's growling face.

"Here - I'd like you to keep this until we see you two again. A luck charm, since nothing'll be able to happen to us until we come back to collect it again." The more imposing of the two mythological hosts took it gently in the palm of his hand, which on its own easily dwarfed the size of Caleb's head; he turned it over a few times by the tip of a finger, and although the boy could've sworn he heard the faintest mumbling about...salt, and...preserves, for some reason, the being returned his gaze with the slightest of smiles: "Very well, it will be a King's honor to keep this...artifact, in your stead, as a sign of your fortuitous passage across the Great Sea."

"--king-to-be...", the siren mumbled between some mock pruning of his feathers with a delicate hand.

Before anyone else could respond, Caleb beamed an absolutely radiant smile, shot his knicked sword into the air and waved a proud, hearty [b]"GOOD-BYYYYYYE!!!"[/b]. The sound of their farewell echoed across the ancient seas, rippling out like a great north wind in Rainbow's mind - afternoon passed into Twilight, and the reality of nightfall snapped him awake again. All around them was the glistening of silver waves dancing under moonlight, punctuated only by the sweeping strokes Edward made through them...all else was calm, almost serene.

He scoffed, crossing his puny arms over his chest and squinting his eyes at the makeshift form of the hippocampus wrestling between shadow and light. It'd been a good few hours more since they'd departed, and he was still, STILL swimming. Did he even need to sleep? Did he even need to eat? Wait...yes, technically that last one was true...

Meanwhile the admiral of the ship couldn't even stay awake long enough to keep an effective Night Watch, tsk. The rabbit-goblin shook his head, rising from the barrels he'd slumped himself up against and giving a nice, exaggerated stretch to signal his presence on deck. If he was going to play the part of the crown this ship, it wouldn't do to be anything other than "A Big Deal" in the presence of his newfound crew.

"I see we're still making steady progress--", he cut the words short, cursing himself at the momentary slipup; [i]still[/i], well, maybe the hippocampus hadn't noticed he'd been out of it...as if there even was much "it" going on in the first place. The hours had probably all blended together in his little mind, and even the fleas knew that youth wasn't exactly the brightest fish in the barrel...