When Demetri woke the next morning, Kai had already left. “This is becoming a habit,” he grumbled to himself, rubbing his eyes. He rolled into Kai’s pillow, inhaling his autumn leaves scent and groaned, already regretting getting up for the day as he headed to the galley to grab some breakfast.

Demetri grabbed a plate of food as Arya swirled around the kitchen, cooking, and laughing at something Ezra had said to her. Mel sat across the breakfast bar holding up a piece of bread for Arya to eat, but Mel pulled it away and giggled. Ezra swooped in and stole the bite while she was distracted and they all burst with laughter.

He blushed and left them to their adorable scene and sat at the nearest table. A few bites in, he sensed he was being watched. Kai was standing across from him when he looked up. He held his serious mask in place for all to see, but Demetri could see the nervousness hiding beneath.

“Thank you for caring for me while I was ill last night. I owe you,” Kai told him, a bit louder than necessary.

“You’re welcome,” he answered, not knowing what else to say. Kai walked away with a nod and Cale sat down beside him.

“I just don’t get him,” Demetri told Cale with a quiet sigh.

Cale shrugged. “Well, everyone was talking about you spending the night with him. His men seem a bit upset about it for some odd reason. I think that was his way of telling them nothing happened. They’ve been giving him dirty looks all day. Like it’s any of their damn business.” He cracked his knuckles and looked towards the two bull-hybrids. “Want me to fix the problem?”

“Nah, something’s going on, but I don’t think starting a war with them while we’re still stuck on this ship together will help.” Demetri patted him on the back. “Thanks though.”

Ayden bound in with two fishing poles in hand. “Who wants to measure poles?” He smirked, glancing at everyone in the room. “Where size doesn’t matter, but skill does?”

Ezra rolled his eyes. “Only you could make fishing sound so dirty.”

“Ah, spoken by the sailor with the smallest reel.” Ayden was about to say more when a plate came flying at his head. He ducked just in time. “And the worst aim.”

“Aye, get out of here,” Ezra huffed. “You’re all talk. When your line’s in the water the fish probably don’t even know it's there.”

Ayden knocked the back of Ezra’s hair, but the fight was over. “Fishing competition in ten minutes. And don’t think about letting us do all the hard work. We are going to need tons of fish by tomorrow.

The contest lost all its excitement within an hour. Six men with poles in the water and nothing to show for it dampened their moods greatly. Demetri felt the sun beat on his back, the water reflecting it back into his eyes.

“Maybe the turtles ate ‘em all,” he said. “I don’t see any damage to the ship. The way it sounded last night, I thought it’d be reduced to toothpicks by the time they left us alone.”

He turned to Cale. “Why exactly are we fishing anyways? I mean, I’m sure they will taste good, but why do we need so many?”

“Dunno, man.” Cale shrugged. “Do you really need a reason to fish?”

Demetri sighed, pulling in his uneaten bait. He was about to give up completely, when something rancid invaded his nostrils. “God, what is that?” He asked, holding the back of his hand under his nose.

“New bait!” Silas smiled proudly as he held up a bucket of brownish-orange balls that floated in a thick liquid that looked like bile. “The fish will love it.”

“What did you use, your girlfriend’s underwear?” Ayden called, holding his nose and waving a hand back and forth to dispel the odor.

“Yes.” Finn retorted, as he carried another bucket closely behind Silas. “Probably should return them to your mother.”

Ayden tried to reply with something undoubtedly witty, but gagged as the wind blew the smell to him.

“This don’t work, through that shit overboard. What would want to eat this--” Cale started to complain after trying it for only a few minutes, but his pole jumped.

Something struck Demetri’s line as well, making the reel spin. He was so shocked at the sudden bite. He almost lost it when Ezra reached over grabbing it from flying into the water.

“Reel back, reel back. Come on now, you’ll lose it.” Demetri hefted it up on deck and held it up for Ezra to examine. “Oh, that’s a big one. Bluefin Tuna. Nice!”

“Your welcome!” Silas sang, proudly.

By mid-day they had a dozen Bluefin Tuna, a couple of Pollock and Cod, and a net full of smaller fish. “Alright, this should do,” Ayden said, examining their hard work. “Thanks for the hard work everyone. Trust me, you’ll appreciate your own efforts tomorrow.”

Demetri decided to dive into a book as the rest of the day dragged on. He set a hammock out on deck and closed his eyes, appreciating the warm moment of peace. It couldn’t be a better reading set-up. So peaceful and quiet. But not too quiet, with the white noise from the waves and people occasionally walking by. Temperatures were perfect, until the sun started to set, but by then the lack of light made it too hard to read anyway.

He packed everything up and headed drozily to his bunk. He wasn’t used to being outside so much, and the sun seemed to zap his energy. As he passed the Captain’s room one of the sailors stood in front of Kai’s door, staring him down as he walked by.

He has a guard now? This can’t be because they heard I was there last night, could it? He hit his bed and fell asleep quickly, before he could think too much on it.