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Travel on the Ball Eater had been going smoothly, though it had only been a day so far. Things could go wrong during the night, or even sometime in the light of the next few days of travel. It was why the members of the Mighty Nein had decided it best to take watch at night, in case something like the sea harpies happened to attack the boat again.
The crows nest was high, far away from the deck of the boat and higher still from the waves below, dark and threatening under cover of night with only stars to see. It was safer up there, easier to notice any enemies faster. It helped that it was padded with pillows sometime ago, to be more comfortable to sit in.
The first two watches of the night had gone smoothly, leaving Veth to the third and last watch as she climbed the ladder, passing by Fjord and Beau as they went off to bed from there watch by the wheel. She got to the top of the nest and sat down, back against the plush softness of a pillow against the wood as she looked up over the edge and at the sky.
A few minutes after she’d gotten comfortable, Caleb climbed the ladder as well to join in their shared watch, and sat down beside her.
For a few minutes, they shared in companionable comfortable silence, watching the sky over the lip of the wooden structure, before Nott spoke, her voice a quiet whisper, “I can’t see in the dark anymore. Everything’s so much darker now, it’s weird.”
“Not bad though, just something to get used to.” Caleb said carefully, looking at her.
She nodded, “Yeah! Yeah, yeah yeah. I guess I just, got used to dark vision, and. I forgot what the night sky looked like.” Veth admits, leaning her head back to watch the sky.
Caleb frowned, “What do you mean?” he asks, looking up with her.
Keeping her eyes on the sky, she sighed, “There’s so many stars. I can see all of them, they fill the whole sky. I couldn’t see any of them as a goblin. The dark vision, I think, made the night too bright to see them? But, but I can see everything now, it’s so bright. I forgot what the sky looked like, the constellations.”
“Oh.”
Veth laughed, “I couldn’t understand what you meant before, about other planets. The sky was just blank and I was so confused, wondering what you saw that I couldn’t. I get it now, being able to see everything properly. There probably are other planets.” she admitted, looking to him finally.
He smiled gently at her, nodding slowly, “Ja. The one I showed you before. Over there.” he pointed, and her eyes followed where he showed her and she can see, between all of the twinkling lights dotted throughout the blanket of dark sky, a star that shines just a bit brighter between a smattering of other smaller stars. “That’s another planet, there might be more but I don’t particularly know much of space. Maybe we can see that gnome again later, if you want.”
Veth shrugged, “No, I’m good. It’s just, nice to see it now. Maybe there’s other creatures on that one, do you think?”
Caleb looked thoughtful, before he shrugged as well, “Maybe, who is to say?”
She nodded, “True. Um, I don’t actually, remember the constellation names all that well. I might have learned them before, but you know...if you could teach me them again?”
“Of course.” Caleb said, immediate, looking at her with a soft expression she was happy he still showed to her, now after she wasn’t who she first looked like when they met, when they were alone and sharing things together.
She leaned against his side, and he wrapped an arm around her companionably, as he pointed to the stars that he knew and remembered, reminding her of the names before telling of their origin and story for the rest of their watch until the sky became lighter with morning.