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"Jay, do you think you have a moment?" Caspian called from the Crescent Moon, grabbing Jay's attention as she walked by, intending to go check on whatever the rest of the crew was doing. When Jay turned, her wings fluttering a bit against her back with the sudden movement, she found that Caspian was leaning casually over the railing with one hand extended in a wave.
He smiled softly; sharp teeth exposed behind blue lips in a way that Jay had long since learned not to be intimidated by. His ear twitched casually and when he leaned over the railing, his white foamy hair fell in front of his shoulders, bubbling up around his face like the white caps of large waves. It was constantly moving as if he was underwater, a different sort of gravity taking hold of him entirely.
From where he was standing, Jay couldn't see anything below his torso, but she could imagine his long, whip-like tail idly swishing back and forth in the way that it always did when he was casual about something.
"Sure, what do you need?" Jay responded, raising an eyebrow as she shuffled closer to the railing to hear Caspian better without either of them having to shout over the sound of the waves.
Caspian tilted his head to the side and leaned his elbows on the railing, shoulders slumping slightly. His ears twitched again, and Jay could see the way his piercings jangled at the movement. He was covered in a lot of jewelry, silver, and gold decorating his person. It made him look a lot fancier than Jay would ever imagine for a pirate, but she could respect the look.
"Well," Caspian leaned back a little and rubbed at his neck, his friendly smile turning into something a lot more bashful, "We've been having some issues on the ship lately, as you could notice from the slow pace. And I was wondering if you had the time to come try and figure this out with me."
Jay blinked, tilting her head to the side as she processed what Caspian was asking of her. Her small wings pressed against her back when she folded them tighter, and Jay could feel the wind combing through her feathers.
Caspian let out a deep sigh and looked over his shoulder briefly before turning back to Jay. His electric blue eyes stared at her intensely, trying to be casual but still showing a sort of fondness for their friendship.
"Sure, I could take a peek at it," Jay shrugged and nodded in agreement. Caspian didn't offer much explanation at the moment; he was probably waiting for Jay to give her answer before he went through the basics of it. He was the type of person that didn't want to say too much for no reason, he would wait to make sure whatever explanation he had was justified enough to give it. It was a lot different than Chip who talked just for the sake of talking.
"Great!" Caspian lit up in a bigger smile, he stepped away from the railing and gestured towards the plank that they had between their two ships. With one hand, he waved Jay over to their boat. Jay understood the message and made her way over to the opening in the railing.
Extending her wings out to balance, Jay quickly crossed the gap between their two ships, her boots thumping hard against the wooden plank. The sound echoed and Jay could hear the churning pull of the waves in-between the gap.
As Jay neared the Crescent Moon, Caspian even offered her his arm to help her onto their ship. Jay merely rolled her eyes at the offer, but because he was so polite about it, took his arm and allowed him to pull her down from the wooden plank. Caspian smiled, his cold wet hand pressing against Jay's palm in such a way that Jay couldn't help but shiver.
A look of almost guilt passed over Caspian's face just as quickly as it had appeared, and he removed his hand from Jay's now that she was sturdy on the deck of their ship.
Jay folded her wings against her back once more and glanced around, admiring for a moment how their two ships could look so different while being relatively similar in size. It never failed to amuse Jay. All the differences between their crews were always fun to notice, and it brought a fresh new perspective into the mix for both of them.
"So, what's the issue that you've been having?" Jay asked, looking over at Caspian with a curious expression. Caspian nodded thoughtfully and prepared to put his thoughts in order to explain to Jay, she saw the way his tail swished back and forth behind him casually.
"We're sure that there's something wrong with the sails," Caspian admitted, "But no one here has been able to figure out what the issue is. And by all means there is an issue, we just don't know how to figure that out."
"So what exactly have you noticed?" Jay asked, raising one eyebrow as she glanced up at the mast.
"It's been so difficult lately to get the sails lowered properly, it's as if they get stuck when trying to undo the ropes," Caspian complained, leaning his chin on his hand as he merely rolled his eyes and peered up at the large white sails above them. He rolled his eyes slightly and glanced over at Jay who was still staring firmly at the sails. "I've tried pretty much everything except taking down and putting them back up again."
"What do you mean it's difficult?" Jay asked, reaching up to scratch at her chin. Her other hand planted firmly at her hip. She pulled her shoulders back a little bit and stretched her wings, allowing them to droop slightly. "They get stuck when trying to lower them? Does it also get stuck when you try to pull them back up?"
"It might be something with the ropes but I'm not so sure," Caspian shrugged, his white foamy hair bubbling against his shoulders as he leaned back against the railing, his hands finding purchase around the smooth wood. "They don't unfurl right. They seem to keep getting tangled both ways. When we try to do anything with the sails, they get tangled."
"And you've just been sailing like that then?" Jay turned to look at Caspian, raising one eyebrow suspiciously. She knew that Caspian was smart enough to know that something being wrong with the sails was a pretty big deal for pirates. It could mean getting caught by someone unfavorable because they wouldn't be able to maneuver in time. "You haven't thought to look into it more."
"I've tried!" Caspian spread his hands in a wide gesture, staring at Jay with wide eyes. The small webbing between his fingers stretched with the movement, claws extended. "I've done pretty much everything I can think of to fix it, but nothing seems to work. I'm convinced it's some kind of sabotage."
"I doubt it's sabotage," Jay couldn't help but shake her head and laugh, amused a bit by Caspian's paranoia. He said it casually as if it were a joke, but considering the captain he followed, Jay was sure that there was a hint of genuine concern behind that statement.
But she couldn't possibly think how someone could've sabotaged their ship when they had been sailing near each other for long enough that Jay was sure that their crew would've also gotten affected. But the Albatross had been sailing fine these past few days. So it couldn't be anything to do with foul play.
The wind probably knocked something out of place, or it was just general wear and tear. The ropes might have gotten worn out or they might even need new sails in general. There could be a lot of different things wrong with the ship that had nothing to do with sabotage or anything of the like. They were both pirates, there were so many things that could go wrong on a ship in the middle of the ocean.
"You can never be too cautious on the sea," Caspian clicked his tongue and furrowed his eyebrows. His ear flicked in Jay's direction and when he shifted, his tail moved with him, flicking back and forth with an idle rhythm. He kept it close to his legs when he walked, trailing along the railing to reach up and tug at one of the ropes fastened to the sails. "Lizzie and John have both taken their crack at figuring out what's wrong. But none of us have been able to figure it out. And of course, none of us can really climb all the way up there on our own."
That was true. It was really hard to climb up to the sails or where the rigging and other ropes were. Especially when they didn't have any sort of abilities or ways to get there easily. Jay had a bit more of an advantage since she could fly and could at least somewhat get to higher-up places. Which was probably the only reason that Caspian had evoked Jay's help in the first place, she was sure that Lizzie would've hated the idea of asking someone from a different crew for help in fixing their sails.
"Okay," Jay slid her tongue across her lips and nodded. She fluffed up her wings in preparation, feathers rustling in the wind that combed between the Albatross and the Crescent Moon. "You want me to go up there and see if I can figure it out?"
"Another head in the game might make figuring this out much easier," Caspian nodded thoughtfully, foamy bangs rustling in the breeze as well while the ocean passed by underneath them. Jay stared at his thoughtful, almost frustrated expression with amusement. He looked strangely frazzled, and Jay could see the weight of this task on his shoulders. It was almost entertaining to see his calm, collected persona broken down by a trivial issue that he couldn't seem to fix.
"Of course, it always helps to have a new perspective," Jay nodded in agreement, pulling her arms behind her head to stretch her shoulders, the muscles in her back pushing underneath the skin. The ink on her shoulder blades rippled with her movement, feathers curling around her skin in preparation.
Jay figured the only reason Caspian had asked her of all people was because she could get all the way up to the top of the sails and maneuver easily. Even if she was at risk of tangling up in the ropes, she had a much more reliable safety net than anyone else did. And it wouldn't be as much physical exertion in order
And besides, if he was asking Jay to come take a look at it, that must mean that they had completely run out of options.
Jay wasn't completely clueless about how ships ran. But she didn't know a ton about the sails or how the ships worked either. She knew enough to get by as a pirate and to be able to get their ship moving and maneuvered properly, but she didn't know if she had the knowledge needed to fix any problems. Chip was a lot better at these things than she was, especially considering he had grown up on and around ships his entire life.
Jay, while being part of the Navy, didn't have the same experience that Chip did. And she definitely didn't have his frankly intimidating knowledge of ropes and knots. Every time Chip tried to teach her something, it just seemed to go right over Jay's head.
But Caspian had asked her for help, and backing out now would be admitting defeat. And Jay especially wasn't going to admit defeat to Chip of all people by saying he would probably be better suited for this. That would probably be an amount of embarrassment that Jay could never recover from.
The least she could do was to take a look at it and see if she might be able to spot what was wrong with the sails. Then, if it was something she didn't know how to fix, she could ask Chip for help with the task. Or at the very least she would be able to possibly tell Caspian what was wrong.
Their sails did look a bit tangled up and the way that they caught the wind seemed to show some sign that something was wrong. They were half rolled up, gravity refusing to take them any lower toward the deck, making their ship sluggish. Even the Albatross had slowed down to keep pace with them, but they couldn't stick with this pace forever. The two crews had places to be and couldn't afford to be held up by something (hopefully) as trivial as an issue with the sails.
“Okay, I’ll see if I can find anything,” Jay told Caspian with a firm nod, her feathers rustling in the wind. Caspian smiled kindly at her and nodded in appreciation.
”Thank you,” He said, taking a step back to give Jay more room. Even if he had only seen Jay use her flight magic a few times, he knew enough that Jay needed room to take off.
Jay gave him a short nod, pushing her hair back away from her face, the feeling of magic rippling against her feathers causing her to shiver, the ethereal blue glow spreading down her shoulders and combing through her wings. Phantom feathers sprouted from the balding/thinning spots on her wings, filling them up and allowing her to take flight. Her primary feathers, previously much too small to actually allow her any sort of flight or even so much as gliding down from the mast, filled out into something extraordinary.
She could feel the magic digging underneath her skin, sliding down between the spaces between her shoulder blades and vertebral column. It dug deep into the muscles of her back and chest, stitching between the fibers and strengthening them in ways that Jay had never been able to build up on her own due to the way that her wings were. She had been put under too much stress when she was younger to try to fly with wings too small to carry her, and in response, the stress injuries had done a number on her wings. But the flight spell was enough to stitch up those injuries for at least a little bit so that she could take flight.
Thankfully, her wings didn't feel any heavier than before, the phantom feathers adding no real weight to her wings. Or if they did, the strength of her muscles made it feel like it was nothing.
With the magic, her wings had shifted into an odd mix of blue and the reddish brown of Jay's normal feathers, making her wings look a bit worse for wear as the magic only filled out the spots that needed feathers. It didn't fully change the look of her wings, which always made them a little unsightly, but with Caspian nearby, Jay found that she wasn't entirely self-conscious of it. She knew that he would never judge her for something like that, especially when he knew that Jay couldn't fly normally.
Jay herself wasn't entirely insecure about the look of her wings, she had grown up being made to feel bad about the size of her wings. And as she grew up, she just kind of started to ignore the things that everyone else said, especially the words that her father directed toward her. It hurt. But Jay didn't care anymore, his opinion didn't matter.
“Could you give me a quick boost?” Jay asked, turning towards Caspian with a curious expression on her face, her eyes wide. She wasn't trying to force him to do anything, and she hoped the softness in her face conveyed that well enough, but she was hoping for a little help to get into the air. Even if the flight spell gave her the ability to, well... fly, it was sometimes a bit difficult to get into the air from a position like this.
“Oh, right, of course,” Caspian nodded firmly and dropped to one knee, cupping his hands together in the way that one would normally give someone a bit of help to get up a wall or other high climbing obstacle. Jay smiled at him and huffed out a small laugh to which Caspian returned with a wink and a nod, his ears flicking affectionately in her direction.
Jay took a few steps as a headstart in order to get some momentum, stepping up into Caspian's cupped palms. He pushed up with as much strength as he could while Jay used that small bit of momentum to get herself in the air, flapping her wings and catching the small bit of wind that passed between their two ships. It made it a bit easier on her wings so she didn't strain as hard trying to start up from nothing.
Caspian fell back a bit and hit the deck with a small oof, but he just laughed fondly and gave Jay an enthusiastic thumbs up.
“See if you can find what's wrong,” Caspian told her, shouting a bit to be heard over the wind and so that his voice would carry the few feet in the air that Jay was steadily hovering in. Jay nodded once more and used the air around her to pull herself up toward the top of their sails.
Her wings worked almost on autopilot, working both with the guide of her spell from the feathered tattoo on her back as well as her own long pushed-down instinct that allowed her to fly like this. She maneuvered a little bit to get out of the way of the ropes and other parts of the sails that she didn't want to get tangled in and easily made her way up to the crow's nest. Jay just hoped that she would be able to land somewhere sturdy enough that she'd be able to catch on and take off when she was ready to get down. It would be really embarrassing if she did end up getting stuck.
The wind pushed her hair in front of her face when she flew and Jay smiled at the feeling, loving how it felt to have the wind in her face and combing through her feathers. Even if the adult flight feathers right now on her wings were fake, it didn't matter. She could still feel them as if they were her own, the phantom tingling of the breeze fluttering through the barbs causing a tingle to roll down her spine, excitement causing her stomach to do flip flops.
She was getting distracted, that wasn't what the original point of why she was up here. Jay shook her head a few times to clear her thoughts, recognizing that she had done this for a reason, not just to enjoy the feeling of the sun and the wind of today.
Jay made her way up to the top of the mast, her wings flapping with a sort of strength that Jay never knew she possessed. The magic at least made her wings stronger so she didn't have to worry about the fact that she could barely hold her own in the air like this. If her wings were actually the right size to fly, she would never be able to due to the fact that they weren't nearly strong enough.
But she was able to get by with the use of her spell. Every time she used the magic from her tattoo, Jay was even more thankful for the fact that she had done that in the first place. Even if she would certainly be sore in a few hours from this.
Jay overshot a little bit on the top of the mast, flying farther up than she originally needed. But if she let herself drift down a bit, she could (theoretically) easily land and allow herself some room to examine. The sails only reached so far up, but the height was still dangerous to someone unable to fly.
However, having Jay fly up to the top was much more efficient and safe than having anyone else from the crew do it, even if they were able to climb around safely. And since Caspian said he, Lizzie, and John had already tried, that probably meant either they just still couldn't figure out what was wrong, or they weren't getting up high enough.
Maybe the fact that Jay had essentially her own safety net was also why Caspian had asked for Jay's help, knowing that she would have a much safer way up here and would be able to judge the problem from a safe distance without risk of falling off the mast and breaking her neck.
Jay decided that she would start up on the top of the mast to see if there might be anything wrong with the ropes there. Even if the sails didn't go up that high, it never hurt to try and see from the place that no one else on the ship would be able to get to.
Her hands scrabbled for purchase around their mast, her wings fluttering a bit as she struggled to land somewhat safely. Jay's feet found a place right above where the sails hung from the wooden supports holding them up, an intimidating mass of ropes causing Jay to nearly trip. She sat down on the top of where the sails connected to the mast, practically straddling the beam in order to get a better look without falling off.
Even if she did have wings to catch herself in case she did fall, that didn't change the fact that she could very easily get tangled in the ropes. If her wings got tangled up, she'd be in a pretty tight pickle.
Jay leaned forward until her chest was practically resting against the beam. She stretched her wings out a little bit to keep herself balanced, but not enough that they would cause her any problem when it came to maneuvering between ropes and beams. The white fabric of the sails whipped a little bit in the wind, not fully catching the air in the way that it was supposed to, causing their sailing to be limited.
On her previous glance, it didn't look like there was any actual damage to the fabric of the sails like someone cutting into them or damaging the way that they were made. It just seemed like it had something to do with the ropes, and besides, Jay was sure that Caspian or Lizzie would be able to figure out if the problem they were experiencing had to do with the damage to their sails. That was a pretty obvious thing to notice, it wouldn't even take a pair of wings to get up there and see.
So Jay decided that it would probably be a better option for her to check the ropes that held up the sails, seeing if there might be anything tangled or possibly a rope was cut when it shouldn't be. Jay knew that Chip had the annoying habit of cutting the wrong ropes in whatever stunt of the day he thought would be cool. But at least he was always the one to replace them and fix their sails, so she didn't mind as much. But if he started trying to get Jay to fix it, then they would have a much bigger issue on their hands. And that would certainly involve a few weapons.
But really, the longer that Jay sat up on the mast, checking the ropes, tugging a few times to make sure that they were sitting in place properly and tied how they were supposed to, Jay considered that this really was a job better suited for Chip. If she couldn't find out what the issue was, she could suggest bringing Chip up here to Caspian. With her wings, she could easily get Chip up to where he needed to be and he could take a look at what the problem might be.
That was the worst-case scenario plan since Jay really didn't want to have to admit to needing Chip for help with something like this.
As she sorted through the ropes on the sails, Jay was just starting to figure out what her next perching spot would be if she couldn't find anything here. She could try the place below the mast, or even try and get up into the crow's nest, but both of those would have limited access to the sails and the ropes. Jay was just starting to get ready to take off again when she spotted something that she hadn't noticed earlier.
Somewhere halfway down the sails, right where the issues seemed to have started, there was an uncomfortable knot that had gotten tangled up in both the ropes and the sails. It was obviously hard to see from the ground, and even from whatever vantage points Caspian or the rest of their crew would be able to get to, it wouldn't be that obvious. It was easier to see from a top-down perspective when Jay was looking directly into the sails, halfway hanging upside down.
Jay hooked her leg over the side of the beam, trying to lean a bit closer to get a better look at what the issue was. The rope itself had gotten tangled up in a significantly sized hole in the sails. The hole didn't appear big enough to actually hinder the function of the sails too much, but it was enough that the ropes used to lower and raise the sails had gotten tangled up in it. Jay nodded to herself firmly and sat steady.
“I found what the issue is,” Jay called down to where Caspian was still looking up at her expectantly. She noticed the way his posture immediately changed to standing up straighter, his eyes widening significantly. “Or at least what I think the issue is.”
“What do you see?” Caspian shouted back, cupping his hands around his mouth to use as a megaphone, his tail visible swishing back and forth with a much more excited rhythm this time. He smiled and Jay couldn't help but smile as well.
“There's a hole that the ropes have somehow gotten tangled into,” Jay draped herself further over the wooden beam, trying to get a bit more comfortable without the hardwood digging right into her stomach. “That's probably why it's been harder to do anything with the sails.”
As Jay explained the situation to Caspian, she was steadily brainstorming a way to get down to that area so she could fix it. There weren't any nearby spots that Jay could easily perch on, and the entire reason that no one had been able to figure out what was wrong with the sails up to this point was because the spot was in such an inconvenient spot that no one had been able to see it from where they stood. Jay furrowed her eyebrows and sighed, thinking long and hard about what she was going to do.
It was in a tough spot to fix, even for Jay with her wings. And Jay didn't fully have the stability and control needed to keep herself in the air in one place for an extended period of time (long enough to fix the problem). If she had a bit more dexterity with her wings, she might be able to, but it would certainly be tricky for her.
She could possibly see if she could shimmy down one of the nearby ropes and use that as an anchor to at least keep her in the right spot, using her wings to keep her high enough in the air. That might help a little bit with reaching the place where the tangle was. But it might also hinder her ability to use her hands enough to fix it.
Whatever Jay decided to do, she definitely wouldn't know if it was gonna work or not unless she tried and failed. And if that doesn't work, she would just have to get up to the mast and try again with a different idea. She had about an hour to deal with the issue, and they always had the rest of the day and the next few days to work. The best thing that they had gotten was that now they at least knew what the issue was.
“I'm gonna try and get down there with the ropes, I don't think there's anywhere close enough for me to perch and reach where it is,” Jay told Caspian, wanting to let him know what she was doing before she did it. Just in case something went wrong, at least Caspian would know what she was doing.
“Alright, be careful, let me know if you need any help,” Caspian responded, “I might not be able to get up that high but I'll certainly try to get up as high as I can.”
“Thanks, Cas,” Jay gave him a thumbs up to acknowledge what he had just said. Caspian returned the gesture with a flick of one of his ears, his tail flicking back and forth. The small golden ring that he had placed near the end of the whip-like tail reflected in the glowing sunlight, pulling Jay's attention for just a moment before she returned to the task at hand.
Wrapping her fist around one of the ropes below her, Jay used her wings to cushion the drop a little bit so she didn't immediately free-fall onto the rope. She pulled herself down off of the wooden beam and tried to get a good hold of the rope before she immediately dropped. It made it a little easier that she could use her wings to pull the air beneath her and lessen the strain on her arms.
Jay took a deep breath, not at all scared of the height, but mostly scared of getting tangled in the ropes without a way out. If her wings got tangled, she would have to try and find some way to get out of that situation, but who knows how she would do that.
She could still see the tear in the sails from where she was (whatever Caspian wanted to do with the actual hole wasn't any bit of her problem at the moment. Jay just wanted to get the rope untangled). So, keeping her eyes on the problem spot, Jay slowly lowered herself down the rope, a sense of lightness equivalent to falling causing her stomach to do dangerous flip-flops.
Jay swallowed thickly and slid her tongue over her lips, glad that she at least had her fingerless gloves enough to protect her palms from rope burn. She didn't want to have to deal with the pain of having burns all over the palms of her hands at the moment. That would be an injury she would leave Chip to deal with whenever he decided to be a little too stupid with the ropes.
So, trying to be careful, Jay ever so slowly inched her way down, constantly shifting and occasionally flapping her wings in order to both keep herself balanced and to make sure she had a good grip on what she was doing. Then, when it seemed like she was close enough to where the ropes had gotten tangled up in the sails, Jay tried to keep herself stationary on the rope. There was enough slack that Jay could wrap it around her foot, halfway keeping herself standing up on the line, using her wings for balance.
Jay had to use a bit of momentum to swing closer to the sails, the ropes there not fully touching the white fabric. But it wasn't too much of an issue when she was able to flap her wings a few times in order to get herself there. Now the only issue was the fact that Jay only had one hand free to fix the tangled ropes.
She could try to maneuver the rope so that she was halfway holding onto it between her elbow, but that also came with the risk of falling. Jay had already gotten this far, she didn't really want to have to climb up and try again, she would rather get it done, happily glide down to the top deck of the Crescent Moon, and then go back to the rest of her day, happy that she was able to help Caspian (And Lizzie, she supposed).
Jay managed to get at least one hand onto the rope that was tangled up in the sails, her nails dug into the hard fiber of it. She used that to steady herself, holding onto it hard while she hooked her elbow around the rope that she was hanging off of, very carefully extending her other hand out to grab onto the rope. Jay sucked in a sharp breath as the rope wobbled dangerously, her wings flapping to compensate for the lack of balance, trying to keep herself steady in her current position.
Using both her wings and the guide of the rope that she was currently hanging off, Jay hoped that would be enough support to keep her stable and in place.
From the looks of it, the knot that had been tangled in the sails didn't seem to be too tight. Thankfully the amount of times that Caspian or Lizzie had tried to mess with the sails enough to hope that they'd be able to fix it didn't seem to make the problem worse. There always would've been the risk that their messing around with the sails would've caused the knot to tangle tighter.
Jay figured it might even be easier to just cut the rope entirely and restring it with a different rope. And normally, that would be the immediate solution that Jay came up with, just to avoid having to do all this work to try and get it untangled. But if Jay was being honest, she wasn't entirely sure what would happen if she did cut one of these ropes, and she wasn't sure how hard it would be to fix if she did just cut the knot out.
So she resigned herself to the grueling task of getting it untangled. Worst-case scenario, it was also tangled up towards the top of the mast as well which would be a little inconvenient, but easier for Jay to just fly up there so she could undo the loop and get it untangled. The entire situation thankfully didn't seem too difficult, it wasn't anything that Jay couldn't fix.
With that in mind, Jay started to dig her nails into the heart of the knot, pulling on the rope to try and pull it out of the hole in the sail first, hoping that it hadn't completely tied itself around the fabric. Thankfully, it came free easily and didn't seem to be tied around the actual main part of the sail, it had just gotten lodged and wrapped around the sails a little bit, making it hard for the Grandberry pirates to actually use their sails.
Jay yanked on the knot a little bit and it came free from the rip in the sail. Almost immediately the rope dropped from Jay's hand, the knot as well as the sails immediately cascading down towards the deck when gravity took it. Jay nearly yelped, losing her balance a little bit for a second before she was able to catch herself on her wings. She sucked in a deep breath and held on hard to the rope that she was currently wrapped around.
From below her, Jay could hear Caspian give a hoot at the freed sail, his joy palpable as Jay pulled the knot from where it had gotten stuck. The only issue was now there was still a knot in their ropes, and Jay had no idea where the rope had fallen to when she accidentally dropped it.
Jay untangled her foot from being wrapped around the rope and slid down a few more feet, trying to see what had happened with the tangled part of the line.
After dropping down a few more feet, Jay was able to spot it and grab onto it, pulling on the loop that made up most of the tangled part. She hooked her fingers around it and pulled it towards her, practically cradling that part of the rope against her stomach while she curled around the other rope she was currently hanging on. Her wings flapped a few times just to keep herself steady and Jay let out a steady breath, calming her nerves.
Her wings were starting to get sore from the tensing and relaxing that she had done just to keep herself balanced and sturdy. It was a lot of finer movements that Jay wasn't used to using as much as the larger movements required to fly and (poorly) land. She just resigned herself to the fate of being incredibly sore by tomorrow for this stunt. Jay had to get better at flying somehow, and what better way to practice finer movements than just shoving herself right into a situation like this.
The knot in her hands came free with a little more tugging and maneuvering and Jay cheered quietly to herself. She allowed the rope to slip from her fingers, the rest of the length of it freely cascading down to rest where it was supposed to go. She watched the way it coiled and swung in the air, settling back into the neutral position that it hung in while the sails were down, a bit of wind immediately catching in the white fabric and causing Jay to sway on the rope she was hanging on.
Jay looked down at where Caspian was standing, her hands still wrapped tightly around her current rope, wings flapping occasionally so she didn't have to use as much of her strength to keep herself pulled up. Caspian had a wide smile on his face, an excited glint in his eyes. He gave her a double thumbs up this time and Jay couldn't help but laugh.
“I'm coming down now, you probably want to get out of the way in case I land on you,” Jay called down to him, giving him a nice warning ahead of time about the fact that Jay hadn't fully mastered the art of a graceful landing. She could keep herself in the air properly and even do cool tricks and maneuvers that she liked to show off with in front of Ollie or Chip, but that didn't mean she had fully mastered what it took to land without face-planting. It was always hard to keep her balance when the strength from her wings always threw her off her rhythm.
“You have the whole deck to land on,” Caspian called, taking a few steps away from where Jay was, pressing his back against the wall where the captain's quarters would be. Jay figured that Lizzie had probably holed herself up there in the time that she and Caspian had been working. Lizzie always seemed to be doing some kind of work that kept her unreasonably busy.
Since she had already given Caspian a warning that she was about to land, Jay let go of the rope, using what little momentum she could to get away from the rest of the rigging so as to not accidentally get tangled up in it. She flapped her wings, feeling the wind comb through her feathers as she remained stationary for only a second, then began her short descent to the top deck.
Jay's boots hit the ground first, but at the odd angle that she had ended up landing in, her knees almost immediately buckled once she placed her weight on her legs, her wings knocking her forward with their weight. Jay let out a yelp of surprise as she tumbled forward, her palms skidding against the wooden deck to brace herself. She still hadn't gotten that down yet.
Caspian was at her side in a moment to pull Jay back up to her feet, his cold hands curling around her shoulders enough to yank her back up. Jay let out a small yelp and grabbed onto his arms for balance, using him as an anchor to stand.
The wide smile on his face was practically contagious, he grinned and let out a laugh, shaking Jay a little bit with his hands still on her shoulders.
“You did it!” Caspian exclaimed, tail happily wagging behind him as he shook Jay again for emphasis, the chill of his hands seeping through the fabric of Jay's shirt. But she didn't mind, she was used to Gillion being cold all the time, Caspian being a lot colder than that didn't bother her too much. Caspian let out a small laugh. “Jay I'm so happy right now I could practically kiss you for this.”
Jay smiled and allowed herself to laugh, her wings fluttering happily as she folded them high above her shoulders, the wrist poking up far above her head from the way that her magic made them much bigger than normal. She held onto Caspian's forearms.
“Why don't you then?” Jay challenged, going along easily with what he was saying.
“Well if you insist,” Caspian seemed caught off guard by Jay's challenge but he only allowed it to show on his face for a few seconds. He moved his hands from Jay's shoulders to grab at Jay's jaw, leaning down to press a dramatic kiss to her cheek. He even made the silly “mwah” sound when he did so, his cold lips brushing against Jay's warm skin and causing her to shiver. Jay laughed again and threw her arms around Caspian's shoulders.
“I knew that you would be able to figure it out,“ Caspian hooked his arms around Jay's waist, no stranger to physical contact now that Jay seemed receptive to it.
“The problem wasn't visible down here and I can see how you would've missed it when getting up as high as you guys were able to,” Jay explained thoughtfully, feeling Caspian's fingers twitch around her waist as he held her kindly. There was nothing romantic or further than that in his contact, just a friendly hug. Jay enjoyed the contact nonetheless, she liked Caspian's presence and he was always fun to interact with.
“I knew that getting a second opinion would be helpful,” Caspian's sharp teeth pressed against the skin of his bottom lip when he smiled, tongue sticking out between his teeth. His ear twitched and his earrings jangled lightly. “Even if Lizzie told me not to.” He huffed out a small laugh and leaned his head back, foamy hair falling away from his face as he did so. It cascaded down his shoulders in a practically mesmerizing way.
“It always helps to ask another person,” Jay shrugged and nodded in agreement, she pulled her wings around in front of herself to wrap Caspian up in a tight hug. He grinned and tucked her face into his shoulder, squeezing her a bit tighter for a second before pulling away. Caspian kept her within arm's distance, his wide grin settling into something softer.
“How do you wish me to repay you for this?” Caspian asked, eyes showing the genuineness in his offer as he stared at Jay intensely. He let out a slow breath, chest rising and falling gently.
“You don't have to repay me, we're friends,” Jay reassured him, reaching out to pat Caspian on the shoulder, “Friends help each other.”
“Well by undersea honor, I am required to repay you in some way for this service,” Caspian suddenly furrowed his eyebrows, staring at Jay completely seriously. Jay wasn't entirely sure if he was being honest about the undersea honor thing, but considering the way Gillion treated accepting help or favors, she could never be too sure.
“Well, I suppose you could honor my Ferin hospitality and join us for dinner tonight,” Jay said, thinking long and hard about Caspian's offer, “I fixed your ship and you honor my company.”
”That doesn't seem like a fair trade-off, you fix our sails and then treat us to dinner,” Caspian squinted suspiciously at Jay, trying to see an ounce of joking or playfulness in her tone.
“Are you undermining my family traditions?” Jay gasped incredulously and pressed her hand to her chest dramatically, “It is a Ferin requirement to have everyone join for dinner and you'd disrespect that after everything I just did for you? You disrespect me and my family and the wings on my back which just saved you several days of travel.”
Caspian held his hands up in a placating gesture, “Okay, okay, okay, we will join you for dinner, I promise.“
”And you'll even get Lizzie out of her cave, and bring John too?“ Jay raised an eyebrow at Caspian, ”And Rudith too?“
”Yes, yes, I'll bring the entire crew over,“ Caspian waved his hand dismissively, shaking his head fondly with a small laugh.
“Good because I'm going to be making dinner,” Jay huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest, “So you all better join us too.”
“We will be there, don't worry, you'll just have to call us when it's ready,” Caspian let out a small but fond sigh and pulled his shoulders back, his tail wagging back and forth fondly.
Jay gave him a thumbs up and a smile, “Don't worry, you'll know.”
Caspian nodded and took a step away from Jay, “Well, thank you very very much for what you did, I will see you at dinner?”
“Mhm,” Jay hummed and gave Caspian a mock salute, “I'll see you all at dinner.”
Jay smiled once more at Caspian and then began to pull away, making her way back over to their ship so that she could start to make preparations for dinner. They'd have four more joining them, so she had to make sure there was enough food. Her wings fluttered and she allowed the last bits of her magic to dispel, the blue glow practically melting from her feathers like wax as she crossed the plank between the Crescent Moon and the Albatross on her new mission to start making dinner.