2- Way hay and up she raises

Morning. Everyone were doing their business - Skeretts eating hardtack and various perishable fruits and drinking premium red wine whilst discussing about events back home, Athy builders crafting miniature wooden towers in a drunken bet, Blakes sparring on the weather deck, the Morris reading manuscripts regarding laws of varying cultures and religions, and the O'Connors, as well as 20 garrisoned sailors, monitoring the ship. Totaling in 53 heads, 10 for Athy, 8 for Morris, 5 for the three other families.

Everyone was noisy at the time, doing about their own issues and gossips.

"Land, just to the East! I saw it with my own eyes, Captain. Less then a day off!"

Nolan's words echoed loud enough to cause silence all around their ship and gain everyone's attention.

"I shalt repeat!", he shouted, "land at the east! 85 degrees away from the south pole!"

"Yes, we get it!", interrupts Seija Walsh, "we heard you first time. No need to repeat it ever again."

"So", says Sithmaith Morris, "we're going to make land?"

"Yes we definitely are", answers Seija, "however, I feel something..."

"What is it?", asks Aodh.

Seija closes her left eye, leaving her blind right eye open. As a demi-oracle, she has the ability to feel the future, but its details are very obscure.

"... Something will try to stop us, but in vain", she whispers, "But this will give drastic changes. It is also inevitable."

"You mean", interrupts Neil, "our ship's going to crash on land? Well, thanks for having that jinxed up - I'll begin planning about how to anchor our ship and transport our men and resources to the land! That way, we'll still get back to the ship if we wish. So win-win."

After finishing his confident speech, the ship suddenly comes to a halt, tossing some of the people and most light goods forwards. Fortunately, no one fell to the ocean, but after one of the sailors walked towards the bow and examined the hull, he made a terrifying conclusion.

"Hull breach!", the sailor yelled, "Large coral rock hit the hull!"

"Great", says Neil, frustrated, "Thanks brother. You just went arseways for us, again."

"Look", explains Aodh, "You bear half the responsibility for not telling me that I'm still driving the bloody ship."

"Well, that proves my ability to forsee the inevitable, right?", says Seija, smirking into an irritating, smug simper, arguably the most intolerable smug face she has ever expressed in her whole life, "now you realize my potential for your group."

"Oh bugger off", says Shay, adding "okay, Ms. Fortune Teller, what happens next?"

Seija closes her left eye once again, whispering "... You'll fall off and prove something to help us all."

"Prove what?", questions Shay, being skeptic of her ability.

"Morris tackle!", cries Sithmaith before pouncing on Shay, causing the two of them to fall off the ship.

Surprisingly, the water is actually just four and a half feet deep. Sithmaith then stands up, saying "that's for last night" before helping Shay stand up by pulling his hand.

"You idiot", exclaims Shay, lightly hammering Sithmaith's scalp with his clenched fist as a sign of irritation, "you do know that we might have drowned, right?"

"A-actually", interrupts Goban Athy, "c-coral towers are a sign of, uh, they signal that shallow, um... Land, er, that the waters are shallow because the giant rock is not a coral... It's a, um, reef, that we're on top of."

"In summary", explains Doyle Skerett, "Goban states that we are currently on top of a shallow reef."

"My big brother's just an idiot", says Erin Athy, "or maybe, um, socially impaired... I love you brother, I'm sorry!"

"Everyone", yells Aodh, "your attention, please! Get the dinghy down and take as many of our valuables into land! Someone has to guard the stuff on land as we try to send more of our supplies into land before we set up camp!"

"It's like the fox, goose and bag of beans puzzle all over again", whispers Magnus Morris, Sithmaith's elder brother, "ah, childish nostalgia..."

"Oi, lassie!", Shay points at Seija, "jump down here!"

"Good luck sending me down there you pillock!", Seija exclaims, "you had me back then last night, so think of this as payback!"

"Seija", Aodh says.

"Hm?", she responds.

"Cac ar oineach!", he playfully and happily exclaims before pushing Seija into the water. Only about half of her head is visible on the water - the rest are underneath, ruining her Gaelic dress. She frustratingly walks on the water and stands next to Shay.

As the rest transport goods into the water, an unidentified man with an oversized leather satchel trying to sneak off the ship by climbing down the side of the hull was detected by one of the Blakes.

"Stowaway!", yells fellow brother Fionnlagh Blake, pointing at the man.

"Captain Aodh", questions Shay, "Don't tell me, is that one of your pals again that you've been keeping secret from us?"

"Nope, he's definitely a stowaway", says Aodh, "take him to me."

The sailors climbed down the ship and called for the man to get down. He follows, and is dragged towards Aodh whilst keeping his satchel away from the water.

"I am sorry!", the man says, "I shall do anything for you!"

"What use do you have for us, savage?", angrily says Shay, drawing his gallowglass and pointing its tip towards the man's neck.

"I will show you, but not here on the water!", the man adds, "On the water it's ruined, but if it's dry, it will work for us!"

"Shay, sword down", Aodh calmly speaks, with Shay following his orders, "Now, tell us your name and the goods inside your bag."

"My name is George Dufour of Konpaku", he says, "inside my bag... Is an observer of time."

"... We'll check your time-observing creature or device inside your bag once we're on land", Aodh comments, "right now, sit on the dinghy so we'll send you there."

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