Isakov grabs the saw and follows the line drawn by Auntie Mana alongside Milles. Auntie Mana had once taught them medicine with Doctor Gabrio. It was an enlightening experience that followed a beating from the Doctor when it came to a sparring.

The Doctor to Isakov was always a fighter to him. One of the best he had seen.

“You are distracted. You might cut it wrong, student.” Auntie Mana warned.

Isakov nods his head. “I am sorry. It's just strange to me. How the Doc’s with the Soundless and the Jesters.”

“Is that a surprise to you? He has spent hundreds of years in this world. Well, he has been taught in combat. He had to learn skills to interest himself with so much spare time… well he has learned. Though it has only been recently since the Soundless taught him. It was the Jesters who agreed first.”

Auntie Mana recalled something. “He was not a warrior. He wasn’t such a great fighter, but experience has taught him things… and I think the accident had made him eager to know how to defend himself from monsters.”

“I see.”

There was an accident that granted the Doctor longevity. The details are usually hidden and some have speculated that the Doctor was simply a half-elven -- one without the long ears. But Mana would assure them that he's simply a human who had done a deed worthy of longevity.

Aeka seems to know, but she would not answer. Still, it does make Isakov wonder how involved the Doctor is when it comes to the fleet. For a Doctor, his role has been changed.

“Are you surprised that he is with them? Hmm, I’m sure that Gabrio had told you that he came from Fort Rava?”

“Yes, from AON. The birth land of my ancestors.”

“Hmm, let’s see, before he was a Doctor and Surgeon. He was taught by a Butcher in a prison. A madman who performed experiments and he was an apprentice. He knew how to hurt people… and perhaps it is the reason why he’s so eager to protect instead of heal.”

“But he’s after them?”

“Can you blame them? Besides, believe me when I say this, but it’s better if he’s the one who does it. It will be less painful for the creature. And who knows what that creature might do. Anyone else is our enemy first.”

“That is true.” Isakov has no doubts about the enemy. The fleet-kin is united by that idea and through that idea they are able to live this long. Hostility against the unfamiliar and wariness of the foreign. It is through these ideas that are able to survive.

There are no friends outside of the fleet. Only possible enemies and those who might be enemies. It might sound xenophobic, but after spending so long in the sea full of monsters.

The fleet had become like this.

“Please cut this!”

Mana pointed. Isakov saws the part of the flesh while Aeka continues to hold the creature with her Treant. After sawing that part of the flesh, Aeka spreads the flesh.

“It looks like a creature that consumes crystals. That explains the rough teeth and the rough organ. Hmm, the liver is inverted and genitals are sunken in through it’s pelvis area. So it’s quite retractable.”

The skin is like a bark and buried that bark are the internals of the creature. From the looks of it. The skin disease became a hereditary trait and whatever kind of creature it has retained the bark-like appearance that it seems to wear in order to protect itself from the environment. Its eyes are squinted and further examination suggests that it might not be able to see very well in the sunlight because of its eyesight.

“Did you break its spine, Aeka?”

“I did… teacher.”

“Hmm, very interesting, such a strange specimen. It’ll take time to kill if you do not target its head. Shooting it with bullets will not work with how still-blooded it is. But a shot to the head or snapping its neck will work as well.”

Auntie Mana takes a note and then tells the sprites around her to take away the blood from her.

“It’s not an infection, but eating its meat will give you a bad stomach. I don’t have the necessary equipment, but we can say that it's a Mutated creature that has been turned.”

“Turned?”

“If you are asking if it’s a curse or a spell. No, it’s simply a creature that has lost its rationale after spending so long in the dark. It’s not human, and definitely not a kind of elven. But it is a type of humanoid race that has its mind degraded.”

Auntie Mana grabs a bonesaw and starts cutting off the tusk of the creature that is growing on the bottom mouth of the creature.

“From the looks of it… it seems to be eating by digging or even ripping up tree bark to get insects. The uneven teeth and the long tusks suggests that it uses its teeth to break rocks.”

Isakov cringes at the sight of the remains of insects and what seems to be rodents inside the stomach of the creature. Auntie Mana’s face remained natural despite the pungent smell. She’s far more interested in the tusks she sawed off than the innards of the creature.

“May we dispose of this, Milady?” Aeka asked. Holding herself back from the stench. Auntie Mana noticed their foul expressions and motioned for them to drag the creature out into the ditch and let it be burned.

“Finally!” Aeka moved her Treant and hauled the corpse back to the ditch while carefully making sure the guts don’t spill out of the stomach. After dropping the creature down on the hall. Aeka spoke words of power and burned the creature inside the ditch they dug for it.

The smell was awful and pungent, but after the raging fire conjured by Aeka. The only thing left was ashes. After the embers subsided, the rest of the troops who were on ash duty, sacked the ashes and made sure that they were stored and hauled back to the fleet.

Going back to the separate space that was raised by Auntie Mana. Isakov sits down and looks at the instruments and medicine left by the Doctor and Auntie Mana.

Milles sat down and took his pistols out. “Oh Great Equalizer, slayer of men, beast, and devils,” he said to his pistols. “Thunder that brings light to the darkness, the boom that clears the darkness, and the flash that brings salvation.”

“You're maintaining them now?”

“Might as well.”

He wipes his pistol and then places it on the table. He checks the chamber of his bolt-action and chants the litany of gunpowder again. “Oh Great Equalizer, slayer of men, beast, and devils. The Thunder that brings light to the darkness, the boom that clears the shade , and the flash that brings salvation to its holder.”

The litany of gunpowder was a chant taught by those who fought in wars back in Aon. It was more of what you’d mutter about when clearing your firearms.

Without anything to do. Isakov takes his guns off from his belt and places them on the table as well. Every man and woman of the fleet is given a pistol. A child will hold his gun while he or she is still young and will be thoroughly trained to hold a gun until he or she thinks it’s his or her third arm.

When a child is big enough to hold a rifle, they will be trained how to shoot it with it and how to use it as a spear. It was a mandatory skill that every man and woman of the fleet must learn.

Most of the fleet-kin holds a rifle and sidearm. And depending on their role, will be allowed to hold a hand cannon or a two-handed weapon that can fire grape shots.

Everyone was taught as best as they could. Some may resent the teacher for their harsh training, but it saved their life. They can only be calm because they have been trained to be as calm as possible. Not to mention there are only a few things one can do in the fleet. There was merit in training and if one wants to become a soldier, skyver, and a diver. They would need to train their body to adjust to the depths of the ocean.

It was rare to find a waste in the fleet. And although some are born sickly or lacking. The fleet never does try to throw them away unless they are proving to be a hindrance to the fleet. The fleet itself cannot afford to feed the sick and the ill. And some who are beyond saving are taken away by the Soundless and the Jesters who quietly take the children away from their parents and are vanished from the fleet.

It’s for this reason that Isakov didn’t want to think of the Doctor as someone who’d take care of ill children and take their lives away. He finished taking care of his guns and then quietly went to the space where Auntie Mana was making sure that all equipment was well-attended.

“You have words, student?”

“Auntie…”

“I told you to call me, Teacher. You do make me feel old, student.”

“I’m sorry.”

“There is no need. Hmm, are you perhaps worried about the Doctor’s affiliation with the Soundless and the Jester?”

“You read my mind?”

“It bothers you dearly. Oh, I would be worried too. But you should be aware that he has, not once, killed a child. He simply refuses to cross that line and he’d rather cut his hands off.”

“Really?”

Mana shrugs. “I know him enough to know that. This is a man who would beg you to allow him to help you. But if he recognizes you as an enemy. He would tear you apart to protect the people of the fleet.”

“Then why would he be with them?”

“Because it’s a matter of importance. Like I said, it’s more merciful if the Doctor is the one in-charge. He is much more precise and if it comes to it. He will not receive the welcoming of the Soundless and the Jesters.”

“Auntie…”

“I told you.”

“Do you think we’ll be facing the creatures of the interstice again?”

“Maybe. It has been long since they have appeared before the fleet. Of course, we have hundreds of years to prepare if such a thing appears.”

“So it’s a fight then.”

“Like I said, it’s not still a given that we’ll be attacked. For now, I want your calmness and the zipped mouth. Words can cause things and when used improperly… leaves a reaction that can be helpful or not. He is… open for dialogue and I’m sure that he’ll tell if you asked. Though some information might need to be kept as a secret.”

“No, I trust the Doctor. I’m not that kind to think lightly of someone who’d cursed at our existence. If they are our enemy, then they will be treated with the same grace as one would expect of an enemy.”

“Student, no, Isakov. A closed-mind is a must if you are to think of your enemy as enemy, but we did not teach you that. If you cannot understand the enemy, then how can you hope to defeat it? Remember, we might have lost the fight against the Interstice when we severely underestimated their ambition to win. The blinder and the baron’s clash had severe consequences and we simply had no idea who won the battle while we were not present at all. But know this well. This voyage will not be over without clashes against those who deem us evil in their eyes.”

Isakov looks away. “I wonder if I can see the end of this voyage.”

“Maybe you will… but maybe you will not.”

An endless sea to cross and enemies to face.

Sometimes the thought it all is maddening to Isakov.