Caledonia suddenly worried that this would remind everyone that they were upset with or still hurt by their captain’s actions, but her girls were riveted. They wanted to know what had happened to her.

“This girl waited for a small fleet of Bullet ships to arrive, then she climbed aboard the flagship and fought valiantly against none other than Fiveson Lir. She held her own, but she was outnumbered and he fought dirty. He used the pikes of his own ship to spear her through the back and would have left her there to die if her own bomb hadn’t gone off at that moment. We watched her. Her red hair burned like fire against the black sky as she struggled off that pike and got herself overboard. She should have died, but she held on to her tow and washed up on our shores. How could we let someone so bold bleed out on the rocks?” Pine paused, looking toward Caledonia with a flame of respect in his eyes. “We couldn’t.”

He returned to his seat, but the tables were still and quiet. Confused, Caledonia turned to Pisces, finding a look of awe on her sister’s face. This, Caledonia realized, was the first they’d heard the full tale of the night she left them.

“Cala.” Pisces pressed her palms to the table as though holding herself up. “You almost died.”

It was the first time she’d used that name since her return, and the sound of it hummed along Caledonia’s skin. She smiled. “Only a little.”

“You—you didn’t tell us,” Pisces said, sorrow tugging at her mouth. “Oh, Cala.”

She reached for Caledonia’s hand, understanding what Caledonia didn’t have to say aloud. That she didn’t know how to share anything with Pisces mad at her.

In the moment that followed, Hime rose from her seat. She looked at Pine and signed: Thank you for saving our bull-headed captain.

Pine smiled. “I think I understood that. And she didn’t make it easy.”

Everyone laughed. They’d found perfectly common ground at the expense of their captain. And Caledonia couldn’t even begrudge them their joy because it wasn’t anger or resentment that lifted their laughter, she realized. It was something closer to love.

“You should have seen her the day Pi went overboard!” one of her girls shouted.

“Or when she ran from Pine, bleeding all the way through the forest!” a Blade added.

Sledge stood, his mountainous form commanding silence in an instant. “Our captain’s foolish bravery is only tempered by her incredible head for battle. I’ve never seen anyone able to keep her head in demanding situations quite like her, and I am honored to fight at her side.” Here, he paused and raised his glass. “To our captain!”

The crew echoed in a thunderous voice, “To our captain!”