Two if by Sea (21/32)

At long last! I never thought I was going to get this part finished. (I think this was my third or fourth try...which ended up incorporating the third try as well, by the end.) At first, what I had was too short for my liking, and then it was too long and boring. I think I've fixed that now, though. Enjoy!

Previous parts, warnings, summary, and so forth can all be found here on the master index.

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( Part 21...come sail away with me? )

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( A bit of post-mortem on the chapter )

Hopefully, the next chapter will be easier!

~later