The AEtherstrom was whirling all around them, tossing the ship first one way and then another, pitching and tossing in nearly every conceivable direction. The crew was gone. Some had been hurled violently from the deck as the ship had entered the unnatural whirlpool, and the rest had simply vanished, pulled from reality itself. Only two remained, although in the chaos, it was unlikely either knew why. Only their planeswalker Sparks, already attuned to the tempest of the Blind Eternities, kept them from being pulled from this world. In fact, in an almost cruel twist of fate, in the Aetherstrom, planeswalkers were the only ones who couldn't leave the plane.

As the ship spun and pitched, Gale stood almost casually with a single hand on the rail. Anything that fell into the otherworldly maelstrom around them would be destroyed. Completely. And Gale knew that. She also knew this ship, and could feel the waves around her. Three more minutes, she thought to herself. If the ship could survive just three more minutes, it would pull through. But the AEtherstrom had a lasting effect. She still didn't know much about planeswalking, but if what she had been told was true, it would be impossible to 'walk for months after the AEtherstrom strikes.

Gale glanced to her right, where the small, dark-haired girl was screaming. She was gripping the railing with both arms, and her legs were flailing over the side. Gale looked at the pale woman's arms. They were small. No muscle. She would not hold on for three more minutes. Any second now the tossing of the ship would break her hold, and she would fall, pulled into the strange amalgamation of water and aether from which she could not escape. Pulled into the eternal embrace of the ocean. Claimed by the mercy of the sea.

The Sailor looked into the woman's green, pleading eyes. Even now, Vasco's little pearl looked away, unable to hold Gale's gaze for longer than a moment. Gale sneered. She thought back, in and for an instant, on everything that had happened, everything this woman, this "Blink," had done. She remembered her Captain's face, handsome and kind, and what Blink had done to it. She remembered how this woman had poisoned the minds of the crew of the Blazing Star against Gale, how she had taken the first place that had made Gale feel like home away from her. She remembered everything that had happened on Vegante, and everything that had happened since.

Suddenly, the ship pitched hard, and Blink's hold broke.

And almost before she knew what was happening, Gale was moving, and her strong hand was gripping Blink's wrist.

Gale held her there, still dangling over the side, for a long time. Blink tried to look up at Gale, but still, even now, when her life was in the other woman's hand, could not look for long. Gale, for her part, stared down relentlessly at the other planeswalker. All she had to do was let go, and Blink would plummet, claimed forever by the ghosts beneath the waves. But still she held on. She briefly wondered why as she suddenly became aware of a change in the ocean. The AEtherstrom was dying down. It was now or never. Gale had to make a choice.

Before the AEtherstrom could vanish, Gale reached out her other hand and hoisted Blink back up over the side and onto the deck. There, the smaller woman collapsed against the rail, struggling to catch her breath. Still, she refused to look at Gale. As Blink tried to recover, the AEtherstrom vanished, and the waters became calm once again. Gale nodded once to herself, then grabbed Blink by the shoulders and stood her upright, still panting for breath.

Gale scowled, and punched Blink as hard as she could across the chin. Blink dropped like an anchor.

Gale nodded, and reached for some nearby rope to start binding the unconscious woman's arms and legs. As she worked, she spoke, knowing full well that Blink could not hear her. "You don't deserve the mercy of the sea. But I've got a ship, and I've got ink, and needles, and a whole lot of time. So let's see about getting you all the things you DO deserve."