Valorie watched her crew from the crow's nest as they all ran around, manning the ship fairly well. She was happy to find another family that actually seemed to care and depend on each other. She could finally relax...well, relax for the most part. Being a captain meant she had to take lead and decide where and what was going to happen, but she didn't mind it, it just meant she had more choice and freedom.

Val noticed that the sun had started to set, turning the sky into a gradient of blue, yellow, orange, and reds and the clouds looked pink and purple. She always enjoyed the sunset, especially when she was a child, it was calming for her to watch as the sky went dark. Though since it was sunset, it was time for this half of her crew to retire to their rooms for the night. She turned and slowly began to climb down the ladder, wanting to be careful so she didn't have to use her wings at this current moment.

She got to the bottom of the ladder within a few minutes, walking over to the stairs and up to where the wheel was. Valorie stood at the edge, holding onto the railing in front of the wheel before calling out to the crew, telling them they could turn in for the night. She turned back to the wheel and patted the girl's shoulder who was currently steering, telling her she could go as well. The girl let out a sigh of relief as she walked down to the deck. She watched as 5 teenagers walked out of sight and waited another minute as 4 more came into view.

She smiled at the one who walked up to the top deck where she was at. He was a little bit taller than Valorie and had fluffy, black hair, silver eyes, and round glasses. He wore a white tank top with a tan coat, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing off his arms kept in bandages. He smiled down at Val as he stood next to her.

"Shouldn't kids like you be in bed by now?" The boy teased.

Valorie laughed, "Oh shut up Evan, I'm barely even a year younger than you. Besides, I'll be going in a moment, I just need to make sure we're set off in the right direction before I go to my room for the night."

Evan nodded in reply, scooching Valorie to the side so he could take control of the wheel. "Fair enough, go check on the crew and sleep then. We can discuss our plan of action tomorrow morning after we land."

"Sounds like a plan, you know what to do if we get ambushed or attacked"

"Of course I do captain" He removes a hand from the wheel to pat Valorie on the shoulder before returning it to the wheel. "See you in the morning Val"

Valorie nodded and smiled, "See you in the morning Ev." With that, Valorie turned and walked down the steps and onto the main deck. She walked around to observe the work of the previous half of the crew. Deciding that they had done a good job, Valorie smiles, yelling a quick good night to the rest of the crew before walks to her and Evan's quarters.

Now, she and Evan were never and will never be lovers, they had decided this since they met. Evan had found her with her wings tangled in vines and branches and he had decided to help her. He carefully climbed up to her and started slowly pulling the vines from Valorie's wings.

She had struggled at first, not knowing who Evan was and not wanting to be around him, but she realized she got herself more tangled. Val looked around for another option, and when she realized there wasn't one, she let Evan help her. She just sat there until he freed her. She laughed at the memory now, who could have thought that a human and a vither would get along so well, well enough to call each other family.

As soon as she got to her room, she put her hair up in a bun, not wanting her long hair to get tangled overnight. She left her sword and belt on, not bothering to change tonight. If everything went as planned, they would be arriving at a town the following day and she could get some new clothes from there.

She was happy, after all this time of being called a runt, she was finally in the lead, she could finally make her own choices. Valorie carefully laid down in the bed, laying on her side. Her wings laid behind her as she curled up into a comfortable position, her back to the wall and her left arm under the pillow. She was dead asleep within a few minutes.