That evening, they took account of what they had gleaned from the island: 20 birds, 20 coconuts, and almost 5 barrels of water....and a cat. The cat sat in the center of the council meeting, watching each of them as they spoke. Dirk piped up and said, "The cat is a boon to the ship Arya, but it needs a name." Arya said, "Kate," to name it after her mother. Thomas said, "Arya the cat is male." "Even better," Arya said, "Ned then." The cat looked at her and rubbed against her face. Portsmith said, "You like that name, don't you, Ned?" Ned walked to him and meowed in the affirmative. The whole table laughed. Springer piped up, "Back to the issue at hand, we really need at least 5 more full barrels of water to see landing somewhere on the continent. Can we risk another day's water gathering?" Jon looked around and said, "If we send 20 crew ashore with more casks and a smaller away party at first light, we might get 6 more barrels and be away before dark." Thomas jumped in, "There is a large cave on the eastern wall I want to explore, so we need a large enough away party to guard everything and scramble up to that cave with a few of us."
Ned slept right beside Arya. At one point, Nymeria jumped on the bed and bared her teeth at the cat. Ned swatted her in the nose stiffly. Nymeria leaned away, licking her nose, but she lay down and never offered to bite the cat again. Before first light, they were all up and fed. Portsmith and 20 crewmen loaded casks on the sloop and took off for shore. Thomas, Drena, Nymeria, and Arya were the exploration team. Caelan, Jon, an archer and one of the knights, was the watch team. As they were loading themselves and barrels into the smaller boats, Arya spotted Ned on the railing watching. "Are you coming, Ned?" she asked. Ned stood, twitched his tail, jumped down onto the deck, and ran away from them. Thomas thoughtfully pondered, "That cat may be smarter than we are."
Water-carrying was underway with alacrity by the time Drena and the exploration team made their way to the cave; the sloop had 4 full barrels on the way back to the ship. Thomas sized up the cave opening slightly above them and picked out a worn path to reach it. They scrambled into the opening, and Arya lit one of the small torches they had brought. The scene the light revealed was a ram, a shackled mess. Rotten wood and cloth were scattered everywhere. A couple of pots and pans were thrown into the corners, and the tatters of a few bedrolls were showing. One bed roll had a skeleton on it. While it was mostly intact, a hand was missing; they spotted it a little away with two broken finger bones. This cave had been previously looted long ago. Drena suddenly pounced on the skeleton and rolled it over, underneath, in a wad of tattered cloth. She found the other hand. Three rings gleamed in the poor light. She turned and looked at Arya. Arya smiled and nodded, and Drena grabbed them and placed them in her sword hand. One had a green stone, one a red, and the last one had a sparkling black gem of some sort. Thomas was standing on the ledge at one side of the cave opening, watching the water crew work. As he turned, he shouted, "Look at this, there are steps leading up to a ledge." Arya came to see and was amazed at how nimble Thomas was scaling the cliff with only small, hidden footholds and handholds. When he got to the ledge, he vanished from sight. She could hear him lighting his small torch and then an astonished gasp. He ducked back out and said, "Come, you both have to see this." He let a rope down, and Arya and Drena climbed up. As Arya's eyes adjusted to the gloom inside, she yelped. There were three chests containing coins, jewelry, gemstones, swords, and armor. It was a massive hoard. Drena ran to a jewelry and gemstone chest and again looked at Arya, who laughed, "Don't take more than you can carry, the rings are yours, but this will have to be divided up among the crew." Arya stepped to the weapons armor chest and pulled a scintillating black cutlass from it first. She whistled at Drena, who gasped when she saw it. Arya said, "This, however, is yours." She tossed it over to Drena, who caught it with her sword hand. As she did, the black ring on her finger flashed bright black, and the sword emitted a black glow. Arya found a pair of metal and skin bracers with gems. They were in perfect shape, and they fit her perfectly. She found a slender blade that looked like Valyrian steel, but it was blueish in color. There were 4 more swords there. She flipped a short one to Thomas, and he showed her some scrolls and a heavy, bound book he had discovered. He sheathed the short sword and started filling his bag with the books, some coins, jewelry, and three rubies the size of his fist. He then started digging through Arya's chest for armor as she roped the three swords left on her back. She then grabbed two green-bladed daggers and stuffed them into her bag. She moved over, grabbing a few coins with strange wording and images, hoping they might place the hoard in time and ownership. As Drena snagged another bracer made of some black wood, they heard a sharp whistle....two short and one long...the signal for danger.