@bettergrabablazer
Oh god, Mal hated this. Why had she never let Ben teach her how to swim? Why did she downplay her fear of the water? And why was she now dangling off the side of a giant boat in search of him? She could have gone through the gangplank (at least, she thought that was the word for it, she never did pay attention in pirate-based classes), and just fought people down until she found him.
Mal narrowly escaped being seen by someone in a window as she moved lower and lower, closer and closer to where she suspected prisoners to be held on a boat. Her fear was rising, especially since the wood was growing more and more slippery by the moment. She took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, stay rational. Finally, she reached the lowest end of row of windows on the boat. One look in a window and... there was Ben. She could already feel relief setting in.
Mal carefully opened the window, slowly mainly due to her fear of falling into the water from this, and climbed in, trying to make as little noise as she landed. She rushed over to Ben, immediately struggling with the ropes that held him where he was. She put a finger to her mouth briefly, the universal sign of ‘please keep quiet’. “We have to be quick, I doubt there’s much time before Uma sends someone to check on you,” she practically whispered.
















