"HEY! You took a shortcut!"

"You didn't say anything about what path I had to follow."

"Grr! It's still cheating! ...I suppose cheating is part of the pirate frame of mind though. Okay, you pass."

"So you're going to give me a piece of treasure, right?"

"I hoped you forgot about that..."

"Fine, fine! A promise is a promise. I probably won't get in trouble if Tetra doesn't find out..."

He rummages around in one of the crates. "Here! It's one of our Spoils Bags. It's a magic bag that holds lots more stuff than it ought to... But only if the stuff counts as 'loot'. I'm still not sure how it decides that..."

"Neat."

Will it hold her rupees?

Nope. She'll have to keep using pockets for those, for now.

"Hm, now that you have seen that the great and kind Niko keeps his word, it's time for us to do something more boring like chores..."

"What chores?"

"Cooking, then a break to eat, then washing things for about an hour, and then you can do whatever you like until breakfast time tomorrow." He starts walking to the galley.

Oh good. Food. To the galley, then.

Niko does not observe particularly hygenic cooking habits. He also snacks while cooking, and encourages Anna to do so as well.

She's going to pass on the snacks. She's also going to wash her hands.

Oh really, with what fresh water?  Her drinking ration? Fresh water's precious on a ship, dont'cha know.

A quick rinse in the salt and then dry them off.

Yeah, sure, Niko will do that too.

Cooking result: Mystery Stew. Niko has Anna help him haul it up onto the open deck and all the pirates except the helmsman sit around with wooden bowls and... Highly variable table manners. Boasting at each other or sharing tall tales.

Yum, stew. Anna doesn't have any tales to share.

They ask her what the monsters she slew were like. "Goblins, I think they're called. They're made of smoke and evil magic."

"Yeah. They sort of poofed away when I killed them. Kinda dumb, though."

"That just means it'll be easier to fight 'em!"

"Don't get overconfident. There are a lot of them out there, and stupid monsters with bombs still have bombs."

"The ones I fought didn't have any bombs."

"Well, some of them do. Mostly in watchtowers. I know there's a lot of cannons around the Fortress, which is why we'll be waiting for nightfall to send you in once we get there."

"You're not coming? I thought you also had a grudge against the bird."

"I'm not stupid enough to try to go after it while it's in the middle of that place. It's called the Forsaken Fortress for a reason. I plan to lie in wait for it to go out to kidnap someone else and try to get it then. If you want to rescue whoever it's already got, though, you need to actually get in. I have a few... Ideas for that."

"Like what?"