One of many reasons to do it.

Val's wide awake and apparently not at all nervous the next morning.

That helps soothe some of Svetka's nerves.

Val will stick by her, then, at least until it's time to take their posts.

As a mapmaker, Svetka's not expected to hold a rifle, unlike Val. She'll be waiting in the center of the skiff during the crossing, while Val guards the railing.

Val's post, conveniently, is near the Grisha in charge of their skiff- the Squaller from last night.

Val sends her a teasing smile, though otherwise keeps up a professional mien.

"You never came back last night," she murmurs as the sail is hoisted.

"I had someone to watch over," she replies, voice equally soft, and her gaze briefly cuts over to where the mapmakers damned to this particular skiff are huddled.

Hmmm.

"Perhaps a celebration on the other side, then."

"Sounds perfect."

Wink. "Don't be late."

Then the sails are up and she has to explain what's going to happen to the crew. In short: noise and light attract the volcra. Don't make any of either. There will be one blue lantern in the middle of the ship, this one is designed to not attract volcra, don't block it. If the volcra do show up, keep your head down and don't block the Inferni's lines of fire. First Army are to support with their rifles.

She takes her position, rifle held such that she can quickly load it (they can't risk accidental discharge; a loaded rifle is begging for them to be damned by a twitchy finger). And she takes deep, even breaths. Calms herself, and readies herself to listen as they launch.

The Squallers fill the sails with wind, and the skiffs slide towards the inky black curtain that marks the edge of the Unsea.

It feels- cold. She wasn't expecting it to be cold.

Val had been trying not to expect anything. That interferes with tracking, sometimes - especially times like these.

She keeps very, very quiet, body nearly a statue, expression blank, and she listens.

And partway through, she ghosts over to the Squaller, and reaches for her arm, and very gently, very quietly taps out the code for -

'ENEMIES APPROACH'

She glances at Val, the blue light flickering across her raised brow, an implicit question.

At least there's a specific sign for volcra, though it's a bit longer than the standardized quick one Val just used. 

VOLCRA. Then headings - a pause, then how far, how fast they're coming and how many there are (she's not sure on these, not yet, but - pretty unpleasantly fast and pretty alarmingly many; luckily this code does approximates, too). 

She nods in acknowledgement. Quick flicks of air alert the other Grisha, and she gives a high sign to watch the skies.

Val stays beside her - closes her eyes so she can listen better ‐ and keeps a stream of updates as her sense of the volcra refines - as they approach. 

(It's still, technically, possible they'll fly over without attacking. They're still high up.)

(Val doesn't exactly like those chances.)

Objectively speaking, they're not good.

Huddled in the middle, Svetlana's getting nervous as well. She can... feel something, weird as that sounds. It's- hungry.

It's getting pretty close to where Elvira's going to have to decide if she wants to sacrifice the small possibility the volcra haven't noticed them for the benefit of attacking first. 

(Val doesn't like this waiting.)

"Now!" she snaps, and the Inferni light up the darkness.

She snaps her cartridge into her rifle as she steps away from the Squaler (riflemen are among the first attacked; she doesn't want to draw the volcra towards their leader), and starts firing into the dark. Every bullet hits - none of them are fired at visible volcra yet, she can hear the heavy beat of their wings and there's some that aren't caught by the flashes of light - and Val's one of the fastest on reloading.

She's keeping an ear on the rest of the fight, too, turning her rifle on any volcra that get too close to taking out one of their Inferni or riflemen, especially if the person she's covering hasn't spotted them. 

There's a lot of volcra, though, and even an expert rifleman can only fire so fast. It's a matter of time - and not that much - before the volcra overwhelm them. 

An Inferni is the first to be carried away, a screaming fireball fading into the blackness beneath beating wings. Then the riflemen start getting picked off.

The window to rescue someone is only so long before they're high enough that the fall will seriously injure or kill them. Volcra are fast.

Then a pack descends on the cluster of mapmakers.