Well that's a relief, but he worries it'll be different on the round. He'll already have enough attention drawn to him as is, and any sign he was "made wrong" in one way might count against him in other ones.

It's easier to bear the singing out here, and he doesn't tire easily, so he just keeps working as long as they do, trying to rid himself of the singing accent while also incorporating new words into his sentences... with mixed results at best.

They work for kind of a long time. Not all their waking hours, but their waking hours are about twenty in a row, so.

At about the four hour mark he starts to flag, and realizes he has no idea how long he's been awake for, whether his earlier doze would even count, or how long he's been working. Which isn't actually unusual for him, what's unusual is having others around that he can compare to.

...right, the four hours of sleep thing. Whatever (hopefully impermanent?) lingering effects are still on him from the Hedge, he's feeling sleepy now, and finally says goodbye and makes his way to the sleeping room he was shown before.

His hammock is available. There's a couple people squeezed into another hammock together in the same room.

Danny eyes them as he passes, suddenly very aware of his body as he secures himself in his hammock.

It's been a while since he cuddled anyone like that.

He closes his eyes, trying to drift off despite the memories that rise up like lonely bubbles in a deep, still pond.

Amy was the first girl he had a crush on that he actually felt confident enough to let know that he had a crush on her. They held hands a few times between classes, kissed twice, and had plans to do a Real Date near the end of the summer break when he'd get back from the camp that he never ended up getting back from.

He's not sure how long he was in the Hedge before he met Pella, but he'd been on his third set of scavenged clothes after outgrowing or wearing out the previous ones. He'd met a couple dozen Lost by that point, some of which had been around his age, some of which had also spoken English. But she was the first he found surviving in the Hedge alone, and he met her after his second attempt to travel with others had ended disastrously, and was back to surviving solo as well. 

Somehow they didn't immediately scare each other off, despite her glowing amber eyes and him nearly skewering her with an arrow. She'd put her hands above her head in a gesture so familiar and clear that it stopped him from shooting a second. Apparently that's what made her decide to trust him. It took a little longer to trust her, but once he saw what she could do in a fight it became a lot easier to take for granted that if she'd wanted to hurt him, he wouldn't have been able to stop her. Not while knowing as little as he did about what she could do.

In the end the Hedge took that choice away from both of them. But they'd had a happy few months together, first. The happiest of his time in the Hedge, really.

It was harder to be alone, for a long time after that. And it's harder not to notice how alone he is even here, surrounded by people again.

Eventually he manages to drift off to sleep...

He dreams of the Hedge.

There's no despair. No anger. No fear.

Because of course he'd find himself back here, sooner or later.

Where else could he ever be, really?

It's a part of the Hedge he's never been to before, and he feels mildly surprised by how it retains the lack of gravity from the place he was dreaming about. A flying ship with a singing crew... he wonders if he'll remember them for long, or if the details will fade as most dreams eventually do.

A few minutes of experimentation show it's not entirely weightless. He can walk without floating away, but a strong, deliberate leap will take him from the edge of one floating island to another. He's a little curious about all the structures he sees, until he suddenly remembers to be afraid. He'll instead pass the time gently pushing off from one tree to another, trying to avoid the thorns and brambles as he searches for a safe vantage point to do some observation, keeping an eye out for whatever strange new plants or animals might be around here...

When he finally wakes up on the ship again, it's more disorienting than reappearing in the Hedge had been.

He lies wrapped in his hammock for a few minutes, breathing hard and sweating slightly, heart pounding.

It's hard to tell how long he's been asleep just yet, but he quickly untangles himself and launches himself around the inside of the ship, reassuring himself that it's all real, that he won't float from one room to another and back out into the floating forests.

The rooms all connect as one would expect based on having lived on the ship for some time.

And everyone seems... normal? Or about as things seemed... however long ago it was he fell asleep?

How long did he sleep? He has the language and knowledge now to check, via how soon they'll be at the round.

They're expecting to dock on the round in another ten hours!

Right, so... roughly seven hours?

He makes his way toward the lavatory, then does his best to convince himself his dream was just a dream, and that the ship is real. Another stint in the kitchen may help... he's still not hungry yet, but maybe in a few hours of peeling and chopping and so on, he'll be tempted by something that he wouldn't hate eating.

They've got coconuts to celebrate the approach of the round! They have something of a party game where a bunch of crew members crowd around a coconut to be cracked open with straws and all try to get as much of the coconut water as possible and make way for the next batch for the next coconut; then the kitchen staff roast the coconut meat and serve it with fruit leather and dry sausages.

That does look fun! He'll focus on helping preparations first, but if there seems to be enough coconuts for everyone to try, he'll happily try to catch a mouthful of the water through a straw.

There are lots of coconuts but he has some stiff competition for the coconut water. He can have all the coconut meat he wants though.

He takes a tentative bite, and yep, it's like chewing on soggy, slimy rubber. He tries using his front teeth to break off a piece of the very edge, which seems obviously crisp, and it's... slightly better? Enough that he can sort of appreciate the flavor, though it still feels lacking in some deep way.

Still, he'll snack as he works, now and then, occasionally practicing his Cluster.

And without much further ado, they dock at Creekcross, a round with lots of streams on it branching and rejoining in the bumpy terrain. They don't touch down the whole ship - instead they tether it to a sturdy tower full of pulley-operated platforms and stairs, no more than three stories high. The tethering process is pretty involved but people nonessential to it including Danny are welcome to hop onto the tower - gravity reasserts itself just above the roof - and head out.

He does his best to thank everyone he recognizes, particularly the captain if he's around, and double checks none of his rocks or arrows floated loose before he he slings his bow over his shoulder and finds Chesabit for a more personal goodbye. "I'll keep an eye out for this ship coming back, if I can. If you're still on it next time it's here, maybe I'll have some money and can thank you better. But until then, I want you to know I really appreciate all your help, and am sorry if being made early causes you any problems. If you hadn't been around, all this would have been a lot harder for me."

"It was really interesting to meet you and I hope you make yourself a great life here or wherever you settle down!" she says earnestly.

"Same to you, if we don't see each other again."

And then he hops, feels a moment of surreal memory from his dream as he feels gravity reassert its claim on him little by little, and then looks around to get his bearings.

The gravity assertion actually kicks in really suddenly, but he himself moves across the boundary gradually, so it works out the same. It's a little bit not totally unlike being half-underwater.

The tower, and a couple similar towers, are surrounded by a warehouse and market complex. Loading and unloading is underway on another smaller ship docked over there. They're taking on heaps of sphagnum moss (Danny will recognize it from the bathroom facilities he's been using) and some fabric and sacks of some kind of food, and discharging crates full of books and a few one-off items that may have been individually sent for.

He spends some time just observing people, the way they move, what they're wearing, the sorts of things that are being transferred from place to place. How obviously out of place is he, here, in his buttonless collared shirt and somewhat tattered pants? Is there a market area that sells animal hides or meat, in any state of preparation? Weapons or hunting gear? Does he see or hear anyone offering pay for work? 

Pants are not uncommon, though both sexes are, with the benefit of gravity, sometimes wearing skirt-things or robe-things. Looks like mostly linen. Collars don't seem to be popular but there are plenty of sunhats. The food area of the marketplace has on offer lots of preparations of chicken and fish, and will also carve pieces off whole recognizable pigs and cows for customers. Leather per se looks rare but there's plenty of hair-on hide offered in the form of shoes and bags and fleeces and furs and suchlike. If he could read it would be a lot easier to tell if anyone's hiring. This particular market has fishing gear but not weapons suitable for hunting land animals.