"Unnngghhhhh" she groaned as her consciousness came to. The first thing she realized was how badly her body hurt. The second thing she realized was that there was soil and clay beneath her, and not the wood hull of her boat. But the storm. Then that meant... "No. No no no no no" Reed groaned as she pushed herself up into a sit. She checked her legs over. Both of them seemed to work. She twisted around. Nothing was sticking out of her body. She stared down at the reflection of the shallow waters, murky and brown. Yep, she could still see from the one uncovered eye. With her health assessed and her deciding that she was, in fact, alive and in one piece, she turned her attention from herself to the area around her. Where was he?
"Balthaz-" Reed started to shout for him, but she fell short as she erupted into a coughing fit, sea water sputtering up from her stomach and lungs. She shook her head, making funny faces at the foul taste that lingered, then shouted again. "Balthazar! Balthazar can you hear me? Where are you?!" She waited for a response. Waited longer. She waited, calling out with shouts, and waited again there on the murky beach shore. No answer came in all the time she waited.
It was her stomach and knowing that he wouldn't want her to suffer for him that made her push into action. She glanced around the beach and found only two planks and a corner of a torn sail as evidence that she hadn't somehow poofed into an other dimension all together. It was both saddening and reassuring, finding the scraps of the SS Tallulah. It meant that she hadn't somehow been transported away from him. There was a chance she could find him again! It also meant that if she did find him, it might not be in the condition she wanted. She knew she was lucky to be alive. The ship had perished. What had happened to Balthazar?
"I hate the water!" she suddenly shouted as she turned towards the beach. She pulled her cutlass from it's sheath on her side and splashed through the shallows, slashing violently at the water. Naturally, it did not react to her attacks outside of being splashed and thrown by her force. It was water, after all. "I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you so much! Why do you take everything from me?" She slashed violently again, again and again, until she panted and fell into a sit, her cutlass dropped into the water beside her. "He's not gone. You're not allowed to take anyone else from me, including him. So there. Now it can't happen. Now I'll find him and we'll be happy together again and I'll finally have some family back for once in my life before you took them all away." Reed stuck her tongue out at the water to emphasize her point. "There's nothin' you can even do about it. Because you're water and I'm Reed Blackpaw! You hear that? My name is REED BLACKPAW, OF THE BLACKPAW FAMILY. We are a strong and noble bloodline of fearless warriors! I'm not afraid OF YOU WATER!"
Reed snorted, finishing her point in her argument, then picked up her cutlass and sheathed it back on her side. If she was going to find Balthazar, then she needed to fill her grumbling stomach. But first, she needed a piece of the SS Tallulah. So, she snagged the corner of the sail and sloppily tucked it between her body and her harness straps. She'd have to get a proper way to store it made up some time. Maybe Balthazar could help her with it.