Alfhild quieted herself, not wanting to drown out the pleasant conversation. She wiped tears from her eyes as she replied to Kri's chipper comment, leaving the darker conversation behind for now. "Eight, you say? What a lofty goal!" Despite their low gains from lack of activity, the crew still ad plenty of ale, wine, and other drink to keep life on the ship lively. Alfhild had an astonishingly high tolerance rate in regards to alcohol, able to out-drink most of the crew, but once it began reaching her system, she became even more loud and, to admit it, obnoxious, than usual.<br/><br/>Alfhild heard Kri mention his scar to Fiske, and felt a twinge of concern. The jagged line across his back didn't seem to completely inhibit his daily functions or even his fighting most days, but it was still unpleasant. Although Afhild herself wore scars proudly, displaying them as a decorative tapestry of her life as a warrior, she couldn't imagine having such a large wound in such a sensitive place.<br/><br/>As she continued to partake in the ribbing of Fiske's special facial medical notes, Alfhild noticed Kole's movements from the corner of her eye. She smiled slightly, glad that Isa wasn't being left out. It definitely pleased the captain that her crew had taken to the idea of sign language so passionately.<br/><br/>Fiske's attitude toward their ribbing of him gladdened Alfhild. When he had first joined the crew, the medic had seemed somewhat stiff and formal, unsure how to approach Alfhild's loud, often joking character. Besides Kri, Fiske had been one of the first people Alfhild had approached to offer a position on her crew. Not because they knew each other, but because of Fiske's strong reputation as an excellent healer, even among the older members of the Village. The captain only wanted her crew to be filled with the best of the best. Fiske's youth had also been an aspect Alfhild had been drawn to. Many other Norse healers were simply retired warriors who could no longer fight but still wanted to provide useful service, or women too attached to serving the Village to leave. Properly predicting Fiske's wish to prove himself, a quality that most Norse men of the Village had, she had managed to get him to join the crew quite easily.<br/><br/>Of course, Alfhild now didn't see him in such a business-like way, but instead as a friend, and perhaps, though Alfhild would never say it out loud, almost like the mother she never had. Or at least, what she imagined a mother would be like. Having grown up only with an older father, she didn't really have much exposure to the feminine touch. She had gone to perhaps three tapestry-weaving courses before wishing to pull her eyeballs out. It wasn't entirely out of lack of disinterest; her fingers were simply too large to perform the precise art of sewing.<br/><br/>Suddenly remembering what had brought her to the galley, besides the excellent cooking of Kole, Alfhild turned towards the resident mechanic, Ber.<br/><br/>Ber was a funny case. Most of the crew had been approached by Alfhild with a request to join her crew. In Ber's situation, it was flipped, the pale, red-haired girl approaching Alfhild at every opportunity, almost begging to become the mechanic of Hrið. At first Alfhild had been hesitant, not pleased by Ber's clingy behaviour, but through her sheer tenacity, Alfhild was won over. She turned out to be an extremely capable mechanic, good at working around a problem. Both women had a very stubborn attitude, so they easily established a rapport.<br/><br/>"Ber, whenever you're done your meal, I think the engine needs to be checked out. It's making a noise kind of like-" Alfhild let out an unearthly grinding screech, as reminiscent of the sound in the engine room as a normal healthy human being could perform without injuring themselves.<br/><br/>Alfhild simply prayed to the gods that the fix of the engine wouldn't require any new parts. It seemed like a patch of bad luck, for them to be in such a monetary situation, and having to avoid Coren, the number one supplier of high-end parts in the galaxy... To be fairy, they had been in worse scraps before. As Alfhild returned to her beloved nässelsoppa, she thought of the extreme adventures her crew had been on. The time when they had made an emergency docking on Cavros and almost been scalped for it, another on ganjin where Johan had unwittingly proposed to a local. But in all those situations, Alfhild would rather trade her life than the life of her crew, or even her ship. It would be like a tragic love story if Hrið was ever to be lost.