How long they remained standing, tied to the mast, they could not say. Hours? Minutes? Seconds?

  Time was just an infinite succession of “now” and “now” was all that existed in the darkness. Water was below them, it was around them, it was above, it crashed on them, only to be washed away by the rain, all at once, over and over, again and again, into infinity. The storm began in a far distant past, and its end would come in a distant future beyond the reach of their imagination. It mattered not. They had long stopped screaming, but they still stood wrapped against each other.

  They drank in the shape of the other, the taste of their spirit, the scent of their flesh pressed together into a single being made of the two of them. They basked in the realization their world had changed, the storm surrounding them an agent and a witness to their transformation, but no longer a threat. It now felt like an almost friendly presence. They had faced it and triumphed, and while it still bucked them and threw the ship around, the intensity had decreased like that of a newly broken bronc who, having exhausted his forces, continued to buck weakly, unwilling to acknowledge what it already knew to be the truth.

  At long last, the sun rose, a pale globe piercing through the masses of clouds, and faint rainbows arched across the sky.

  Winds still blasted, but they had lost much of their violence and the shaking sea no longer towered above their heads. A drizzle of rain remained, washing away salt and blood from their bodies. They, and the world around them, had been scoured clean and they stood there, naked, still in each other’s embrace. Neither wanted to let go.

  Ma?l moved first, lifting her and walking around the mast to unwind the rope. It had dug deep into their flesh and left red divots as it pulled away from their skin. They winced in pain as salt burned the wounds. Once free, he lifted her up on his chest and carried her away. She could walk, probably better than he could, but he didn’t want to let her go. She didn’t either and hugged him tightly as he climbed down the ladder to the main deck.

  It was torn to pieces. The kitchen was gutted, compartment doors hung askew, the few that remained anyway, the contents long gone. Gone also were the tables, counters, chairs, sofa, cushions, rugs… there was nothing left of the luxury salon he ate in just a few hours ago.

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  They had expected the devastation. It was a miracle anything remained at all and it didn’t matter. Ma?l climbed down the ladder to the cabins in the lower deck. This was where their fate would be decided. A pierced hull would mean sinking. They were about 80 km from the coast the last time they checked and didn’t even know in which direction that was. Sinking meant dying, but neither believed this to be possible. Not anymore. They faced a typhoon and survived. How could they sink now?

  Ma?l stepped into the water. It was only knee-deep, which was encouraging, all things considered. The hatch had been open all through the storm. By all rights the entire deck ought to be submerged, but the ship had been thrown around so much that it had spilled a large part of the water. The other hatch was sealed and that side stayed much higher, giving the catamaran a massive tilt they hadn’t noticed as they were jerked about.

  Kaori signaled Ma?l to let her down, and he reluctantly complied.

  “We need to clear the bilge,” she declared, fighting through the exhaustion, as she headed to the controls. Automatic bilge pumps had fried, likely when lightning struck the mast. Copper cabling could only do so much. Fortunately, manual bilge pumps were still latched in their compartments. They were a ship’s last line of defense against a watery grave and thus stored accordingly.

  After a quick demonstration from Kaori, they began pumping the water. It was a thankless and brutally taxing task, pumping well over a thousand gallons of seawater, but it couldn’t be avoided or delayed—not if they wanted to survive, that is. Pushing and pulling at a steady pace, they managed to restore the ship to somewhat of a level balance before heading to the other side. The closed hatch had successfully warded off most of the water, but one of the cabins’ windows had cracked under some impact and water had poured in. Still, it was a single cabin and including the bilge, there was far less water than they had to handle previously.

  Better yet, Kaori’s cabin had remained mostly dry, no small miracle given the circumstances. Everything had spilled on the floor and the mattress was stuck sideways into the bathroom’s door, but there was rather little actual damage to be seen. Ma?l yanked the mattress and shoved it back in place. Kaori grabbed a cover from the floor.

  They climbed into bed and resumed their embrace.

  Seconds later, they were both sound asleep.