Chapter 1 - Strangers at the beach

The sun was burning down on him as he made his way to the beach to check the gillnets he had put out. The way to the beach had slowly adapted to his presence. Where before he had to fight through bushes and high grass to get down to the beach, there now was a small pathways leading him, following the sound of the crashing waves.

The way wasn't really long as the island he had found himself on was only so big, so he found himself at the beach five minutes later. He saw the waves crash further out were the water was shallow and was relieved to see that last nights storm had not damaged the nets nor the posts in between which he had hung them. He drew his hat further over his face to try to protect himself from the sun and walked into the water. It was rather shallow, only reaching to his hips at the deepest points. It continued being like this until a few hundred meters in, where it suddenly dropped and he really couldn't find any end to it. As he reached the first net he was delighted to find two big fishes in his net. The Shorefin as he had titled the species of fish were his lifesavers. They were quite long fish, usually the length of his arms and seemed to prefer the shallow coastal water over the deep ocean. He took the two fish out the net, killed them in a quick motion and put them in a big basket he had woven. As he made his way to the second net he saw something bigger than usual moving with the small waves in his net. As he came closer to the net he recognized the human silhouette. He sped up, he tried to run towards the net but it was almost impossible to run in hip deep water. As he finally managed to reach the net he grabbed the person by the arm and pulled him up. A dark mop of hair broke through the surface and he tried to hoist the young man over his shoulder which worked more or less and pulled him back to shore. 

As they reached the sandy beach he carefully placed the young man on the ground and got down next to him. He lowered his head so that his ear was over the mans mouth and nose, looking at his chest and was relieved to feel a small flow of air touch his cheek. The man was still breathing. He placed the man in recovery position and was finally able to relaxe as he let himself fall backward into the sand. But then it struck him, how likely is it that somebody ends here alone after a shipwreck. He jumped up and ran back into the water and checked the other nets finding them empty until reached the last one, where another man was hanging in. He brought the other man to the shore as well and was glad when he found out that he was still breathing. 

Now he was sitting at the beach with two unconscious man and two dead fish. "Well I guess I can't bring them back to the hut." he mumbled to himself and walked back towards his hut with nothing but the empty basked in his hand.

Roughly half an hour later he returned, the basket now full.

The fire crackling with it's warm laugh underneath the fish wish were now missing a few organs. The scent of nice roasted fish lay in the air and he couldn't wait to eat. Even though he was a bit worried about the strangers. A loud growling sound pulled him out of his thoughts. As he looked to where the noise came from his eyes landed on the man he had pulled out. Apparently the growling of his stomach had awoken him as he slowly opened his eyes, sniffed the air and turn his head towards the fire. Their eyes met and the young man stood up and slowly came towards him. "Hi I'm Ace. You must've pulled me out from the water. Thank you." His sincere thanks was undercut by the loud growling from his stomach.

"Haha" he laughed "Seems like you are hungry as well. Here have some." he handed the young man, Ace, some fish. "Im Mairon by the way, but you can call me May." Ace gratefully accepted the fish and if May wouldn't have seen it with his own eyes he wouldn't have believed it. Ace ate the fish in an astounding speed. "Thanks for the delicious food, May."

"No worries. I catch more than I can eat anyway." he paused for a second. "So how come you were washed ashore, Ace?"

"I was out on my ship when the Storm hit. It isn't... Wasn't the biggest ship, you see I set out alone. Anyway the waves crushed my ship but I was able to hold onto some planks until the sea calmed. I guessed I fell unconscious afterward and ended up here." Ace replied.

"Were you alone on a ship?" May asked surprised.

"Yeah." Ace replied sheepishly while scratching his neck. "I don't have a crew yet, but one day I will be one of the greatest pirates out there."

"You can count yourself lucky you survived that alone, but hey maybe it is fate. Now let's get back to my home, it's getting cold at the beach at night. Too windy."

The two of them carried the unconscious man inland until they reached a big wooden house.

"Welcome to my home." May said.