As they were being hoisted, Arya turned to Thomas, "Your innate awareness might make you a decent fighter." Thomas quipped back, "I know nothing of fighting, and probably never will." Arya countered, "On the poop deck tomorrow afternoon with two wooden swords. Your commander so orders it." She finished it with a smile. Thomas was about to argue it when a lookout shouted, "Shark!" The few still in the water looked about, and sure enough, a fin was cutting the surface, and they thrashed towards the net. As the last one cleared the water, Jack at a catapult, harpooned the shark. He laughed as the creature wrapped the line around itself, spinning in the water. Just as he was beginning to haul in his catch, three large sharks attacked his catch. They ripped the whole back half of the shark off and fought over the pieces. A pool of red spread in the sea, and other sharks circled.
Captain Dirk at the railing called out, "That's the nix on swimming lads." By evening, there was a meeting on deck. The three captains stood before them, and Springer said, "It has been three days since we had any wind, and it's fairly apparent we are truly becalmed. I know many of you lot have experienced this before, but it can be deadly. We are in unknown waters and know not how long this will last. Prudence dictates that we go on water rations to help stretch what we have; the meals will be smaller, too. I suggest those not on duty stay in their bunks a great deal of the time." Nods of understanding and consternation passed around the crew.
At just past noon on the poop deck, Thomas appeared with two wooden swords in hand. Arya was still sparring with Brienne, and he watched as they finished. Arya turned to him and gave him a vicious grin. "As ordered and nearly on time, too," she laughed at him. She sheathed Needle and took one of the wooden swords. Thomas held his sword limply before him. Arya spoke forcefully, "I was trained by the greatest swordsman of the Seven Kingdoms, and he taught me this stance. You will learn and use it." He called it the Ox." She placed one hand behind her back and held her sword in front with the point straight up in the air. "Now you copy," she commanded. He tried to copy her stance, but she corrected him until he was close to getting it right. "Now come at me," she yelled. Several times, he weakly stepped forward until she slapped his guard away or poked him. "You have to watch my sword movements and counter," she barked at him. This went on for an hour, and he slowly got better at it. But it wasn't enough, and at one point, she went around his guard and slapped his head hard. It stunned him, and Arya shouted, "Don't make me pull you along!" His sword clattered to the ground, his eyes went wide, "That's it! Arya, you are a genius!" "Of course I am," she stuttered. "But just what genius thing did I say?" Thomas ducked away, saying, "Sorry, Arya, this can't wait." He ran down to the deck where Captain Dirk was standing, and an animated conversation began between the two of them. Finally, Dirk said, "It sounds Crazy, but it's worth a shot. You two lads go with him and help him with his harebrained idea. The three disappeared below decks. Later, they reappeared with ropes and weights and began measuring various things around the bow of the ship. Gendry appeared and began attaching new cleats in sturdy places about the prow. They even lowered the hoist near the head, and Gendry could be heard banging more cleats in. Just before dusk, a large group of sailors and the two "inventors" came up on deck with a large piece of sail. It was 40 feet across and 15 feet tall. They began by folding it in half lengthwise and tying small ropes through the reef holes in the sail, lining them up. They then secured a 15-foot-long pole to the top and bottom of the middle of the sail, and they secured it so tightly that the smaller sail forced it to bow the sail out. Then they tied ropes to the sides and top of the sail piece. At the bottom, they secured weights as they carried the finished contraption forward as a group. A sailor said, "What good is a sail when there is no wind to catch?" Thomas smiled at him, "We aren't catching wind, we are catching water."