As the Sovereign burst clear of the trees, 4 Zonian ships were to the north of them. Thomas and Gendry both fired their 'flowers,' and the fronts of two ships evaporated. The two Zonian ships went down like they were loaded with lead. Both 'flowers' were reloaded and swabbed to cool the throats and re-aimed and fired. Both shots went wide this time, and the reloading was done again. Both Zonian ships realized they were outmatched and turned to flee, presenting their broadsides for fire. The next two shots blew giant holes in their sides, and they began sinking. To the south, the Eärrámë found two ships turning to come after them. Once again, turning their broadsides to the 'flowers' sank them. The other ships exited the harbor, marveling at the wreckage of the enemy ships.
The fleet went straight east for a while and then struck a north-easterly route towards Beast Island. The breeze was in their faces, but they had wind affinity working in their favor. Arya intended to carry off any remaining treasure from that island. They would also need to restock water by then. The three weeks it took to get back to Beast Island went by easily; the winds were mostly in their favor, and the crews got accustomed to their duties in the sails and on deck. Meals were served, and the cleaning was done, and they fell into a routine. The mood on the Sovereign was light; they were headed home. On the other ships, they were unsure what lay ahead but tried to be hopeful.
Calancy was onboard the treekin vessel with her mother, and Beth had gone as well to continue teaching all the treekin the Westeros language. Drena took over Beth's cabin, and Arya and the other two women fell into their own routine as the days went by. The training continued on the poop deck, and it grew fiercer as the days went by.
As they got close to the island one evening, the young swampkin girls thought talk came into Arya's head, "There is an enemy vessel ahead waiting to catch us in the dark, so they won't have to face the smoke flowers." Arya thought back at her, "Tell the others to hang back, we will go slightly forward, waiting for them to attack." The girl's voice spoke in her head, "Understood."
Arya told Drena and Brienne to gather up the fighters in the evening so that they could seclude themselves on deck. Captain Dirk was at the helm, so she told him what was going on, and he told her to hold the wheel. He told the sail crew to take them in by half, and he ducked down to get his daggers.
It was a clear, starry night, and about an hour past dark, a dragonkin ship approached them, its paddles slowly and silently dipping in the calm sea. As she came alongside, a figure swung over and dropped at Dirk's feet. He was dead before he let go of the rope. He had another rope attached to his belt, and Dirk pulled it tight and tied it off to the rail. "Don't want them getting away," he thought to himself. As the enemy ship clinked quietly up to the rails, 20 silent killer dragonkin slid onboard. Dirk killed two with a green dagger in each heart, pulling the daggers back to his hands. Bronn raised smiling as he took one's head and another's throat. Two got far enough on board, and Brienne killed them in a single blow.
This easy kill turned out to be a little harsher than the dragonkin thought. One floated his hand above a smoke flower, as if admiring a new possession, then it wasn't there anymore. Drena finished him quickly and turned to another. Jon blew their cover by shouting and carving his way through 4 of them. The last thing he noticed was a dark shadow crossing over to the dragonkin ship.
The 5 assassin's that had been tasked with watching over Arya flowed over the enemy ship, eviscerating everything in their path. They didn't want to get left out of the killing. A deep dragonkin voice called out for more men and caught one of the assassins, who had shadow stepped to kill him, by the throat, and punched him over the rail into the water. One of his fellow assassins dove in to get him before he drowned. But by then, Arya was on the enemy captain; she cut him in the side with her black blade. Instead of flinching, the enemy sliced at her head, but Arya ducked in and placed her gloved hand on his chest and blew his torso into the water. The rest of him stood there for a second, looking at himself, before falling. They made short work of the rest of the crew. They looted the ship and cut it loose. They didn't get much, a few trinkets, and some gold. The enemy captain had some nice short blades that the younger Mangana liked, though.
By morning, they were on the island, filling a hundred water barrels and killing some spiders. Ned jumped to land, sniffing, and he called out as ragged a bunch of cats as you have ever seen. He assigned one to each of the other ships, though they had to ride back in a dinghy and be hoisted aboard as the barrels were hoisted. The treasure was all still there, and they took every coin, gem, and piece of it.