The Storyteller: Romance on the High Seas

[annarti.livejournal.com]

Sixth Birthday

The magnificent Horizons was bigger than Sen had ever imagined, and she had been imagining this moment all year. It was a beautiful day, just as she had hoped, the sky bright blue and with a gentle waft of wind from the sea that brought the Horizons safely into the bay. As she watched the ship approaching from the end of the jetty, it just kept getting bigger and bigger. There must be more people living on that one ship than there were in the whole village of Jita, Sen thought.

Tu stood right at the prow, looking every inch the captain, and waved down to the assembled masses on the brand new jetty.

As the ship pulled in the jetty became a rush of activity—crewmates jumped over the rail carrying rope as thick as Sen’s leg, which they slung half a dozen times around the pylons with the same practiced ease as Tu when she brought the dinghy ashore. All of Jita had turned out to watch the first ship dock, and all at once they ran forward to pick up the slack in the rope, hauling on it with loud grunts and groans to pull the Horizons to a stop.

The ship bumped into the jetty, but it had been built strong enough that Sen hardly felt it, just a little shake as the hull rubbed against the pylons.

Tu launched over the railing and landed with a thump onto the jetty. Her arms were spread wide, proudly announcing the arrival of her ship.

‘What do you think?’ she asked as Sen ran up to her for a hug.

‘It’s huge!’ Kaiji cried, waving her arms to try and encompass the size of the ship.

‘It’s beautiful,’ Sen added. ‘This whole ship is all yours?’

‘Sure is,’ Tu replied, smacking the hull affectionately. ‘Ready to come on board?’

‘Nearly,’ Sen answered. There was one question she wanted to ask first, something that had been dancing around in her head since Tu’s last visit. She had worked out what Sula had been worried about—that she thought Tu was a pirate—and that was what Tu was trying to convince her of. But Sen had heard something else in her words. Sula thought everything Tu was doing was for the village. She thought the gold, the pearls, everything was for the village. Sen knew it was all for her, and now she thought she had figured out why. ‘Are you my mama?’ she asked.

Tu sighed and smiled sadly. ‘Oh, Sen, kiddo. I see why you would think that.’ She sighed again, looked back over her shoulder to the ship, then strode to the other side of the jetty, gesturing for Sen to follow. She sat down on the edge, dangling her feet over the water. ‘Before I take you on board, there’s somebody I want to tell you about before you meet.’

Sen sat next to her with Kaiji on her other side. Behind them, the ship creaked and splashed as it rocked gently beside the jetty.

‘I want to tell you about Kes, my first mate, who is someone very special to me.’ She looked down at Sen with a fond smile. ‘Kes was the one to carry you ashore that first time, when you were only a baby. Has Sula told you that story?’

Sen nodded. ‘Lots of times. But not much about Kes, just about you and me. Is Kes my papa?.’

Tu shook her head again. ‘Kes has been with me a long, long time. We grew up together on Tranquilo and we were just as special to each other as you two are.’

‘Is Kes your best friend?’ Kaiji asked. ‘Cos Sen’s mine.’

‘Oh, easily,’ Tu answered, waving her hand like it was nothing. ‘And more than that, even. We shared everything together. We shared a cabin together, of course. We practiced fighting together, we went ashore and explored the cities of Kazin and Llayad, Tsayth and Raykin together. We complained about each other’s parents, who mine were trying to make me marry that month and what Kes’ kept trying to do to make their whole family rise in the ranks on the ship, especially Kes, their eldest child. They were power-hungry, mine were just selfish. Sometimes we would play tricks on them, like hiding fish guts in the captain’s study to make it smell horrible, or loosing the ropes on their hammocks so they would crash to the floor when they went to bed.’

Sen giggled and exchanged a cheeky grin with Kaiji.

‘One time,’ Kaiji said, her grin as wide as Tu’s, ‘we dugged a hole in the sand under Mama’s and Papa’s sleeping blanket, then we lay it back all nice and flat so when they went to bed they felled in the hole!’

Sen had already been stifling her giggling through Kaiji’s tale, but now she burst out laughing with her friend.

Tu laughed with them. ‘Perfect!’ she said with a few claps of applause. ‘Just the sort of things we did! Sometimes we hid something important, like the telescope or even some of the treasure, once, then put it back straight after it had been discovered missing. Anyway. We were inseparable. When we were teenagers, we started sharing kisses, too.’

‘Ew!’ both girls said at once, and Tu laughed again.

‘Didn’t you get boy germs?’ Kaiji asked. ‘Boys smell!’

‘They do,’ Tu agreed, ‘But Kes was special, like I already said. We did everything together, so of course we started sharing kisses.’

‘What’s it like?’ Sen asked.

‘Big and sloppy,’ Tu said with a grin. ‘But we were in love, so it didn’t matter. The longer we were in love, and the more we kissed, the more I hated my parents for trying to make me marry someone else.’

‘But why?’ Sen interrupted. ‘Why wouldn’t they let you marry Kes?’

‘Plenty of stupid reasons,’ Tu spat, apparently still bitter. ‘Because the family wasn’t high-ranking or skilled enough for the likes of a ship’s captain, because they thought I was in love with Kes just to spite them—as if I cared enough about them for that! But they never grasped the idea that a married couple has to get on, has to at least be friends to be able to work together, and I never liked any of the suitors they set up for me. I was never going to, not with Kes around. We almost thought we were doomed, because the only people who can marry a couple are their parents, their captain—who for me were the same person—or the king and queen of Tsayth.’

Sen gasped. ‘Did you meet the king and queen?’

Tu grinned. ‘Hang on, you’re skipping ahead again! We decided then, for that year and a half, that we would hold tight and put up with our parents on Tranquilo until we docked in Ryas again to pay taxes. We disguised ourselves, in case any of our crewmates recognised us in the city, and let me tell you.’ She held a hand over her heart and cast her eyes skyward. ‘Kes has never been so handsome as on our wedding day. A sleeveless vest to show off those big, strong biceps, pants slung a little low to show off the hips, a bit of rough around the jaw…’ She kissed her fingers. ‘Magnificent. If ever I had any doubts about what we were doing, abandoning ship just to get married, the sight of that beautiful human made them all go away.’

‘And then you met the king and queen?’ She didn’t know how a man could be beautiful, but the royalty was exciting. Plus, she felt they were getting to the end of the story and Tu would answer her question properly once it was done.

‘Oi!’ Tu said, giving her a teasing slap on the arm. ‘I’m telling you about the most special person in my life, here.’

‘But I thought I was the most specialest person in your life!’

‘Tough; it’s Kes.’

Sen pouted and slumped her shoulders.

‘So anyway. Up we fronted to the royal chambers and asked to be married. We waited for an hour for the king and queen to be available. Kes was starting to get nervous, expecting that they had sent a messenger for our parents, but there was no reason for them to do that. Finally, they showed up, shook our hands, signed next to our names in the official registry, and that was it! We were married! And nobody, not our parents, not even the king and queen could take that away from us.’

Tu gestured to the nearby pylon, where a tall woman from her crew was resting one shoulder against it. ‘This is Kes,’ she introduced, then patted each of the girls’ heads in turn. ‘This is Sen and Kaiji.’

Sen gasped aloud and stared straight at the woman Tu said she was married to. ‘But—but you said Kes was a boy! She’s a girl!’

‘Hey, I never said anything,’ Tu said, raising her hands defensively. ‘If Sula assumed Kes was a man when she took you ashore, well, that’s hardly my fault.’

Kaiji was still shaking her head as she stared at the first mate. ‘But you said she had a beard when you got married.’

Kes and Tu both laughed at that. ‘I just said a bit of rough,’ Tu excused.

‘It was sand,’ Kes explained with a shrug that mirrored Tu’s. ‘We knew it wouldn’t take long, so long as they didn’t look at us too closely and just signed the papers. I didn’t realise the wait would be so long, though. I was nervous of the sand falling off and ruining my brilliant disguise.’

‘It was brilliant,’ Tu complimented, then turned back to Sen and patted a hand on her leg. ‘So, you see, kiddo, I’m not your mama, and Kes certainly isn’t your papa. You’re Sen, daughter of Jin and Uti. If you ever doubt anything I tell you, never doubt that.’

Sen nodded, somehow saddened. ‘I wanted you to be my mama,’ she complained.

‘Why’s that?’ Tu asked. ‘You still know me, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ Sen said with another quiet nod.

‘I’m still just as good a friend, aren’t I? Still bring the best stories and the best presents? Still the toughest, bravest sea captain you know?’

Sen grinned involuntarily. ‘Yeah.’

‘And I still love you, no matter what. Would you love me any more if I said I was your mama?’

Sen shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I don’t think so.’

Tu hugged her and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. ‘There you go. Ready to come aboard now?’

‘Yeah!’ Kaiji cried. ‘Come on, Sen. I want to see the Horizons.’

Sen perked up. She had half-forgotten the magnificent ship tied to the jetty behind them. ‘Yeah!’ She pulled her legs up and climbed to her feet, helping Kaiji do the same, then ran over to the gang plank.

‘Careful,’ Tu called out. ‘There’s no hand rail and the plank can get pretty slippery. Don’t fall off.’

‘We won’t!’ Sen threw back over her shoulder.

Kaiji turned around before stepping on. ‘Tu?’ she called, and grabbed Sen’s hand. Sen turned to see the captain and her first mate walking more sedately towards the ship. ‘When I grow up, I’m going to marry Sen, just like you and Kes.’

‘Yeah!’ Sen cried. ‘And we’ll buy our own ship together, too.’ Sen grinned and planted a big, sloppy kiss on Kaiji’s cheek, then ran away up the gang plank, her best friend close on her heels.

STUFF

o YESSSSS they're old enough to start having stuff happen. Filling out the first 5-6 chapters on the outline was the hardest because Sen's too young to understand what's going on. Now finally I can kick it up a gear! Next chapter she's as old as the twins are at the beginning of Silent Harmony. Ain't that some shit?