"Right! Weigh anchor and drop th' sails!" Calls a powerful voice, as the sun sinks down on the horizon, almost but not quite ready to start falling from sight. "Time t' eat soon!"
"Aye!" call back the voices of the crew. Two of those voices belong to a a young nekojin in the robes of a White Mage and a small man with dark curly hair. The former takes to the rigging, climbing up the ropes with agiltiy and grace inherent to his feline nature. The latter stays to the helm of the ship, keeping a steady course while the rest of the crew works to drop the sails.
Soon, the booms are secured and the ropes slackened. At the word of the powerful voice, belonging to First Mate Tobias Edison, the knots binding the ropes are undone, and the sails fall slack. The men holding the ropes, including the nekojin, grunt and pull, slowly hauling the sailclothes to the top of the mast, where they are tied down by the more nimble sailors.
The ship begins to slow, for the wind blows by freely with nothing to catch it. Another order barked by the first mate looses the anchor's chain, allowing the heavy weight to fall into the water with a loud splash. A moment later, the slowing vessel gently lurches to a halt.
"Good!" the first mate calls, "Now off to the galley with the lot of you! Eat, then rest up. We've still got a ways to go before we see home again! So you'll be up bright and early tomorrow!"
As the crewmen finish up their duties, mooring and securing the ropes, they walk toward a hatch leading belowdecks. The curly-haired helmsman, his duties done, seeks out the man in white robes, calling out, "Pervy!"
"Aye!" Pervy calls back, now on deck again and working to secure a sail line. "Hawkin's, gimme a hand wit' this rope!"
"Will do," Answers the small man as reaches the nekojin's side. While Pervy holds the rope, Hawkin's dextrous fingers work to secure it. Within a few moments, it rope is tied off, and Pervy lets it go.
"Thanks," sighs the man in White Mage's robes. "Ye go on down, I'll be there in a moment."
"Again?" Hawkin's asks, "Alright, matey. But th' cook's gonna gimme weird looks when I ask for two plates this time."
"Bah, he understands!" Pervy dismisses with a wave of his hand, "Now get going, afore all th' good stuff's gone!"
Hawkins nods and strides off, disappearing down the hatch and leaving Pervy alone. Within a few moments, everyone save the lookout at the top of the mainmast has gone belowdecks. The ship is suddenly quiet. Aside from Jay in the crow's nest, Pervy is alone.
The nekojin smiles as he watches the sun set, admiring the blaze of colors it spreads across the the sky and the sea. He watchs the waves, as he feels the deck roll and pitch lightly under his feet. It is all so calming, so relaxing, that it makes the day's hardships seem more like a bad dream than a recent memory.
It's been a month since he came aboard the Gem of Kohlingen. In that month, he has sailed to Inustan, where they dropped off a load of cargo and picked about three hundred bales of cloth. Now, the ship voyages back to the its home port of Kohlingen.
The last month has been a joy for the young sailor. Before, his days were filled classes and studies at the University of Everbright. Now, he labors under the open sky, working upon the seas that he loves, rather than stuffy classrooms. Before, Pervy was surrounded by the children of nobles and wealthy merchants; but on the ship he works with the sons of labors; people like him. The nekojin feels like he belongs here, doing the work he loves with people who come from the same roots as he.
There is such a simple joy working on the ship, a quality that Pervy can't put into words. Perhaps it is the wind and the surf working in tandom, creating an atmosphere that invokes so many pleasant memories of home. The creaking timbers and gentle splash of the waves sound almost like his old house, built on the docks with the rest of his tiny village.
Perhaps it is the sense of brotherhood he feels with the other sailors. He had many friends at the University, and had even fallen in love with a fellow student once. Yet he could always feel the gap between them and himself, that barrier created by living a life totally different than their have. Even the other poor students felt different. They had grown up inland, away from the sea. They knew of poverty, but did not know of life along the coast. Yet the crew of the Gem of Kohlingen live on the sea beside him every day.
However, not all is perfect on the ship. In Everbright, Pervy was under the watchful eye of patient, benevolent instructors who desired to teach him. They were willing to let him take his own course while learning, so long as the lesson was learned. No rushing, no anger. Even the strictest martinet among them showed patience and restraint.
But Captain Crowe and First Mate Edison do not harbor such feelings. Aboard the Gem of Kohlingen their word is law. As Pervy boarded the ship, Captain Crow told him that his word is law, and that which contradicts it is muntiny. Their orders are sensible, for all the demand is that the ship be sailed well. The nekojin sailor knows what would happen if those orders weren't followed. There will be no mistakes aboard their vessel.
Still, Pervy doesn't like it. He can understand why the orders are given, but he doesn't like those that give them. Neither Crowe nor Edison see the nekojin as a person. To them, he is simply a tool. So is everyone else; they are simply parts of the machine that runs the Doman Merchantman. He can sense it in the way that they give orders. Whenever they speak, their voices hold commands, threats, and little else. It is as though they were ordering attack dogs.
Still, the nekojin can't complain overmuch. The food is decent, the hammock he sleeps in comfortable. The pay is not very good, a mere thirty gil a week. However, Pervy doesn't have to pay for much while sailing, so he doesn't care. It grates on him that the Captain doesn't care much for him, but the seaman has already resolved to find a better ship when they dock at Kohlingen.
Pervy doesn't let that bother him. Instead, he enjoys the simple beauty of the sunset. After a few moments of that, a growl in his belly urges Pervy toward the galley. He follows that urge happily, half-dashing down the stairs and past the crew's hammocks and the meager cannons.
The galley is a rather small and cramped, with one long table to seat the entire crew. A few dim lamps provide enough light to see by. It is quite noisy, as the two dozen voices of the crew echo back and forth in the small room. Hawkins sits at the end of the table, with a small empty spot beside him. A bowl of stew and a part of a loaf of bread await Pervy at the empty spot. Happily, he takes a seat and tears into both.
"Heh, just in time," Hawkin's notes with a little grin. "Sturlson was about to take your share,"
"Bah," Pervy answers through a mouthful of bland fish stew, "He learned his lesson last time. Didn't ye, Sturly?"
"Not touch yer food? Aye!" answers a big, burly sailor a few seats down. "Just glad ye were willin' to heal me after last time!" A wink punctuates that last statement, drawing a grin from Pervy.
"Pervy!" Says another sailor, an average-sized man in a jerkin with the sleeves cut away. "What do you think? Crowe a bastard or not?"
"What kinda bastard?" Pervy asks, looking up from meal.
"A dumb bastard, that's what!" Answers another sailor. "He cut corners on getting a chart! That's why we've been out here for two and a half bloody weeks! We should've been home from Inustan by now; instead we're out in the middle of the sea!"
"The wind went dead fer awhile, Jenkins," the nekojin points out. "When th' wind's dead, we go nowhere."
"Jenkins is right, y' know." Hawkin's counters, "Those charts aren't worth bilge. I'm better off using the stars on my own than wit' those charts."
"An' in th' meantime, Crowe and Edison work us like dogs!" Jenkins contines, "He knows he's messed up, but th' bastard dun admit! Instead 'e takes it out on us!"
"Bah, we'll get home," Pervy says. "Then we leave th' bastard high an' dry."
"Maybe, Pervy," Sturlson says, "If we get home. Maybe we should make 'im stop at a nearby port, and get a good map."
"And a good captain..." adds an Inujin who signed on at the last port, "One who has some idea what's he's doing... And doesn't force me to leave my sister behind because she 'might distract the crew from their duties'." Those last words are said with great bitterness.
"No need fer that," Pervy counters, growing a bit nervous, "We'll get home alright..."
No one else seems content to speak up. The White Mage can read a bit of surprise on some of the other crew member's faces as well. He's not the only one to put off guard by this talk.
They're talkin' mutiny! races the nekojin's mind, Bloody Mutiny! They can't be serious! Things aren't that bad!
Are they?
<p><table align="center" cellpadding=2><tr><td>
</td><td align="center">Rum, White Magic, an' Cabbits.
That's th' life fer me.
Seig No-Pants!</td><td>
</tr></table></p>
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