Unplanned Detours (closed)

[craygus13]

The island was meant to be a paradise.

It’s jungles were stretches of lushness shot through with flora of such staggering color they were said to make a man weep. The valleys that stretched across the inland held a breathtaking grandeur, seemingly untouched in all of human history. The small farms of rich tobacco, the stands of breadfruit, the ubiquitous palms with their ponderous coconuts… it all filled the air with a fragrance of life, and newness.

Except for the taverns by the docks. They stank of pigs.

Erik’s eyes lulled open. He was stretched sideways across a straw-stuffed mattress, with homespun linen sheets tangled around his feet. he felt weight across his back, and he turned, discovering a slender brown leg draped over him. Pushing himself up, he found the leg attached to a person; the girl from the tavern was still sleeping off all the drinks they had shared the night before. They had been celebrating; the dice tables had been good to him, and he had been able to afford the finest spirits that hole-in-the-wall had to offer, and the finest company to drink them with.

Looking down at the girl, she was quite naked, but Erik didn’t seem to be able to drudge up any memories that might explain why. One obvious explanation presented itself… but if he had engaged her, he very much doubted that she would still be here in the morning. He managed to slip from her, and grabbed up his clothes, carefully stepping out of the door still naked.

He stood on a wooden balcony of split janka logs, the morning air dense in the island’s constant heat. He made sure he had his coinpurse as he tugged on his trousers. The girl would have stolen from him, obviously, but whatever they had done last night was probably worth it. Once his boots were on, he looked about, figuring out where he was. The treeline wasn’t far, and the trails that led inland, away from the stink of the docks. The flowery, loamy scent of the jungle taunted him, reminding him only briefly of the rich earth that had filled his nostrils when he was a boy. He shook his head, rejecting that smell, reaching through the pigstink to find the familiar air of the ocean, even now not so very far away. He started down the rickety stairs, heading in that direction, when he felt a hand grip his shoulder and spin him.

“Be wanting that coin back, Freeman”

Saul was a beast of a man. Erik would have pegged him for a spaniard, but he was such a poor sailor, it seemed unlikely. He stood almost a shoulder again over Erik, and ever higher over Desler and Ritig, the two following him. They had been at the dice tables the night before, and had been clearly upset watching him drink away their coppers in the company of a sweet brown bar wench.

Erik scratched the back of his head, shrugging in apology. “Afraid I don’t have much left, boys… that young lass had a trick or two up her sleeve…”

Ritig leered at him down his pockmarked, broken nose. “You been spending all our money on drink and whores.”

He rested his hands on his hips. “Well.. one whore. And it wasn’t exactly your money… that’s how gambling works.”

Saul scowled at him. “Then we’re taking what you spent from your hide, bilgeslave.”

Erik smiled at that. He looked between them with a grin, rolled his shoulders, and rocked his head back and forth with a stretch. “alright then…”

He jammed his foot down onto Saul’s, making the huge man howl, and then ducked down and drove his shoulder forward, ramming into his stomach and pushing him back, making him fall into a pig trough. Before Ritig or Desler could react, he grabbed a loose plank of janka wood and broke it in two across Ritig’s face, breaking his nose yet again, making him collapse and grab at the blood gushing from his face. Erik tried to swing at Desler, but the smaller man was too quick, moving back out of the punch and countering with his own, cracking Erik across the jaw and knocking him off his feet. He fell into the mud, but managed to kick Desler in the ankle from the ground, making him howl… Saul was starting to get up from the pig trough, so Erik pushed his feet downward, shoving his weight against the trough. It spilled backward, making the big man tumble down into the mud with him. Scrambling through the spilled pig slop, Erik flung himself at Saul, nearly breaking his own hand against his face…

One of the others… Ritig or Desler, he wasn’t sure… they put their hands on him, and dragged him off of Saul, smearing him from head to toe in mud. They lifted him to his knees, holding his arms out to the sides. Ritig’s nose was still bleeding. Saul got to his feet, and came over to them. He leaned down, and grabbed Erik’s coinpurse from his belt. He then stood, and aimed a careful blow, striking Erik cleanly in the face. His head rocked, and his vision blurred for a second. Saul hit him again, and again… he could taste the metal of his own blood. Saul said something, but he couldn’t quite make it out through the pain… they hoisted him into the pigpen, and he flopped down into the filth.

He lay there for a second, basking in the glorious sensation of not being hit anymore.

He sensed them walking away, and knew he should get up… he just needed a moment to be certain he hadn’t been killed. Arms… legs.. everything seemed to be fine but for his head, which he was absolutely certain had exploded…

“You certainly can pick your fights.”

He reached up groggily, wiping the mud from his eyes. The captain stood back from the low railing of the pigpen, exhibiting the good sense not to get too close. He was a thin, middle-aged man that walked with a cane carved of whalebone. Erik pushed against the ground to lift himself, feeling the mud squish between his fingers.

“They were going to rob me.”

“They weren’t going rob you and beat you near death… that part was your own idea.” The captain said, confirming that he had seen the whole thing. Erik gritted his teeth, wincing at the feeling of blood in his mouth.

“We have a bird,” The captain said, offering Erik no hand of support as he eased himself up. “Ships from King Harold. We’re to carry cargo of his to the Dutch Throne.”

Erik pushed himself to his feet, wiping his hands on his ruined trousers. “Why is Harold sending cargo all the way out here just to send it back to the Netherlands ?”

“The cargo in question is his oldest daughter. She’s already here surveying the farm holdings with her mother.”

Erik started at that. “Princess Adne?”

The captain nodded. He reached into his own pocket, and took out three copper coins, placing them on the post of a fence next to him, not bothering to approach Erik. “You’ll need to clean up, and a new set of clothes… and I doubt your pretty bar wench would lend much of a hand with you suddenly a pauper. I’ll expect four back at the end of the journey. And for the love of god, do something about your face, you’re bleeding everywhere.”

He turned, and started back toward the ship. Erik pulled his shirt up over his head and wiped at his mouth with the relatively clean inside of the linen, and then stopped, looking after the captain, who had stopped at the end of the alley.

“Was it because he called you a bilgeslave?”

Erick flung the shirt down into the mudd. “Yea.”

The captain nodded. “I don’t ask where my crew came from. We’re traders, not navy.” He said, still not facing Erik. “But you know what you were. whether they say it or not.”

He started walking again, leaving Erik standing in the mud.

 

[slippedhalo]

Adne was proud of herself. She managed to hold back her tears quite well while she said farewell to her little sisters and baby brother at the port. Queen Mary hugged her eldest (the one who resembled her the most of all of them with her flaming red curls and green eyes...) and kissed her cheek, whispering softly, ''You remember all I told you...about the night after the wedding...''

Adne blushed and made a dismissive wave, ''Mother, yes. Please, let's not speak of it again!'' she squealed, making her fifteen year old sister, Celest, laugh out loud because she knew exactly what had been whispered and why her elder sibling coloured so. She herself had been promised a wedding to a Duke next spring just before her sixteenth birthday. Adne and Celeste shared a knowing smile and hugged. They'd always been good friends. Celeste knew...

...It should have been Adne married, already, but things unravelled into a mess so many years ago. She certainly had waited long enough. King Harold had promised her to Prince Claude of France back when they were mere toddlers and they'd spent their lives knowing they'd one day be husband and wife and treating each other accordingly, as such, so much more than third cousins...When she was fourteen and he was fifteen the discussion of when had begun.

The plan had been to marry the day after her fifteenth birthday and a month from his sixteenth. They were madly in love by then. This was going to be the start of her new life as a Princess in France...But, then the wars began. Prince Claude was sent to fight with his father's army and Adne had vowed to wait for him...She waited, for three long years, even turning down four marriage proposals and incensing King Harold in the process. He told her after the fourth refusal that if she turned down another proposal he'd have her sent to the convent to become a nun or even would have her hanged.

Luckily, Prince Claude returned from the wars, healthy, sound, and ready to be married to his long awaited love. Happily, Adne accepted his proposal and the wedding planning had begun in earnest.

She was just two months shy of her eighteenth birthday now and was heartbroken once again. King Henry sent word to her while visiting lands in the tropics with her mother and other family members...The wars were taking almost all able men from their lands and now a sudden bout of fatal illness had swept through the warfront. King Henry was out of people to fight his war with Spain. So, he turned to his colleague, King Joris of The Netherlands who had Belgian and Dutch soldiers willing to fight alongside Henry's men but recently widowed and without a son, King Joris was looking for a bride. Henry had offered Celeste (thinking it would be easier to let down a Duke than a Prince) but King Joris had Adne in mind. He remembered visiting their court two years prior and having been struck by her beauty and grace. He wanted Adne for his queen and would take no substitutes, not even the other sister, nearly fourteen year old Marilee. He never budged in the negotiation. So, a fleet had been sent to retrieve Adne. She'd been made to see how important this change was to her father's kingdom and to her father himself. She knew she could not refuse another order or it would be her end. She also knew...she was about to break her true love's heart by marrying another for the sake of duty and honor.

The twins were the hardest to part with because she knew the next time she'd lay eyes on them might be years from this moment and they'd be barely recognizable and would definitely not know her anymore. They were but three years old; little Harold the Second and his fraternal twin, bitty Beatrice. Adne snuggled them tightly and kissed their cheeks, the tears finally spilling as the little ones touched her face and hair with tiny, chubby hands, bewildered to see their usually calm and serene big sister so sad. She looked up at her mother imploringly with her jade green eyes shining with fresh, stinging tears, ''Mother, I must go now or I fear I may never...''

Mary understood and nodded, gesturing to her other children and the servants to back away from the dock and let the ship's crew help Adne board. Celeste, Marilee, Jessica, Beatrice and Harold all followed their mother and Queen as she turned and walked away, holding back her own tears much better than her daughter could. But, she was much more practiced. After all, life had taught her that love makes not a marriage much sooner than it was teaching young Adne at current.

Adne waved off the nurse, Mrs. Flannigan, who'd raised her well and smiled as ''Flanny'' winked at her the way she used to when Adne was just a wee lass then watched as Flannigan hastened to follow the royal family as they departed from the docks. It was time to go whether she wanted to or not. Turning toward the huge ship she regarded it with great melancholy. Instead of taking her to her great love Claude this vessel would be bringing her to an unknown fate with a man old enough to be her father...Isn't life grand? She wiped her tears away with an embroidered handkerchief and then followed the Captain who was now her guardian. She'd never been so very alone before. Unwashed men brazenly watched her board the ship, they worked aboard. This wave of sudden panic struck her. She was the only woman on a ship full of commoner men! Lord help her! Adne followed the trunks with her dowry and her belongings to the below-decks rooms accorded to her. They were miserably small but she was assured they were the biggest on the vessel. She wanted to be alone to cry away her misery but instead was bumped into by a tall lad carrying one of her larger travel chests. ''Watch where you walk, peasant. My silks need not be sullied by your swarthy dirt and sweaty hands.'' she warned him, shocked to look into a badly bruised and swelled face. ''..Wh-wha-what's happened to your face?'' she asked before she could stop herself.

He set down the chest with a grunt and looked down at her as if considering his answer.

 

[craygus13]

He’d never seen a ship this big fit to sail this fast.

The quartermaster had them loading supplies the same night they learned they would be sailing, and they basically hadn’t stopped. It had been less than a week, and they’d be sailing in a night or two.

The news that they’d be carrying the crown princess spread through the crew as only gossip can. No one knew WHY they were making this trip, but he had heard more than a few rumors. The princess had angered her father, and cast her out of his court. The captain was kidnapping her for ransom. For his part, Erik put the most stock in the rumor that she was pregnant, and was being taken to the north to have her baby.

He had been largely useless that first night. His face throbbed, and the blood caked and made it hard to breathe. The first mate had no use for a shipman that wouldn't work, though, and by the next morning he was hauling supplies and climbing rigging with everyone else. The pain diminished, and most of the swelling went down... soon he could even see out of his right eye without squinting. Now only the worse of the bruises remained.

He was checking the upper aft diggings, gripping onto a wide beam stretched out over a forty foot drop into the water. He happened to glance to the shore, and realized that their cargo had arrived.

He had never seen the royal family before, but it was impossible to mistake them. Normal people just didn't dress like that. Even one of the landed lords, who might be able to afford the clothes, wouldn't be able to wear them the way these women did. They gave no thought to their refinements at all... wore them like it was something owed to them.

Of course... they WERE owed, he thought to himself with a grimace, focusing his attention back on the rigging. That's what all the lords and sheriffs and bannermen and town guards and clergy told you. The king owned everything, and anything you had was yours because he allowed it. Erik absently closed his left hand, feeling the absence of his ring finger within his fist.

"Freeman! Stand to!"

His name sang out from one of the mates below. He rolled his shoulders a bit as he call out a reply, working his gloves together, and gripped one of the suspension lines. He stepped off the mast, and zipped down the line, letting the leather bite in his grip as he slowed his descent and found his feet on the deck. The mate pointed at a pair of huge, finely appointed trunks; he was to bring them down to the lower deck and into the secure quarters behind the powder stores. Erik complied, gripping the gilded handles and hefting one of the trunks on top of the other, his shoulders and arms straining against the load as he lifted it to his back.

He knew exactly what this was. He had helped fasten a bunk into that room days ago, and a keylock had been installed in the door. Clearly, it was meant to be the princesses quarters, which meant that this ridiculous load was her’s. She was traveling with more luggage than the entire crew.

He couldn't help resent the lass. The life she lived... the things that she was being given. For such a child to be granted so much...

He felt someone collide with him in the corridor. Imbecile, he thought… how could they not have seen him coming?

"Watch where you walk, peasant." Came the light lilting brogue from the other side of the chests. "My silks need not be sullied by your swarthy dirt and sweaty hands..."

Erik grit his teeth. The princess. The princess was scolding HIM. This little girl needed to be taught a lesson in manners, royal or no. He turned his load, ready to tell her off…

And found himself faltering.

He had been a long time away from his homeland. He had spent time in the Mediterranean and the distant Isles and had grown used to the beauty of the women in those distant places; with their smoky eyes and thick, sensual curves and the creamy nut brown of their skin... it was something he quite loved about the places he had been. But how long must it have been for him to have forgotten the exquisite beauty of the women from his own country? This little princess was all cream and freckles... with eyes of pure emerald and hair so jolting red it stood out like fire. She had a woman's body, but so different from the lustful wenches of these foreign taverns… she was demure, and elegant... .

And her mouth...

"Wha... what's happened to your face?"

He blinked, realizing he had been staring. That you Saul, he thought with a wry smile, these bruises might just have saved me from a flogging for leering at the princess.

He set down his load, and gave her a passive smile. "Life of a sailor, your Highness...." He said, trying to keep his tone respectful. Or at least not utterly mocking.

He opened her tiny room, and pulled the two chests inside. He quickly stepped from the room, chancing another moment to look at her.

From here he could smell her. Smells of his home; of rushing mountain breezes, of honey, of wild thistle and sweet, sweet honeysuckle…

 

[slippedhalo]

Adne regarded him trying to see the character of the face beyond the swelling and purplish bruises. She reckoned if he were better groomed and not half beaten to a pulp he might not even be a bad looking man. But, all she said was, ''That will be all.'' Although, she couldn't help adding as he turned his broad back to her and had nearly shut the door...''...Try to be more careful next time...with my posessions AND with your face.'' she teased.

He didn't look as if he thought it was funny but smiled politely and shut her in. She looked around in dismay at the size of her quarters. She'd asked for more room and they'd told her this was the biggest room the ship had to offer. Even the Captain had narry but a bunk and a chest and no space for more than his own two feet beside his bunk, and his blessing was that he got to sleep alone. His men were often bunked up in threes and fours to a bed.

She locked the door with the key she'd been given and sat down on her bed. It was too hard for her liking. She hoped the journey would not be too long. As much as she dreaded being handed off to King Joris at least she knew there she'd be treated properly and have a real bed and decent sized chambers and if she didn't as the new Queen she could just order them built. This thought, at least, made Adne smile. Queen Adne. She supposed she could tolerate the lustful fumblings of an old man every once in a while if it meant a kingdom to help him rule. At least she'd be a Queen at eighteen, a fairly respectable achievement wheras in order to be Queen of France she'd have to marry Claude (quite happily) but then wait for his father and mother to pass on. These thoughts led her to a fitful night's sleep.

Adne had not slept well at all that first week aboard the ship. She wasn't used to this ship's movements. Her family's trip out to the tropics had been much smoother sailing. Now, the seas were much more fierce, choppy and wild...and it made Adne constantly queasy, dizzy, and tired. She was truly miserable. On the eighth night she slept straight through what the men had told was quite a rough storm. But, they could not turn back now. It was onward toward The Netherlands and no one bothered to warn a finally fully rested Princess Adne that another storm even worse than the night before was threatening, standing in their way. There were storms in every direction so the captain decided to just trudge onward, forward toward the destination (and his reward if he got her to The Netherlands more quickly than his initial estimate to King Joris) so they sailed on...

It was not yet dawn on the ninth night of the journey. Adne was nearly thrown out of her bunk by a sudden lurching of the ship. She'd fallen asleep with a belly empty from seasick wretching as the water churned around the ship, tossing it about like a child's bath toy. The sounds of the storm had finally lulled her to sleep only to wake her in pre-dawn darkness, falling to the floor...the wet floor. She looked around, her eyes adjusting to the darkness and looked for the source of this wetness even as she rose up, her nightgown, to her ankles, was now damp around the edges, water was seeping into her cabin, and quickly! There seemed to be a crack in the ship's bough. It was letting water seep into the wall. She quickly took her key out and fumbled to open the lock and let herself out. She saw chaios in the corridor to the steps above. water rushed into her cabin now from the hall which had apparently been even more flooded. She screamed in horror at the cold as water splashed up to her thighs.

Wading through it, she pushed past frantic men all working on something or other, and scrambled up to the top of the ladder to get above. She had to find the captain. Adne saw a waking nightmare....

 

[craygus13]

''Try to be more careful next time...with my possessions AND with your face.''

He looked up at her, trying to understand what she meant; and realized from the tiny smirk on that mouth of hers that she was actually being playful. He swallowed. This was unfamiliar territory. Usually, he would take it as an invitation to banter, but she was nobility. Not just nobility, but royalty. Not just royalty, but CROWN royalty…

He smiled, and slipped the door shut. She had dismissed him, he would just leave it at that. He started back up toward the upper deck. She was something, there was no denying it… he wondered if she actually realized just how tempting she was. Some young lord was going to have his hands full with that one.

----

To see, with certainty, your own death...

The sea had fought them with every step of their journey. He had sailed rough seas, but never like this... just one storm after another. They would sleep in shifts, working the ship with all they had through the storm living and breathing for the moment they pushed through it, only to be met on the far side by yet another storm.

The captain couldn't know their heading. Erik had sailed under men that would know their heading even in a starless sky, but this captain wasn't one of them. You couldn't know it by the certainty with which he gave his orders, and most of the other men held to their faith, but his eyes betrayed him. They were sailing blind.

When the storm finally broke, there was a choice to be made. The storms swirled about in all directions... but ahead, in the path that should keep them on course, was a monster. A maelstrom that filled the horizon... a solid wall of storm.

The captain was sure that they could brave the maelstrom, that a storm so large would have an eye big enough to sail through. Had Erik been there, he would have called that damnable cripple a fool.

But he wasn't. So sail they did.

Erik was near to choking on the torrent of seawater flowing into the bilges. They strained against the pump, trying to slow what seemed inevitable... the water climbing up their chests. Suddenly the ship shuddered hard to the side, a wave shaking it t it's core. There was a resounding crack from somewhere overhead, and the gigantic barrels of pitch to their side listed...

Erik tried to call out, but it was no use. One of the four hundred pound barrels tumbled from it’s racks, and the man working he pump with him was knocked down into the water. Erik lunged for the barrel, straining with all his might through grit teeth, the water lapping over him, to move it. The barrel would budge, then rock, then settle… the water pummeling them from every side. He managed to shove it off of the fallen man, but he had already drowned.

Erik pushed his hands through his hair, staring at the dead man. He couldn’t work the bilgepump by himself. The seawater was rushing in on them… it was already rising past his chin.

The ship was sinking.

It took a moment for the idea to settle in. They were going down. He started to scramble for the ladder, trying to haul himself up through the downpoor of water rushing into the bilges from the underdecks, holding his breath and climbing blind through the deluge. Once he found his footing, He had to slosh through the knee-high water, pushing his way up to the upper deck.

The main mast was on fire.

The storm rocked all around them, the wind and the millions and brutal icy daggers of rain tore sideways against the skin, the whole world rocking violently as she sea tossed them about like an angry child-god’s plaything. Lightning split the maelstrom overhead, lighting up it’s own handiwork… the flaming spire that had once been the mast.

Erik looked up at it feeling the heat even across the storm. He was going to die. They were all going to die. The mast cracked, and it began it’s slow, awful descent...

Something was in it’s path, down here on the main deck. The princess stood in the rain, soaked to the bone, wrapped in layers of bedclothes and robes, looking up in paralyzing fear at oncoming fire…

He didn’t think. He just lept, and grabbed at her, yanking her from her feet and across the deck. He rolled… he hadn’t had a moment to consider his path, and the rocking of the deck sent him spinning all the way across the ship. The flaming tower slammed into the deck with the force of an explosion, and everything was suddenly on fire… the deck shifted violently, and he was flung to the outer railing…

the railing shattered under his weight, and he was flung into the ocean.

 

[slippedhalo]

Adne was quick enough to dive out of the way when the pillar of fire which had once been the mast came falling down but she felt heat as it was falling in the same direction she was moving...a body slammed into hers, jarring her but it moved her far enough across the swiftly tilting deck to not get burned by the flames or hit by the mast which had collapsed just beside her. The body kept sliding well past her even after she'd grabbed hold of something solid in the process of coughing acrid smoke from her lungs as the result of fire meeting water boiled around the one time flag. She could barely see through the smoke and tears but the ship was tilting and this became clear, his was not the only body falling overboard.

Adne's arms began to tremble from the strain of holding on so hard. The slide continued for her, not a minute afterward, when the bit of railing she'd been clinging to for dear life cracked in half and she lost her handold and her balance, crashing into the angry sea with a scream as the water hit her body like shards of icy glass, shocking her system. Only, the water entering her mouth with a wave that picked her up and tossed her far from the burning body of the ship cured the shock enough to make her sputter and spit out the poison, gasping momentarily for a breath of fresh air before having to hold it again as she swam toward the only functioning lifeboat she could see, heading toward what in the darkness looked like a huge rock.

She swam closer and could hear the men swearing and speaking in speech heavily laiden with curses. They were arguing with one another, threatening, and shouting in alarm.

"Help me, please!", She managed to shout but they appeared to not hear her until she shouted more loudly and added that she was a crowned princess...and soon she felt hands gripping her, pulling her from the water.

Gratefully, she gulped more air and at first barely noticed the looks on thier faces as they rudely discussed her like she wasn't even there. She didn't care at first. She was just happy to be in a dry boat and to be able to breathe without smoke or salt water.

Alarm registered as rough hands began to grab at her, and rings were pulled from her fingers, earrings ftom her ears, one, made her cry out as it was pulled right down through her earlobe, quite painfully. And, all different hands grabbing at her from various directions...Thier uneducated, gibberish sounded cruel and harsh but she gathered some wanted to "play" with her a while then eat her if they wound up starving. Others liked the first idea but thought it wasn't the time or place for rape, some wanted to molest her then toss her overboard. Others argued she'd be nothing but trouble and to just toss het over now...Struggling to get the hands to stop touching her, she squirmed away from them and soon Adne accidentally made the decision for them, falling off the edge of the crowded boat. She had a moment of panic and swam back to the boat once she saw nowhere left to go...

But, a swift, crack of an oar to her head, momentarily blinded her with pain and made it quite clear she'd no longer be welcome there. The concept baffled the princess who'd never been treated so cruelly in her young life. Slowly, she paddled away, then her swimming became faster and more determined, hoping to beat the mean bastards to the rock which might be land and find something to defend herself against them with once she got there.

Her fear and anger took her far. She'd had no clue how fast she'd been swimming to her chosen destination when sure those terrible men were right behind her... But, when she got close to the edge of the rock and stood with trembling legs in the shallow water she saw no crowded life boat. She saw nothing but floating dead bodies and flames, and broken bits of wood, and cargo lit by flaming bits of more wreckage ...and the rising sun on the horizon, staring at the remains like an angry god's eye.

Before she could allow herself to collapse from exhaustion Adne was wise enough to see that as things came close enough to her part of the rock she would drag them in and put them into a pile far enough from the edge of the water. Maybe some of those things might be useful to her survival as she waits for rescue, she thought. Rescue. She was hoping against hope that another ship used this same route and would be nothing but days behind this one, she hoped. She tried not to focus for too long on facts which would make her hope null or on the bodies already starting to bloat, also floating ashore in the water. She recognized the Captain, his face and arms were nearly burned to a crisp but his clothes had been fine. She knew his clothes. They were different from those of the other men. She tried not to consider how grizzly a task this was, wading through dead bodies and scavanging the wreckage for things she might be able to use. As the sun came up the rock revealed itself to be a smallish island. She wasn't sure if the treeline above the beach held any civilization or if this place was truly wild. She thought, though, that the sun was getting higher in the sky and soon she too would be burned unless she could find a place to retreat to with her fair skin.

There were lots of bits of broken wood floating around and she wondered if they could be used to construct something with some of the trees to support them. She also moved a few heavy chests as far as she could onto the beach and figured if there were clothes in some she could perhaps create a canopy with something of them and the wood...tripping on a body is never a pleasant thing, especially when it disrupts panic-edged thoughts of a person trying desperately to stay calm and logical. She looked down at a face, one she almost didn't recognize because the last time she saw him it was covered in bruises but now he had clear skin and, had they been open, she was sure his eyes would be fully visible and without swollen sockets. He looked too good to be dead..''I know that face.'' she said aloud, realizing it was the same man who'd brought her things to her room before and the man who'd slid overboard while risking his own life to save her from the falling mast. She felt a sadness bubble within her breast, the beginnings of the sobs she'd been holding back. This was possibly the last straw holding her sanity aloft. She didn't want him to be dead. She didn't necessarily care about him in any way. But, she liked him more than the others and had hoped he'd survive.

So, when she went to push his arm off of the chest she was after and realized it was quite warm she felt a bit of hope. Perhaps he is alive! Her heart leapt at this thought and she let go of the chest and moved instead to grab him from around his body's chest and pull him up onto the beach, dragging him as best she could once the water no longer supported his weight with extra bouyancy. ''Leaning over his face, she gently tapped it with her hand, and he turned his head away from her, vomiting water and coughing.

She squealed and clapped. ''You're not dead!'' she exclaimed...before remembering who she was and who he was and that there was no reason whatsoever to be this excited whether he lived or died at all...except he was apparently the only other survivor and she really didn't want to wait for a rescue alone. He was much better than those idiots on the lifeboat so...So, she allowed herself to be somewhat relieved he was alright.

 

[craygus13]

The darkness choked him... the water freezing his blood... the cold blinding him.
.
He sputtered, struggled... couldn't find up... couldn't escape the deep.

He swam. No clue if it was up or down, but he swam. He struck something. Not knowing what it was, he sunk his fingers into what felt like rope, and sputtered....

He could see his mother, dying in the wheat fields… his father, dying in the battle fields… he started to swim toward them…

But something grabbed his arm, and tugged him backward.

He rolled over on the beach, looking up into the rising sun. he blinked, squinting into the light, and realized he was dead, and the angels had come for him. she looked down, her bright emerald eyes sparkling with concern, her hair taking the sunlight and casting rivulets of pure fire down toward him, her mouth curled in worry…

that mouth. The princess. It was the princess.

He was alive.

He choked, and felt the seawater in his stomach force it’s way out of him. he rolled onto his side, coughing…

''You're not dead!''

he turned again, seeing the delight in her face before she suddenly remembered herself. He wiped at his mouth, sitting up on his knees.

“am I?” he muttered, looked around. They seemed to be on a beach of some sort of island. the orange glow of the early morning sun making Adne’s hair glow. There was jungle within fifty yards of them, and the ocean, so blue and clear this far south, lapped up at the pure white sand. The surf was littered with debris, and more than a few bodies. it suggested that the ship couldn’t have gone down too far away…

There. two hundred yards out. The pyre that had been their ship was still burning. It was so stationary it be must be lock up on a sandbar or reef. The fires were raging, but there was a lot of wood… it would peter out during the afternoon… they might be able to get out to it and scavenge for supplies.

That thought; the thought of getting supplies... it suddenly made their situation crystallize. he reached up and ran his hands over his face, water dripping from his eyelashes.

“We need to think about what we’re going to do here…” he said, more to himself than to her. “We should get a fire going in case anyone else made it… and then think about water and shelter…”

he looked back at her, and realized she was bleeding. there was a cut just below her hairline, hidden by the glowing brilliance of her hair. It was small, but the blood was trickling down her cheek in a tiny rivulet.

He got to his feet. his clothes were soaked with seawater, but the cut would already be soaked through… he could tend to it in a bit to make sure it was cleanly bandaged. in the meantime, he pulled the bandana off his head, and beckoned for her to come to him.

“You have a cut on your forehead, your highness….”

 

[slippedhalo]

She almost moved away from him as he invaded her space holding out a rag he'd had on his own commoner head...But, she heard his words, and the concern in his voice and on his face, they touched her. She realized he was offering up the cleanest thing he had at the moment and his hand moved to her head when she bent to allow it. "Bleeding..."

She remembered quite clearly how it had occurred because no one had ever struck her before so the oar to the head had made quite the impression on the princess. "They... They wanted to kill me! I went to the lifeboat, they argued and talked about me as if I wasn't even there...Talked about me as a plaything, some ...whore for thier pleasure! They took my grandmother's emeralds from my ears!" She felt the soft, empty spots on her earlobes where jewelery had once hung, a sore scab was on the one nearly torn through for the gems which had adorned it. She hissed at the realization of another source of pain.

Her eyes teared up as she went motionless and allowed the man to wrap her head, bandaging the wound on the forehead. Wearing a bandana made Adne feel quite silly, though. She hoped no one would see her like this beyond this man helping her now.

" They were so...I think it came from one of them hitting me with an oar. They wanted me dead once it became obvious having thier way with me would not be easy and survival was more important than sex at the time. Once I realized they'd be no help and were so dangerous I began to swim away. I swam hard, thinking they were after me for the longest time! When I finally turned to check, they were gone and I was here...watching the dead burn...and I dragged some things which might be of value or aid up onto the beach...It was a good way to keep busy and keep from panicking...I really thought I was all alone..."

Adne looked into his face as he finished what he was doing. "Thank you." She said, feeling awkward.

 

[craygus13]

He moved deliberately, careful not to disturb her as she started to cry. She was describing something truly terrifying… Erik had no sense of what it must be for a woman to endure that sort of torment, and he didn’t want it. The closest he could imagine would be to feel powerless, and diminished… as though you were being treated as something worthless.

He had the bandanna secured to stop her bleeding, but as she cried softly, telling him what she had endured, he cradled the side of her head. If she had been someone else, his instinct would have been to hold her so she could cry… but he couldn’t do that for her. even touching her like this was wrong… he would be beaten for it if they were still on the ship. still… it was such a hard instinct to ignore…

"Thank you."

He looked down at her, letting his hand fall away.

“I’m so sorry, your highness.”... he offered, knowing it wouldn’t mean much. “as painful as it might be, they might have saved your life when they pushed you from their boat… I don’t know if anyone but you and I survived last night.”

He looked down the beach at the few bodies that mingled with the smashed remains of the ship. “We’ll tend to them, as soon as we can… but we should build a signal fire first.” He raised his hands over his eyes, looking into the jungle. It was old, and untouched, with a wide canopy over a smaller layer of climbing and crawling vegetation. There would be old, dry wood there. “I can drag out a few large logs. Can you gather some seasoned kindling to start the fire?”

 

[slippedhalo]

She knew what it was, kindling.
She knew what he was asking of her was not a task too big for her...yet, still, it nagged at her a bit. She was being asked to do meanial labour.
''I'd ask if someone else could do it but I know there is only we two to do these things right now. So, I will allow you to tell me what you think we need to do to survive, you may speak somewhat freely with me, eh, um...I don't know your name...I suppose it's alright as we are alone and need to help one another. But, please know if we...WHEN we get rescued, that I will then expect you to address me more formally and respectfully."

She explained, feeling they needed to draw out some borders for what behaviors would be acceptable for now and what would never be acceptable otherwise...Yet, the look on his face as they trudged up the hill, crossing over the threshhold between sandy beach and rough grassy ground into the jungle, said that he was not impressed.

She didn't want to fight with the only human being around for what could be a good, long time. So she lowered her voice a bit and her tone was less haughty than a moment ago as she added, ''But, right now I will get some kindling gathered for a fire.''

They nodded to one another and set off in directions somewhat parallel to one another in the jungle. Even when thick trunks and vines separated them, she could hear him moving through his part, and likely, he could hear her. Occasionally they would meet up as they dumped what they needed into the grass overlooking both jungle and beach, but niether talked much until the job was done.

As she helped the quiet man put the wood together into a pile and begin setting up the signal fire, she began to look out to the water again. She couldn't help but keep looking at the mess out there and be startled by it because her mind kept expecting to see the large, fine ship and not wreckage and smoke. The fire was beginning to become more than a spark and soon blazed of it's own accord.

She let him do the task of getting it fed well enough to burn brightly. Adne hated doing work like this, even more so, having to do it in her nightdress. Seeing her own trunk floating closer to the beach she jumped up, happy that she might get to wear something different quite soon!
''I think I see one of my trunks in the water, young man! Why don't you fetch it for me and I'll let you have some things from the Captain's trunk in the sand there.''

He stood slowly and looked out to where she pointed and then back at her and she wondered what he was thinking.

 

[craygus13]

''I'd ask if someone else could do it but I know there is only we two to do these things right now."

He turned his head quizzically. Was she serious?

"So, I will allow you to tell me what you think we need to do to survive, you may speak somewhat freely with me, eh, um...I don't know your name...I suppose it's alright as we are alone and need to help one another. But, please know if we...WHEN we get rescued, that I will then expect you to address me more formally and respectfully."

He blinked. She was serious.

She actually thought that her being a princess meant something out here... that even here, he was something less than her. She hadn't even asked his name when she realized that she didn't know it.

He swallowed. He couldn't afford to waste the energy with this. If she was going to be like that, then he would just have to work with it. He smiled at her, and kept as much sarcasm out of his voice as he could when he said "of course, your Highness."

He got to his feet, and made his way up the sandbar and into the jungle. He heard her making her way behind him, but he didn't look back at her. Right now, he didn't need to deal with her and her noble snobbery. There was work to be done.

He felt her approaching him, and looked back. Crossing the sandbar had been tricky with the unweildy sand, and he didn't want her hurting herself, infuriating or not. She looked up at him with what looked like resolution.

''But, right now I will get some kindling gathered for a fire.''

He exhaled. She was just so damnedly beautiful, it was hard to remember to stay angry at her. Her mouth was set firmly, resigning herself to the task at hand, her pale cheeks flushed from the trek up the sandbar.

Changing her way of thinking WOULD be hard, he imagined. He resented the way she thought of him, but she must not even think of it. He forced a smile for her sake, and gave her a nod.

Once she was off, he got to work. The jungle canopy kept the sweltering heat of the sun away, but the air itself was warm and moist. It was sea air, but thick with smells of the jungle. Earth, and the fallen vegitaton composting into more soil... the crisp pollen of huge exotic flowers... the clean smells and sounds of untouched ground.

He found several useful boughs before he got his hand on some likely fallen logs. Straight shooting plants with firm stalks... he collected a half dozen four and a half foot lengths of them, breaking them away and tearing a hanging vine into strips to bind them together and sling them over his back. He wore them as he lugged a heavy log back down to the beach, dropping them into the sand.

On his way back, he heard the princess in the woods, and made his way around her... not quite sure if he wanted to see more of her just yet. She was making herself useful at least. Remembering her story about what had happened in the water, perhaps he should give her a little slack.

He hauled down a few more heavy logs, and she helped him use the kindling she had found to set up the fire. There were broken Flint pieces scattered near the jungle's edge, making the fire easy to start. Once it began to roar, he sat down with the Flint, breaking away bits of it with a heavier rock to craft a spearhead...

She lept up from her place by the fire suddenly, pointing out into the water.

''I think I see one of my trunks in the water!"

He following her gaze. It was one of her trunks, no doubt. It had been amazingly heavy, but they had been built so well they remained boyant. He was glad for that... she was hardly dressed for the sun, and they weren't likely to find any clothes for her among the wreckage...

"Young man, Why don't you fetch it for me and I'll let you have some things from the Captain's trunk in the sand there.''

He had started to stand and head down to the water, but at that last remark, he slowed and looked back at her. Young man? She couldn't be more than twenty. He had been older than her before he had been sold. Beyond that...

He worked to smile at her. "I'll gladly fetch your chest, your Highness... and I'll make a trek out to the wreck when the fire dies to see if there's anything else we might save."

He reached down, and pulled his shirt up over his head. He held it in both hands for a moment rolling his shoulders to get ready to swim. "You don't need to worry about the captain's chest, though. It's a shipwreck... anyone can claim any of the salvage. Even a lowborn bilgeslave."

He tossed his shirt aside, and went down to the water. He pushed past some of the debree, pulling in some of the more whole pieces that might prove useful. Once the way was clear, he waded out into the water, dipped below the surface, and swam out to her chest, all the while trying to will away his frustration. He gripped the side, and swam it back until he was pulling himself through shallow water, and the chest dragged into the sand. He stood, and hefted it onto his back, hauling it up the beach toward the fire. He only came about halfway before he dropped it in the sand, and gave her a small bow.

"There you go, your highnessness..." he said without much conviction. He then went to the captain's chest, and set to work on the lock with a shard of Flint.

 

[slippedhalo]

His reaction to her suggestion made Adne stop and review the conversation just had back again through her own mind, guessing she may have offended him but not sure exactly how...His muscled upper torso now bared before her stopped all thinking in her head, however, very quickly.

She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry as her eyes willed themselves down and away from the sinfully delicious sight of that man swimming away. His back alone was the stuff of a young woman's guilty dreams. She realized very suddenly that she'd not noticed properly before how very good looking and fit this sailor was. It was hard to disguise her physical reaction to his bared chest and arms when he was carrying her large chest up the beach, well toned, muscular, and quite strapping as he hefted that mighty object upon his back and brought it up nearly as far as the sandbar. Her cheeks and neck were surely quite rosy with blushing by now as her eyes devoured the savage sight.

He dropped it just short of the sand bar and she thought she detected a hint of annoyance in his voice...He ignored her as she went through her chest, finding plenty of night clothes and under garments and only one practical gown. The stuff she wanted must be in another chest. These things would not cover much more than what she was currently wearing. She'd be doomed to being indecent and her skin being exposed in places she'd never live down because likely if she didn't burn she'd freckle to no end. The scandal would be horrendous! She realized this would mark the end of nobility describing her as a fair, milk skinned, beauty. Her comments of lament over this got no reply from him as he picked at the lock on The Captain's chest. She even thought he'd chuckled at her predicament but when she turned to look his way he seemed intent on the chest, his face was impassive. Hr cheeks colored again as her eyes accidentally registered the exact shade of pink his nipples were, a thing a lady absolutely should not be taking such notice of...

She stopped what she was doing and approached him carefully, "Have I offended you?" She asked softly as he approached, "I'm not sure if there's a protocol for our situation. I am not used to addressing people who aren't either also royalty as me or working for me...I perhaps...Should I try lowering my station a bit and raising yours while we are here, to help one another as equals? Uh...and, um, I would be able to talk to you more properly if I could look at you, sir. You seem to be missing a crucial item of clothing..."

 

[craygus13]

The lock wasn't a difficult one. If he had a lockpick, he'd have it open in moments. Working it with a few flint shards was taking some doing.

He could hear her over by her own chest, going on about the clothes he had recovered for her. A crown princess would have had nurses and handmaidens her whole life, he wondered if she'd even be able to dress herself.

Even as he thought it, he knew it was foolish. She had been dressing herself the entire voyage. If he was honest, she had also made a good showing of herself with the kindling. He was lashing out at her, but why? He had been ordered about by nobility his whole life, what was making her commands bite so much?

He could hear her talking about how exposed she would be, and the damage it would do to her skin. Somehow, that struck him as funny. Her creamy skin was gorgeous, but the idea of her cheeks dotted with freckles was at once fetching and completely adorable. The idea that she could possibly worry about such a thing...

The lock tumblers popped in his hands, and the flint he had worked into the tiny keyhole slid the last fraction of an inch forward. He reached up and pushed the sea chest open. The captain must have stored his most valuable possessions here. He found his compass hanging from a twine lanyard, and a spyglass. He opened them both, and while the glass over the compass was cracked, it still worked just fine. The spyglass was in fine shape... he quickly grabbed it up, as it likely cost more than Erik would make working a dozen Atlantic crossings. He tossed a few fineries aside... shirts and jackets that would be useless while he was trying to work. The princess might be able to wear them, if she was truly insistent on keeping her skin from the sun and wasn't against wearing men's clothing...

He stopped, his hands hovering over the chest. The captain's swordbelt. He must have removed it before the storm. The captain wore an expensive dueling foil, the sort of weapon a young lord would wear. It might be useful against another lord, but it would be a toothpick against an opponent with a longsword or a proper cutlass. Erik had no experience with the weapon, but perhaps he could use the blade for something, at least until he could scrounge or craft a better weapon for himself.

What really caught his eye about the weapon was what he knew would be attached to it's belt. The captain wore a pistol, he knew. He lifted the belt, and there it was. Unloaded, obviously, but with a pouch of ammunition. He opened it, and estimated perhaps enough powder and shot for ten or twelve volleys. It wouldn't keep them indefinitely safe, as he had no idea what they might find on the island, but it was a start.

Almost as an afterthought, folded in the ammunition pouch was a bit of parchment. He took it out, carefully unfolding it, and realized that it bore the princess's father's seal. He hadn't had cause to read in many years, and it had never been his strength, but he remembered enough to stumble though it.

It was the king's instructions to the captain. They had been taking the princess to meet her husband, that had been the cause of the sudden launch. Erik breathed a sigh of relief; it meant the lass wasn’t pregnant. Not that he had put much stock in the rumors, but still...

He heard her moving carefully toward him across the pale sand. he turned, and looked up at her. Her those sparkling eyes were wide and her perfectly soft little mouth seemed pursed with concern. what was she doing?

"Have I offended you?"

He felt himself scofft, but quickly bit back on the frustration that welled up so quickly. That pretty brogue sounded so highborn, but she couldn’t help that. She wasn’t trying to antagonize him. One look at her face showed that her question was sincere.

He smiled at her, and shook his head. “I was never very good at serving nobility, your highness. It’s my own cross to bear… but I’m afraid you and I are the only two people on the island. I’ll just have to try to remember my place.”

Her face was unreadable for a moment… but it was staggeringly beautiful. Somehow the light changed in that moment. the orange of the sunrise seemed to bleed away just a bit, and the fiery glow of her hair suddenly shifted. The light seemed to suggest the silhouette of her body through her nightclothes. He checked himself, making sure his gaze didn’t linger on her sumptuous form. Shipwrecked with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen… and it had to be her.

"I'm not sure if there's a protocol for our situation. I am not used to addressing people who aren't either also royalty as me or working for me...I perhaps...Should I try lowering my station a bit and raising yours while we are here, to help one another as equals?

He stared at her. It was unheard of for a noble to suggest such a thing… but she understood. She understood how hard this was going to be. He exhaled, nodding. “I’d be very much in your debt, your highness. We can do this, but it will mean working together… talking to each other properly might just keep us alive”

Uh...and, um, I would be able to talk to you more properly if I could look at you, sir. You seem to be missing a crucial item of clothing..."

He glanced down at his naked chest. He was a shipman… going shirtless was the norm. A shirt was something you threw on in port. still, seeing her expression, and the dainty blush over those tender cheeks of hers…

“you’re right,” he said as he stood up, and clipped the sword belt on. “That should do it. Let’s head into the jungle. we can head back to the beach later… see if anyone found the signal fire. We need to find food and water… and if we’re lucky, somewhere to sleep. That storm from last night should mean we’ll be without much rain for a while, but we’re going to need shelter soon.”

He pulled on the compass and tucked the spyglass into it’s pouch on the belt as he started toward the jungle, ignoring the look on her face. He hid his smile at her reaction.

He continued working at the flint as they walked, fashioning a few crude spear heads. he used strips of bark to secure them to shoots of the narrow tree he had found earlier, making three easy spears. there were sounds of animals about…

 

[slippedhalo]

Adne followed him and bit back her princess attitude as much as possible, following his instructions when she could because he honestly seemed to know what he was doing and had a plan for the day. Any plan was a good one since she was still frightened when she allowed herself time to consider the predicament they were in and her own lack of any ideas for how to get by.

They made quite a bit of progress. By mid day the island had been totally traversed to the other side, through jungle. There was nothing to see on any bit of horizon scanned, only water and their arrival point's wreck. The jungle held some promise of shelter although they'd have their share of wild animals to contend with. Food sources were not too difficult to find. On the far side of the island, where it went off to a pointed peak ( They'd found then island was about 3 miles long at the longest point, 1,5 miles long at the shortest width, and shaped like s teardrop) there was a waterfall, a fresh water stream descending into the jungle, they'd found a few still ponds too but the man never stopped at any one point for very long.

Adne felt exhausted when he brought the trek closer to where it had begun, positioning them beneath some trees for shade. She helped him stake some wood poles into the ground, attached to trees, and drape a portion of broken ship flooring tied to the poles using vine to form a temporary shelter from sun for her to go through and further rummage and sort "valuables" for survival beneath without risking sunburn.

After awhile at that, he'd started a smaller, cooking fire and suggested they begin making a shelter and cooking a meal from what they'd gathered. He was keen to hunt for a main course. Adne found herself glad that he proposed he hunt. She didn't want to. She did, however possess some cooking skill, taught by the head cook in the castle years ago whenever her nanny would bring her there to the kitchens so she could visit with her since nanny and cook were mother and daughter.

When he returned she had managed to use a few of the wreckage items as cookware (she said a small prayer in thanks when she found that one of the boxes washed ashore had contained some items from the galley and a decent sized pot was among them) and was boiling a stew base awaiting meat but already well seasoned. The look of pleased surprise on his face made her laugh. " I hope you found something we could use in the stew." She said.

After the mess of plucking and preparing the fowl he'd brought Adne felt more dirty than ever. She looked down at her clothes and body...Her hands were disgusting, everything on her was marred or sweaty and even her hair felt grimy on her head. Adne took a few fresh items from her's and the captain's chest then said, "I'm off to the stream to wash off and see if I can wash this night dress. I won't be too long, with the walk, perhaps half an hour. Would you stir the stew while I'm gone?"

An afterthought made her add, "If I'm not back before the stew's cooked you may want to check that I'm alright and haven't been killed by some wild beast out there."

 

[craygus13]

the hunt had been awful.

the spears that he had crafted from the shoots he had cut from the woods were hollow, and flew oddly. he had his sights on a wild boar; he could have crafted a bowstring and started work on an actual bow with the fibers in it's body... but he couldn't zero in on it. in the end, the best he could come up with was a small fowl. it would feed them both, but they would have to stretch it. He gathered what he could on the way back; a few wild onions, some roots that looked promising... perhaps he could roast them over the fire...

but when he arrived at the camp, he discovered an actual stewpot. she had managed to assemble a makeshift kitchen using the remains of the kitchen galley. he set down his kill, and she smiled at him as she worked the kettle's contents to a low boil. She even set about cleaning the birds.

He sat down, really looking at her. If she weren't royalty, she might be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. her status hung over her, marking her untouchable... but seeing her like this, so very normal, getting her hands slick with the grease of the bird, smiling at the work... She was like an ordinary kitchen girl.

And suddenly, he realized just how very badly he wanted her.

He was struck by it. He had found her beautiful, obviously. He wasn't blind. and he had given a thought or two as to just how that pretty body of hers might feel under him, at just how she might react to the touch of a real man, not the prancing fools she might meet in court. and always there was her mouth, so dainty and sweet, and yet...

but seeing her now, she suddenly became real. a person. someone he could actually share a meal with.

And it made him want to share much more than that.

"I'm off to the stream to wash off and see if I can wash this night dress. I won't be too long, with the walk, perhaps half an hour. Would you stir the stew while I'm gone?"

He blinked. "Ah... yes, of course..." he said, still trying to break himself of the revere he had lost himself in...

"If I'm not back before the stew's cooked you may want to check that I'm alright and haven't been killed by some wild beast out there."

That made him snap back quite suddenly. "wait... highness... I don't know if you going into the jungle on your own is the best idea. Going in the daylight is one thing, but going in the dark is something else entirely. There are wild hogs, I know that for sure... and there are creatures on these islands... like cats, but the size of a wolf. if you're to go into the woods, then you'll need me with you."

 

[slippedhalo]

Adne looked at the sun setting in the sky. He was right. Soon it would be dark. She didn't really know if she could make her way through the short strip of jungle as confidently in the dark as in daylight. But, it would be improper for him to accompany her to bathe and she said as much. His face showed he agreed with her but would not let her go off in the night without protection. "Um...alright...but then you MUST NOT look upon me whilst I bathe. Do you understand? You may stand upon the bank and turn your back to me. I'll hum whilst bathing so thatl you can hear I'm unharmed and all is well. Never turn unless the humming has stopped for more than three seconds or, God forbid, unless I actually call for you...oh wait...what name would I even call?" She asked as they walked through the jungle, already dark as night in some heavier treed places where the sun' s rays barely broke the tree canopy. It reoccurred to her that they'd spent the entire day together and she'd never asked his name. "My apologies...um... sailor man...What is your name so that I may know what to call out if ever I need you?

 

[slippedhalo]

Adne nodded and memorized the name given to her when he said it, hoping the fact that she'd forgotten to ask for so long wouldn't remain an awkward point between them As they wound their way to the place where fresh water flowed and she found herself longing to strip the sweat and dirt soaked clothes from her body and wash off the grease and day's toil as soon as possible. They found it once more without too much trouble and she pointed to where he must stand and wait for her. "Now, stand right here and keep your back turned. Remember the rule I set." She warned.

Adne backed toward the water when she was sure he would follow the direction given and then she took off the headscarf with it's crust of dried up blood, and her garments, carrying them with her into the water, humming....Her him became a shriek when she felt how cold the water was on her bare skin. It took a moment of shock before she could move further into the surprisingly cool water and had to duck beneath the water's surface quickly as he turned with concern over her scream.

"No! No, please don't look! I...I'm alright...I simply wasn't prepared for the temperature of the water. Turn back around...immediately." Her green eyes flashed a warning at him if he dared dawdle. But, she was soon satisfied her dignity would remain intact as hid back presented itself to her and she started her washing with a humming.

 

[slippedhalo]

*Are we on hiatus?*

 

[slippedhalo]

She washed her clothes from thevday too, setting them carefully upon a huge leaf on the bank as she finished up in the water. As she climbed out of the water she watched Erik carefully to make sure he kept his back turned. Teeth chattering, with nothing to rub herself dry, she put the dry clothing she'd brought, some parts of the gown stivking a bit to her damp skin, but it was better than staying filthy. "You may turn around freely now, Erik. Thank you. Perhaps you'd like me to wait awhile so you can take a bath as well?" Adne asked.