Title: Fore and Aft – The Falcon
Part: 1/?
Rating: G
Summary: During one of his missions, Doumeki has an encounter with a supposedly imaginary being.
Warnings: AU. Seafaring Doumeki.

They had been at sea for a month.

The ship had left port in the last days of winter, heading north. The weather had held ever since they set sail, a constant blue broken by the occasional wisp of white cloud. With the changing of the seasons, the weather had gradually warmed, the biting cold air transforming into a cool spring breeze. It would be a brief respite, for the air would only turn colder the farther north they traveled, and the waters choppier. But for now, the ocean was calm. And so it was a relatively peaceful voyage. Along their route, they had passed by several small islands, otherwise their voyage would have been more than tedious.

The captain stared out in the direction of their trajectory. Perhaps it was time to restock. Their destination was still a fortnight away, and it may be another week before they found what they were looking for. The nearest port was a day or two away. It was relatively small, but he knew of several decent food vendors who made their business there. Yes, they could afford to make a small detour. Doumeki crossed the deck to his helmsman. "Head for the nearest port." The boy nodded firmly and readjusted his grip on the wheel. "Aye, captain." A new pub had just opened the last time they were there, but the ship was setting sail on the same day. With minimal crew, it was necessary for him to assist in preparations, so he could only glance at the contents on the pub's new wooden sign before returning to the dock. Doumeki was going to make sure to pay that pub a visit this time.

A seagull wheeled in the sky, its calls piercing the light breeze blowing through the sails. The rigging creaked. His benefactor had commissioned the ship, a two masted schooner, and hired him off a merchant ship to act as captain. While the rise in rank from first mate to captain and the accompanying salary increase was an incentive in itself, it was predominantly the words uttered by the strange woman that had compelled him to this change.

A noblewoman by her dress and the way she carried herself, the woman had been at the pier that day. A parasol perched daintily on her lace-covered shoulder, she had been sitting on one of the benches, immobile among the commotion of local fishermen hawking their wares and the bustle of market goers hunting for the freshest catch. This bizarre sight had drawn many stares, but something about the noblewoman, something strange, had put off any attempt at approaching her. Doumeki barely spared the lady a glance, but she had smiled. Her lips, painted red, had curved in seeming amusement, her eyes hooded with some knowledge that only she on this entire wharf knew. Doumeki remembered with stark clarity that something had happened then. Something intangible, and when he passed her and she had uttered his name, he had felt it take form. A thread, connected to something he could not see.

And so he had accepted the lady's offer of captain of a new ship, on the basis of a few vague words from his new benefactor. Within the hour, he had been released from service on the merchant vessel and signed onto a ship he had never seen before with no known crew. A day later, he was brought to see his new ship, docked elsewhere in the city. He had remarked on seeing no name for the ship, and the lady laughed. She had leaned in close, told him he was to name it as he saw fit, and it will become what he wanted it to become. He had smelled tobacco and liquor, and wondered if the lady was suffering from intoxication. But he had named it, and thus the Falcon became his.

The Falcon launched the next day.

After scraping together a minimal crew on his first mission, this was where Doumeki found himself. Once again out on the ocean, heading north. Lady Yuuko had given him his second job, vaguely mentioning the possibility of finding treasures along his voyage around the pipe in her mouth as she lounged on her divan, expensive silk trailing on the floor. Then she had given him that sly all-knowing smile of hers and commented that fishing out on the open water must be exciting. Doumeki had dismissed it as one of her nonsensical ramblings. There were strange rumours surrounding Lady Yuuko, but he was always more willing to believe in fact, such as the amount of alcohol his benefactor imbibed.

Doumeki found himself thinking about that curious comment now, and wondered if she had wanted him to bring her some fish. But if she wanted fish, the local market had plenty of fresh fish of different varieties. Besides, by the time he returned, the fish would have spoiled. He did not think she would be very happy about that.

A wet thud followed by an alarmed shout drew his attention to towards the bow. The boy gripped the wheel and turned towards him. "Captain, there might have been an attack. Let me-" Doumeki spared him a brief glance. "Stay." He left to investigate the disturbance, ignoring the boy's protests that faded away with each step.

Near the bow of the ship, the rest of his meager crew had gathered, looking down at something on the deck. A crate blocked his view of whatever had caught their attention, but he could see one of his crewmembers had pulled his knife. The other crewman spotted him. "Captain!" A few more steps, and whatever they had encountered came into view.

Doumeki stopped and stared.

The thing stared back.

Doumeki frowned. This certainly complicated things. The creature had flared its fins in an attempt to appear larger than it really was. If that had not told him it was feeling threatened, the extended claws and the hissing he could hear through its sharp looking teeth did. The gravity of the situation aside, it sort of reminded him of an angry cat. An angry waterlogged cat. Doumeki shot a look at the crewman with the knife. "Get Syaoran." He contemplated the situation in front of him.

A moment later, his helmsman skidded around the crate. "Captain! Is there something wrong?" The creature's dorsal fin flared back up in an impressive display of speed. Syaoran took notice of the creature. The boy gaped. "It's a merman!"

Doumeki wondered if he was seeing sarcasm in the merman's eyes.

The hissing grew in volume. Doumeki studied the merman. While he was never one for myths and superstitions, he had to admit it was quite difficult to deny the existence of a supposedly imaginary creature when he was seeing one in the flesh.

The merman kept turning its head, wary of its surroundings. It also seemed to be more wary of where it came from than its current situation. Doumeki addressed his helmsman, still keeping a close watch for any potential threat it may pose. "And?" The boy had been carrying a heavy tome on mythological creatures when they first met. Syaoran worked himself out of his gape. "According to the stories, sighting a mermaid is unlucky. The same goes for mermen, but they are much less common."

Whether it was bad luck or not, what Syaoran said raised the question of why it was on his ship. From the spatters of water leading from the merman to the railing, Doumeki deduced that it must have jumped. Its hissing was punctuated by shallow gulps of air. Maybe it was sick. "Does it have rabies?" His crew gaped at him. The merman's fins had deflated. It looked as surprised as his crew. Syaoran opened and closed his mouth, not unlike the creature in front of him, but for completely different reasons. The boy really needed to keep his mouth closed when he wasn't speaking. "Uh…" The boy also needed some lessons in speech, it seemed.

"I do not have rabies!" It was spat out in a vicious hiss that made it difficult to distinguish the words. Doumeki frowned. He never did like complicated situations. "Oi. You're dripping on my deck. Get off my ship, or stop dripping water all over it." The merman appeared slighted. "Are all humans this rude? No wonder there are so many of them around your species." He cast a dark look behind him at the open ocean. Doumeki ignored the look and stared down at him. "Why did you board my ship?" The merman was silent. "I have a job to do. If there's nothing else, leave." He turned to leave, Syaoran sputtering in the background.

"…In private."

Doumeki paused.

"I need to discuss something with you, in private." The merman raised his eyes to Doumeki's face. "Please." The miniscule scales at the outer edges of his eyes increased the intensity of his gaze.

The wind had stopped blowing.

Doumeki gave his crew a look. "Return to your duties." Syaoran opened his mouth to protest, but backed down under his captain's stare.

When his crew was at an adequate distance, Doumeki turned his expectant stare to the creature lying on the deck. The merman must have been uncomfortable with the height difference, as he made an annoyed sound and with some difficulty, pulled himself up onto the crate. With the reduced distance, what Doumeki had thought was wariness of humans revealed itself as a constant paranoia in the shadows of the merman's eyes. Paranoia of what, he was not sure. And what had passed as natural thinness now bordered on malnourishment. Doumeki briefly wondered what mermen ate, if they ate at all.

The merman glanced at each crewman before returning to Doumeki. He drew himself up, supported by his arms.

"I request that you grant me passage on this ship for today." Doumeki did not need to voice his question. The merman was grim. "There is a place towards which I am heading. I cannot make it with my current situation, by with your ship, I have a much better chance." His eyes tracked something unseen in the distance. Mild disgust seeped into his words, but not at what he was saying. "You do not need to change course. I will leave when my destination is close enough." His slit pupils focused back on Doumeki. "Neither you nor your crew will be hindered." He added as an afterthought. "Nor will I give you bad luck."

Doumeki kept staring. "Why my ship?"

Indecision flitted through the merman's face before settling into resignation. "Your ship. It is protected." A curious comment, but Doumeki knew he was not going to get any farther than this. "Fine." The merman's body relaxed in surprise and relief. The blue of his eyes was solemn. "Thank you."

"Your name."

The merman gave him a confused look. Doumeki tilted an eyebrow at him. Realization dawned on his new passenger. "Kimihiro Watanuki. And you?"

Doumeki tipped his captain's hat, its feathers bobbing with the movement.

"Captain Shizuka Doumeki, of the Falcon."

AN: Yes, the order of their given and family names are deliberate.