The smell of the sea has been described in multitudes of manners, though none of them quite capture what it is to be out at sea and take in a deep breath of air. I shall do no better if I attempt my own description, but it is this scent that I woke to every morning along with the creaking and moaning of the body of the ship around me. Everything lies stillest right before the sun herself awakens and it is in these moments that the sea and the ship and the body beside me all rock together and breath in time.

I rise slowly, my thighs aching, my head light, and place my feet hesitantly on a cool, scratched, polished-wood floor. With a deep breath of the sea, I hop completely from the warmth of the bed into the frigid air. Moving across the room on padded feet, I gather up my discarded garments and those of my bed mate, throwing them into a corner of the room already half full with the same. I've never understood how I could go to bed in such a flurry and wake with a clear enough head to pick up my mess from the night before. With a flourish and a spin, I kick the final bit of clothing into the corner to join its companions.

A final glance at the bed as I dress reveals him stirring slightly, slow to wake and hesitant to leave the sheets. His arm passes over the warm patch of blankets that had been my place minutes ago and his hand tightens in the coverings. He scowls at my absence and lets out a grunt as if to both call me back and rouse himself. With an amused expression scrawled across my face, I return to the bed, but when he cracks his eyes and lets go of the sheets to reach for me, I snatch them off of his lazy form and drop them in the floor next to me. A second grunt, annoyed and higher in pitch, fills the room and he grabs my arm and pulls me, flailing, back into bed. Worn arms wrap tightly around my upper arms as if to keep me from once again escaping and also to thwart any further effort at waking him.

"Ge' up, Kain."

A third grunt.

"Fine."

With a sigh, he curls against me, burying his face in my shoulder. I yield. His grip on me loosens and one hand moves to play with my shirttail.

"'Ave y' been up on deck ye', m' Xen?"

"No. I've been tryin' t' go, an' t' ge' our lazy cap'ain up, bu' someone assaul'ed me."

I feel him grin into my shoulder and answer sweetly, "Ge' th' shee' up off th' floor, would y'? I'm fuckin' freezin'."

"Tha's yer own faul', y' lazy..."

"Xen, m' darlin'... If y' don' get m' Goddess-damned shee's up off th' floor I'm goin' t' 'ave t' really show y' lazy..!"

"Is tha' s'posed t' scare me?"

At that moment a tickle attack unmatched by any ever in existence was rained down on me and the end result was nothing less than my defeat at the hands of the laziest man in Vana'diel. Upon his victory, he rose from our bed, tossing me back on it after my last failed attempts at revenge and retrieved our sheets from the still cold floor.

"Yer no good a' tha' y' know. Y' e'en 'ad clothes on an' I won. Look a' me, naked as th' day I was born an' y' still lost."

He lets out a laugh warm enough to melt the coldest of hearts and moves to get dressed, himself. Up on deck, the trample of feet has become constant. Everyone else has already started the days duties. Briefly I wonder why there would be so many feet pounding above the captain's quarters, but dismiss the thought. There's probably something up with the aft sail. Distantly, I hear the call of sea birds.

"Gulls, Kain."

"Gulls? Ou' 'ere? We shouldn' be aniwhere near lan' o' any sor'..."

Pulling his shirt over his head, he nods to me and heads for the short flight of stairs to the deck. Taking them in one stride, Kain opens the door, haloing himself in light and disappears from the portal. I leap from the bed to follow, only to pause in midair and stumble to the floor as Kain reappears into our quarters, flung in by force.

"Kain!"

He holds a hand to his chest and breaths deeply as if trying to catch his breath. A hulking sailor enters, and I understand why. The first Hume man, big enough to be a Galka is followed by another, similar in stature and even blanker in expression. Behind the two of them a slim, lithe form that I have come to know and avoid skips down the stairs: Riehah.

"Oh, 'ow I've missed this rrroom... Wha' e'errr 'ave y' done t' my floorrrs? This will ne'errr do. I guess I'll jus' 'ave t' take o'verr... Corrrin? Would y' be a dearr an' escourr' Xenedrra ou'? An' Delagh? I' would be lovely if y' would grab 'ol' o' Kain fer me..."

The man she called Corin moves toward me and I begin the incantation for Bind under my breath.

"Wai' a momen', Corrrin..."

The giant halts by Riehah's command as the Bind spell takes effect. One down, for now.

"Xenedra... Yer a piss-poor mage!" She begins the incantation for Silence and I feel the blood drain from my face. I spring to my feet and lunge at her, but her other lackey snatches me off my feet and I feel the Silence spell tighten around my vocal chords. Cursing now does little good, but the words fall quietly from my lips anyway. Riehah's smug grin only makes things worse.

But with all their attention on me, no one had noticed Kain slip across the room and take a sword from the wall. At least one of us was still armed. I struggled in the huge man's grip, trying to keep all eyes on me for as long as I could, while Kain crept back toward Riehah... He wasn't after Riehah... He was after the man holding me... No! I screamed with my muted voice, Riehah! Riehah! If you don't take care of her, she'll Paralyze you! Get Riehah!

Men don't hear the voices of mutes...

Kain whipped his sword to the neck of the giant holding me and held it there, pressing it into his stretched out flesh to prove his point.

"Le' 'er go, righ' fuckin' now."

Surprisingly, the sailor dropped me and wheeled away from Kain, holding his arms up in defense. However, within five seconds, Riehah did exactly as I had predicted.

"No!"

...My voice...! Dragging myself up from the floor again, I summoned up the words of a Silence spell and dropped it ever so lovingly on Riehah. I grinned in triumph when it stuck and snapped my own Paralyze spell on the thug that had just held me. A final Bind also thrown at Riehah as she rushed me left me the only functioning person in the room. Suddenly nervous that at any moment the spells would fade, I turned to Kain and cast Paralyna on him.

"Take ou' Riehah first. She can stop y' faster than either o' these two."

With a nod, he advanced on her and I watch the other two for signs that my spells were fading. Shaking his head, he asked, "Why, Riehah? Yer th' cap'ain o' th' mages. Y've stayed in that position e'en when Xenedra surpassed y'. I've been more than gen'rous wifh y' an' yer still such a 'orrible bitch... Why?"

"Because I love y' m' darlin'..."

Two sets of eyes widened and three mouths grinned.

Her Bindna went off before my Silence did. I felt a set of massive fists hit my head and back and a set of stairs do the same... and that was all...