This story is set after my first one, Three Deities, so I suggest that be read first.
It had been so long since they had felt the fresh air of the sea against their skin, the wind in their hair and the sun on their faces. The adventure would only have been sweeter if it was five instead of four.
Tulio stood behind the helm, piloting the ship with Miguel interpreting the compass lazily from beside him. Mecatl, who had widened her vocabulary quite a bit, took watch in the crow's nest Altivo was napping below. Her thick black hair was cut down to her shoulders, as she couldn't stand braiding it anymore. Tulio and Miguel hadn't changed much themselves, keeping their so-called 'stupid haircuts' ten years down the road. They were as thick as thieves, which they technically were.
Soon after returning to Spain, Mecatl sold her earrings to the best offer, a breezy twelve-hundred thousand pesetas. They bought a small house with a barn for Altivo and put the rest up, using it now to stock up for the trip. Her only reminder of where she grew up was the golden necklace with a scarlet emerald gem embedded in the middle.
"I'm not seeing anything,"calls Mecatl, sliding down the later on built into the mast. "Well, nothing but a storm." To punctuate her words, a strong wind flows through her dress, loose pieces of Tulio's hair moving with it.
"How bad?"
"Not very." With a nod, Tulio grips the helm a little tighter.
"I'm not doubting the almighty god of wisdom," says Miguel as he stands, "but don't they say to go below deck during storms?"
"That sounds like doubt, Miguel."
"No, no, I'm just saying what they say."
"Saying what they say? It doesn't matter what you say they say, the final say around here is what I say, because I'm the captain and what I say is said."
"You're both confusing me. You two can go below deck, I'll handle her, okay?" Miguel and Tulio looked at each other, took a moment to consider it, and nodded their agreement.
"You two start fighting again?" Chel teases, feet kicked up as she lays in bed. Despite just having had their third child, she insisted that she come along. Tulio greets her with a brief kiss and sits next to her, kicking off his shoes. Standing day in and day out was tiring, but there was no one that Tulio trusted with the helm besides Mecatl, who was the designated lookout.
"There's a storm, and Meca agreed we should wait it out below deck."
"She didn't agree, she offered to take over."
"But she did agree, because we're below and she's above, and Altivo will be down here as soon as the thunder starts."
"She did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"You sound like Rosita and Izhi," groans the mother. "Settle down, kids."
Early the next morning, the group below deck was awoken by a knock on the door. It shook in it's frame, but that was partly from the growing age and lack of proper care. Tulio's head popped up first, conditioned to rouse from sleep at the slightest sound. His arm was wrapped around Chel's ankle, the woman having had fallen off of the bed and onto Altivo, who was snuggling up against Miguel. It was odd for Tulio, sleeping and waking with the rest of the crew, but it was a welcome sight. Chel was next, waking Miguel and Altivo with her.
"As much as I'd love to be captain and crew, I'm designated lookout unless anyone else can take the spot. It's too foggy to go any longer without one."
Miguel ended up with the compass again, Mecatl and Tulio swapping spots. He would be lying if he said he hadn't been dozing up there, but he couldn't understand how Mecatl never complained. It was a different temperature from on the deck, colder or hotter by a noticeable few degrees, every shift in the waves that rocked the boat making his insides tumble, not to mention the bathroom bucket.
"Tulio!" Called Mecatl from right in front of his face, causing him to scream and almost jump straight out of the crow's nest.
"I wasn't sleeping!"
"I don't care what you were doing, but you're going to want to take a look at this."