The ship swayed calmly in the open sea. Dawn was just breaking, and barely a soul was awake on the Nomad, save one…

"Sinbad," Firouz whispered into the Captains cabin for the third time. "Sinbad, are you awake yet?"

"Well I am now Firouz" the Captain replied sleepily. "Why were you whispering if you intended to wake me up anyway?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Well I… I don't really know. The point is that there's something I think you'd like to see. Come to the galley with me. Quickly now." Firouz replied with a humorous tone.

"What's burnt, broken, missing or otherwise damaged? I need to prepare myself" Sinbad responded laughingly still tangled in his bed sheets.

"No, no, nothing like that…it's just that…well, Maeve and Doubar you see…." Firouz cut off his own explanation for once and simply finished with a smile, " you just HAVE to see, alright? But be quick."

Not liking the sound of that, Sinbad quickly got out of bed and donned a pair of blue pants and his white shirt. All the while Firouz stood by the door smiling silently to himself. He just couldn't contain his mirth at finding Maeve and Doubar this morning…

"Alright Firouz, let's go…" Sinbad was not thrilled with whatever he was going to see. He envisioned holes in tables and water pouring in from the side of the ship. Doubar and Maeve…that was indeed a dangerous combination of bad luck. What had they done to his ship?

Firouz was only too excited to lead the way to the galley, but he cautioned Sinbad once more to be quiet…and with that, he opened the door and stood back for Sinbad to see. Unable to keep from laughing again, Firouz had to bite his lip.

Sinbad for his part wasn't sure what he was looking at per see. There was no obvious damage to his ship, for that he sent a silent thank you to Allah. But there was Maeve, sitting at the table in the galley, face down in a plate of food. She wasn't hurt, in fact, she was sleeping…heavily. She was snoring. And Doubar sat across from her, except his body had migrated most of the way to the floor and had only a very faint claim on the bench. To add to that, he was naked from the waist up…and snoring obscenely with one hand on a grog. What was going on? Sinbad turned back to Firouz with one eyebrow raised, as if asking for an explanation.

From the doorway, Firouz suppressed another bubble of laughter as he began to explain. "Well you see" he said, "last night, after you went to bed, we were in the mood for a little fun and merriment. So we brought out the grogs." Firouz suppressed another laugh and continued. "And then Doubar began boasting of his…consumptive capacities… in the grog department. To which Maeve informed him that no Irishman, or woman as the case was... has ever lost a drinking match." Firouz paused to look at Sinbad, who in turn looked back at the table…understanding slowly dawning on him. He chuckled slightly to himself, thinking about how he would tease his big brother and the sorceress.

"So who won?" he asked out of curiosity, since the winner was not obvious from the scene before him.

Firouz laughed again. "Well I'm not sure, you see, they were still drinking when I went to bed last night." He laughed again, "but I think I can guess who won."

Sinbad raised an eyebrow again to prompt Firouz.

"RONGAR" Firouz burst out laughing at this.

"I think I've missed the joke Firouz…" Sinbad replied without humour. He hadn't even known that Rongar had taken part in last nights escapades.

Firouz chuckled again "…Maeve wasn't eating last night" Firouz gestured to her face which was nicely planted in a sea of unidentifiable green mush…. "and I'm pretty sure that Doubar's shirt didn't make it up the mast on its own!"

Sinbad began to chuckle himself then…today was going to be exciting, he could tell. When Maeve finally woke up…heads would roll. Sinbad looked at his brother again…shirtless, snoring…and let the laughter consume him. They both stood there like children snickering and not wanting to be caught. Until Firouz tapped him on the shoulder… "That's not all Sinbad" he managed to control his laughter. Sinbad stared at him.. "what else?"

Amid his laughter, Firouz managed to spit out, "Rongar wasn't in his room this morning when I went to congratulate him. I couldn't find him anywhere on the ship in fact. So I came back here…and it took me a moment to notice him" with that he pointed back to the table…more specifically, under the table. Sinbad bent down and looked. There was Rongar…sleeping on the floor under the table. He had successfully removed Maeve and Doubar's boots, and partially succeeded in burying their toes in the green mush he had concocted. He hadn't made it very far however, and was largely covered in the goo himself as he slumbered on the floor.

Sinbad stared in shock for a moment…so the Moor hadn't made it back to his room after all. And then the laughter came, and came, and came. Sinbad didn't care if he woke up his crew anymore. They would all be sick this morning, and all he could do was laugh. And Firouz joined him.

"I wonder how they'll ever decide the winner on this one…I mean, Rongar is technically "under the table", despite having lasted the longest, and it looks like Maeve might have faired better than Doubar judging by how close he is to the floor… though I doubt any of them will remember the order of these events" Firouz laughed at his own joke, and Sinbad joined him whole-heartedly. Their laughter slightly rousing their still inebriated friends. Sinbad loved his crew…especially on mornings like this.