Tout en haut du monde

Kartoffeln

A.N. Hope that y'all like this story. I apologize for any grammer mistakes.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from the movie, and only write based off of what I felt while watching the movie, for the third time.

I stood at the railing on the side of the ship looking up at the seagulls as they made circles in the sky wishing I could fly with them. My mind registered the sound of the men chanting around the table, waiting for their stew to be served. The captain had sent one of the men to my cabin earlier with my dinner. Apparently I was not invited to eat with them. I didn't mind, not really. They did not seem to like me much, and I was not overly fond of them either. I heard a noise behind me and I turned around but did not see anything unusual. Suddenly I spotted an odd movement out of the corner of my eye, I quickly turned around and came face to face with the boy, the one they call Katch. The one who tried to kiss me. He was hanging upside down from a rope ladder. Startled, I gasped and took a step back as he flipped over so he was the right way up leaning out slightly over the water.

"Have you eaten?" He asked me.

"They brought me some food in my cabin." I respond after turning to look out at the sea. What does it matter to him if I have eaten or not? I suppose he could just be trying to be friendly. Even though I am facing out to sea, I subtly watch him to see what his reaction is to my answer. I notice that his smile drops, but only for a second before he to looks out to sea. We watch the seagulls for a moment before I speak.

"Are you sure you are allowed to talk to me?" I am genuinely curious, none of the other men have said much to me, in fact if anything they have tried to keep their distance. Katch smiles and takes a breath of sea air before look at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Who cares? You get a better view from up here." He says as he extends his hand as an invitation to join him higher up.

"To scared?" He asks me. There is a slightly teasing tone in his voice after I hesitate, trying to decide if I want to climb up or not. After hardening my resolve to climb up I reach for his hand. But at the last second my hand moves slightly to the side to instead grasp the metal pole the rope is tied to. At first he seems surprised at this action, however he simply shrugs his shoulders "Suit yourself." He says as he turns around and starts to climb higher up. Pulling myself up I waver for a moment till I can find my balance on the narrow wood railing. Pushing my hair behind my ear I start my assent after him. Unsure of myself, I grasp on firmly to the rope and slowly start to climb up. The rope keeps swaying in the breeze and I grasp onto it as if holding on for my life. Looking down I see just how far of a drop it would be into the icy cold water. I close my eyes and hold onto the rope even tighter, if that is possible.

Katch drops down so that his knees are even with my shoulders. Startled, I rapp both my arms around the rope. He leans over so that his face is even with mine and says, in the same teasing tone as he used earlier.

"It would be safer if you held onto me!" A light smirk playing at the corner of his lips.

"Just stop jiggling everything!" I halfway snap at him, closing my eyes so that I don't look down again.

"Well hey, the view is already great from up here!" He says in a light tone. Just as he finishes speaking I feel something whip past my face, blowing my hair out behind me. I snap my eyes open and look over my shoulder to see that the seagulls are flying all around us.

Slowly I turn around so that my back is pressed against the rope and look around me. It was a sight I will never forget. The water crashing against the ship below us, the birds zipping around us. Gaining confidence I lean out so that I am only holding onto the rope with one hand. For a moment I feel as though I was one of the birds, flying through the air. I lean back again and just look out at the sea. I feel a small smile slid onto my face. That is, until a splatter of white bird droppings lands on the shoulder of my dress. Katch laughs at me when I make a disgusted sound. He stops suddenly as he gets a splatter right on the middle of his forehead. This makes me laugh, after a moment he joins in. We both laugh at the silliness of it all, when suddenly Katch see something behind me, he stops laughing and starts to climb back down. I turn around to see what would cause him to leave so quickly. It takes me a moment, but I quickly notice the Captain standing by the door to the lower deck. He does not look pleased.

...

After I climbed down from my vantage point, I had returned to my cabin to work on learning how to tie more nautical knots. I was not making much progress, as Shackel kept trying to play tug-of-war with the other end of the rope I had found. Giving up I decided to go help Katch in the kitchen.

When I went into the kitchen I saw Katch sitting on a stool peeling a giant pile of potatoes. I turned around and hung up my oilskin before pulling up a stool across from him and grabbing a knife. I pick one of the potatoes off of the top of the pile and started peeling. He seemed surprised by me yet again. He watched me for a moment, a look of curiosity and surprise on his face.

"Hey! You're pretty fast! I thought you would be better at embroidery than peeling potatoes." I look at him him for a moment, trying to figure out whether or not that was a compliment.

"Alta showed me how to do it." I tell him honestly.

"Did you really work at the White Bear for a month?" He asks me leaning forward slightly. "And I thought you were a real snob!"

Slightly annoyed by this comment I ignored him and returned to working on peeling the potatoes.

We sat in silence for several minutes. The only noise being the pans as they knocked against each other with the swaying of the ship. Suddenly the boat gave a lurch as it was hit by a giant wave. Everything fell off the walls and I flew of my stool falling on the ground as the pans clattered on the ground. A moment later everything was still and a moment after that I realised what, more like who, I had fallen on top of. My eyes widened in shock as my mind scrambled to make sense of the situation.

Laying underneath me, with his face inches from mine was Katch. His eyes widened slightly at the compromising situation. My hands were on either side of his head and his legs were tangled in my skirt. Embarrassed, I stumbled out some excuse about needing to go somewhere as I hurried to pick myself up off the floor. I rush out of the kitchen and back onto the deck, planning on disappearing into my cabin for a few hours so I could sort out what had just happened in there.

"Wait, you forgot your oilskin!" I hear Katch call out to me. I turn around to see him holding my coat out to me. I grab it quickly, nod my head in thanks, turn and walk as quickly as possible (without seeming impolite) back to my room.

...

Once I returned to my cabin I set my oilskin on the back of my chair and turn to go sit on my bed. But for some reason my oilskin slides off the back of my chair. I kneel down to pick it up and as I do so I notice that something fell out of the pocket. Picking up the object I realise that is is a potato. However, the back of the potato feels oddly shaped. I turn it over to see that there is an image carved into the back. Upon closer inspection I can see that the image is a carving of my face. The detail is amazing, whoever made it had an amazing talent with a blade. The only person who I can think of as a possible suspect is Katch. I realise he must have put it into my coat pocket before handing it to me.

Quickly I find a safe place to put it until I can figure out what to do with it. That done I grab my piece of rope and my book planning on learning a few more knots before dinner. However I do not get very far as I can't seem to prevent my thoughts from drifting back to the boy in the kitchen.

-end-