A/N: Here we are... a little bit late, sorry about that! But I only missed Sunday by half an hour, my time. Enjoy, I think this will be the last slow-paces chapter, we're about to really get into the meat of it all!
They found Laurent on the top deck at the stern, near the ship's wheel. He was standing next to an intense young man with a shock of slicked back red hair and a black mask over his eyes who was manning the wheel. Two others stood nearby, a slight young girl with braided green hair and pointed ears, and the guy from the night before, Inigo.
"I thought you said a mask would make me stand out, but you've already got a crew member wearing one. " Lucina whispered furiously to Owain, staring at the helmsman.
"Gerome's a special case!" Owain replied, and Lucina crossed her arms, giving him the best death glare she could manage with only her right eye. As they approached, the one called Gerome perked up, and glanced in their direction. Laurent followed his line of sight.
"Oh, you must be the newest member. Pleased to make your acquaintance," Laurent said in a clipped manner, adjusting his glasses and stepping forward to offer Lucina his hand. "No doubt Kjelle sent you to me to evaluate which position would best suit you."
"Oh, um, I suppose she did. It's nice to meet you as well." Lucina replied, taking the proffered hand. Gerome said nothing, but Lucina could tell he was staring her down from behind his mask. Laurent then stood back, looking her over. Lucina felt herself shiver a little under his discerning gaze.
"Owain, you know her best. What can you tell me of her skills?" Laurent asked, rubbing his chin in thought. He seemed determined to hit every stereotype for the classic intellectual.
"Why, she is peerless when it comes to the blade! Unmatched in stamina and strength! Smiled upon by the fates and good fortune when it comes to battle sense! My sword hand hungers with a blazing admiration for her skill on the battlefield, though I fear she is quite lacking in any knowledge of the sea or sailing whatsoever." Owain said, patting Lucina on the back. She bit her lip and looked at the deck. As much as she loved Owain, his praise was always way over the top.
"Hm. Well I shall definitely be putting that strength of yours to good use. And I do hope that you rely solely on your actual skill as opposed to… good fortune," Laurent shot a glance at Owain. "For now, as you are new to sailing, I'll simply assign you to helping with the sails and cleaning the decks-"
"Swab! It's called swabbing the decks, Laurent!" Inigo butted in. Laurent turned to glare at him.
"Don't be insufferable, Inigo." Gerome grunted. Inigo looked appropriately cowed, and Laurent cleared his throat.
"As I was saying; for now I'll let Nah show you the ropes. Both literally and figuratively, I suppose." Laurent chuckled at his own joke. Gerome smiled encouragingly. Owain coughed awkwardly, and nobody else made a sound.
"Alright, sounds good. I'll take young Lucina here. Catch you later, boys." The girl with the green braids said, stepping up to sweep a grateful Lucina away. Lucina gave Nah a once-over. She wasn't sure where she got off calling her 'young,' as Nah looked much younger than herself, but decided against pointing that out. Lucina kept pace with Nah as the two walked amidships, pleased to find that she was able to keep her balance despite the swaying motion of the ship. A huge improvement from when she woke up.
"To put it bluntly, you're the fresh meat." Nah suddenly turned to face Lucina.
"I beg your pardon?" Lucina said, taking a step backwards at Nah's alarming turn of phrase.
"Well, you're new and don't know what you're doing. Naturally, everyone's going to take advantage of that. They'll want to 'break you in,' and all that bolonge. I mean, I suppose there's some sense to it. The more work they have you do, the faster you get the hang of it, and all that. But I just thought I should warn you, is all. You seem like a good kid." Nah shrugged, and gave Lucina a small smile.
"Um, if you don't mind me saying… you've used the word 'kid' and 'young' to describe me, despite the fact that I must be older than you-"
"First rule aboard Naga's Messenger," Nah interrupted. "Never judge by appearances. We don't make assumptions about our shipmates, and we don't make the mistake of gauging one's abilities, or age, by appearance. In my case, I'm a manakete."
"A member of the dragon race?" Lucina asked, flabbergasted.
"Glad you know of us. Yes, a member of the dragon race. I'm considered barely an infant in manakete years, but… well, when compared with humans, I've got many more years in my lifespan than you do." Nah answered.
"Oh, I see." Lucina said, a bit at a loss for words.
"Sorry. I can stop calling you that, if you'd rather. Not the best course of action if it makes an equal feel inferior." Nah mused, rubbing her chin.
"Ah, it's quite alright! After all, I am... what did you call me? The 'fresh meat?'" Lucina said, and Nah cracked a grin.
"That's right! Okay then, let's start teaching you about this boat," Nah flexed her nimble fingers, and pointed skyward. "First of all, the weather is very important when it comes to sailing the high seas. More wind means more speed, but it can also create dangerous conditions, as it does on land. But bad weather is much more treacherous while on a ship." As she spoke the ship made a sharp turn that sent Lucina stumbling. The huge white sails suddenly fluttered and went limp as they lost the breeze, before being hit with the wind again from the opposite direction. They stiffened and billowed outwards, straining against the ropes that held them tight to the mast. As they did so, the large spars that held the foot of the sails came swinging around violently overhead, and Lucina shrieked and ducked her head.
"Don't worry, the booms are too far overhead to hit you! I'd just be careful about standing on the railings if I were you." Nah reassured her.
"Why did those beams move like that?" Lucina asked, fear dulled and curiosity whetted.
"The booms are attached to the sails. They have to remain able to swing about to give the sails some leeway. If the sails were totally lashed to the mast, one strong gust of wind could flip the ship, as it were, and put us all in the drink," Nah explained. "Right now, we're sailing against the wind. It'd be better to change direction and go elsewhere, but we're still trying to put as much distance between us and Southtown as possible, so Gerome's using a method called tacking." The ship turned sharply again, and Lucina instinctively ducked as the booms swung around once more.
"Tacking? I assume it has something to do with all of the turning?" She asked Nah, who nodded.
"Yeah. We obviously can't sail straight through the wind, because it would catch our sails and push us backward. But we can go through sideways. Basically, if we're cutting across the direction the wind is flowing, then we can still catch enough wind in the sails to push us forward. And to keep on track, we have to keep cutting back through the wind so we're still heading in the direction we want to go." Nah said matter-of-factly.
"Ah, so we're essentially zig-zagging?" Lucina said.
"Exactly!" Nah smiled wide.
"You seem very knowledgeable about all this." Lucina gestured to the sails.
"Eh, I suppose. It's really all essential sailing know-how that you pick up while onboard." Nah scuffed her foot on the desk. Lucina thought she looked rather pleased at the compliment.
"Anyways, I can't exactly teach you how to furl the sails at the moment, but I'll show you how to do that next time we make land. Kjelle will also probably want you to scrub the decks and help belowdecks when we've got to bail out water and all that. Oh! Nearly forgot the most important thing! How's your knotwork?"
"It's alright, but I doubt it's up for the task of working on a ship." Lucina said, honestly. She'd learned knotwork from her father. He was adamant about teaching her in every aspect of warfare, even though he told her many times that he hoped she'd never need to use what he taught her. Among his teachings, Lucina had picked up a few, simple knots in which to quickly set up tents and shelters. But judging by the complicated knots that Owain could produce effortlessly, she had a long way to go.
"Well you don't want to learn knots from me. I'd suggest you ask Severa, she's the best at it. Though if you haven't already figured it out, she can be… prickly."
"I learned that last night." Lucina sighed, casting her gaze upwards to the crow's nest, and trying to catch a glimpse of Severa's red hair.
"C'mon, let's get you scaling the rigging! I wanna show you something!" Nah said playfully, grabbing Lucina's hand. Surprised, Lucina complied, following her eager companion as she ran aft and scrambled up the ratlines on the foremast. She followed Nah up towards the top of the mast, carefully finding and testing sturdy footholds before hauling herself upwards. She'd never been particularly fond of heights, and it didn't help now that her vision was impaired due to the eyepatch.
"Alright, now take a look out at the sea! Bet you've never had a view like this before!" Nah said, excitedly. Cautiously, Lucina moved her gaze from her feet up and out to the ocean. She gasped at the sight. In even his wildest stories, Owain had never overstated the beauty of the sea. The sight was even better from her position in the rigging, and as Lucina stared out at the vast, watery expanse, she could suddenly appreciate why Cynthia was so adamant about being up high. In every direction, the horizon was sunk far lower than Lucina had ever seen. The blue line of the sky blurred as it hit that of the sea, so that she could barely tell where ocean ended and sky began. The water was rough, patchy, swirling and cresting and whispering to itself. The dark blue gave way to glimmering white where the sun had marked it, a glowing point of heat in an otherwise cloudless sky. The breeze was stiff, whistling in her ears and sending a shiver of exhilaration through Lucina's spine. As she gazed out upon the broken surface, she felt herself inexplicably drawn to it. She yearned to be able to live this life in full, sailing over the endless deeps, discovering every secret they had to hold…
"Wow." She gasped, her mouth hanging open.
"You should see it at night." Nah said, grinning from ear to ear at Lucina's expression. Lucina was suddenly swept out of her reverie as her eyes dropped from the splendid vista back to the ship. She had spied something hanging out from under the bow, a lump of wood that she presumed must have some shape or meaning to it.
"What's that?" She questioned.
"Oh, that'd be our figurehead," Nah said, following her gaze. "It's a likeness of the goddess, Naga."
"Naga? Right, this ship is called Naga's Messenger. That makes sense. But, if I may ask, why all the religious ties?" Lucina asked, squinting at the figurehead and making out the details of a beautiful woman carved into the wood.
"Well… if nobody else will protect Ylisse in her place, we thought the name and figurehead fitting," Nah shrugged. "I guess it sounds a little pretentious when you put it that way, though."
"Kjelle mentioned something about protecting the innocent, but nobody has yet told me what we're protecting… them from… oooh…" Lucina trailed off, clapping a hand over her mouth as a second bout of nausea hit her without warning.
"Uh oh. Seasickness?" Nah inquired, cocking her head. Lucina nodded, clenching her eyes shut. All of a sudden heights seemed like a terrible plan.
"Let's get you down from here. I'll take you to see Noire. She does all sortsa weird experiments and stuff, so I'll ask if she's got something up her sleeve that takes care of nausea in a more permanent way." Nah said, beginning to carefully guide Lucina down the ratlines. Lucina didn't like how she used the words 'weird' and 'experiments' in the same sentence.
...
Nah led her below deck, back towards the galley where Lucina had gotten her breakfast. Lucina felt even worse in the close confines of the passageways, and clapped a hand over her mouth, praying that Noire would have some sort of trick up her sleeve. She staggered after Nah, ears pounding. Nah ushered her through the galley door and sat her down at one of the benches. Lucina slumped over the table, taking deep breaths and concentrating on keeping her breakfast down.
"Hey, Noire! You in there? Leave your boyfriend alone for a sec and come out here!" Nah yelled towards the kitchen. There were two squeaks, and more crashing of pots. Lucina had a vivid flash of deja vú from earlier that morning.
"Yes, uh… h-hello, Nah…" A voice Lucina recognized as Yarne's said.
"BLOOD AND THUNDER, HOW DARE YOU PUNY MORTALS STARTLE US LIKE THAT!?" A second voice shouted, and Lucina jumped, whipping her head up to see who had spoken, and immediately regretted it with the following wave of overwhelming sickness.
"The newbie is seasick." Nah said, unfazed.
" Ah, uh, o-oh dear. S-sorry…" The second person said, voice immediately lapsing into something small and meek. "I'll see what I can do, h-hang on just a second…" Lucina heard the sound of light footsteps, then the creak of a cabinet door and the sounds of someone rummaging around before they approached her and carefully put a hand on her shoulder.
"Um, here, could you lift your head up and drink this for me?" It was the second voice again, and Lucina complied, blearily cracking open her eye and gulping down whatever was in the proffered flask. Surprisingly, it tasted wonderfully refreshing. A lightly sweetened and watery kind of syrup reminiscent of maple sap. Almost immediately, Lucina's stomach began to settle, and the bile in the back of her throat went down. She opened her eye fully, astonished at the quick-acting effect of the drink, and was finally able to fully take in the girl standing in front of her. She was small and wispy, timid, from her body language, and nervously twisting a strand of her dark brown hair in her fingers as her eyes flitted over Lucina.
"How did you do that?" Lucina asked in amazement, cautiously rising to her feet. It seemed the nausea had completely melted away.
"Oh… well, y'know, just some experiments and a little bit of magic… It's a simple elixir, really." The girl said. Looking away from Lucina.
"This is Noire. She's very talented with her magic and weird experiment thingies." Nah said, patting Noire on the back. Noire flinched and smiled nervously.
"Well, thank you kindly, Noire, for patching me up," Lucina smiled and bowed. "I feel good as new!"
"M-my pleasure…" Noire mumbled, still not meeting Lucina's eye. Yarne slipped a comforting hand on Noire's shoulder.
"She's a bit on the shy side," Nah teased, and Noire covered her face with a squeak, blushing furiously.
"Oh! Well in that case, I'll uh, I'll take my leave, shall I?" Lucina said, backing towards the door.
"W-wait a second, you didn't tell me your name." Noire said, making a visible effort to meet Lucina's eyes.
"My apologies! My name is Lucina." Lucina said.
"Well, I look forward to getting to know you better, Lucina," Noire said, giving her a small curtsy. "Maybe next time I can make you a cake instead of an elixir?"
"That'd be lovely! But there's no need for such a thing, really." Lucina exclaimed.
"Noire loves to bake, she'll take any chance she can get to cook something up. She's much better with desserts than I am." Yarne said. He seemed remarkably less shy than when Lucina had seen him that morning, and she had to wonder if Noire's presence was the cause.
"In that case, I'll happily accept!" Lucina smiled, and Noire returned it.
"And… if you ever want me to take a look at your eye, I might be able to do something about it…" Noire mumbled. Lucina flushed bright red.
"Oh, ah, um, I-I better be going now… I have to go see- er, find, uh, Severa. Yes, I need to… knots… uh, goodbye! And thank you again!" She stumbled over her words, and rushed from the galley, slamming the door behind her.
"...Touchy subject, I guess?" Nah shrugged.
...
It was late evening by the time Lucina actually made her way towards the crow's nest. As soon as she'd left the galley, she'd been pulled aside by Inigo, who'd asked her to clean, er, 'swab,' a section of the deck (which didn't seem to be in need of a swabbing at all) and had taken the opportunity to hit her with every pickup line in the book and more. After escaping him on the pretense of needing to speak with Owain, Laurent had asked her to scrub the bilges (which were definitely in need of a swabbing), and by the time she was done with that the sky was already being stained red with the setting sun. She wasn't quite sure what to expect. She hadn't seen nor talked to Severa since the night prior, which was a miracle considering the size of the ship, but as Nah had said, Severa was quite… prickly. And Lucina wasn't sure how she'd take to her climbing up into her territory, especially as they still didn't know a thing about each other. In many ways, Severa was the most intriguing crew member Lucina had met thus far, and for whatever reason, she felt drawn to her. Besides, she had a viable excuse for talking to her. Nah had told her to ask Severa for help, anyway, it wasn't like she was trying to talk to her just for the sake of talking. Definitely not. Gulping, Lucina gripped the ratlines tightly and began to scale them. The sky wasn't the only thing dyed a different color. From her new vantage point the ocean looked ablaze, stained with bright yellow and orange streaks that wavered and shimmered in the waves that had calmed with the dropping of the breeze.
"What do you want?" The sharp voice cut through Lucina's thoughts, and she gasped, nearly losing her grip on the ropes. Severa was glaring at her from her position in the crow's nest. It looked nothing like what Lucina had expected, it didn't resemble the large basket-like contraptions complete with railings that she had seen in her mother's books on ships. It was simply a few planks nailed to the top of the mast to make a surface on which two people might be able to sit. Severa was lounging, back against the mast and feet dangling over the edge.
"Oh, I was, uh, I was…" Lucina stammered.
"Spit it out, gawds!" Severa snapped.
"Well… Nah said you might be able to teach me a thing or two about tying knots. I don't know all that much when it comes to-"
"Knots, huh?" Severa gave Lucina a long, hard look. "Well I suppose I've got to, don't I? Seeing as I'm the only one on the ship that knows how to tie them properly."
"So you will?" Lucina said joyfully.
"If you insist," Severa rolled her eyes. "Where's the rope, then?"
"Rope..?" Lucina said.
"Gawds, you came up here to learn to tie knots and didn't bring a piece of rope?! Ugh, what a fool…" Severa snorted.
"I'm sorry, I… it must have slipped my mind. I'll go back and get some." Lucina apologized, taking a step back down the ratlines.
"Don't bother. Lucky for you I've got a piece any… way…" Severa trailed off, squinting at the horizon.
"Is something wrong?" Lucina asked in concern.
"Do you know why we're here?" Severa said, mouth a hard line as she rose to her feet, a steadying hand gripping the mast as the other shaded her eyes.
"It's been alluded to, but no one's told me outright what we're doing, exactly," Lucina admitted. "I only know that we're here to fight something. Or someone."
"Yes. And you're about to find out what that something is." Severa growled, pointing to the water where, not a league off, an ominous rippling in the water was quickly making its way towards the ship.
"I sure hope your skills are the real deal, newbie, because you're in for a fight."
A/N: Thank you to those who are reading, with any luck we'll have chapter four next Sunday, and the pace will be picking up! Let me know what your thoughts are with a review, they make my day!
