Author note: as you undoubtedly know, I own nothing. Please enjoy.
Chapter three
TPOV
Managing to steal a few moments to myself, I left Ellasbeth with her friends and went for a walk around the ship. After seeing the interior of the vessel my old nonchalance about the Titanic was immediately forgotten and I was eager to see the rest of the grand ship. I leisurely made my away around the B and C decks, greeting other first class acquaintances and business partners as I went, sometimes stopping to discus company matters but other times simply acknowledging them with a nod or a simple hello. I did not seek conversation, that was why I had left Ellasbeth to gossip with her friends, but I was well aware of my duties, I could not ignore potential clients or current partners so I put on a professional smile and shook the hand of each gentleman who came up to me and nodded politely and charmingly at each lady who accompanied them. Biding farewell to Mr Thomas Andrews, I took to the steps and walked onto the boat deck, the light sea breeze toying with my hair, causing me to irately raise a hand and flatten it again when the wind blew it out of place.
The boat deck was almost empty, we had left port a little over an hour ago and I could only assume that everyone was in their rooms unpacking, I was sure Quen and Jonathan were looking for me so that I could do just that, but I wasn't ready to leave the relative peace I had found while wondering just yet. Lined up against the walls of the helm room and the other rooms on the boat deck were hundreds of sun loungers, a few women lay on the loungers reading or chatting quietly. A few women that I recognised as executives wives waved at me realising who I was, I nodded at them as I walked past their sun loungers heading down the deck, when their was some distance between me and the women I began to absentmindedly run my hand over the railing as I walked, taking in the sights of the elevated helm room and the sea as I did so. The sea breeze had picked up again, carrying with it the smell of the ocean and the sound of the waves, I smiled to myself, I was rather enjoying being out at sea, it was peaceful. My smile vanished as suddenly and abruptly as it had come, so much for peaceful, I thought sullenly as the sounds of rowdy third class passengers met my ears.
"Jenks!" a laughing voice exclaimed, now annoyed I glanced ahead of me to see the rude redheaded girl who had pushed me aside earlier sitting cross legged on a sun lounger and holding her sides as she chuckled, she and her friends were sat well away from the other passengers. The pixy was hovering in front of the redhead girl laughing even harder than she, he then went to fly around the head of the black haired vampire, who lowered her book after a moment of this, looked irritated, she made a grab for the pixy and even with her vampire reflexes she missed him. The redhead continued to laugh good naturedly at this.
I cleared my face of all emotion and turned around to head back the way I had come. There was likely nothing to see down there, it would only be a waste of time to venture that way and besides, I really ort to be getting back to my suite and getting ready for dinner or else risk being late. So, telling myself that these were my reasons I headed off back down the deck towards the doors as the sun began to set, ignoring the tiny but prominent sense of jealousy niggling at the back of my mind.
Later that night.
Soft piano music drifted over the heads of the first class passengers, lulling them into calm and relaxed moods as they ate, everyone looked content, well everyone bar me. I found myself unable to truly relax, I felt edgy and uncomfortable and wanted nothing more than to leave this room right now, I wasn't sure if it was due to Ellasbeth sat on my left hand side or the nagging feeling that something wasn't right, that I needed to be somewhere else. Trying to ignore this bothersome emotion I turned back into the conversation and ate a forkful of my Filet Mignon Lili, though I hardly tasted it. I had long since lost my appetite and it was only the fourth course out of eleven. The conversation had now turned away from polite questioning and was now the discussion of a 'new money' family; I noticed Ellasbeth in particular had an aversion towards them.
"Yes Elizabeth, you are right but I just don't see why they feel the need to socialise with us and force themselves upon us when we so clearly do not wish to speak to them, it is highly embarrassing to be seen conversing with them and frankly I find them to be vulgar and distasteful, the woman in particular." She said, it was surprising that such a seemingly sweet person could hold such venom in her voice, though it was hardly surprising if you had spent as much time with her as I have, Ellasbeth is quite cruel.
"I do believe they acquired their wealth through the gold mines, quite preposterous." A woman further down the table sniffed, she seemed to be one of Ellasbeth's friends, though she has so many it is sometimes hard to tell.
"Embarrassing I would say fits better." Ellasbeth said bitingly, a few of the men around the table seemed to lose interest in the gossiping and began to start up their own conversations, and though I had no interest in Ellasbeth's chatter I made no effort to strike up a conversation with the other men, I did not want to speak of business tonight.
Scanning the room again my gaze fell upon dozens of tables just like ours, everyone in the saloon was dressed alike, spoke alike and often, or so I believed, thought alike. This grand room was all but empty of originality and creativity beyond its decorations and it left me feeling empty and alone, I wanted desperately for something more, something different. Mindless chatter filled my ears, fake laughter, forced smiles, polite talking, everything was so false, I felt as though I was being slowly overwhelmed, as though I was being suffocated by it all. As the ringing in my ears grew louder and the strange feeling in my stomach grew more dominant I looked down at myself, finding, much to my horror, that I looked like everyone else. Panic rose and immediately I got to my feet, desperate to escape.
"Trenton?" The annoyed and slightly concerned Ellasbeth asked, I looked up and saw that the whole table was watching me, waiting for an explanation for my state. Smoothing over my expression and standing a little taller I turned to Ellasbeth,
"I am just stepping out for some air my dear; I find that I have a terrible headache" I feigned "I trust that you will be content in the company of these fine people until I return."
"All right," Ellasbeth replied and the rest of the table went back to their conversations, seeing as there was no gossip for them here "hurry back." She said with no real passion.
"Of course my love," I replied in an identical tone.
Keeping a formal yet hurried pace as I left the first class dinning saloon I made it to the corridors, though not content with only a door between me and the world I had sworn would not corrupt me, I carried on. I made my way through the winding corridors, the strange feeling in my stomach guiding me as much as my head. My hurried footsteps became a run as I neared the doors to the deck, frantic to get as far away as I could. Pushing through the swinging door I stumbled onto the deck, the cold night air hit me and I froze, calming somewhat, I closed my eyes and shut the doors behind me, relaxing as the sent of the ocean filled my senses. Opening my eyes I let go of the breath I hadn't known I was holding and took a few steps onto the deck, I was relieved to see that the deck was disserted and that no one had seen my frantic state. I let the sea breeze play with my hair, not caring that it would mess it up; I had no intention of going back to the dinning saloon, at least not tonight. I began to wander the deck, content to do nothing for an hour or so before my four hour nap around midnight. That had been another luxury of the Titanic, breakfast; lunch and dinner were served at many different times of the day, catering to everyone aboard the ship and making sure that anyone could sail aboard it, be they Human, Witch, Were, living or undead Vamp. Elves however were not provided for; since our race is supposed to be extinct anyone of our species simply has to make do and eat with the species whose meal times fit best around our sleeping preferences, these being four hours of sleep around both midday and midnight.
I hardly noticed the still present bizarre feeling in my stomach as it guided me, I was too content to. I wasn't thinking about my many businesses, of the genetic labs, of my up and coming marriage or even my episode back in the dinning saloon, I preferred thinking of nothing to constantly thinking. It was less painful. Suddenly, the silence of the boat deck was pierced by a woman's cry of agony and a soft thud. Snapping from my trance I ran towards the stern of the boat where the cry had come from, if someone needed help then I needed to get there fast. I took to the steps leading up to a higher level of the stern, just as I climbed half way a panicked and slightly familiar voice called,
"Wait!"
I raced onto the raised platform of the stern, only to be nearly blown over by the sight that waited for me there. The redheaded woman from earlier was pulling herself to her feet, quickly massaging her wrist and then one hand and reaching out, trying to coax another woman back over the railings and away from the water, where she appeared to be attempting a suicide jump. The distressed blond woman holding on for dear life over the railing turned back to look at the redhead, her pale heart shaped face awash with pain and anguish, her eyes were red from crying and thin cheek bones were puffy.
"Please Ceri," the redhead said softly, her hair blowing around her face as the wind picked up "you don't need to do this, you're free of him, he can't hurt you anymore."
I slowly walked the last step, cautiously brining myself onto the stern, I had no idea what the woman was talking about, I was hardly paying attention to her, it was the fair haired woman with slightly pointy ears that intrigued me, she couldn't possibly be what I thought she was, could she? The girl over the railing let out a whimper, dropping her head as tears ran down her cheeks, when she turned back to face the redheaded girl she looked doubtful, as though she didn't believe what the other woman had said.
"Can I help?" I asked, taking another step towards the strange scene and making my presence known. Though it seemed the redheaded girl, whose back was to me, had known I was there all along, as without so much as looking over her shoulder she directed her left hand at me and waved it in dismissal as she said,
"No, go away." Her voice was no longer gentle, when she addressed me she sounded bored and irritated.
"I'm afraid you don't know who I am madam," I said respectfully "I can help you, my name is Trent…"
"I know who you are," the irritated redhead said, this time she did look over her shoulder, though only the glare at me, "now leave."
Affronted I went to say more, no one spoke to me like that; I stopped however, when something caught my eye. My attention went to the deck around the redhead's feet, where lay a large copper pot and a bag of salt, five slightly melted tapers stuck into the deck as though they might represent the five points of a star, or a pentagram, and a still flickering while candle. Clearly the redhead was a witch; I wondered what she could have been doing to scare the blond woman so much, if indeed it was her fault she was in such a state.
"You are Rachael Mariana Morgan?" the girl standing over the railing asked, her voice was barely as whisper but it caused the redhead girl to stop glaring at me and turn back to look at her and me to look up.
"Yes," the witch said softly "I'm Rachael, come on Ceri come back over the railing and I can help you."
The blond girl, Ceri, looked down at her feet, seeing them dangling over the side of the ship and the waves crashing beneath her, she looked surprised to find herself there, as though waking from a trance. When she looked back at the girl who she had called Rachael her expression was serious, she looked the other woman straight in the eyes and when she spoke her voice was grave.
"He will be back for you," she said "he doesn't like losing and you tricked him."
"I know," the girl called Rachael said, her shoulders slumped momentarily and she looked tired, though she quickly pushed this aside and took another step towards Ceri, extending her hand again.
The girl nodded, her translucent hair swinging slightly as she did so, then standing a little taller she climbed over the railing, gathering up the skirts of her purple, gold and green silken gown as she did so, she was dressed in finery that wouldn't have looked out of place in a fairytale. She stepped onto the deck and I noticed that she was barefoot. The girl walked towards the redhead but came to a halt suddenly; I followed her gaze to a pair of black slippers, which were giving off a bit of smoke.
"Guess Big Al is burning your stuff." the girl called Rachael said and I looked up at her appalled, what a thing to say to a clearly emotionally traumatised woman. Despite what I had thought the blond haired girl let out a shy laugh.
"Thank you Ceri," the redheaded witch said, clearly glad the other woman was safe "we had better move before he gets any ideas." I wasn't sure if she was referring to me or the other man they had been disguising earlier, I didn't say anything either way, I just watched.
"Thank you Rachael Mariana Morgan," Ceri said, smiling a beautiful honest smile, I didn't think she was speaking only of being coaxed back from the edge.
I stared in disbelief as the witch Rachael began to tidy her things away and put them in a bag with Ceri at her side; she then turned towards the steps, her face hardened when she saw I was still standing there.
"What are you still doing here?" she asked coldly.
"Excuse me?" I asked appalled by the way she had addressed me, "how dare you…"
"Look, I'm not in the mood for pleasantries right now, just move so that we can get down the steps," she irritably and before I could say anymore she turned to the girl beside her and asking "are you coming Ceri? Err…you don't prefer Ceridwen do you?" in a calmer tone.
"Ceri is fine I think," she said with a smile before answering the other question by saying "coming Miss Morgan," the woman said cheerfully, it was almost as if what had just transpired hadn't really happened, she was much too calm for a woman who had just attempted to take her own life.
"Please, don't call me Miss Morgan, call me Rachael instead." She said as she led the still slightly unsure Ceri to the steps, passing me with a glare to which I crossed my arms across my chest and attempted to look formal and professional. She rolled her eyes at that and began to descend the steps; Ceri swiftly curtsied as she passed me before following Rachael.
I turned around and watched them in incredulity, they walked across the deck, one with fiery red hair and a temper to match, dressed in mens clothes and all but strutting as she walked away, the other, fair haired, meek and respectful dressed in a medieval gown and walking with an air of royalty. Two stranger people I had yet to meet, but despite that I could not take my eyes away from them, they fascinated me. I understood my interest in the woman called Ceri, she was almost assuredly an elf, I had been turning the possibility over in my mind ever since laying eyes on her and I was sure she was one of us; I had found that I was pretty adept at spotting other elves. With our population so small one had to be or else one would risk other members of the species passing them by. I had to speak with Ceri, if she was indeed an elf then she would be able to help with my crusade of building up the elf population, her participation would be invaluable and I needed all the samples I could get. That was why I found my self so desperate to talk to her, so that she could help with the continuing of our species, however, I was not sure why Miss Rachael Mariana Morgan fascinated me so. Perhaps it was because no one had ever spoken to me or treated me the way she had, maybe I wanted to know why, or maybe it was because it was clear that if I wanted to speak with Ceri, I would have to go through her first, if her actions on the deck were anything to go by. I continued to watch as the two women crossed the deck; Rachael was speaking very animatedly her face twisted into a frown and her mouth working none stop as she tried to stress her point to a now laughing Ceri. They were too far away for me to hear, but as Rachael kept glowering back at me I felt I was making a likely assumption by saying she was talking about me. Clearly I had not been a welcome guest.
Placing my hands in my trouser pockets as the now cold night air bit at them, I took to the steps and followed in the direction the too women had gone, wondering all the while, what on earth had just happened.
Author note: sort chapter I know, but I promise the next one will be longer. Please review it makes me happy : )
