All I Want's to Find an Easier Way
Naomi on the importance of cooperation and leadership.
One of Naomi's first memories is of chasing a ball on a ship's deck.
The ship is leaning starboard and the ball's rolling away. And just when Naomi gets to it, the ship tilts to port.
So she goes to run after the ball and almost loses her balance, but she doesn't, and instead races back across the deck.
Suddenly the ship lurches and sends the ball flying into the air, and she lurches with it, falling forward onto her face. The ball drops in front of her on top of a pile of rope.
As she gets older, she grows and learns and gets her sea legs and instead of just chasing a ball, she'll challenge the crew to games of futbal or floor hockey. And her team will very often win. She's very competitive and refuses to give up when she knows she's not doing her best.
If the water's warm and inviting enough, she'll swim. Once, in a cove, there were even mermaids around her. They were surprisingly friendly - she'd heard stories of men being drowned by them. But then, she isn't a man. And she guesses that's why most of the crew stayed a bit further away. She'll remember that moment of odd independence.
Though there have been times where she's ended up in choppier waters and needed others with her.
She'd been battered by waves rising high above the deck, had fallen into the ocean once or twice but the crew always pulled her back in by her lifeline as she had done for them.
She'd slipped on the ice as the crew descended to push and chip their way out of wintery seascapes. But she regained her footing and chipped alongside the rest.
With her father and shipmates to guide her, she's made it through more than most at her age, no worse for wear and stronger for it. With the knowledge that there are many things you simply can't do alone.
She'll soon find out that not everything is so intuitive, and not everyone is always so willing to help you out.
Most times when coming in to dock, Naomi will help the shipmates, pulling at ropes and rudders.
But sometimes, her father will assure her that the crew has it covered, so Naomi will hoist herself up to the crow's nest. The rope ladder doesn't give her blisters anymore as she climbs above the coasting seagulls.
She'll often take a moment to turn out towards the sea and scan the horizon from only halfway up the ladder, just to feel the wind on her face in an excitingly risky position, but a position she's put herself in many times before and so knows how not to fall.
Up in the nest, she'll put the telescope to her eye, full of anticipation. But at the sight of this place, she hesitates to cry out, "Land ho!" There's a strange sickly atmosphere blanketed over the city, an almost tangible shade of green that's only just dissipating.
Now, as they turn the ship towards Avalor's harbor, she knows it's a place that needs some guidance.
She wonders if that guiding hand is as reliable as her crew has been.
A/N Aka: let's play how many sailing terms can Katie fit into a one shot? Not the biggest fan of this one, but it's something I guess.