When Kelta awoke she found herself not in the brig as usual but lying on a hammock in a well decorated cabin. Forgetting that hammocks are prone to swinging, she rolled over to get more comfortable and ended up sprawled head over heels on the floor. A young girls head popped up over the side of the bed, brown eyes sparkling merrily.
"Careful when you move in these hammock things," Kelta said with mock seriousness as she rolled to a sitting position "they have a tendency to dump you on your backside." The girl laughed and climbed out of bed, extending both hands to help Kelta up.
"By the way, I'm Kelta." She said with a smile and handshake.
"I'm, Lucy Pevensie. Pleased to meet you Miss Kelta."
"Pevensie…Pevensie, wait, the Lucy Pevensie? The queen of Narnia?" Kelta exclaimed, looking a bit pale.
"Well, yes, but I'm not the only queen." Lucy said with a shrug "My sister Susan is a queen as well, and my brothers, Peter and Edmund, they're kings. Peters the High King and Ed's the one who saved you."
"Saved me?"
"Yes. You fell overboard earlier this morning. Don't you remember, you were…getting sick and you lost your balance? Edmund dove over and pulled you back on deck, but not all by himself, the crew did all the pulling really. He's been strutting around like a rooster all day, talking about how he saved you and your baby."
"My baby? I don't have a baby." Kelta said, wrinkling her brow in confusion.
"Well, not yet you don't, but the healer said you will in a few months. Don't you remember any of this?" Lucy asked, looking at Kelta strangely.
"To be honest no. I had a dream I was drowning…"
"Well, it wasn't a dream obviously. I mean, you're in our cabin in Susan's nightgown-"
"Huh?" Kelta looked down and saw that she was indeed dressed in a nightgown of fine, snow white linen with bits of fancy lace trimming. It looked similar to her own nightgown at home, which must have been why she hadn't noticed it before.
"Huh, well tell your sister that I'm much obliged to her for her generous lend." She said with a slight bow, producing a giggle from Lucy.
"Tell her yourself when we see her. She left you a dress on the trunk so we can change and meet her and our brothers for lunch."
"Lunch? Is it time for lunch already? And just how long have you been in here with me?
"Only a few hours. Susan brought me breakfast and a book so I was happy to stay in bed to wait for you to get up." Kelta noticed that Lucy was also in her bedclothes, her hair a rumpled mess. She was sure her own looked no better.
"What time is lunch?"
"A while yet. If you want you can take a bath to get rid of all the salt."
"My thoughts exactly miss Lucy. Oh, I mean Queen Lucy!"
"Oh please just call me Lucy. I hate titles; they make everyone seem so old and boring."
"Very well then Lucy. A bath sounds marvelous right now."
Lucy smiled and went to fetch someone for warm water and a tub. The bath was exquisite, and Kelta made sure to tell Lucy and the serving maid she thought so. The rose scented soap made big bubbles which Kelta blew at Lucy who shrieked and dodged them, giggling as she did so. It felt so good to get the salt off of her skin on out of her hair. When she was done she was wrapped in soft towels to dry off. The maid, whose name was Arin, brushed and plaited her hair and helped her into the pretty yellow day dress Queen Susan had left for her. The skirt was too long and the sleeves a bit too loose but Kelta didn't mind; it felt good to be in a dress again. She had been wearing the trousers she always wore in the training ring when Kann had kidnapped her and the leopards. Remembering her cats, she turned to Lucy and asked where they were.
"Oh, they were here for a while but they left with Susan to eat breakfast. I suppose they're still with her." Kelta rolled her eyes. Those two would do anything for food. Poor Susan didn't know what she had gotten herself into. Larken and Maevus would follow her to the ends of the earth and back now that she had feed them.
"Well, we had better go find them before the talk your sister to death. I swear, they make a magpie sound good." Lucy laughed along with her as they made their way up to the deck. It seemed that the entire crew needed to be directly in their path as they made their way to the galley. Each sailor they passed tipped his hat in the utmost politeness but looked at them a bit longer than necessary. Lucy seemed to notice it as well, for she beckoned Kelta closer and whispered
"Do I have something in my teeth?" wiggling her brows comically.
"No, do I?" Kelta whispered back, opening her mouth wide for inspection.
"Nothing. Hmm, I suppose our hair must look frightful then."
"And our dresses are on backwards. That or they waiting for me to take another swim."
Lucy grinned at her, and then spotted her sibling and Kelta's leopards standing with the captain near the wheel. She grabbed her new friend's hand and rushed up the small flight of stairs to meet them. Susan looked up and smiled as they drew near before turning back to listen to whatever Larken was telling her. Kelta heard the end of what Lark thought was a very funny tale about Maveus and a pigeon.
"-and then Mae snapped at him, but that old bird was smart. He circled around and got Mae right on the ear, and that how come she's got that hole in it."
"Now Lark," Kelta scolded "you know as well as I do that you and Mae should have left Mr. Pigeon alone and not tried to steal that ribbon from his nest. Besides, as I recall it was you who snapped at him and poor Mae took the peck because you ducked." She smiled to show that she wasn't really mad at his version of the tale then turned to Susan.
"Hello, you must be Queen Susan. I'm Kelta, and I suppose you've already met my troublesome duo, Larken and Maevus. I hope they didn't bore you too much with their awful story telling." She said with a curtsy, which Susan returned.
"Oh, they're no trouble at all! I've enjoyed their stories immensely." Queen Susan leaned in closer and lowered her voice "Though I do wonder about the truth in some of them. A bearded giantess who plays the harpsichord is a bit hard to believe."
"Ah, you mean Hilda." Kelta said with a nod "Yes she is a giantess though I must say that if she has a beard she must shave it every day, for I've never seen it, and unless I'm mistaken she plays the flute, not the harpsichord." She shrugged. "I hope you don't think their liars or any such thing. They either get their stories mixed up or are trying to outdo one another."
"Oh, it's quite alright." Susan turned to her brothers "Excuse me, but I am fairly sure that our guest is hungry after having had no breakfast." She turned back to Kelta and Lucy with an exasperated sigh.
"Boys!"
Kelta laughed merrily at that, but quickly turned solemn at the sudden weight of a hand on her shoulder. She turned to face the ship's captain, the real one, and went pale with dread. She had been hoping against hope that he would not approach her about her unusual situation. Taking a deep breath she prepared to beg Jarvus' pardon but was silenced by his raised hand.
"Now lass, don't fret over friend Mr. Jarvus. I've heard the entire story and have already made my decision about whats to be done with him. As captain of this ship I cannot allow him to get off with no punishment, however," he added when her head bowed in sorrow "I have spoken personally with him and find him to be quite the gentleman, even if his past is a bit crooked. Having said that, he will spend the remainder of this voyage in the brig with his colleagues. Upon our arrival in Cair Paravel he and the man called Lakri will be released. The other, Kann, will be sent to prison under charges of kidnapping, seeing as he was the one who did all of the dirty work, and he was the one who intentionally captured you as well."
"Oh, oh thank you sir! Thank you!"
The captain smiled kindly. "Now then, shall we stroll to the galley for lunch?"
"Most certainly kind sir, most certainly indeed!" Kelta said as her stomach rumbled loudly. The lunch was delicious; fresh stuffed crabs with tiny shrimp on the side, warm brown bread, apple preserves and fresh oranges. The captain explained that the oranges were to help keep away scurvy, which comes from not eating enough fresh citrus fruit.
As Kelta looked at the people around her, she couldn't help but see some of her own family in them. The captain was like her father, always telling fascinating stories and laughing a big belly laugh that made everyone around him laugh along. After they had finished eating he asked permission from the ladies before lighting up an ornately carved pipe, just as her father did. Susan reminded her of Aunt Mimi, brushing crumbs from Lucy's skirt and whipping leftover preserve from both Edmund and Peter's faces. When they complained loudly she was remembered how Larkin, whom one of the leopards was named after, and Jay would complain when their mother fussed over them. It was Lucy who struck closest to a memory though. The sweet young girl reminded Kelta so much of her own younger sister Mirin. As she watched Lucy chatter animatedly with Susan, brown eyes sparkling with joy, she sensed that beneath this happy little girl was a young woman with a clear head and compassionate heart. Her Mirin was the same way; she loved animals and people alike, never seeing the bad but the good and always willing to give you a second chance. As she watched the happy siblings Kelta felt tears begin to well up in her eyes.
She couldn't decide if they were happy tears or sad ones, but as she turned her face so they wouldn't see she felt nearly sure that they were both.
Scurvy is a deficiency in vitamin C, which most people get by eating citrus fruit (oranges, lemons, grapefruit…). Sailors would get it from spending too much time at sea where fresh fruit was, obviously, hard to come by. I wasn't sure if Narnians would know about vitamin C, but I figured they would know that scurvy could be prevented by eating citrus fruit. I still need cameos, as well as reviews!