The next day, the Chimera departed Constantinople. The city's bustle slowly quieted to the gentle rolling of the waves. Dimitri was a bit sad to see the city disappear again, but the rest of the crew seemed happy enough to be back out at sea.

Now that he could no longer run off for the day, he had taken to mopping the end of the ship Sinbad wasn't currently at and ignoring Kale's repeated glances his way.

A large group of the crew had gathered on the deck to play dice as the city faded and then disappeared on the horizon. Other ship sailed around them, traveling to and from the great city down the channel. Most of them were fishing boats, but others were merchant ships or military. All of them gave the Chimera and her distinctive blood-red sails a wide berth.

"I bet you ten silvers that it'll happen before we get to Cyprus," said Li as he tossed the dice and then scooped up a handful of playing chips.

"What? No way. It'll be two days after Cyprus before we get to Cairo," scoffed his twin.

Kale shook his head as he snatched the dice from Li. "You're both wrong."

"Hey!" The twins looked up at him with mirrored expressions of annoyance.

"What day are you betting on then?" Jin asked, trying to jump up to grab his dice back.

Kale put his hand on Jin's face and pushed him backwards, keeping the dice. It was his turn anyway. "I bet you five gold pieces that it'll happen tonight."

"Whaaat?" Li exclaimed while Jin fell backwards, "Tonight? Are you crazy?"

Kale laughed and then tossed the dice. "Not last time I checked. Five gold pieces on tonight, just you wait."

Rat swung down and landed next to Kale, snatching up the dice for his role. "Are you sure? That is a very risky bet, I think. Even I would give it at least three days." He rubbed his fingers together. "The mood. It isn't good now."

Kale just leaned back on his elbows with a knowing smile.

Dimitri was ignorant of this mysterious bet as he was on the other side of the ship, mopping mechanically at this point. He still wasn't thrilled to be the ship janitor, but the mindless task was a good way to tire him out for the day.

He kept casting surreptitious glances to the ship's wheel that Sinbad was currently steering. His conversation with Kale had not simplified things for him. He couldn't just give in to this wild attraction. He had to think about the after-effects and how this would change him. He tightened his grip on the mop handle; he couldn't no matter how much he wanted to. It didn't help that he still thought Sinbad was a pompous ass. Really, if he had to be attracted to a man, it couldn't have been someone more sophisticated? His tastes seemed to run towards royalty after all. He jokingly wondered whether Sinbad knew any princes.

Sinbad was expertly maneuvering the ship through the water, his eyes fixed on the open ocean that lay ahead. Once they made it out of the trade lanes he could relax, but until then he wanted to have full control of his ship and where she went. And he was especially not looking at Dimitri. Not at all. Even a little bit.

Jed was busy distributing pickles and eggs around to the crew. When he reached Dimitri, he handed him a pickle.

"Uh... thanks but no thanks," Dimitri said, "I think I'm done with those for the rest of my life."

"TAKE IT, BOY!" Jed thundered so loudly that Dimitri immediately snatched the pickle from him. Jed gave a satisfied grunt. "It wards off the spirits of mollusks long past."

Dimitri waited until he went to go pester someone else before tossing the pickle overboard.

…

They reached open water that evening and left behind a majority of the sea traffic. Fishing boats didn't venture out this far because of the strong currents. The crew had all formed their usual bickering line while they waited for dinner, elbowing and jostling each other while they traded colorful insults. The food was steak and baked potatoes, a bit of a treat to celebrate their departure. The crew seemed particularly enthusiastic about this, if the swearing and shouting was anything to go by.

Dimitri stood in line with the rest of them, eager to fill himself with something that wasn't pickles and eggs. He sat next to Rat with his loaded plate and dug in heartily.

"I see you are not bringing the captain his plate today!" Rat said through a mouthful of potato. He was eating with his hands as he always did and often left a mess on the table.

Dimitri shrugged. "I wasn't asked to."

"Sinbad took his food and went back to his cabin already," Jin said.

"Yeah, we haven't seen him talk with the crew for days now," Li observed.

"I wonder why," Dimitri muttered, even as he shifted uncomfortably.

Kale eyed him over his own plate. "Yeah, he's usually so social. I wonder if something is bothering him." As if he didn't know.

Rat laughed and almost spit out a bit of potato. "Bothering the captain? No, he is not bothered by anything. Not even sea monsters!"

Jed shuddered and looked like he was going to be sick. "Can we not talk about sea monsters?"

"Sorry Jed."

Dimitri suddenly felt his appetite disappear due to the jangle of nerves rattling about in his stomach. It was as if his mind had suddenly made the decision for him while he had been listening to everyone's banter. If anything, he needed to straighten things out with Sinbad. They couldn't just go on with tiptoeing around each other. He pushed his potato around on his plate as he tried to steel himself for later.

"Dimitri, go get Sinbad's dishes. He's probably busy with his maps," said Kale.

He was planning on going anyway, but at least now he had a reason in case Sinbad slammed the door in his face. He walked out; heedless of the smirks the others were casting each other behind his back.

As he made his way to the captain's cabin, he tried to think of the various ways this ensuing conversation might go. In his paranoia, he saw every single one ending with Sinbad throwing him overboard. There was no need to panic this much; he tried to tell himself, it would all be fine.

That thought fled the moment he knocked on the door. Oh God, what was he doing?