The actual title of this chapter is: Day 86: Good things come to those who circumnavigate
Gwydion was awoken by a sound kick to his side. The kick wasn't especially hard, the prince was only a small toddler after all, but still hurt, partially as he wasn't ready for it, partially because it was just under the ribs. It was certainly an unpleasant way to wake, about on a par with Aunt Petunia yelling at him.
After grumbling at the baby, Gwydion climbed out of bed and was slightly grossed out to see a small damp area in the sheets, and the smell of urine. He tried to gauge how long he had before they needed to be down at the dock, and felt a quick bath was worth it to get rid of the smell. After they had bathed, and changed into cleaner clothes, Gwydion gathered up the baby and headed downstairs, on the way meeting the brunet women again, who gave him two sandwiches of bread, cheese and cold beef. She also directed him to a well to fill his water skin. When going past the man downstairs he gave Gwydion a small dog carved from some drift wood, 'for the lad to play with.' Gwydion was thankful, as he hadn't even thought about how he would keep the prince entertained (and therefore quiet) on the way back. He was down at the dock with time to spare, and watched to two Berner sisters lift the cargo into the small ship. The ship was about half the size of the pirates, but still had at least four crew outside of the sisters, all of whom were involved in rigging and packing and other tasks to get the ship ready to sail.
Gwydion was starting to think the Berner sisters weren't exactly normal when Sarge lifted a large heavy create with one hand, but figured as long as they got them to Daventry it didn't matter. He didn't have the same prejudices as Manannan had.
"Well? You waiting for an escort? Get on board!" The Captain yelled at Gwydion, and he quickly scrambled up the plank and onto the ship.
He was directed by one of the crew to a small room under the deck, with a single bed and nothing else. He put the baby on the bed and sat on the other end, watching the predawn light colour the surf through the tiny window. The baby cooed and played happily with the small dog. Gwydion wondered what the princes name actually was, as he had never heard it spoken. He also wondered how old the baby was, as it could talk (or well say a few words) and toddle along, but still needed nappies. Sighing, he considered having a short nap, and checking the door was locked, and the baby happy, did so.
Gwydion and the baby spent most of the morning in the room. The trip to Daventry was meant to take a day and a half, and the Berner sisters hadn't packed food for the boys, so Gwydion was glad he still had food and water in his rucksack. The baby chewed at the bread happily. He felt a bit guilty he had no idea what to do with the baby, but figured he would be home soon and it wouldn't matter too much.
In the late afternoon he took the prince for a small walk around the ship, and onto the deck. The baby gurgled at the waves, and kept saying "Bath!" and Gwydion refused to let him go incase he decided to jump in.
As he was standing by the rail he heard a voice down below, "How are your smallfry doing in school?"
Gwydion peered over the edge to see a few large fish frolicking in the surf from the ship's prowl.
Another voice answered, "Not well, I'm afraid. The school's much too crowded. They don't know if they're coming or going!"
"Well maybe if you went to school you would know what is this thing is."
"I know that! Its a ship. Humans use it to swim. They aren't very good at it, look, they are really slow!"
"Well, humans are pretty stupid creatures. They're always trying to defy Mother Nature," a fish declared. "There's nothing you can do about it, anyway. At least the disruption gives us plenty of krill."
With that the fish disappeared back under the waves, and Gwydion could no longer hear them.
Thankfully the stroll exhausted the boy, Gwydion hoped he would go to sleep easily that night. Gwydion couldn't wait to get to Daventry so that he could go home and not have to deal with baby poo anymore. It was bad enough that he found out the toilet was a simple hole in the side of the boat which dropped into the sea.
That night he was laying lazily on the bed, with the prince sprawled across his chest when a knock sounded in the room. Trying not to wake the baby, he rolled over and answered the door. One of the Berner sisters, the not-captain one was leaning casually up against the wall in the narrow corridor.
"Was checking if you wanted to join the crew for dinner."
"Oh, um, ok." Gwydion looked at the baby. Maybe he should wake he boy up so it would sleep tonight. "Let me wake the pri- I mean, my brother."
The sisters eyes narrowed sharply, but seemed to let it pass. She turned and left, while Gwydion cursed himself a fool. The last thing he needed was for someone to find out the baby was a prince.
He belted his potion belt on and woke the baby, who sleepily nuzzled Gwydion's neck when he picked the little one up. Together they made three way down the corridor towards the noise. At the end of the corridor was a doorway leading to a reasonably size dinning hall, with a single long table in the centre. Around the table were three large men and the two Berner sisters.
What followed was a surprisingly pleasant dinner, of stew and bread, and light conversation. Gwydion spoke little, as the sailors had little idea of growing things, and he couldn't really speak about anything else in case it gave away who he was traveling with. He got a few interested looks when he let slip he could read, and after that tried to deflect as much as possible. Letting other people talk was a talent he had learned early to avoid punishment Before, the Dursley's loved their own voices, and sometimes, if they talked long enough, they forgot why they were angry at Gwydion in the first place. The sailors stories were much more interesting, they in turn spoke of places they had seen, and Gwydion hoped most of the stories were exaggerated. The stories also encourage him to thing that the Berner sister were indeed not human, as they could hold their breath forever and had webbed toes. He wasn't confident enough to actually ask what they were.
Once the baby started to yawn, Gwydion made his excuses and escape back to his room. Tomorrow, he wold finally be able to go home.
