Chapter Four
The next morning Rachael and Emily awoke on deck at about ten o'clock. The crew had taken them back to the boat late last night and they were now preparing the ship for the day's docking. The girl's got up, went to their rooms and changed into their Siamese cat shirts and PJ pants. They then sought out Mr. Orly and inquired on the ship's condition.
"Well, ladies," he said, "We've cleaned the all of the decks and scraped the hull, so we should be just about ready for the docking."
"Yes, and when are we docking?" inquired Rachael.
"Well, we'll be there in about an hour and a half, and assuming there are no other delays-" Orlando was interrupted by Rachael and Emily's vehement exclamations.
"WHAT?! WE DON'T HAVE NEAR ENOUGH TIME TO GET READY!" And with that, they dashed off back to their cabins. Orlando shrugged and went back to coiling rope. Yes, I said coiling rope, get over it. No, really...leave it alone: it's not a big deal, lots of people coil rope all day long. Really, it's like a job. There's a support group and everything. Look, what is the big deal? Just leave it. Really, I- DO YOU WANNA ARGUE WITH GOD?.....Yeah, that's what I thought.
Ahem, anyway, he was coiling rope and everyone else was working hard preparing the ship, to make sure it looked just absolutely squeaky clean for the docking. Within the hour, the lookout for the day, Dominic, spotted the shore. Someone knocked on the door to let the captains know that they were about ready to dock. The girlies gave a few hurried instructions, informing the crew that they should dock, and that the girlies would be out in a bit to greet Princess Arial and Prince Eric.
So the crew sailed into the harbor. They sent Pippin ahead to inform the royal couple that they had arrived and wished to meet with them. A few minutes later, a large group of people headed towards the ship from the palace. The crew waited atop the ship, still wondering where their captains were. Ahead of the crowd they saw the Prince and Princess. Speaking of which, where are Eric's parents? I mean, you never here about the King or the Queen. Is Little Mermaid Land a principality? Hmm, a point to ponder...
Anywho, the crew waited around anxiously waiting to meet the Royal Couple, and at the same time, nervously hoping their captains would come out to greet them first because they had no idea how to speak to royalty. (They are, after all, naught but sailors who have lived their whole lives at sea, ever since their fathers. . ., well, that's another story. . .)
As the group came closer, the men were more and more nervous. Finally, they sent Pippin to knock on the door of the captains and try and get them to come out. (Pippin, being the smallest, was most often sent on these errands, rather like the "3 out of 4 Yayas" agree rule, which Lansama hates.)
"Yes?" called Emily from the door.
"My ladies, the Royal Entourage (oo, vocab word!) is almost here!" he called, "Please come out to greet them!"
"Baby doll, we'll be there in just a moment," called Rachael, but she was distracted by Emily yelling.
"Put away that curling iron right away!" (Emily has never quite recovered from all those horrible curling iron mishaps from her youth, and harbors an intense phobia of them.)
"But, my ladies," called Pippin again, after the curling iron mania had subsided. "What if they arrive before you come out?"
"It's quite simple, dear heart," called Emily, "Introduce yourselves, invite them aboard, and get them something to drink."
"But-"
"Please, honey, the sooner you leave us alone, the sooner we'll be out."
(Wow, how many pet names can I put in here?)
Pippin wisely saw the sense in this and headed back to the queue of men, and told them the captains' words. They were perturbed, but agreed, and elected Aragorn to speak for them, as he is after all, a king and therefore, motivationally speaker. If something were to happen to Aragorn before he had the chance to speak, Ian would speak, since he played Gandalf the White, and everybody loves Gandalf, right? Doncha?
The Royal Entourage arrived, and Aragorn nervously introduced everyone, and they all bowed, with offers of their service. They were invited aboard, and then, after receiving drinks and the like, just as things were about to get awkward, the captains' door slammed open.
"BONJOUR!" they chorused.
Everyone gasped, so fabulous did they look. The crew, having worked all day at cleaning the ship, anchoring, and the like, were looking dirty. Excuse me, did I say dirty? I meant dirrrrrty, like Tootin' Wooten. Yummily so, but not at their cleanest and best dressed.
In vast, vast contrast, the captains had spent all day cleaning (themselves) and readying themselves for the dock. Both were wearing silk dresses of (yep, you guessed it) green and blue, with spaghetti straps, fitted and decorated with pretty Oriental trim and the like. Their hair was wavy and down, make-up (of which they were wearing little, because they didn't need that much) flawless, and their skin was sun-kissed from all their tanning the past few days.
. . . .OK, I know what you're thinking, but it's my fan-fic, and if I want to make myself sound fabulous, I can. So, blah. And if you start whining again, Mr. Coiling-Rope-Is-Not-A-Job-Man, I will personally wee you locked in the brig. (See, I do know something about ships!!)
After everyone recovered, the captains started serving their guests their dinner. Having both worked at the best catering company in the world, not only was the presentation fabulous, the food was to die for! (Garlic Mashed Potatoes, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways!!!)
After the great meal, the captains settled down to tell Eric and Arial about their proposition. They were just getting to the good part, when Sinbad interrupted.
"My ladies, I think there's something you might want to see," he called from the port side. (Hahahaha, port means left, did you know? 'CAUSE I CERTAINLY DID!)
The ladies excused themselves, and floated over to the rail, and took turns looking in Sinbad's glass. (You know what I'm talking about, right, those things you fold and unfold, and they see far away? Not the Turban of Surban, no. I want to call it a telescope, but I don't know if that's right . . . well, let me know. . .)
Off in the distance, they could just see what looked like a floating funeral pyre.
Emily and Rachael looked at each other confused, but then shrugged, and commanded, "SEND OUT THE LONGBOATS!"
The crew, with the exception of Elijah and Dom, lowered the longboats, and rowed out towards the pyre. Meanwhile, Emily and Rachael continued explaining their plan to Arial and Eric, who where listening attentively. After the ladies had finished, the other two sat back to consider the offer. (They would, after all, have the best castle ever on the best plot, but then again, they would have to share it with Belle and her Prince Who-Has-No-Name.)
Jus then, the crew returned. They first sent up a young boy of about seventeen.
"Oliver Wood, from the Harry Potter Movies!" exclaimed Emily.
Elijah looked up at the mention of the name, and seeing the young, skinny, brown-haired boy, gave a great cry of joy, and ran over to hug his long-lost Scottish brother. They had a tender reunion, while the men brought up the funeral pyre.
Everyone stood and walked over to it. They bowed their heads respectively, seeing King Arthur (from First Knight) lying on the pyre.
"How sad," said Rachael, thoughtfully, "I wonder how he died."
"Oh, he's not dead," said Oliver, carelessly, "He was tired of being King, so we faked his death, and I helped him escape." He paused to consider, then said, "If would have worked so much better if they hadn't shot the flaming arrows at him."
"Oh, however did you manage to avoid that?" gasped Emily.
"Quite simple," said a thick, hot, Scottish man-voice.
Everyone looked down at King Arthur, who had opened his eyes, and was making to sit up.
"We used a Holocaust cloak," he explained.
"Ah!" exclaimed everyone, as Arthur turned to Oliver and thanked him for his loyal service.
"How did you get here?" Elijah asked of his brother.
"Well, you see, I'm quite the expert snorkeler, so I swam and pushed the pyre."
"Well, you're both certainly welcome to stay here with us," said Rachael, "You meet all the qualifications."
"What are the qualifications?" asked Prince Eric, quite interested.
Rach and Emmy looked back at him. They weren't really interested in him or Arial, save for the fact they wanted to uproot their castle and replace it with a different one. But as everyone seemed interested, they complied.
"Well, first and foremost," began Rachael, "You must be hot."
"Secondly," said Emily, "You must be a man."
"Finally, you can't be stupid, and must be willing to fulfill your captains' every whim." finished Rach.
"Well, can I join?" asked Eric.
Emily and Rachael looked rather uncomfortable, and Rachie indicated that Emily should handle this, so Emily walked over, resting her hand on his shoulder, began to refuse him.
"I'm sorry, Eric," she said carefully, not wanting to offend him, and thus cause him to refuse their offer, "but you don't meet qualifications."
"What? But I thought-"
"No, I'm sorry, see first of all, you're a prat, and secondly, you're married. We can't accept married men."
"That wasn't in the qualifications!"
"No, but it is in the Rules," amended Rachael.
Eric seemed to think this made sense, and so, after Oliver and Arthur decided they would stay (Oliver, because of his brother, and Arthur, because he had always had a faint interest in sailing), Emmy and Rachie returned to their discussion.
Finally, in the wee hours of the night, Arial and Eric agreed to lend their land.
"Now, when will you be returning?" enquired Arial, who, despite being a whiny annoying you-know-what, is rather smart. "We'll need to remove our castle."
"Yeah, um, what are we going to do with it?" asked Eric, who, despite saving the day once, is rather stupid.
"Oh, we'll donate it to Goodwill or Salvation Army or something," shrugged Arial, while Emmy and Rachael considered.
"Well, do we want to go by land or by sea?" asked Rach.
"Well, one if by land, two if by sea," offered Emmy.
"That's true, but how far away if France from Little Mermaid Land?" asked Rachael.
Arial, who had over heard this last bit, interrupted their thinking.
"It's got a name, you know."
Having their thoughts interrupted, they were feeling more than a little confused, and asked, "What?"
"It's got a name, you know, it's not just 'Little Mermaid Land,'" admonished Arial.
"Oh, well, what is it?" asked the girls.
Arial told them the name, but just then, a HUGE semi-truck drove by, the noise blocking out all other sound than itself. Arial, apparently thinking they somehow miraculously heard her, did not repeat herself after the truck passed.
"Excuse me?" asked Rachael, politely, "We couldn't understand you."
Arial spoke the name again, but this time a huge jet flew overheard, similarly blocking out all other noise. Rachael and Emily, rather embarrassed, did not ask again. (As Emily knows all to well, you can only ask someone to repeat something so many times before they get irritated and you feel stupid . . . and also deaf. As Wama would say, "Hey! My parents are deaf!!" Yes, yes, indeedy-do, they are!) Instead, they just nodded, and said, "Yeah," with a little laugh, hoping Arial hadn't said anything requiring an answer.
Emmy and Rachael then decided to go by sea, as it would please the sailors more, and told Eric and Arial they would be back in two months. They promised they would write if there was any change. They called to their crew to get ready to sail the next morning.
* * * * *
The next morning Rachael and Emily awoke on deck at about ten o'clock. The crew had taken them back to the boat late last night and they were now preparing the ship for the day's docking. The girl's got up, went to their rooms and changed into their Siamese cat shirts and PJ pants. They then sought out Mr. Orly and inquired on the ship's condition.
"Well, ladies," he said, "We've cleaned the all of the decks and scraped the hull, so we should be just about ready for the docking."
"Yes, and when are we docking?" inquired Rachael.
"Well, we'll be there in about an hour and a half, and assuming there are no other delays-" Orlando was interrupted by Rachael and Emily's vehement exclamations.
"WHAT?! WE DON'T HAVE NEAR ENOUGH TIME TO GET READY!" And with that, they dashed off back to their cabins. Orlando shrugged and went back to coiling rope. Yes, I said coiling rope, get over it. No, really...leave it alone: it's not a big deal, lots of people coil rope all day long. Really, it's like a job. There's a support group and everything. Look, what is the big deal? Just leave it. Really, I- DO YOU WANNA ARGUE WITH GOD?.....Yeah, that's what I thought.
Ahem, anyway, he was coiling rope and everyone else was working hard preparing the ship, to make sure it looked just absolutely squeaky clean for the docking. Within the hour, the lookout for the day, Dominic, spotted the shore. Someone knocked on the door to let the captains know that they were about ready to dock. The girlies gave a few hurried instructions, informing the crew that they should dock, and that the girlies would be out in a bit to greet Princess Arial and Prince Eric.
So the crew sailed into the harbor. They sent Pippin ahead to inform the royal couple that they had arrived and wished to meet with them. A few minutes later, a large group of people headed towards the ship from the palace. The crew waited atop the ship, still wondering where their captains were. Ahead of the crowd they saw the Prince and Princess. Speaking of which, where are Eric's parents? I mean, you never here about the King or the Queen. Is Little Mermaid Land a principality? Hmm, a point to ponder...
Anywho, the crew waited around anxiously waiting to meet the Royal Couple, and at the same time, nervously hoping their captains would come out to greet them first because they had no idea how to speak to royalty. (They are, after all, naught but sailors who have lived their whole lives at sea, ever since their fathers. . ., well, that's another story. . .)
As the group came closer, the men were more and more nervous. Finally, they sent Pippin to knock on the door of the captains and try and get them to come out. (Pippin, being the smallest, was most often sent on these errands, rather like the "3 out of 4 Yayas" agree rule, which Lansama hates.)
"Yes?" called Emily from the door.
"My ladies, the Royal Entourage (oo, vocab word!) is almost here!" he called, "Please come out to greet them!"
"Baby doll, we'll be there in just a moment," called Rachael, but she was distracted by Emily yelling.
"Put away that curling iron right away!" (Emily has never quite recovered from all those horrible curling iron mishaps from her youth, and harbors an intense phobia of them.)
"But, my ladies," called Pippin again, after the curling iron mania had subsided. "What if they arrive before you come out?"
"It's quite simple, dear heart," called Emily, "Introduce yourselves, invite them aboard, and get them something to drink."
"But-"
"Please, honey, the sooner you leave us alone, the sooner we'll be out."
(Wow, how many pet names can I put in here?)
Pippin wisely saw the sense in this and headed back to the queue of men, and told them the captains' words. They were perturbed, but agreed, and elected Aragorn to speak for them, as he is after all, a king and therefore, motivationally speaker. If something were to happen to Aragorn before he had the chance to speak, Ian would speak, since he played Gandalf the White, and everybody loves Gandalf, right? Doncha?
The Royal Entourage arrived, and Aragorn nervously introduced everyone, and they all bowed, with offers of their service. They were invited aboard, and then, after receiving drinks and the like, just as things were about to get awkward, the captains' door slammed open.
"BONJOUR!" they chorused.
Everyone gasped, so fabulous did they look. The crew, having worked all day at cleaning the ship, anchoring, and the like, were looking dirty. Excuse me, did I say dirty? I meant dirrrrrty, like Tootin' Wooten. Yummily so, but not at their cleanest and best dressed.
In vast, vast contrast, the captains had spent all day cleaning (themselves) and readying themselves for the dock. Both were wearing silk dresses of (yep, you guessed it) green and blue, with spaghetti straps, fitted and decorated with pretty Oriental trim and the like. Their hair was wavy and down, make-up (of which they were wearing little, because they didn't need that much) flawless, and their skin was sun-kissed from all their tanning the past few days.
. . . .OK, I know what you're thinking, but it's my fan-fic, and if I want to make myself sound fabulous, I can. So, blah. And if you start whining again, Mr. Coiling-Rope-Is-Not-A-Job-Man, I will personally wee you locked in the brig. (See, I do know something about ships!!)
After everyone recovered, the captains started serving their guests their dinner. Having both worked at the best catering company in the world, not only was the presentation fabulous, the food was to die for! (Garlic Mashed Potatoes, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways!!!)
After the great meal, the captains settled down to tell Eric and Arial about their proposition. They were just getting to the good part, when Sinbad interrupted.
"My ladies, I think there's something you might want to see," he called from the port side. (Hahahaha, port means left, did you know? 'CAUSE I CERTAINLY DID!)
The ladies excused themselves, and floated over to the rail, and took turns looking in Sinbad's glass. (You know what I'm talking about, right, those things you fold and unfold, and they see far away? Not the Turban of Surban, no. I want to call it a telescope, but I don't know if that's right . . . well, let me know. . .)
Off in the distance, they could just see what looked like a floating funeral pyre.
Emily and Rachael looked at each other confused, but then shrugged, and commanded, "SEND OUT THE LONGBOATS!"
The crew, with the exception of Elijah and Dom, lowered the longboats, and rowed out towards the pyre. Meanwhile, Emily and Rachael continued explaining their plan to Arial and Eric, who where listening attentively. After the ladies had finished, the other two sat back to consider the offer. (They would, after all, have the best castle ever on the best plot, but then again, they would have to share it with Belle and her Prince Who-Has-No-Name.)
Jus then, the crew returned. They first sent up a young boy of about seventeen.
"Oliver Wood, from the Harry Potter Movies!" exclaimed Emily.
Elijah looked up at the mention of the name, and seeing the young, skinny, brown-haired boy, gave a great cry of joy, and ran over to hug his long-lost Scottish brother. They had a tender reunion, while the men brought up the funeral pyre.
Everyone stood and walked over to it. They bowed their heads respectively, seeing King Arthur (from First Knight) lying on the pyre.
"How sad," said Rachael, thoughtfully, "I wonder how he died."
"Oh, he's not dead," said Oliver, carelessly, "He was tired of being King, so we faked his death, and I helped him escape." He paused to consider, then said, "If would have worked so much better if they hadn't shot the flaming arrows at him."
"Oh, however did you manage to avoid that?" gasped Emily.
"Quite simple," said a thick, hot, Scottish man-voice.
Everyone looked down at King Arthur, who had opened his eyes, and was making to sit up.
"We used a Holocaust cloak," he explained.
"Ah!" exclaimed everyone, as Arthur turned to Oliver and thanked him for his loyal service.
"How did you get here?" Elijah asked of his brother.
"Well, you see, I'm quite the expert snorkeler, so I swam and pushed the pyre."
"Well, you're both certainly welcome to stay here with us," said Rachael, "You meet all the qualifications."
"What are the qualifications?" asked Prince Eric, quite interested.
Rach and Emmy looked back at him. They weren't really interested in him or Arial, save for the fact they wanted to uproot their castle and replace it with a different one. But as everyone seemed interested, they complied.
"Well, first and foremost," began Rachael, "You must be hot."
"Secondly," said Emily, "You must be a man."
"Finally, you can't be stupid, and must be willing to fulfill your captains' every whim." finished Rach.
"Well, can I join?" asked Eric.
Emily and Rachael looked rather uncomfortable, and Rachie indicated that Emily should handle this, so Emily walked over, resting her hand on his shoulder, began to refuse him.
"I'm sorry, Eric," she said carefully, not wanting to offend him, and thus cause him to refuse their offer, "but you don't meet qualifications."
"What? But I thought-"
"No, I'm sorry, see first of all, you're a prat, and secondly, you're married. We can't accept married men."
"That wasn't in the qualifications!"
"No, but it is in the Rules," amended Rachael.
Eric seemed to think this made sense, and so, after Oliver and Arthur decided they would stay (Oliver, because of his brother, and Arthur, because he had always had a faint interest in sailing), Emmy and Rachie returned to their discussion.
Finally, in the wee hours of the night, Arial and Eric agreed to lend their land.
"Now, when will you be returning?" enquired Arial, who, despite being a whiny annoying you-know-what, is rather smart. "We'll need to remove our castle."
"Yeah, um, what are we going to do with it?" asked Eric, who, despite saving the day once, is rather stupid.
"Oh, we'll donate it to Goodwill or Salvation Army or something," shrugged Arial, while Emmy and Rachael considered.
"Well, do we want to go by land or by sea?" asked Rach.
"Well, one if by land, two if by sea," offered Emmy.
"That's true, but how far away if France from Little Mermaid Land?" asked Rachael.
Arial, who had over heard this last bit, interrupted their thinking.
"It's got a name, you know."
Having their thoughts interrupted, they were feeling more than a little confused, and asked, "What?"
"It's got a name, you know, it's not just 'Little Mermaid Land,'" admonished Arial.
"Oh, well, what is it?" asked the girls.
Arial told them the name, but just then, a HUGE semi-truck drove by, the noise blocking out all other sound than itself. Arial, apparently thinking they somehow miraculously heard her, did not repeat herself after the truck passed.
"Excuse me?" asked Rachael, politely, "We couldn't understand you."
Arial spoke the name again, but this time a huge jet flew overheard, similarly blocking out all other noise. Rachael and Emily, rather embarrassed, did not ask again. (As Emily knows all to well, you can only ask someone to repeat something so many times before they get irritated and you feel stupid . . . and also deaf. As Wama would say, "Hey! My parents are deaf!!" Yes, yes, indeedy-do, they are!) Instead, they just nodded, and said, "Yeah," with a little laugh, hoping Arial hadn't said anything requiring an answer.
Emmy and Rachael then decided to go by sea, as it would please the sailors more, and told Eric and Arial they would be back in two months. They promised they would write if there was any change. They called to their crew to get ready to sail the next morning.
* * * * *