Terribly sorry it took me so long to update. I've been focusing on Spy Princess lately, but I'm getting fairly close to finishing that one and then I will be sure to focus on this. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

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The man with the blue eyes' name was Brennan. There were six other crew members, excluding Captain Morris. Their names were Lars, Gavin, Aidan, Sam, Dylan, and Benjamin. After they got over their initial superstitious fear of having a woman on board, they were all quite nice to me. Brennan always was the nicest, though. He spent the most time with me, teaching me to sail.

"No, no, you put that end through the other loop," he said to me.

Sighing I undid my knot and started to retie it all over again."

"Complicated, I know, knots usually are that way, but once you figure it out it's not so bad."

I smiled. "Like that?"

"Exactly. See, it's not so difficult."

I smiled.

"So, why did you decide to go sailor, but not get paid for it, instead paying Captain Morris to do it?"

I laughed. "I assure you, Brennan, that was not my intention when I left my village. I try not to consider it that I'm paying someone to do work, but that I'm paying someone to learn how to do something. As for my reasons for leaving, I just wanted to get away, see someplace new, have an adventure with my life, instead of wasting away in the same old village until I'm too old to have an desire to do anything."

Brennan looked at me for a moment. "You know, I know exactly what you mean. It's odd, Darya, but I almost feel as though I know you already, and you've only been on board the ship for a matter of days."

"I know. Me too." We looked at each other, a bit awkwardly for a moment, but then both of us smiled.

Oftentimes, when one of us would be assigned to watch in the crow's nest for the night, both of us would go. It was Brennan's idea, initially, but after a time we got so used to it, it was just natural. It was ridiculously crowded and usually felt like all of the rigging was going to collapse, but it was lots of fun.

We'd sit, and look at the stars, naming every constellation we knew and the story that went with it. We talked about other things, as well, I told him how I just appeared on the beach when I was fifteen. He said that was strange, but I did look rather water-nymphish. I just laughed at him.

He told me that he never knew who his real parents were either. He was in an orphanage, for as long as he could remember. When he finally got old enough, he took to the seas. It just seemed right for him.

In a short matter of time, I knew Brennan as well as I knew anybody. He was my best friend on the ship, and I'm quite sure that I was his. Sailing was bliss to me, until that day, the day that changed everything...

It wasn't a stormy day, just ridiculously wavy. I never got sea-sick from it, just dashed about on the rails. Eventually, it seemed that my being pounded on them weakened them, because I slid on top of it, and it broke beneath me, sending me diving into the sea.

I was quite shocked at being thrown head first into the cold water and didn't react very fast to it. When I finally did open my eyes, preparing to swim back to the surface, there were creatures all around me.

They all beautiful, if I had seen ever seen a mirror, I would have realized how similar they looked to myself. Their eyes were all the same color as the ocean, as were mine. Their skin was all light, almost transparent even. My skin was light as well, though it had seen the sun, unlike theirs.

They had all different color hair, and they kept reaching out their hands as if to touch me and see if I was really there. One might have been easily frightened by them, but I was not. They seemed so familiar to me. The whole feeling of being submerged in the ocean with them, while everything was so silent, was like something I'd done before.

Quicker than I would have wished, I felt strong arms around me. I was being pulled up to the surface. We came up, my rescuer coughing and sputtering. It was Brennan, of course. The sailors threw down a rope and pulled us back to the deck.

"Are you alright?" Brennan asked me, when he'd regained his breath.

I had no such trouble breathing. "I'm fine," I said. "But did you see them? Did you see the—the creatures, Brennan? They were lovely, and I'm sure they would not have let me drown."

Brennan looked confused. "Darya, I think you're just in shock, you should rest."

I ignored his recommendation and walked to the edge of the deck, looking out in wonder. I could almost imagine a face in the water, one of the creatures that had been by me, but I was not sure if it was real. Of course, I couldn't have just of hallucinated them, could I?

"Darya, I really think you should get some rest," Brennan said to me once again.

I nodded, and with one last look at the sea, went in to the room below the deck to sleep.