author note:
Just a rambly chapter with a little bit of cuddles and a lot of world building. Hope ya'll like it! :)
To say that Rey had been excited to set sail had been an understatement.
He had ushered her onto their ship, the Falcon, with a quick pace. It was his hope to get his lady tucked into her little cabin before she could find any of the trouble no doubt to be had. Rey had seemed confused at the small, closet-sized space at first. Then she'd broken into a wide grin when he'd begun to unpack her meager personal items.
Okay, good. She got the idea. And he left her like that, arranging her clothes and drawing supplies to her heart's pleasure while he went above onto the deck as they set sail.
Most of the town had come to bid them good journeys and see them off. The remaining Knights were already at their posts stationed about the four corners of the Island. Without them though the crowd still seemed ample. Well over a hundred hands waving in the air, though Kylo knew with a certainty some of them were glad to be rid of them.
It hadn't taken long for Rey to pop up, bounding over to his side and shoving an absolutely baffled Silas out of the way. Her fingers were black and her nose was dotted with ink in a way that was just too cute for Kylo not to delicately swipe off.
"Painting already, M'Lady? Truly you must have felt inspired by our departure."
Rey grinned widely and leaned over, throwing nearly half her whole body across the edge of the railing as she looked down at the waves crashing against their prow.
"Sir?" Silas asks. "I thought she didn't speak?"
Kylo hesitates for a moment. He had gotten so used to it being used him and Rey wrapped up in their own little world. It felt odd and wholly inappropriate to let anyone else in.
"She listens," he explains, "now go check the top sail lines. Ria had said they were old and tended to get stuck."
Silas frowns, almost but not quite grumbling under his breath and being sent off on an odd task now when they were taking center stage with their departure. He leaves with a clipped gait and Rey yips, drawing Kylo's attention back.
Now she's waving back at the crowd enthusiastically, her whole upper body swaying with the movements of her arm. Kylo wonders if she has any idea why she'd doing that, or was simply mimicking the movements of most of the people around her.
"Now if only I could get you to wear shoes and use spoons and forks I could make a fine human lady out o you yet."
He gives her a quick, almost imperceptible squeeze to her shoulders and Rey looks up, clearly expecting her normal kiss to the forehead. Not in front of everyone, certainly not. He can already feel some of the side-eyes from his on-board knights as it is.
"Look," he points, "there's our watchtower. I expect we won't see it again for quite some time."
Rey turns and starts climbing up the central mast to a midpoint where she can see better. Kylo watches her for a moment with a sense of foreboding before returning to his task of looking grim-faced and stoic in front of the now distant crowds.
"She's really good at climbing, isn't she Sir?" Ria comments as she joins him.
Kylo flashes back on those first few days when he'd met her. She couldn't even stand at first. Instead, she'd pitifully drag herself across the floor, even literally through glass, to get away from him.
Then had come this morning. They had been a messy tangle of limbs and lips under the rising sun. It didn't even take them very long to get to that point, did it?
"She certainly seems to be, Ria, but let's all keep a watch on her. She may not know her limitations yet."
The Knight turns her head to regard him. Her face is mostly hidden by her mask, making it impossible to judge her expression.
Kylo simply nods then, taking his leave, and heads downstairs to see to setting up his own quarters.
The day was unseasonably calm and warm. The sun shone brightly, the Knights were in good spirits, and yet Kylo couldn't shake a cloud of gloom that had settled into his mind since their departure.
He should feel at ease. They were finally on their way. The journey ahead would no doubt be challenging, but also hopefully bring some much needed answers.
There wouldn't be many more pleasant days like this. Not this time of year and in these harsh waters. Kylo should be out with his men on the deck, enjoying the simple pleasure of sunlight while it lasted.
Despite this, Kylo chose to bury himself in research. Standing idly was never a trait he carried well, and the need to do something productive was greater than any nonexistent desire to sunbathe or "relax". This wasn't a vacation. Far from it. He and Rey and all of the Knights would need to be ready for anything once they reached the Western Station. One day off, perhaps, but soon he'll put them to work training and honing their abilities. They would have to learn to work together as a united front, though at this point Kylo was unsure what role Rey would have within that scheme.
Down in his cabin, Kylo closes the tome before him shut and draws out another one. He'd taken several of his books that he thought might be useful with him from the watchtower. Many were sailing charts, and a few with bits and pieces of history. The deeper he researched, the more he looked between the lines, it seemed like relations between humans and merfolk were very rare. Rare, but not unheard of.
One of the books that Maz had given him was a very old and battered tome with no title upon it. It was a collection of sailor's recounts dating back likely for several generations. Judging by the locations and terms used, it must have been from the Winterton side before the war.
Most of the entires didn't interest him. Complaints or boasts or recounts of what dead sailor owed what to whom else. There was one story that caught his attention, however. It was told in mismatched pieces as a series of diary entires, of which many of the middle seemed to be missing, was a tale of a sailor who had seen a naked, beautiful woman beckoning him into the water.
That part had caught Kylo's eye immediately. The story was not unlike when the pack of mermaids had lured and then attacked Kylo himself shortly after Rey's arrival.
Except this diary story was different. Here the sailor claimed the naked woman had swam up to him but she wasn't a woman at all. Her tail should have terrified him, but the sailor said that an odd calm had overwhelmed all reason. The merwoman didn't speak, not even once, but she had touched him.
And then she had disappeared. One touch and she was gone.
The next diary entry had been largely the sailor trying to convince himself that it had all been a dream or in his head.
Two weeks later she had returned. This time the waters around her had been choppy but it was a calm day. It was almost as if there were many more of her kind around them.
Another touch and she had pushed him back, shoving him back to shore even when he tried to stay out with her.
The third entry was dated months later. It was a poor season and the sailor had foolishly gone out into the deep waters in search of much needed food.
He claimed that, while he was out there, he heard a voice singing. He had lost his mind completely then, or so the diary claimed, and had felt compelled to go out even deeper into the dangerous open waters. There he had suddenly been surrounded. A pack of vicious mermaid had encircled his small fishing craft, pushing at it with their hands and tails and trying to break it in half.
Then, just as suddenly as they had appeared, they fled. The waters had grown still and silent until that same mermaid from before had come to him. She had swam right up to the edge of his boat and half lifted herself onto it. According to the sailor, she beckoned to him. She wasn't acting like the others at all.
And apparently she was very beautiful indeed. She hadn't tried to hurt him, not even when he reached out to touch her face.
Kylo skimmed over the next part of the diary which was a rather lurid depiction of what had happened next. The short version was that the foolhardy sailor had gone into the water with her and… and a union had been made. Afterwards she had swam next to him, guiding his boat back into the shallow waters and kept her own kind away until he was safely back on land.
The journal entry ended with an open plea to the gods that he may see her again one day.
Kylo closed the book then and started to pace. He had been given the largest quarters on the ship, though it was tiny still for a man of his stature. He could easily cross from one length to the other in just a few steps, and on his third round a familiar head pops itself into his doorway to watch him.
"Hello, M'Lady."
She grins and he turns from her, going back to the book to see if there was any other entries beyond that last.
Two lean, tanned arms creep into view. Silently, completely silently, Rey embraces him from behind. Kylo raises an eyebrow, holding still for her.
Something pinches against his shoulder. She bit him, he realizes, and when he turns around her expression is one of pure mischief.
"My lady," he shakes a chiding finger at her and she snaps at that too, "may I ask how you found my room?"
He hadn't shown its location to her yet, opting instead to see how long it would take her to find it on her own. Rey simply smiles, her hands now running up and down his chest.
Oh. No.
Kylo quickly catches the roving appendages and draws them down to her sides.
"M'Lady, I'm afraid that's completely out of the question. Not until we're on solid land and-" Rey bites her lower lip, distracting his line of thought for a moment- "and… no… not now. Not possible."
Marriage technically should also follow along with the plan, though Kylo supposes they will have to wait for that technicality until they return to the Island. And he's figured out a way to explain the concept to her. And how to break it to his men.
Rey wriggles one of her hands free, grabs the front of his pants, and gives her fingers a mischievous flutter. The offer is not without temptation, but he really can't. His men are already reluctant enough with the girl and no doubt her propensity for hissing, howling orgasms would do little to improve their relations.
Kylo literally pulls himself away when the fluttering becomes a firmer pulse. Rey pouts then, annoyance flickering in her eyes and that's often a sign that she's about to act up.
"You have too much energy," he says quickly, stepping back and out of reach. "I think I have a cure for that. An appropriate cure. Bring your weapon and meet me upstairs on deck."
His private cabin was in the middle section of the ship, while hers was a re-purposed storeroom at the bottom level. Their distance from each other was one of necessity, not intention, on such a small vessel, but Kylo assumed her adjacency to the pantry would help make amends.
Wrestling out of Rey's arms is a slightly strategic movement. He needs to be firm with her, to show her that yes, she has to accept his boundaries. But oh how his girl likes to claw at him, especially when she must figure out he's trying to leave.
"Your weapon," Kylo presses an image of her headcutter into her mind, "bring it upstairs."
Oh she'll figure it out. She flops on his bed, her pout extending to now almost childish dimensions, and Kylo quickly hurries away.
When he gets to the deck the sun is high in the sky and the ocean calm. There's a mild wind pushing at their sails, and several of the Knights have gathered into the main central area and are practicing sparring.
"It's a fine day," Ria says, joining him at he sidelines.
Kylo nods, eying the hatch to the lower decks. No girl. The two women didn't seem to like each other very much.
"If this weather holds it will put us behind," he says. "We need wind."
"It won't. It can't. Pity that Aemon isn't here with us, he could have helped smooth the journey."
All of the Knight's Force abilities manifested in slightly different ways. Aemon with his unique affinity for judging and changing the weather would have been a very useful additional to a long sea voyage, but h was needed more at the Island.
Kylo draws a sparring sword from the pile of weapons on the table and begins to practice a few forms. He hadn't done this in quite some time, actually. Rey had proved to be a very compelling distraction from his usual work-centric routine before their paths had crossed.
"Leader?" Ria looks over the edge of the railing she'd been leaning against and frowns. "I do believe there's a half naked girl scaling the sides of our ship."
Kylo pauses, his sword mid-sweep against the cloth legs of a practice dummy. Surely not?
A tanned hand extends into view, clawing its way along the top of the railing. Ria looks back at him with a significant expression and Kylo rubs his temples, the start of a headache forming despite the pleasantness of the day.
"Should I help her?" Ria asks.
The grip has apparently been found, and another hand appears. This one is holding the crude garden implement that had seen more than its share of bloodshed. A loud growl emerges next, the sound angry in its warning o Ria's extended hand. She steps back then, shaking her head and not try to hide her thoughts of what kind of feral animal have we let on board?
The other Knights stop sparring then to watch as Rey, naked from the waist down, bounds over the railing from he outside. The motion requires her to throw a leg up first, resulting in a moderate disruption of shock as they're all treated to a highly candid view.
"Dear gods M'Lady."
Kylo grabs his cloak that he'd discarded when he began his forms, but Rey petulantly throws it aside. She's still wearing her curaisse, but that's about it.
"Kylo, Sir-"
"I know."
He waves Ria back. Rey glares at the other woman, her hackles rising at their proximity to each other. Ria's not wrong in her concern, but that doesn't change the necessity of a careful approach.
"M'Lady, do you not know that we have stairs?"
He glances over the edge of the ship that she'd just scaled and gods be damned if he doesn't feel a touch of vertigo. It was very steep.
"Mayenne, please go down below and find Miss Rey some suitable garment to wear for sparring."
Mayenne was the other female Knight. Her proportions were much more similar to Rey than Ria's, as well as her preferences in attire. Rare indeed was the day that Kylo saw Ria out of full armor even just for walking about town.
"Sparring?" Ria asks, stepping forward and pointedly ignoring the loud hiss emanating from the guest.
When Rey doesn't succeed in scaring her off this time she stomps away, crossing her arms petulantly. She stops though when she sees how the other Knights have gathered, forming a loose circle around them to watch the spectacle unfold. Their expressions tell a story of shock or amusement or more shock, and Kylo mutters a plea under his breath before draping his cloak back around Rey's shoulders.
"Sir, I have a question."
Gareth, the more highly amused of the twins, steps forward. Kylo braces himself, then nods.
"Is the reason you brought your guest with us not just to unveil the mystery of the halfling and the mermaid hearts and all that goodness, but really to keep her from flashing her muff at the entire village?"
Behind him his twin snorts, hiding the movement within a fake cough.
"You overstep yourself, Gareth," Kylo warns. "Keep your respects or I'll send you into the sparring ring with her next."
He quickly takes the offered garment from Mayenne. A pair of loose, half-legged trousers that Kylo had commissioned for Rey yesterday. She must have gone into Rey's room to get them rather than sacrificing any of her own, not that Kylo could blame her. As much as he would like his guest to remain properly clothed throughout the journey, at this rate she would have tossed her whole wardrobe overboard and be skint by the time they reach the Western Station.
"M'Lady, if you could-"
He bends down to reach for one of her ankles and Rey giggles. Bizarrely she snatches the pants from him and flops flat on her back on the deck, tossing his cloak aside and nearly over before Ria catches it for him with a tendril of the Force.
Then Rey kicks about, thrashing her legs in the air as she clumsily drags one pant leg up, then the other, and finally gives the deck a few good thumps with her butt as she drags it up and over.
More or less properly dressed now, Rey waves her hands in the air and grins as if to say 'I did it!'
Throughout the spectacle th Knights watch in increasingly heightened silence. More than once Kylo can feel a subtle pulse against his psyche as one or the other of them do a wellness check on their leader's mental state.
"Er-" Kylo offers her a hand up but Rey leaps to her feet herself.
She picks up her discarded headcutter and sweeps it blindingly fast through the air a few times, more often then not in the direction of a highly unimpressed Ria.
Kylo clears his throat before addressing them.
"Go back to your practice, men. M'l- Miss Rey will start her training with me first. It's essential that she knows how to master her chosen weapon, though in time I would like for all of you to train with her as well."
"Oh won't that be fun. An excellent idea, Sir. I hope Talisin's healing abilities will be up to the challenge."
He gives Ria a sidelong glare, dismissing her with a roll of his shoulder. Again, she wasn't wrong, but then neither was he.
"Alright, M'Lady. Let's start at the beginning."
He draws out his practice sword. His blade is dulled from practice, her's isn't. Rey eyes him sidelong before a light smile pricks at her lips and she matches his stance with a low crouch of her own.
She does know this is just for practice, right? One of the twins calls from behind him. Before Kylo has time to think, Rey pounces.
His plan had been painful at times, but effective.
The twin's question had been answered quickly: yes, Rey did seem to know they were just sparring. From the glints he'd catch of her mind, he term she was using was more akin to playing, but close enough. However, that didn't mean she held herself back especially much.
By the time they were finished, Kylo's shirt was a tattered mess and his arms and chest had a criss cross of little nicks and wounds from her cutter. He had actually gone to Taleisin for a quick Force healing treatment afterwards, and was met with a deadpan 'Of course, Sir, but perhaps a thicker gauge of armor next time?'
Rey had that sort of wild, raw talent in combat that Kylo was expecting. Her moves were lightning fast, but driven by instinct. That meant she telegraphed them. If they had been fighting a keen enemy, that would have put her at a distinct disadvantage.
Kylo had spent most of their extended afternoon session teaching her forms. The classic postures had to be adapted to work with her short-handled but highly deadly weapon. As they practiced Kylo kept a mental list running of the way her body would move in her garments. The lightly padded curaisse he had selected for her was a start, but in time she would need her would custom fitted armor designed specially for her own unique fighting style. That would likely have to wait until they were back at the Island, unfortunately.
Kylo's plan had been both to teach the girl the basics of proper combat, as well as to wear her out. He had succeeded in both, though he was quite tired himself by the time dinner came around.
Jared, the second twin, had appointed himself the Falcon's unofficial chef. This had been accompanied with some sort of bawdy statement about how he'd learned to cook because the 'best way between a woman's thighs was by keeping her mouth full at all times'. Gareth had given a raucous laugh, Ria and Taleisin their best stone-faced disapproval, and Rey had dived all but nearly head-first into the large pot of soup laid before them.
Kylo had to hold her back, literally, and made a mental note that a lesson in proper table manners would be her next challenge.
"There was artwork on her walls," Mayenne comments between spoonfuls. "Did she make them?"
Kylo blinks. Then freezes, his heart momentarily jerking spastic in his chest. That was met with a few curious pulses through the Force before he shuts his mind closed to visitors.
"Er, the paintings of the sea and my tower? Yes, she seems to be quite good at those. And- any piece in particular that caught your eye?"
Mayenne raises an eyebrow. His tone had been very tense.
"There was one which very much appeared to be of a severed head on a candlestick. It seemed a little out of place with the rest."
Ah, right. Kylo had almost forgotten that little gem of a moment. The first time Rey's headcutter had earned its title.
"Must have been from a dream," he comments with a shrug.
Rey slurps loudly from her bowl, finishing off her second portion, and Kylo quickly ladles more soup into into before she just dips the whole thing into the shared pot.
"Miracle she hasn't gotten fat yet," Jared comments, "appetite like that."
Another round of laughter from his other half and Kylo rolls his eyes, directing the dinnertime conversation to the journey ahead.
Rey had fallen asleep in his arms.
Four bowls of soup down and a day full of playing had taken its toll on her. She had cuddled up against during after-dinner drinks and had resolutely crawled into his lap to curl herself about him. The Knights kept whatever comments they had to themselves, but Kylo could see the questions lurking in their eyes.
He'd taken her back to her little room sometime past midnight. Normally being on a mission like this would have a much more regimented schedule, but the good weather and easy departure had put them all at ease. There would be plenty of tense nights to come, no doubt, but one night off should be allowable.
Her room was tinier than he'd expected. Basically just space for a hard wooden cot and little else. Her small amount of clothing was messily shoved underneath along with her painting supplies.
And the walls were decorated with her artwork, just like Maynne had said. After setting Rey down and tucking her in, Kylo does a frantic sweep to make sure that a certain portrait of him was not on display. Mercifully no, and aside from the severed head his mermaid's gallery seemed innocent enough, if not somewhat eccentric.
"Goodnight," he says quietly, giving her forehead a featherlight kiss.
It feels oddly strange to go to his own bed on the other side of the ship without her. He'd locked her door from the inside before shutting it. Not so much to keep others out, the rest of the Knights seemed to prefer to maintain a distance from their wild-eyed new companion anyhow, but in the hopes that the locking mechanism would be too complicated and it would keep Rey safely inside her own quarters all night long.
When Kylo gets back to his own cabin he finds her discarded pants. The ones that she had been wearing earlier before appearing over the edge of the ship. Kylo had assumed she'd simply tossed them into the ocean never to be seen again, the same fate so many of her garments seemed to face, but instead they were wadded at the foot of his bed. His bedsheets also were in a state, almost as if she had been-
Of course not. His mind must simply be wandering. It always takes an extra day or two to get ones 'sea legs' as it were. That was part of what had made her perilous climb along the ship's outer walls so terrifying. Clearly the girl was without fear, and that was frightening in itself.
Tired as he is, it takes a better part of an hour before sleep finally claims him.
Moonlight and sea spray.
Kylo wakes from a dream. It had been a nonsensical thing. He had been out on the open waters in a tiny little fishing boat. Nothing like the Falcon. It was night and the moon was high but buried behind thick clouds. Seaspray was choking him, because he kept calling out for Rey. Searching for her in the middle of the night in the middle of the ocean.
And then he'd woken up and there she was.
Rey was curled up naked by his side, her head resting against his shoulder. Moonlight was streaming in at a muted angle, indicating that dawn was not so far away.
He had locked his door. For propriety. A flick of the Force reveals it to be still locked, but the lone window outside open.
The sea spray. That's what he'd been smelling so vividly in his dream. He had locked his door before retiring but hadn't thought to check the window. That must have been how she had scaled the ship that afternoon and now how she had crept into his room without any of his other Knights knowing.
"That's terribly dangerous, M'Lady," he whispers against the top of her head. "You could slip and never be found. We wouldn't even know until morning."
Rey stirs quietly, and Kylo shushes her. She's still asleep, and by the looks of it her dream was much more peaceful than his.
Another kiss to her forehead and Kylo settles her back down, watching out the narrow window as the now choppy sea crests against the ship.
author note:
I actually was going to end this chapter on a cliffhanger but that would have needed another full long scene to setup so I'm thinking I'm going to do that next time. Next chapter will be a pretty short one then, but hopefully I'll have it out soon!
Comment replies:
.Feathers - I'm glad you're liking the Knights a little better now. They're not bad folks, really, but mostly they're wondering WTF is going on with their leader shacking up in secret with a clingy, kinda crazy mermaid. What sort of mess has he gotten himself into? Now that there's a smaller bunch of Knights on the trip I hope to flesh out their characters a little better. Thanks so much for commenting!