-Dances and dark clouds-

May, 1636

The Xing Coast

Queen Elizabeth was sailing with the wind at the helm and was so fast that it seemed to fly. They returned from Jaijing, one of Xing's largest ports, after downloading half of the contraband rum and bringing back a shipment of gunpowder and other explosives.

"Are you in a better mood now, huh?" Maes asked, approaching her chewing a piece of dried meat.

"I like Xing," she replied, leaning on the rudder. " It's so colourful, so vibrant, it's a fantastic place."

Maes rested on the rudder and smiled widely at her. She knew what was on the way. Either he wanted to know something or he wanted to ask her something.

"Don't you think you're being too rude to our beloved captain?" he enquired with a rogue smile, aware that he wasn't asking a question but a reproach.

"Maes... don't stand up for your friend," she replied without taking her eyes off the horizon. "He doesn't need it."

"Where is he, by the way?"he asked again, looking around. "I haven't seen him this morning."

"Our beloved captain is curing his hangover, one more time," she said pointing to Roy who was perched on the main mast, glancing at the horizon with a small telescope. "You drink so much."

"We drink because of lovesick" he placed a hand on his chest in an attempt to win her sympathy.

"You drink because you love liquor, don't make dumb excuses for me" she blew out the locks of her bangs and laughed, giving up the talk."By the way, what's all the racket on deck,? "she wondered, curious due to the stir formed by the rest of the crew.

"Oh, Fuery has crossed the equator for the first time and they are piercing his ear," he explained with enthusiasm, laughing out loud.

"Poor kid" murmured rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"He's older than you," he chuckled, grabbing her by the shoulders."What are you talking about?"

"I have an older soul," she replied, moving away from him. "Or I'm more tired"

"How old were you on your first time?" he asked curiously, touching her earrings.

"I was three when I crossed the equator the first time and six when I made my first trip around the world," she replied full of pride touching her pierced ears.

Maes looked at her in disbelief and she smiled in complicity. They turned when they heard Alex Armstrong's deep laughter on the other side of the deck.

Queen Elizabeth's crew was young, most of them had sailed together before. On other ships and under other captains. Roy had recruited them by affinity and now they were a small family.

Jean Havoc was an attractive, smiling and chatty guy. An orphan who grew up on Tortuga's streets. He had sailed under many flags, as a fisherman, as a soldier. He didn't care, as long as he could fill his pockets.

Breda was without doubt the most cultured of all. He was raised in a monastery, among monks, so he liked good food and good reading. But he was always a rogue, he began stealing cheese in the kitchens and ended up with bigger targets. His bones hit the cells more than once. He hadn't sailed before meeting Roy, but he knew how to read maps better than anyone and had no shame when it came to looting.

Armstrong was a soldier of the royal army. He was a strange man, with a thick voice and amazing strength. Alex was kind and always cared about everyone. He was also a great cook.

Alex himself pulled the rope to release the ratchet sail, and the wind filled it, pushing the ship even faster.

The sea was quiet, Riza left the rudder in the hands of Hughes and moved closer to the stern where Roy was leaning.

"Good morning, Captain" cleared her throat and stood behind him with her hands behind her, standing upright.

"Good morning, Boatswain" he tensed up like he'd been caught doing something wrong.

She put her hand on his back and stood by his side. Roy filled his lungs and glanced at her, she didn't say a word, but left her hand on his back.

"You can breathe, Captain" he pointed softly without looking at him."I've come to see the dolphins."

He breathed in relief and they both gazed at the open sea. Behind them a good part of the team were joking with the young sailor. The noisy laughter of Maes made them cross a curios look and both turned to see what was happening.

Havoc, still with the needle in his hand, burst out laughing at Fuery.

"Come on, Kain, it's no big deal," he said, grabbing his neck and twisting his hair. "You're a pirate! You're a tough guy!"

"It's not because of the pain. It's because you assaulted me like a band of rustlers," he replied, pushing Jean away from him.

"Come on, you beast guy, we've all been through this," he insisted, putting both hands on his shoulders.

The young man twisted his gesture and came closer to the cages that hung from the quarter deck. There were a couple of pigeons fluttering inside.

"Don't call me that," he replied, throwing birdseed inside. "I'm a communications expert."

"Communications expert" mocked Breda, bringing his hands to his big belly."What a way to put it."

Fuery was in charge of the pigeons. They needed them to know if the land was close. He also took care of the cat, a fat orange animal that hunted mice in the hold. Although he was the last addition to the crew, his joy and curiosity had made him indispensable.

It was a good crew, almost a family. Many people were needed to manage a boat, but a few were enough to make it feel like home.

Armstrong was playing the accordion, while the others laughed and clapped their hands, enjoying the improvised concert.

"What are we celebrating?" Roy asked as he approached them.

"Fuery has crossed the equator," replied Breda, who was tuning a violin to start playing himself.

"That's a good reason," he added with his hands on the waist. "Do you dance, Boatswain?

"Excuse me?" Riza raised an eyebrow and took a small step back.

Roy chuckled and took her by the hand and brought her into the middle of the ring that the crew had made.
He placed a hand on her hip, and she put her hand on his shoulder. The music was cheery, and they were moving along the deck. They danced, while the others clapped and sang along.

Roy didn't take his eyes off her, Riza was smiling shyly keeping her eyes on her feet. Roy was quite obvious sometimes, he was unable to hide what he felt. Each time he brought her back to him, he whispered in her ear, just to make her laugh. She wanted to be angry with him, but she couldn't. The way he was looking at her, the warmth of his hand, the simple fact of being next to him made her happy, made her feel safe.

Roy burst out laughing as he threw her at the boys. She also laughed and encouraged the rest of the crew to join them.

"Come on, Fuery, this is for you," Riza said, hooking his elbow and turning him into the circle.

In that improvised party, Roy made Jean do the same thing and everyone started to dance and laugh.
They were dancing for hours, until huge droplets disrupted their happy gathering.

The clouds crowded into a darker grey.

"A storm is coming,"Roy said, stopping to yell out orders. "Prepare yourselves! Secure the cellar! Bend the sails!"

The wind was growing stronger by the moment. The clouds hit each other with a loud sound. The sky turned black and the night seemed to fall over them. Alongside gallons and gallons of water.

Nothing is more terrifying than a storm at sea, waves can reach 30 meters and everything becomes chaos. The rough sea moved the ship like a nutshell.

They were all eager to lower the sails and Riza ran to the rudder. She had to stay on course, steering the ship so it wouldn't yelling of the sailors was stifled by the wind that roared the sails. The waves reached the deck, dragging everything with them, throwing it into the ocean.

Catching the mast Roy gave orders to his men, but it was almost impossible to hear him.

"Tie yourselves to something! Go down to the cellar," he shouted out loud. "Riza, don't release the rudder!"

The thunders were deafening, and the lightning illuminated the sky giving the ship a frightening image. Pitchers of water fell on them.

Wherever she looked, all the faces were full of terror. The ship heeled like never before, nearly fully rolled and with the waves passing over them.

She barely had time to remove the salty water taste from her mouth. She was scared and took off her belt to tie herself to the rudder. Riza needed to put a lot of strength into her arms to keep the rudder from moving.
The bow had to be straight, to cut the waters, the waves were dangerously tall. It was almost impossible.

With the rope around his waist, Havoc hooked himself to the bow castle, in order to help Armstrong get closer to him, he threw an additional rope at him.

Riza was screaming at the men to be safe, but no one could hear her. They were running across the deck, trying to save the ship.

Then a huge wave hit Fuery, who was trying to rescue the bird cage and throw him over the edge.

"Man overboard" cried Breda from the ladders.

The panic took hold of her. Roy glanced at her before taking off his coat and boots to jump into the water. She shouted his name in despair, but it was pointless.

She hardly saw, she didn't know what was happening, she cried out against the wind full of rage. She couldn't leave her post, but that's all she wanted. She needed to know what was going on. The water was very cold, but she didn't feel it. The waves passed over and over the boat. The lightning showed her for seconds what was going on, but it was nothing. She wanted to cry, she felt hopeless. She was freaked out and what was worst uninformed.

The storm stopped almost as fast as it came, however the ocean was still agitated and she needed to steer the course.
When she finished, she was soaked and she quickly untied herself from the rudder.
She realized she had been holding her breath. Her lungs were burning, and she was unable to calm down.
She looked around looking for the captain but saw no one. There were only a few sailors who had tied themselves where they could.
She rushed into the ship, heart in a fist. The staircases seemed endless. She seemed to get nowhere.

The captain's cabin door was closed. She froze in front of it, afraid to take another step.

Roy was sitting on his bed, with a towel on his head. He was staring at Breda who was cleaning the wound on Fuery's forehead.
The young sailor was pale as a ghost and the captain was smiling, tapping his knee, trying to calm him down.
Everyone looked up when she reached the had to have a priceless expression because everyone was instantly silent. Her heart was beating so fast she felt like it was coming out of her throat. She swallowed and grabbed the door frame. Her legs trembled, and she couldn't step into the cabin.

Roy looked at her and tilted his head, full of curiosity, he frowned and told her to move closer with his hand.

"Great job, Boatswain, you've kept us all safe," he said, his voice full of pride.

She was unable to move, afraid her legs would fail. She gazed at them, breathing with difficulty, but didn't say a word.

"Are you all right?" Armstrong asked with concern, moving closer to her. "You look very pale, Swallow Officer."

She looked at him as if she didn't understand the question. Blinked very slowly trying to process the reality, Roy said something that she didn't understand, stared at him and he just smiled. And she couldn't take it anymore.

"You bastard" walked up to him and gave him a push." What were you thinking?"

"A captain does not abandon his men," he explained in complete calm.

He was right, he did the right thing, she would have done the same thing. But... it had been terrifying.

"I know," she mumbled, clenching her fists.

He grinned shamelessly, and she could no longer contain her temper. She smacked his face with a loud slap and came out of the cabin in anger.

As she climbed the stairs, she saw that it had stopped raining, and the scent of wet wood was floating in the air. The storm caused a lot of damage, but he would deal with it later.

Roy filled his lungs with air to gather the courage he needed and approached her. Riza was leaning against the bow mask, still soaked, with her sight lost on the skyline.

"If you don't take off those wet clothes you're going to get sick," he said, standing behind her and dropping a blanket over her head.

"I'm fine," she grunted annoyed, without rolling over to look at him.

"Let's go inside," he insisted, putting a hand on her hip.

"Leave me alone, or I'll throw you overboard," she replied.

"It would be curious, I thought you were angry because I jumped," he said, putting his arms around her and his head on her shoulder.

"Damn, you're an idiot," she sighed, clutching his arms against her. "You scared me."

"I'm sorry" he kissed her hair and hugged her tightly.

Hello!

Gospeloak, id9916: Thank you very much for your advices, I hope you notice the changes. :)
I really find this kind of review very useful. Thanks again.
I'm glad you're still enjoying it.

Anon: Well, Roy has also been sleeping with others before Riza,:D
Thank you very much for your review.

See you next time!