Haha! I'm back! I had to get this down, and when I saw that it had concluded itself, I thought I'd edit, change and then crank! However, I'm kinda pissed that the line breaks don't work on the website, so I added some bold 0's for hopefully some easier transitions. This will be especially helpful here in this one. Don't worry about the weird spacing between sections, that's just the line break disasters. So, ready for a ride? *whisper* there's another memory in here!
7.
A few weeks passed on the voyage. Each night, Narelle watched the waves, deep in thought, and almost every time, James would join her. Some nights were spent in silence, both officers watching the water for an hour or two, but most nights they spoke about anything and everything. He only asked about her past when he felt the most curious, and she shared stories when she was comfortable. Her commission definitely was discussed early on.
000
9 Years Earlier, in June.
Narelle had just finished with her tutor for the day, and was in her room, changing into knickers and a shirt. She tied her hair back and grabbed her sword off its stand in her room. She trotted out to the inner courtyard in the palace, and met three naval officers. She saluted all three, and they nodded.
"Commodore Ketterling," she said. "Commodore Morris. Admiral Kenning."
"Your majesty," they all replied.
Morris spoke first. "Are you ready?" he asked. "Today will be tougher than last time."
"I'm ready."
"Your father has granted your request for a commission in the Royal Navy, and we want you to start off on the right foot," Kenning stated.
Narelle smiled. She finally got what she's been begging and wishing for- a real commission in the Navy.
"If you pass today, or if you're still at least on your feet by the end of the day," Ketterling spoke, "you'll be admitted as a Midshipman, instead of just a Sailor. You'll have to disguise yourself, but Sophie has mastered that talent I hear."
She smiled, and nodded as her cheeks flushed pink. She has snuck out of the palace a few times during the night, dressed as a man. The only time she was ever caught, her father gave her a lecture that she never forgot. She remembered the lecture every time she snuck out after that night.
She grew confused, and spoke up. "Why a Midshipman? Why do I get the jump up?"
"You have navigational abilities, and not just from reading a map," Kenning replied. "Sailing by the stars is a tough thing to learn, and I've never seen anyone learn that skill as fast as you did."
She nodded. "So what's my challenge?"
"It's more than just us three today," Morris said. "All throughout the district, there's our men disguised. Some are pirates, some are drunk townspeople, and some are criminals. Your job, is to not only defeat us three in combat, but you'll have to go and save the town from the criminals. Your limitations, however, are the challenge."
"Besides us three," Ketterling continued, "swords are prohibited. Pistols too."
"So, how will I fight then?"
"Some situations are delicate," the Admiral warned. "There are circumstances where using your sword or pistol will scare the citizens. You must ensure peace, not cause chaos. Riots are the absolute last thing we need on the streets. Negotiating with others, or commanding the local patrol will be to your advantage."
"I have the power of command?" Narelle asked.
All three nodded. "If you defeat us, there's a blue coat right over there," he continued, and pointed to a wooden pole in the corner of the courtyard. Hanging on the pole was an officer's coat.
"Put that on, and any patrol will listen to you."
"One other limitation," Morris remembered. "You have until dusk to finish. After you 'defeat' the trooper, he will come to us and vouch for you. After dusk, the troopers will all vanish from the streets, and will report to us."
"There's fifteen troopers throughout the district," Ketterling finished. "Only our most loyal troopers have agreed to today, so we know for sure that they'll return."
"So," Kenning said, as he drew his sword. The two Commodores followed suit, and Narelle immediately responded. "Try to disarm us."
"Do your worst," she grumbled.
Dodging, bobbing, and weaving, Narelle fought all three officers at once. She already knew that defeating them was going to be a challenge; three against one was already pushing her boundaries and comfort zone in combat. Although she was mostly on the defense, she saw a weak point in one of the Commodores, and took advantage. She whirled around, rammed her elbow into his gut, and disarmed him as he doubled over. Now armed with two blades, she started to gain confidence as the two remaining opponents started getting faster with their attacks. The three seemed to dance as metal twirled around them, almost every attack blocked, and every step anticipated.
Eventually, the other Commodore started wearing down, and fatigue started to set in. She blocked more attacks, seized the moment, and disarmed him. Now down to the Admiral, his attacks became stronger, forcing Narelle to block with both swords instead of just one. However, her attacks came more frequent, and were faster than his. She saw the opportunity, knocked his sword from his hand, and rested one blade against his neck.
"Dead," she said, panting.
"Go, Narelle," he replied, his breathing also labored. "Save the people!"
She dropped both blades, grabbed the coat, and put it on as she ran out of the palace.
000
"I'm guessing you saved everyone," James said one day.
Narelle nodded. "It was really hard," she replied. "One of them took a lady hostage, and I thought he was going to 'kill' her, but I had sent a patrolman around to flank, and he was eventually defeated."
"Wow. The only test I had was saving a lady from a real drunk, and that was years ago."
"I figured. They only tested me to that extent because they wanted me prepared for anything and everything."
"They did well," he said softly.
Her cheeks flushed pink. "Thanks," she whispered.
000
The following days rolled by, and both Narelle and James were enjoying the warm Caribbean sun after spending most of the morning working on paperwork together. They stayed near the helm; Narelle had her eyes closed as she basked in the sunlight.
"Narelle," came James's voice.
"Hmm?" was her reply.
"You asked a few weeks ago a question that I thought was ridiculous, but now…" he trailed off.
Narelle thought back, and opened her eyes, finally realizing what he was talking about.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"I don't find the question ridiculous anymore," he answered.
"I need you to clarify."
"You asked me in the beginning of the voyage if I still loved Elizabeth."
"And you said that you did."
"Well," he stammered. Color flushed through his face, but his eyes remained on hers. "I would like to change my answer."
"Why?" Narelle's heart fluttered.
"Well, we've been out here for weeks. There's no sign of her anywhere, and we haven't even run into the Interceptor-"
"Don't remind me," she mumbled.
"But the more I thought about it, the less convinced I was that she loved me back. It made me realize that maybe the frilly type really isn't mine."
"Frilly?! I can be frilly," she fired back.
"When you need to, not when you want to," he replied as he held up a hand to calm her. "And that's what I know that I like now."
Narelle's eyes widened slightly.
"I- uhm," she started.
"Don't," he cut her off. "I just want to say this, then let you think about it, because I know I'll need to think about it."
"Okay."
"You… are beautiful, Narelle. I knew my feelings were fading from Elizabeth, and they were growing for you. Every time we talked late at night, I was nervous and wanted to ask you to stay longer, but I just let you go, and I would kick myself."
"But you never asked me to stay."
"Yes. I kicked myself every night."
"Ouch."
He partially rolled his eyes, but continued on. "So, here goes: I love you, Narelle, and when I sort out this mess between me and Elizabeth, I want to be closer to you."
Her breath hitched. "I… I… want to be closer to you too, James," she said. "I.. love you too. I have for a while, and I thought you felt the same, but…"
"I'm sorry," he said immediately.
"It's fine. Let's just find her, and clean up the mess you unintentionally made."
So, I think this is kind of long awaited, I mean, ya know? I usually make the unintentional mistake of establishing the love interest connection too early, and after reading some really well written fics, I decided to pace myself, instead of just diving in without establishing some flirty, courtship thing before full on love. In this case, it's more the scenes that the two were talking instead of 48,000 pages of dialogue, which I also am trying to stray from, and add more detail.
So, yeah. There it is. Thanks for the review, and thank you to all who view this fic, and I would love to hear from you more! :D
