The suitable punishment for the appalling mistakes done by Elsa during the siege of the merchant ship was only delayed until the next morning. Elsa was rudely awakened by a smirking Kristoff. "You'll be in the crow's nest today. It's obvious that you're hopeless in a fight, so the Captain set me the task of finding you an occupation with more promise. For some reason, she's all for exerting the energy necessary to keep you alive for longer than a day. Personally, I'm surprised you've lasted this long."
Elsa shot him a glare at this speech. She had gotten out of her cot as he spoke and was dressing while the first mate stood over her, arms crossed. He ignored the fire in her gaze and continued, "we'll see today if your eyes are any better than your muscles and whether we'll ever find a use for you."
The day proved to be blistering hot and mere minutes after the two emerged onto the deck, Elsa could feel her shirt sticking to her bare torso under the vest she wore. The heat seemed to have rendered the crew lazy; most of the men were wandering about idly, pressing bottles to their lips and gazing about lethargically. No real work was getting done except the random pulls from the boatswain to right the sails when the breeze changed direction. The Revenge appeared a harmless vessel when not in pursuit of another ship and the shift in perception threw Elsa for a loop. She was suddenly less intimidated by piracy as the bright sun beat down on the Revenge, throwing it and its inhabitants into a sharp relief. Under the cover of the darkness of night or a storm the crew was menacing, but in the daylight Elsa realized that the pirates were people too, people who had merely a different lifestyle from the more law-abiding seafarers.
It was amid such thoughts that Elsa noticed a group of crewmembers huddled in a circle near the quarterdeck. They appeared to be playing a game with dice and Olaf was among them. The boy had fallen asleep in her arms the night before and she was always surprised by how easily he could go about their shared cot without waking his companion. With a prickle of shame, she wondered how much longer she had slept, for the entire crew seemed to have already risen, and the sun was rather high in the sky.
Also among the group of gamblers was Captain Anna. Elsa saw this and started, for it was not often that the captain could be witnessed mingling with the crew. Usually she was at the helm with Kristoff or shut up somewhere below deck. Elsa thought about her first weeks on The Revenge and how she had hoped and prayed for even a glimpse of the redhead. Now here she was, perched on the sideboard of her beloved ship, watching from above as the game progressed. The brim of her hat cast a shadow across her face, the line of which cut the freckles on her cheeks and nose in half. Her vest was discarded beside her and her shirt had a few buttons undone, bearing an even more freckled chest. As if she felt Elsa's stare, the captain glanced up and caught the merchant's gaze from across the deck.
A smirk twisted its way onto Captain Anna's face and made Elsa, already flushed from the heat, glow even brighter. Kristoff broke the eye contact by shouldering Elsa, who subsequently stumbled into a barrel nearby and then righted herself self-consciously.
"Come on, it's this way," the first mate said, shoving her once more.
Another glance at the captain told Elsa that the redhead had seen this exchange - although she was now regarding the game once more, Elsa saw that Anna was shaking with restrained laughter. Mortified, Elsa allowed herself to be led to the mast by Kristoff. The height of the giant pole proved to be daunting, especially as Elsa stood before it, eyes studying the route she would have to take in climbing it. With another exaggerated shove from Kristoff, Elsa unsteadily mounted its base. She found footholds in the rope wound about the bottom but her hands were left to scrabble for a second before resignedly wrapping themselves around the circumference of the mast.
It took all of Elsa's willpower not to look over at the captain once more. She felt decidedly the butt of some sick joke; surely this was not a real occupation on board the ship. And yet, above her was the crow's nest and sticking out over the side was the lookout's head, eyes glinting in amusement over his beard as he watched the woman below him struggle to reach the perch in which he sat.
Throwing her dignity to the wind, Elsa took a leap and wrapped both arms and legs as far around the mast as she could. Once stuck three feet above the deck of the ship, she was unsure what to do and nature took over, pulling her back to the wooden planks below her in a comically slow descent. Kristoff and several other crew members guffawed heartily at her blunder but a voice cut above the laughter.
"Are you going to stand there and take the piss out of her, or teach her how to do it properly?" Captain Anna was addressing Kristoff from across the deck, boot heels thudding loudly at her approach. "Or do I need to find someone else to do the task I assigned you?"
The captain and first mate glared at each other momentarily as Elsa got back on her feet, avoiding eye contact with everyone. Kristoff had opened his mouth to retort when Olaf moved into the circle, interrupting the argument.
"I'll show you, Elsa!" The dark-haired boy quickly grabbed a length of rope from a hook suspended near the door to the hold and came back brandishing it like a weapon.
"You get some rope… and you tie a knot in it like this…" Elsa had to lean away a few times to keep the ends of the quickly moving rope from hitting her in the face. When he finished the knot, he held it up for Elsa's inspection. She got an eyeful for mere seconds before Olaf retracted it and began throwing it around the mast. "Then you tie it on there like this…"
After a flurry of movement which included a few full spins, the boy stopped and was securely tied to the mast. Elsa was thoroughly lost, not having taken in any of it.
"Does that make sense?" the boy asked, tilting his head to the side and panting slightly. "It's easier than it looks."
Elsa nodded slowly, eyes wide.
"But once that's done, you just have to use the footholds over here…" Olaf circled the mast and Elsa followed, not believing what she was hearing. There were indeed footholds on the opposite side of what Kristoff had shown her. Upon the realization of an easy ascent, she immediately rounded on the first mate, finding sudden confidence in her anger and embarrassment.
"How did you think I was going to figure out how to do it if you weren't going to provide me with the proper tools?"
"Whoa," said Kristoff, holding up his arms in surrender. "It was a bit of fun, all right?"
"Well, that's that," said the captain, smirking at Kristoff's discomfort and Elsa's daring. "Kristoff, you're off the job. Olaf, want to earn a few extra coins?"
The boy nodded vigorously. "I'd do anything for you, Captain Anna!"
"Good," she said, ruffling his already disheveled mane. "You have the privilege of training Elsa to successfully reach the nest. Marsh will take it from there."
"Aye!" crowed Olaf dutifully. The captain backhanded Kristoff's stomach playfully and led him away but not before throwing Elsa a curious, narrow-eyed glance.
After Olaf took over, the work was short. Merchant's daughters were not meant to climb but Elsa did her best to pretend she was a natural. She told herself it was so she could fit in faster with the crew and not be such a burden, but she knew that the real reason was to impress Captain Anna with the haste of her learning. In addition, she did not want to be an embarrassment any longer than she had to be.
It was a pleasant surprise, then, when she found herself at the top of the mast, hauling herself over the ledge and into the crow's nest. Olaf and Marsh stood watching from inches away (there was only so much room up there) as she caught her breath; it was still unbearably hot and the sun continued to beat down mercilessly. She gave a sign of non-verbal confirmation of her condition to the other sailors in the nest with her. When she finally straightened up, she allowed herself to survey her surroundings, something she refused to do on the climb in case she was distracted enough to lose her hold and fall. The added height gave the sea a new dimension and although there was nothing new on the horizon, Elsa absurdly felt that if she stood on tiptoes she'd be able to spot land - if only she could get a little higher.
The ship itself looked different from above as well. Elsa kept finding new perspectives from which to view her new life and each one was securing more strings of attachment. She could never have guessed how easily she'd have given in to piracy. A glance over to the quarterdeck reminded her exactly how. Captain Anna was once more at the helm. She was staring intently at a compass, one hand on the wheel as Kristoff bent over a map a few steps behind her. In the heat she had abandoned her vest and the dirty shirt she wore underneath stuck to her in an oddly flattering way. Elsa looked away again as she felt her stomach twist in a way that was not altogether unpleasant.
A deep grunt from Marsh brought her attention back to the task at hand; that is, how to be a lookout. He grunted again and pointed out; Elsa followed his finger to find nothing in particular and glanced back at him in confusion.
"He doesn't really talk much," Olaf explained. "I think he saves his voice for shouting down instructions for when he spots something."
The lookout did nothing to either confirm or deny this statement and Elsa finally focused on the man next to her. He was only a few years older than herself but the thick, black beard made him seem more advanced in age. He had piercing eyes like Olaf and something in them told Elsa that he was a bright man despite his lack of speech. He also wore no shirt and Elsa hoped fleetingly that Olaf would not eventually think to take after him in that respect.
"Wait, if he doesn't speak, how is he going to teach me how to be lookout?"
"I'll translate!" Olaf replied, puffing out his chest importantly.
Elsa sighed. This was turning out to be an unnecessarily difficult day.
It took a good chunk of the afternoon for Marsh to relay all of his instructions to Elsa. It turned quickly into a ridiculous guessing game which involved Marsh gesturing and Olaf spouting random and ridiculous conjectures to which the lookout usually shook his head with a frown that was barely discernible through his thick beard. It occurred to Elsa somewhere in the middle of Olaf's muddled explanation of the sail rigging that being the lookout was most likely an extraordinarily boring job. It was no wonder Marsh had the privilege - since he was mute no one missed him on the deck. Then it occurred to her that she was being trained to do this very same job, which Elsa could only take to mean that no one wanted her on deck either. This caused a brief surge of anger to once more flare up in her.
No sort of reprieve from the "lesson" came until much later in the afternoon. It was almost time for dinner; Elsa could tell because her stomach was growling and most of the deck below had cleared of crewmembers. The heat of the day had finally gotten the best of Olaf - he was slumped on the floor of the nest, still muttering nonsensical translations. Elsa herself was dozing and she could feel a burn from the sun rising on her pale cheeks. Between daily mortification and the blazing sun, she'll be permanently red with her luck. Just as Elsa was pondering the difference in shades between Captain Anna's hair and her own face, the woman in question appeared at the edge of the nest.
"Is she ready, Marsh?"
"For what?" Elsa said, startled out of her reverie and sitting up straighter.
The lookout nodded with a grunt and proceeded to exit the nest, swinging his legs over the raised walls and out onto the yard for the mizen mast, balancing like a monkey. Olaf woke sufficiently at the lookout's movement and immediately followed Marsh out onto the yard before Elsa could stop him. Captain Anna climbed further into the nest, landing in the empty space left by the two others, right next to Elsa.
"All right Sailor, show me what you've mastered," the captain said, freckled face inches from Elsa's. Her vest was still discarded and Elsa was now faced with that open shirt. Overwhelmed, the blonde tried to back away but found her escape blocked by the raised walls of the crow's nest.
"Right," muttered the blonde, turning about face to catch her breath. Marsh and Olaf were straddling the yard just beyond the nest, staring at her expectantly. Looking down at her hands and shaking herself slightly with a reprimand of buckling so easily under Captain Anna's proximity, she started through the motions of setting up the nest for the day, à la Marsh. The captain seemed lenient when Elsa was without a name for something, as she must have realized Marsh could only teach her so much without using his tongue. When, however, Elsa found she was at a loss for what to say or do when one actually spotted something of importance, Captain Anna was not so sympathetic.
"Well?" the captain prompted.
"Er- land ho?"
Olaf and Marsh both snickered and were quickly silenced by the unsheathing of the captain's sword.
"Aside from the last, you've done fairly well, sailor," Captain Anna said, turning the blade on Elsa. The blonde was finding herself at the captain's mercy increasingly often. "But I have one last test for you. Out on the yard."
The two already perched there moved back to make room on the thin piece of wood. Elsa unsteadily climbed onto it, desperately attempting not to consciously notice the distance between the mizen yard on which she stood and the Revenge's deck far below.
"Tie this about your waist." A thick rope hit Elsa's back and wrapped itself loosely around her shoulders, almost sending her off balance. With shaking fingers, Elsa secured the line around her middle, wondering what on earth Anna was to have her do. She need not wait long to find out; Captain Anna was soon right behind Elsa and the yard made for holding sail was groaning under the weight of the four people atop it.
"The life of a pirate, Elsa, is one of incredible danger." Captain Anna's excitement was undoubtedly high; she now spoke loudly and with bravado, as though building up to the height of adventure. "In fact, we must learn to live every day with the verifiable truth that any of us could be dead at the bottom of the ocean at any time." She took a step closer to Elsa, the smirk peeking out from under her hat brim growing wider with each word. "A pirate need always be prepared for the worst." The sword found Elsa's throat. "Are you prepared for the worst, Elsa?"
Even before the merchant's daughter could respond, the blade was gone and Anna's free hand had given Elsa's chest a good shove, sending her soaring bodily from the safety of the yard and into the open air. Elsa could just hear Anna yell, "I would hold on tight!" before she her ears were filled with wind as she plummeted down to the deck. A hideous knot of fear twisted her stomach in the seconds before the rope went taut and her breath was knocked out of her. The rope swung her forward to the mast and she barely caught herself against it with her feet. Her palms which clung to her lifeline were slick from sweat and her shirt was drenched once more, but she was alive and for that she was glad. For a moment she dangled from the rope in disbelief and when her senses returned, she realized the trio above her were cheering and applauding. Captain Anna lowered herself down the nearest shroud and came to rest level with Elsa as the blonde struggled to find a foothold on the mast, still gasping for breath.
"You passed," said the captain, grinning heartily at Elsa before continuing on her way down.
Elsa, still very shaken from the sudden fall, required Olaf's clumsy help in getting back to the deck. She could have kissed it when her feet finally reached the solid wood, and so exhausted was she that she had no choice but to lower herself to the floor and allow a concerned Olaf to fetch her dinner.
It seemed her unconscious goal to impress the captain had failed miserably; in fact, Anna had been more successful in uncovering her talent of making a fool of herself. However, Elsa couldn't help but think of Anna's smirks and how far they were from unkind - amused, yes, but friendly all the same. This gave her satisfaction as the sun set around her. The stress of the day had done a number on her and now she was content to sit on the deck for a while, even until the stars came out. Elsa spent so long recovering that those silvery pinpricks did eventually did appear and Elsa couldn't help but wish that Anna was alongside her, reliving that night on the quarterdeck. Not long after the sun disappeared on the horizon, the door to the galley opened and Elsa, despite herself, looked over at the burst of light and sound in anticipation - of what, she couldn't say. The shadow formed on the ground from the galley light was definitely Anna's - Elsa could recognize the shape of that hat anywhere. After a moment, however, the door closed again and Elsa was left alone in the dark.
A/N: Woo! I'm back! I'm busier in summer than during school, what's up with that? I'll try to update regularly though, so hope you guys are ready for some pirate action!