The Courting of Bryn - Ch17
With Doubar at the tiller and Bryn retired for the night the four remaining friends sat around the galley table, each with a measure of rum in front of them.
"My compliments crew, I heard your performance and you nearly had me in tears," Sinbad said, raising his glass to them.
"It was very romantic," Maeve agreed with a wistful sigh.
"Honoured to be asked," Rongar signed.
"It is quite something to be asked to help a man show his feelings to the object of his desire," Firouz agreed.
"When do you think they'll get married?" Maeve asked.
"Has he asked her yet?" Firouz asked.
"No, but he's bound to…" Maeve shrugged, sipping her rum.
"She say yes?" Rongar signed.
"Of course she will!" Sinbad said, protesting like Rongar was making an accusation.
"She has certainly accepted his advances with pleasure, but has she reciprocated?" Firouz asked.
"You should've seen them yesterday! They couldn't wait to be alone, almost started making out right in front of me," Sinbad said, pulling a face.
"Sinbad!" Maeve protested. "I'm sure nothing untoward happened! It's hard enough being an unmarried woman on a ship full of men without anyone starting rumours."
"I said almost!" Sinbad objected.
"Speaking of rumours, Firouz, any reason why there'd be a rumour going around the ship that Sinbad and I are… well I'll let you fill in the blanks," Maeve turned on the inventor.
Firouz grinned widely, completely unabashed. "Maybe because you two have been spending a lot of time sequestered behind closed doors… alone… together?"
"We have not!" Sinbad said.
Rongar raised an eyebrow at them.
"Well unless you count… But that's nothing…" Sinbad started, then muttered and eventually chose to stop talking.
"Alright, can you two keep a secret? You too Dermott," Maeve said, feeling there was only one way to salvage this situation.
Rongar and Firouz nodded vehemently- though one of them might have crossed his fingers behind his back.
"Bryn and Doubar tried to set us up with some notes supposedly from one another asking to meet. Then Bryn sent a wind to knock me into Sinbad, you saw that Firouz. Well, I was all for getting some good payback but Captain Romantic over here had a different idea;" Maeve nudged Sinbad to take over the story.
"I just thought it'd be nice for them to have a project together and since they were trying to get Maeve and I to admit to some kind of feelings anyway, I figured we could play along," Sinbad explained.
"And I reluctantly agreed. So that is what has been going on behind closed doors. I even had to write a love-letter to myself because Sinbad was too lazy to do it himself," Maeve finished.
"Hey, I helped!" Sinbad said.
Firouz and Rongar shared a look, then looked back at the two on the other side of the table.
"I wish there was some test by which I could empirically measure the sanity of a person," Firouz said. "Or two."
Rongar nodded his agreement with his friend.
"Anyway, you know what I think we should do?" Sinbad asked, figuring a change of topic was the only safe way forward now.
"What?" Firouz asked.
"Let's make something, or do something for Doubar and Bryn together, to show them how happy we are for them," Sinbad said.
"Actually, that is not a bad idea," Firouz agreed.
"Like what?" Rongar signed.
"I could invent a…" Firouz was thinking furiously. "A bath made for two!"
The other three cringed, "yeah I don't think anyone would like to think of them naked together," Sinbad said.
"I have an idea," Maeve spoke up. "There's this isle not far from here, it has a wellspring in the very middle and legend has it that if a couple in love is holding hands while they drink from its waters will be happy forever."
Sinbad thought he caught a hint of wistfulness in her eye but too soon it was gone again.
"Sounds good, do you think you can point it out on a map?" Sinbad asked.
"Of course, now?" Maeve asked.
Sinbad drained his glass in a single gulp. "Why not?"
Maeve followed his example and drained her glass before following him out of the galley.
Firouz and Rongar turned to each other and made exaggerated kissy-faces to each other before erupting in infectious laughter.
Maeve bent over the chart-table, searching with her finger across the inked-in seas to find the isle she was after. Sinbad stood too near her, half his body bent over hers as he followed her finger skirt the map's service.
"You know you're a genius," Sinbad said, his mouth close to her ear.
"I am?" Maeve turned her face to his, her breath catching in her throat when she noticed just how close he actually was.
"Telling Rongar and Firouz half the truth… So we can spend time together without everyone making fun of us," Sinbad said.
"You saw how supportive the guys are about Doubar and Bryn, would it really be so bad if they knew?" Maeve asked.
Sinbad backed off a step, allowing her to turn around. "I feel like there is no good answer to that. I know you want me to say 'no' but… yes, I would really like to keep this thing between us, between us."
She took the step that he had backed away forward, casually leaning her body against his, her arms locked loosely around his waist. "The right answer is the truth, so you got it in one."
"Doesn't it bother you?" Sinbad asked, afraid that he was hurting her feelings by expressing his own.
"Believe it or not, the whole single woman on a ship actually means sailors do not shut up about me. I like having something for myself," Maeve admitted.
"If anyone bothers you…" Sinbad said, the threat evident in his voice but his arms snaked across her back, holding her a little tighter against him.
"Then I will handle it myself like I have always done," she pointed out.
"Why can't you accept you don't have to do everything on your own anymore?" Sinbad asked, perturbed.
Maeve stepped back a little, his hands settled on her hips, unwilling to give up the contact. "Why can't you accept that I am capable to do everything you can do?"
"Because you can't!" Sinbad said, his hands now balled into fists by his own sides.
"Name one thing!" She said, getting right in his face, and not in a good way.
Sinbad took a breath, then another one. He willed the muscles in his jaw and his hands to relax. "You can't pee your name in the snow," he finally said, trying to stop the argument before it got out of hand.
It worked, Maeve let out a low chuckle. "You're right about that… Though the next time we come across some snow I am going to try!"
He pulled her into a hug, placing a kiss on the side of her head. "I don't doubt it."
"You worry too much, now let's look at that map before someone comes in to see what's taking so long," Maeve said.
"Yes your highness," Sinbad mock-saluted her.
She rolled her eyes and shook her head at him.
For some reason Sinbad took it as a good sign that they could still fight at the drop of a hat, even though they had come to the understanding- well the understanding that was barely understood but was an improvement anyway. It had to mean they could take their unorthodox, yet loving friendship and build on it instead of having to re-invent the whole thing from scratch.
As much as Sinbad loved adventure and new experiences, he cherished the familiar.