Private Tales The Stuff of Fairy Tales

[Gal]

Content to keep the silence a while longer, Gal poured the last of the wine into the cup and slid it across to the blonde. She picked up the key and slid it back onto the chain around her neck, where it quickly disappeared behind the lace of her tunic. Then she stacked the empty bowls and set them down on the floor, where they wouldn’t tumble in the middle of the night and disturb her peace.

“No.” Gal regarded her calmly as she lit her pipe and puffed out the first few blue plumes. With a creak of aged drawers, the pirate placed a rough parchment, a plucked quill, and an old inkpot in front of the girl. “You will.”

 

[Selene]

Selene's lips parted in shock, the parchment bare and forbidding before her. "Is this- is this joke?" She asked, her voice catching.

"I haven't spoken to him since I was teen, he locked me away! And now you want me to... plead for my return?" The ship fell briskly under a high wave, leaving her stomach falling out from under her, her dinner threatening to come up.

Or perhaps that was just stress.

 

[Gal]

“Why’d your father lock you up?”

Gal wouldn’t have asked otherwise, but then the kālau took the edge out of her. Hooded black eyes trailed lazily across the small space, following the whorls of smoke as they dissipated against the blackened planks of the ceiling.

“And you’re writing that…” she sighed, bringing her gaze back to earth, “because I can’t.”

 

[Selene]

Selene swallowed hard, a wash of moisture in her eyes as she faced down that paper. She hadn't spoken to anyone in years. In many ways it was a relief to finally be able to use words with someone else again, but ... not these words. These were words she wished the years of solitude had erased from her mind.

The wind howled outside, startling her from her thoughts.

"I loved someone he didn't approve of," she rasped, her voice thick. She reached for the chalice and drank, not picking up that quill yet. She honestly wasn't sure she could.

 

[Gal]

“Love…” Gal echoed, sprawling in her chair like a cat in the sun. She breathed out through her teeth, grinning as the smoke was sliced up by their sharp edges. It whirled and wisped through the flickering moonlight, playing shadows across her face.

“So that boy down in the bilge,” she spoke again after what might’ve been hours, “how’s he your fiancé then?”

 

[Selene]

Selene clutched what was now the empty chalice to her, barely composed as she pulled from memories she didn't often indulge in. "...He fought the dragon," she whispered, her voice pained. "He got the key, he meant to take me home. Those were the conditions of my return. That it only could be done with fiance on my arm. And he had to be stubborn enough to go through all this to get me." Her tone grew bitter, a fleshed heat speckling her chest as the drink worked its way through her.

 

[Gal]

“And you wanna go back to a home like that?” Smoke now poured out her nostrils as Gal scoffed, head thrown back. Her eyes were closed, or near-to, chest rising with even breath. If she weren’t talking, Selene might’ve thought her asleep.

“Marryin’ some random sod just ‘cause he saved you from a tower… a tower where your da locked you up first.” Her brow furrowed in plain confusion. “You mainlanders sure got an interesting way of showin’ family love.”

 

[Selene]

Selene grabbed back the robe and draped it over her lap, not entirely cold now, but seeking some sort of comfort in the cloth.

"What other choice do I have? You sell me to him, or sell me to someone else." She casted a glance at the door, thoughts throwing towards Godfrey down below.

"He came all this way for my family name. I can't imagine he'd risk doing more than rape or hit." She spoke of this fate causally, like she was considering the best destination for the next summer home.

"That's more than you could promise about any of your buyers."

 

[Gal]

Embers lent new light to the dark space as she leaned back forward, hair now released from its tight ponytail. It tumbled freely down her shoulders, softening her sharp features to reveal her true age.

“I am, or was, a noble myself. Not in your sense – no castle walls to sneer down at peasants – but… my father is chieftain. My mother is shaman. I am…” she thoughtfully ashed the pipe and watched the cinder burn a circle into the surface of the table “...royalty.”

“I am also a pirate, and a captain.” She wet the tip of her finger and stamped out the last of the fire, plunging them back into darkness. “There is always a choice.”

 

[Selene]

Selene hiccuped, left blinking in the darkness.

Time passed... and then she reached for the quill, hiccing again as she set up the ink, considered the parchment before her ... and with a deep breath, began to write.


Dear father.

You may be wondering how I am getting a letter to you. Well... what you wanted has occurred. A knight has freed me from the tower. We were on our trip back when we were overwhelmed by pirates. I fear they intend to sell us both into slavery if you do not send payment and retrieval. I beg of you to consider this, I am eager to return to you as your obedient daughter. The thought of-

Her fingers shook, splattering ink on the parchment.

-being married to this man brings me the greatest joy. I beg of you to give me a chance to fulfill your expectations and have a place in the family again. I have learned from my mistakes. And she was just that. A mistake.

I will not dishonor the family name again.

I beg of you, send payment.
Your obedient daughter,
Selene.

She pushed it aside to dry, wrapping her face in her hands. "Maybe I'll just slit all your throats and sail away," came the feeble threat, her tongue loose and head swarming.

 

[Gal]

Gal watched her through the haze that had gathered about her like a storm cloud, impassive and immobile. But for the quiet lap of waves against the hull and the creak of the rigging, the only sound between them was the scratching of quill on parchment.

Quill on parchment and the suppressed sobs of one Selene Harwood.

The cabin had seen worse.

“Mm. And I’ll marry the Queen of Vel Anir,” she murmured, snatching up the missive to read as if the black squiggles would resolve into anything meaningful. She’d give it to Cerano in the morning, see if there was anything that needed rewriting.

But that was the morrow. Today was yet young, and her pipe yet burning.

“What’s it say?”

 

[Selene]

"Don't be silly, the queen already has a lover." Or rather, did. She realized how out of touch she was now with the outside world. She bit her lip and picked up the parchment, unable to stop the emotion hitching in her voice as she read through it.

She resisted the urge to crinkle the parchment up when all was said in done, clearing out her throat and shoving it back across the table. "Good enough?" She asked sharply.

 

[Gal]

Shrugging, Gal pulled deeply from her pipe again. “I don’t know, do I? ‘S your father you’re writin’ for.”

She reached for the cup and upended it above her mouth, licking the last drops of the wine off the rim. It’d be a crime, letting such an expensive vintage go to waste. Not that she’d paid for it – not in gold, anyhow – but it’s the thought that counts.

When she set it down, her eyes seemed clear again, free of the blue smoke that carried her far to the south, to the islands she once called home. Leaning forward, she wrapped her full lips around a single salient syllable.

“She?”

 

[Selene]

Selene's expression closed off in an instant, realizing belatedly that she had already confessed to be in the tower over love. "It was nothing," she said quick and sharp. "A dalliance. A curiosity," came the well-trained response.

"Nothing more."

 

[Gal]

Gal fell back into the chair with a chuckle, curls shaking in time with her shoulders.

“Look around you, girl. Think I give a damn if you enjoy a cunt better than a dick?” She raised her brows and puffed out an amused plume of smoke. “But by all means, practice that shit all you like… obedient daughter.”

 

[Selene]

She bristled, her fist clenching. "You really are a piece of work, you know that? Hold me captive, demand I chose better for myself. Make me write home, mock my attempts to get into any situation that's not being raped by some scum."

Her anger grew, a spark in her eyes, the woman having had enough of all of this. "You're just playing with me, you find my pain fun. Admit it. "

 

[Gal]

Gal waited out the fit with a patient smile, bouncing one leg on the other as the girl burned fast and bright.

“Since you’ve arrived on this ship, what’s happened to you? Let’s see – you got fed. You got clothed. You got a fine drink and a warm bed for the night, far away from all the rapist scum. I offered you the opportunity to leave. You didn’t.”

“Help me out here. What’s got you in so much pain, huh?”

 

[Selene]

Selene stopped short, thrown for a loop. "You can't honestly be suggesting-- You're not the good guy here- you're going to sell me!"

She hiccuped and scooped up her dinner spoon off the table and half jabbed it towards Gal in accusation. It made a poor knife, but... she did say she'd take charge by stabbing them all . Blunt objects counted.

"No one wants to be sold. I don't want to be sold. I- I demand you don't sell me!" Vague stabbing motions emphasized her words, the woman feeling the weight of the drink she had no tolerance built up against.

 

[Gal]

Moments passed as the pirate simply regarded her blankly, unperturbed by the spoon slicing through the air inches away from her nose.

Then she lunged, snatching it from the pale hand like a toy from a child.

“This isn’t Vel Anir, girl,” Gal growled on a low voice, suddenly close enough that Selene could count all the sharp teeth in her mouth. “You don’t demand shit. You ask, and you ask nicely, because in here you’re worth just as much as me, as that wet prick down in the bilge, as every fucking man on this ship.”

 

[Selene]

Selene stilled, her anger deflating from her as the woman's words washed over her. She swayed back and forth, both a might tipsy and unuse to the movement of the sea.

She stared dumbly at her empty hand, her fingers stinging from the removal of the spoon. And then she asked with no small uncertainty, a smidge of hope lighting up her eyes, "Please do not sell me?"

 

[Gal]

A small laugh escaped her as she dropped back into the chair. “You’re a fucking handful, ain’tcha?”

“So you don’t wanna be sold to your father, and you don’t wanna be sold to nobody else either.” Gal shook her head and doused the pipe with a long sigh. “What do I do with you, then? You wanna learn how to tie knots, haul lines, stab people with knives instead of spoons?”

 

[Selene]

"I... I don't know," she answered honestly, having never thought about the concept of her doing pirate things before.

She sat heavily into her chair, the wood creaking as she tried to straighten her thoughts. Was that really all it took? Asserting herself? Would that work... everywhere, she wondered. She rubbed at her face, even slouching a little.

"And what about the-... What about the man down bellow. What will you-" She paused, then changed her words. "Please do no hurt him. ... His family might not pay as much," she reasoned.

 

[Gal]

“Don’t think too long now. My patience ain’t exactly legendary.”

“The man below, huh? Thought he was your betrothed,” she said with a grin, but the malice had cooled off along with the embers in her pipe. “Regardless, he’ll be fine long as he doesn’t try anything stupid. The Great Houses of Anir like their goods delivered in pristine shape. Every child’s a precious bargaining chip, worth your weight in gold.”

 

[Selene]

Selene relaxed backwards, feeling real relief for the first time. "Thank you," she murmured, meaning it. She picked up the robe and slipped it back over her shoulders, giving the pirate a real look over for the first time.

Perhaps she had misjudged her.

"What's your name?" She asked softly, not having heard it yet.

 

[Gal]

If the gratitude was misplaced, Gal said nothing. She merely nodded her acknowledgement, her eyes quietly drinking in the stretch of her figure as Selene draped the robe over her head again.

“Neride,” she lied easily. If this turned sour in the end, as all things were wont to do, she wouldn’t have the girl carry her true name to the ears of Anir admirals.

“Does it help?” she asked at length, gaze settled on the blonde again.