"I hope you know how to cook." The captain was staring me down on the main deck.
"I do sir." I kept my head down not wanting to see if he was still as angary as he was last night.
"Good. You're on cooking duty for the day. Get to work!" I scurry away at the last part heading straight for the kitchen below deck.
--
I let out yet another huff as I wipe the sweat from my face with a rag. It was hot standing over the fire, cooking a meal for over 100 pirates was no easy task. But I got through it, with a few burns on my hands and wrist. Making a mental note to see San again, I grab a tray of fresh beef we had stocked up on last night heading for the navigation room. Terry the ships cook following with a tray of water and vegetables as well.
Terry was a nice guy, and a great cook. We had made tender pink beef strips along with grilled vegetables and fresh soft bread. We knew we had to use certain foods up before they went bad.
I balance the tray of meat in one hand, using the other to knock 6 times. I hear a soft 'come in' so I open the door pushing it with my foot.
"Ah, the food is here mates." Yunho called standing up to move somethings off the table, so we could set the food down.
"Thank you." I set the big tray of meat down before turning to leave, so I could help serve the rest of the crew.
"Where are you going?" I turn at captains voice. He had a dark eyebrow raised in question.
"Me?" I ask looking behind me only to see that Terry was long gone.
"Yes, who else?"
"Oh, I was going to help serve the rest of the crew... I thought it would be part of my punishment.." I trail off fiddling with my fingers.
"No, you're punishment is over. Come sit and eat." He pulls out a seat next to the head of the table. I duck my head down before walking over and siting down. He pushes the chair up to the table.
I look up and take notice that it was only the captain, quartermaster, master swordsman, and the navigator in the room. The other crew must be busy or off eating in their own spaces.
I wait for them all to take a seat and gather their food first before I reach over and pile food unto my plate as well. I take a bite of the pink meat before I almost let a moan escape- food was life to me. The meat seemed to almost melt in my mouth. The veggies were seasoned and cooked just perfectly.
"This is amazing." Yunho said behind a mouthful of food.
"You're right. Maybe you should cook more often." Yeosang said with a teasing grin.
"I can." I shrug before taking another bite. "I mean, I was wanting something to do, so I could always cook." I shrug not really caring if I got stuck with cooking. Yes their were many mouths to feed but at least I would be useful.
"I'll consider it." Hongjoong nods as he takes a swig of what looks like red wine.
"Did you get the compass..?" I had not heard anymore news about the Star 1117 compass.
"We did." Hongjoong pulls a bag made of pure black silk out of his pocket. He unties the little knot that kept the bag closed. He reaches in pulling out a circular piece of metal. Setting it down on the table for us to see.
The shape was that of any other compass in the world. But the metal was pure black instead of a usual silver, and the needle and writing inside were a gold color. But the most strange thing was the letters. Where it would normally say, N, E, S, W. Was replaced with, A, T, E, Z.
It was like their name but just missing one 'e'. Strange....
---
Later on the next day I sat against the main mast once again. The sky was a beautiful, with light fluffy clouds floating here in there. The wind was in our favor as we set sail for our first destination. Pactolus. I had no idea what was waiting for us in these different dimensions. I had never stepped foot out of this one. To say I was worried was an understatement. So I make my mind up. Someone is going to teach me how to fight.
I march up to the quarter deck, where Hongjoong watched over the sea. His eyes were set on the vast blue ocean ahead.
"Captain." I stand a few feet away from the helm. He turns raising a brow to me.
"Katerina?" My confidents dropped really low when he looked over to me.
"I...um.. I was wanting someone to tech me how to fight...." At that, both his eyebrows went up.
"How come?" He waves a crew mate to take over the helm.
"I want to be able to take care of myself. We don't know what we will be facing in these realms, so I just don't want to be dead weight.." He gestures for me to follow him down to the main deck.
"Yunho!" We stop at the bottom of the mainmast. Not to long after Yunho hears his captain call, he slides down a rope from the crows nest.
"Yes sir?" He lands with the ease of a cat, but still looks like a cute puppy with his big blue eyes.
"Katerina here wants to learn how to fight. Will you teach her?" He asked his crew mate.
"Of course!" Yunho turns to me with a bright smile, one that was to contiguous for me to fight off my own.
"Great. Need anything else?" The blonde captain turns to me.
"Yes actually. I was wanting to do a job around here if you allow it..?" I look to my feet, letting the tip of my boot tap the deck of the boat.
"How about you help Yunho and Wooyoung in the riggings? It will help with your fighting skills as well." He offers. I look up and gulp, I was scared of heights.
"Y-yeah.." I stutter a little.
"Is something wrong?"
"No! No, it's nothing." I say way to quickly.
"Okay... Well let me know if you need anything else. Yunho take care of her." He leaves after sending a hard look to the poor master swordsman.
"Well lets get started." He says clapping his hands together after his captain was out of sight.
--
"Just go up!" Yunho laughs behind me. I stand glued to the floor of the ship, hands resting on the bottom ring of the ladder that leads up to the crow's nest. Yunho decided to do the hardest thing first. And that was to face my fear of heights.
"Why can't we do hand to hand combat or something first..?" I look behind me to that dark haired man. He shakes his head no. I groan in frustration.
"What are you two doing?" The green eyed boatswain voice drifts from behind Yunho.
"Trying to get her to climb into the crows nest. She's scared of heights though." The master swordsman turns to his crew mate with a mocking smile on his face. Wooyoung burst out in a high pitched laugh that would make a dolphin jealous.
"Stop mocking me!" I huff before leaning my head on the rope ladder. After that they both burst into laughter. I send them both a cold glare before I straighten my back. I put my foot on the not so stable rings of the ladder, slowly making my way up.
It was hard to keep my balance, but thanks the them mocking me, my anger fueled my limbs to keep going. I land on the bottom of the crows nest with a soft 'thud' panting from the effort it took to climb up here.
"You did it!" The man puppy peeks his head over the side of the crows nest looking down at me with a smile. With the ease of a cat he slings himself into the crows nest, holding a hand out to help me stand. I take it gratefully before standing on shaky legs.
"Holy sh-" Yunho slaps his hand over my mouth as my eyes go big. The main deck of the ship looked so far away. If I fell I would definitely be dead.
"Language!" He scolds me, pulling his hand away.
"Sorry." I pry my eyes from the main deck to his light blue ones. His eyes were shining as he over looked the deep blue ocean. Seeing him calm like that helped my nerves. I take a deep breathe before I walk to the edge of the crows nest, resting my hands there, taking in the view. "It's so beautiful.." My voice comes out in a whisper for some reason.
"Yeah.." Yunho breathes out.
--
"Don't be scared to hit me!" Yunho yells while swinging his wooden sword around. My matching one was clutched in my sweaty unstable hands. I take a deep breathe before I lunged at the tall man. He dodged the wooden sword with ease. "Come on you can do better then that." He laughs as he all but dances away from my sloppy blows.
"Okay, I suck. I can't even touch you!" I throw myself down on the poop deck, in a hot panting mess.
"Here." He offers me his hand. Which I gladly take. "let me show you some moves to practice and we'll call it a day for now." I nod wiping the sweat from my forehead. My bandage that San had placed on my wound kept trying to fall off from the sweat that was rolling down my red face. I would have to go see him again to get a new one.
"Just watch me." I take a few steps back, allowing room for the tall man to move around. Now I see why he was the master swordsman. He gracefully swings the wooden sword around like it was an extension of his own arm. He mocks a few defense moves as well as a few offensive moves. "That's a pretty basic technique." He turns around wiping his damp dark bangs out of his eyes.
"Just practice that until you get it. Okay?" Yunho pats my back before heading off to the main deck where Jongho was calling him. I nod even though he was already gone.
--
I had become to engrossed in practicing and lost track of time, until my legs finally gave out from under me. My eyes go wide when I see a half moon shining down on me.
"How the fuck?" I whisper out loud. I then take notice that very few of the crew are left awake.
I take a big breathe of air before I force myself to my feet. My arms and legs feel like stretched out noodles, but I keep going. I know I had definitely missed dinner so I would be going to bed hungry. Before going below deck my eyes trail to the quarter deck where the blonde haired captain usual stands steering the boat. But the man standing at the helm is not Hongjoong, It was one of the only lower crew men that Hongjoong would trust to guide The Illusion.
He must be asleep already. I thought as I pulled my eyes away from the helm. I head straight to my cabin, knowing that it was far to late to go see San as well to get my bandage replaced. I'll do that before breakfast. I take a mental note.
"Don't you think you need to eat?" I freeze, hand wrapped around the knob on my door. "And get that bandage replaced?"
"I'll be fine." I turn facing the captain. One of his eyebrows shot up. We stand there for a second in silence, until my stomach decides to betray me. I know that he heard the growl my stomach just made in protest to my words.
"Then what was that?" He lets out a chuckle.
"Nothing captain. I'm fine, really. I know everyone has already went to sleep, and I would feel bad to wake anyone up." Again the small hallway fills with silence. I couldn't bear the growing silence so I speak up. "I'll just go to be-"
"Come with me." The captain cuts me off.
"What?"
"Come with me." He crosses the few feet between us, grabbing my hand. He pulls me down the hallway back to the main deck, and then to his cabin. "I'll be right back."
He left me standing there in his cabin... Shit.
I take a look around, the room was a decent size and was very organized. There was a full size bed in the middle of the far wall, it had a maroon red blanket. The frame was a dark cherry wood, the wardrobe in the left corner was made of a matching wood, same thing for the desk in the right back corner, in the front right corner was a hammock. The wall that held the wardrobe also held another door, that must lead to a bathroom.
I stand there for a while, in the middle of the room with my hands folded behind my back. Scared I would get into trouble if I touched anything.
I turn quickly as I hear the door open. "Take a seat on my bed." Hongjoong walks in with a tray.
On the tray was a apple, a roll of bread, something that looked like meat, some water, and something that looked like San's healing ointment. He walks over to his bed side table, setting down the tray. He then glances over at me with a questioning look, he then tilts his head in a gesture for me to sit down by the head of the bed.
I dip my head down as I sit in front of him on the bed. Through my lashes I see he pulls some bandages from his pocket. He sets them down on the bedside table before disappearing from my line of sight, just to reappear a few moments later. He takes a seat on a stool he had just grabbed.
"Look up please." I snap my head up at his words. I had a weird fluttery feeling in the pit of my stomach, making me feel light headed. I must really be starving. I chalk it up to the lack of food I've had today.
"This may hurt." He peels the bandage that was still halfway attached to my cheek. He then takes some rum, pouring it on his hands before covering the cloth in the strong alcohol. He then takes the cloth wiping my scratched skin. I suck in a breathe through my teeth. It didn't really hurt that bad, I was just caught off guard by the sting. I think no matter how many times you have to clean a wound with rum, it will always sting- or maybe I'm just a wimp.
As he continues to clean my cheek his other hand comes up to help hold my chin still. His thump and forefinger hold my chin gently as if he was scared to apply to much pressure. My breathe hitches in my throat as he uses his thump to turn my face to get a better look at my cheek. After he wipes it he grabs the healing salve and a new rag. He dips his pointer finger and middle finger into the light yellow cream. He takes a glop and softly spreads it over my damaged skin. I knew for a fact my cheeks were redder then the sun that had set earlier.
Luckily he doesn't seem to take notice, that or he was ignoring it. "You feeling okay? You seem like you're getting hot..." He pulls his hands away, wiping them on the clean rag her had set in his lap.
Well fuck. It seems he did notice. He moves his face closer to mine, causing me to lean back. But I get stopped by him grabbing my chin again. A weird sound that resembled a whimper and a scream escaped my lips involuntarily. He stops staring at me before pulling away to laugh.
"What was that?" He gasps out between laughs.
"Nothing. Will you stop laughing at me?" I huff crossing my arms. He stops after a few more moments.
"Why is your face so red...?" Now that he was over his laughing fit, his face became serious. His hazel blue eyes locked with my dark blue ones. He leans forward, catching my chin in between his fingers yet again. "Do I make you anxious?"
I freeze as he sits there, running his thump over my jaw line. I felt like I was about to suffocate. I grab his wrist, moving it to rest on his lap where I give it a small pat. "I'm just light headed from not eating."
He watches as I pull my hand away from his that was now sat in his lap. I swallow hard as he stares me down once again. My eyes dart from his to the left and right, unable to keep looking him in the eyes for so long.
"Here. I know it's not much, but it's better then going to bed hungry." He holds the tray out for me. "But before you eat let me apply this bandage."
"Thank you."