The Queen of the Waves

11: a Freedom worth savouring

The wind slammed into Mara's face and whipped her hair around her head like a halo. She let out a free whoop as she kept her eyes closed, revelling in the other senses.

Bas swallowed hard as he tried to look away from the vision that was his Mara. She is clinging over the very edge of the boat, as near to flying as would be possible.

Her lips, that were normally carefully schooled into a blank line, were stretched in a smile that stole Bas' breath as well as his heart.

"You should be careful out there!" He called out, surprising himself and Mara.

She wasn't aware that she had an audience, she turned guilty towards the sound of his voice. Smiling rather sheepishly she scrambled down from her spot, high above the deck of the ship.

Bas watched in terror as she confidently swung herself off the ropes, he initially decided that all was well, until she missed a foot.

Screaming, Mara felt her body begin the descent of the last few feet towards the deck. Bas felt his heart leap into his throat as he stepped forwards by instinct and caught the screaming Mara in his arms.

Mara spluttered in surprise as she opened her tightly squeezed eyes and saw the concerned face of Bas looking down at her.

Before Mara could protest to him holding her, he swung her back on her feet. She was still unsteady from the shock, but grateful.

"Thank you," Mara began, looking up at the bear of the man, "I'm sorry, I don't know how I-"

"You should be more careful!" Bastian snapped at her, making her step back, unsure of his temper.

"Gods Mara, I won't always be waiting to catch you!"

"Good!" Mara replied with stony fire, "You seem to think I need you Bastian, I don't. I slipped! And I'll fall on the deck, I don't need you or any other man to step under and save me!"

Bastian snorted with rage and began to pace, he didn't understand why this woman wouldn't accept his help. She needed him, had she fallen she could have broken a bone.

"The thing is Mara," he spat, "you do. What do you think would have happened had you hit that deck?"

His eyes stared intently into her flushed face. There was something about her fire that not only scared him, but lit a fire in his loins as well.

"It would have hurt." She replied, chin jutting up to face him, his height didn't intimidate her.

"You could have broken a bone! Mara! We're on a ship, there's nothing we could do but numb the pain."

Mara opened her mouth to speak, then changed her mind. She knew that Bastian was right, it was a foolish mistake to fall and an even more foolish one to argue with the first mate.

Bastian was satisfied with her silence and abruptly turned on his heels before she could rebuke with a foul curse.

"I'm not the bad guy here Mara." He called back over his shoulder.

"No, you're just a bastard." Mara muttered under her breath, she assumed he had heard nothing, but the light smirk on Bas' face told otherwise.

Groaning, Mara pressed a palm to her forehead in embarrassment. That man kept finding his way under her skin, and she was yet to know how to be rid of him.

Bayen sat across the bed from Mara as they ate their lunch together. It had become a subtle tradition with the pair of them, eating lunch together with gentle conversation.

"I need you to stay in the cabin tonight, Mara." Bayen spoke softly, ripping off another piece of the bread before dunking it in the broth.

"What!" Mara exclaimed, her disappointment and outrage apparent. "But I want to see the stars, Louis told me there was to be a meteor shower.

"And there will be, but you can't see it."

Mara frowned but, after her mistake with Bas this morning, kept quiet, waiting for an explanation she was sure would come.

"Tonight is the festival of Clíndne. The men have a celebration, drinking and dancing."

"Well that doesn't sound so bad." Mara shifted forwards and blinked up at Bayen with begging eyes as a daughter would a father. It struck against Bayen's chest in a twang of pain, every day he grew closer to the stowaway, but everyday it reminded him of what could have been, what he had lost.

"The men..." Bayen paused, thinking over the best way to put his next statement without distressing Mara, "will be drunk Mara, and aggressive and missing the company of their women. Do you understand me?"

Mara suddenly did begin understand Bayen. Biting her lip, she nodded her head, her hair falling over her eyes. Since she made no move to brush it aside, Bayen did.

His fingers were calloused with age and work as they caressed her cheek. They lingered there, gently, for a second and Mara turned to look up at him. He cupped her cheek and stroked her soft, pale skin with his thumb.

"You'll be safe here Mara, that festival is not for the likes of you."

She nodded again and smiled, a genuine, pure smile for the man who had become a father figure she had never been given. For Mara, her childhood memories were only of women, it was said to be better for her upbringing. But now, with Bayen's gently diligence and care, she began to wonder if they had been wrong.

"Promise me Mara, you won't leave this cabin. I can't protect you around so many men."

"I understand, I won't leave the cabin, I promise."

Mara hoped he couldn't tell she was lying through her teeth, she was going to see those stars fall from the heavens.

"I know you won't lass," Bayen stood from the bed and began to clear away their plates, "for you'll be locked in, for your safety from the men."

Mara nodded solemnly as Bayen walked from the cabin. If Bayen needed to think that a locked door could stop her, she would allow him that comfort.