Dancing On Ice

Taking War to Waves

"I can't decide if I prefer this or the dresses," Aeralie said as she walked out of the captain's quarters, dressed in a man's shirt so long it was a short dress and trousers that were a tad too baggy for her but were the closest the crew of Cole's ship could find on short notice.

She'd abandoned her high heels for bare feet. The cabin boy's shoes were too big and she decided the heels were a liability.

The trousers and shirt were belted around her hips but they still felt oddly loose after all the time she'd spent confined to a corset.

Well, the shirt did at least.

It felt weird to have fabric against her legs after her skirts had given her so much movement – once she'd become used to the metal cages that formed the underskirts.

"I think you look fine either way," Perry said, looking her up and down as he handed her a length of thin leather.

Dray snorted but kept quiet as he watched Perry hold out his hands for Aeralie as she pulled pins from her hair, dropping them onto his waiting palms before tying her hair up into a tight ponytail and taking the pins back, locking her hair in a bun at the back of her head so it didn't get in the way.

"I suppose this is easier to move in, in a way," Aeralie said, lifting one leg to look at the trousers. "Why don't girls wear these?"

"Well it's hardly proper for ladies to wear men's clothing," Dray pointed out.

"Make them more fashionable and ladies can wear them," Aeralie said and Dray laughed.

"I suppose," he said, "A lady should never be forced to wear rags, I guess. Wouldn't you agree, Cap?"

When no answer came, the three of them looked up to the deck above.

Dray left Perry to Aeralie and moved to the stairs, looking around as he walked up.

Cole stood at the ship's wheel, eyes set straight ahead, expression cold and stern, very unlike his usual self when he took the wheel. There was no fun and games this time; this wasn't a raid on another ship or an attack on a rival pirate. There was nothing fun about this for the captain.

"We'll get there," Dray said gently, stopping beside Cole as another wild roll of wind roared passed them, straining against the sails and tossing the waves ever higher and the sky, so grey it was almost black, rumbled violently overhead, threatening them with the oncoming storm and War Tide that would hit them if they weren't back on land within a few hours.

"I know," Cole said, his voice calm and quiet, "The wind is in our favour and the sea seems to have changed her currents to help pull us along. We're making better time then I imagined. As long as Icadora was not wrong in her directions, we should see them on the horizon any time now."

"So what's troubling you?" Dray asked.

Cole laughed, the sound hollow. "You mean besides the discovery that mermaids actually exist?"

"Well, I admit that was a surprise," Dray said, looking towards the edge of the ship, thinking of a half hour before when the woman named Icadora – possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and apparently Dalton long lost mother – sat on the edge of the ship, completely unconcerned by the violent rocking caused by the waves, and grew a tail.

With only a quick word to Aeralie and Perry, she had jumped off the side of the boat and launched into the rushing waves below.

By the time they got to the side, she was gone, with nothing more than her gown floating to the surface, like a ghost.

"But it's also nice to know that I haven't been hallucinating mermaids all these years," Dray added.

"And Kazimir had the gall to call me crazy when I spoke about them," Cole muttered.