The Sea Does Not Forgive

Nikolai

Nikolai stared at the ceiling of his bed. What was his plan there exactly? To kiss his general? Then what? They'd live some sappy romantic love story somewhere far far away? He cursed himself for it. Great, he thought, She probably hates me now. But despite the awful decision he almost made, he cursed himself more for not going through with it. For not seeing where it could've gone. He groaned, why was this so difficult? Why did she do this to him? Those were the only thoughts on us mind as he drifted to sleep. At least then he wasn't kicking himself constantly.

  The first few days of sailing felt unusual. Zoya avoided him most of the time, except for when they needed to meet and refine the plan for once the docked in Kerch. The times he tried to talk to her, she'd always find some sort of excuse to escape early on. It was now day three, and Nikolai was determined to get them back to normal again.

  Around two or three he found her leaning on the starboard side of the ship. Something about the waters calmed her, Nikolai noticed. He walked over and settled next to her. She pretended not to know he was there until he physically leaned over to look at her.

  "Hi." he said.
  "Hi, I need to use the bathroom, I'll be-"
  "No, you've been avoiding me the past few days. What's going on?"
  "It's nothing."
  "It's not nothing. Talk to me, please."
  "I'm fine, really."
  "Fine. You don't wanna talk, we're gonna learn to sail."
  Zoya furrowed her brows, "You know how to sail already."
  "Alright, then I'll be your incredibly irresistible teacher."
  Zoya rolled her eyes, "Fine. Tech me your ways upon the sea."
  "Lesson one: what side of the ship are we on?"
  "The starboard. To my right, your left, is the port. Behind me is the bow, behind you is the stern."
  "You do know about ships."
  "I drove many skiffs across the fold. Those are just ships on land."
"Ah, and what do you know about lifting and setting the sails?"
"Less than I'd like to admit, only because I'm sure it will-"
"Step one in lowering a sail,"
"Lead to another annoying monologue."

He spent the better part of the evening trying to teach her about sails and the importance of up keep with them. It was slow going as he could tell she wasn't really interested. They took a break for dinner, and once the sun had set and the first stars had appeared, they made their way back to the deck.

Nikolai left her to set up the steering wheel, and when he turned back around, he paused. She was leaning over the deck again looking at the stars. The wind blowing through her hair, her blue eyes glowing in the moonlight. Her kefta shifted with the wind, and just when he thought he'd seen her most beautiful version, he saw her again. Shaking his head, he made his way back to her side.

"What do you know about the stars?" he asked.
She gave him a strange look, "Not much, why would I ever need to learn about the stars?"
"Because our next lesson, is navigating using them."
"That's really stupid. We have maps and compasses that help us with that."
"True, but let's say the end of the world comes and the magnetics of the world breaks. How will you navigate your ship?"
"I don't have a ship to navigate."
"Would it kill you to use your imagination?"
"I'm practical, Nikolai. I don't think on the hypothetical, I think on the probable."
"Come on."

He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the wheel of the ship. Her hand tensed but relaxed quickly, and Nikolai supposed that was a good sign. Once in front of the wheel, he positioned her body straight with shoulders back.

"You could've just asked me to stand like this."
"Nope, because most likely you would've done it wrong."
She glared at him, "I'm not in the habit of doing anything wrong."
He smiled and ignored her comment. "Okay, take your left hand, and make an L shape. Good, now that's the south star, line the joint line on your thumb up with it, almost more like this." He grabbed her wrist and straightened it towards the sky.