Midnight (DISCONTINUED, INCOMPLETE)

18 || Land-Ho

Ever since Ash returned with Callum to the Volant Castle, she had not been allowed to put her hand on a rag, sweep the floors, or even bathe herself. It was "below her" to clean anything. It was something meant for the servants. At least, that was what her attending ladies had said.

If they were to see her now, she could only imagine their reactions. She was on her hands and knees, a wet rag in her hand that she had shoved across the boards of the Midnight ship a couple of times. The sun beat down on her. Its heat combined with the labor had warmth spreading through her body. Even in a loose shirt and rolled up breeches, she was sweating.

It felt truly refreshing.

The peace and thrill that cleaning brought Ash amused her. Since her father had died, Edris had made her clean to feel lowly. Now it was something that made her feel grounded, as if she was still plain old Ash.

Sitting back on her knees to survey her work, she couldn't help but take in the pirate ship that constantly reminded her how much had changed in the matter of a month. Two weeks training to be a princess, and now two weeks with her days as a pirate and her nights as a mermaid. Cleaning was almost as much a connection to the old her as the ring was a connection to her family.

What would you say to that, Edris? Ash mused. Your punishment is now my escape.

She swiped away the sweat building at her brow as she observed the people milling around on the deck. There were two others scrubbing the top of the deck, a middle aged woman named Isidora -- her niece, Gytha, was the navigator - and a boy about four years younger than her, Brenner - his father was gifted with the ability to speak with animals.

Ash had made it a game to try to recall the ties within the Midnight Pirates whenever she looked over a person. Willow had been trying to fill her in without being too invasive about anyone's past. It tended to make her head swim by the time she got to the third person.

"You slackin' over there, dear?" Isidora teased. She was dunking her rag into her bucket, something Ash had meant to do when she first sat up.

Ash smiled. "Just so far ahead I thought I would give you time to catch up."

Isidora snorted, which turned into a cackle as she slapped her rag down on the deck. "You're sure better company than Brenner."

Brenner shot up, his eyebrows drown together. "You know my ma won't give me dinner if she catches me not doing my chores!"

"Watch the tone, boy. Or do I need to call over your ma?"

Brenner stuck his tongue out at her, and after a hearty laugh, she returned the gesture. All of them were chuckling as their focus returned to work. The others' did, at least. Ash was just about to dip her rag into her bucket when a new voice spoke up.

"And here I thought only Ash could be weird enough to have fun while scrubbing the deck."

Ash turned. Willow was descending the steps from the upper decks of the front of the ship. Her cheeks were tinted a bright red, though she didn't look too tired. She stopped by Ash and leaned against the edge of the ship.

"Know how much longer you'll be?" Willow asked. "I was thinking we could practice some before dinner."

Yet another reason for the increased roughness in her hands. Now that she was, even if very easily, sparring with Carnell, they had moved on to wooden swords. Wrapped in cloth or not, the collision of the weapons left her hands aching.

"Shouldn't be too much longer."

"Even if you don't, we can still do it aft-- what's that?"

Ash's eyes widened as she scrambled up. She had just reached the side of the ship when a voice up above hollered, "Land, ho!" Sure enough, a dark speck was beginning to appear in the distance. She used her hand to block her eyes from the sun and squinted. It didn't help. They were still too far away for her to make out any details.