The Captain's daughter / jugodechina

2. Crew or Captive

I'm not going to lie, after a while, the adrenaline of being held captive went away and the fear came right in. Tears escaped and dripped onto the brittle wooden table. I couldn't help but repeat in my head that this was all my fault. My father warned me to hide and i had to disobey. Now I'm here, in this dirty and repulsive cell on a ship with a captain and crew with the most blurring motives. It would make so much more sense if they killed me in front of my father, considering almost everyone wants me as a pawn on my father's demise, but why take me captive? Why assure my well being, what's the damn purpose? I took the linen cloth over my head, exhaling. I could tell it was morning already because of the slight change of brightness and the loudness of the seagulls.
I could hear the crew singing sea shanties and laughing. The clinking of rum bottles was no surprise to me at peak morning. To most pirates, it's never too late or too early to drink till it comes right back out. I say most because I'm not one of them. Rum was good but drinking it everyday every hour made it lose its touch.
A door creaked upstairs, the click clack of boot buckles became louder, getting closer. Along with it the creaking of wood that was incredibly hard to ignore.
"Good mornin' Sadie. I would ask if you had a good sleep but I highly doubt it." Captain Kenai was in front of my cell. He had both of his hands through the squares of the bars, leaning to them. I slowly removed the linens from my head and looked at him annoyed, tired. My quietness delivered my annoyance to him quite well. "Well say something, i know you speak." I exhaled through my nose, he really was annoying. "What do you want?" I asked putting the linens on top of my head again. After this, i heard the cell door open. Quickly removing the linens, i stood up. "Come on, get out." I hesitated to move. "So you decided to trust me? You've barely talked to me." He smirked. "We're in the middle of the ocean, it's not like you're going to do something." I bit my lip and squinted my eyes, he was right. I had no active plan to overthrow this ship. It's embarrassing but I've never actually fought, all of that had been done for me. Slowly, I walked towards him, he had no intentions to move. "Excuse me." I stood in front of him, waiting for him to move so I could get out. "God, you truly are beautiful like treasure." He grabbed my jaw gently, then let go. I quickly fixated my hand where he grabbed me, it was like a reflex. "Come along" He finally moved and led the way out of the brig. The hit of the rays quickly struck me, i took my arm to the front of my face to block it. A sense of relief came to me, sea breeze calmed me down but it was ruined when I realized: I'm in a completely different ship, nobody I can trust and no other ship in sight. I began to look around, familiarizing myself with surroundings. Captain Kenai noticed my uncertainty, he took his arm and placed it on my shoulder, making me jump a bit. "Calm down, if I wanted to harm you believe me I would've done it way sooner. Now, go on, welcome to the crew." He pushed me to the front. I guess he wanted me to get to know his crew, yet i had no intentions of doing so, but i played along. I walked through the deck and not one soul spoke to me, but instead looked at me in admiration. It was incredibly uncomfortable, i felt like a prestigious item in a crystal glass. Luckily, a man, not much taller than me and with an awful scar on his left eye got close to me. "Me guessing ur overwhelmed with the looks ye?" I said yes with a nod. "Don't be, it's all in goods way. It's not rare for a pirate to see a pretty lady, no; don't get it confused. What makes you stand out, you're a pretty pirate." He chuckled and took an enormous sip of rum. His breath was incredibly alcoholic, enough to cleanse your entire soul of germs. I had to take a step to the side, without him noticing of course. "I've heard stories of pretty women who were pirates." I remarked. "Oh yes, they exists. Though, they are either witches or madams, always tainted by their whims. Never genuine." You didn't like his strange belittling talk about other women, in fact, he described most pirates no matter if they're men or women; but the truth is, like the entire world, misogyny was everywhere. "What makes me any different from those other women?" The pirate chuckled, he lowered his gaze, preparing to look at me straight into my soul. "The difference aye? You've been shielded all your life. Not a bit of hate in your heart. You're the perfect woman for a man who wants true love." Randomly, he threw the rum bottle into the ocean, licking his dry lips. "I'm Timón, if it peaked your interest." He stopped leaning from the edge of the ship and walked away from me. I was perplexed at how these men view me, I knew people knew about me, or at least child me since I'm supposed to be dead but the way all of them think of me as some last chance of happiness is... incredibly strange. I had enough of socializing. I wanted to go somewhere alone that I could collect my thoughts but everywhere there was a rum smelling man, making me lose my mind even more. So i decided to go to the Captain. I knocked on his door and he didn't respond. I couldn't really see inside either because he had a small white curtain on the door's window. I knocked a bit louder and a bit harder. Finally, he opened the door. "What?" He asked while he fixed his golden blonde front hair strands. I kinda didn't know what to exactly tell him. "Well?" After he said that I fixed my posture and exhaled. "I want a space that doesn't smell like rum or that it isn't dirty." The firmness in my demand sounded like a spoiled daughter asking her father for something, but I truly just wanted a space for myself. "The deck is clean, but it smells like rum. The brigs smell like fresh linens but you'll gain a black spot on your clothes anywhere you sit from dust." He crossed his arms. "Guess you'll stay at the Captain's quarters, Princess." He smirked and stood aside, allowing me to enter his quarters. "Thanks." I walked inside. The place was actually really clean and smelled quite nice. Nothing like my father's quarters but it was impressive. Captain Kenai was probably the youngest pirate i had seen, so to see the success he portrayed through his quarters and his crew at his young age is almost admirable. "As a matter of fact, i gave it some thought and a lady of such importance and name like yourself, Sadie, shouldn't sleep with the rest of the unbathed, rum smelling, men. From today, you will sleep in my quarters." He sat down in his bright red velvet chair that was behind his desk, resting his head on his right palm. "There's only one bed though." I very obviously pointed out. "Well there's only one Captain, I thought you knew this." I gulped and slightly opened my mouth in disbelief. "Well where will I sleep?" Captain Kenai pointed to his bed with his head. "In the Captain's bed, of course." I crossed my arms. "And where will YOU sleep?" I purposely rose my voice when saying *you*. "You're asking too many questions for me right now, but of course I'll sleep in my bed." I gasped slightly loud and took a step back. "Oh calm down, it's just sleeping you dirty girl."
"Don't call me that, I am not dirty minded. I am just not comfortable with sharing a bed with the very man that took me captive." I was starting to get pissed off at him.
"Captive? Sadie, you're part of my crew. My crew aren't prisoners."
"No, because they are men who willingly chose to follow you. I didn't. You stole me from my crew, my father and my life." He chuckled right after i finished. Taking his hands to his face and making a mocking hiss. "Are you really that clueless of the cruel world around you? You're a constant target, Sadie. I didn't randomly find your father's ship. Someone saw you the last time you were stationed in Spain. Word spread like wildfire— he stood up from his chair— and eventually reached me. I'm a young pirate, therefore i have no reason to plot against your father. But the rest? They're dying to even lay a finger on you." He lost his breath a little at the end of the sentence. Walking towards me, he put his hands to his back. "The only reason my mission became to look for you, is to protect you— i noticed his voice began to crack—, sit." I followed his command and sat at the edge of his bed. "My sister... Kaliha, God I love her so much. The last words i heard from my mother was to take care of Kaliha. As a child, one is reckless and underestimates evil. I found Kaliha dead when I was 15. I had left that day to mess around with my fellas and when I came back she was in her bed... lifeless." Captain Kenai cut his words there and began tearing up. He locked sight with the floor, didn't move a single muscle and just sat back in his chair. I was cold, my heart felt like it would jump out any minute. "I'm so sorry" I tried to comfort him, scotching myself closer to him and placing my hand on his. "I'm sure she's watching over you where ever the after life takes us." He faintly smiled. "Thank you." He looked at me, confused. "For doing all of this to protect me, for sharing this with me." I teared up a bit, seeing other people cry makes me cry.
I stood up and looked at him. My cheeks and nose were pinkish from holding back tears. "I'll cooperate, teach me how to fight, make me a part of this crew, and not a captive, Captain Ke—"
"Kenai, just Kenai." He relaxed his eyelids and stood up after me. I passed him a cloth on top of his bed so he could wipe away his tears. I smiled at him.

"Thank you, Kenai."