As A Stranger Or A Friend?: The Swallow And The Drowned Sailor

Fay - 18 Morning Star, 1246 A.D.

"What have you gotten out of her so far?" I asked Wilkes as I took a bite of my jerky.

He sighed, walking a few paces to the railing of the stern deck and looking out at the sea.

I followed him and leaned against the rigging, arms crossed. "Well?"

"She's terrified of you." He replied.

"That's it?" I asked, mildly annoyed with him.

What had he been doing all this time?!

"Fay, you know how this works. I need time to get her to trust me; otherwise, she won't part with anything." He said with a sigh.

"She's a prisoner and one who is costing us supplies to keep, thanks to your plan. And it would be one thing if you were giving her crusts to eat, but she's acting like the princess she's supposed to be, and you just keep giving in to her requests! To hell with getting her to trust you, just get it out of her!" I quipped frustratedly.

"Just give me more time. A week, at least." He requested, rubbing his forehead in a bewildered fashion.

"A week?! Are you touched in the head?! I'm not going to feed her for a whole week! Not when we have our own to look after!" I yelled.

Seriously, where did he get off asking for something like that?!

"You haven't told me what it is that you truly want out of her." He responded in an even, but frustrated tone.

"I told you to find out who took her." I replied through my teeth.

"'For now', what about that, hmm?" He countered.

I let out an annoyed grunt.

I had a feeling this was coming after the way he'd been acting since our conversation yesterday morning. If something truly did not settle well with him, he would voice his displeasure about it, despite generally being easygoing. Perhaps gently, perhaps not, depending on the severity of the infraction. I wondered what reaction I would be treated to today since he already seemed rather bothered.

"Is that what you're so hung up on, then? A few words?" I replied flatly.

"Do you truly think I'm so stupid? I know there is more to it than that." He insisted.

I smacked my lips. "You're getting worked up over nothing. Stop being a child."

"I do not think it is childish for a husband to become upset when his wife is being intentionally deceptive." He replied angrily.

"Oh please, as if you tell me everything." I bit back.

"Aye, I do. I don't keep things from you, Fay." He said, shaking his head at me.

"Why must you know everything? What are you going to ask for next, a log of everything I spend my time doing?! Perhaps even the thoughts that I am thinking!" I retorted.

"Stop it. You know that's not what I'm asking." He warned with a growl.

"Isn't it?!"

"No! I'm simply asking you to be honest with me because I refuse to believe that's all you want from this woman!" He yelled, gesturing around with his hands frustratedly.

"Gods, why does it matter what I want if you can't get the most basic thing out of her?!" I jabbed an accusatory finger in his direction.

"Fay—"

"Oh, go on! Put yourself on your pedestal like you always do! Tell me how patient you are! Tell me how someone like you won't hit his wife when she makes him upset! Go on!" I screamed at him.

I was sure everyone could hear us now, but I didn't care. Why couldn't he just keep out of my business?! Why must he control everything I did?!

"Is that what you truly want?! Do you want me to beat you?!" He boomed back, shaking with a barely contained rage.

"And if it is?! What then?!"

"You don't want that! I know you don't!" He advanced on me then until I was cornered between his body and the railing.

"Get the fuck away from me." I hissed.

"Tell me again that's what you want. Say it." He demanded.

"Fuck you."

"Say it."

I let out a grunt of annoyance and was going to push him away when the air shivered around my ears, and all I could do was stand there. Those negative feelings began to wane despite my best intentions to be angry at him. Just behind me, the sun had started to set, and he became resplendent as he always did when the light of day was this low. Everywhere we went, they called him the Son of the Moon, and in moments like these, it was easy to understand why. He was positively radiant, and that wasn't just a figure of speech; he was glowing like the moon itself.

His scales had become almost translucent but still managed to capture the light like some finely cut gem, and just underneath, I could see millions of tiny red veins chasing after one another. Even his eyes seemed to be alight with more fire than usual, smoldering like his own pair of setting suns. The opalescent sheen of his scales, the sealike swell of his sloped horns, and the feathery mane upon his head, all of him was beautiful as if he had been born for the sole purpose of being admired. And what wasn't his by nature felt alive with his spirit all the same, for that ruby upon his forehead even thrummed with the frantic life of a third eye.

"I know you don't want that..." He whispered now, pressing his body even closer to mine, "You trust me, don't you?"

"Wilkes—"

"Don't you?" He asked in the lowest of voices as he took my face into his hands, "Tell me you trust me, Fay. Tell me..."

We locked eyes, and all remaining earthly feelings faded away. It was as if I was standing on the bow of this ship or any other, watching the waves of a churning night sea as they towered overhead like the arm of some great beast. There was a unique fear in witnessing something like that. The scene being framed only by the sounds of the ceaseless beating of her majesty's fury against the struggling vessel at her mercy. At that moment, much like now, it was simpler, and perhaps wiser, to brace and wait. Eventually, the moon's reign would end, and he would release that poor creature below so that just before dawn, one's eyes would turn heavenward and be fooled into uttering words of thanks.

"I trust you..."

Finally, I let the shivering air crush me, and he pulled me into a kiss. And so, all of those invisible barriers I'd constructed fell apart, and I was drowned by that full and bright moon above.

"Tell me what it is you want." He commanded softly.

"The Pale Kingdom..." I replied, eagerly putting my arms around his neck, "On its knees..."

"Then you shall have it."