A Siren at the Helm

Chapter XXVIII: The Subtle Art of Arriving Uninvited

Their food had run out. So had their drinking water and Amina was struggling to desalinate seawater by the time they found The Vengaza. This struggle was mostly due to the fact that the Vengaza was a many more miles West than Amina had expected it to be. The Vengaza was also not traveling alone.

Another ship was trailing along behind Esteban's, but Amina could not see its name nor what sort of ship it was through the darkness. She could however, tell that this other ship was the smaller of the two.

"So this is it then?" Felipe asked. The ships were still a good distance away.
"Aye, this is it," Amina reached for the tiller. As she turned the boat the direction from which the wind hit the sails changed and Felipe was almost hit with the boom. Amina gave him a worried look. She had given up on teaching him to sail. In this short while that they had been together on the fishing boat he had almost driven her mad. First she had found that he had decided to bring (what he had said was a quarter but which Amina secretly suspected was at least half) of his music books along. "If I am to live with these brutes I could at least do my bit to educate them," he had said to her.

Then he had drunk all their fresh water in the span of two days. When Amina had scolded him for this, he had said that he was very sorry but that "he needed it, otherwise his skin would start drying". At that all she could do was roll her eyes and use her magic to take the salt from some seawater so that they at least had a little water that was drinkable.

Lastly, and most troubling, was his complete inability to learn to sail. She had tried for days to teach him about the various ropes and parts of a ship, but it had all been to no avail. With their boat he could learn the parts just fine, but as soon as she started talking of anything bigger he would forget what she told him almost instantly. Amina could only hope that once they were aboard the Vengaza, and she could physically show him everything she talked about, he would retain some of the information.

"I have to admit, I had expected it to be bigger," Felipe jokingly exclaimed as they got closer. No matter how hard he tried to hide it, Amina could tell that he was scared.
She started lowering the sail.
"What are you doing? Isn't that supposed to make us go slower?" It was one of the few things that Felipe could learn concerning sailing.
"We're swimming the rest of the way."
"What?!"
"We can't risk being seen by some of the crew," If Amina and Felipe's boat was seen by anyone other than those who had been on the Wayfarer with her, there was a good chance that they would find themselves in the brig. Of course Amina knew that she could easily get them out, but she was tired and most definitely not in the mood for getting shackled.

"I thought you trusted these people?" Felipe's voice was accusing.
"I do... some of them."
Felipe's face took on a new expression of fear and doubt.
"It's alright," Amina tried to reassure him, "As long as we can get to one of the four crew members I know well, we'll be fine."
"You only know four?!"
What had prompted him to do this? Amina questioned as she looked at the man.
"Come on," she said instead of voicing her thoughts. "Let's get a move on."

She waited for Felipe to finish pushing his chest of music books off the side.
"Oooooh I hope they stay dry."
She heard one big splash and one smaller splash as Felipe jumped in after them.
Then she jumped into the black water herself.

The cold shock traveled through her body from the tips of her toes up to her stomach and then her neck until the water closed above her head. For a moment everything was completely silent. Above her Felipe was splashing in the water, trying to push his chest in the direction of the Vengaza while trying to look for her below the waves. In the East the moon was rising from the ocean like a great white pearl being lifted from a clam. The rising and falling water distorted its shape and made it seem as though the moon was dancing in the sky.