The Pirate King's Daughter

The Mermaids Song

Over the next few days we didn't do much cleaning. We mostly cooked and picked after the men if they left anything on deck. I spent most of my time below deck in the room or in the kitchen when Mark didn't need me for anything. Today we sat at the bow a few feet from the edge. The figurehead of the ship was a large bird that seemed in flight. Where we sat now I coul the tips of its wings.

The sun beat down warmly on the deck. I sat peeling potatoes while Mark sat on a upturned barrel with his feet resting up against the ships railing, his arm crosse, and his head bowed with my had on his head turned down to shadow his face. He had taken it from me when I had complained about the potatoes and said I couldn't have it back until I had peeled have the bag. The bag had held about fifty and I had finished over half of it. At about the thirtieth one I dropped the knife I was using to peel them and messaged my now aching hands from the scraping.

I scowled at Mark who, I presumed, was asleep. Huffing, I looked out at the sea. Of course I was happy to be at sea on a ship even if it wasn't entirely willingly, but I did miss my mum. All I could imagine is her being franitc to find me and either more drunk than before or had sobered to find me. She wasn't a very stable woman the past few years and I feared how she was coping.

Sighing, another thought popped into my head. I really needed to bathe. Usually I bathed as often as possible in a  little pond a few miles out of the village. Since being on the ship I hadn't bathed once and felt uncomfortable. None of the men looked like they bathed either except for a few. Mark, Caleb, and Jones. Caled and Jones never seemed freshly shaven but still looked clean while with Mark I never saw one sign of stubble and he had left for awhile once and came back with damp hair smelling fresher than before.

Maybe I could ask him if there was a way to get clean on the ship...

I stood and walked over to stand by hiim. "Ey, get up. I'm done with my half and I need to ask you something." He grumbled and waved dismissively at me with hardly any effort. I shook him slightly and spoke louder, "Mark, get up, you need to finish the potatoes and I need to ask if there's away for me to bathe on the ship besides jumping in the sea." He just lowered his head and it lolled to the side. When he did I grew impatient. "Don't say I didn't warn you." I growled and kciked over the barrel making him flail and fall to the ground.

"I'll take that, thank you." I said triumphantly as I scooped up my hat that had drifted onto the deck, placing it back on my head. Mark looked at me wildly, "By God, woman! Don't you know not to wake a man when he's sleepin'?" He exclaimed practically yelling at me. I narrowed my eyes," I'm sorry. I didn't know you were a man." His nostrils flared and he stood angrily. Challengingly, I looked at him

We glared at one another for awhile before he spoke slowly, "Do that ever again and I'll-"

"You'll what?" I cut him off. "If you wouldn't be so lazy and answer me I wouln't need to do that. Now, I'll say it again and you had best listen this time. I have finished my have and I have to ask you something."

Mark scowled as he sat himself on the deck and started to peel the remaing potatoes. I upturned the barrel and sat on it resting my elbows on my knees. "You gonna ask me what you want to ask or just sit there?" Mark said as he seemed to be focused on the potato he was peeling. I leaned back and looked at the clear blue sky, "Yeah, I want to know if I can bathe or if you just expect me to walk around covered in dirt and grime?"

Mark looked at me as he worked on another potato, "There is...but you can't use it."

"Why not?"

"It's in the captains quarters. Since h doesn't exactly use it he only lets the first mate, the helmsman, and me. Jones is the first mate, Caleb is the helmsman, and I'm just special."