On The Wings Of An Albatross

Stuck In A Spider's Nest

Five years ago

Undeniably stranded out in the middle of goddamn nowhere, looking out at a never-ending ocean on a ship manned by semi-feral pirates - most of whom didn't seem all that pleased to have a stowaway on board, there was only really one thought permeating through Sanem's mind now that Gypsy was safely in her arms again.

Now what?

She was even further away from Katiket than she had been before she set off, so she would say things were going pretty great for her so far. But it could have ended up being a hell of a lot worse if the Kotu Kral hadn't come along and helpfully besieged those who had been taking her somewhere she definitely didn't want to go. She was trying not to think about that.

Justifiably, Sanem still didn't feel entirely safe on the new ship despite Can's amicable welcome, but any misgivings she had towards those who had apparently, purposefully or not, just saved her life, were inconsequential considering she could get no more than one hundred feet away from them at any given moment. And the dimly lit watery edge of the horizon was all that surrounded them for miles and miles and bloody miles. She was stuck.

Can must have noticed the fleeting look in her eyes as she glanced around the ship, her hands ruffling nervously into her cat's fur. "We can take you to Katiket," He offered. "If that's still where you want to go."

Her gaze met his, looking hopeful but understandably hesitant.

"We were gonna head in that direction anyway," He explained. "But by our original route, it will take us a couple of weeks to get there."

Weeks?

"Oh," Sanem shuffled her feet, this trip was going to take far longer than she'd originally intended. But she wasn't dead - so at least she had that to be grateful for. And if after everything, she still found her way to Sinan, a little late and slightly dishevelled, but there none the less, then maybe she could consider this whole derailed expedition a success after all. "Okay. Thank you."

"You'll have to earn your keep in the meantime though." Sanem looked up to notice a sparkle of humour in his eyes that she couldn't quite place but that instantly had her face flushing a heated red as the potential implications of his words ran through her mind in a flurry of warning.

The playfulness on his face fell away instantly, replaced for a split second by confusion before his eyes flashed with mortified recognition. "Whoa, hey," He raised his hands suddenly in surrender. "That's not - that's not what I meant at all."

Her cheeks were still burning but she managed to take a deep breath. "Good,"

"Good," He cleared his throat.

An awkward moment passed before the silence was broken by the little cat's indignant squeaking at Sanem's reluctance to let her jump down. She hadn't had to deal with that problem on the Wigeon, but now the little tortoiseshell seemed eager to wiggle out of her grip and start exploring the new vessel that they'd found themselves on.

"And my cat can stay?" Sanem enquired tentatively.

"Of course," Can smiled. "We'd be honoured to have her on board."

She finally let Gypsy free onto the ground, praying as she scurried away, that the little cat wouldn't disappear into the abyss of the ship where Sanem would struggle to find her again, especially as she was the only part of home she had left. And home was feeling like such a distressingly far away concept at the moment.

A sudden call of his name made Can turn around as one of his men climbed up through the square hole in the deck where the stairs descended to the lower levels.