Be Brave

What's the Plan, Cap'n? Part 2

Thinking of Miss Kylie and the girls made her eyes sting. Amara couldn't believe that it was just a few days ago she was sitting in her old room, helping the girls with their hair and getting them dressed. Helping Miss Kylie prepare meals and keeping the house clean, getting things organized for lessons. She missed the old lady already, even though she knew the right choice for her was to get out before she was stuck there forever. 

Amara sat in the enormous tub, drawing her knees up to her chest and letting the water continue to rise and warm her whole body down to the core. She reached out and turned the knobs again, cutting off the water before it could overflow and flood Kirk's bathroom. Amara noticed a small shelf just above the tub but right under the knobs that had a small assortment of bottles. She reached for one and unscrewed the cap. She sniffed the contents; soap. It smelled pleasant enough, not overpowering, but distinctly masculine. It would have to do for now. She poured a small enough amount into her hands and rubbed together, creating a lathery foam and started to rub it everywhere, even sitting up on her knees so she could reach further down her body. 

She sat back, crossing one leg over at a time and massaging the suds into her aching feet. As she sat back down in the water, letting the soap suds wash off her she began to think. She looked over at her dress that lay crumpled on the floor and thought maybe she should try to wash it in the tub with her. She didn't think the men on this ship washed their clothes, at least less than they wash themselves. And she didn't want them to see her underthings billowing in the wind on a clothesline. She reached over, spilling a few drops of water onto the wood floors, and plucked up her dress and tossed it into the still hot water with herself. She poured more soap on top of it and begin scrubbing it together, making more suds to lather, trying to get every crease, every wrinkle and seam washed.

The image of herself sitting in a tub, washing clothes reminded her of a story Kylie once read to her from a textbook, about a time long ago, when women would wash themselves in the freezing rivers of their towns along with their garments and scraps of clothing. There were a few pictures in that book that she showed, old fashioned looking paintings in the pages depicting women from a different era, all in various stages of nudity letting their long hair down and swimming in the river. Some wringing the water from their garments. Kylie had told her that they reminded her of sailor's tales of sirens on the ocean. Amara had asked what a siren was, but Kylie told her not to fill her head with the nonsense, even though she had been the one that brought it up.

Amara was still working on trying to get as much water shaken out from her dress as possible when a distant knock startled her. Absentmindedly, she held her sopping dress over her chest, feeling stupid when she realized how little a difference it made. She heard the cabin door unlock and open, followed by footsteps and the door closing again. She was grateful that she had remembered to close and lock the bathroom door. 

There was another knock.

"Hey, it's just me." Kirk. Perfect.

"Don't come in!" 

She hurried out of the tub and ran for the ladders, almost slipping and falling flat on her ass in the process. She snatched a towel from one of the ladder rungs and wrapped it around herself tightly.

"I know, kid. Wasn't planning on it. Just wanted to ask you if you brought an extra set of clothes with you? If not, you can borrow from my closet. But please, just don't go walking around on deck.... Naked, or anything." His tone of voice made it pretty clear how uncomfortable he was having this discussion with her, like she herself was any less thrilled to be hearing her father talk about nudity.