Her Light

XXVIII

"I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by." - John Masefield
-

It takes a while for it to truly sink in.

Even when Camila is stirring beneath the sheets, her face pressed gentle into the bare back of her lover. When she shifts her face slightly, hearing Lauren murmur at the indication Camila has woken up. Her arms are wrapped around Lauren's waist, her body fitting against hers so naturally.

Even as Lauren is turning into Camila to kiss her good morning—both on her lips and her forehead. Words of endearment are passed between them, hushed and treasured.

It doesn't sink in even as Camila is crawling out of bed, slipping on some of Lauren's clothes she finds in her dresser, messily falling over the bed just to kiss her once again. Even when Lauren pulls her down and Camila has to playfully scold her because there are other things to be done on board this morning.

There is a different feeling to this morning; it's fresher, clearer, healthier in a way. Lauren is dressing herself for the day and lovingly grinning as she gently touches the reminders of Camila's lips on her body.

Lauren helps Camila tie her bandana, not able to resist a kiss and then yet another on her temple when she ducks down slightly.

"You're so beautiful." Lauren hums, relinquishing her hands slowly before they exit the cabin to greet the misty sea morning.

Camila pauses before the door—lingers, if you will—as she tries to grasp this feeling inside her.

Close, yet it bursts before she can hold it. She follows Lauren out happily.

...

It's funny, really. It is. It doesn't even dawn on Camila as she's sitting down on gunner deck that she is alone right now. She's alone—and yet she feels quite the opposite.

It comes upon her slowly, like the kind of mist she's used to in the early morning. Droplets of water hit her skin and she lifts her head. No longer in the mist, she's simply waiting for Normani to come down and help her with the swords.

There are swords and knives laid out in front of her, clearly been misused while Lauren was out of captaining. Mel did not take care of these weapons as he should have. And so Camila supposes that's why she is here because Ally can sail and map; Dinah is good at rationing and charting their storage, Normani can also sail, map, and teach, and Lauren is good for all the above, plus making wise decisions.

So someone has to be taught gunner deck.

The clunky noise of boots hitting the wooden floor startles Camila out of her head. She lifts her gaze from the swords and turns to see Normani ducking under an overhead beam, waving.

"Hey, Mila." She grins, coming to sit beside her. "Okay, are you ready for sharpening and polishing? Or we could do a quick lesson on weapons and then something else?"

Camila thinks about this—she's not usually very prone to having a choice in anything.

"What would the something else be? Because I've seen Lauren sharpen swords and it's not really my style." Camila slumps forward with her head in her hand.

Normani rolls her sleeves up past her forearms, cuffing them just above her elbows. "I mean, anything, really. You're here to learn, right? If you want to go deaf and do cannons, be my guest. There's always battle training I could teach you, I could show you how to do masts because those are fun and sometimes you can hang off of them. I can do—"

"I want to do masts."

Not even realizing her hands are clasped tightly at her chest, Camila exhales a shaky breath of excitement when Normani gestures for her to stand up.