The Legend Of The Five Queens : Arabella's tale

Chapter 23: A Different Lifestyle

   The sun slowly rises about the seawater illuminating the sky. The ocean waves are calm with a breeze strong enough to slowly push the ship across the ocean. Birds chirp softly on the flag poles of Captain Kraton's ship.
   Arabella sleeps peacefully in her new bed underneath the thin cotton blankets. She had not realized how tired she became after she cleaned the room.
   Sunlight bleeds through the white sheet that covers the window. A small wooden dresser sits across the bed against the wall with a small cracked mirror standing on top of it. A small table stand sits next to the dresser with a lamp sitting on top of it. The room itself is very small, only stretching a mere 85 square feet. It is defiantly a lot smaller than what the Queen was used to at home. Of course, she will not have to live this lifestyle for very long assuming that everything goes well.
   Queen Arabella wakes up to the sounds of male shouting commands which are no doubt coming from Captain Kraton. The sounds of heavy footprints storming across the floor. It would seem that the Captain is doing his job. Thuds caused by barrels rolling down the ship can be heard with other noises.
Arabella sits up in her bed and stretches out her arms over her head letting out a loud yawn. She rubs her eyes gently and shakes her head. Her legs swing out of bed and place her feet on the cold wooden floor.
"I suppose it is time for me to see what the men are up to," She thinks to herself just before throwing on a wool shirt with a long skirt. Opening the door, Arabella leaves the room and climbs up the ladder opening the hatch.
   On the surface of the ship, the crewmen are running all over the ship making adjustments to the flags. Two of the guys can be seen holding a net in the ocean in hopes of catching some fish. Captain Kraton stands at the top of the ship controlling the wheel.
   The ship floats smoothly across the ocean water as the wind blows against the flags.
"Ah Arabella, I see you have risen from below! I think that it is time for me to properly introduce you to the team!" Captain Kraton shouts at her. She smiles to herself and shakes her head slightly. It is about time that she gets to meet the crew.
Captain Kraton has one of the guys hold the wheel so that he can walk down to the main floor. One of the guys ties down a rope and rubs his hands on his torn-up shirt. Kraton gestures him over.
   "This here is Aiden a former farmer because he joined my crew," Captain Kraton pats Aiden on the shoulder. Arabella smiles and skates his hand. She takes notice of his tall and thin stature. For a man who is always in the sun in the sea, Aiden is not tan at all.
   "Pleasure to meet you Aiden. I am Arabella," Aiden shakes her hand back.
"The same goes to you miss. My Pops and I ran a large farm and sold off a portion of the crops to the locals. We did it for years and the locals loved it," Aiden speaks with pure excitement as if he were a child. His accent is deep and seems to derive from a southern heritage. His eyebrows are very bushy almost forming a unibrow. His curly hair makes it look somewhat messy.
   A heavier set bearded man starts walking towards them from behind Aiden.
   "Captain!" He yells out as he takes heavy steps towards them. Captain Kraton smiles before turning halfway to face the big man.
"Ah Egore, come meet our new client!" Captain Kraton calls out to Egore.
   Egore stands next to his Captain and smiles through his bushy beard. Captain Kraton puts his hand onto Egore right shoulder.
"Arabella, this is Egore. He is one of my finest sailors. Been sailing with him for 15 years, he has never let me down," Captain Kraton smiles proudly.
"Aye, Arabella is it? Welcome aboard! I look forward to this new adventure that we have taken!" Egore shouts excitedly as he extends his large hand out to Arabella. She smiles and shakes his hand.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Egore, it is a pleasure to meet you all. I am glad that you all agreed to take me where I need to go. I was worried that it difficult for me to find a crew," Queen Arabella explains as she looks at the three of them.
"There are two more of us that you have yet to meet," King Kraton says while he points to the two guys holding a fishnet in the sea. They seem to be struggling with holding the net in place. Arabella slowly walks towards them from across the ship. One of the guys is a tall heavier-set man with short curly black hair starts shouting aggressively at the other man that is helping him. The one-man is shorter and very skinny with broad shoulders. The two of them pull with all of their might and manage to get the fish-filled net over the boat and onto the ship floor. Arabella stops in her tracks as she watches the heavier man ties up the net.
   "You need to learn to pay attention boy! You will never get good at this if you do not focus!" The heavy man yells aggressively at the skinny guy who keeps his head down as he gets yelled at.
"Ronald, manners! We have a new client who deserves a proper greeting!" Captain Kraton shouts at Ronald.
"Aye captain" Ronald pulls his cap off exposing his balding head. His large bushy beard covers his mouth and looks as though it is working on devouring his nose. He looks at Queen Arabella as he puts his left hand on his chest
"Ronald Edwardson at your service miss. This idiot is Adrian. Poor bastard is mute and has been for a long time," He states as he points at Adrain.
   "Pleasure to meet both of you. Especially you Adrain for I have never met a man who lost his voice," Adrian gives her a saddened look. His eyes seem to hold a lot of pain within them.
   "Well, that is everyone on the crew then," Captain Kraton says with a sigh.
"Yeah, if only that were so," Ronald add before slowly walking away. Arabella looks at Captain Kraton with a confused look on her face.
"What does he mean by that?"She asks him. Captain Kraton lets out another sigh before speaking.
   "I would not bother with that. It is a story for another time. Let us go to the navigation room and fully plot out our course," Captain Kraton walks towards a door that leads to a room underneath the steering wheel for the ship. Arabella follows him and enters the Navigation room looks over the map.
   "So right now if all goes well we should arrive at our destination in roughly 2 days. That is if we do not run into any pirates," Captain Kraton states as he points at the island they charted on their map.
"Do you typically run into pirates on your travels?" She asks while looking out of the window looking over the ocean.
   "Not all the time. Sometimes we have encountered groups of dirty pirates. But rest assured that we will do our best to avoid other pirates," He strokes his beard and places more tacks on the map. "I am plotting a course that should ensure that we do not run into any pirates," Captain Kraton states while moving the pins in a new route.
   "Our course is set and if all goes well we should arrive at our destination in about 2 days," Captain Kraton looks up from the map and notices that Arabella is looking out at the ocean sea. "Have you ever gone on a voyage before Arabella?"
Arabella continues to look out of the window admiring the peaceful sea.
"No, the most water I have ever been on was a pond that my Uncle Verman owned. We used to go fishing every weekend when I was a little girl," She turns around facing the Captain with a smile.
   "I am excited about our voyage. I hope that we find what I am looking for,"
"Aye, time will feel as though it is taking longer to pass when out on the sea so I hope that you are prepared for it," Captain Kraton grabs a few big brown cloth bags and throws them over his shoulders.
   "These potatoes will be for later. I am sure our journey will go well," With that said, the captain leaves the room.
   Now Arabella will have to figure out what she is going to do until they arrive at the island.