The Sea Witch

Lavender woke up to the sensation of warmth on her face, and when she cracked open her eyes, she was almost blinded by the morning sun. "Ugh, why the frick does it have to be so bright this early in the morning." She didn't exactly have a hangover, but she had definitely enjoyed a couple of glasses of the best rotgut rum that was available on board ship last night.

It served her right, Lavender thought, it was never a good idea to drink with Uncle Tomas, and Cousin Tomo. "I should never drink with old guys with livers of iron, or childhood friends who are now a foot taller and a foot wider than me… my tolerance just ain't that good!!" Her internal clock told her that it was still early, not yet the time she was due to rise, so Lavender pulled the sheet that was covering her over her head, "Ten more minutes should be okay."

Lavender sighed, and closed her eyes, but even beneath the thin cotton sheet the strong light made her eyelids glow orange. "No chance of dozing for a bit then, so I guess I'll make a mental list of all the odd jobs I have to do today." Lavender didn't really have much to do whilst at sea if all went well, after all her job was as the ship's Protector, not as a sailor, though she could still pitch in if necessary, to trim the sails against storm winds, or help reset the rigging when the wind changes.

The Protector's job was obviously to protect, the current cargo, and whatever merchant went with it, from the incursion of smugglers and pirates. Which were common enough in the waters of the Freedom Isles, and all along the coastline of the Imperial Empire, or to protect the ship against Sea Serpents, and the deadly Kraken.

Though thankfully the current voyage had been free of all of the above, and even the weather had been agreeable. Lavender could even hear the quiet slap of gentle waves against the side of the ship… wait, what?!

Lavender threw the sheet off, and sat bolt upright, "Shit!!" One of the reasons that it had been so bright that morning, was not just the direct sunlight shining through the cabin window, but the refracted sunlight from an almost calm sea, causing dapples of light to shimmer and ripple across the wooden panelling of the walls and ceiling.

Jumping up from of her cot, Lavender shoved the window wide open, and stuck her head out to look down below. Sure enough, not one jot of wake was visible, other than the slow rock of the ship, everything was completely still, and no breeze stirred the air… they were bloody well becalmed!!

"Hellfire and Damnation, way to jinx yourself En, you silly cow, ruminating over how lucky we've been to not hit any summer storms, so now you end up with the worst kind of 'nice' weather." Lavender threw off yesterday's shirt and u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r, and kicked it into the corner with the rest of her laundry, then poured cool water from the pitcher into the basin.

One quick strip wash later, with a flannel and towel which were starting to get stiff with salt, Lavender pulled a fresh cotton shirt from the c.h.e.s.t of drawers which doubled as her desk, and put it on. "Damn, I can't wait to get into port, my laundry's piling up, and I'm fed up of washing in sea water, it always makes me feel slightly sticky somehow."

Sitting on the side of her cot, Lavender pulled on fresh u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r, her usual grey suede leggings, and the brown leather boots that her father had given her for her twenty-first birthday a few years back. Just as Lavender pulled open the door to her cabin, she found Tomo on the other side, his hand raised to knock.

"Tomo, why didn't you come to get me sooner… last night I told that old coot Blakestaff that we should be in port around noon today, when I went to give him the Evening Progress Report. An' you know what he's like, that penny pinching bastard is likely to say that I gave him a verbal guarantee of arrival time, and then demand a levy for every turn of the sand timer past high sun."

Lavender had been bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet in agitation as she spoke, and the rocking movement finally caused the scoop neck of the cotton shirt to slip off her shoulder, and end up halfway down her arm, almost entirely revealing her left b.r.e.a.s.t in the process.

Lavender froze, not even breathing for a moment, she might be one of the most unfeminine women you are ever likely to meet, but even she had limits!!

Slowly, En released the air that had caught in her lungs in one long breath, and relaxed her hands, which had instinctually clenched into fists ready to punch someone.

Thankfully, the only person in front of her was Tomo… a man who had been one of her closest friends since they were both in swaddling. Their mother's had bathed them together when they'd been kids; they'd even gone skinny dipping off the side of a skiff on more that one occasion in their teens. So Lavender's b.a.r.e b.r.e.a.s.ts were not something that Tomo had never seen before, and En wasn't entirely sure that b.r.e.a.s.ts, as a whole, were things that Tomo was even particularly interested in anyway.

"En, you forgot your girdle again." Tomo gently tugged the shirt back up her arm, and patted her shoulder to settle it back into its correct position. "Hmm, I was distracted, and in a rush when I was getting dressed this morning." Lavender turned back into her cabin, and looked round in confusion… where had that girdle gone? It hadn't been with the rest of her clothes, otherwise she wouldn't have forgotten such an important garment.

"Ah, isn't that your girdle underneath the cot?" Tomo pointed to where En's girdle must have been kicked the night before, when she'd poured her slightly tipsy self into bed.

Lavender quickly pulled the errant girdle over her head, then wriggled it down until it settled around her ribs; so the boning supported underneath her b.r.e.a.s.ts, and the lacing was adjusted so that the shirt was held firm, but did not restrict her breathing or movement.

Now decently dressed, En looked at Tomo, and felt a bit conflicted, "I hope Uncle Tomas… I mean the Captain, isn't gonna shout at me for dilly dallying, and keeping him waiting." Tomo smiled, "I doubt it… the wind dropped completely only a short while ago; and he only sent me to wake you up, and to say that you were to go see him once you were dressed. I was really quite surprised when you opened the door just as I was about to knock, you're not usually up this early, especially…"

Tomo's voice trailed off, "Especially what?" Lavender scowled at him, but Tomo just stared placidly back. "Never mind, let's go, let's go!!" If Tomo wasn't going to rub her nose in the fact that she had been a bit tipsy the night before, then that was fine by her… after all, was there really any reason to cut off her own nose to spite her face.