Life At Sea...

[Katara]

6 months...
Katara leant over the side of the ship, watching the gentle movement of the deep, iron grey waves as they rocked the boat. There was always that gentle swaying motion; like a baby, being rocked to sleep in a cradle...
She inhaled deeply. Aah... that familiar salty breeze. When she'd first joined the Star it was refreshing. Now it made her feel sick to the stomach.
Her eyes strained to see past the horizon, even though she knew they were miles out to sea. Miles from any land... or any real civilisation... There was just her, the crew, and the sea...
The sea...
God, she missed land. She'd always known the sea was big, but she'd underestimated the sheer size of the thing. A massive body of swirling grey... Rocking back and forth... back and forth... it was almost hypnotic...
6 months...
6 months! Six lousy months out to sea- and she'd gotten nowhere. No-one knew anything; the markets and traders were no goes. She'd literally no idea where to look. How many more ports are there? How likely was it by now that she really was going to find her...?
Groaning, Katara slumped across the side of the boat, turning around so that her back was leaning against it, and that her eyes were to the sky.
"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me..."

[Kate Mercia]

Kate was on the rigs up on the top of the mast, looking out to sea.
No land in sight. Just how she liked it.
The day was bright and clear, and the sea reflected off the clear blue sky.
The sea breeze was blowing through her hair, and bringing colour to her cheeks. Wind was a very misleading thing. You think that it gives you a windswept, rosy-cheeked look... it really just made your complexion uneven.
She stepped off the rigs and slid down the rope onto the deck, landing on her feet.
Awesome... it worked.
She spotted Katara over at the edge of the boat, and wandered over. "Heya."

[Katara]

Katara looked at Kate and smiled. "Hey, Kate."
Kate was just another crew member. They came and they went. Some, like Katara, stayed for ages. And others... well, they barely lasted a week. Kate had been there for a fortnight, and she seemed really nice. Of course, 'really nice' wasn't the best temperment on a pirate ship, but as long as Kate could hold her own around here, Katara knew she'd be absolutely fine...
They all had a story. They were all the ship for a reason...
It just depended whether Kate's story would keep her hanging around for a while.
"Nice hair," she laughed at Kate's windswept curls.

[Kate Mercia]

Kate laughed self-conciously and ran her hair through it. "I know it's a mess."
Katara's hair, strangely, was always perfect. And very cool.
Not that Kate really cared about how she looked. There are things in life more important than hair.
But it's a good place to start.
"So how are you?"

[Katara]

"Oh, you know," shrugged Katara. "Bored, stiff... and pretty much sick of the sea. A pirate's life for me, eh?"
It wasn't the life for her. She knew it well. Once she found her- and she would find her, she didn't know what she'd do. She didn't think she would be staying on this ship. Books and stories told a great many lies. Where were the fights? The trades? The treasure? More often than not, she'd wonder if she'd made the right choice...
But Kate... Well, Kate loved it. She could tell.
Katara's plait lay over her shoulder, and she fidgeted with it subconsiously, searching for something to say. She was a fidgeter- it was a bad habit, but it was better than biting her nails. As it was, they were perfect little almond shapes, clean cut and neat.
A lot of things just seemed to work for Katara.
"And how are you?"
Ugh. She was so lame at small talk.

[Kate Mercia]

"Cold," Kate said, smiling gently. "But other than that, fine."
Katara didn't seem to like the sea at all. It was strange, a pirate who didn't like the sea.
Then again, most people had a reason for joining the crew. A reason that they didn't tend to share with everyone. A dark dirty past.
Everyone had a dark past, not least Kate herself - things she never told anyone. But she had one sole reason for joining the ship - to get off Lundy Island and out into the world, getting finally free.
But if you really hated the sea, why join a pirate crew?
"You really don't like the sea, do you?" she said to Katara.

[Katara]

"The novelty wears off after a while," she smiled.
Yeah, that would pretty much sum it up.
She hoped she wasn't coming across as being in a bad mood. She wasn't- she just felt tired. Each day they were still on this ship it felt like a weight inside her was getting heavier and heavier, dragging her spirits down. Water was fine- but she did miss land, a lot.
She even missed the hairy cows.
Well... sort of.

[Kate Mercia]

Kate leant back against the side of the boat. "It's not a novelty for me, I've been sailing since I was about four, and I was born on a ship."
She was convinced that she had salt water instead of blood, that there was a reason that the Mercia's ship had crashed on Lundy Island.
It couldn't be a coincidence, right?

[Katara]

Katara grinned. "I could've guessed! Maybe where we're born has some sort of indication of where your life's gonna go... Except I was born in the country. Does that mean my destiny is to become a farmer's wife?"
Well, it's how her parents worked the system. Her mother wanted each of her little darlings to grow up and become devoted wives. She was a bit backwards like that. Arranged marriages were no thing of the past for her parents- oh no.
They'd even had a plan for her... She didn't know much about it though.
Wife of a labourer...
Yeah, she'd take hardcore pirate ship over that any day.

[Kate Mercia]

"Only if you think it is," Kate said cryptically.

[Katara]

Katara cocked her head to the side. Unusual answer. Or maybe she just hadn't been expecting it. She liked the answer though. Katara liked the idea she did have some sense of control.
That's why she was on this ship.
For Toph.
"I'll be more than that," she smiled. "Promise. I'll swear the oath if you like. I will not be the Farmer's Wife. There!"

[Kate Mercia]

Kate smiled. "I couldn't do it, I know that much. Not that being a farmer's wife is like a bad thing, but still..."

[Katara]

Katara laughed. "I've spent too much time on farms... But where are you from? Any big cities or a little seaside town?"

[Kate Mercia]

"Lundy Island, actually," Kate smiled, thinking of the beaches and rocks at home. "Just off Cornwall. It's mainly very small-town, but my friends and I would go over to London for some weekends and things, our parents were very liberal."
Liberal indeed. Her dad had let her sail the boats on her own at the age of ten, and she never ever had a curfew. Her life had been one of freedom, up until the point when her mum became sick. Then, she was always at her bedside, looking after her, sitting with her, trying to make her better.
And when that failed and her mum died, she had to look after the house for Adam when he was working. That was when she started spending more and more time on the boat, trying to get away from it all.
Adam's marriage had set her free. Her opinions of marriage weren't as good as his. She had no wish to shackle herself to some man, to feel degraded and second best all of her life - because, excepting her parents', that was how all of the married women of the small-town Lundy Island ended up - subservient, weak, and dependant.
Who would choose that sort of life?

[Katara]

"I was surrounded by brothers and sisters," smiled Katara. "And my dad was really lovely. He never tried to control my mum the way other men did. He's great. I suppose that'd be something to miss, wouldn't it? My dad..."
And then he died.
And then Katara lost her.