#psha

you were a friend of mazelinka's. she'd taken care of you as a kid and raised you to be quite the privateer. it was because of her that you'd become resourceful, intelligent, and honorable amongst those who were either mercenaries or royal officers.

when she asked you to come along with her on a voyage looking for some rare, magical ingredients that were up for grabs in nevivion. but you didnt know it would mean meeting her lovely friends.

ilya, or better known as julian, he'd kept you company for most of the trip. both of you telling extravagant stories to each other as the day went on, joking and racing around the ship as if you were two children competing for nothing, but their pride.

when you saw julian was balancing fruit on his limbs you decided to have fun with him. going up behind him, a bag of spoiled potatoes overboard and shrieking.

"mazelinka fell overboard!" you shouted.

julian stumbled off the barrell falling onto his stomach making the fruit spilled around the doctor. laughs from behind you forced you to spin around finding mazelinka shaking her head with a smile and a very breathtaking redhead giggling next to her.

pretty red curls spilling over her shoulders and framing the porcelain skin that was blushed by the heat of the sun. maybe it was the pearls that peaked between plump lips. maybe it was how her eyes peaked open and the ocean itself laid beneath them. or the constellations of freckles on her face.

"you're staring again."

your head whipped away from portia down to julian in an effort to distract yourself from the pounding in your chest. "it's hard not to when the jewel of land and sea is standing before us." returning julian's knowing smirk, but not daring to look over at portia.

"what a charmer.." julian raised his brows at you and then portia with a smile. "is there anyone else who doesn't fall victim to that wonderful smile?"

"mazelinka." you grinned, motioning over at her. "m my compliments no longer brush through her impeccable fortress."

"pasha, is the only one." julian smiled, nodding to the redhead who was not so shyly checking you out. "she always gets what she wants."

"as her brother you must know that her smile could end wars." you winked at portia who raised a brow with a smirk aimed at her brother.

"it could attract the wrong company." julian huffed, tossing one of his fallen fruits toward you.

"don't call that one the wrong company!" mazelinka hit julian across the forehead with a spoon.

pepi curled around your legs, purring and rubbing herself on you, "see?" the feline mewled upon being picked up and held. "pepi loves me."

"pepi loves anyone who can give her a good scratch." laughs ensued on the deck upon seeing pepi's version of a glare that was pointed at julian.

mazelinka was quick to wrap up this evening, "alright everyone! i want to be at our midway point before dusk."

julian was climbing the mast and you were rushing down to mazelinka's cabin to calculate the speed of the ship's course.

you were rolling out a map, setting paperweights down and laying out papers when mazelinka's door peeked open.

standing half in the doorway, portia stared at you with innocent eyes that sparkled with curiosity and a bit of anxiety. she wandered into the room with a shy smile and gave a nod towards the papers.

"need something?" how rude was that? you were kicking yourself upon first greeting mazelinka's family.

portia blushed, clearing her throat and her fingers bridging in the same way a servant might have. "mazelinka said you might need help finding her compass."

"i do." you admitted, standing upright so you didn't look so frantic from being unable to find the simple drawing tool. "i would love a helping hand from mazelinka's most precious ward."

portia went around the desk, sliding out a drawer and clicking open it's underside to reveal the hidden tool.

"was that always there?"

"she said that she rearranged this place."

"that's strange, she said everything was how she—" you weren't ready for when portia turned to face you.

pretty blue eyes staring up at you, the smell of coconut fanned over your face from the fruit she'd so eagerly devoured earlier. you forced your eyes to stay on hers to keep from glancing down at portia's lips.

"— wanted it." you murmured.

the redhead leaned close to you and nothing stopped your hand from craddling her hip when one of hers slowly ran up your arm.

"mazelinka's probably waiting for the ship's speed."

portia hummed, her fingers coming to brush the tiny hairs at the nape of your neck. your other hand coming to rest on her hip as portia brought you a little closer.

she leaned in, her nose brushing yours and eyes becoming lidded. the heat coming from her body was making you slowly lose your train of thought.

it was as if each other's presence was getting you drunk. it was as if her being this close and confined to a room with her was turning your mind to mush.

"we.. we should.. we should p-probably—" your words died on your tongue when her lips brushed yours.

something in the both of you snapped because one minute you were kissing her and another she was tugging you into a heated kiss that made your toes curl inside your boots.

portia tugged you back so she was perched on mazelinka's desk. mazelinka's desk.

you sharply tugged back, stumbling into the chair behind you and onto your bottom. the redhead was still leaning on the desk, gripping it's edge as she too tried to get ahold of herself.

"it's nice to meet you," you hastily waved from where you sat on the floor. "my name is actually y/n l/n. i go by y/n, it's a name that caught on growing up."

portia gave a soft smile, "i'm portia. pasha is my actual name. it's nice to meet you, too."

there was a silence before you decided to stand and pull up the damp knot hanging from mazelinka's window.

"so do you kiss everyone you meet or just me?"

if you hadn't been turned around, you would've seen portia's face as bright as the hair on her head.

"you're an exception." portia nervously laughed, scratching the back of her head and moved so you could write down your findings. "it's not every day that you meet mazelinka will shamelessly appraise."

you smiled when you saw portia watching from over your shoulder while the compass in your hand dragged across the map.

"likewise." you couldn't help your smirk as you fought to keep the dominant edge that kept portia blushing. "it's not every day that i meet mazelinka's esteemed company. she talks highly of you."

"i'd hope so, even though i can't balance fruit on every limb." you couldn't help, but laugh at her remark. shaking your head as she eyed a couple pages. "what do all these numbers mean?"

"math, love." you sighed, motioning to the pins that marked distances on the map. "that knot hanging off the ship determines our speed and i need to estimate where we are. given time and speed, i need to estimate when to adjust our sails so we miss any troublesome mercenaries when we arrive at midway."

at some point while you were talking, portia had taken it upon herself to pry the drawing compass from your hand. "they don't teach this in schools."

"of course not. no one teaches you the necessary knowledge on how to avoid mercenaries or how to properly man a ship of this size."

"then teach me." she stared up at you with pleading eyes and you sighed, unable to keep yourself from giving in to that smile.

in the ten minutes you'd explained to portia how to navigate with a drawing compass and the correct formula to use when calculating speed and time, she managed to grasp it.

"why do you have so many steps for something so simple?" she asked motioning to the scribbles of numbers that portia had written down.

"the long way doesn't require you to check your work." you motioned to a blank piece of paper, "the hardest part about this job is neatly logging the work down for future reference."

portia's jaw dropped and you couldn't help but laugh then. "the entire process would take at least an hour to complete."

"when you're experienced, you only need about twenty minutes." you waved around a paper making portia light up and eagerly look over the work neatly splayed on the paper. "could you give those to mazelinka?"

"sure thing!" portia was practically skipping for the door when you stopped her short.

"portia?" her pretty blue eyes found yours. "you're the exception. i don't go around kissing beautiful nevivion girls. just you."

portia's lips quirked up and she waved to you before leaving you alone in mazelinka's study with your thoughts.

beautiful and smart. who could've guessed you'd fallen for mazelinka's company?

by the time you had come back on the deck it was dark out. you weren't surprised to see someone from mazelinka's trusted circle of friend's guiding the ship away from the small island mazelinka called our midway point. but you were shocked to see portia still up.

"can't sleep?" you called making her spin around to look at you.

she smiled and turned her gaze up to the many constellations in the sky.

"i've never seen this many stars out." portia sighed, watching the stars in the horizon.

you noticed the stars were a bit off until you called up to the person behind the helm, "you're a little off, go a couple knots starboard."

"what does that mean?" portia asked as the ship turned in the slightest.

"we were going at the wrong angle." you told her, motioning to orion's belt, "we are supposed to go along that constellation's middle, not toward's it."

"i've heard of using stars like the north star." portia beamed, looking up to the sky again. "you use them for navigation?"

"something like that." you forced out a laugh as you turned your gaze to the water, unable to help scraping your fingernails against the grain of wood upon seeing portia's smile again.

"i'll never get used to that."

"used to the sky?" portia smiled, turning her gaze to the visible galaxies that beamed purples and blues with the lack of moonlight.

"that smile of yours."

portia flushed and she turned her eyes down the water, "you're not too bad yourself," came her shaky response. a confidence made her straighten and lean towards you, "do i make you nervous, too?"

"not in the slightest." you hummed, leaning on the rail and staring down at the water that swirled with the star light.

portia motioned to your white knuckles that squeezed the railing. you tucked your shaking hands behind your back with a shy smile.

"maybe a little.."

it was portia's turn to laugh. she leaned into you and despite how your heart was pounding for you to look away, but her eyes.

"not everyone takes well to a lively disposition on the open ocean."

she seemed to slump, but you couldn't help smiling as you take in her appearance.

the galaxy seemed to swirl in her blue eyes, promise of a warmth that not even the sun could provide. you shook your head, cupping her face in your hands and stroking the apple of portia's cheeks.

"but you're the exception."