#tarine

“Tarine,” she spoke, her accent heavy as she attempted to replicate the sound of the Otreyan vowels. She shook her head and smiled. “I’m afraid I shall never get there.”

“Do not worry, my gem,” I said, resting my hand beneath her chin and stroking her soft skin. “As long as it is you who speaks it, I care not how it is pronounced.”

Danica’s cheeks flushed, and she looked at the ground for a moment and let her hair fall across her face, attempting but failing to hide her smile. I chuckled softly, amused at her sudden shyness. The stereotypes about Valikonians being reserved when it came to intimacy were true then.

“Why do you call me that?” she asked, peeking at me from behind her curtain of blonde hair. Her eyes were wide and curious, seeking out mine with a nervousness which made my heart melt. She had been deprived of love, that I could easily tell. She could not see it, for no one had ever given it to her.

“Gem?” I said, sitting down on the bed in my cabin and motioning for her to join me. “Do you really not know?”

Perching herself on the end of my bed, Danica twisted her hands in her lap, and avoided looking at me. She was easy to read, and I wondered again how she was able to work for such a secret organisation with a face so open.

I reached out and took one of her hands in mine and stroked it softly. She jumped, and then froze, her eyes on our entwined hands. Slowly, ever so slowly, she relaxed and turned her hand slightly so that it was her fingers which were caressing mine.

“Among Otreyans,” I began, my voice low and soft, “gems are the most sacred objects. Gems which are pure and without flaw. We believe that they are inhabited by our Spirits. We value them above all other treasure. To possess even one is to be considered wealthier than the Turkaan himself.”

Danica smiled. “A fine statement from a pirate.” Her eyes turned towards me and fell upon the oceangem which I wore around my neck. “Why do you seek treasure at all when you already have one?”

I laughed, and my grip on her hand tightened. “I travel the seas for adventure and to cause chaos for my former kingdom. Treasure is merely a perk.”

I forced her to meet my eyes, and my heart leapt when I heard her breath hitch as she looked at me.

“I call you gem, because that is how dear you are to me, Danica,” I said. I reached around my neck and lifted the amulet over my thick curls. I held it for a moment and stared into its depths before pressing it to my lips with a silent prayer.  I slipped it over Danica’s head and let it settle itself upon her chest, twinkling in the dim light of the cabin. Danica trailed her fingers over it before looking up at me, her mouth agape.

“You cannot-“ she gasped. “Tarine … “

“I give it to you, my love,” I said, brushing back her hair and running my fingers down her cheek. “For when I have you, I can possess nothing greater.”

Danica expression of shock softened into one of disbelief. Her blue eyes welled with tears. She was unable to speak, but that did not matter, for I knew what she wanted to say. Our lips met in a passionate kiss, and words were no longer necessary.

I looked out over the sea before me, the salty wind beating back my hair and the spray stinging at my eyes. Always had I loved to stand here at the bow, nose pointed towards the unknown, seeing the swell of the waves before me and delighting at the swooping sensation in my gut as we crested each one. But my heart did not rejoice as it had done before.

“Captain?”

“Kewaya,” I said, acknowledging my first mate who lurked at my shoulder. Something must be wrong for her to disturb me here. “What troubles you?”

“It is you, my captain.”

I looked at her, seeing concern in her deep eyes. She glanced nervously over her shoulder, and I could tell by the huddled woman on the other side of the deck facing this direction that she had been voted to be the one to speak with me.

“We are worried, Tarine,” she said, “You are not yourself.” Her eyes drifted downwards to where my oceangem usually hung. “Not since Valikon.”

My back stiffened, and I found myself trying hard not allow my hurt to show. A captain is a captain after all.

“I appreciate your concern,” I said, as civilly as I could. “But I am fine. The Spirits are still with me.”

“Perhaps, but the spirit inside of you is gone,” Kewaya said, stepping closer and lowering her voice so that the others could not hear. “It is that assassin woman, is it not?”

I wanted to shout at her, to scream and storm away, cursing her directness, but could not. Kewaya was my oldest friend. She knew enough to see through me, and I knew that no amount of my temper tantrums would dissuade her from speaking to me about this.

“I think of Danica still,” I admitted, my heart aching to even speak her name. “How can I not? Never have I been so entranced by a woman.”

“Did she reject you?”

I shook my head, gazing out at the horizon as I waited until I knew I could speak again without breaking down.

“On the contrary,” I said. “But we both knew it would only be a brief thing. Like the alpuri blossom which flowers only for one day and then dies, leaving only the sweetness of its scent behind to mark its existence. You know our life. I cannot stay in one place.”

Danica had known it only too well. Seaseeker, she had named me, in the style of her own people who created their own surnames in mimicry of the nobles. As I had named her. Danica Oceangem and Tarine Seaseeker.e

“The assassin leader offered us a contract,” Kewaya reminded me, coming even closer and resting her hand on my arm. “We can be one of their suppliers and sail into their city every other month. You would see her again.”

“I do not like their leader,” I said, scowling as I remembered the assassin’s matriarch. “She is without heart, without love. Danica is ensnared in her grasp. Trapped. I do not wish to see her so.”

The thought of Danica, dear sweet Danica, taking lives was abhorrent to me. I knew she shed tears after each mission, for I had held her in my arms as she sobbed and wiped the blood from her hands myself. One month I had spent in Valikon selling my wares, and in that time she had performed her duty three times. Three deaths which would live with Danica for many years to come.

“You have to decide, Tarine,” Kewaya said, bringing my attention back to her. Her eyes were stern. “Return and be their supplier, or forget this assassin. Your heart cannot be split. It is good for none of us.”

Kewaya squeezed my arm and began to walk away, stopping to look over her shoulder. “Know this. You are our captain, and we love you. If you give your love to her, know that we will do the same.”

As Kewaya left, I focused my attention back onto the horizon before me. The sun was setting, and the orange and red of the sky and sea made the two merge into one giant canvas of colour. Years ago, as a young cabin girl of twelve I had first stood here and my spirit had been set ablaze at the thought of the lands and people that lay before me, undiscovered and exciting, each one whispering seductively of adventure.

Yet now my heart was changed, and the further away from Valikon that I sailed, the fainter those old dreams became in my memory. No land would again be more alluring to me than the one I had left behind.

I lifted my head high and felt that old fire reawaken inside me, now redirected but blazing as strong as ever. My eyes grew focused and my body trembled with excitement. The wind changed direction, as if it too had come to some decision. Or perhaps it was the goddess Nyxa Danica had told me of. Either way, it was now on my side.

“Turn this ship around!” I bellowed to my crew, turning and running across the deck. “Set the sails! We have a new heading!”

“Captain?”

“We go to Valikon,” I announced, grinning at Kewaya. “The wind told me.”

Kewaya nodded and rushed off to implement my orders with a grin on her own face as I stood at the bulwarks, feeling the ship begin to turn, almost drowning in my impatience.

“I’m coming, my oceangem,” I whispered into the wind. “I love you.”

The wind did not respond, but seemed to blow even more fiercely as it assisted the Ladies’ Liberty in its manoeuvre and drove her onwards.

One week later we sailed into the docks at Valimer. The light was dull and the whole cavern echoed with the sounds of sailors and merchants as they worked. The docks below were heaving with people, both from the ships and the city above the underground docks as they milled around, haggling prices and arguing in shrill voices. I searched the dull masses, hoping beyond hope that I would see a flash of that golden hair, yet knowing it to be fruitless. That assassin leader kept her under a tight leash. She wouldn’t be here.

We soon found our usual berth and paid off the harbour master with the usual bribe and the crew looked to me for instruction. Yet, I knew not what to say to them. Our hold had been emptied upon our last visit; we had nothing to trade, and the amusements of this rainy little land with its pale-skinned inhabitants and their provincial attitudes were few.

They saw my indecision and discretely moved away, some disappearing below deck and others tending to standard maintainence duties, though the ship hardly needed any repair, so recent was our last visit.

Looking down at the dock, the excitement faded and was replaced with crushing fear, an emotion thus far almost unknown to me. Had I been too rash in coming here? Would she even want to see me? We had bidden farewell weeks ago here on this very spot, both with the expectation of never seeing each other again, ending what had been a short but passionate affair. What if she had already moved on? She knew I had never intended to return to this little unprofitable land. Had I been nothing more than an exotic indulgence? Enjoyed, but then easily forgotten?

My ship was in the furthest berth from the centre of the busy docks, and few people came this way, telling from the sails that we were Otreyan and thus unlikely to carry any of the prized firestone from the north of their land. One figure, however, emerged from the far distant mass and came towards us. Heavily cloaked, the figure walked alone, hooded and mysterious. Its steps were almost hesitant.

My heart leapt, and without a word to my crew I leapt over the side of my ship and landed on the stone dock, my body juddering at the shock, yet I did not care. I straightened up and saw the figure, now only a few lengths away, stop in surprise. I breathed heavily, hardly daring to hope that what I so desired could be happening. I pushed my hair from my eyes and stepped forwards, my hands outstretched.

“Dani?”

Slowly, the figure reached up and lowered its hood and I saw that wondrous hair shining even in the half light of the cavern, mirroring the gem at her chest.

I choked out a sob, astonishing myself at the raging emotions surging through me. How was it possible that I, Tarine the lowly pirate woman from Otreya, could ever have been blessed with such a wondrous feeling?

I stepped forwards slowly, my legs threatening to collapse under me. Danica stepped forwards as well and soon she was in my arms, her body warm and pressed firmly against my own. I held her close, closing my eyes in my bliss, feeling her tighten her own grip and wishing she would never let me go.

I pulled away slightly and looked at her, drinking in her beautiful face, delighting in the longing I saw there. She reached up and trailed one hand down the side of my face as if trying to determine whether I was real or not. Her lips trembled.

“But how did you know?” I whispered, my voice tender as she gazed upon me. “How did you know I would return?”

Danica smiled, the softness of her expression belying the wild elation I saw in her eyes. “How did I know? My dear Tarine … the wind told me, of course.”