Vi shrugged, softly, disregarding the 'beautiful' comment. There were lots of pretty girls in the world. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about it, or didn't want to know what it was like. But maybe you're right. I don't pine away at night, waiting for a man." She offered a wry grin. "I like my life, and certain parts of it make me very happy. If that sort of love is waiting for me, I'll find it. I hope." She lifted her brows in mock self-deprecation. "As long as he realizes that I'm married to my boat, and it would be a sordid affair." As she finished speaking, Vi heard a hail - harsh, loud, and female, and she quirked a grin towards Thren before cupping her hands over her mouth and yelling back a simple "It's me!" She kept walking forward, watching as dark silhouettes started to scramble more fervently on board.
She explained. "They're going to lower a boat. The water is deep here, even close to shore, so they're pulled in, but we'll have to row out just a bit and then get raised up. Is that alright?"
Thren thought for a moment, and nodded. "I didn't think that they were going to pull up on shore. As long as you promise to protect me until you can get me to Bob, then I'm fine with it." He did laugh at the thought of her marriage to the boat. Seeing her stand against the backdrop of it against the horizon, he doubted there was any other place for her. He thought to joke about her volume, or about the woman yelling from the boat, but she was about to bring him into her home. Thren remembered the nervousness before showing anyone the small hovel in Redcliffe, that stomach flipping moment at the threshold.
Even if it was a vessel, shared by dozens of people, this was still very much Viara's home, and he wouldn't mock her for it. He wouldn't insult her about the very obvious contentment that had settled over her face. "How long before your boots are off?"
She grinned. "I'll shield you for once, hmm?" The expression softened into a smile after a moment and she winked, giving him a little squeeze around the arm in that blend of nervous excitement that came with showing off - well, everything she owned and loved in the world. Vi walked down to the edge of the sand - it was rough and rocky here on the Northern shore, and she waved her readiness to the spotter up on the main mast. The Northern Star was slightly smaller than an average vessel, but still large, and a 'ship' in every definition of the word. She was shallow in the draft, and her bow gently sloped upwards from a somewhat low-riding deck. There was a single, tall stern castle in the back, upon which there was a very large etching of a compass with a star design inside. She had two main masts, the rear of which was rigged lanteen-style rather than square, rising up higher one one side than the other. She was 75 feet in length.
At the mention of shoes, Viara giggled. "Less than a few seconds." She wriggled out of them even as she spoke, while behind her a rowboat was lowered into the nearly-flat waters, buffered from the wind by the high rocky outcrops that harbored West Hills. There was a single person in the rowboat, and as soon as it touched the water, he begn to row towards them.
Thren smiled. "It's beautiful." He felt a quick surge of almost childlike glee, and he stifled it, but he knew it was there. Boys and pirate ships. His eyes moved from right to left, as he took it completely in. The yellowed sails, the worn wood. The merchant vessel he'd been on years ago had been much smaller, and had none of the charm. It had looked to him like a slave ship, whereas the Star looked like, and very much represented, Viara's freedom. He felt a twinge of envy and longing, but let it go.