viara_tremaine (viara_tremaine) wrote in thedas, @ 2009-12-30 08:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | & 9:45 (4) eluviesta, @ viara tremaine |
Character narrative: Setting sail
Who: Viara Tremaine. Alerrin, her quartermaster ( NPC)
Where: Aboard The Northern Star, just after nightfall.
When: Four days ago
Summary: Making a decision on bearings and deliveries; The Northern Star sets off westerly
Rating: K-T, brief language.
As soon as the last of the sun disappeared behind the ragged skyline of Denerim, Vi immediately began to feel better. She'd made a head-count; all souls were present and accounted for as far as she could tell, and in a lively mood at that. There'd been a veritable field trip to The Pearl during the day - since she had a lot of new people aboard, many had not visited the establishment before, and so they all went together, practically holding hands. It had almost been cute, if it weren't so pathetic. Viara smirked, shaking her head and reminding herself that she was also young once and had wanted company when entering that particular place, if only for moral support.
Vi climbed the small set of stairs leading towards her quarters as the crew en masse assembled for dinner. She ducked into a room set just to the side of her sleeping area. This one contained even less furniture; there was an ancient wooden table bolted to the deck and a chest full of maps, sextants, and other odds and ends. There weren't even chairs - there was little point to chairs on a boat, unless they were bolted, and then they just tended to get in the way.
Alerrin was already waiting in the room, the absolute picture of stoic patience, and Viara eased her lips into a fond smile, some of the rigid 'Captain' persona she usually wore like a shield relaxing away. She didn't know what she would do without this man. If his dark brown hair weren't turning gray around his temples, one would be hard-pressed to guess the elf's age. Most of his skin was leathery from years spent in the sun, and his face was usually expressionless, betraying neither the open innocence of youth nor the hardness of harsh experience. He was also neither overtly handsome nor plain - he was simply Alerrin. Faultlessly correct in procedure, hard-working (and a hard-ass to boot), smart, confident, and above all things loyal, he was literally her right arm aboard the Star, her quartermaster and her first mate, and an equal in her eyes. If only he would smile or frown or have a breakdown once in awhile, he might well be the perfect man. She chuckled at the thought, and he subtly lifted a brown in question.
Waving her hand dismissively in explanation, Viara spread her arms wide over the table.
"Well, Al, what's our heading?"
"Three of them wish to remain in Denerim, Captain. I have already informed Reara and she is making arrangements to move them to the alienage." Alerrin's voice was smooth and baritone, even and without much emotion. As always, just the facts.
"Which three?"
"The youngest three - the woman with brown hair and the two children."
Vi's lips twisted, almost in disappointment. Even though they'd been captured, tortured, beaten, and taken from their homes in Denerim, they still wished to return there. The children she could understand - perhaps they had parents waiting for them - but the woman...
She couldn't help an audible sigh, and Alerrin's arms crossed over his chest, his cool regard on her. It had taken Viara many, many months to get the man to speak his mind to her, and she was certain he wouldn't now disappoint - he never did, anymore.
"It is their choice, Captain."
She gnashed her teeth together a bit before responding. "I know, Alerrin. I just hate it when I give people the ability to choose and they go on and make what is probably a bad choice as their first decision."
"You don't know that."
She snorted, flicking her eyes up to Alerrin and raising both brows. He remained impassive, staring at her.
"Don't I? I'd wager half my wares that that woman will be raped again before the month is out."
"Rape happens everywhere." As always, it was as though he was commenting on the weather; if Vi didn't know him intimately, she'd assume Alerrin was the most callous man she'd ever met. If he were anyone else, she'd likely have deckied him for such an offhand comment. As it was, though, she just let out a harsh, quick breath through her nostrils, turning her head away from his eyes.
"Easy for you to say, Al, you're not a woman. It's not like it gets better the second time, or the third time."
"It is true, I am not a woman. You are, but you are not a raped woman. So neither of us can say with certainty." A statement entirely assured in its rightness. Vi's mouth crooked half a smile and Alerrin's arms uncrossed as he turned around the table to the same side as Viara.
"No, but that doesn't mean I can't commiserate."
"I suggest you stop. It is their decision, they are no longer under your control." He paused two feet from Vi, his arms clasped behind his back, looking down at her. She glanced up. She was probably the only person who could read Alerrin at all - his face, even now, was like stone, but there was just a hint of both fatherly understanding and the compassion of a friend in his eyes, the way they crinkled at the corners.
"You know I hate being out of control." She lowered her voice to a friendly pitch, and Alerrin cocked his head.
"It is the kindest thing you can give, Captain." His voice softened infinitesimally and Viara grinned.
"Al, you old softie." She thumped him on the arm with a fist and a streak of annoyance flashed through his grey-blue eyes, the best reward she could hope for.
"Please stop calling me Al, Captain."
Vi chuckled, leaning an elbow along the table, regarding him for a moment before comporting her voice at least with a more professional tone.
"Alright then, three back to the alienage. What about the other two?"
"The older woman says she wishes to go to Highever. Her daughter was apparently sent there for marriage purposes and she would like to be reunited. The man states that he chooses to remain aboard."
Viara nodded at the elder women's wishes, and felt her eyebrows fly high in response to the man's request. It wasn't often she got full-fledged men aboard - boys, yes, but not men. They usually had families and responsibilities they wanted to return to. Alerrin was the only older elven male aboard her boat at this time. He, along with Bob and a few human men she'd picked up along the way, made up the entirety of her male contingent. Men were necessary to do some of the heavier lifting aboard, but her crew was overwhelmingly female.
"Is he able?" Vi looked Alerrin directly in the eyes as she asked.
"He is fit. He does not speak much, so I cannot say as to his character. I got the sense he had before been imprisoned and has very little in the way of home or family." Alerrin's voice was even, neutral - he never lied, but that let Viara know he was simply speaking facts, without any hint as to his own thoughts. That probably meant that he truly had none.
Viara pressed her lips together, musing out loud. "He didn't seem like he would be the type to simply remain interested because we had lots of women aboard. He protected them, earlier, when I went down to welcome them." He'd taken charge. Even though she was the Captain, she liked independent, leader-type personalities; she couldn't watch everyone all the time, and when ashore, her crew had to make their own way. Followers and sheep seemed to always find trouble. She drummed her uneven fingernails along the wood of the table as she spoke, and Alerrin's eyes snapped to the staccato rhythm. He hated that particular habit, Vi knew.
"Alright then. I can't think of a reason not to let him stay. Give him some hard labor; I want to see if he protests or speaks up. As for the elder woman - she has trouble standing, lifting. What's for her?" Vi stopped drumming her nails and Alerrin looked immensely relieved - well, for Alerrin, anyway. Immensely relieved on his face subsisted of a few small wrinkles between his eyebrows easing. He looked back towards Vi.
"The spare topsail needs mending if her fingers are to the task."
"Good. See to it." He nodded, once, and Viara continued. "So, to Highever. We were just there... anything to deliver? We're in need of coin."
"Yes, Captain, I was about to mention. The dwarf came by with another shipment to be delivered to Kinloch Hold. It is small, but he said the order is urgent. At the Princess, like usual."
Vi nodded in understanding. The lyrium trade was always a guaranteed profit; she'd gotten involved nearly three years ago. It was slightly dangerous, and required her to travel inland, but a sure bet was a rare thing, and Viara almost never turned down a lyrium deal. Surfacer dwarves had an easier time of it, going straight from Orzammar to the Hold and back again, but that route was often attacked by bandits or others hired by the Chantry who wished to stamp out the unauthorized trade, or so Viara had been told. It seemed to make sense enough - going a roundabout way ensured the deal could be completed. Regardless, she gained.
"Anything else?"
"Legitimately, medicines and herbs for trade with surfacers at Orzammar. If you wish to continue west after that, there is a weapons shipment to Val Royeaux, or if you wish to go North, a similar delivery in Cumberland in the Free Marches, for the Imperium." Vi smiled, pleased. Deliveries of different sorts, freeing up room in the hold and earning her coin. Though she did hate dealing with the Chantry at Val Royeaux. Exalted March. Pah. Pious assholes.
"We'll see which way the wind takes us, aye?" She lifted a brow to Alerrin and he managed to almost smile - at least, the corners of his eyes lifted up.
"Aye, Captain." He nodded, rigidly and with respect, before turning and leaving the room.
"To Highever, and then Kinloch Hold." Vi spoke to herself after Alerrin had closed the door, blowing some hair from her face. "That should only take a few days..." They'd leave directly, at sunup. In the meantime, might as well work on that ledger...