by Robin Roseau
"You get used to it, Mama," Minori said. "It feels nice."
"Show me yours and I'll show you mine," Sorri said quietly to me.
"Forget it," I said. "How deep is it?"
"You can dive in if you like, but make it a shallow dive." Sorri dived in, still wearing her suit, and I followed after her. She swam around for a minute, then came up behind me and dunked me once.
"Hey!" I sputtered after her.
"Radha, throw me the soap, will you?"
Sorri caught the soap and handed it to me. "Hang onto this for a minute." Then she shimmied out of her suit and took the soap from me. She washed her suit carefully, then rinsed it and paddled over towards Radha. Radha caught the suit, complaining about the water that splashed her, and spread the suit out on the rocks to dry.
Sorri swam back to me. "Your turn."
"Fine," I said. "You have to do the laces."
"Turn around."
She helped me out of my suit and washed it for me, then sent it flying at Radha. "Come on, we can sit over near the waterfall and wash up."
I let her bathe me, even coaxing me to stand under the waterfall to rinse off. We paddled around the pool for a while longer but eventually crawled out onto the rocks. Everyone else was already there, and Radha had towels laid out for us to lie down on.
"Don't you like to swim, Commander?" Lindora asked.
"It's Radha today," she said. "And I love to swim. I won't wait on you after today, but we wanted to make sure you got settled in properly. But if no one minds, I'm going to jump in."
"Go ahead," Sorri said immediately.
Radha didn't wait. She shucked off her clothing and made a clean dive into the water. Sorri threw her the soap after a minute then settled down on a towel next to me.
I would have fallen asleep, and been burned badly, but Sorri made me get up after a few minutes. We all got dressed and returned to camp.
* * * *
Captain Sorri Westmere
"Shhh... Rani, shhhh... It's okay. I'm here. I'm here." It had been a bad baiting session. She had warned me it would be bad and asked me to bind her arms. It was a good thing. She had needed it.
Sanity returned to her eyes and she burst into tears.
"Shhh," I told her. "Everything is going to be fine."
She sobbed in my arms. "You're not going to last even as long as Mori did. I say such horrible things. I don't mean them!"
The thing is, she did. They were all true. They were said with such venom, but they were all true, more or less, perhaps blown out of proportion, but true. It hurt to hear, but I wasn't going to let it stop us.
"Listen to me," I said, holding her by her bound arms and crouching down so my face was in front of yours. "I don't like this. I don't enjoy it. I won't sugar coat it. But I am not letting this get in our way. If you decide you do not want to be with me for other reasons, then so be it. But it will not be for this."
"I'd rather say hateful things to someone I don't care about than say them to you, Sorri. And you'll get tired of hearing them. We should stop now, before I fall any more in love with you."
"No!" I said. "Stop thinking that way. Just stop."
"How can you want me?" Tears were still crawling down her face. But she pressed her head against my chest.
"I do. I don't know how to explain it. But I do." I held her tightly. "But honey, why was this one so bad?"
She didn't answer me.
"Rani, I want an answer."
"I hate this," she said quietly. "I hate doing this. I hate screaming at you."
"So you hold off asking."
She didn't answer.
"When we were doing this twice a day, they weren't bad." I thought back. "I thought you were seeing Glora. You aren't, are you?"
She refused to answer me.
"Come with me," I said roughly. I hadn't unbound her hands, and I pulled her along, her hands bound behind her.
"Sorri!"
"Come with me," I said again. "Now I am angry."
She tried to dig her heels in, but I was much bigger and stronger than she was, and I dragged her with me. It was a five-minute walk back to our camp. By the looks we got, I knew everyone had heard her in spite of the distance. I spotted Lindora. "Ms. Karden, where is your mother?"
"Mess hall," she said. "Playing cards."
"Thank you." I dragged Rani to the mess hall with her protesting feebly.
Everyone saw us enter. Glora took everything in with one glance, spoke quietly to the people she was playing cards with, and hurried over to me. She grabbed Rani's other arm, and the two of us marched her back out.
"I heard everything," Glora said once we were down on the beach. "Why was this one so bad?"
"When was the last time you baited her?" I asked.
"On the ship. She wasn't asking."
"She hasn't been asking me, either."
"I thought she was asking you or Commander Halfheart."
"And I thought she was going to you."
Glora looked at Rani sadly. Rani looked defiant.
"What do you want from me?" she asked Glora hotly. "I may have been happy to scream at you two weeks ago, but do you think I want to ruin things with you now?"
"Twice a day," I said. "Glora, do you want mornings or evenings?"
"I'll take evenings if you can make sure she sees me, but your schedules may conflict. I am just as happy in the mornings. But if I do evenings, then you can have her afterwards without the immediate memory between you."
"This is ridiculous," she told us both.
"If she doesn't come to see you every night by an hour after dinner, Glora, find me or one of the officers and report her."
"I am not a child!" she said. "Do not treat me like one."
"We won't," Glora said. "As long as you do what you are told."
"Oh, that's precious."
"We are two of the four people who most care about you," Glora said. "And we are going to take care of you."
"Four? Most?"
"Me, Dinor, Minori, Sorri. Four. Others include my other two children and Commander Halfheart. Your parents also ask your brother about you, so I believe they love you, even if you are estranged."
"How is this going to be any better than how I was before? I am horrible!"
"No, the price of your magic is horrible. You are precious."
"You don't believe that," Rani told her sister-in-law.
"I certainly do. The captain isn't going to unbind your wrists until you agree, so the sooner you agree, the sooner you can come play cards with us. Jorek is bored and wants to go sailing, and I think Yora would like a nap."
She turned to me. "Swim lesson."
"In an hour."
She looked at me. "I don't want to scream at either of you."
"I know you don't."
She looked away. "If I could afford it, I'd hire someone."
Glora chuckled. "You would pay someone to accept your abuse twice a day?"
"It might not be any worse than a lot of people treat their servants."
"That may be a reasonable long term solution. For now, we have a short term solution," Glora said. "If this becomes too difficult, I am sure some of the soldiers don't care who yells at them. Perhaps baiting you could be used as a punishment for people who break the rules."
I smiled. "What an excellent suggestion. We can make someone scrub the decks until they goad you into a proper tongue lashing."
Rani smiled wanly. "When was the last time one of your seamen needed punishment?"
"A few times a week, usually for something minor. A tongue lashing from you would be an appropriate punishment for minor transgressions."
"I'd be a good verbal disciplinarian," she said with a half smile.
"So do you agree? You will come to me every morning, and Glora every late afternoon or early evening?"
"Fine," she said. "But you two will talk to each other, and if this starts to cause a problem, you will find another solution. One that does not involve m
e yelling at your children, Glora."
"Of course not," she said. "Rani, have you noticed though? You are a lot of fun when you aren't screaming. My other two children are asking to spend time with you. The other passengers were leery at first, but they are joining in on things you organize. I overheard the crewmen talking about you, and they had nice things to say. This is working."
She looked down, embarrassed. "It will take a long, long time to undo years of damage."
"You are bright with a good sense of humor and a wicked card player. Everyone wants to partner with you, when you aren't snapping at them for the way they play."
Rani looked up. "Thank you for the pep talk. Sorri, I have agreed to your plan and am not currently a raving lunatic. Will you unbind my arms?"
"I don't know," I told her. "There is something I haven't done yet."
"What?" she asked suspiciously.
"Investigated the location of your ticklish places."
"And you aren't going to, either!" she said hotly. "If you talk me into the bindings for some other reason, then we'll talk. But you will not abuse me after something like this."
"You're right. I'm sorry." I stepped behind her and removed the bindings, then pulled her against me. She leaned against me.
"Thank you."
"Will you two play cards with us, then, or were you going somewhere more private?"
"Cards. I'm still not completely calm," Rani said. "I'm sorry, Sorri."
"It's all right," I said. "I like this game. Can we be partners?"
"No," Glora said. "You may not."
* * * *
My students progressed rapidly with their swimming lessons. I worked Rani especially hard. She periodically attempted to rebel, but if I were firm, she did what I told her to do. She saw daily improvement both in technique and endurance, and she seemed to enjoy the resulting praise.
Rani settled in with her twice daily baiting sessions, and they weren't bad at all. In between, she was cheerful. She still was short with anyone who was particularly stupid, but she only said things the rest of us were thinking.
All the passengers seemed to enjoy their time on the island. We filled their days with activities. Some enjoyed fishing; others enjoyed sailing in one of the longboats. Minori wanted to do everything and occasionally resented her swimming lessons, but she never rebelled.
We only had one deck of cards, and as Seven to Ten grew in popularity, competition for the one deck we had grew fierce. Radha was ready to implement a "passengers only" policy to resolve the dispute, but Glora led the group of passengers that rejected the policy.
"Let the crew play, but if there are passengers who wish to play, rotate one in. There are a lot more crewmembers here, and we are happy to see this game spread."
So that became the policy for the next several days.
During the morning swim lesson five days after we arrived at the island, the Fleetwind sailed into our inlet. My pupils were immediately ready to see what the ship had brought, but I insisted we finish the lesson. There was muttering, but I put an end to that by making them swim out to the ship, all at Glora's pace. I was going to make them swim back, but Glora wouldn't have made it, so I let Glora and the girls ride back in a longboat with some of the new supplies. I made Rani swim with me. She was dead tired by the time we got back. I felt refreshed.
"I love you," I told her quietly as she lay exhausted on the beach.
She rolled to face me, sand sticking to her skin. She was smiling broadly while still panting from the effort.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to blurt it out like that. I couldn't help myself."
"I love you too, Sorri," she said. She reached out and caressed my cheek. "Please make this real."
"It is, honey. Come on though. No one can have their things until you check the paperwork."
We took a quick dip in the pool, threw on some clothes, and then met everyone in the mess hall. Krissa was waiting for us along with all the passengers.
"It's about time!" Krissa said. "I was wondering if the two of you were off doing what rabbits do."
There was good natured laughter; Rani blushed.
"Bathing in fresh water?" I asked. "After an exhausting swim out to the ship and back?"
"She made it there and back?" Krissa asked. "Very impressive, Ensign."
"Thank you, Commander. The Captain has been working me very hard." She smiled at me and caressed my cheek again. The look she gave me, well, I vowed to remember how she looked just then.
"Ensign, I require you to verify the accounts," Krissa said. She waved at a table, and Rani sat down. Krissa set papers in front of her. "This is the list you asked us for. We have a special list for the items purchased on behalf of Ms. Bentmore. We have checkmarks near the things we bought, and we have the prices we paid listed for those the passengers owe." She went through the numbers. "Please review the accounts are correct, then count this money and disperse it as appropriate."
Rani handled everything professionally, checking all the numbers, then dispersing the coins to the waiting passengers. Then Krissa went through the lists, passing out purchases. "Ms. Bentmore, we have kept your gifts carefully wrapped and in your cabin on the Fleetwind, but we can bring them to shore if you would prefer."
"No, no, that is perfect. Thank you, Commander."
Soon, everything was handed out, some passengers receiving just a few articles of clothing, others far more. One passenger had asked for some fruit that only grew in Candora. Krissa had a basketful and handed them out to everyone. "We have more; the crew like them too. They won't last long, so the cooks will be making sure they disappear soon."
When we were done, Rani looked unhappy. She didn't have anything.
"Ensign," Krissa said. "We didn't forget you. You'll need to see the captain, however. Everything we got for you is in your pavilion."
"Thank you, Commander," she said. She looked at me. "Please?"
"Soon. What other tidbits did you get, Commander?"
"Some of the surprises we kept on board for the return voyage. But I hear the decks of cards we brought will be popular."
There was a small cheer at that news.
"The first mate said you've been teaching us a new card game, Ensign. Do you intend to share it with those who weren't here?"
"Captain, perhaps we should give proper lessons this evening. And perhaps we could have a tournament in the evenings. If the winner is a passenger, you could waive her ransom."
I laughed. "I don't think so, but I am sure I can find suitable prizes. Perhaps dinner with the captain."
"Seeing as how I am going to win," Rani said, "I think the prizes should be something we don't already get."
"Awfully cocky, Aunt Rani," Jorek said.
The commander passed out a few more things, then excused herself. "A quartermaster's job is never done. But perhaps this afternoon someone can teach me this card game."
Rani turned to me and pled with her eyes. I took her hand and led the way to our pavilion. "Close your eyes," I told her when we were standing outside. She closed them dutifully, and I pulled her inside. Everything was piled on our bed, carefully labeled.
"Stay," I ordered. "Please no peeking."
"I won't peek, but hurry."
I put several of the things away, hiding them. She could find them if she tried, but I trusted her.
"All right," I said. "I will give you a choice. Everything is wrapped for transport. It's not fancy wrapping. If you like, you may unwrap them, but I wouldn't mind doing it for you."
"You can open them," she said. "But hurry."
I laughed, sorted through them, and picked the first package. It was a pair of sandals suitable for the beach. I knelt down in front of her and said, "Put a hand on my shoulder and lift a foot." I slipped one shoe on, then the other. "You may look."
She looked down at her feet, then pulled me to mine and kissed me.
"They aren't fancy," I said.
"I love them," she said. She admire
d the sandals.
The next package were shoes more suitable for a jaunt in the forest. She had been confined to the immediate area of our camp because I wouldn't let her into the jungle in bare feet. I opened them and handed them to her. She hugged them. "Will you take me for a hike this afternoon?"
"A short one. We'll do a long hike for a picnic tomorrow. Everyone has similar shoes, so these are not special."
"I love them anyway." She kissed me again. "Thank you." She glanced behind her, and there were still several more packages waiting for her."
"Everything is very simple," I told her. "I hid a few more things, which I will give to you some other time."
We had two more tunics and two more breeches. One of the tunics was long sleeved and thin, suitable for the sun.
"Thank you, Sorri," she said after each gift, kissing me. When we were finished opening, we stored things in the chest in the corner and she turned to me, pulling me into her arms. "Time to bathe."
She grabbed fresh clothes for both of us and pulled me along to the grotto, flipping the sign to "Girls Only" as moved past it. We stepped onto a sunny stone ledge overlooking the water, and Rani turned to me, stepping into my arms. She carefully brushed my hair from my face then with one hand pulled me down into a deep, hungry kiss. Her other hand snaked around me and clutched my bottom, her fingers teasing their way underneath my light shirt and into my swimsuit with her fingers splayed against my skin.
I squirmed to her touch, pulling her tightly against me.
Our tongues danced together, and Rani's fingers began moving, teasing me at the base of my spine. I squirmed.
She broke the kiss, giggling, then helped me out of the shirt, laying it out on the warm stone. Her shirt joined mine, and then she stood up, offering a playful look up into my eyes. She grinned, stepped closer, and suddenly gave me a firm shove backwards. I flailed, attempting to catch my balance. I tried to grab her, but she ducked away and gave me another push, and I tumbled backwards into the water.
I rose to the surface, sputtering. Rani giggled down at me. I lunged for her legs, but she danced backwards then suddenly ran straight towards me, jumping at the last minute to dive cleanly into the water behind me. I chased after her and was about to catch her before she said, "You have a choice!"
"What choice is that?" I asked, moving closer.