As the princess of Frilla you felt nothing but trapped. Caged like a small frail bird. In a split decision to leave your home, you are thrown into a whirlwind of adventure treasure and death. Oh! and your missing brother of five years is now a pirate on the ship you’re taken to. Lucky Stars. Right?
→ warning, brief mention of a sexually abusive past - not elaborated but insinuated.
→ ml | prologue | previous | next
Jiwoo didn’t move from the cot for another week and a half. Her knee hurt like hell, but she could feel her shoulder healing up nicely. She learnt that the master healer’s name was Yeosang and, that he was the owner of the first voice she had heard upon waking up. Yeosang was nice. He was soft spoken and talked to Jiwoo about things that didn’t really matter. She liked him, he was kind.
He also explained what exactly had happened to her, no beating around the bush. Jiwoo realised that she was grateful to be told everything, that it didn’t matter she was a woman. One bullet lodged into her knee cap, that Yeosang hadn’t had a hard time getting out but would leave quite the scar. He said that it would take quite a while before it would be fully healed – “A couple of months tops,” he said, “the bullet fractured the bone.” – but she’d be able to walk soon enough. The bullet to her shoulder had missed the joint but had unfortunately entered through the skin. Luckily for Jiwoo, it was a through and through bullet. Meaning she only had to wear the sling he had given her for another couple of days – “Ten days for the sling.” He smiled, handing her a piece of cloth.
Jiwoo would like to say Yeosang was slowly becoming her friend. Their short conversations turned into lengthy ones as he stayed by her side to keep the conversation going even after her bandages had been changed. She learned what she could from how little he spoke of the crew. Jiwoo knew how to find information in the smallest of words and how to keep that information in her thoughts. Something she had to thank her father for, perhaps the only thing she’d thank her father for. She had learned most of the crew’s names by now, Yeosang only liked to talk about a select few of them. He was smart, she noticed. He wouldn’t refer to them by name very often and she would get confused between the couple of names he had slipped at the beginning. But Jiwoo was also smart. She was also quick.
The first name he had slipped was San. He wasn’t really talking about him, telling Jiwoo a small story about her brother. Yeosang liked to talk about her brother, not that she hated hearing about him. In the middle of the story of how Wooyoung had managed to get himself, drunk, caught in the rigging, hanging from one of the masts (Jiwoo could honestly say she knew nothing about boats. Or perhaps she should say ships?) before he had been cut down.
“And the San just came swishing past out of nowhere, like the lunatic he is, cutting the rope before disappearing again.” Yeosang had laughed. “Wooyoung had dropped like a dead fish, landing right into our youngest’s arms!”
She had also deduced that this situation seemed to be a while ago, or at least before Nagyung was aboard the ship, Jiwoo recalled overhearing Nagyung saying she was the youngest of their little group. Unless, of course, Yeosang had meant that Wooyoung had fallen into Nagyung's arms. Jiwoo doubted it, considering Nagyung was smaller than she was and Wooyoung was, well, all big and muscly.
So now she knew nine names: Nagyung, Yeosang, San, Yunho, Mingi, Jongho and the last two names she had heard from passing voices - Seonghwa and Jisun.
And Wooyoung.
But he didn’t count.
She had yet to find out the captains’ names though, nor did she know of his infamous sister’s name.
“Would you like to take a walk today?” Yeosang asked her, fixing the dressing on her knee and pulling her away from her thoughts.
“What if I fall?”
He smiled and shrugged, fingers falling away from her knee. “I’ll help you, don’t worry about it. Your muscle needs to get used to walking again, even if you need assistance at first.”
It was strange. Jiwoo had never been helped to walk before. Sure, she had linked arms with her mother and handmaiden, Hayoung, and even with Gunho when he allowed it – “Lady Jiwoo, I can’t possibly hold arms with a princess! I’m a stable boy!” – but she had never had to rely on someone to keep her upright.
Yeosang was a gentleman however. Jiwoo hadn’t expected him to be so gentle and kind, bearing in mind that he was one of the pirates from the pirate ship she was on. Jiwoo constantly had to remind herself of that fact. Pirates. They were pirates. Pirates who’s faces were on wanted posters.
He helped Jiwoo stand like he had done previously, guiding her up by the hand before leaning forward slightly to hold her elbows so she could center yourself. He then manoeuvred himself around her body so now they were shoulder to shoulder and, strangely, Jiwoo didn’t mind it when his arm wrapped loosely around her waist. His other hand was free by his own side, using it to open doors and shallowly move things out of the way but she noticed it crossing his torso to hover by her elbow closest to him.
Pirate. He’s a pirate.
But he’d shown her nothing but kindness.
They walked slowly. Jiwoo tried her best not to wince every time she put too much weight on her bandaged leg, wanting to will herself better sooner. Her bare feet felt funny against the wooden floor. The floor wasn’t wet, or damp, but it was water damaged. She hadn’t felt water damaged wooden on her bare skin before. She felt it was quite comforting actually; that the ship could take on such a force as water and stay afloat. Jiwoo didn’t know much about ships or the sea, when her father would take her to visit neighbouring ports and cities, he always made her stay inside the cabin.
He didn’t want a woman to distract his men.
When they got out to the deck Jiwoo let out a gasp. The sea breeze felt good albeit, a little rough but good nonetheless. It smelled like the ocean, a scent Jiwoo had always enjoyed.
“What?” Yeosang asked, lips quirking into an amused grin. “Never seen a deck before?”
“No.” Jiwoo answered honestly. “Not at sea anyway.”
Yeosang’s amusement sharply turned into curiosity. Something Jiwoo had learnt he was full of. “How can you not have seen a deck before?”
“Whenever my father brought me along on his trips, he would force me to stay inside the captain’s cabin at all times.” Jiwoo shrugged. She failed to notice Yeosang’s expression fall for a split second. She wouldn’t have cared anyway, she was used to her father’s treatment by now. “It’s pretty.”
At her last words Yeosang almost made the two of them fall over. His laughter was loud, and he had to let go of Jiwoo as he doubled over. As he did, Jiwoo felt two small hands press against her back, keeping her upright just as she wobbled. Nagyung had come to her rescue, smiling gently at the princess. When Yeosang managed to look up at the two girls there were tears welling up in his eyes. Jiwoo hadn’t thought her words to be funny at all however, Yeosang looked like he was having trouble breathing because of them.
“Never have I heard a ship’s deck referred to as pretty. Especially not this one, have you seen the mugs who work on it?” He finally managed to get out between laughs.
Jiwoo had to admit that she didn’t quite know why Yeosang had found her words hilarious a smile bloomed upon her lips at the sound of it. His laugh was pretty.
“You’re one of the mugs that work on it.” A new voice came from behind her. Jiwoo turned her head to look over her shoulder, to the best of her ability, to see the pirate from the tavern coming towards them. The captain, one of the people Yeosang talked about the most but had yet to give her his name. At his voice, Yeosang seemed to snap out of his laughing spell, springing up to his full height and turning quickly to face his captain – “Captain!” – with a bright grin.
The captain grinned back at him, coming to a stop next to Nagyung, who showed no signs of struggling to keep Jiwoo upright. He nodded at the two women, grin still imposed over his lips. Jiwoo had to make a very hard effort now to gasp at the sight of his face. Now in the fresh air, under a golden sun and surrounded by his crew, his ship and the open sea, he seemed to glow. She had only seen his face up-close once, showed in shadow under a large brimmed hat with a frown and a sneer plastered across his face. Now he looked happy, in charge. And quite attractive.
He wore no hat now, replacing it for an orange patterned bandana to keep his fringe off of his face. It was tied as such in the back that the longer hair there was underneath it, sticking to his neck with sweat, due to the heat of the day. His dark eyes shone under the sun’s rays, sparkles that reminded Jiwoo of a clear starry sky at night. He wore a plan white cloth shirt; like she had worn (Does anyone own any other article of clothing?), like her brother had worn but he wore his differently. The shirt was buttoned up all the way bar the top three buttons, his collar bones only just in sight, tucked into a pair of linen trousers of the same colour, wider at the bottom and rolled up at least three times. He looked casual, hands in his pockets. He reminded her of a sailor boy, only, the ones in the stories she read. The real sailor boys in her father’s armada wore red. His skin glowed, a healthy tan from exposure to the sun. Jiwoo almost wanted to touch his exposed skin just to see if it was actual gold or not. She refrained, holding into Nagyung gently.
“Need your help with something. It’s Mingi.” The captain spoke clearly, keeping eye contact for a second before turning on his heel and walking towards the infirmary. Yeosang nodded once but didn’t move to leave after him. His eyes rose to the two girls, eyebrows starting to furrow slightly.
“Everyone’s being made use of today! Go on Yeo, captain’s orders!” Nagyung chirped, a smile falling over her features. Yeosang looked from her to Jiwoo before letting out a small sigh. A small smile crept onto his lips as he shook his head slightly.
“I’ll leave her in your hand then, okay Nagyungie?”
Nagyung only smiled in response.
Jiwoo could admit she felt safe with Nagyung. It wasn’t a weird feeling to feel safe around another woman, not to Jiwoo anyway. It wasn’t like she felt unsafe around Yeosang, she was just wary of all men. She hadn’t had many good role models to build her opinion on. Her father was abusive, her uncle a creep. Her brother ran away and left her with such father and there had been many a man bid for her favour with mis intention within their stare. There were few that were kind, that she felt safer around. Gunho had never put a foot wrong – whether that was to keep hi head or not Jiwoo was still unsure – and the old man who cooked for the castle with his wife was a wonderful person sadly, one Jiwoo hadn’t the pleasure of knowing on a personal level.
Nagyung was surprisingly strong for her stature. The two girls walked slowly but made their way to the bow. “Normally Jisun and I sit over on the bowsprit, but I don’t think that’d be a good idea with your knee. You wouldn’t be able to use your legs to keep yourself up and not in the water.” The girl giggled, pulling them to sit on what looked like a home-made bench. “This will have to do.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
Nagyung giggled once again, looking as if she were about to point out that Jiwoo had, in fact, just asked a question but she simply nodded instead.
“How is your hair different?”
Nagyung’s eyes lit up at Jiwoo’s question, like she had wanted to be asked the question for a while and Jiwoo had just handed her gold.
“I didn’t get around to telling you, did I? Im a mermaid!” He exclaimed, smiling like that answered the whole question. Jiwoo stared at her for a few moments, eyebrows furrowing a little. She wasn’t shocked about the revelation – at least not as she thought she should be – but she was still confused.
“Okay…” She said slowly. “How does that corelate to your hair?”
Nagyung looked at her with wide innocent eyes for a few seconds, as if she wasn’t expecting that question to come from Jiwoo’s lips – “Not the follow up question I was expecting.” “What? Expect me to freak out that you’re a mermaid?” “Everyone else does” – but smiled up at her anyways.
“How much do you know about mermaids?”
“Not enough, apparently.” Jiwoo grumbled as Nagyung giggled.
“Well, I was granted my legs by a Sea Sprite–”
“–There’s only three of them, right? Like the Fates?”
“Yes! That’s right! You’re smart!” Nagyung enthused, her head bobbing up and down with furious excitement. “So I can only change between forms during the full day of a full moon.”
Jiwoo nodded, encouraging her to continue.
“My hair changes colour with the phases of the moon!” Nagyung exclaimed with a grin. “It’s it super cool? When the moon is full my hair is almost completely white! And when the moon is new my hair goes dark like the night sky without it.”
“So what’s the pink for? Im guessing the half colours is because the cycle is halfway done, right?”
“Again, you’re correct! My natural hair is pink! So I guess that’s what it is when it isn’t white.” She smiled. “Every mermaid has a different change colour, but it’s always black and white during the full and new moon. At least, from the kingdom I’m from.” Nagyung’s tone turned wistful, like she was stuck between reminiscing and not wanting to think about it.
Jiwoo could relate to that.
“Can I ask you a question now?” Nagyung’s voice was low in volume, like she was unsure of herself. Jiwoo nodded with no hesitation.
“It’s only fair.” She smiled kindly.
“Do you hate Wooyoung?”
Jiwoo had taken a few moments to answer. Not because she really had to think about it, for she knew she could never hate her brother. That word was reserved for her father and his equals. She was just angry and hurt. She knew what hate felt like and it wasn’t what she felt for her brother. Nagyung’s question had startled her a little, not expecting it.
“No.” She whispered after a bout of silent. “No, I don’t hate him.”
“Then why are neither of you talking?”
“How much do you know about my brother?”
“Quite a bit…” Nagyung trailed off, unusually not wanting to brag for once, “I would say he’s my best friend.”
“Then you know he ran away from our… predicament.”
“Yes.”
“I was fifteen.”
Nagyung laid a hand over Jiwoo’s. It was comforting, the most comfort Jiwoo had been given in a long while.
“So was I, when I ran away.” She whispered. Jiwoo looked at her through watery eyes. Maybe Nagyung would understand both of the Jung siblings more than they would ever know.
Jiwoo cleared her throat, the feeling of pushing away her tears before they fell was like routine to her now. “It happened faster than it felt like. It was about two month of looking that my father decided I would become his new toy to play with. He put me through training his soldiers went through, taught me how to use a sword and a gun. When my mother died a year later, he decided it was finally time to put me to use. Just like he had done with Wooyoung.” She chuckled humourlessly. “I always thought that he would come back and save me.”
After another bout of silence, while Nagyung twisted their hands so their fingers were intertwined, the young mermaid spoke up. “He did though, didn’t he?”
“Did he?” Jiwoo scoffed lowly. She knew it would make sense, the words of her captors before she passed out running through her ears, “grab her and let’s go,” he had said, like they were expecting to get her. It didn’t mean she had to acknowledge it.
“Jiwoo…” Nagyung started, biting her bottom lip as her brows furrowed in thought. “Why do you think we came to Gilway Wharf in the first place?”
Jiwoo simply looked back up from her lap to Nagyung’s face.
“We came to get you. I’m sorry that you had to deal with so many years of torture before we did.” Her words were serious, solemn and asking for forgiveness even though she had done nothing wrong, none of them had. Not even Wooyoung.
“’You nought ask forgiveness out of sorrow not yours’.” Jiwoo quoted. Ten they settled back into silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable, the sound of the ocean waves against the boat was calming, the sound of the crew working around them was somehow calming, the rhythmic stroking of Nagyung’s thumb on the back of her hand was soothing.
“Who said that?” Nagyung asked after a while, her innocent eyes making Jiwoo smile fondly at her.
“My mother.”
“She sounds… very wise.”
“She was. So very wise and so very kind.”
“Wooyoung hardly ever talks about his mother.” Nagyung whispered and Jiwoo almost didn’t hear her. She acted like she hadn’t.
Nagyung made the split decision to brighten the atmosphere by tugging gently on their clasped hands as she stood, her expression once again a bright grin. “I may have a way for your leg to get better faster, if you’re up for it?”
Jiwoo raised an intrigued eyebrow.
“Mermaid magic.” Nagyung giggled, wiggling the fingers of her free hand.
Jiwoo shrugged her shoulders, “sure”, as Nagyung helped her stand up. The two girls walked over to a couple of nearby barrels. Jiwoo rested against one as Nagyung popped the lid of the other one, open with her hands, to reveal clear and clean water.
“How strong are you?”
“I can lift four times my own weight! Five when I’m in the water with my tail.”
“Wow. Is that a mermaid thing?”
“Yes! Much to the crew’s disappointment. When they learned about it, they all wanted to learn how I got so strong and how they could themselves. I told them ‘be born with a tail!’ but they didn’t find it funny.”
“I think it’s funny.”
“Thank you! Wooyoung did too.” Nagyung smiled, the comment coming naturally to her as she let her bare arms rest in the water.
Jiwoo let herself smile a little. Nagyung really did like talking about her brother, didn’t she? Jiwoo decided that she didn’t mind.
“Now, I’m gonna lift you up and let you sit on that barrel, then we’ll get to the fun bit!” Nagyung said, and then she carried out her words. Jiwoo felt a little weird, being picked up by a girl both stronger and smaller than her, but she didn’t have the heart to voice her thoughts. Nagyung tugged gently on Jiwoo’s legs letting them sink into the water of the open barrel. Jiwoo watched as water sloshed out and onto the deck as the space was overtaken by her legs. She tucked at the linen ‘shorts’ she wore, not particularly wanting to get them wet.
“Okay, I’ve done this a few times, but it takes a lot out of me so Yeosang doesn’t like me doing it.”
“Then why are we doing it? I’ll heal in time.”
“Yes, in time! I can heal you right now and then you won’t have to rely on anyone to do something as simple as walking!”
“Okay.” Jiwoo yielded, though she didn’t put up much of a fight. She did want to walk by herself again.
Nagyung smiled and then closed her eyes, hands under the water, fingers circling her injured leg. It didn’t hurt, not anymore than her knee already did anyway, but the feeling of water traveling up one’s legs like another layer of skin was weird. Jiwoo tried not to flinch as the cold water travelled over her knee but her body twitched a little involuntarily. She didn’t like anything touching her thighs – she still had problems with her own hands touching her thighs when she washed herself. She saw Nagyung’s head tilt towards her out of curiosity, but the young girl didn’t open her eyes, nor did she ask any questions. Jiwoo relaxed at the thought of not having to explain herself just yet.
Nagyung mumbled words Jiwoo couldn’t quite catch and then the pain in her knee started to fade away. After a full minute, Jiwoo couldn’t feel any pain in her knee at all, her eyes wide in amazement. Nagyung pulled her hands out of the water and gave her a tired smile.
“Shall we do your shoulder too?”
Jiwoo frowned, looking down to the shoulder in question, not sure how she had forgotten that she was injured in two places. Her gaze flickered back to Nagyung who pulled a reassuring smile across her face but Jiwoo was unconvinced. She knew what it looked like to hide ones tiredness – her mother used to do it often.
Jiwoo shook her head gently, smiling fondly at the younger girl. “You’ve done more than enough. I barely feel pain in my shoulder anyway, keep what’s left of your strength.”
Nagyung simply nodded, helping her out of the barrel and back to the floor of the ship. The girls grinned at one another when Jiwoo stood up by herself without her knee buckling.
“You’re amazing!” Jiwoo grinned, the first time her real smile had been seen in a long time, as she pulled the pink haired girl into her arms for a hug. Nagyung accepted it with the same amount of enthusiasm. Before long Jiwoo pulled away with a sharp jerk. “Did I just put my feet in drinking water?” She frowned, not wanting to have contaminated water for her own gain. Nagyung simply shook her head.
“These barrels are for washing the deck, the water barrels are further up deck, closer to the captain’s cabin.”
Jiwoo nodded out of relief.
“Speaking of captains…” the runaway princess trailed off as they started walking again, linking arms without Nagyung having to support Jiwoo anymore. “What is his name?” She asked hopefully.
Nagyung let out a little giggle, her smile growing as she noticed how much Jiwoo’s mood had improved. Nagyung felt proud of herself for helping the way she did. She couldn’t wait to tell Wooyoung all about it! When she opened her mouth to answer her new friend, the voice of the captain himself cut her off.
