The captain and the navigator |
Closed starter for @vanityaintnosin
Leaving the busy market behind it was a blessing stepping into the more shady side streets with the temperature cooling down and less people around. It was hot in Kingston, probably one of the hottest days of the year, but this could also be one of her luckiest.
A pirate captain, William Vane, had come to visit the town with the intention of hiring a navigator. His life was happening at sea most of the times, that’s for sure, but for hiring a new crew member he definitely had to go ashore and hold a meeting in a tavern somewhere far from the centre. It was called ‘The Drunken Hen’, a popular tavern for pirate meetings.
And the pirate captain was vain indeed. Ayako had heard stories about him, saw him on wanted posters scattered everywhere she had went. Probably his handsome appearance had given him the name but since he had to change it now he was called ‘Vane’. Vain but deadly. Although he was one of the youngest pirate captains she knew he was infamous already. He and his ship Rosamunde.
Clothed not as a lady but as a man Ayako entered the street where she saw the hen hanging over the entrance door. Women weren’t welcomed in pirate crews since they said they would bring misfortune and death. So her first attempt on convince the pirate capatin to hire her it was her looking as a man clothed in typical pants, a white shirt, a pair of suspenders and a cap on top of her hidden long hair. She even dirtied her face with coal to cover her feminine features.
Actually she didn’t thought of him being that dumb but maybe he would be so friendly to even hire a woman. She would take the risk.
Amidst singing drunkards, courtesans and people fighting for fun Aya stood in line for having a talk with Vane who let the many applicants introduce themselves, sitting at a table with him, one after another. Some were only sitting there for about ten seconds, others for even a few minutes. All in all she waited for half an hour to have her own special turn.
Since everyone knew who he was she could imagine that he didn’t want to introduce himself first so Aya sat down on the chair and started talking, lowering her voice so the masquerade wouldn’t fall so fast.
“My name is Henry Colby, son of a japanese harlot and an english shipbuilder. Since I was a child I was interested in seafaring but since my parents were poor I could never be the one to go out and see the sea for myself. Everything is self-taught but my skills are so excellent even the naval appointed me to one of their best leading navigators a few years ago. You can convince yourself of that when you give me the chance to sail with you.”
