Chapter 120 A First Night in the Galley (1/2)
The climb down was harder than the climb up had been. Mostly because it only reinforced the fact that Ebony had been stuck up so high all day. It was only as the sun began to set that Isaac had returned from abandoning her at midday to relieve her of her duties. Though as she left he had instructed her to be up the mast and ready to take over from him come dawn. She didn't in the least bit like the prospect of climbing up so high for another full day, but the work itself was relatively easy. Isaac had only needed the morning to instruct her on the calls and what to look for. He'd told her quite plainly that the hardest part of the job was when one was staring at the horizon constantly. Sometimes it messed with the mind, and created things that weren't there. As such, having something to distract oneself on occasion helped with concentration, such as Isaac's whittling or Ebony's embriodery.
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She'd taken out the cloth and cotton cautiously, and Isaac had smirked.
”Not what I expected,” he'd said, though hadn't teased her further. Ebony was grateful for that.
As Ebony's feet finally set themselves firmly on the main deck once more, she breathed a sigh of relief.
”Hard day?”
Ebony jumped at the voice, turning to find Rassa smiling at her. The bastard didn't look the least bit phased, just like after every day of hard work. It didn't seem the bother him in the least bit, which only seemed to bother Ebony and Aegin more. It was like nothing could touch the guy. Well, she supposed nothing could, but that was beside the point.
”I'll be okay,” Ebony said after a moment. Aegin didn't look okay. He didn't exactly looked ragged, but he hardly looked okay either. Ebony could only ascertain that he'd had to do a fair amount of labour, more than the docks had given them.
”Let's eat, I'm starving,” Aegin grumbled, turning to follow the crew down into the galley.
While Midas had only pointed at it during their quick tour that morning, Aegin and Rassa had been down earlier when they were ordered to help peel and chop vegetables. Apparently, those of the lowest rank got to help the cook. Rassa wasn't bothered by the couple of hours of work to feed the crew of eighty, in fact, he seemed to turn his nose up at the food there, though was doing his hardest not to show it. Aegin on the other hand had thought it pure toture to sit there and prepare everything and then be forbidden from touching the finished product until the evening meal. Despite the extra rations that Rassa had secretly passed him, he was famished.
The Galley, as mentioned earlier, was on the third deck. The deck itself was sitting just at the waterline, but there were no windows to see out, only dimly lit candles lined the walls and tables, giving an eerie feeling to the galley. There were three long tables that each sat about twenty individuals. Apparently those with a higher rank usually dined with the captain in his quarters, and of course there were those who would eat later, or earlier in Isaac's case, that were currently on watch. Aegin, Rassa and Ebony arrived when about thirty sailors had already been served and had taken a seat at the long tables. There was a merry atmosphere amongst them, though no drinks accompanied them. Apparently alcohol was forbidden on the ship, water only. Still, that didn't dim their spirits. The three new recruits could tell that the crew were all in high spirits, a result no doubt of their return to the open ocean. They'd only had a taste of it today, but there were two moments that were memorable to just about everyone who became a part of a ship. The first was when you stared out at the endless ocean and realised that you could truly go anywhere with how large the world was. The second reason was the feeling of working in unison with so many others to reach a common goal. The three of them, having been forcibly isolated for one reason or another, had never felt they belonged or that they were a part of anything. Now that they'd experienced it, even if they were still cautious of those around them, they could sense just how great that feeling of belonging was.