| Sailing on a Summer's Day |
| Summary: | Kamron and Saffron spent some time on deck. |
| Date: | 6 September 2012 |
| Related Logs: | None, really. |
| Players: |
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| The Sea |
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| It's big and blue. |
| September 6, 289 |
Good, clear weather means smooth sailing, something that most people prefer, but is vaguely disappointing to Kamron Mallister. At least a little squall would be nice, but wishing for such a thing is liable to get one in serious, serious trouble. He's already played one half of thoroughly embarrassing the people in the cabins on either side of the one he shares with his new wife, and managed to get up enough energy to 'help' the crew out with lines and rigging a little, and now he's found a nice, calm spot at the back of the aftercastle. The knight has set up a folding camp chair made of a swoop of canvas in a wooden frame, sprawled out in it with his left leg crossed over his right, and tossed a fishing line over the back rail, bobbing the pole it's tied to every now and then as if some fish would be stupid enough to strike on bait hanging behind a fast-moving ship.
As a girl of a seaside family, sailing is not a foreign concept to Saffron Mallister. Sometimes it was the easiest way to navigate beyond the Banefort. To be back on the waters brings a comfort to the newlywed woman as she emerges from the lower decks. Her finer dresses have been locked away in wax-sealed trunks to ensure they stay dry which means she wears older, salt-stained dresses of well-worn linen and thin wool. Today's number is as soft as sunlight with white ribbon around the hems. She knows where she will find her husband, and thus sweeps in that direction with a corked gourd of fresh water and a small bundle of food from the galley. She moves about the deck as if she was born on it, but then again there is rarely a time that Saffron does not know where exactly to put her feet. "Are we to have fish for dinner tonight, My Lord?" She inquires as she comes up behind him.
Kamron turns his head as his lady wife's voice comes over the creak and groan of a ship underway, a soft smile spreading across his face. Rising to his feet and wedging the pole through the railing to keep it from being pulled overboard by the passage of the ship through the water, he responds, "Only if one flops up onthe deck, or if you're alright with buying some from a fishing board once we reach Talon Point." He reaches out to take Saffron's hands, leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek, and then half-turns away to collect a second chair, unfolding it and setting it up alongside his, "You look very comfortable, My Lady." Where that would be a carefully tuned insult from some, the knight makes it a light, intimate but not off-color compliment.
The new Mallister laughs gently, lifting her cheek to accept the kiss with a warm spread of dimples. "I would not mind a bit of fish," she admits as she looks after her husband as he fetches her chair. Once it is set up, she sweeps into it with a gathering of her skirts. She glances over toward him now that she is comfortable in the sling of canvas. The gourd and bundles are set down between them, and she stretches out her feet to lengthen her legs. "How long will it take for us to get to Talon Point?"
Kamron hovers just a bit as she gets settled in, absorbing the light rocking of the boat with an easy grace. Once she's seated and set, he steps back to collect the fishing pole and drop a little carefully back into his own chair. The extension of her feet and legs draws his eyes, and he shrugs slightly, looking up at the sail straining ahead of the centerline mast, "I'd say we should be there by early afternoon, my dear, so only another hour or two. Cutting the angle of the Cape a bit helps." He scooches his chair across the deck a little to get it closer to hers, drawing a momentary rasp of wood on wood, then reaches out with one hand to take her near hand, bracing the butt of the fishing pole under his right thigh, "That is fast enough, it's the second leg that will delay us, I'm afraid. Even with the wind on our side, going around the Cape will take a good deal longer than going across it."
At the rasp of the chair draws her eyes toward him, and a smile starts to build on her lips. She says nothing in regards to his need to be closer, perhaps because she shares that as well. Her fingers slip around his own, offering a gentle squeeze before she leans her head back to rest into the canvas and a small sigh escapes her lips. "I look forward to seeing the place we may one day call home, where we might raise up our children." Then she laughs. "But you can't decide to stay here now. I promised Annie I would be back at the Roost."
Kamron nods his head at her words, but the final ones draw a laugh, "I bet she would be quite cross if we decided to sail around for a year or two before settling down at Talon Point or Seagard." Another little ruffle of laughter alights on his lips, "Then again, even I might get sick of fish stew after a few months, so perhaps we'll have to find a new way to annoy my new goodcousin." The fishing pole bobs lightly, and Kam reaches up to steady it, frowning intently for a moment before he shakes his head, "…just the current…" Looking back to his new wife, he inquires, "So how was it that you used to do it as girls? And, perhaps more importantly, how did she return the favor?" If it weren't for the grin building at one corner of his lips, and the glitter of mischief in his eyes, one might think that was an entirely harmless, innocent question.
The almost-not-fish at the end of Kamron's pole causes her to laugh. "I'm sure that something will bite, my dearest… give it time." She then tilts her head a bit with thought at his posed question. "How did we cross each other? That was a bit difficult, to be honest… Anais and I grew up more like sisters than cousins… I found her crushes rather tiresome at times. She had a girlhood crush on a mapmaker's apprentice, but I was still chasing boys around with sticks at that point." She shakes her head a bit. "Anais was always more ahead of the game in that regard. She knew what she wanted and she went out and got it. She wanted to have a household to run, she found one to run. But, together? We just caused trouble for others."
Kamron laughs at the response, "You're not helping any, my dear." It's a warm, amused complaint, "Here I am poking carefully and slyly about to find out how to torment and tease you and your cousin the most, and you go and give me nothing." He makes a completely false sound of exasperation, "So like a woman." He pauses them, letting a thoughtful look settle onto his features — almost hiding the crooked grin. "You really think something will bite if I just wait?" His fingers squeeze hers lightly, "I'm not sure if I want to be bitten." Luckily, he's lowered his voice a little, and there are no crewmembers linger too close.
A warm and wonderful blush colors her cheeks as pink as peaches. "You are wonderfully maddening," Saffron says to her husband with a gentle laugh. "Besides, you're not much of a biter, though I could be." She winks to him before she slips her fingers along the back of his hand. "I do think if you show some patience you might pull a fish from the sea there, though perhaps not with the steady speed we are sailing along. I've never been one for fishing though… has always felt like such an inactive activity. I prefer a good hunt over fishing." She wrinkles her nose. "Will that be an issue, living in a fishing village?"
Kamron shakes his head at the 'offer' of biting, "No… I'm perfectly fine with kisses." Again, a chuckle rises to his lips, and he bobs the end of his fishing pole a moment with his shrug, "Just something to do with the time. I'm not a huge fisherman either. I leave that to the professionals." Shifting in his sling-chair, the knight thinks a moment, then shrugs again, "We may have to hire on a few hunters, but there are grasslands and woods in the hills above the Point. I'm sure there is game for hawks and bows." Laughing softly, he adds, "I've never been one for hunting. I like riding around with the hunters well enough, but I'll let others find the game."
At that, Saffron leans forward to press a kiss to his cheek, and it lingers there for a moment. "Kisses I can give, always." Then she leans back once more, holding gently to her husband's hand. "I've enjoyed hunting at times… it is rare that a woman can be given some freedom in the wilds and woods. Now that it sounds the bandit problems are being solved, perhaps I can venture out into the lands again without risking my life and limb." She looks to him. "What is it that you would do," she asks him, "when there is no war to worry about? No fishing, no hunting… what would you do, Love?"
Kamron smiles at her promise, nodding — if a little warily — at her discussion of going hunting, "I don't know that it will ever be safe for a lady to travel the wild parts of the Seven Kingdoms safely, Saffron. But unless this current conflict sends more broken men across the Cape, which it may, it should be safe to do without the masses of guards previously required. Hells, it should even be safe for just the two of us to go riding, so long as we don't go too far afield." The question that follows draws a laugh, "The same thing your father does when there's no war, on a smaller scale. I protect the people sworn to Seagard, and I train the next generation, so that House Mallister can be ready when the next war does come."
"Ah, so it is true," Saffron says in good humor, "I have married my father." There is then a small warmth of laughter that brings forth her dimples. "Though, my father always took joy in those tasks, so I imagine you will as well. But you must find some pleasure beyond such work too, Love," she says softly now as she squeezes his hand. "Perhaps that is just going for a swim with me now and then, or even taking a ride to get away. I want you to always be happy as well as honored by Lord Mallister." She offers him warmth and affection in her smile. "Too many old knights have I seen that have become surly by their work. Let us life and die happy."
Kamron laughs aloud at the dimpling words, "Ah, but I do not have the beard your father does, My Lady… nor do I think I could manage it if I tried." He nods, however, at the request that follow, "Oh, certainly I have other things that I enjoy doing. You've seen them already, Saffron. Well, many of them. Sailing, swimming, singing… most things beginning with the letter s." There's a pause, and his crooked grin blossoms full-force, "So long as it doesn't involve swords, sewing, or stewed lampreys." He makes a disgusted face at the last, "I just made that up as something that sounds disgusting, but I think I've done too good a job."
"I thought you liked swords," Saffron says with a mirthful laugh, her pale eyes dancing with amusement. "Or are you still upset I managed to best you?" And there is that Banefort — or perhaps it's just really Westerland — pride. Then she shakes her head with the warmth of a laugh. "Of course, I might have just gotten lucky," she resigns, even while her gaze continues to shine. She now begins to slip to her feet, adjusting the skirts of her simple dress. She steps up toward the aft rails of the little ship, looking down into the waters below.
Kamron waves off the mention of swords, "Silly little toothpicks, and the next best thing to useless against anyone in real armor." His airy, disparaging gesture is wide enough that when his fishing pole jerks with a strike, he almost loses it, having to scramble out of his chair to get a hold on it, laughing all the way. Once he's sure that the thing is secure again, though it bends slightly under the pull and the line darts this way and that, he glances over at his new-wed wife, "And you got a nice, solid hit in, my dear. I'll not take that away from you, and wouldn't even if I could." He chokes up on the fishing pole, getting his hands to the line itself to start pulling it in hand-over-hand.
Saffron laughs over her shoulder toward him as she leans against the railings. A gentle gust comes up, ruffling up through her crimson hair with the kind of gentle warmth of fingertips. She listens to his words though, tilting her head a bit with consideration. "I don't take pleasure in beating you up, though," she points out gently, even if there is a small smile pulling at the corners of her lips. "Come join me, Kamron… come look at the sea." She smiles gently as she looks back out. "Was it during the Ironborn Rebellion? The last time you were on a ship?"
Kamron does step up to the rail, but it's more the process of reeling in his fishing line hand-over-hand than it is to lounge against the rail, "There's not much that I like looking at more than the sea, Love." He pauses his gathering-in-of-line with it pointed nearly straight down off the aft end of the ship, still twitching back and forth, glancing aside to the banner of cinnamon hair and the woman who bears it, "Although you are certainly one of those things, wife of mine." And then he goes back to pulling in the fishing line, tugging a small fish — barely worth keeping, truth be told — out of the water and up into the air where he can draw it aboard, "On the way home, yes. When the Terricks are able to repay our loan to them, perhaps we'll purchase a little skiff to sail about close to the shore on. Would you like that?"
Pale eyes look at the little fish, and Saffron actually gives it a pitiful, "Awww." Then she turns her gaze back toward him, smiling softly at his words. "I would like that… I would like that very much. Perhaps something that even we could sail out just the two of us, or the three of us should we have a son by then." She looks out at the sea now, admiring the glitter of the sun on the blue waves. "Perhaps it can be strong enough to sail us as far south as the Banefort now and then?"
Kamron looks over at the pitious sound, actually sticking out his tongue at his wife for a moment, "It's not my fault it's so little." Yes, he left himself that wide open. Pulling the little fish aboard, he carefully threads the hook out of the twitching animal's jaw. He hesitates, looking at it, then shakes his head, "I think this little one's not worth the trouble of cleaning and cooking." There's a hint of question in his voice, as if to suggest that he'll keep it if she'd like to eat it for some reason. "I think we'll have to count on Lord Mallister's ships to get us to the Banefort when we want to go, my dear. There wasn't that much money, and a true Cape-crosser might be out of our reach, but we can always look."
"Let the poor thing go," Saffron encourages him with a nudge of her hip. There is a touch of mischief in her eyes though, and she offers him a pitiful smile. "Only the fish is too little." Then she turns her gaze back out across the glittering ocean once more. "Alright then, just around some of the Cape then." There is a moment of laughter in her eyes before she leans her cheek into his shoulder, the wind tossing locks of red up against his skin with a tickling gesture.
Kamron tucks the pole and line aside, then leans over the rail to let the fish fall the relatively short distance back down into the sea at her urging. Straightening back up, he wipes his hands on the opposite side of his pants, drying them a bit. "I like to just escape the land now and then." As she steps close, he wraps one arm around her waist, using the other hand to brush a few of those wayward locks up and around to the other side of her head, despite the smile that the tickling brush brings to his lips. "Not very knightly of me, I know. But Talon Point is a sailing town." Tilting his head down to rest atop hers, he adds, "Which is why I'm glad you like the water as well. I like sharing that love with you."
"I like to escape it too," Saffron murmurs as she leans her head against his, breathing in the familiar scent of her husband — a scent that she can only define in parts: the vague salt of the seat, the faint musk of sweat, and something else that almost smells like her. She indulges in it, lets it wrap her up. She reaches up to touch the side of his throat as he leans into her head and she smiles. "There is much we share and much we love, and it is good we do that all together."
Kamron nods his head against hers, dipping down to kiss the back of the raised hand, then laughs softly, quietly, "But not everything. You can have your nice, rich meals and your storytelling and reading of history, and I will train in the yards with my cleaver," there's a grin there, repeating an oft-thrown epithet for his axe, "and ride patrols, and brace before boars now and then." He lets out a long, comfortable breath of air, "I think we will find a good balance, my dear."
Saffron laughs at his words, and she twists a bit to look into those ever-close, ever-familiar grey eyes. "We will, I know we will," she says with a bit of a heated laugh. "We will just have to hope that I do not long for you too badly when you go out for too long." Then she brightens a bit as she realizes they are swooping in close to the cape, and her gaze turns toward the fore of the ship as if hoping to spy her husband's home. She reaches to take his hand, starting to guide him with a bite of excitement.
Kamron looses his arm from around her shoulders to take her hand, squeezing gently and ducking just a little to look under the lower boom of the mast and the sail billowing up from it. "That second point there, that's the point to the east of Talon Point. You can't see it from here, but Talon Point is back behind it." Stepping out away from the chairs and fishing pole just a little, he makes a sweeping gesture with his free hand, "It's cut out like a bowl behind that point, with Talon Point on the other side of the bowl, but the town itself is on the other side of Talon Point itself, in the little harbor that the point forms."
Despite his words that she cannot see it, Saffron still arches up on her tiptoes as if in some desperate way to spot what is not yet there. She casts him a smile as she falls back onto her heels, looking over toward her husband. "The last point of the Mallister lands," she says, as if remembering what he once told her. She smiles a bit, tilting her head. "What is the town like? Is it like the Roost?" She asks so many questions, wants to know so much about where he has come from, questions sh enever thought to ask until now.
Kamron chuckles softly at the tip-toeing and peering, squeezing her waist lightly with the arm around it before he answers, "It's small, much smaller than The Roost. There probably aren't more than a hundred people living there between the tower and the town alike. Everything faces the docks where the fishing boats tie up." The chuckle is repeated, a bit wry this time, "The 'tavern' is the front room of a house, the 'inn' is a house with an extra bedroom, and the healer's is the midwife's kitchen." He shakes his head slowly, "It wouldn't even be that much if it weren't for the rich fishing banks just off-shore."
"That is small," Saffron says in slight surprise at the assessment of the village. She turns her chin a bit to look at his profile and then she turns her gaze back out toward their destination. "How often do other ships or merchants come through, or is it usually always that isolated?" Is there a touch of worry in her voice? Perhaps. After all, all her life she spent in a settlement the size of, if not larger than, Seagard itself. She tilts her head a bit as she keeps her gaze forward, trying to not seem as worried as she might be.
Kamron arches his eyebrows slightly at the sudden tension, "Peddlers come through now and then, but merchant ships don't usually put in unless they're in trouble." He frowns just a little, "Lord Mallister's new longships probably stop by now and then, but only to get fresh water while on patrol." The knight shrugs a little helplessly then, "It's more than most watchtowers have, but it's not much. There's a reason I was sent to Seagard for several years as a child."
The tension starts to melt away, and Saffron sighs. "I'm sorry, Kamron… I'm sure that I will love Talon Point, but the Banefort has always been so busy… its quiet will take some getting use to." She reaches out to squeeze his hand gently, drawing him around to face her as she turns. There is a light smile that tips onto her lips, and she tiptoes forward to press a kiss to his lips. "It may just mean I develop other hobbies."
Kamron shakes his head slightly, "You needn't worry about it, Love. Until and unless Talon Point becomes a hereditary holding, we aren't likely to spend much time there. The Roost and Seagard are far more likely to hold our attention." He returns the kiss softly, turning into her without complaint, "Besides… since I'm trying to keep us out of the Stonebridge mess, I bet there's never another war for me to distinguish myself enough in for Lord Mallister to make it hereditary." He leans in to deposit a light kiss on her nose, "So you're safe from having to find new hobbies."
Perhaps Saffron misreads her husband, but a somewhat worried frown presses at her lips. "Perhaps it will be not a war that distinguishes you, Love… perhaps it is something else." She tilts her head a bit as she carefully weighs his expression. "I would be surprised if he does not at least pass the honor onto you." Then she offers him a gentler smile. "And even if he does not, I will always think you are one of the best of the Mallisters." She touches her nose to his gently.
Kamron shakes his head slightly, "Perhaps, my dear." The ship heels a little beneath them as it turns out to see to sweep around the peninsula between them and Talon Point, "I'm not worried though. It will happen, or it will not. My task is just to serve My Lord as best as I can." His free hand rises to brush a fly-away trailer of hair away from her face, and then he half-turns toward the shore, "You should be able to see the top of the tower from here." Indeed, above the rocky shore of the peninsula, the crenelations of a small tower — tiny really — can be seen.
Pale eyes flutter shut a bit as he brushes away that errant hair, and then she turns her gaze out toward the coast. The sight of the little tower actually does brighten her expression a bit, and she glances over toward him. "That is where you grew up," she half-whispers as she reaches to slip her fingers around his. This time she leads him forward so they can approach the front of the ship. It gives her a better view of that lovely tower on that little jut of land. She watches it as they slowly approach. "Did you ever try to climb to the top of it?"
Kamron follows after the foreward motion, even quickening his pace to move ahead of her once they descend to the deck proper. That way he can help her (mostly if not entirely unnecessarily) wind her way through the rigging and rushing sailors. Climbing back up to the foc's'le, he draws her ahead of him so that he can wrap both arms around her, "Only from the inside." The response comes out with a laugh, "I was never much for climbing cliffs or buildings, just trees and masts. And even then, it's all about the jump down at the end."
