After the captain had left, she realized exactly how little of her was covered. Of course, that was only after recovering from seeing the older woman standing in front of her, completely bare. Allison felt her heart trip up a little remembering the sight she had been gifted with and sighed. Allison, you're hopeless. You can't possibly be attracted to a woman!!!! Allison opened her eyes and looked back across the ship, immediately spotting Morgan's distinct figure. The sun painted her skin in shades of gold and honey, and she could see the flash of her teeth as she talked to a couple of the crew. The captain's hands wove in front of her as she talked, and even though she was shorter than the men around her, their postures showed their complete acceptance of her as their leader. she asked herself, remembering the tingle those eyes had sent through her when she found herself the target of their gaze that morning. She blushed to herself, hardly able to believe she had been relaxed and nonchalant wearing Morgan's shirt. After the captain had left, she realized exactly how little of her was covered. Of course, that was only after recovering from seeing the older woman standing in front of her, completely bare. Allison felt her heart trip up a little remembering the sight she had been gifted with and sighed. Allison opened her eyes and looked back across the ship, immediately spotting Morgan's distinct figure. The sun painted her skin in shades of gold and honey, and she could see the flash of her teeth as she talked to a couple of the crew. The captain's hands wove in front of her as she talked, and even though she was shorter than the men around her, their postures showed their complete acceptance of her as their leader. Allison sat in the prow for a long time, alternately watching Morgan and the sea, when one of the sailors that had been captured with her approached her carrying a bucket and mop. She looked up at him curiously as he stopped near her and set to cleaning the deck.
"Are you alright, Miss?" He asked her without lifting his head from his task. Allison continued to let her gaze roam.
"Yes, I'm fine. Are you and the others being treated well?"
"Yes'm, well as could be expected since they don't trust us. Is that captain treating you right?" Allison frowned at the question.
"Yes, she's treating me quite well in fact. Why do you ask?" The man glanced at her quickly, concern showing strongly in his expression.
"Well, miss, the boys, well, the boys have heard some stories about that woman from her crew. That she's wild and vicious. And." Allison narrowed her eyes at him.
"And what?"
"And, well, if it weren't for the fact that she's keeping you in her cabin, well, they say she, she don't like men, miss, in the carnal sense." The man's mopping slowed and Allison could see a blush on his cheeks. Looking at him a little more closely, she realized that he was little more than a boy, and probably younger than she herself.
"I suppose that could be considered strange but then ma momma told me many stories of women who didn't enjoy the company of their husbands." Allison tried to puzzle through the warning that the young man was trying to deliver to her.
"No, miss, you don't understand, she, she.," he blushed even more furiously and tried again. "She has a lover at port." He stated, as if that explained everything.
"She's her own woman, she can have a lover if she likes," Allison answered, shoving aside the twist that had formed in her stomach in reaction to that.
"Miss, her lover is a w..WW..woman," he stuttered out, his eyes wide as he glanced up at her. "They, they said that the two of them...that they." He stumbled to a halt again. "Miss, we wanted to make sure that you knew that your virtue may not be secure in her company!" He looked at her earnestly.
"Thank you for your warning, young man, and I will take care, but my virtue would be no safer up here on deck. Now you best finish your mopping before someone comes to see what you're talking to me about." The boy nodded and moved off, making quick work of cleaning the area around her then moving back towards the center of the ship.
Allison looked off across the ship, thinking about the warning she was just given. From how Morgan had treated her so far, she was fairly certain that her virtue was quite safe. If the Captain had wanted to ravage her she had plenty of opportunity the evening before. Her mind wandered back to the knowledge that Morgan had a lover, and closed her eyes and bowed her head as she acknowledged the jealousy that flared up inside her. She couldn't believe how quickly her life was changing before, but now, with this new twist, she felt like everything was spinning dangerously out of her grasp. She opened her eyes and lifted her head to look out over the sea. Instead of the blue of the ocean though, she was caught in the vibrant blue of Morgan's eyes.
The Captain had somehow walked up on her silently, and was now leaning against the railing across from her, arms across her chest, watching her with an inscrutable expression on her face. Allison wet her lips with the tip of her tongue and let herself sit locked in Morgan's gaze.
"So, Miss Allison, am I cruel, unjust, vicious, a scoundrel who will sell all of you into slavery?" Morgan's voice was hard and cracked a little bit with tension. Allison shook her head in answer. "Ah, so, I'm a fair captain, but you yourself are in danger, right?" Allison hesitated a moment before opening her mouth to answer, but was cut off.
"No, don't tell me. I don't need to hear the story. I've heard them all before." Morgan turned and started to walk away, then glanced back over her shoulder. "It's going to be quite hot up here soon, you should go down to the cabin." She took a couple more steps, then paused again. Her voice floated back to Allison, "And please stay there. I'll make sure someone brings you something to eat." Allison stared after the captain in shock, watched her walk swiftly towards the ropes at the edge of the ship then swing herself up into them. Allison didn't have a chance to argue her case at all before Morgan was high up amidst the sails.
She sat stunned for a while, staring at her hands and replaying the one sided confrontation then got up and slowly worked her way back down to the cabin. The room was quite a bit cooler, and Allison was thankful for the suggestion to retreat here, but regretful of the circumstances surrounding it. She stood in the middle of the cabin, at a loss, then decided she would just take a nap. Stripping out of her many layers she pulled on the shirt she had worn the night before and crawled up into the captain's bed. She pushed the blankets aside and sank down into the mattress. Snuggling down into the bed she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her exhausted body took over and pulled her mind away from the captain and down into sleep. As she drifted off, her imagination took over, taking the seductive warmth of the bed, the spicy scent of Morgan's shirt and turning them into a sensual smile, brilliant blue eyes that caressed her with their gaze, and strong arms that enfolded her in a warm embrace.
Morgan sat perched on the crosspiece of the center mast, legs looped through the ropes that lashed the sail in place. To all below she would look like she was working on the ropes, making sure that nothing had frayed or slipped. None of her crew was up high enough to see her staring off into the distance, deep in thought. She'd been up in the sails since she had stalked away from Allison, and the sun was well past high noon now. She knew she should return to the helm and check on progress, or get something to eat, but she'd yet to find the resolve to make herself descend. Her pride still smarted from the look she had seen in Allison's eyes after the crewman from her ship talked to her, though she really couldn't put a finger on exactly what she had read there. She just knew that something had changed in the way that the younger woman looked at her, and she was certain that the young man had relayed something of her reputation to her. She was aware that her crew was notorious for spreading stories about her, most of them well embellished, and normally she didn't mind. This time it bothered her and she was trying very hard not to snap at any of them. She leaned against the mast beside her and gazed south, searching the horizon for any sign of the islands.
