A Crowded Mess

The mess table was overfull, the whole room packed, and Noah felt the press of bodies and the stillness of the humid air as the crew talked and laughed around him.

The Nawyet had anchored past a double bend in the river just after dusk, and nearly the whole crew was loudly taking their evening meal.

“So, no stewarding tonight, is that right Noah?” Ashe asked as she entered the room. She had just finished checking the anchorage and Noah shook his head, fighting back a sigh. He had answered the question a few times already.

“No, sorry. I’m not feeling quite ready yet, a bit sore. And I have a headache,” he said as he pushed some bits of stew around in his bowl. He looked at his food, but his appetite was gone.

Ashe help up an apologetic hand and said, “Ahh, that’s fine, just askin’!” and hurried off to grab some food.

“A day won’t hurt anyone,” Shirisha said, her hard gaze on Noah as she took a long pull of her mulled wine. “But it will be good if the steward does days and evenings again. So those of us who don’t want a tired or dirty steward can get a proper go.”

Macha laughed loudly and said, “Whatever. As long as the rota starts snappish! I have some coin to pay for a spot tomorrow, and I’m off afternoon watch. So, put me down now, Noah!”

Noah nodded and shrugged while Macha laughed again at Shirisha’s sour look. Ipellie called out a request but Noah couldn’t quite make out what she said over all the other conversations.

He did see Hitty, her face expressionless, get up and leave to the hatch. She was on watch, so no surprise, but something in her manner caught his eye. But there was too much noise, and he was too irritated by something he could not quite place to pay it much mind.

At the other end of the table, Captain Amaruq was watching him closely. He felt almost as if she was keeping an eye on him, perhaps because of his injuries but they had been minor. But it rankled him, somehow, as if she did not trust him now. But that was foolish, surely she was just concerned about his fall.

“Hey, Noah!” A voice all but yelled in his ear and he turned. Lisa had moved her chair next to his, and she looked at him and repeated, “Do you have a rota for the next few days yet? Just asking, but hey, are you feeling poorly? Ya look pale as can be!”

Her breath, all beer and beef stew, blasted him in the face and he pulled back. “Uh, I need some air, sorry,” he said as he quickly stood up. On shaky legs he left the table, and all the eyes were fixed on him as he exited the room and climbed up the steep steps to the deck.

A moment as the noise died down, until Hyvin broke the silence and said, “Well, if that’s not a sign I don’t know what is.”

Captain Amaruq’s voice was pitched low but still carried easily. “I know everyone is happy and eager, but for the love of the ancestors give the man some space. He had an arduous day and night, and a bad fall besides, let him find his sea legs again before you all pester him. Got it?”

The crew, abashed, mumbled their agreement, with a few casting guilty looks at each other and the doorway he had departed through.

On deck, Hitty stood by the bowsprit and took a series of deep breaths. The night air was cool, spirits be praised, and she could think clearly again.

Noah was back. That was beyond wonderful, but he seemed… sad. Maybe just tired. Ok he was definitely tired. And sore from his fall (he could have killed himself!) and so on, but even more than that. Hitty had been watching him all supper, and he had responded to a few questions about his work in the Empty City with glib non-answers that had not fooled her in the slightest.

He seemed unhappy about it. Perhaps he had simply failed to find whatever it was he had been looking for? Regardless, seeing the normally affable man try and fail to be charming and happy had been disturbing for the young woman.

And then the others had begun asking him about service, and something about that had chased Hitty from the room entirely. She felt foolish, and knew she was being a jealous, ridiculous girl, but she couldn’t help it. Listening to the others make lusty comments about him while he bathed earlier had been hard enough but watching them drool all over him, totally ignoring the fact he was clearly upset about something was worse!

Hitty stood looking south up the river towards Currielle, their destination. She was on watch, so she had her long knife on her belt and her unaaq - a harpoon-like spear that was as much for hunting as combat - was resting against the main mast.

Her thoughts were a swirling tide, so she decided to put it all aside and looked back down the Nawyet. Yutu was amidships, smoking a small pipe and gazing out west at some moonlit stone ruins in the distance. Oddly, one of the railing lanterns was out, the aft lantern on the port side, and Hitty made a note to walk down to fix it before one of the officers finished their meal and noticed.

A heavy thump-thump-thump from the hatch as someone emerged from belowdecks. Hitty saw Noah’s back as he started toward his cabin at the stern. Her heart twisted painfully, and Hitty almost called out to him, but resisted.

She was staring at him as he approached the entry to the rear cabins, a slight limp noticeable as he walked. He was maybe 80 feet away from her at the front of the boat when he paused, then looked to his right. Presumably he noticed the lantern being out too because he turned toward the port railing and took a few steps.

What she saw next didn’t make sense, and Hitty was far enough away that she initially assumed her eyes were playing tricks. Shadows created by the other lanterns cut triangles onto the deck beside the cabin, but the cabin wall seemed darker than the shadows, a deeper black than anything else around it.

As Noah walked past the strange patch of blackness, he started to reach out his hand to the lantern, but the darkness behind him shifted. Hitty froze, unbelieving, as the darkness rose up and a pale arm reached out, palm up, then a figure emerged with white-grey skin and long black hair in wet tangles.

Noah was turning back as the figure reached out to him, and a cloud of silvery dust hit him in the face. He staggered, and started to fall, but the long skinny arms grabbed him.

It had all happened in a few impossible seconds. Hitty took two panicked steps and made an inarticulate, futile sound of warning as the figure, naked and clearly female, wrapped her arms around Noah’s waist. The man was only partially conscious as, with deceptive strength, she half dragged and half carried him over a step to the railing and simply fell over it, taking him with her.

The splash had Yutu at the midship turning around, puzzled, even as Hitty ran to the stern. As she got to the mainmast, she grabbed her unaaq with one hand and the bell’s lanyard with the other and gave it a hard pull as she yelled out.

“Man overboard!”