The Sea

Eleanor made up her mind. The sea was calling her, and she had to answer. And so she gathered up some clothing from the servants working at the manor - they seemed like rags compared to what she was used to, but Eleanor knew that rough clothing was the least of the struggles this path would hold - some bandages for her chest and enough rags to deal with her moonblood for several months, and prepared to leave.

She wrote a short note to her parents before she left, explaining her choice and why she felt she had to choose it. "I cannot sit by and allow anyone else - even you, father - to decide my destiny for me," she wrote in conclusion, before adding notes of love and the promise to write her parents as often as possible. Eleanor left the note on her pillow.

Then came the final step of her decision: cutting her hair. Eleanor had always been complemented on her wavy raven hair, but she knew that there was no place for it on a ship: not, at least, while she was pretending to be a boy. And so, with a slight tinge of regret flowing through her, she brought a small knife up to her hair and chopped it off, bit by bit, until all that was left was an unruly mess barely falling down onto her forehead.

Between the short hair, the peasant clothes, and her usual make up being replaced with dirt, Eleanor couldn't help but think that she made a convincing boy. A slightly feminine boy, but a boy nevertheless. In fact, Eleanor was rather proud of her work, and beamed with pride as she snuck away from the manor.

She made her way through the city and to the docks without incident, where she entered a tavern to find a ship recruiter. There was one, the bartender told her. A ship called the Lady of the Deep. Eleanor found the quartermaster for the Lady sitting in the corner of the room with a big ledger in front of him. He was a rotund man, with a big mustache and a shaven head. He looked up at her when she approached and squinted. "What do you want, kid?" he asked gruffly in a distinct Dutch accent, before looking back down at his ledger.

"I-" Eleanor started nervously, before realiving that her voice was too high pitched. She steeled herself and deepened her voice as she continued. "I heard you were recruiting for your ship. I would to join."

The big man glanced back up at her and looked up and down. He raised an eyebrow. "How old are you, boy?"

"I'm 17," Eleanor said, lying about her age by a year. She figured it wouldn't matter much.

"You're scrawny for a 17 year old, you know that?" the quartermaster said, laughing softly to himself. "But it seems like you're in luck. We have one more opening on the crew ... but it's for a lookout. You got good eyes, kid? And are you any good at climbing?"

Eleanor smiled confidently. "Yes and yes," she said. She had always climbed around the manor growing up, so she was confident that she could climb around a ship> And her eyes had never bothered her before.

"We'll see, I suppose," The quartermaster said,s crawling something in his big book. "What's your name, kid?"

Eleanor thought quickly. "Um, Elliot," she said, deciding on a name not to dissimilar to her true name. "Elliot Budding." She smiled a bit at the last name, a bit of a play off of Rose.

The quartermaster wrote that down in his book, before gathering it up and standing. "Welcome to the crew of the Lady of the Deep, Elliot," he said, reaching out and crushing Eleanor's hand in an extremely firm handshake. Eleanor winced, but tried to match his handshake. He laughed, but didn't say anything about her feeble attempt. He motioned for her to follow him, and Eleanor did, walking extra fast to keep up with his long strides. "My name's Milo, and I'm the quartermaster for the Lady. Essentially, that means I'll be yelling at you while we're sailing. Don't take it personally."

As they walked, Eleanor told Milo that she had never served on a ship before, and in return explained to Eleanor the rules of the ship, the chain of command, and what she would be expected to do on board the ship. He also told her about the captain as well, a man named Hillary Monroe. "As long as you listen to me and Captain Monroe, you'll be fine. Just focus on learning quickly. It's a rough life, but it can be rewarding."

Finally, they made it to the Lady, a brig docked in the harbor. Milo showed Eleanor to the crew quarters, and pointed out a rope hammock hanging in the back. "That one's free, I believe. Get some sleep, we head out with the tide tomorrow morning." And with that, he left Eleanor there. She sat down on the hammock and laid back. She couldn't believe it, but here she was, free from expectations, in a new life as a sailor. it would take some getting used to, sure ... it was certainly going to be hard to learn to respond to the name Elliot. But she knew, in her heart and in her soul, that it was going to be rewarding.