The Storm And The Fox Steward

With only 3 days until the crew expected to arrive at the Empty City, Noah had expected a daytime caller but the storm sweeping in from the east meant that if anyone had planned to they did not bother.

The wind was gusting out of the east, the rain steady, and the Nawyet felt to the steward to be both a small craft being bounced around and too big for the river as they had to constantly struggle to keep to the center.

Later in the afternoon the storm passed into a light rain and the sort of steady wind Captain Amaruq seemed to prefer. With the crew bundled up in rain gear they made good time under the still dark clouds. Noah, again feeling like a kid playacting being helpful, dressed in the spare set of oil-treated cloth jacket and felt cap and assisted Fatima in providing the crew with their late lunch.

The rain dancing on the river - waves of raindrops on top of waves of river - while the boat glided by was hypnotic, and the cloudy conditions added to a somber yet still exciting mood. The rocky shores still sported mostly scrub grasses and reeds, but Noah saw the occasional hearty bush now, a sign they were moving out of the tundra proper and closer to land that could support trees.

The captain walked up to Noah as he stood, grinning, looking out over the river and she could not help but smile at his enthusiasm.

“This makes me wish I could paint or draw,” the man said with a nod. On the shore stood one of the small ruined towers left behind by the lost people who had seemingly filled the Northlands in the distant past.

“I have done this route a hundred times now, but I see what you mean. It has a certain appeal, doesn’t it?” Amaruq said. In the rain and wind, with the clouds now scattered by some lighter patches, the captain did see a certain romance to it. “In some ways it reminds me of home, although the Ice Islands are more austere then this place. No trees or shrubs, but plenty of stone and water.”

As she looked out across the water an animal popped its head above water most of a cable length away, seeming to glance at the Nawyet and then ducking back.

“It almost feels like that’s the same seal,” Noah said with a chuckle, “I’ve seen it a few times now and it’s like it’s following us. I swear it looked like a person once, but Hannah just laughed at me for seeing a mermaid.”

Amaruq smiled indulgently, “I have never seen a mermaid, although most people think they exist, or at least used to. But the seals are commonly mistaken for them, with their habit of sticking their heads above the surface like a human swimming would. And their dark fur looks much like long, wet hair from a distance. And that could indeed be the same great seal, travelling south and using our boat for easy meals as we stir up the fish.”

They watched the river for a time, then Noah went to prepare for the evening and Amaruq went back to the wheel, where Hyin very deliberately did not say anything about the time she spent idly conversing with the handsome steward.

That evening, Noah sat on his chair while Ashe made herself comfortable on the bed. He had spoken with her a few times during meals and found her to be a pleasant enough woman - a couple of years older than Noah, with very light blonde hair cut short and spiky above blue eyes and a very attractive face.

She sank into the chair, then slumped to the side with an easy grace.

“I have some wine,” Noah said but Ashe shook her head and demurred.

After a week as a steward Noah realized he was putting more and more effort into thinking about how to talk to the crew when he met them in his cabin, and he had thought of some conversational gambits prepared to hopefully make both Ashe and himself comfortable.

He never got a chance to try his small talk.

The blonde woman had a serious but polite look on her face as she said, “The crew speaks very highly of you Noah. You seem to be an ideal steward.”

Thrown off, Noah paused and said, “Well thank you very much Ashe. That’s very kind, I’m just trying to get used to the position, really. Before I met the captain and first mate, I had no idea that this job existed, nothing like it does where I am from.”

Ashe nodded and leaned forward, “I was a fox steward for 2 seasons, a few years back. Not on the Nawyet, but on a larger ship that made the ocean journey from Anglet to the southern kingdoms. Do you… know of the fox stewards?”

“Not directly,” he replied, “but I know that the crew referred to women sex workers in port as ‘fox whores’. In context I guessed that meant…”

She gave a crooked smile as he trailed off, “The women are right, you are very proper aren’t you? I’ll spare you the discomfort of guessing - a fox whore is a woman who pretends to be a man, and a fox steward is the same, essentially. So, I worked as a steward for a crew of a few dozen, mostly women, but I used a wooden cock and often was asked to act as if I was a man.”

He nodded, “That was essentially what I had guessed.” Ashe was tapping a foot up and down on the deck now. She did not appear upset but clearly had some nervous energy inside her as she looked around the room, her lips pursed.

“It was a strange job. But not a bad one, I made serious coin doing it as a young woman, on a ship with a crew I could respect. But after a few seasons, I wanted a change and knew enough about sailing to get a job as a sailmaker’s apprentice and then a good position here on the Nawyet.” The woman ran a hand through her hair nervously.

Noah was wondering where the conversation was going, and instead of guessing just asked. “I’d enjoy hearing about your experience doing this job Ashe. Is there anything you want to ask me, or talk about? I was told when I started that talking with the crew, being someone they can confide in, is very important. And now that I’m doing it, I see that it truly might be the most important thing. And I think you have a lot of experience and wisdom I could use.”

“Wisdom?” Ashe frowned, sitting back in her chair, and Noah saw he misspoke. “I don’t have any wisdom for you - the crew already talks about you like you are the greatest steward who ever sailed after a week!” She let out a snort and shook her head.

“Sorry Ashe, I-”

She shook her head and interrupted him, “No, don’t apologize. I was being sour. What you say is true, and I do want to talk to you about this job. Because you being here, now, is making me… it’s…”

With a groan Ashe held her hand to her face. “This is hard to put into words.”

Noah sat back and waited, trying to radiate patience and a willingness to listen.

“I was also a listener,” Ashe seemed bemused now as she looked at the steward. “Maybe not as much at first, but I enjoyed talking with the women. When I started though, I really enjoyed the sex, I was 18 years old and constantly on fire. The women would come to my cabin and I simply couldn’t wait to jump on them, I’d have my tongue inside their cunny before the curtain was drawn if they let me. I always tried to make them scream, so the rest of the crew could hear how good I was.”

Ashe laughed and shrugged, and Noah chuckled along. She continued, “I quickly learned that half the time the women did want someone to sit down and talk first. Maybe even mostly. So, they’d tell me their troubles and have a strong drink and then they’d want me to charm and flatter them until I got them naked under me.”

She paused, lost in her memories, a fond smile on her face. “I love women. I did when I took the job, I mean, being paid to have sex with women? Yeah, I could do that!” She laughed loudly and the two of them shared a look of understanding. “Maybe like a boy would, ney? I didn’t know anything about how to pretend to be a man when I started, but whatever I could learn that.

“And I did. I actually had a fake beard I’d wear for some women and drop my voice a bit. But most just wanted me to have a big fat cock between my legs to drill them with and it didn’t matter that it was ivory or wood instead of flesh. And I liked it - no I loved it.”

She looked at Noah, her face solemn, “The more I did it, the more I liked that part of it. Having some fake stubble, binding my tits under a sleeveless tunic like the men wear. I’d have my cock strapped on under my trousers, and the sailor would pull my pants down and coo over it. I… enjoyed that. The women who liked that part of it truly appreciated the effort I’d put into being a man for them, and I told myself I loved being good at the job. For them, you know?”

Noah rather wished she had taken the wine by now, but he smiled and said, “In a different way perhaps, I think I do know what you mean.”

“Aye. So that was my job for many months. I have fucked a few men, but no offense I prefer fucking women.”

“None taken,” he said with a joking half bow.

Ashe nodded, “So yeah, I stopped being a fox steward and became a sailor. And the job was great, and I had a woman in port I fancied, and that was good. Just two women bonded up, perfectly typical.” She sighed, “But after a few months I realized I missed it. Being a steward. I still had my fake cock, and my girl let me use it on her, but it was like a treat you know? She was as happy with just a tongue and finger. And then we broke up, and I assumed it was just because I was gone too much. Life of a sailor, you know?”

“What did you miss the most?” Noah asked.

She laughed, “Good steward instincts Noah! That’s the question, I think. At first I just assumed I missed fucking a different woman every night. Who wouldn’t miss that?! But after we broke up, I found another girl. A fellow sailor on the ship I was working, and she didn’t want the cock at all, and I thought it didn’t matter. But a few months later we broke up, badly, and she yelled at me about how I wished I was a man, which hurt me. She made me feel like there was something wrong with me.”

“That would hurt anyone I think, if it was accurate or not, if that person didn’t think of themselves in that way.”

Ashe smirked ruefully, “Very cautiously put Noah. And yes, I did not think of myself that way. I didn’t think of myself as someone who wishes she had a cock.” She paused and looked away, then all but whispered, “Wishes he had a cock.”

She took a sudden deep breath and then said, more loudly, “And I don’t! I don’t think? But sometimes I do?” Her expression twisted in confusion and she shook her head. “Wish I’d taken that wine. Do you have any whisky or rum? Balls, I’d take a brandy right now.”

“Sorry no, just the wine,” Noah said. The blonde grabbed the half empty bottle with a shrug and poured for them both. With a casual toast they tapped cups and took a drink.

“Ashe, where I am from there are people who were born appearing to be one gender but are not that in their hearts, so they live as they are inside instead of what others might expect from the outside.”

The fox steward paused, then said, “You mean a two-spirit, like the Kuniq say? I don’t… no that’s not me. I don’t think.”

Noah nodded and took another sip, “There are also people who aren’t a man or a woman, but both. And maybe something else too. I know a person who doesn’t believe they are just one, but they sometimes feel more like a boy and sometimes more like a girl and sometimes neither, depending on who they are with and how they are feeling.”

“That is common, overseas?” Ashe asked, her eyes wide.

“I’m not sure if it is common, but it is much less unusual than people thought. And once people started realizing it, and recognizing it was a valid option, others were encouraged to live a way that lets them be themselves, I think. If that makes sense, I’m not the best person to be talking about such things like I’m an expert!”

Tapping the side of the empty mug, Ashe said, “I know in some kingdoms it’s said that a man can live in a woman’s body, but I don’t think that’s me. But… maybe sometimes?”

“You would be the only person who would know, but that doesn’t mean you have to know this very second,” the steward laughed, and Ashe surprised herself by laughing along. They finished off the wine, Ashe talking occasionally about working as a fox steward, the sort of alternatingly titillating and amusing anecdotes you’d quickly gather doing that work.

“This was very nice Noah,” she said, later. “When I came here I thought I might want you to fuck me, just to see if your cock in my cunny and a womb full of cum would, well, I don’t know what. I haven’t laid with a man in years. I also thought I might ask you to fuck me in my arse, like when men fuck other men. What do you think of that?”

“I think you really talk like a sailor after a bit of wine,” Noah joked, and Ashe laughed and rolled her eyes.

“Yeah yeah. But I’m glad we talked, and I can admit now that I do think about what you have between your legs. But I don’t want to be a man, even if I want to fuck a cute girl with a big strap on. But maybe I do? Ah fuck, who knows.”

“Maybe no one knows, but if you’re wondering about it I suspect you’ll figure it out. Hell, you can try it all, find a nice boy who wants you to bugger him hard with your wooden cock? That’s not so unusual. My only recommendation as the steward - and you know us stewards know everything - is to try a few things and see what your heart says.”

Ashe looked thoughtful, “Aye, that could be fun, laying into a cute boy and making him squirm. Bah, I think I’m just horny, and I need to find a wet barmaid with big tits. The Nawyet is too small to casually lay with each other, I mean it happens now and then but none of the lasses would go for what I want to do.”

He nodded, but Noah was not actually sure that was the case. Not his place to say though.

As she stood, Ashe nodded and gave Noah another crooked smile. “Thank you steward, you’ve done well. And hey if I change my mind about taking a real cock up my ass to see what it’s like for boys I know where to find you.”

“I’d be honoured to bugger you,” he said with a formal bow, and she laughed happily as she left.

Noah took the cups and the empty wine bottle out to the galley to wash them. It was night now, and he nodded hello to a few crewmates on his way back, carrying a wooden carafe of drinking water in case his next visitor, whoever it was, wanted some. He thought about finding a bottle of **** just in case and then shook his head. He’d be off the boat in a few days.

Back in his cabin, he straightened out the bedding. Not having sex with Ashe meant he didn’t need an hour to wash up and rest, so he left the door open and wondered who had taken his final spot for the evening. He knew that somehow Macha the clerk had the spot, but she had been offering to trade it, which Noah didn’t care about in theory but listening to the crew barter his availability did make him faintly annoyed.

A footstep in the corridor and Noah stood up to say hello. Hitty stood in the doorway, beautiful and still, and Noah felt a happy smile growing.

“Oh, it’s you! Come in Hitty, I’m ready now.” She stepped into the room, one hand closing the door behind her, and without a word she took a quick step and grabbed him, all but knocking him over onto his bunk as her lips found his.