The boat

[Lady Edfeil]

*she could barely believe her ears when Sinold told her last night he had run her boat aground. Of course she had had every trust in his sailing capacities when he asked her to borrow the vessel. And though she nae liked the idea of him accompagnying a Lady without a chaperone, she had given in.

Nae a moment had the thought occured to her that her lil skiff might be harmed the first time 't was send out on the waters! And now there was a hole in the hull. A hole of two fists. Large, male fists!
Sinold of course had offered to repair the boat for her, and assured her he'ld do a good job, but still... she nae liked the idea of a hole, not even when 't was closed. The wee boat was a gift, and something precious she felt entrusted to her care.*

[Sinold Bragasson]

He had tried to be as logical as he could. As gentle as he could. As… understanding how his little mishap would cause Edie much misery…. Still he could see it in her face – Lady Edfeil would *never again* let him borrow her skiff. EVER!

He had told her that is was not his fault Aegir was angry that day, and that his wife Ran could have caused their boat to sink even, which it didn’t, thanks to Sinold’s superb boating skills. He had tried to explain that two oars against waves high as an old oak were rather useless in steering the skiff around the sandbank. He had tried to argue that
Edie in fact should be proud of his, that Ran, Aegir’s ever hungry wife, did not gobble up Letha and him as a nice morning snack, thanks to his control of the boat!

Nothing helped… he would never live this down. EVER!

And the evening had started so well, with Edie trying to help Sinold choosing words to describe Letha, as she found comparisons such as liking her hair to the color of hay, or the strength of her arms to that of a horse, rather unpoetic.

Well, Sinold knew that now he needed nice words not only for his Letha but also for Edfeil herself to appease her regarding the tiny two fist large hole in her skiff.

[Lady Edfeil]

She needed to see the boat to herself. There was naught to do about 't. She would nae rest easy afore she had seen the damage with her own eyes. And then she had to send a missive to Captain Tyrun and hope he nae got too angry with her and took the skiff away before she even had a chance to try 't....

By the afternoon, she had worried so much over the boat, she saw 't half destroyed within her mind. Almost did she forgot to alert a guard, but when she went up to the stables and asked a lad to saddle Molly for her, he immediately asked which horse he'ld need to saddle for her guard.
't nae took long for her to find Sgt. Lan, and 't nae took long to be clear that he would be accompagnying her, nae matter how much she told him that any guard would do, for 't was but a small trip to the harbour.

After an uneventfull ride, they arrived at the docks, worry still clouding her mind as she asked a passer by to tell her where Sinold had docked the boat for repairs.*

[Sinold Bragasson]

Something wasn't right, and the more Sinold thought about it, he found that something lay within him. Deep inside him, maybe …maybe unreachable by normal means. But that something had cause an otherwise gentle maiden to become frantic over a boat. A boat which he had crashed onto a sand bank.. Granted, it had been during the middle of a storm but still… he should have read the signs of the weathe better.

However, he knew the reason why he hadn't read the weather as he should have done. His mind, his *heart* hadn't been on these simple, yet life saving things. They had been on another… Letha.

That preoccupation had almost cost them both their lives and now had broken a trust another had in him. No, Sinold needed to get away for a while, from Windstorm, or at least the castle. He had work to do on Edfeil's skiff anyways, and thus had a good excuse for staying away.

He needed time to think, to breath, to sort through his feelings. Surely, Letha would understand. More and more a feeling broke over him that last they had met, he had made a total ass out of himself and therefore Letha. She must hate him for it… another reason to get away for a while.

Hastily Sinold scribbled a note onto a piece of parchment when he was in the kitchen, a sea bag with a few clothes and dagger and some tools sitting next to him on the floor:


Dear Letha,

As you knouw Edfeil's boat was dammadged in our outing a fuw dais ago. I neid to fiks it and will be taking up kwarters on the skiff for a fuw dais. I knouw you will be beesy with your clothes and I knouw you will look good in whatever you will bye.

I shant be long.

Sinold


Making another quick run upstair to push the parchment underneath Letha's door, Sinold then left the castle on foot. It wasn't a long way to the harbour, and it gave him still a bit more time to think.

[Halethala]

She’d gently searched about, intending to have a little talk with Sinold . . return his key, explain her reasons. Not finding him around in his usual haunts, she began to search more in earnest, getting a wee bit worried. Nowhere, he was nowhere to be found . . it was strange, Ligea was in her stall, so he could not have left the castle, could he have? Even his night off drinking, he’d ridden her . . She turned her head as Letha softly stroked her rump, and watched the camaraderie of the two horses, their braids still not completely undone . . . why couldn’t their owners seem to get along as well . .

Finally, with the bouquet of Dream’s daffodils safely resting their stems in a bright blue crock of cool spring water, she climbed up to her chambers . . and there found his note. Sighing, it sounded so impersonal and vague. Her heart constricted with nameless fears. He was alone. She worried what would happen if the sailors ~ friends and mates of the man Derek and his arrogant Captain Remard ~ should discover that fact and mete out “justice” upon him . .

Her lips curled in distaste at the thought of it . . perhaps there could be some way to keep the Captain occupied here at Windstorm until he returned, giving Sinold the time he needed to complete the repairs and back to the safety of Windstorm. Why did he not think of the dangers before heading off all alone?!

Ah yes, perhaps he wasn’t even aware of Remard’s arrival . . what should she do . . she sat softly petting the petals of the yellow spring flowers, considering . .

Sighing, she knew one thing she must do . . find Lady Edfeil and shoulder her share of the blame in the damaging of her boat . . . Perhaps it had been her fault for agreeing to sail along with Sinold, unescorted. The sea seemed to have a mind of it’s own, little as she knew about it ~ as if it were judge and jury, sentencing with swift justice . .

She arose and went to look for the Lady . . . .

[Sinold Bragasson]

It was good to work outside, on the boat. The small hole wasn’t the only small damage Sinold fixed. While he was at it, he also decided to give the boat a new coat of painting. Maybe dark green… or as blue as the sea was on a qualm day. It would be best to ask the owner of the skiff… Sinold had no desire to get into any more hot water than he was already. If this was his boat, however, it would have the color of the sea dogs, slightly grey, with a green border along its sides, something ornamental. And he would finally give the boat a proper name – The sea dog… at least that’s how he would name the small skiff, for on a normal day, and even in a normal storm, he had no doubts that the boat would be as agile and as fast as one of those creatures of the sea. But, it would be up to Edfeil to name her boat.

His arrival on the beach which was part of the harbour (and where he had propped up the boat for repair) had been met by many curious stares. But this time they weren’t only the stares from the usual folk of the village. By now those folk knew who he was and thus he was part of what passed as normalcy in Sommersville.

The stares this time came from one particular boat, the Forell, as Snold noticed in passing the large ship by. He wondered what trade her captain would have for Windstrom, and whether there would be any profit in trading with the likes of those onboard. Yet he didn’t fail to notice the stares which came from the men onboard her were not just curious – they were laced with hatred and almost palatable anger. Sinold was glad he had his weapons with him, his sword and the two daggers he now carried. Could it be that the man he had brought into the dungeon was from the Forell? If so…For a brief second his thoughts wandered back to Letha… was she concerned that he wasn’t in the castle? Would she be worried? All Sinold knew was that he wouldn’t allow anyone to mess him up enough so that Letha would need to take care of him yet again.

“Try messing with me and I’ll show ya a good time!” *As he spit into the sand, he saw Lady Edfeil approaching, riding on her bedevilled donkey. He shook his head – one of these days he would teach her how to ride properly… IF she would still allow such, after the disaster with the boat. Not minding his gloomy thoughts right now, however, the Norse ran his hands through his hair and then smiled at the gentle maid.

“Good day, Edfeil, what brings you here this fine day?”

A superfluous question, but one he hoped would ease her mind, even if only a tad.

[Halethala]

Now she was truly beginning to worry . . a LOT . . Lady Edfeil was nowhere about either . . she heard snippets and whispers that she may have also gone to the seaside to see the boat for herself. At least she would not be alone, Letha knew, she would have a guard, for certain.

Pacing and thinking, tossing thoughts like the stormy waves that had tossed their boat that day . . . would it do any good to try to go there as well? The thought of attempting to detain Captain Remard was beyond her level of patience . . he was insufferable, and seemed to have her in his sights, in some odd way. Perhaps her less than courteous mouth had earned an undesireable niche in his mind. Bahhh . . she'd tried, she truly had. But even an unprovoking question had set him off at her . . she was unwilling to try to work up some mock charm to tantalize him, the very thought was loathesome . . no, something else had to be done . . .

Perhaps Gerrad . . she'd rarely seen him since returning . . but surely he'd be too busy. Then she knew . . NICHOLAS! Maybe he would have some ideas to give her . . or maybe even accompany her to the beach where the craft lay! Striding off with more purpose than wisdom, she wondered where she could find him . . She would ask the guards at the gates, they should be able to point her in the right direction . .