Treat the Ship with Kindness
This is a series that started as a list of prompts. The chapter titles are the prompts.
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When she was a child, her parents feared her love of the sea. She was forbidden its shores and waves, barely allowed to gaze in longing as she was driven passed it day by day.
Its call was irresistible, though, and she sneaked from her bed and home as her parents discussed moving. She hid within the warehouses on the docks, watching in wonder as ships came and went, as their crew moved with confidence both on land and the waves.
She was only on the docks for a couple days when she saw the other girl leave a ship, shoulders squared as she moved beside a tall, stern-looking woman. Both were dark from the sun, and she could feel the call of the sea echoing from this girl, so she sneaked onto their ship, unable to deny two calls to her soul.
The stern woman found her before the night was over, and she despaired, already denied so much by the adults in her life. Instead, the woman stared at her for a long time, then took her to the girl, whom she learned was the woman's granddaughter and the future captain of the ship.
"You may stay," the captain told her that night, "if you learn the rules. The sea does not love, and it does not forgive. Learn the rules well, little sea witch."
She learned.
The old captain would drill her in the rules alongside the young captain each night, after she spent the days learning from and working with the crew. She learned how to properly sail and care for the ship, the crew taking this as seriously as the old captain. It was work, and she grew, muscles corded along the length of her body, as the rules beat in her heart along with her blood.
When the old captain decided to retire, she took a long look at the girl she called "sea witch," just as she had done the night she found the girl in the ship. She nodded in approval, warming the girl's heart. "You have grown well, sea witch. Live the rules, and you will lead a happy life."
She and the new captain cried together after dropping the old captain at port for the last time. The old captain had left both prepared, but her absence hung over the ship and the loss cut too much to ignore the first night. The crew, replaced to give the new captain a clean slate, did not feel it; did not even feel the ship's sadness. It would take time for them to attune to the ship.
Her job now was to train the crew in the rules. The captain could not do this and maintain her necessary distance with the crew, but a sea witch? No matter what she did with the crew, her distance would remain constant.
"The ship should be-must be-treated with kindness," she instructed as she carefully removed a dented panel. It appeared to be metal, and had even been bolted down, but was a scale. She fit a new scale in its place, paying close attention to where the first had been affixed so she could avoid new holes to bolt down the new one.
One crew member rolled his eyes at her back. She recognized him as the young man who did not believe her to be a sea witch, which was why he likely believed she couldn't see him. She had expressed concern that he would be a hindrance, but the old captain had only responded that examples would be needed.
She disliked the idea of sacrifices when they could be avoided. Even though she knew her heritage now, she was still raised human during her formative years, and sacrificing felt like murder. She would encourage him to leave the ship at the next port, if he survived that long.
"The ship is the only thing between you and the sea." She pushed healing magic through her hands and into the ship, helping it adjust to the new scale. "If it decides to offer you to the sea, nothing can save you."
"It's just a ship," the doomed crewman stated, and the sea witch just turned to stare at him.
The other crew looked between them and said nothing. She was sure others had doubts about her status, and waited to see what she would do when disrespected.
"If the ship decides to offer you to the sea, nothing can save you," she repeated, then gathered her tools and the old scale. "Return to your duties."
The majority of the crew fled. She was certain they believed her a sea witch and were fearful to be in her presence longer than required. The disbelieving crewman and a few others lingered, and she walked past them without concern. She would kill them, if they touched her, and the Captain could deal with their insubordination.
That night, she was wakened by stillness. The ship was never truly still, always moving with the current even when at port. Now, when they were at sea, the ship should be constantly rocking, not so still that she felt sick from the lack of motion.
She almost fell as she slipped from her hammock, the ship's rage racing through her as soon as her feet hit the deck. She could feel its pain, and let her mind trace it back to the scale she had replaced earlier. She was certain she knew what she would find there, if she went, but that is not where she needed to be. She could almost feel the deck pull at her feet, directing her out of her tiny room and up until she stood in the open air.
The captain met her on the way, face firmly set in a blank expression. The sea witch knew the captain felt what the ship felt, in ways that she herself did not. This expression was likely hiding pained rage, in a way the ship did not hide. The old captain had said the captain needed to remain calm, even when the ship screamed in rage. The sea would take them all if there wasn't one part of them that remained rational.
The sea witch could hear the murmurings of the crew even before she could see them, huddled together in the center of the deck. A little apart from them, closer to the railing and struggling to fight the pull of the ship as it made its will clear, was the doomed crewman. The sea witch did not mourn the man as she and the captain approached; he had done more than disbelieve now. He had harmed the ship, and the ship would not stand for it further.
"What the fuck are you doing to me?!" The crewman screamed at the sea witch, his eyes not quite fearful enough to overpower his hate. It seemed he had come around on the idea that she was what she claimed, although he was far too late to that conclusion.
"You young fool." They were not the words she had meant to say, but once said, she could find no fault in them. "The ship must be treated with kindness, yet that is not what you have given it. It has decided upon a gift in kind for you; a gift of the sea."
The captain stopped feet away while the sea witch continued her advance. This was part of her duty. She would carry out the ship's will when the rules were disobeyed.
"It's just a fucking ship!" His voice cracked as she drew the small stone knife she kept on her belt.
"That you believe that is proof that you should never have stepped foot on this ship." The sea witch stabbed the knife forward, into the crewman's throat. He was already off-balance trying to fight the ship's pull and entirely unable to defend himself, so she had no trouble. She wrenched the knife back, dropping it to the deck so that she could grab the crewman with both hands and keep him upright as his life-blood gushed from the wound in his throat. She turned to face the horrified eyes of the crew and then threw the dying crewman overboard.
She knew she was coated in his blood, but that was not the important part. The full lesson had not yet been taught. Snapping her fingers, she pointed at the pools of blood on the deck, slowly fading as the ship drank them up. In ten minutes, there would be nothing left, save the blood she wore.
From overboard came myriad giggles and splashes, hints at things finding fresh food. The crew became paler, if it were possible.
"The ship must be treated with kindness. Or else."