Wanderlust - Chapter 8: Chapter 8

When Tanden returned, Borick was the first to meet him on the deck.
"We've been keepin' watch like you asked, Cap'n," Borick said. He gestured towards Jerios and Ivern.
Tanden cast them quick glances. "I never said you had to keep watch in any formal way," he pointed out. "But thank you for keeping the ship safe, Borick. Where are Roan and Soren?"
"On the foretop," Borick said. "Soren was supposed to patrol the pier but he didn't listen."
"He listened to me," Tanden said idly. "I did say you could relax. Roan, Soren! On deck, mates!"
The two Crelans climbed down the shrouds swiftly. They hopped to the deck and walked over to the group, but Soren kept his gaze downcast and seemed upset. Tanden frowned but addressed the group. "You're free for the rest of the evening. I only ask that you stay on the ship, but don't worry about keeping guard. I've paid a few of the locals to stand guard at the end of our pier."
Ivern nodded. "Thanks, Captain. I think I'll settle down early. It'll be nice to get a full night's sleep."
"Aye," Roan agreed. "We're getting paid an extra hundred siyas to sleep! You're the best captain I've ever worked for, by far."
Tanden smiled. "Glad to hear it. Have a good night, lads. Soren, come with me." He strolled across the deck to his quarters. He tossed his jacket onto his desk chair and turned to Soren the moment the door closed. "What's wrong?"
Soren flinched, which only confirmed Tanden's theory. "Nothing."
Tanden leaned against his desk and crossed his arms. "I want to help, mate."
"This doesn't help," Soren growled suddenly, indicating the room with a wave of his arms. "Telling me to come with you into your quarters. This is why the crew thinks I'm sleeping with you to gain favour!"
"What?" Tanden didn't know what he had been expecting, but it wasn't that.
"Borick thinks I'm letting you have me so that you'll make me first mate."
"Borick's an idiot," Tanden said. "He's a decent sailor but he thinks he's entitled to the position. He just wants to be first mate for the power. I'd never pick him."
Soren groaned. "Aye, great. That solves the problem then, doesn't it?" His words were laced with more sarcasm than Tanden would have thought possible from someone who was usually more soft-spoken.
"It isn't ideal, but it isn't really a problem because it isn't true. Even if we were sleeping together, that alone wouldn't get you the position. The crew should trust that I'll pick the best man for the job and mind their own business when it comes to who I choose to have in my bed."
"You need to leave me alone," Soren muttered. "You can't keep calling me in here or expecting me to bring you food. And you have to stop playing your game with me. I'm not a toy."
The last word hit Tanden hard. He hadn't been treating Soren like a toy, had he? "Soren, mate, I never meant to make you feel like a toy. My interest is genuine." He grimaced. "I know I don't have a normal way of showing it, but... I hoped you might be the person willing to keep up with me and play the game."
Soren's bright green eyes were wide. "What?"
"My interest is genuine," Tanden repeated. "And I know you're interested in me. I won't push. If you want me to leave you alone, I'll try to do so. Just know that you've never been a toy."
Soren shook his head. "This won't end well. I need to be a normal sailor."
"You don't need to be," Tanden said tentatively.
"Aye, I do. So you need to leave me alone. Good night, Captain." Soren left briskly, before Tanden could think of anything to say that would convince him to stay.
Tanden stared at the closed door for a long time, lost in thought. He didn't know what to do. Obviously, he had to give Soren some space, but then what? Maybe that would convince the crew that nothing was going on, which at the very least would make Soren more comfortable.
"I shouldn't have said anything," he muttered to himself. Admitting that he wanted Soren had been too much, it broke the image he tried to maintain of a confident captain. What had he expected anyway, that Soren would rush forward and kiss him the moment he'd admitted his feelings? It was nonsense. He should have known better.
Besides, Soren was probably going to leave the moment his debt was paid.
Soren was given proper leave while they were in Eith, and the one hundred siyas he'd earned for volunteering to stay behind. He wandered the streets alone. Eith was a bustling city, full of constant activity. It was nice to walk around and watch. It would have been nice to walk around with Tanden, Soren was sure he would have been spouting lots of information about the city and Morcea.
He tried not to let the argument with Tanden, or the captain's moment of honestly, linger in his thoughts. He'd made the right decision, and if he thought about it too much he knew he'd change his mind. But allowing anything to happen between him and the captain could only end badly. Soren liked the Wanderlust and didn't want to risk losing her like he had the Hiraeth.
There was a popular tavern near the port that most of the crew had spent their leave at, so after wandering for most of the afternoon, Soren decided to pay it a visit. The tavern was full of sailors, but it was easy enough to pick out people he knew. They were the only Ziannan ship in the port, after all. Soren made his way across the crowded room, to a small round table where Ivern, Roan and Jerios were drinking. Roan had a huge tankard of ale, while Ivern and Jerios were drinking a red liquid from thinner glasses.
"What's that?" Soren asked.
Ivern shrugged. "No idea. But it's delicious."
"It's made of berries," Jerios added. "They call it kalay."
"'s not a proper drink," Roan scoffed.
"Don't you ever get bored of ale?" Ivern asked. "You must be more adventurous, Roan. Isn't that the whole point of the Wanderlust?"
"Maybe for you lot." Roan took a long gulp of his ale. "'Sides, I also like mead."
"Of course you do. Soren, get a drink and pull up a chair," Ivern said.
Soren was happy to do just that. He went over to the bartender and decided to give the local drink a try. When he joined the others at the table, he was holding a surprisingly delicate glass of kalay. He grabbed an extra chair from a nearby table and sat down with the others, who were still arguing about being adventurous.
Roan narrowed his eyes when he saw Soren's glass. "Traitor."
"No, mate, I agree with Ivern," Soren said. "The whole point of the ship is to explore, isn't it?"
"Like I said, maybe for you lot. Me? I just needed a job," Roan said. "Saw a chance to work for a Tandran and took it. Figured the pay would be good, I did. Ivern here's a prissy Teltan who just took the job to explore."
Ivern shook his head. "I'm lower middle class. Just as poor as you."
"Aye, so you claim. But you picked this job because of the rumour that the captain would be taking us interesting places. And then we picked up Jerios what, a year later?"
"Why'd you join the crew?" Soren took a sip of the kalay. It was absolutely delicious. "Roan, mate. You've got to give this a try."
Roan shook his head stubbornly while Jerios answered Soren. "I wanted to leave Hoask and Captain Tanden was offering better pay than any of the Deoran ships. My family wasn't happy that I decided to work for a Ziannan ship, but I kinda wanted to get away from them, too."
"Reckon every sailor wants t' get 'way from somethin'," Roan said. "Cheers to that, mates." He held up his massive tankard, and the other three gently tapped their glasses against it.
"Cheers," they all echoed and took a drink.
"This is really good." Soren held the glass lightly and swirled the red liquid around. "Sorta like wine, isn't it?"
The other three all looked at him blankly.
"Wine's expensive," Ivern pointed out. "Who drinks wine?"
"Oh, I had some with my old captain once," Soren said.
"Oh. Thought for a moment you were going to say that Captain Tanden gave you some once," Ivern commented.
Soren shook his head. "We're not that close, mate. Like I said, I deliver food and he tells me about the places we're visiting. That's 'bout it."
Roan raised an eyebrow. "Things happen at sea, mate."
"Nothing's happened," Soren insisted. Nothing at sea, at least. "Listen, I get why you'd all think it, but just because the captain's interested doesn't mean I am."
"Fair enough," Jerios nodded.
"Aye. 's like Ivern said before, right, who's going to piss off a Tandran? 's not your fault if you play 'long, mate."
"Well," Soren shrugged. "I'm going to try to not play along as much."
"What if the captain gets angry?" Ivern asked.
Soren sighed. "Doubt he will be, but I guess I'll find out."
"'long as he doesn't take it out on the rest of the us, right?" Roan said.
"I won't let that happen," Soren promised.
"You're a good lad, Soren." Roan drained the rest of his ale and shakily got to his feet. "Need another."
"Sit down," Soren said, and to his surprise the older Crelan listened. "I'll get it for you. More kalay?" he glanced between the other two men, who both nodded.
A minute later when he returned with the drinks, the men were all grinning.
"This here's why you'd make a good first mate, mate." Roan took the tankard, staring at it so lovingly he might have been looking at his own child. "Borick would never buy drinks for us. Well, reckon what you said about not lettin' the captain take out his anger on us is a plus, too."
"He's not wrong, Soren," Ivern said. "I'd back you if you tried for it."
"Aye." Roan managed between gulps of his ale.
"Me too," Jerios added. "You'd be a good influence on the captain."
Soren couldn't help but smile. "If I promise to think on it can we move on?"
The other three agreed and the conversation turned to Eith and what they should do during their leave.
True to his word, Tanden left Soren alone. It was harder than he had expected. Without noticing, he had very quickly become attached to Soren's presence. As he went about his business in Eith, there were plenty of times he would see something that he thought Soren would find interesting. He would think about telling Soren later, only to remember that they weren't talking.
The rest of their time in Eith passed slowly. Tanden loved exploring the city but couldn't keep Soren from his thoughts. He annoyed himself by pining, which coloured the rest of the experience. At least he had plenty of time to practice Morcean, and by the time the Wanderlust was getting ready to set sail again, he considered himself fluent in the language.
As they sailed out of the port and started the trip upriver, Tanden couldn't help but be a little sharper than usual with his men. He knew he was doing it, but it was hard to shake his mood and he didn't really want to, either. He was grumpy and the sailors would have to deal with that.
After three days on the Nir River, Tanden woke up one morning to find Soren standing at his door with a bowl of porridge. Tanden was too annoyed at himself to be pleased, and instead stared at Soren and the food suspiciously.
"What?"
"Don't think anything of this, Captain," Soren said. "But I promised some of the men that I wouldn't let you take out your anger on them."
"I'm not taking anything out on them," Tanden protested half-heartedly. He took the bowl but paused before eating it. It wasn't plain and beige like usual. It had an orange tinge. "What's in this?"
Soren smiled. "Spices. I thought it might make it a little more interesting."
Tanden tasted it and was pleasantly surprised. "This is really good."
"Aye, well, turns out I know you pretty well." Soren leaned against the door frame casually. "I'm not taking back what I said before, but you've got to lay off the men."
Tanden felt a hint of his old self coming back. He ate another mouthful of the spicy porridge and raised an eyebrow. "You seem to be under the misconception that you can tell me what to do. I'm a lord, you know."
"Oh really? I thought you were a captain."
Tanden chuckled. "Fair enough. I'll lay off the men. Any other demands?"
"Not right now."
"When did you become so self-assured?" Tanden brushed past him to walk out onto the deck. "Don't get me wrong, mate. I like it. It's just surprising."
"I guess when I decided I had to be your minder."
"You might as well just call yourself first mate," Tanden said, shooting Soren a grin.
Soren shook his head. "This is temporary. You need a permanent first mate."
"We'll see about that," Tanden said, fairly confident that Soren wasn't going to leave the Wanderlust. He obviously didn't want to.