DISCLAIMER!

This story is completely and utterly fictional. No one I know is depicted in this story,
and no one, living or dead was used to create this story.

Real places and events were used as environments for the story's historic setting. But
not all establishments were or are real.

COPYRIGHT © 2019
 Table Of Contents

PART 01 1
PART 02 6
PART 03 9
PART 04 14
PART 05 17
PART 06 20
PART 07 23
PART 08 26
PART 09 29
PART 10 32
PART 11 35
PART 12 37
PART 13 39
PART 14 41
PART 15 43
PART 16 45
PART 17 49
PART 18 51
PART 19 54
PART 20 56
PART 21 58
PART 22 61
PART 23 65
PART 24 68
PART 25 70
 CHAPTER 1

We were two days out from our next port in Libya when one of my men came to my cabin shouting
that a stowaway had been found and that it was a girl. Before I could say anything, more shouting
from the deck interrupted us.

I ran past him to stop what I believed was happening. Women weren't allowed on most ships because
they were believed to bring bad luck. I didn't believe it, but most of my crew did.

I hoped that she hadn't been tossed overboard by the time I arrived. I breathed a sigh of relief when I
saw her still huddled on the deck with two of my men keeping the others at bay.

"Stop this right now!" I bellowed as I walked in their direction. The men quieted down as they all
looked in my direction. Even the girl and she is a young one. Around her 18th year, I would guess.

I stopped when I stood in front of her.

"What are you doing on my ship?" I asked her.

"I didn't mean to," she started. "I was hiding among some crates, then I woke up here," she said. I
looked at her along with the rest of my crew. She didn't just wake up here, at least not recently. We
docked six days ago and that was for shelter and not to take on cargo of any kind. I wanted a closer
look at her eyes to see if she really found herself here by accident, but it goes without question that
she continued to hide once she was on board.

"Stand up," I told the girl. She looked around for a bit before getting to her feet. As she adjusted her
stance, I heard the clinking of metal. I reached out and lifted her dark cloak to see a bare midriff, a
flowing rose-colored pair of pantaloons, with splits down the side along with manacles around her
ankles.

"You ran away from the slave market," I said and not asked. She snatched the robe out of my hand and
covered herself up.

"I'm not a slave and I will not be sold," she said as she looked up at me with steel in her brown eyes. I
believed her, but there was something else nagging at me and there was the thing that she was a girl
on a ship full of superstitious men.

I reached out and grabbed her arm before turning to walk back to my cabin. "Have Job meet me in my
cabin with a chisel and file!" I shouted as I moved past my men. No one stopped me, but I heard slight
rumblings all the same. I stopped with a stomp of my left foot and waited to hear if they said anything
again. A deadly calm hung around the deck. I slowly turned in a circle to give each man a look in their

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eye until I saw the same man twice. The silence persisted and no one showed a stiff backbone under
my gaze. I yanked the girl back to my cabin as I started to walk again.

I pushed open the door to my cabin before slamming it shut so the rest of my crew could hear. I
turned back around and looked at the creature that had fallen to the floor.

"Are you hungry?" I asked as I remembered how long she must have been hidden before she actively
hid on board.

"I already ate," she told me as she started to stand. She wrapped the worn robe around her body as
she stood in place. I looked at her questioningly. "I was brought on board and packed away with the
food," she explained.

"Ah," I acknowledged. "Then how about a name?" I asked.

"A name would be nice unless your given and last name is Captain," she said.

"HA!" I barked in laughter at her twisting of my words. "I am Captain Norton, at your service," I said
before taking a sweeping bow as I bent low. I was about to stand up when my door was kicked in and I
fell over my slightly crossed feet. I stumbled and flailed until I landed on the floor, on the girl, with my
head between her legs.

"Oh, sorry to disturb you, Captain," I heard a gruff voice say. I recognized it as belonging to Job. I was
about to get up when I noticed that her anatomy was wrong. I pushed my nose into what it was
already sitting on and when I heard her gasp, I pulled back. More quickly than I should have, but this
wasn't something I was expecting.

"Captain?" Job asked as I sat on the floor stunned, looking into soft bright coffee-colored eyes that
looked at me with uncertainty.

"Yes, Job," I said before coughing. "Please knock next time," I told him as I stood. "You knocked our
stowaway over," I continued as I held out my hand for her, him, to take.

"I didn't stow away," he said again as he took my offered hand in helping him to his feet. I broke
contact before he did and walked over to the locked cabinet to get myself a drink.

"Remove ...," I started and stopped when I turned back around with a half-full glass in hand. Job was
still standing in the doorway and the boy was still standing in the same place I left him. I looked at the
boy a bit longer as I waited for him to say his name. He looked between Job and I before he seemed to
understand what we were waiting for.

"Tracy," he said.

"Ha?" I asked before taking a swallow of what little was in my glass.

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"My name is Tracy," he said again. I raised an eyebrow before turning to Job again.

"Remove Tracy's chains and cuffs," I said to complete my earlier statement. I watched Job as he made
his way into my cabin and put down his box of tools. I said for him to only bring his file and chisel, but
he brought everything anyway. He found a box that was half under my desk and had the young man
put his foot on it so he could get at the heavy pieces of metal better.

I watched as one small foot rested on the box exposing a half-wrapped leg in soft fabric up to the top
of his thigh.

"What kind of name is Tracy?" I asked as I continued to see him as a female with soft skin and just as
soft curves even without having large breasts.

"It's Greek," he said. I could at least hear the maleness in his voice now. "I was told it means
Harvester," he explained.

"You mean like a farmer?" I asked him as he moved a few strands of his long blonde hair behind one
ear as he watched Job work.

"More like a field hand," he clarified without looking up at me.

"You say you aren't a slave, but how do you end up at a slave market if you aren't a slave?" I asked
once I had poured myself another glass and now walked to my chair that was next to my desk.

"My father died owing to a few people. People, he called friends until he needed help. Then they were
his benefactors but he didn't see how they changed on him. How when his back was turned they
would size up everything and everyone in the household. Before he could make his fortune back,
never mind repay his 'friends' he got sick and died. His body was hardly cold in the ground before they
were claiming what they said were rightly theirs," Tracy said before falling silent. I didn't press the boy.
Losing your father isn't easy for a young man. I willed myself not to see my father being held up by the
hangman's noose.

The ship creaked around us as it continued on its trip to Tripoli to pick up a shipment destined for
Morocco. After that, there was a possibility of transporting some supplies from Spain to one of its
colonies in the Caribbean. The promise of rum as part of the payment and a few days in the hot sun
was something that kept the island colonies well stocked and their goods heavily traded.

My cabin continued to stay quiet but for the sounds created by Job's labour. First, one ankle shackle
fell off and not much longer after that both legs were free.

"Will that be all Captain?" Job asked once he had gathered all his things and the irons Tracy was once
clad in. I looked in his direction for a moment before looking at Tracy who was rubbing his ankles one
at a time. I then looked at Job again.

"Tell them, she's a boy," I told him. They both looked at me stunned. "Tell them that you saw me rip

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the clothes from her body and that I found boy parts," I said again before downing what was left in my
glass. "And bring her some clothes," I added as I thought about getting another drink. "Nothing I have
will fit her," I ended before I reached for what was perhaps the last fresh pear on the ship. We didn't
get a lot of them and the fresh fruit was always the first devoured.

"Aye Captain," Job said before he left my room.

"I don't understand," Tracy said as my teeth sank into the flesh of the fruit. I finished taking my bite
and licked at the juice that ran free before I turned to look at him again. "Why did you tell him to say
that I was a boy?" he asked me.

"Because you are," I told him.

"But you made him think that I was a girl at the same time," he added on.

"I did," I confirmed.

"Why?" he stared at me with a puzzled look on his face as I took another bite.

"Doubt," I answered him before taking my next bite. I finished my pear and tossed what was left of it
into a bucket that my doctor insisted on placing in my cabin. The look on his face did not change.
"They don't know what you are and them not knowing will keep them from throwing you overboard
for being a girl," I informed him.

"That is what they were trying to do?" he asked surprised.

"Women are bad luck and not allowed on ships," I told him.

"Well that's nonsense," he said in disbelief. "How do women travel if they can't go on boats?" he
asked me. I felt like shrugging my shoulders, but I decided to answer him.

"Not all captains or crews feel that way, just at the time, I didn't have the time to be too picky about
who I took on as crew," I explained as my gaze ended on her. On him. I had tried to avoid looking at
him so it would sink in that he was indeed a him. But now I saw the scared girl that I found on deck.
She just didn't look so scared now. "Do you normally look like this?" I asked him.

"Look like what?" he asked. I looked at him in slight disbelief that he didn't know what I was talking
about. He then looked down at what he was wearing. He mostly saw the old cloak that he must have
picked up somewhere to get away unseen. He opened the top and for the first time, I saw above his
navel. He wore a matching band across his chest like he was a girl with small breasts. It wasn't pulled
taut so one could be forgiven for thinking they saw a slight swell of flesh underneath. I looked up at his
face and he seemed to be really seeing what he looked like. His hands moved over his skin and the
fabric and then he pulled the cloak together again. "Never like this," he admitted. "And never in
public," he said as his eyes darted around the cabin and he refused to look at me.

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I wasn't going to push it. Some discoveries weren't meant to be forced or done in public. I then started
to think about where he was going to sleep. I didn't think he would survive with the men in their
quarters, and every time I saw them seeing him as a girl and thinking he could... I knew he couldn't be
out there with them.

"You will sleep in here until I know what to do with you," I told him. He reacted too much like a
woman as he stepped back and held his cloak tighter to his body as he looked at me questioningly.

"How old are you?" I asked him as I kept my voice level.

"I'm in my twentieth year," he said before licking his lips and looking at the bed in the corner before
looking back at me.

"I said that you will be sleeping in here, not with me," I told him to calm down his breathing that I saw
was starting to speed up even from this distance.

Knock. Knock.

"Captain?" came the call from outside my door. It was Job again.

"Come in Job," I slightly shouted so he would hear me on the other side. The door creaked as it was
pushed open. He stood there with the clothes in his hand. "Give them to Tracy," I said as I suddenly
started to feel tired. I watched as Job took careful steps towards the young man and extend one hand
holding the garments I had requested. "Did anyone ask you anything?" I asked Job as Tracy now held
what he had been given to his chest.

"A few wanted to know what was going on down here," he said as he kept his eyes on the boy. I
wondered if he wanted to stay and watch him change so he would know for himself if Tracy was really
a man or a woman. "But only Bently asked what the clothes were for. I told him what you said I should
say Captain. That she is a boy who was dressed like a girl," he finished. His eyes had moved from Tracy
to me and back again. I also heard the doubt in his voice. As long as he told them what I wanted, he
could keep his doubt along with the rest of the ship.

"We will need a hammock also Job," I said as I stood and peeled off my shirt. I toed off my shoes and
crawled into my bed to rest my mind. "Wake me when it's my shift for the watch," I told either one
before trying to fall asleep.

"Aye Captain," Job answered. It was a few seconds before I heard him leaving my cabin. There was
some ruffling of clothing which lead me to think that Tracy was trying to quickly change before Job got
back. I don't know how successful he was or not because I had fallen asleep before then.

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 CHAPTER 2

"Captain Norton," I heard someone say before I was rocked counter to the flow of my ship. I opened
my eyes to find this beauty looking down at me with blonde hair framing a sweet face. Then I
remembered.

"Yes Tracy," I said as I closed my eyes and crushed my sprouting hope of bedding the beautiful girl in
my cabin.

"Job says it's time for you to go on watch," he tells me. I look past him and there was Job just inside
my cabin, on the other side of a hammock. I'll ask later if Job hung it or if Tracy managed it on his own.

"Thanks, Job," I said as I turned and sat up on the edge of my bed. As I stood I saw Job nod in my
direction before closing the door and going to his own bed. My attention then moved to Tracy. He was
dressed in a stained but clean shirt and breaches that stopped halfway down his calves. He still looked
like a girl, but now a girl dressed in boy's clothes. I walked over to my armoire and looked for the few
hair ribbons that I possessed. When I dock at a port after a long voyage I gladly get a haircut, but for
when I'm at sea, my ribbons were heavily used to keep the hair out of my face.

"Here," I told Tracy as I walked over to him and held out my hand showing the black length of silk.

"What is this for?" he asked as he took it from me.

"It's to tie your hair back," I told him as I now looked for the shirt I had on earlier. I then saw it on my
bed. It was between where I was sleeping and the wall. I didn't remember putting it there, but I was
happy to have found it. With my back to Tracy, I put it back on and tried stepping into my shoes. I then
realized that I had to unlace them for my feet to get in. I sat down on my bed and tried to do it quickly.
I may be captain, but one didn't stay captain long if he didn't pull his own weight.

I was lacing up my second boot when I looked along the floor and saw ten toes pointed in my
direction.

"You are coming on watch with me," I told Tracy. "You can't hide out down here until port, and if you
intend to stay with us as far as Spain, then you might as well start learning now," I told the boy.

"You're going to Spain?" is what he asked instead of protesting.

"We are currently on our way to Tripoli. There we will pick up some cargo for Spain," I explained to
Tracy as we left the cabin and made our way to the stairs that would lead us topside. I saw them
ahead along with the companionway where the rest of the crew, who wasn't on watch duty, were
sleeping. Between both places, I saw the main mass that went through this deck and the one below it.

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I reached out and grabbed the steps as I made a U-turn to go up. "From Spain, we are headed to one
of their colonies in the Caribbean," I finished as we stepped out into the night air. I took a breath as I
looked across the deck and out into the Mediterranean. We were only able to see distant lights of the
cities along the coast of North Africa and the nearest island on our right. Kriti I believed. We were in
prime pirate territory. They could board us, kill or toss everyone on watch overboard and steal our
cargo and have it off their boat before sunrise in a number of coves surrounding us at the moment. It
didn't matter that we weren't carrying anything. By the time they found that out we could already be
dead.

I turned and looked up at the Sterncastle deck before making my way to the steering wheel to take
over for the helmsman who was manning it for me. Halfway up the second set of stairs, I saw Joseph's
face as he looked straight ahead.

"Captain," he said when he saw me. He waited until I had one hand on the wheel before stepping back
and I nodded my head in acknowledgment.

"Sleep well Joseph," I told him.

"Aye Captain," he said before turning to leave. I watched him as he gave my shadow a second look. He
stopped for a moment as he took a good look at Tracy before going down to the main deck. Instead of
going below, he went to the bow of the ship. He and his friend Nathaniel joined my ship together and
were hardly apart. I'm sure he was now spreading the news.

"Tracy," I started before I looked in his direction.

"Yes Captain Norton," he said as he turned to look at me.

"Where were you planning on escaping to?" I asked him. I highly doubted that he would have gotten
far if he was making his escape on foot.

"I hadn't gotten that far yet," he said before turning to look over the side. "I just wanted to escape
before I thought that far ahead. It was of no use to me to dream about a different life if I couldn't get
out of my chains or if I was sold to someone and taken to God knows where," he explained.

"You look from the stern of the ship," I told Tracy. "Let me know if you see any lights following us.
Better yet someone without lights following us," I instructed him. He did as I said without complaint
and stayed there until dawn. I kept an eye on him, along with the others on watch to make sure that
everyone stayed awake and were looking where they were suppose to be looking. We had about five
call ups to the crow's nest to check out a spotting. One was a floating barrel. Two were night
fishermen. One was the wake of another boat that we never saw from the deck and the last sighting
was nothing. If those last two had occurred at the same time I would have been more worried than I
was.

As the sun rose the world was filled with colours again. My ship was a rich brown once again. My sails
were white instead of grey. The sea was a deep blue and not foreboding black. The sky that held stars

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to guide us in the right direction was slowly being filled with wisps of clouds and a sun that brightened
the whole world. As the stars disappeared I started to smell breakfast as it was being cooked in the
galley. It would be another hour or two before anyone made their way topside to relieve us from our
watch.

"Still awake back there Tracy?" I called without looking back at him.

"Yes Captain Norton," he answered. He sounded tired, but still awake.

"About two more hours then you get something to eat and some sleep," I told him.

"How does one become a member of your crew?" he asked.

"Are you sure about that?" I asked him instead. "You've only had watch duty. There is more to being a
seafarer than that," I said.

"I would think so," he said without turning to look at me. "I was just wondering if I chose to stay how
would that happen," he asked without asking. "Do I have to sign something? Commit some act to
show my willingness to be a part of the crew? Have an interview with the head office?" he ended
with. I smiled at the last one knowing he said it in jest.

"We have no head office," I decided to inform him all the same. "We are an independent ship and
crew and take jobs from just about anyone and go just about anywhere," I continued. "If you chose to
stay onboard after we arrive in Spain, you will sign the articles of this ship and be loyal to me, her
captain, and owner. You are also free to disembark at Tripoli and go your own way if you choose," I
explained as I watched the shore get a little bit closer. The wind was still steady, but not very strong.
We had been mostly drifting for over a day now or we would have arrived late yesterday. I waited a
moment, but Tracy stayed quiet. "Do you wish to jump ship at Tripoli?" I asked to make sure he hadn't
fallen asleep.

"I'm thinking," he answered. That made me believe that he may just get off at Tripoli, putting an end
to the potential problem he had brought on board.

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 CHAPTER 3

Due to our rather current visit to a port, we were still stocked with some fresh supplies and water.
Being the captain I got eggs and 'fresh' sausages along with a stack of pita bread that I shared with
Tracy. I had leftover ale from our last trip to Portugal while most of the men had wine with their meal
except those opting to drink water. Clean drinking water was something to be savored almost as much
as wine and ale and even more so when we haven't had any for a while. I looked over at Tracy and
watched as he took a sip of watered-down wine. Cook was under the impression that he was now my
cabin boy so he got the same meal that I did. I watched the rest of the crew around us as they ate
their portion of corned beef and bread with some sauce we picked up in Kas. Cook said that it was
suppose to make anything it was placed with better. I think it was a bit early to test it out, but
everyone that had it didn't complain and I guess it's better if we know now, rather than later if the
crew would eat it or not.

I yawned and decided that I now needed sleep more than I needed to finish what was on my plate. I
was almost finished, so much wouldn't be going to waste if someone else didn't lay calm to it.

"Call me when we dock," I said out loud even as I hoped for the wind to stop blowing all together so I
could get at least two hours of sleep.

"Aye Captain," four of my nearest men said as I stood up. I picked up my cup and took it with me to my
room. I paused to drink most of it before going up the steps to the deck where my cabin was located. I
lifted a foot but brought it back down as I remembered Tracy again. I looked back the way I came and
he wasn't there. I started to head back to where I left him but changed my mind five steps later. He
wasn't some kid that couldn't find my cabin when he was ready to sleep. I was about to leave when I
heard someone call out "Boy". I knew they meant Tracy. I knew all my crew by name and I also knew
the same went for them also. So the only one they didn't have a name for yet was Tracy.

"Boy. I'm talking to you," the same voice said. I believed that was Hank speaking. I leaned back against
the hull to see, but actually hear, how this would play out. I was still tired, but not as much as before.
This was more interesting than eating.

"Yes," Tracy finally answered back.

"Are you really a boy?" Hank asked. "I hear that you are a boy and you are wearing boy clothes, but
you still look like a girl to me," he continued. I heard a stool as it scraped along the floor for a short
distance. "Open your shirt and let us see," Hank then said. I stood away from the wall waiting for the
right time to intervene. Males from the higher classes guarded the view of their chest as much as any
woman would and I knew Tracy wasn't as lowly born as anyone on board.

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"I'm not some street rat to be seen half-naked," I heard Tracy reply. Oh boy, I thought as I could
mentally see the stares he would now be getting from everyone around him. I heard one chair move
again as it made a quick angry sound. I waited for more but none came.

"You can't hit him, Hank. He's with the captain," I heard Job say to stay Hank's fist that might have
already been raised. "You should go to the Captain's cabin Tracy," Job told the boy. There was silence
before one chair slowly moved and was then followed up with sounds of bare feet on board.

"He should apologize first," Nathaniel said before Tracy had gotten too far. His was a somewhat sweet
voice that I hardly ever heard raised in anger.

"Why should I apologize?" Tracy asked sounding a little indignant. "I wasn't the one picking a fight," he
pointed out a little louder.

"You insulted all of us!" Jacob answered with force. "We are crew. We share this ship. You should
respect us more." He paused and everyone just breathed. "Until you at least get to know us," he joked
before I heard a few laughs in response. Silence once again descended on the men down the short hall
from me.

"I was raised to do and not do some things," Tracy started. "I didn't mean to offend," Tracy said as he
maybe tried to apologize. I waited and waited until I heard his footsteps as they brought him in my
direction. I looked at him as he now saw me. He was holding both my plate and his, with his cup
balancing on what I thought was his plate. We continued to look at each other until I gestured for him
to walk ahead. He didn't look ashamed or proud. Just a little surprised to see me standing there.

"You should have just shown him your chest," I told the boy as I stepped in front of him to open the
door to my cabin.

"I couldn't do that," he told me.

"Because you aren't a 'street rat'?" I asked him.

"That is only half of it," he admitted rather quickly. "I was told that my body wasn't normal and that I
shouldn't let anyone but mother, my doctor, and eventually my wife see me," he explained. I stopped
and thought about that for a moment after I had pulled off my shirt as I got ready for what I was sure
was going to turn into a short nap.

"Is that why you were dressed as a girl?" I asked him.

"Partly," he again admitted. I started to wonder if his wine was watered down at all. "It covered more
of me than what they dressed the males in, but I wasn't given a choice. They said with my looks, they
couldn't sell me as a normal male slave. They would make more money from my sale if they played up
my looks." His story was interesting, but I was already nodding off and I was standing over my bed. I
yawned loudly as I crawled in between the sheets.

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"Save the rest of the story for night watch," I told him as I got comfortable.

"Yes Captain," he answered as I closed my eyes and settled into a bed that I wasn't allowed to forget
was getting too thin. The peace of oncoming sleep was starting to settle on my body and mind when
the ship hit something. I scrunched my eyelids together as I wanted to deny what I knew was
happening. At that moment I heard the shouting from above deck as the ship was secured to the pier
and the sails were battened down. I was too tired to groan.

I turned onto my back and looked up at the wooden planks before I sat up. I turned and placed my
feet on the floor before reaching for the chair closest to my bed, to pull my shirt free. As I pulled it on
while staying seated, I realized that we weren't unloading anything and may not be loading anything
until tomorrow, but I had to talk to the shipping house to make sure. So I rubbed at the higher parts of
my boots before putting them on and then standing to walk over to my wardrobe. I pulled out my only
dress coat before putting it back in. I poured some water into the washbasin and washed my face
before sliding wet fingers through my hair a few times before tossing the used water out the window. I
grabbed a towel that hung on the wall and dried my face before reaching for my coat again.

"The independent man has to meet with...?" Tracy ended to have it just hang in the air unfinished. I
turned around to look at him as I fixed my collars. He was seated at a cleaned spot at my desk as he
continued to eat his breakfast.

"We are here to take on cargo. I have to speak with the shipping house to see if we will be loading it
today or tomorrow." I told him. He gave his attention back to his plate and mine. I walked out of my
cabin without saying anything else and made my way up top. As I was ascending the steps, someone
on their way down almost ran into me. It was Jacob.

"We've docked Captain," he said even as he knew I knew.

"Is there anyone out there waiting to talk to me?" I asked half hoping that they had someone at the
port with an eye out for us.

"No Captain," Jacob answered. It was a good thing that I didn't expect him to say anything different. I
nodded. He was about to leave when I stopped him.

"Jacob," I said to have him turn to face me again. "Even if we load cargo today, everyone who worked
the night watch doesn't help. They will be on watch again tonight," I told me.

"Aye Captain," he answered. I stepped out into the light that I saw being born not that long ago. Now
my view was full of a seaside city with noise and bustle. Donkeys were pulling laden carts away from
ships or being brought to ships that may be leaving today. I stood on the gangway for a moment as I
felt the buzz in front of me as it waited to swallow me up.

"Maamoul Mad!" I heard a lady shouting as I dodged a pile of shit upon leaving the pier and
successfully crossing a street with its swift-footed and four-legged traffic. I walked away without giving
her or her sweets cart a look as I made my way to Cheikh Trading Company. It was to be found on

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Miatein Street three streets away from the piers.

"Halawet Jeben!" was the next shout I heard from the nearest, newest vendor on the street I crossed
over to. I continued on passing hummus stall after hummus stall. Most of the hawkers sold it with Ful
that I have learned over the years was mixed beans instead of the bird I was expecting.

"Ah. Captain Norton," a heavy-set man greeted me as he exited the building I was walking towards.

"Captain Wollf," I greeted him. He was a French captain that I ran into a lot. He had two contracts with
two shipping houses. It was a unique, and very pleasant position to be in.

"You look horrible," he commented. I ran my hand through my hair. "Did you just dock?" he asked as
he moved along to another topic.

"Yes, just," I confirmed. "How is the second ship coming?" I asked. I wasn't liking him at the moment
due to my lack of sleep, but he wasn't a bad man to be friends with.

"Yes, quite well. She should be in the water in four more months," he said with pride. "I was going to
let my son captain her, but I think it would be best if he just rode along for a while to learn before he
takes the wheel. So to speak," he ended as he started to pay attention to a man shouting that he had
Halawat Al-jibon for sale. I turned to watch and it looked like it was layered with nuts, like most things
here and something red on top. "Would you like some stuffed sweet cheese?" Wollf asked as he
started to drift in the stall's direction. A grin cracked my face and I allowed myself to go along with it.

"Thank you Wollf," I said as I walked with him over to the man who was already preparing some to be
taken away. "I'll take it back with me to the ship," I said.

"I guess you have to check-in and then go back for some needed sleep," he said as he looked at me
again.

"Night watch," I decided to explain before he thought that I was having problems with my ship or my
crew.

"Ah!" he exclaimed with understanding. Not that I think he has taken watch since he was a far younger
man and not even then that often. "Oh, I got a captain for my new ship from your part of the world
Norton," he told me as he was handed his piece. "The name's Autumn Hawk. It seems it's my son's
favorite flower. They grow in abundance next to my country home," Wollf explained as he motioned
for the man behind the cart to get me some also.

I watched as he cut the dough and opened it up before covering it with a white thick creamy mixture.
A clear liquid was poured over it before another layer of the dough was placed on top. On top of that
crushed nuts were sprinkled and shavings of something red was placed on top before the paper it was
sitting on was folded over, sealing it in, before it was handed to me. I took it from the man with a smile
and Wollf paid his price.

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"Oh, I forgot to say. The captain I got for the Autumn Hawk is a Captain Frost," he said as we moved
away from the stall to make space for any new customers that might come along while we were still
there. I tried to remember if I knew such a captain but no bells were ringing. I was about to say that I
was too tired to remember if I had heard of them or not when his next question stopped me. "You
haven't heard of her I take it?"

"A woman captain?" I asked in more than slight surprise. Not so much that I didn't think they, women,
could do the job. I have seen women from the many places I have traveled who have done far more
than a lot of men I knew. My surprise came from the fact that she found anyone to let her be captain
and a crew that would let her be their captain. "I congratulate you, my friend, on being so ...
courageous," I told him.

"We have traveled to the same places, Norton. We have seen what women are capable of," he told
me. For a moment I was very impressed with him. "Since no one was willing to hire her, she took a pay
cut until she proved herself a good match for the job," he continued. Of course, it came down to
money which shouldn't have surprised me, but it still dulled the new light I was seeing him in.

"Well, thank you," I said as I raised the package. "But I must check-in," I told him as I started to create
some distance between us.

"Of course," he answered back. "I'll stop by later," he told me before he turned around and walked
back to the Halawat Al-jibon vender. I, in turn, walked into the building to see if I was getting any sleep
today.

= 13 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 4

Slowly I woke up and rubbed my hand across my face before I opened my eyes. I blinked as I looked
around my cabin. The hammock wasn't strung up, but hanging from a hook that was meant to hold a
hat I think. When I finished looking around, it was clear that Tracy wasn't here. I stopped and willed
my hearing to beyond my cabin to perhaps detect sounds of a fight or struggle. Even as I did this, I
didn't think anyone would harm him because I had taken him under my wing, but men were men and
we weren't the cream of the crop by any measure. But I heard nothing.

Well, I didn't hear anything until I heard heels walking towards my door. I turned and looked out the
window. The sun was still high, but it was past noon. I looked around to take stock of the appearance
of my room. This is when I realized that it was a little cleaner than it has been a few days ago. I guess
Tracy cleaned up before he left the cabin.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

I sat up before answering.

"Come in," I aimed at the door. I believed that it was Wollf and as the door opened I was proven
correct. I stood and walked over to him to shake his hand in greeting.

"Did I wake you?" he asked as he took my hand.

"No, no," I told him as I ended the handshake and walked him over to one of the two chairs in my
room. "I had just woken up before you knocked," I admitted even as I rubbed my eyes again as I took a
seat myself. I looked towards the chair where I expected to see Wollf sitting, but he wasn't there. I
looked up and he was smiling at me.

"So you haven't had lunch then?" he said sounding sure and yet a little hopeful at the same time.

"No," I felt myself say hesitantly for some reason.

"Then you are in luck my friend. I have brought lunch with me," he said before leaving the room. I
thought about putting my shirt back on, and by the time Wollf made it back with a boy on his heels
with a bag that I assumed held this meal that we were suppose to share, I was tucking the ends of my
shirt into my trousers.

I watched as Wollf stood back and the boy placed the bag on his chair before off-loading four plates
onto my cleared desk before retrieving the bag and moving out of the way.

= 14 Of 73 =
"I hoped that I would get here before you ate, and I was willing to wait until you work up so we could
eat together," he told me as he uncovered the dishes.
"And what has brought on this bout of loneliness?" I asked as I took my seat again.

"We haven't crossed paths in a while, Norton," he said as he removed the last one. "Or am I mistaken
in believing that we are friends?" he asked with a straight face as he now looked in my direction.

"Of course," I answered him. "It's just we haven't done this in so long. You always had other friends to
dine with," I explained as the smells hitting me had me looking over what he brought. Nothing there
surprised me. I passed most of this on my way to and from the shipping house. Hummus. Mashed
beans covered in oil. Hollow thin flatbread that you use to eat the mashed beans with. My eyes then
landed on something I have tracked down while in the city on a number of occasions.

"You got mutton?" I asked as I reached for that plate first. It didn't really look any different from most
cuts of meat that you are lucky to find in this city, but it was the smell that confirmed it as I raised the
plate to my face and inhaled.

"What meal is complete without some meat?" he asked.

"Here, here," I agreed as I started to wonder at how to separate my share.

"Here Norton," Wollf said as he handed me an empty plate that I hadn't seen. As I put the mutton
back down I saw forks and spoons and started to build my plate.

"Thank you," I told him as I stabbed my fork into the meat that was fall-away soft from the bone. "So
tell me Wollf, how did you find your Ms. Captain Frost?" I asked him. I slid the mutton plate closer to
him as I turned my attention to getting some bread and using a spoon to place some of the hummus
onto it that I then topped with the mutton.

"I was back home in Fareham when Frakes, Charles Frakes, docked in Landport for a week and decided
to look me up," he said as I took my first bite. I chewed slowly as I looked in his direction waiting for
him to continue. He instead ripped off a small piece of bread and swiped it through his portion of the
hummus. It didn't take him long to eat it but I took another bite as I waited.

"We were sitting in my backyard taking in some fresh air with a cup of tea while my wife pruned some
of the flower bushes to fill a few of the vases inside. We talked about the contracts we heard about.
New shipping houses. New items being traded. New docking fees that some ports were now charging
and some new ports too. We talked about current and new captains and as a joke, he enlightened me
on the female captain that he heard about. I didn't laugh, but I didn't know the woman to defend her
to him. Once he realized that I didn't share in his humor, we sat in silence for perhaps fifteen minutes
listening to the birds sing and watched the wind in the trees. He then thanked us for our hospitality as
he stood. I stood also and offered to show him out.

Halfway through the house my son, Eliot, came home and I introduced them. I told him that he would
soon be sharing the seas with this woman captain. He was rather happy about that until Frakes spoke
up and said that he wasn't sure that would happen since everywhere she has asked for a captaincy

= 15 Of 73 =
had turned her down to date. I inquired if she asked here at Landport and he informed us, that is how
he heard about her. With that I wished him well, then turned and looked at my son once the door was
closed. I asked him if he was willing to have this woman captain on his ship. I still think that boy looked
too happy about the prospect," Wollf remarked as he stopped to take another bite.

While he was talking, the boy that he brought with him produced a container and poured us some
local tea. It was rather cool which was ok since the meat was still warm. I had eaten everything on my
plate and was enjoying the tea and his story.

"How long did it take you to find her?" I asked before taking another sip and leaning back in my chair.

"Not very," he said before taking a sip himself. "Eliot and I went to Landport and asked around the
next day. We found out that she was staying at an inn in town and paid her a visit. She was rather
surprised but soon gained her bearing as we more or less conducted an interview. You know she is
rather well-traveled," he commented before reaching with his fork to get some mutton.

"Has she been to Persia?" I asked.

"Yes, a number of times with her father. He was the captain in her family and she lived with him for
the last ten years of her life," he said sounding impressed.

"So she has your confidence then?" I asked out of curiosity even though it was mostly a foregone
conclusion since she would be captaining his new ship. Not a job to just be given to anyone.

"Eliot was hoping she would be his captain and once they met I couldn't stop him," he told me before
getting some more to eat. I grinned at his attempt to make it seem like he couldn't have stopped it
from happening.

"Do you think they will get along?" I asked him.

"Get along?" he asked before popping something into his mouth.

"The seas can be a lonely place and you said that he liked her," I laid out for him.

"I'm not sure about that," he said before motioning for the boy to come over and refill his cup. "I don't
mind if he buggered some boy or bothered to get buggered himself, but a woman gets pregnant," he
told me as if it was news. "How would that look?" he asked. "A pregnant captain. Who would take her
seriously then?" I could see it really didn't sit well with him at all.

"You know he could bugger her the same as he would bugger a boy," I pointed out. At this, his eyes
grew wide at my statement.

"No woman would allow that. Captain or not," he told me. Well not everyone will be open to
everything new at the same time, I told myself.

= 16 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 5

"Thank you for lunch Wollf," I told my fellow 'captain' as I walked with him across the deck to the
gangway. On our way there I scanned the deck looking for Tracy, but I didn't see him until Wollf was
about to step off. Tracy was coming up the gangway with Nathaniel and Joseph. They were joking and
eating something. With the reputation of this city, I'm sure it was something sweet.

"You have a new... crew mate Norton?" Wollf asked me as I watched them make their way towards us.
I turned to look at him and he was looking at the group as they got closer.

"I wasn't aware you knew the members of my crew," I said instead of pointing Tracy out.

"Well, I did. Mostly," he said before looking around the deck now. "There are a few faces that I don't
recognize," he admitted. "But I am curious about the one walking towards me."

"Captain," Joseph said as he walked by.

"Captain," Nathaniel said on the heels of his friend.

"Good afternoon Captain Norton," Tracy said as he actually stopped in front of us. "Sir," he said in
Wollf's direction. I stayed quiet since I didn't want to single him out, so I just nodded. He nodded in
turn before turning to walk away. I watched as he caught up with Joseph and Nathaniel who had
waited for him. I then turned to look at Wollf who in turn was already looking at me. I continued my
silence. Tracy wasn't a stow-away anymore. Not really. And he wasn't officially a member of my ship
either. I didn't know what to tell Wollf about him.

"Fine," Wollf said as he gave up and waved his boy to leave the ship ahead of him. "I hope you will be
a bit more loose-lipped about this the next time we meet," he said before walking down the gangway
himself.

"I wish you clear skies and calm seas, my friend," I told him just as he stepped down onto the pier. He
turned and looked at me before nodding and walking off. I was thinking of just sitting out on deck for a
while to get some sun while it was still up when I realized that I needed to make an announcement.

"Jacob," I called out when I saw him not too far away.

"Aye Captain," he answered when he was standing in front of me.

"Go down below and call everyone up. I have an announcement," I told him.

"Aye Captain," he said before he jogged to the steps going down below. I turned and walked towards

= 17 Of 73 =
the steps that took me to the upper deck. I saw a few men standing around keeping the ones on watch
some company. It looks like the sweets had made their way around as I saw the men holding or eating
from the recognizable brown paper that it was normally wrapped in. I moved to the rail and looked
down at the rest of the ship. One by one the men gathered as it got around that I was going to say
something. When I believed that everyone was present, even Tracy, I started.

"As you may have guessed," I started. "We won't be loading anything today. Tomorrow, at ten we will
be loading cargo and everyone will be on deck to help so we will leave port by sunset," I said. "We set
sail for two ports in Spain. First Valencia to offload and then taken on new cargo for Cadiz," I said
before pausing. It was suppose to be just one stop in Spain before heading out for a Caribbean run.
There were a few murmurs, but not many. No one was that eager for such a long trip, even with fresh
rum at end of it all. "The night watch," I said as I started up again. "For this evening will be drawn by
lots and I'm only looking for four men. So an hour before the start of the night shift, we will meet here
again for the drawing. These four men will not be helping to load the cargo the next day." There was
some louder murmur at this statement. "Jealous are we?" I asked the lot of them with a grin on my
face. "No need to be," I assured them. "The rest of you get shore leave until midnight," I said. At this,
there were whoops and shouts.

"Don't do anything illegal!" I warned them loudly. "You get tossed into jail and I will leave you there
until I'm back this way again." I continued. "Are there any questions?" I asked them. I saw one hand go
up.

"Yes, Renzo," I acknowledged.

"Who will be on watch until the night shift takes over?" he asked.

"The ones who are on watch now," I answered. "But," I interjected as I thought about it. It was broad
daylight. No one would try to steal the ship until after dark. "I'll allow the watch to be reduced from six
to four men," I said. "They can discuss and make payoffs among themselves," I said with a laugh. The
men started their deal-making before I turned my back on them. I looked at the mouth of the man-
made cove around the port and saw another ship as it made its way in. If the cove was closed at night
like the one in Susa, everyone would have been given leave for the night.

I turned and grabbed a man, then another to go with me to make ready the cargo hold. There wasn't
much to set right, so about an hour later we parted company and I thought about getting my money
bag to retrieve a few coins for a haircut and a hot bath. As I opened my cabin door and stepped
through I saw that Tracy was there. In fact, his back was to me as he pulled his shirt up over his head.
Once again I was struck by his figure and the near-perfect whiteness of his skin. He quickly turned
around when he realized I was in the room and instinctively I looked down at his chest. It was almost
flat but what I didn't expect was to see pointed nipples and their almost rose-red colour. As he lifted
his shirt, to cover his chest, I turned away.

"I'm sorry," I apologized even as I wondered why I was saying it. Then I remembered that he wasn't
raised the way I have lived for the past twenty years.

= 18 Of 73 =
"Don't. It's your cabin," he told me. "I'm just going to take a nap until it's time to draw lots," he
explained as I kept my back to him. "I thought it was a good idea to take off the shirt since it's the only
one I have," he continued to explain. Then I heard the squeak of ropes as he settled in the hammock
that I barely remember seeing when I came in. "You can turn around now," he said a moment later. I
turned around and his blanket was wrapped high around his chest and under his arms. His skin still
stood out from everything around him. His hair was no longer being held back by the ribbon so it
framed his face beautifully. It was when the area inside my breaches twitched that I looked away from
his face. My eyes landed on his hands and on what he was holding. I made myself not think of his
hands alone and that brought up the question about the book.

"You found a book somewhere?" I asked as I moved to my wardrobe and dug through its contents
until I found my purse. Without pulling it free, I took out a few coins and pocketed them before
burying it back into the depths I got it from.

"Yes," Tracy answered me. "I borrowed it from the "doctor" and I only use that word because I don't
know what else to call him," he admitted.

"Doc's alright," I told him. "He was changed by a war he was in," I decided to tell him. "When it
matters he does a great job," I said before I turned around and started for the door.

"Thank you," Tracy said. I almost asked him for what when he started to talk again. "Thank you for
turning around when you saw. And thank you for not saying anything," he finished,

"I'm going to town for a few hours. I'll be back for the lot drawing," I told him.

"Yes, Captain Norton," he said as I walked out the cabin and closed the door behind me.

= 19 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 6

I was almost late to the lot drawing. I decided to deal with my stirrings along with getting my hair cut
and a warm bath at the same place. I felt like I went in a different direction than what I originally
wanted, but I was happy with who I picked all the same.

Her skin was a rich chestnut brown. Her hair was so black that I didn't think such perfection existed
anywhere else in that moment. It fell all the way to the small of her back when she pulled her hairpins
free. Her breasts were heavy and warm in my hands before she pressed them into my chest. Her voice
did everything but peel the clothes from my body. She gave me a haircut and a bath before I took her
to bed and made her sing my name and praises. I easily spent two hours with her legs around me in
one way or another before my second bath.

As I was pulling on my boots in preparation to leave and she was laying on my back with the long
sleeves of her shirt distracting me until an idea crossed my mind. I bit my tongue to keep the request
from crossing my lips. Instead, I asked her another question before I kissed her good-bye and tossed
her an extra gold coin as a tip.

Once I exited Eisha's place of employment I followed her directions to the store that I asked her about.
Now I was making my way up my ship's walkway with a large package under my arm. As I stepped
onboard I saw that everyone was there waiting for me. Job, was even standing apart from them with
the bag we use for drawing lots.

"Is everyone here?" I asked loudly as I made my way to Job's side.

"Just waiting for Eli now," Job answered me.

"Ok," I said. "He has time," I noted as I couldn't stop myself from looking around for Tracy. He didn't
have to be there, but he said that he was going to be the last time I saw him and there he was. I found
him standing up on the Sterncastle deck. I expected him to be in the company of Nathaniel or Joseph,
but he was currently alone. I wondered how far away his new friends where when a cry erupted from
the gathered men. I looked to see what was the cause and saw Eli as he boarded the ship.

"Alright," I said loudly to gain their attention. "Since the night watch will be manned by four men, it
will be split into two shifts with two men on deck at each time. We all know how this is done.
Everyone come up and put your hand in the bag and pull out a stick. Once we get four short ones the
rest of you are free until midnight," I ended. They all cheered before starting to form a line in front of
Job. We got one, three men in. The next short stick was pulled from the bag when half the crew had
already passed. Five more men and the third was chosen. I hoped and didn't hope at the same time
that Tracy was picked.

= 20 Of 73 =
I looked at the line of remaining men and Tracy was second to last. I watched intently as each man
placed his hand in the bag, grabbed a stick, pulled it out, and then breathed a sigh of relief at finding a
long stick in their palm that was a pale white. I didn't feel calm, but I hope I looked it as Tracy stepped
up for his turn. It was now a fifty-fifty shot if he would be serving night watch with me or not. As he
pulled his hand out I saw that he was safe, so to speak. Rory stepped up and pulled the last lot in the
bag and it was short and red. He was our fourth watcher.

"Alright men. Return the lots and be on your way," I said as I walked towards the stairs to go down
below. I went to my cabin and saw that Tracy's hammock was still up. I placed the package there
before I saw what was left from my meal with Wollf still on the table and moving towards it as I
realized that I was a little hungry. I had thought about eating with Eisha, but at the time I had other
things on my mind. As I ate some of the mutton I realized that it didn't need to be warmed and sat
down to eat something before joining the men who were stuck on board guarding our ship.

I was licking my lips as I thought that the hummus tasted better this time around. I noted that there
was less here than what Wollf had left behind. He had insisted that it all stayed here because he had
bought it for me. So I accepted it. As I stacked the plates to take with me, for when I was ready to
leave, I saw the sweet cheese that Wollf had gotten for me earlier as well. I pulled it forward to take a
bite of it even as I told myself to save some to eat later while I was above deck. I was unwrapping the
paper when Tracy walked in.

"Good evening Captain Norton," he said.

"Tracy," I answered back as I opened up the little package. I then refolded it so I could lift it and eat the
contents without the paper getting in the way and my hands staying clean.

"Captain?" I heard him ask as I licked some of the ground nuts from my lips.

"Yes, they are yours," I told him before I started to stand without looking in his direction.

"Why?" was all he asked in response.

"You can't wear the same thing all the way to Spain and if you get off there, you will literally only have
the clothes on your back," I started as I folded up what was left of the sweet square. "You worked one
night shift and you will be helping with the loading of cargo tomorrow so consider it compensation
since I can't pay you," I said. It was mostly correct. I stood there for a moment as I now looked at him
as he took stock of what was before him. Two shirts, two britches, and two nightshirts like what I saw
Eisha wearing. The idea fluttered through my mind that it would look good on him. I didn't think they
were that far from what I saw being sold to richer men, but it was a bit more ornate than ones I had
seen before. I hope he wouldn't be offended.

"Thank you, Captain," he said as I saw his fingers touching the details of the nightshirt that he had laid
out in front of him.

"You're welcome," I said before I moved past with the dishes in one hand and my sweet dessert in the

= 21 Of 73 =
other. The door didn't present much of a problem as I opened and then closed it. I walked towards the
galley and placed the dirty dishes where I thought they would be seen and most likely where they
should be placed. I then made my way up to the main deck to just take stock of my ship and crew. The
sun hadn't set yet, so the last of the day watch still had at least another hour to go, if not two, before
they were free to leave the ship if they so wished.

I walked around and looked overboard to see the pier. To see the city. To see the bay. To see other
ships around us as they were docked against the pier like us or out in the bay because they arrived too
late to claim a spot. I pulled on a few ropes to make sure they were secure. All in all, this proved that I
had nothing to do up there at the moment. I was even a little tempted to go back to my cabin and
sleep until midnight so I wouldn't be too tired to help with the loading of the cargo
.
I decided to stick around for the change of shifts to make sure they showed up, never mind on time,
then I would go back down to my cabin and sleep in tonight. There was no real need for me to be on
watch. I looked over to the starboard side of the ship to make sure nothing and no one was down
there that shouldn't be. Besides the water of the bay, I saw one bottle as it floated by.

I found a spot to sit opposite the gangway and stayed there as the sunset, watching the colours as
they changed in the sky and across the city. First, there were splashes of orange on the buildings then
it just got dark until lights flickered on. Like earth-bound stars. The ones in the sky waited a little
longer before they came out. By the time they did, everyone who was on shift had left their post and
some even left the ship as two of the lot winners took their place.

I did one more walk around the ship and checked for any crafts in the water that were unusually close
in my opinion. Everything was the way it should be and I hoped it stayed that way. I caught the
attention of both men and waved to them as I went below.

= 22 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 7

I went to my cabin and walked in on Tracy who was still awake and reading the book I saw him with
earlier, dressed in one of the nightshirts I had gotten for him. I walked over to my desk without saying
anything. I stood level with my storm glass, that was forever mounted to the wall behind my desk, as I
looked at the liquid that the glass housed. It was as clear as the weather it was predicting. Not a
snowflake, ice crystal, or foggy condition was contained within. We would have clear skies for a few
more days, but I still pulled out my Nautical Almanac to consult it for any known periods of still seas
with no breeze or common storms that may lay in our path ahead. I soon found myself sitting down
and looking over the large paper in search of the information that would be of some value for me.

After sailing for so many years I have had a few occasions where intuition, a good dose of luck, and
some experience have saved us. But I still relied on the instruments I was schooled in when I was
learning the trade by the seat of my pants.

In the back of my mind, as I read about seasonal squalls and strong easterly winds once we've passed
the Pillars of Hercules, I waited to hear Tracy ask me why I wasn't topside or talk to me at all. But with
each faint sound of a page turning, I knew he was just reading. After confirming that I had at least
three clear days for sailing I placed the almanac back and stood up from the table.

I paused to look at Tracy and saw that he had fallen asleep with the book leaning on his chest. I turned
towards my bed and toed off my boots before pulling off my shirt and laying it across the chair. I then
laid down on my back to look up at the wooden planks above me. I wasn't that tired, but I knew I had
to get some sleep soon so I wouldn't be dead on my feet when we were taking on supplies and cargo. I
didn't have to go out and source such things as food and water for the ship's trip because they were
provided by the shipping house and taken out of our collective pay. Which is fine. They never buy
more than the basic and we normally supplemented what they got us during stops at other ports
along the way once we had time.

I crossed my left arm over my waist before reaching for an itch that was on my ribs. I then had a
mental flash of the smoothest brown skin as it passed before my eyes before Eisha's face filled my
vision with a smile that melted my insides. I smiled to myself as I slipped into the memory and
somehow into sleep at the same time.

===

"Captain. Captain!" a voice close by shouted.

"Yes!" I shouted in return as I turned in my sleep and dragged myself into wakefulness as I instantly
assumed the worst. "What's wrong?" I demanded. As I opened my eyes I saw that my cabin was no
longer lit by the lantern but daylight that was coming through the window. My mind wasn't given

= 23 Of 73 =
enough time to think of an answer.

"Nothing's wrong Captain," Jacob said as he stepped back. I turned and placed my feet on the floor
before he continued. "Job said to come for something to eat before the cargo shows up for loading,"
he said before giving a quick look in Tracy's direction. I rubbed a hand over my face as I looked at him
too. He was awake and looking at both of us as he held his blanket up to his chin.

"Thanks, Jacob," I told him as I stood. "We'll be right there," I said as I turned to the basin and pitcher
hoping there was still some water in there to wash my face with. I was a little surprised once I heard
Jacob leave that I hadn't woken up before this on my own. On my first attempt to lift the pitcher, I
realized that it was fuller than I expected and clearly fuller than I left it. Tracy must have had it refilled
I thought to myself as I now poured a small amount into the bowl and proceeded to wash the sleep
from my eyes.

When I was done I tossed the water out the window as was my normal habit before turning to find my
towel to dry off. Tracy, I noticed, didn't move until I was pulling my shirt back on. I wasn't sure if I
should greet him or not. I was sitting on my bed pulling on my shoes when I heard a light thud and
looked up slightly to see his feet moving along the deck as he now moved towards the pitcher and
basin to clean up.

"We should be bringing on cargo in about two hours," I told him. "I want you to shadow Nathaniel," I
told him. They seemed to get along and doing this with a friend may make it seem to go by quickly for
him.

"Yes Captain Norton," he told him before I stood and left the room so he could change in private.

===

"What have you found this time?" I asked Cook even though he wasn't there anymore. I recognized
the sausages and I recognized the eggs. It was what I saw next to them that made me wonder. I'm
pretty sure it was a bread of some kind. It was round and flat like most bread was made in the area,
but it was speckled with green bits and covered in circles that had circles in them. It was also the first
that I saw that was yellow. White and brown I've seen. But not yellow that kinda looked green too.

I looked around and saw as some of the men as they ate it or left it alone. Those that did eat it were
enjoyed it and ate it equally with their eggs and sausages. I broke off piece hoping it wasn't as spicy as
the last bread he tried to feed us for the first time. As the bread slowly approached my mouth I
smelled all the spices used and it wasn't unpleasant in the least. I took a bite as I closed my eyes and I
was rather surprised by the taste. It was good. Quite good really. I broke off a bit more and wrapped it
around some eggs as I continued to eat my breakfast.

I'll tell Cook later that it was a good find. I lifted my cup and drank some of the hot tea that came with
today's breakfast. I was out of ale and we had a hard day of work ahead of us. It wasn't the time to be
drinking anyway. As I tore into my second spiced flatbread, Tracy sat down next to me. He was dressed
in the hand-me-downs that Joe had gotten for him.

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"How do you like the seeds and olive oil bread?" he asked as he tore into a flatbread of his own.

"What do you know about this?" I asked as I sensed that he knew the story behind them if he wasn't
somewhat involved.

"The cook asked Nathaniel to get some bread for the crew to eat. When he was leaving the ship, he
asked me if I wanted to come along," he said before he took a bite. I went back to eating my breakfast
so I would be done and on deck for when the time came to load the ship. "We brought back four
different kinds I think," he said before lifting his glass.

"Do any of them burn?" I had to ask him. I consider it my English upbringing. I look forward to a bowl
of mashed potatoes and some corned beef most days knowing I won't taste it again until we drop
anchor in the Themes. And those days are very few and far apart.

"No, I don't think so," Tracy said as he kept his attention on his plate. A few strays of his hair hung
down on the left side of his face but he left them as he continued to eat. As I found myself watching
his mouth as he chewed I remembered that I wanted him to shadow Nathaniel today. I looked around
and found him sitting with his friend Joseph.

"Nathaniel," I called in his direction.

"Aye Captain," he answered as he stood up and came over to my table.

"I want Tracy to work with you today," I told him. "Make sure he doesn't mess up and teach him what
you can," I said before lifting the last sausage from my plate and standing.

"Aye Captain," he answered as he nodded his head at me. I returned his nod before leaving the mess
hall.

= 25 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 8

About forty minutes after I got on deck, I saw the first laden wagon making its way down towards the
docks. I saw the handler as he lead an unhurried donkey towards the ships. Not far behind I saw
another as it rounded the corner with its load piled just as high.

The first one walked past our ship and I watched as it went to another vessel two ships beyond. The
second heavy wagon did stop next to us and I called out to have the gangway lowered and sent
someone down below to have the crew, who weren't on deck, to come topside to help with loading. I
walked down the gangway as it was being lowered to meet the handler. We exchanged greetings and
he handed me the manifest for what he had brought.

I gave it a quick run-through before I let anyone take anything. Then I started at the top again and told
each man where to take what. I was actually surprised that the first thing we were loading were our
supplies. So the food got sent to the galley and the canon deck received a few cannonballs and gun
power and a replacement for one pistol that fell overboard last year. Some supplies were sent to Doc's
cabin and a few items even made their way to my cabin.

With the next wagon, the packages were bigger and needed two men to get them off the wagon, onto
the ship and down into the hold. I was grateful that most of the heavier things came first. A few exotic
blocks of wood. Bags and bags of cereals such as barley that was brought from as far away as Egypt.
Wild rice from further inside Africa that was half of the price of the rice that came along the Silk Road
from China. There were also a few bales of ostrich feathers that came with a note to pack them with
extra care. As if I didn't know already. The French, I heard, are looking into domesticating the animal
into farms before they have all been killed off in neighboring Algeria.

I paused to watch as my men took them off the wagon and then walk up the gangway with their
precious load. I watched Tracy as he wobbled a little as he held his share on his back when he was
walking back up onto the ship. Job was right behind him and held him steady to make sure that we
didn't lose him or the cargo. Once he was out of sight I found myself thinking that he would get better
at it over time. Then I remembered that it wasn't a foregone conclusion that he would be staying on
board beyond Spain never mind long enough to become experienced at loading and unloading a ship's
hold.

I pulled myself out of the surprising saddening thought and went back to signing the manifest as the
cart was emptied and then receiving a copy for my records. There was coffee, spices, and medicinal
plants on the eighth and last cart. Most I recognized, but the Senna was something new. I walked
behind the last man carrying the last bag on board.

"Lift anchor and set sail!" I shouted as I stepped on deck and continued to follow the last of the cargo
down into the hold to make sure that everything made it to where it was suppose to be. Despite the

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eight full carts that were loaded onto the ship, the hold wasn't overflowing and there was a path along
the length of the compartment making it easy to inspect everything. I paid the most attention to the
feathers and plumes. They were the most expensive item in our cargo and damaging them could
damage our ability for future jobs. They had been stacked correctly and the crew had tied them down
liked I asked, away from the hull of the ship so the ends weren't crushed.

I then left to check on Cook and to see if he had any complaints. He didn't, but he notified me that the
men will be having watered down wine, if any, only during dinner until we restocked. I asked him
about the amount of water we had brought on board. I wasn't sure how much was left, but I knew we
took on almost as much at our last port. He assured me that I was guaranteed my weekly bath.
Considering it would only take us fifteen days to reach Barcelona, Spain much wouldn't be needed. If
we had good winds and didn't have to pull into port for anything that took longer than a few hours, it
would take even less time to get to our destination.

The next stop was Doc. I knocked at his door and he shouted for me to enter. I found him going
through what was brought to his cabin. There were packages on the desk, on the floor, and even on
his bed. Some had already been opened but most were still tightly wrapped and tied up with twine.

"How did you do it?" he asked me as I stood in his room looking around.

"Do what?" I asked me as I sniffed something that was slightly offensive and familiar at the same time.

"Get me all this," he told me as he stood upright, moving his attention from what was in a package to
myself.

"I didn't do anything special," I said. "I just reminded them like you reminded me a few days ago and
they just showed up," I ended as I kept myself from looking for the source of something with another
bad smell.

"Well, I don't think you told them in the same manner I reminded you," Doc said as he looked at me in
doubt before going back to his little adventure of discovery.

"So I take it that you are happy with what was brought on board?" I asked already knowing that he
was.

"For once," he said with his head still bent. I smiled to myself at hearing his answer.

"I'll get out of your way then," I told him before backing up and leaving his room. I made my way up on
deck to make sure that we got out of the harbor without incident. There was one ship coming towards
the port, but they were far enough out that we could be out of the opening before they made their
final approach. I made my way up to the top deck and watched Jacob as he steered the ship out into
the Mediterranean Sea. He was doing well. I watched as he adjusted where he turned the ship to
catch the wind that was now at our back as we rounded a piece of land that helped to create the port.

I looked up and saw the men standing on the masses as they lowered all the sails on his command. I

= 27 Of 73 =
didn't have a true second, but when I took Jacob on years ago, he asked me to teach him how to sail,
and now when I'm not at the helm of this ship he was. I looked around the deck and saw a few of the
men looking back at the city we were leaving behind. Some were tying down a few ropes while some
of the older hands were retying knots that they thought they could do better.

Others were just laying in the sun or shade as they took a nap or watched the sky overhead. My eyes
landed on Tracy and he was looking at me, or at least, he was looking in my direction. I was standing
behind Jacob, so he could have been looking at him too. If he saw me looking at him, he didn't turn
away and neither did I. I don't know why.

= 28 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 9

"Did you spend your whole life in Marsa Matruh?" I asked Tracy on our third night of keeping watch.
The first night he told me about his father's friends. They were wealthy men that worked in the same
field as his father. They managed to keep most of their coins when his father lost all of his. The second
night we talked about his mother. Where she was now he didn't know, but the last time he saw her
she was ill with grief. He said that he wished the kindness of death for her considering the situation
she was in at the time.

I held my tongue since it could have gone either way and he appeared to care for her deeply. He was
silent for a long time after he spoke of the last time he saw her. I've seen both men and women end
up in difficult situations, to say the least. Some times they were strong enough to survive it, others
scrapped the strength together to end it, or the situation ended them.

"No actually," he started as he looked from the back of the ship, before moving six paces to port. "We
had moved there three years ago from just outside of Alexandria. I was told my parents moved there
from near the heart of Alexandria because of my mother's health. I was born a year later. We moved
to Marsa Matruh for my father's health. I grew up, in my later years, knowing my father as a healthy
man. A little old when compared to my friend's fathers, but in good spirits and healthy." Tracy turned
and walked behind me to the other side. "He was a good father to me. Not overly emotional like some
fathers I've seen, but I knew he cared about me. He even made a point of telling me once in a while
when he wasn't in a rush and I tried to make him proud with what little took my fancy."

Tracy paused for a moment and I let him have it. I slid my arms through the handles as I leaned a little
on the wheel while keeping it on a straight course. I looked down to the lower deck and saw two men
walking up and down their side of the ship. I looked towards the bowsprit and there was Eli as he
walked back and forth looking at the waters the ship had yet to pass through.

"He..."

"Bowsprit Ho!" Eli called out cutting off Tracy as he started to talk again. I looked up at the crow's nest
and I watched as Malcolm moved to that side of his post and place the spyglass to his eye. We all
waited to hear what he had to say.

"Thar She Blows!" he shouted down to us.

"Port or starboard?" I called up to him.

"Port!" he shouted back and I turned my wheel a little to the left to move around the creature and
keep my ship safe.

= 29 Of 73 =
"Coming Alongside!" he shouted a few minutes later. I stayed at my post while everyone else moved
starboard to see what they could.

"It's as long as the ship!" I heard Tracy exclaim as he watched with the others. While everyone moved
back to their stations, only Tracy was able to keep his eyes on it a bit longer. The rest of the night and
sunrise was filled with me telling him of all the creatures I had seen. Dead or alive, during my time at
sea. Some were seen in ports, some, like the whales, swam by us en route to their destinations. We
catch our own fish and sometimes we reeled things aboard that doesn't look like fish and I regaled
him on how Nathaniel once harassed Joseph with something that looked like it was all teeth and face
with a very small body.

===

On the fifth day the winds picked up and we gained another two knots for the whole day and the day
after. We made port at Tunis, Capital of Tunisia to take on a few fresh supplies and to do some
shopping for another customer. He was particular to the perfumes created here. He hadn't been able
to leave Spain and gave me the task of bringing back an assortment of a dozen ounces of at least five
different fragrances.

During breakfast, I picked the men that I wanted with me and the ones that were to gather the
shortlist of supplies. Everyone else was told to stay on board for once both parties were back we were
setting sail once again. Of course, I took Tracy with me. He informed me that he was going to change
while I finished eating breakfast. I almost hurried to finish my meal, when I questioned myself as to
the reason for my rush. Yes, we had to get back out to sea and on our way to Barcelona, but we had a
few hours to spear, and taking five minutes to eat wouldn't change that.

I made myself relax and drank my mug of strong tea as some men left the room and came back with a
coin or two to ask those leaving the ship to bring them back something in particular. One or two
wanted a dagger. Eli wanted something sweet. Cook personally asked if I could bring him back a large
skillet. I inquired as to the one I knew he already had. He said he accidentally tossed it overboard two
days ago and has been making do with another pot.

I shook my head in slight disbelief before asking him what size he wanted. He said the bigger the
better. At that, I stood and was about to leave to get my coat and the money for the transaction when
I saw the plate that Tracy left behind. I took it along with his cup and headed to my cabin. I made my
way up to the deck that held my lodgings and walked towards my door. I stood there looking at it for a
moment as I quickly questioned if I should knock or just walk in. It was my cabin. I found myself
knocking on the wooden surface instead. There was no answer.

I opened the door slowly and looked in. He wasn't there. Perhaps he was above deck and waiting for
me. I entered, closed the door behind me, walked to the desk, and laid his plate and cup there before
changing my shirt. I heard a small squeak of the boards and looked up out of habit even though I knew
I couldn't see who was standing on deck overhead. I then allowed myself to see Tracy standing up
there like he was on watch, but in daylight, looking off the stern of the ship.

= 30 Of 73 =
I walked over the washbasin and pitcher. For a moment I remembered the blue glazed clay set that I
had on my virgin outing of this ship as I poured some water out to wash my face and hands. But
before we even pulled into our first port it was in pieces and this enamelware version took its place. I
ran some wet fingers through my hair before I reached for the towel to dry my face, hands, and a few
extra wet spots on my head. I barely heard the creak again but didn't care to look up as I finished what
I was doing. The towel went back to its peg, I tossed the water out the window again and now I turned
to my wardrobe to get a clean shirt and my coat along with the hidden bag of money.

I placed the money in my coat and hung it on a free peg before reaching for my shirt. I pulled it on and
pulled the strings at the neck in a little before leaving it as it was and walking to my bed to put on my
shoes. I didn't wear them on my shift last night because of the heat, so they were where I left them
when I went to bed last night.

I happened to look up just as I sat down and I saw Tracy looking at me. He was standing in the
doorway to the WC. He was just looking at me. He was standing in one of the new shirts I had gotten
him and nothing else. At least not that I could see. It was long enough that I only saw from just above
his knees and the shirt itself didn't cling to any of his curves that I knew were under there.

"Finish getting dressed," I told him as he continued to stand there looking at me. His face turned red
for the moment I continued to look at him before turning to put on my shoes. I took a bit longer and
re-laced my boots to give him time to get dressed.

I looked up every now and again and saw as he lifted a leg to pull on his pants. As he moved over to
my wardrobe to get a ribbon for his hair. As he sat down in one of the chairs to pull on a pair of shoes
that he had gotten from one of the crew. I knotted my second boot and stood to see Tracy eating what
was left of his breakfast. I walked over to my coat and grabbed it before tapping him on his shoulder.
At this, he reached for his tea and took a swallow before following me out of the cabin and up onto
the deck.

= 31 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 10

The other two, Jacob and Joseph, were waiting for us and followed us down the gangway. I told them
that we were going to the Souk El Attarine first, before stopping to get the pan for Cook. I asked them
if they knew how he lost the old one and Joseph said that he heard Cook was having an argument with
Eli and it was as he was tossing out the dirty dishwater from cleaning, he saw the pan as it went flying
out into the sea.

Tracy snickered, Jacob and Joseph laughed out loud and it brought a grin to my face as we walked into
the heart of the city. We walked past architecture that heavily featured arches for doorways and
windows. Yet at the same time, half of the buildings seemed to be as perfectly square as could be with
square windows displaying wooden slats to shade the inside from the sun and provide some privacy.
We walked by a home that clearly belonged to a wealthier member of the city. His arched windows
were behind a wall that looked to be made of lace but formed out of stone. It was a second wall that
was built on all the sides of his homes. Only the main entrance on the street was free of such a screen.

As we turned the corner I saw the sun as it reflected the colors of the many inlaid colored stones and
glass onto the street that we were now walking on and ourselves in the process. This only happened
at a certain time of the day and I considered myself lucky to have walked this street several times, but
as it may be a little normal for me it was still a sight to behold, so I didn't walk that quickly as we
continued towards our destination. Once we were beyond the colorful display, the town almost looked
a little depressing with the lack of shimmering jewels, but the next building to invite our attention was
the Al-Zaytuna Mosque. It had columns of white and two shades of brown in an alternating scheme as
it worked its way up to a pure white dome that was in the corner of the building that we walked on
pass.

After that, we picked up the pace a bit. As we neared the souk, there was no sign to let us know that
we arrived, at least at this end, but we didn't need it. There was the smell of flowers in the air and the
stream of people seeming to leave and enter this "building" was a clue that we had arrived.

"Try and stay close," I told my men as we made our way into the flow of humans going inside. At first,
you would be hard-pressed to believe that you were looking at a street but that is what it was. There
was a noise shift from the general presence of mankind outside to the hollers and calls of hecklers as
they tried to get your attention to come over and see their wares. Tracy was pulled in a few times and
I followed him over to just see what they had. I had a plan and this was actually part of it. We stopped
at several stalls as we walked down the passage with stalls on either side. With openings carved into
the curved ceiling overhead, it wasn't dark in the least and I saw what I wanted to see. Some of the
shopkeepers remembered me and weren't as rude as a few others when they realized that we weren't
ready to buy anything yet.

= 32 Of 73 =
We were about half-way if my memory serves, and this is when I started to barter. I had seen what
was common, what could be considered rarer and a feel for the prices this season. When we got to
the slave market, that was currently vacant of such activity, we turned around and walked back the
way we came. Jacob and Joseph both carried boxes that contained the bottles of perfume that I picked
out with one or two being a suggestion from Tracy. We could see the doorway and the light beyond
when a bottle seller caught my attention again. I had started to think that we had been gone from the
ship for too long already and had forgotten about stopping back here again.

He reminded me of my interest in the little blue teardrop bottles. As I looked at them now, I realize
that it might be better if I had different colors for each fragrance. I had... I turned around and counted
the larger bottles that the men were holding and came up with seven. I thought I had nine. I decided
to get a dozen of the blue and a dozen of the clear ones. They were placed in the boxes that they were
already carrying as I moved to the other side of the souk to see if I could get a better deal on some
bottles with a blue bubble stopper and a slightly pink-tinted bottle. These got their own box and I gave
them to Tracy to hold. Four down, three to go. I looked up and down the walkway as I tried to
remember where I saw some other bottles that also caught my attention. I pulled a coin from my
pocket and gave it to Tracy and told him to buy some boiled peanuts from a food cart that was close
by for all of them before I turned and walked back into the clamor that I was almost free of a moment
ago.

When I returned, I saw two of them leaning against a wall while the third was handing over some cups
to a lady before she rolled on by me with what I believed to be a pot of tea of some kind. I stood
watching them with my sown box being held on my shoulder with three dozen bottles of different
designs and colors. As I saw them lift their own boxes, I walked ahead of them, knowing that they
would catch up with me quickly. As I stepped out into the city again, I remembered the frying pan and
turned in a different direction from the port.

Everyone better be on board when I get there, I told myself as I started to be dismayed at the amount
of time this was taking. We had to go to the open-air market to find a blacksmith so we could
purchase a pan or two for a backup depending on their price.

As we were walking on board I asked Nathaniel, who walked up to met us, if the other group was
back. He said yes so I told Jacob to take the helm and get us out of here while I made sure that our
new purchases were secured below. I walked the men, that now included Nathaniel, down and
opened a lower compartment in the hold that would keep the items without giving them too much
room to move around during the passage. I even used some discarded sack cloths to ensure less
movement. Once they were as secure as I could make them, I made my way to the galley. I was
already alone at this point, having dismissed my men and Tracy, as they handed over the boxes for me
to stow in the compartment.

I walked into the area that we sat down to eat and looked along the length of it to see Cook in the
galley. He was cleaning something and seemed to be starting something for a meal. Or he was
cleaning up from one. I know that we missed lunch, but I didn't think it was time to start working on
dinner. Not that I really knew when he started to cook dinner exactly.

= 33 Of 73 =
"I got you the frying pan," I told him as I unhooked it from around my waist. As I pulled it from around
my waist I saw a small skin pouch that I had gotten for myself attached to the same slim rope as the
pan. I took it off and handed everything else to him.

"Thanks, Captain," he said as he took it from me. I pulled the pouch open and took out an olive and
popped it into my mouth as I took a seat.

"We still have some fish and bread from lunch if you would like something a bit more Captain," Cook
told me. I was a little hungry, but I didn't think I needed that much.

"What's for dinner?" I decided to ask him instead.

"Bread, fish, and the last of the dried fruit," he tells me. I grin to myself as I stand up. I look at him for
a moment before turning to leave without taking him up on his offer.

= 34 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 11

The rest of the voyage was uneventful, so much so that we didn't pull into port again until we got to
our destination. That isn't to say that we didn't drop anchor outside a few harbors for shelter on a few
overly windy nights or days. But that was normal.

I may have lied about or omitted the one event that, to some degree, I haven't been able to forget and
recall constantly to my bewilderment. When the wind from the west threatened to undo the progress
we made, I told Joseph to pull into a cove and rest the ship there for the remainder of the day. One
itchy sailor led to some questions among the crew, which led to insults, which produced pushing and
the act of, if not game of, throwing each other over the side for an impromptu bath.

I found myself watching Tracy as he laughed while enjoying the spectacle one minute, then as he was
being picked up and screaming while he was tossed starboard the next. I rushed to the side as others
of the crew jumped in on their own and proceeded to splash water about as if they had reverted to
children and just having silly fun. I looked for Tracy to surface and as I was starting to get worried as to
whether or not he did know how to swim, I saw him pressed up against the hull of the ship as he
moved towards the rope ladder that someone had already let down. I heard the splashing of my men
as they enjoyed their time in water that I could only assume wasn't too cold for them. But I didn't look
in their direction. I only saw Tracy as he carefully made his way up the side of my ship. The clothes he
was wearing were a bit threadbare since they were discarded hand me downs.

So I was once again seeing his figure that I had only gotten glimpses of so far. The first time was when
we met. A figure that led everyone to believe that he was female. A flat-chested female, but a female
nonetheless. The next time was when I accidentally walked in on him while he was changing. It was a
mistake that I wasn't that quick to correct. I saw his skin and my eyes traveled over his chest. It was
when I couldn't see any lower that I gave my apologies and left my own cabin. The last time just had
me looking at his bare legs until they met with the edges of his nightshirt as he watched me from a
doorway.

Now I saw wet transparent cloth as it clung to his curves and he had curves. The gathered folds of his
shirt hid nipples that I just knew were pointed. My eyes finished traveling down his body until I got to
his toes that were pressing against the knot on the rope to push himself up. My eyes moved back to
his face and I saw his eyes as they looked upwards as he reached for the next knot. His gaze wasn't set
in concentration as much as I expected. They were more wide-eyed, holding enough space for
concentration and fright. I felt my brow crease as I started to think that he really didn't know how to
swim and just made it to the rope despite what I thought I saw.

I looked around for someone that I thought I wouldn't mind seeing them touch him. Jacob and
Nathaniel were below in the water, so I had to find someone else. I saw Roger looking bored as he
looked over the side and the fact that he didn't spear a glance for Tracy had me picking him.

= 35 Of 73 =
"Roger!" I called out. He jumped and looked at me for his orders. "Help Tracy up and take him to my
cabin," I told him before I turned and tried to look at something else. But almost right away I was
looking at them again as Roger pulled him on board and told him something which had Tracy looking
my way. I thought for a split second of looking away when the captain in me had me turning my head
to stare him down. He nodded his head in my direction before he walked with Roger to go below.

I stayed on deck until our evening meal, not including the moment I went to the galley to get my food
and return topside. By the time I ate the last bits of my food I was ready to question why I was
avoiding my cabin when I saw the wind as it changed. It flipped the flag at the top of the crow's nest
to a new direction that would aid in our travel. I stomped on the deck and called my men to their
posts. I had the anchor hauled up. The sails unfurled. The masses turned to catch the wind to get out
of the cove and into the channel that would get us on our way again. I kept possession of the wheel,
even though Joseph stood next to me.

I steered the ship for a few miles along the coast before I handed off the duty. I told him to call me
when he became tired and went below deck. First to deliver my platter and mug to the galley and then
I headed to my room. I found Tracy in his hammock. He was awake and reading another book, with his
hair looking cleaner from his little dip in the sea. What I didn't expect to see were his legs. They were
glowing, like the rest of them, in the only light that was lit so he could read. As my eyes made their
way down his calf to his toes, he slid one leg along the other for a short distance. I thought that he did
it on purpose to provoke me in some way, but when I quickly sought his face, I saw that he was still
reading and that he wasn't even thinking of me at all. My hand started to reach out, then paused
before reaching the rest of the way for this blanket. As I pulled it up the length of his exposed skin he
jumped slightly from the unexpected movement.

"You should keep warm," I told him as I passed the hem of his nightshirt. I briefly thought of it as being
the only thing that he was wearing, before settling it around his waist.

"Thank you," he said sounding less affected by the moment than I felt.

= 36 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 12

Just over three weeks after we found Tracy huddled on board we saw the harbor and buildings of
Valencia. They were enjoying their woven silk and ceramic tiles boom that has been going for about
twenty years now. When I was still getting my sea legs on my first sea voyage, there were no jobs here
even though there were stories of trade picking up after their horrendous start to the century three
decades earlier. But now it was gloriously flourishing. We were one of three merchant ships that were
making our way towards the harbor. I walked up the wheel and took over from Jacob. It left him free
to walk around shouting orders to the men to start tying up select sails to reduce our speed so we
wouldn't plow into anything as we tried to dock.

Masses were turned so we could ride a lesser wind that we caught in the harbor. Men stood at the
rails with ropes at the ready to be tossed over the side so the ship could be secured once we were in
place. I shouted a few corrections to the men still standing on the masses as I felt the pull of the wind
against what I was trying to achieve. Now we glided in. I quickly scanned for a mooring spot that my
ship would fit into. Once I spotted it I shouted to have the rest of the sails battened down. The last of
the wind's momentum got us to where I wanted to end up. As the hull hit the dock ropes were flying
over the side to the men who saw us coming and Jacob shouted for the anchor to be dropped.

We arrived at mid-afternoon so we wouldn't be unloaded until nine am the next day at the earliest.
Mornings were the time for loading and unloading ships. The afternoons were for distributions and
preparing for incoming and departing ships the next day. For anyone that requested shore leave, they
were only given two hours to get what they wanted completed. I needed everyone present and
physically able to get cargo off and on the ship the next day.

That ended up leaving me and those of the crew who had guard duty, on board. Even Cook went in
search of his land legs. Terry was whisked away with a few of the men as they left in high spirits. When
he got back I was in my cabin debating between going to sleep and taking a nap as I looked over the
paperwork that I couldn't concentrate on anymore.

"Our Captain Nelson," he slurred a little as he walked in and took extra steps in closing the door before
coming further into the room.

"How did you get so drunk in less than two hours?" I asked him. I knew that there weren't any taverns
within half a mile of the harbor. There use to be watering holes closer until too many men showed up
too inebriated to do their job.

"I don't know why. Other than this isn't what I drank when I was home," Tracy said as he started to
pull his shirt off. I was a little surprised that he did it in front of me. "Home," he said as he paused to
look at the shirt in his hands. "I'm never going to see my home again." I heard him say. I looked on as
he stood in the middle of my cabin topless. I saw how his waistline curved in just enough to make you

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question if he was male or female. His chest was smooth and hairless and instead of the chest of a
man his flesh curved in slightly different ways.

I didn't find it off-putting, or wrong. But perhaps a little confusing. The sleep that was nagging at me
the moment he walked in, was nowhere to be found as other parts of me woke up as my mind started
to wonder if he was going to fully strip in front of me before he realized what he was doing.

"I've had Spanish beer before. Mother didn't know, but father gave me some once in a while," Tracy
started to ramble again. He was concentrating on hanging his hammock with his shirt draped over his
shoulder. His movements looked very sure and thought through as he continued to reason out loud to
my question as to why he was drunk, or to his own question as to why it tasted different than what he
remembered. "I always said that it tasted like tea, but not tea at the same time. After a while, I didn't
mind it so much, but it wasn't one of the drinks I would ask for, but Father seemed to like it." Then he
walked towards the WC and I watched as he locked himself inside.

I rubbed my hands over my face as I tried to understand what was going on with me. I started to
believe that I needed to just go to sleep like Tracy was planning on doing.

===

I woke up under my own power. I blinked a few times as I remembered what I was waking up for. I
listened for any noise around me to gauge what time of day it was. The room was still dark, but it
wasn't the solid blackness of night. Aboard ship, it was still quiet and the harbor beyond didn't sound
like it had woken up either.

I pulled my body upright and moved my legs over the edge of my bed. I rubbed the lingering sleep out
of my eyes as I looked around my cabin. I stopped as I saw a leg hanging over the hammock halfway
across my room. Seeing a leg alone wasn't surprising. More than a few times I found Tracy this way
when I woke up before him.

The surprising part was what was covering said leg. It was the garment I found him in all those weeks
ago. I stood slowly and walked over to see everything. It wasn't so much a conscious move but
something I felt I had to do. Slowly his form was revealed to me as I got closer to the hammock. He
wasn't just wearing the bottom half, but the whole thing. The bottom part was low on his hips like he
hadn't gotten it on all the way or it was moved down somehow in his sleep. His blanket was pulled
across his midsection. But the memory of what I saw last night rendered it useless. His chest rose and
fell as he continued to sleep under my gaze.

His thumb had pulled down the left side of the band that covered his chest. His pink nipple was more
pronounced but just as erect as the one that was still covered. My mind wanted me to believe that he
was reaching for it either as he fell asleep or in his sleep. I saw, no I felt, the appeal to feeling his body.
To touching his skin. To hear him moaning my given name. I felt the pull on my body as my hand
stretched me forward so I could touch him myself.

I was able to stop myself before taking a few steps back.

= 38 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 13

"Tracy," I said as I took another step back. "Tracy," I called out again to wake him up. In my head, I was
waking him up so he could get ready for breakfast and work. But some part of me wanted him to tell
me why he was dressed like this. I was also undermining myself by not calling out his name that
loudly.

I regained the ground I gave up by stepping closer to his hammock again. I reached out to rock his bed
but thought that it would be too jarring and slowly laid a hand on his knee before pulling back quickly
as his body heat seemed to burn my palm. But not in a bad way. His warmth moved to my fingers and
it felt so good and bad at the same time. I looked up at his face to see if I had managed to wake him
up, but he didn't even shift in his sleep. My vision slowly narrowed from his whole face to his lips and
in a movement of almost hanging my head in shame for thinking of what could be said by those lips,
my eyes landed on his exposed nipple.

I forced myself to swallow as my thoughts took a more animalistic turn. I shook my head to make
myself stop thinking about him that way. It would do me no good to fantasize about him when he has
shown no interest in me himself. But the pink pointed flesh was pure temptation as I moved my hand
forward. I slowly unhooked his fingers and as a small gift to myself, I delighted in the feel of the
material as it was pulled over his skin until he was as decent as possible. I realized I needed to breathe
before I could allow myself to grab his shoulder and wake him.

"Tracy," I said again and this time with force behind it. I shook him until he started to stir. I then
stepped back and watched as he slowly woke up and looked in my direction.

"Captain Norton," he said slowly without looking at my face. As the feeling of being a bit too dressed
for some reason, even though I was shirtless at the moment, was starting to take a hold of me, Tracy
made a gasp of surprise. He now realized how he was dressed and that I could see what he was
dressed in. I waited a moment to see how he would deal with the situation since I was at a loss with
what to do myself.

"How's your head?" I decided to ask once it appeared that he wasn't going to be influenced by my
stare into talking first.

"My head?" he asked as he quickly lifted his face to look at my eyes when the sound of my voice
seemed to have surprised him again. "Ow," he then winced as the meaning of my question became
clear. "Just a little headache if I move my head too quickly," he confessed with one eye open.

I needed to know so I raised my hand and did a general sweep at his position in the hammock. I then
waited again to see if he would explain or just avoid answering. I watched as he looked down at
himself once again.

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"You find this more comfortable to sleep in then the nightshirts I got you?" I asked knowing this wasn't
true since this is the first time I've seen him in them since the day we met.

"No," he quickly countered before pausing again. "I-I was just..." he tried to start again but didn't get
far at all.

I shook my head before turning my back to him and starting to get ready for the day by pouring water
into the basin. I scooped up some with my hand and swooshed it around my mouth before spitting it
out the window.

I reached for the water again to splash my face when I felt the urge to empty my bladder. I made my
way to the WC as Tracy seemed to realize that it was time he got up. I speared him little mind as my
current need to pee was far more pressing.

===

Two carts were waiting on the dock by the time I looked over the side after eating breakfast. I
wondered if they called or just sat there waiting for us. The men down there didn't seem to be in that
much of a hurry to continue their day even as the gangway was lowered and I started shouting for my
men to start bringing items up from the hold and sending Tracy back to my cabin to bring me the
manifest. It was the first time I'd talked to him since I woke him up even though he's stayed by my side
since then.

The man that stepped forward to greet me was a bit smarter dressed than the others present, but he
also took his time coming forward. I held my tongue on asking him if something had happened or if
they were upset at waiting for us for some reason. I'm sure if he had a grievance with me and my men,
he would let me know and if it was something unrelated, it was none of my concern. So I didn't ask.

We checked off each item of cargo as it came off my ship. As we got halfway through with loading the
second cart two more showed up and waited their turn. These two came with extra men that helped
with the unloading. They left with their carts once it was full, but there were two more wagons and
men to take their place.

Once the last bag of barley was offloaded, the supervisor and I signed the other's paperwork before
bidding the other a good day. The men were taking a breather and relaxing when I spotted full carts
now making their way towards us.

"If you be thirsty men, now is the time to do something about. Or new cargo approaches," I told and
warned them at the same time. Some moaned, others indeed went to get something to drink while a
few came forward and stood ready to unload the approaching carts.

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 CHAPTER 14

I could have sworn that they added at least five new items to what was first agreed on for us to
transport, but as I checked my copy of the paperwork, I saw that these 'new' items were indeed listed.
I was starting to wonder if I would have space for everything until the last five boxes of tiles were
squared away below deck. We then broke for a slightly late lunch prior to pulling out of port before
three in the afternoon.

While most of the men either tried to get something else to eat, nap or hung out on deck, I had
Nathaniel and Tracy with me as I inspected the hold. We tightened a few ropes and moved a few items
around, but all in all the hold was packed well. I complemented Nathaniel and Tracy since they had
taken charge of how things were to be stacked after we unloaded this morning, before sending them
off to do what they wanted.

"Can I have a moment with you Captain Norton?" Tracy asked after Nathaniel left.

"Aye," I answered before leaning back against a protected bail of pink dyed silk.

"I wanted to say how sorry I am that you saw me in such a state and I would like to assure you that it
would never happen again," Tracy said while he looked at me and away from me at the same time.

I automatically thought he was talking about how I found him this morning, but then I remembered
how he was the night before. Drunk on what I believed was his first real taste of Spanish beer.

"Also," he started again. "I would like to officially become a member of your crew Captain Norton," he
told me. I looked at Tracy and saw him as more of an able body crewman than the almost sex slave
that stowed away on my ship. Intentionally or not. I was very warmed by hearing his decision to stay
with me.

===

As I was seated in the mess hall eating dinner among my crew that night, I asked myself if I should tell
them that Tracy had decided to stay. It wasn't big enough news for me to tell them, especially this far
from it being official, but I felt like it was momentous at the same time. He sat at my side as he ate and
talked with another crew member, Eli, who was temporarily given the permission of sitting at the
captain's table.

That side of my body was heated by his presence. My brain burned with the information. The food in
front of me was almost eaten without tasting it. It was a stew with some hard crackers that had to be
dipped in the stew for a time for them to be editable. It was nice and nostalgic at the same time. Even
though I would never impose the travesty of food that is tack on my own crew, I couldn't help but

= 41 Of 73 =
remember them as I watched my crackers as they softened in the stew before I cut it with my spoon
and ate it with a carrot or two.

I got lost in my meal somehow and when I came back to myself, I looked around to see that most of
my men had left, but Tracy was still there. He was now by himself and digging into his bowl that had
swollen and swimming crackers in his stew. He was quiet as he heartily ate. I no longer had the almost
painful need to ... to...

I turned my attention to what was before me and finished it so I could get back up on deck to enjoy
the night air for a few hours before turning in. As I walked around the deck less than an hour later,
with Tracy standing at his normal post at the stern of the ship, I saw the men who were on watch alert
and walking around as they checked over the side of the ship and scanned the waters. I walked past a
few of my men who opted to sleep outside in the warming air. Some still held a blanket close, but it
wasn't cold enough for me to be worried about those who didn't have one.

I hung around for a few hours before I started to feel myself being pulled down by sleep. I looked
around one last time and satisfied myself with the visual knowledge that the ship was safe and in good
hands. I saw Tracy as he continued with his current duties and believed putting some distance
between us would do my mind some good. I felt something was changing and I needed to be alone
while my mind sorted through whatever this was.

I wasted no time in getting ready for bed and going to sleep. I turned my back to the door of my cabin
and drifted off into nothingness before a certain somebody's body parts started to crowd in on my
mind. I didn't feel anxious in the least and soon I was watching as someone, that looked like me, as
they felt those parts that had come together to form a whole body. There was a void between me and
the people I saw but I heard their every breath. Each whimper and moan. My breathing picked up but
I knew they couldn't see me or hear me as I did them. Or they would have looked around for where
the sounds were coming from or felt my eyes on them.

I felt alone watching them interact with each other, and unashamed of my gaze that took all of Tracy
in. He was with a man that resembled me too strongly for my comfort. I was allowed to see them as
they continued to touch each other. Their hands moved over skin that was wet with sweat. Their
tongues licked and tasted it. Limbs brushed against body parts that caused them both to moan out
loud. I couldn't be expected to ignore them when they were so exposed and right in front of me. To
ignore Tracy when he's looking at someone that had my face and was acting this way was impossible.

"Evan," filled the space between the three of us before my stand-in kissed Tracy's lips again. My heart
clutched at hearing my name spoken by Tracy with such want. I didn't need to see anymore. I didn't
desire to hear any more. I closed my eyes and turned my back to them as I covered my ears.

Tracy wanted me, but that wasn't me who was holding him. Kissing him. Loving him.

= 42 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 15

As I crouched there trying to trap myself in my mind and ignore the sounds around me and the visual
mockery behind me I relaxed for one second as I realized that I had succeeded. I then heard them in
my head. I heard Tracy in my head. I heard him reacting to what he was experiencing. I heard my
name as it lived on his tongue.

"No. No. Tracy, no," I said as I turned to see what he was reacting too. "It's not me. No, Tracy," I said
again as I tried to reach him. To have him understand that he was being deceived. Something I
couldn't see wasn't allowing me to get closer to him. I pounded my fist on it, but it changed nothing.

"No, Tracy. It's not me. It's not me."

===

"Captain. Captain Norton." The words rattled around loudly in my head as my world was shaken. My
eyes snapped open and I looked around frantically as my heart pounded wildly in my chest. The quiet
was as jarring to my senses as the voices previously were. Then I saw who was holding me. Who was
kneeling in my bed. Who wore worry on their face as they looked into my eyes.

"Tracy," I gasped, realized, and almost moaned as I saw him.

-= Tracy's P.O.V. =-

I continued to hold onto his shoulders until he brushed my hands off and looked away from me. His
eyes were on me once again as I backed up and stood on my feet again. He had almost sounded
terrified when I walked into our cabin to wake him for watch duty. I don't really know what I hoped for
when I heard him calling out my name as he did, but he is looking at me differently now. Like I was
something bad or wrong in the world. I thought he was different. He appeared to look at me like I was
mostly normal even as he appeared to shield me a little at times from the rest of the crew.

Was he going to reconsider keeping me on his ship? Did he now consider me someone he didn't want
around? What did he dream about me?

"Tracy," Captain Norton said to get my attention as his posture tried to appear relaxed as he continued
to look at me.

"It's time for your watch duty sir," I informed him. He nodded his head and rubbed his hands across
his face before looking at me with tired eyes again. Did he need more sleep? Did his nightmare about
me tire him out that much?

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"Has everyone else switched out on deck?" Captain Norton asked as he made his way over to the
washbasin and pitcher that I filled with water after I used it earlier.

"Yes, Captain Norton," I told him as I watched his back muscles move in tandem with his arms. "Aaron,
Peter, Amon, Val, and Bently are already in place. Joseph is keeping the wheel until you arrive then
he'll take my post at the stern," I informed him as I watched him move through his routine of getting
ready and pulling on his shirt before he moved on to his boots. It was the one indulgence that I
allowed myself every day. I tried to not make it obvious, but there were times that I even caught
myself staring at him. Tonight was not one of those times.

I was in the bathroom before he turned around and when I came out, he was already gone. I hung my
hammock up and placed the book that I was reading into it before I got undressed and then dressed
again for sleep. There were times that I used to try sleeping without anything on. I heard other people
went to bed that way when I was younger and I felt bold for doing such a thing when I tried it myself.
But after being awakened by to many shocked maids, and manservants that never looked at me again,
I gave up thinking that small amount of freedom was worth it. So I pushed the boundaries of what I
could wear to bed instead.

I picked up one of the nightshirts that Captain Norton acquired for me and as I felt the lace along one
of the sleeves, it reminded me of the ones I use to wear. I never wore anything that was meant for a
female, but there were a few items that I'm sure, were just one small alteration away from being just
that.

I smiled as I slipped it on over my head. I reached for my book and held on to it as I climbed into my
hammock. It had taken me a few days to get comfortable with it, but now I bent and turned my body
without really having to think about it anymore. I settled in as the hammock's rocking slowed and then
stalled with me covered up under a thin blanket and opening my book to the last page I marked.

= 44 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 16

-= Evan's P.O.V. =-

I somehow managed to not be completely alone with Tracy other than what was required for me to
either fall asleep, wake up and get ready for the offloading and taking on of new cargo for the next
two days. Only when it was starting to weigh heavily on my mind that I couldn't keep this up, I realized
that Tracy was also playing a part in keeping our paths from crossing often if not for too long.

I sat on the deck of my ship the afternoon of our second day in port looking around as I tried not to
look at Tracy as he talked and laughed with Nathaniel, Joseph, and Jacob.

"Has your new penny lost its shine Captain?" Job asked. I pulled my eyes away from Tracy and his little
group to look towards the shore and watched over the port with its constant bustle.

"What?" I asked him. I knew what he was talking but I took offense at the question and didn't feel like
answering it easily.

"Tracy," he clarified. "She's done something?" he asked. I looked at one of my men as they walked past
us as I tried to suppress a tick in my jaw from hearing him call Tracy a 'she'. "Or did she-"

"He," I cut him off by saying. "Tracy is male," I fully corrected him.

"Well until I see what's in her breeches, I'm sticking with my first impression," he confessed before
taking a swing of some of the fresh beer that was brought on board this morning. "Or is that the
problem?" he asked in a very interesting way. "Didn't like what you found?" he almost asked with a
grin. I say almost because as I turned my gaze on him, the grin that was starting to form on his face
was a notion he quickly discarded.

"I have nothing to do with him and his breeches," I said and the truth of it hurt me almost as much as
when I watched him within my dream. A dream that has continued to remind me with flashbacks of
what I didn't have. I turned my back on the harbor and looked out to sea to witness two ships coming
into the port. One of them was late and carrying the last item of my cargo. I hoped. It was too far away
to see the name on its bow.

"Well," Job slowly said as he scratched his bearded jawline. "If you aren't being picky about body
parts, you could ... with Eli," he said with something of a smaller voice. Now.

"I DON'T WANT- I don't want Eli," I stopped then continued in a softer voice myself when I realized I
was shouting at him. "Sorry," I mumbled. He hadn't done anything to be shouted at for. I felt someone

= 45 Of 73 =
staring holes into my back and that is what kept me from looking in his direction again.

"Want or not, he's willing," Job said as he pushed away from the railing. "I'm getting out of the sun for
a bit," he said before he moved over to the other side where there was greater shade from the ship
and used some rope as a pillow.

I turned around and sooner than I expected my eyes found Tracy with this little pocket of friends. Not
that he was enemies with anyone on board, but it was clear who he got along with best aboard ship. I
tilted my head back and closed my eyes. I was tired of looking at Tracy and not being able to touch
him. I was tired of looking at the harbor that should be at our backs. I didn't want to look at ships
coming in and hoping that they had what we needed. I opened my eyes and saw the crow's nest on
my left and looking down at me was Eli.

-= Tracy's P.O.V. =-

"He's looking at Eli," Nathaniel said as I refused to look in the Captain's direction. I hadn't told them
anything about what might or might not be happening between Captain Norton and myself.

"Why is that important?" I asked as I wondered why he mentioned it. Until now, they only told me
when he looked at us or when he looked away.

"Because Eli's looking back at him," he added on. I still didn't get it.

"So?" I asked.

"You must be one of the few Eli hasn't talked to," Joseph said in my direction. I looked at him to be let
in on the secret. "Opponent?" Joseph asked Nathaniel instead.

"It's possible," Nathaniel answered back. I was quickly losing my patience with the two of them talking
around me when Jacob nudged me with his elbow.

"Eli," he started, once he had my attention. "Sleeps around from time to time," he said.

"So?" I asked not getting it. "Is he in trouble with Captain Norton over this?" I asked as I started to
speculate about what that could mean. "Did he leave a woman here in port?" I ventured even as I
recalled not seeing any woman talking to the captain or Eli while we've been docked.

"With men," Jacob added on.

"What do you mean with men?" I asked thinking I missed that first part of what he said.

"Eli sleeps around with men. From time to time," Jacob cleared up for me. I looked at them wide-eyed
before turning to look at Captain Norton and then following his gaze up to Eli in the crow's nest. When
not sleeping or eating, that was the next place you would be able to find him. The clicking of coins

= 46 Of 73 =
drew my attention back to my friends, but by the time I looked at them, they were pocking the money
and looking at me as if waiting to see what I would do next.

What would I do next? I didn't even fully understand what was going on at that moment.

I understood and recognized the act of paying up on a bet, so my body turned back to look at Captain
Norton as he still looked at Eli before turning to look at me.

He slept with Eli? Captain Norton slept with a man? With men?

I watched him as he turned his back to me and walked a few paces to place one of the masses
between us so I couldn't see him. I think that is what he wanted since that is where he stopped. I
looked up at the top of the mass and Eli was looking at me this time. He didn't look away but almost
seemed to dare me to look away first.

"Come on Tracy, let's play a hand," Nathaniel said as he hit me on the shoulder to get my attention. I
was bad at playing their kind of card games but I had to move. A staring contest was for children. I
allowed them to pull me away before my feet kicked in and I walked on my own to follow them below
deck. We made our way to the eating tables and found three other men below already playing their
own game.

Roger, Peter, and Amon looked up at us as we walked by and nodded their heads in recognition before
turning back to find out who was winning. Joseph pulled out a pack of very worn cards from his back
pocket before he sat down next to me.

"How do you know?" I asked in a whisper after I actually won a round.

"Know what?" Nathaniel asked as he reached for a card after discarding one. I looked around to see if
anyone was looking in our direction and judging how low my voice had to be so no one else would
hear my answer.

"That Captain Norton slept with Eli," I clarified before I tried to look at the cards in my hand.

"I never said they slept with each other," Nathaniel answered as he shuffled the cards in his hand into
an order he liked. I looked at Jacob next.

"I haven't said anything about anyone sleeping with anyone," he stated as he held both hands up as if
to prove he was clean of such an act. My gaze fell on Joseph last. He continued to look at the cards. I
think only he and Jacob had their hearts in the game. I was trying to find answers and Nathaniel was
sitting there, pretending to play cards, as he watched the whole thing unfold.

"What we told you was what Eli did. No one said anything about the Captain. That was all you,"
Joseph said as he discarded one card and picked up another. "Your turn," he added as he now looked
up at me. They were all looking at me.

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"I guess it is my turn," I answered before looking down at what was in my hands and trying to
remember what it was I was suppose to do with them.

= 48 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 17

-= Evan's P.O.V. =-

I walked into my cabin wondering where Tracy was and at the same moment knowing he had to be in
our cabin. And there he was. Dressed in his nightshirt laying in my bed. He was asleep, but it looked
like he was at one point sitting up and waiting for me. One of his books had even slipped from his
fingers. I stood over him trying to understand what brought about this situation. Why didn't he hang
his hammock and wait there for me? Why wait for me at all? We are on a ship. He could have just
found me if he wanted to talk about something.

I rubbed one of my eyes as sleep reminded me that it was waiting for me lay down and join it. That
only left me with a few fleeting moments to wonder what it was Tracy wanted to talk to me about. But
I needed my sleep and to do that I needed my bed and my bed was slightly occupied.

That gave me two courses to undertake. I could hang his hammock and then move him there and
whether he wakes or not, we would have his talk in the morning.

Or I could just crawl into my bed, beside him, and without waking him to save any talking for the light
of day. Before my mind made a real decision I found myself pulling my shirt off and doing everything I
did to ready for bed. I was too tired to fight the decision and I didn't see it as something so grievous to
sleep next to him.

I shifted his feet a little before laying in front and turning my back to him before finding myself fast
asleep.

-= Tracy's P.O.V. =-

I have never felt this warm before or should I say this kind of warmth before. Without wanting to, my
body slowly woke up and I became concerned when I started to recognize a pattern to the warmth I
felt. It wasn't around me. My face was in contact with the source and it was breathing.

Before I freaked out at the very odd and unique situation I seem to have found myself in, I tried very
hard to remember what happened before I fell asleep. I was reading a book. I was very much alone. I
couldn't think of a good way to ask the Captain what I wanted and I almost talked myself out of asking
him at all for half the time I sat there waiting.

Clearly, I fell asleep, and clearly, he left me here as he too went to bed. And if I only woke up next to
him I wouldn't be questioning why our arms were wrapped around each other with my face laying on
his chest.

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I opened my eyes and saw that the light was just starting to fill the room and that, as always, the
Captain was shirtless. I closed my eyes and felt beyond the warmth. I felt his skin and the muscles that
I have admired for weeks. The smell of him surrounded me with a newness that never lingered for
long. Even in his cabin. As I slid one of my hands down his spin a thought occurred to me that stilled
my movements and opened my eyes again.

I reluctantly lifted my head to look into his face. I saw him blink as he continued to look across the
room, over my shoulder. With his arm not moving from around my back. Just as my arms refused to let
him go.

"Good morning Tracy," he said before turning to look at me. "We need to talk."

= 50 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 18

-= Tracy's P.O.V. =-

"Yes Captain Norton," I answered him. I was about to pull away when I felt his hand as it slid up my
neck and into my hair. He slowly pulled my head back into contact with his body and the odd surreal
feeling that I felt since waking up intensified.

"Clearly, you had something to talk to me about since I found you waiting here for me," Captain
started. "What it is, I can only guess at. But there is something that I have put off telling you also," he
confessed before stopping. I waited for him to speak again but didn't think to say anything until he felt
too still.

As his fingers moved through my hair, my body tensed at the unexpected movement before relaxing
against him again. "I am unsure of how to begin," he said once he realized he had to say something.

"How about at the beginning?" I ventured knowing it was the correct answer but it sounded wrong to
me at the same time.

"Hahaha," the Captain laughed making me think that I shouldn't have said anything at all.

"The beginning," he repeated sounding amused and thoughtful at the same time. "This boy, dressed
as a girl was found hiding on my ship a few months ago," he told me.

So it was about me. If it wasn't for the fact that he was holding me, and in bed no less, the words 'I'm
sorry,' would have left my lips at that moment.

"But nothing went wrong, or should I say stayed hidden from me, until you told me that you wanted to
stay aboard," he let out with a breath. I think I heard his heartbeat pick up its pace and knew he was
about to tell me why. I felt like I should be worried, but with his hand still moving through my hair, the
fear just wasn't there.

"It was like something was bending and you didn't realize it until it broke and you are at a loss of what
to do next," he said. "When you said that you wanted to stay aboard, I felt like you said that you
wanted to stay with me. When I realized that, a host of questions presented themselves to me, and
then I had the dream." At this point, he groaned. A moment or two passed before he continued again.

"My dream made it very clear that I wanted you. All of you," he punctuated by pressing me close for a
brief moment. "And since this was my dream, you appeared to want it too. But once I woke up I had
no proof that you wanted me or that you liked men in general at all," he ended with another released
breath showing how much this had weighed on him.

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"I didn't know how to act around you without giving it away, without you thinking that you made the
wrong choice to stay. I wanted to be near you but I didn't want to push you away with anything I now
said or did. So I kept my distance until I could move forward with you somehow. I just didn't expect it
to happen this way,"

-= Evan's P.O.V. =-

"This way, as in asleep in your bed?" he asked me as if it could have been anything else.

"Hum," I answered him as I continued to move my fingers through his hair. It felt slightly odd doing
this when we hadn't done anything in the bed other than actually sleeping. This was something my
lovers enjoyed from me only when I didn't have to rush off for one reason or another. Their bed was
too expensive to lay in or whoever they were married to was someone I didn't want to meet. But
there were occasions where not only did I get to linger in bed, but I got breakfast and another bout in
their bed before a reluctant send-off.

"I guess I should tell you what I wanted to say, or ask you really," Tracy said as he broke into my
thoughts. "In fact what you told me has answered my question," he ended.

"But I feel like I should tell you anyway," he decided. I moved my hand from the back of his head and
did to him what he was doing to me just before he realized that I was awake. I hadn't been awake that
long honestly, but like him, I was somewhat surprised. I think he was surprised to find that we had
wrapped ourselves around each other during the night.

"I-I felt how you changed after I woke you up from what I thought was a nightmare. A nightmare that
you were shouting my name in," Tracy said after he recovered from feeling my hand moving down his
back.

He pressed the palm of his hand to my spine as I continued to drag my fingers across his skin. I gave
him time to be able to continue what he was saying and I went back to thinking about the parts of him
that were in firm contact with my body. He had straddled my left leg, so either of us could lift a knee
and this conversation would take a new turn.

"I thought that you were going to change your mind about letting me join your crew. You were looking
at me differently and keeping your distance. It made me feel unwanted," he ended in a slightly lower
voice. Inwardly I groaned at the misunderstanding that I had caused.

"That's not true," I corrected him. I believed that he was blushing as he turned his face into my chest a
little, even though I had yet to see him do so. I allowed him the moment like he allowed me when I
was talking before.

"Then I heard about Eli and misunderstood what I was told, which had me asking if you were
interested in men." I felt as he swallowed hard. His hand even shook a little. "If you could possibly be

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interested in me. Somehow."

I searched for the words to confirm what I thought was very apparent and already mentioned. Of
course, I'm interested in you. Or, Why are you shaking? We are in bed together. But I didn't want to
sound condescending so I continued to think of what I could say. I think words were easier after I had
slept with someone. Or at least that required me to say fewer words.

When Tracy shifted in my arms and his leg bruised the underside of my sensitive parts, I gasped out
loud for two reasons. One, I didn't think that I was as hard as I was. How could I have missed that? And
two, it felt great. I grabbed Tracy's head as he moved it to the side. He might have been going to kiss
my arm or my chest, but I wanted his lips elsewhere. So I lifted his face to mine with the use of his
very long hair and kissed him. It was clear and even expected that he had never been kissed or kissed
anyone in return other than a kiss on a hand or cheek in all his years, but that didn't stop either of us
from teaching or learning.

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 CHAPTER 19

-= Evan's P.O.V. =-

I wasn't allowed to forget that he had no experience with every shake of his hand. The slight
hesitation of his lips before he kissed me in a different way or a new place. His exclamations from each
brush of my fingers and the sliding of my leg between his made me heady with power that I didn't
know was possible.

I had Tracy on his back as I now pulled away to look at him. All of him. His eyes stayed closed for a
moment before he opened them to see what I was doing or was going to do to him. His hair was
fanned out across my sheets. His eyelids looked happily heavy while his lips had been kissed bruised
into a small smile. The strings in the front of his garment had been mostly pulled loose and half his
chest was on display. Where a woman would have the heavy swell of a breast and a man would have
the hard curve to his chest, he was the perfect balance of both.

His nightshirt had also worked its way up and left his waist and everything below it exposed. His skin
here was as pale as it was on the day we met. There were no interrupting tan lines as my gaze went
lower. There was a faint dusting of hair that led down to his manhood. It was hard and pressed against
my thigh that I hadn't removed from its comfortably wedged place. I saw evidence on my pants where
he had leaked as we, came to an understanding about what we thought about each other.

I watched as he reached his hands up towards me. He touched my chest with hot fingertips and trailed
down to my waist where they stopped at the top of my pants. I closed my eyes while cursing them and
being grateful for their existence at the same time. I told myself to get up. That I should be about my
ship, never mind getting breakfast. But I stayed there. Looking down at him and feeling that I didn't
want to leave. That I wanted to show him everything for the first time myself. Today.

But I didn't move. I just looked at him.

"Captain Norton?" Tracy asked me with one of his hands still in contact with my skin.

"We should be eating breakfast," I told him. I delivered the information like the fact that it was. "But I
don't want to leave." I tried not to smile at myself or the comment. "And as much as I want to touch
you, I know I won't be able to stop once I start again," I confessed. I knew that I had to leave and at
the same time I didn't want to. So I was stuck above Tracy, looking at him like a thirsty man who
couldn't drink the water before him.

"Then I guess I'll have to make the first move, again," Tracy told me as he raised his face to meet mine.
He kissed me and kissed me well. And as I was about to crumble down onto his body, he moved away.
He extracted his body from all contact with mine and with a rumpled look, that I loved immediately,

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he walked into the W.C.

-= Tracy's P.O.V. =-

When I came out, Captain Norton was laying on his back, I think his eyes were closed, but I wasn't
sure. I was still dressed the same, but he was now naked which had me stumbling back towards where
my hammock was stored.

"I was hoping that after you used the W.C. you would come out naked, so I dressed to match," Captain
Norton said before he sat and then stood up to walk in my direction. "Guess I was wrong," he said as
he came to stand a mere two feet in front of me. I felt dwarfed by everything about him. His physical
size along with his naked presence had me wishing that I hadn't talked myself into going to have
breakfast and coming up with a good reason for getting out of bed.

"I didn't think that we needed to rush anything," I said as I licked my lips. "After all, we have a while
before we make port in Cadiz," I told him as I tried to breathe without inhaling a new smell that was
trying to change my mind on its own.

"We do have time," he said with a smile that actually hurt me somehow. "Let's get something to eat,"
Captain Norton told me before he turned his back and I watched his ass muscles move as he made his
way to the W.C.

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 CHAPTER 20

-= Tracy's P.O.V. =-

It was still early in the day, and I didn't expect to see anyone in the kitchen, other than Cook, but as I
pushed the door open I realized that I was wrong about the time of the day entirely. Everyone was
there having breakfast. They all turned and looked at me as I walked in, and I felt sweat as it broke out
on the back of my neck.

"What?" I asked the room as I came to a standstill and looked around. They, as one, turned to look at
Cook who had his back to the room as he scooped something onto a plate. I think.

"If you have any food in your cabin, I think you should go back and eat that now," Nathaniel told me in
a quick whisper as he moved along my left side. I looked to Job, and he nodded in return. I quietly
took a step back and was out the door before Cook knew I was there.

What was that about? I guess it's something the Captain would have to deal with. I was halfway back
to our cabin when I ran into Captain Norton.

"I thought that we were going to get breakfast in the galley?" he asked as I came to a stop.

"Yeah, that was the plan, byt I think Cook is up to something. Everyone wanted me to leave before he
knew I was there," I informed him.

"We're making port in just over a week, but still," he said before looking back the way I came. "We
can't be that low on supplies," he said again before he walked past me. I walked behind him in search
of answers also.

I walked into the galley behind Captain Norton and watched as he made his way straight into the
kitchen. I hung back and was soon seated in my usual spot. Everyone there, except me, divided their
attention between the plate that was in front of them and what was going on between the Captain
and Cook. I looked over at Eli, who was sitting the closest to me and saw something I couldn't put a
name too. I think I saw a small leg when a shout from the Captain's direction pulled my attention
away.

I saw Cook as he appeared to be defending his position, but Captain Norton just shouted back that this
wasn't to be done unless it was a last resort. Cook wouldn't stop and got the conversation back down
to a lower level as he seemed to have made a few good points. That isn't to say that the Captain didn't
say "No," forcefully a few times. Either the conversion ended, or the Captain finished it by walking
away from Cook.

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"Turn in your plates," he said once he was surrounded by his men. "Job, ration out an extra jug of beer
per crew member while Cook properly makes breakfast this time," he said before turning to look at
me. "Do we have anything in the cabin to eat?"

I started to give that question some serious thought.

===

I questioned the world that I was now living in. I felt like things were different, but it looked the same
as the one I saw before falling asleep last night. It still emanated of salt and wet timber. The heat of
cramped corners that smelled of unwashed men mixed with stale air was still present. The men acted
the same, and the smiles on my new friend's faces were as greeting as always. And of course, there
was Captain Norton. The very present man of his domain.

As time moved on, Captain Norton behaved a little differently towards me. At night when we were
together in his cabin, we shared his bed. We didn't wear our clothes when it came time to sleep and ...
other things. His kisses went straight to my head as if I was drunk on real Spanish beer. We kissed as
our bodies created a painfully pleasant friction on their own that I would tell Captain Norton to stop
because it felt like my mind was coming apart in a too good of a way, if that makes any sense at all.

I spent a little more time with him above deck too. He told me tales of when he passed this way years
ago and made his way through blockades of some civil war that stretched into the county's sea. We
were a happier version of when I first came on board I think. He showed me how to be a better crew
member, but he still protected me when he felt I needed it.

I knew what love was. I knew I loved my mother and father, but to call this love felt like a big decision.

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 CHAPTER 21

-= Evan's P.O.V. =-

I was standing next to the wheel when I watched Tracy as he swung, with all his might, one of the
anchoring ropes to a dock worker on the other side. More things went through my mind at that
moment than I remember ever happening before.

Would he really be happy staying on board? With me? How was he able to love me? Do I love him? I
don't know if I loved anyone but my parents. I have friendships of varying degrees that have spanned
years. I have earned the respect of my crew, and in turn, they have gained my loyalty.

But did I know what love was? Lust was easy. It was the driving force for men to do what they did. Lust
for money. Lust for accolades. Lust for respect. And of course sexual lust. Man, woman, boy, or girl.

I've watched his body as it has changed slightly since he asked to stay on board, and now I can
confidently say that if he changed his mind about staying, his body would be more prepared, than it
was before, for a life less comfortable than the one he grew up knowing.

"Captain," Jacob said at my side bringing me back to what was at hand. I nodded before turning to
face the crew.

"Alright men!" I shouted to get their attention. "You know the drill. Lower the gangplank, bind the
sails, and the rest of you start the line to the hold!" I stood there for a second as I watched them
scatter at my words. Tracy was pulled towards the hold by one of the crew before he was swallowed
up by the belly of the ship.

Time moved along quickly and a little painfully at moments when the heavier items needed me to
assign more than two men to transport each piece. Before the sun was gone from the sky, causing the
sweat on our skins to convey the chill that was now in the air, we finished unloading all the cargo.

I was seeing the transporter off with the last of the shipment on the pier when I heard someone on
board calling everyone below deck for something to eat.

"How long will we be in port for Captain?" Eli asked once I entered the galley. I wasn't sure, but I told
him what I knew.

-= Tracy's P.O.V. =-

"I have to see to the shipping office about our next run, but I won't have us going back to sea in less

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than a week's time," Captain Norton said to the apparent delight of the crew. All around me there
were shouts of excitement before they started to talk about where they were going to go and who
they missed and we're going to see again.

I sat there chewing my way through something that was once salted beef as I waited to hear Captain
Norton say something about me becoming part of the crew. Officially. But it never came.

He reminded them to make sure they left an address that they could be contacted at before they
disembarked. He left the ship open to anyone who didn't have somewhere or anyone to stay with.
And once again he advised them to stay out of jail so they wouldn't be left behind once it was time to
set sail again.

Once most of the crew left, I went above deck to see this new Spanish town we were anchored in. I
watched and bid farewell to most of the men as they went ashore. When anyone asked me to go with
them, I gave the same answer. I was tired and just getting some air before going to bed early. I wasn't
lying. I was tired from all that I did today, and I was going to go to bed. But I also know that with a
near-empty ship, I wasn't going to sleep anytime soon.

I heard boot steps as they made their way closer to me. I know by how slow they were moving this
person wasn't in a rush to get to dry land. I slightly turned and saw who I expected. Captain Evan
Norton.

A few nights ago he had me repeatedly whisper his name as he licked my whole body. I think he was
trying to get me to be comfortable saying his first name. I don't think it worked, or at least not yet.

He was smiling as he bumped his shoulder into mine before leaning into me and the ship at the same
time.

"How do you like the view?" he asked as he looked at our newest port.

"There are a lot of watchtowers," I told him. I hadn't counted, but they obviously had more than six,
which is more than I had seen anywhere else.

"About twenty at least in this part alone I think," Captain Norton informed me. "The whole shoreline
of Cadiz is dotted with over a hundred and sixty of them," he ended.

"Why so many?" I asked as I now started to count all the moving lights in the sky.

"The coastline here has jagged outcroppings, a few little rocks of islands and coves, and the bay on the
other side. You see that line of lights there?" the Captain asked me as he pointed them out on our left.

'Yes," I said as I nodded also.

"That is one of two bridges to take you to the mainland unless you travel the long way around the
inside of the cove," he informs me before going quiet for a while. I rocked into the captain now and

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again when a bigger than normal wave hit the ship. It seemed it was harder for me to balance on a
boat that was going nowhere than one that was riding the waves.

"I'm going below," Captain Norton tells me as he pushes himself away from the railing. "Don't take too
long. I need you to go with me into the shipping office tomorrow," he says before he walks away and
swipes his hand across my lower back in the process.

= 60 Of 73 =
 CHAPTER 22

-= Tracy's P.O.V. =-

I kept my eyes fixed on one of the many watchtowers that were the closest to the harbor. Two men
were walking along the covered balcony as they looked outwards, searching for something that wasn't
quite right. I didn't turn around to look at him so they wouldn't see, but so I didn't draw the attention
of a crew member who might have come upon us at any moment.

I also didn't try to linger out there in the night air by myself for too long. We had murmured promises
to each other last night about what this evening would entail, and I knew that he was as eager as I
was, and I was no longer a person who denied themselves what they wanted, or who they were. I had
seen and heard enough by now to know that there are two kinds of normal in this world. The one that
we tell our selves and try to show others, for the most part, and what our nature indeed was.

The first one had me living in shame of who I was and had me on the road to never feeling right in my
skin. To always think that I shouldn't be here. Alive, existing. But I've found someone who doesn't see
me as something...wrong, and I liked it. I liked it a lot. I turned from the view of a port being covered
up by more darkness and went below to my captain.

-= Evan's P.O.V. =-

I had just pulled my shirt over my head when I heard the door to our cabin as it was opened and then
closed. I expected to feel his hands as he slid them around my body before laying a kiss at the base of
my neck. But instead, I heard rustling and the movement of feet across the floor but not in my
direction. When I turned around, I saw the door to the W.C. being pulled closed. I smiled to myself and
finished getting undressed as I waited for Tracy to return.

I was laying in bed, looking at the deck above me when I heard the door open again. I turned my head
before quickly sitting up to fully take in what I was seeing. Tracy had walked back into the cabin
wearing the clothes I found him in all those weeks and months ago. This time he stood before me
without the long coat, so I saw what the auctioneer intended everyone to see. A man who possessed
the kind of beauty that you wouldn't have believed existed if you hadn't seen him in the flesh, and
would pay any amount to own.

I have seen him fully naked by now, but I still saw how he wasn't all that sure about presenting himself
to me dressed like this. I pulled the sheet I had over myself out of the way so I could stand. I then
walked across the floor naked to meet him where he had stopped. The flowy transparent material just
hung about his limbs. His long blonde hair framed this face and gave an almost honey-colored
backdrop to his neck and exposed shoulders. The band that went across his chest didn't make you

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work that much harder to see what it was covering. The triangle between his legs and below his
waistline was showing off a tempting bulge.

"Tracy," I greeted him before my body kissed him. It was my body that pulled him closer as his hands
now held on to me. I made myself pull back so I could see all of him again. The look in his eyes told me
that he wanted to keep kissing, slowly faded as I took my time looking at him.

When his nerves started to show again, I raised a hand and moved it along his skin, over his garments,
and around his body as I looked at everything I could. His nervous energy turned into sighs as he
swayed and moved with my hand a little as I cupped his cheek, went down his neck, and moved across
his back. I went from his shoulder down across an erect nipple that was pushing against what was
hardly keeping it hidden, and grabbed his waist before sliding across his hip to end just above his ass.

I stood behind him as I settled both my hands on his waist this time. Tracy leaned back into my chest,
and the rest of my body down to my cock that was now pressing against one of his ass cheeks.

"Mmm," I moaned into the side of his neck before he turned around and kissed me. Now I felt his
cock, and I saw it in my mind as the outline was pressed into my hip when he wasn't trying to push it
into my own dick.

"I was going for sexy, but now I just feel overdressed," Tracy said for the very brief moment he broke
contact before I felt him sucking on my lips again. He was right. He was sexy and overdressed at the
same time. I tightened my arms around him and pulled him up, off the floor and up against my body
to transport him over to the bed.

I managed to stop walking before I made both of us fall onto the bed. I stopped kissing Tracy long
enough to set him on his feet and to step back to look at him. He smiled back at me with a slightly
loopy expression on his face. It was a new look on him, but one I was getting very used to. I slid a hand
down past his chest and the material that covered it, to stop above his navel. Then I pushed him
backwards to have him lying sprawled on the bed below me.

"Time for you to get naked," I told him as I reached for his pantaloons. Before I pulled them down
from their low placement on his hips, I rubbed the outline of his cock that showed he tried to keep it
contained, even temporary, by having it bent to the right, so it stayed covered by the matching
underwear that was part of the pantaloons.

"Yes," Tracy moaned in agreement as he pushed his dick up into my hand.

-= Tracy's P.O.V. =-

Feeling someone touch me, never mind having it be Evan, was still so new that just the act had
butterflies living not only in my belly but my entire body. However, I have been emboldened by all our
time together and pushed my body into his seeking more.

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I hooked an ankle behind one of his legs as he continued to pull my clothes down my body. I watched
the top of Evan's head as he looked at his hands and my body as he exposed my lower half more and
more. After one leg was freed, he grabbed the ankle of my other one and lifted away from him and up
into the air. In such a position, I felt as exposed as I've ever been and a little embarrassed at the same
time. But the moment was just that — a moment. I felt the material being pulled up my leg and away
from my body almost more than I saw it happen.

His hands quickly took their place on my person, and my skin warmed at every point of contact. They
went from warm to almost hot as he held me tighter in spots. My eyes closed as his hands jumped
over my dick in their journey up my body. I opened them when I felt his thigh between my own and
his fingers moving across my chest again. I saw his brown eyes looking down into my face. Evan smiled
at me for a moment before he started to follow his fingers once more.

I observed him as he looked at me intently. From the first night that he slipped my shirt off my
shoulders until now, his interest in me hasn't dimmed. I don't understand it that much, but right now I
feel empowered and as sexually alluring as he thinks I am. I felt his body sliding into place over mine
as he reached for the back of my neck. I watch his face as he moves in and I raise my whole body to
meet him first. My lips capture his as I once again hook one leg around some part of his body, and my
cock comes into contact with his.

He groans into my mouth, and I moan back. All his body weight settles onto mine, and a feeling of
rightness flows through me.

-= Evan's P.O.V. =-

Tracy's body was alive under my hands. His mouth moved over mine faster than I could think of what
to do next. His body was a constant wave that moved in and out of mine, and I was being swept away
by all of it. By all of him. I laid over his frame to keep him in place. I wrapped my arms around Tracy's
back to hold him to me. We made a few noises outside of skin sliding against skin. The creak of the
boards under the bed as we moved almost in tandem. The wet sounds of kisses that our lips and cocks
gave each other. That garment that still covered his chest and arms were silent as they started to cling
to our bodies from the sweat we were producing, but I didn't want to get rid of it yet.

I wanted him all at once. The sexy, the sweet, the bold, and the embarrassed, and it looked like he was
determined to attack all of me at the same time also. But as I managed to breath, I pushed myself
away and out of this fog that was being spawned by both of us. I looked down, and he was wide-eyed
as he laid there panting, looking back at me. The pale material of his top and my darker sheets made
him glow below me.

"Why are you stopping?" he asked even as he reached a hand up to hold my hair.

"We need something," I told Tracy before I completely separated from him and walked over to my
wardrobe. I opened the door and reached inside for a bottle of oil that Doc told me would work for all
bodily penetrations. I didn't really say anything to him, but at the same time he seemed to get the

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significance of what I was trying to tell him what I needed, and he handed this to me. As I looked
down at the dark bottle in my hand, I wondered who he thought I was going to use it with? Tracy or
Eli? But I quickly found out that I didn't care and turned back towards my bed and the man laying
there waiting for me.

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 CHAPTER 23

-= Evan's P.O.V. =-

By the time I made it back to my bed, Tracy had turned over onto his stomach, and his legs were
spread apart a little. I smiled before I leaned down and kissed his left ass cheek. I then did what he
expected me to do. I dipped my finger into the bottle to get it coated with oil. Well, I tried to. Now is
the moment that I found out that the opening wasn't that big and the liquid had to be poured out. So I
carefully covered a few fingers, with what turned out to be a clear liquid, before placing the bottle a
safe distance away.

I now used my free hand to pull one butt cheek aside and teased him, as much as myself, with my
fingers as I pressed at and circled his entrance. For a moment I wondered if I was a little afraid. I knew
what to do, but I had never done it with a male before. There was that slight apprehension of doing
something new, and as I examined the feeling some more, I realized that was all it was. A little
apprehension at doing something new, to both of us. As I accepted this, I slowly sank the first finger
into him. I watched as he tensed a bit, then relaxed as I let him get use to my invading digit.

I'm not saying that I had never liked another man before, or never touched one. I've done everything
but start the actual motion where one of us was being fucked by the other. I was never in the right
place or met them at the right time for such an event to unfold. I'd seen other men as they went at
each other and heard stories, so it was in that sense as familiar to me as hearing about other men's
time with their wives or women who weren't their wives.

But this, Tracy. Tracy was new, he was everything, and we were going to be each other's first. I started
to move my finger in and out of his hole until I moved freely. Then I added a second finger. I pushed
and pulled until the slide was smooth and less tight. When I added the third, it took longer. Tracy's
moans told me when it was time to turn him over.

"I want to see your face when I clam you," I told Tracy as he now looked up at me and I reached for
the bottle again. When his lips twitched a little, I tried to make a mental note to ask him what it was
for as I poured some of the liquid into my cupped hand. Tracy then preceded to watch as I covered my
cock with the substance and stroked myself a little before reaching for his thighs and pulling him
closer to me. I moved and positioned him until we were both where we needed to be. I watched his
face as I felt his ass kissing my cock with each pucker it made in his excitement. As I pushed forward, I
moved closer to Tracy's face and kissed his lips as I buried myself into him.

-= Tracy's P.O.V. =-

Evan was holding my legs apart as he used all his weight to sink as deep into me as possible. I

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screamed down his throat from the burn of him forcing my ass hole open to that degree all at once. I
gripped his hair and shoulders, as I tried to hold on to him as my mental world was shattered by pain.
Pain that eventually flowed into something that I wanted to feel more of. Before I could say or move
myself to show that I wanted us to continue, Evan pulled out of me.

I had a split moment of fear that it was over, that I was losing something before I truly got it when he
fell into me again. This time a moan was dragged out of my bones from what I felt. This was better. So
much better and so was the next one, and the next. My skin never lost that tingling feeling. My
heartbeat raced to keep up with our fast breathing. I kissed him back as much as I could as he seemed
to push me ahead of him towards an end that I knew was going to be better than anything we had
already shared.

I then felt it crowding my brain. Everything. I was being overwhelmed, and in all of that, I felt what had
to be my impending ejaculation. Then I was gone. My mouth was open, and I was lost to the word as I
heard Evan shout 'Fuck' into my jaw. When I could think again, the top of my outfit was a second skin
that was between both our hot bodies. I was tired and placed the soles of my feet on the bed. I then
bent my legs open on either side of Evan's body that was still between them with his cock even now
stuck up my ass. Though it felt smaller, I don't think he was completely soft either.

I lazily ran one hand through his long black hair. I say long, but it wasn't even half the length of my
own. On my third pass, he turned his head slightly and kissing my jaw. He then kissed my neck before
sliding his tongue along my skin. When he ran into the thing covering my chest, he kissed it before
righting himself and lifting his body to have it over mine again. I looked through the space between us,
and I watched his eyes as he started to push his hips into me slowly. My eyes widened a little when I
felt him grow to fill me again. I arched up when he fucked me harder and his hand was there, under
my back, keeping me arched up towards him.

Then I felt his lips as he sucked at and kissed my chest through the fabric that covered it. My body was
bent in a new and slightly odd way to have him fucking me at the same time he bit my nipple. I
wanted to feel his lips on my bare skin and moved to lift this thing up and out of the way when he sat
back and now had me sitting over him. The sudden movement had me looking at him wide-eyed as
my weight impaled me.

"Don't take it off," Evan said as his face drifted closer. He lifted my arms and slid his fingers down
towards my hands as he placed my palms against the hull of the ship on either side of his face.

"It looks perfect on you," he breathed into my mouth before he kissed my lips. I gasped as each
movement I made caused his cock to slide and poke me in different ways. As I tried to understand
what to do with my body, Evan pulled out of the kiss and laid his head back against the ship, and
watched me with eyes that sent new shivers running up and down my spine.

I tried to move in towards his body so I could kiss him again, but he placed a hand in the middle of my
chest to keep us apart.

"I want to watch you," Evan said before his hand slipped slowly down and down and further still until

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he was just over my cock that was pointing straight up. I thought he was going to touch it. I wanted to
feel his fingers wrapping around it, but instead, his hands moved to my thighs, and he used his strong
fingers to drag me forward a little. I moaned.

"Now you can rock like this," he explained as his hands rolled me a few times to show me what he
meant. My eyes that drifted close snapped open when he stopped. I looked into his face for one
second before I started to move. I kept eye contact as I undulated my hips a little faster.

I realized that I missed seeing him when he came the first time and I didn't want to miss it again. It
must have been what he was thinking too. We moaned as we held eye contact. When Evan started to
thrust upwards as I continued to fuck him, our eyes never wandered. Our chests heaved as we
dampened everything around us. The shirt I wore. The sheets under our bodies. Even the air in the
room was heavy and humid.

Then we came. I didn't hear anything, but I felt everything. I saw the temporary toll the orgasm took
on Evan as a hot gush filled me. My balls then spilled everything it had onto both of us.

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 CHAPTER 24

-= Tracy's P.O.V. =-

Why in god's name was I up already? I asked myself as I dragged my tired body and aching back
behind Evan's as he guided the way to the branch office of the company that was hiring us for the next
job. I knew why, but I protested, at least mentally, at how early it had to be done. By the time we were
away from the harbor area and about seven blocks inland, my disposition had improved.

One reason being that Captain Norton fed me. I think they were called empanadas; we each had two.
Then there were the sights and smells of this new place. By the time Captain Norton stopped to go
into a building, I was ready to keep walking and see what else was out there. But I followed him inside
the stone building without reluctance.

"Captain Norton," A man said in greeting before I closed the door that we just walked through. A tall
and very slender man stood up from behind a somewhat concealing desk. He must have been the
secretary to be stationed near the entrance. After being onboard a ship for so long, the stone around
me felt odd, and I looked up at the enclosed height of the room as the captain and man exchanged
pleasantries. While they continued to talk I looked around and saw a few crates, but not as much as I
half expected. But then there was the rest of the building for storing goods, if not a warehouse.

"Tracy," the Captain called. I turned around to see him waving me over. I guess he was ready to
introduce me now. "This is Mr. Welp. Mr. Welp, this is Tracy Naill, our newest crew member." Mr. Welp
held out his hand, and we shook briefly.

"Nice to meet you, young man," he said with a smile on his face as he gave me a quick up and down
glance through the lenses of his glasses. His face didn't change until he turned to look at the Captain
again. I swear his features became brighter when he laid his eyes on him again. "Let's get the
paperwork out of the way so you can start enjoying your shore leave, shall we?" Mr. Welp said as he
looked between the both of us, but I think I was just included, so he didn't appear to be ignoring me.
Maybe it was my inexperience with being in a sexual, never mind a romantic, relationship. Perhaps it
was the fact that I felt an interesting twinge when I moved my left hip forward as I now followed them
further into the building. Or it could have been the wink that Evan gave me behind Mr. Welp's back a
few seconds later before we followed him into the next room. But I wasn't bothered by Mr. Welp 's
apparent attention towards Evan.

"I have the papers in here for you," Mr. Welp started when he walked towards a large desk in the third
room we entered. "Mr. Dar came in early to make sure they were signed before he took his family for
a weekend stay in the country," he enlightened us.

"I was hoping to speak with him today," Captain Norton said as he rubbed his chin.

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"Well you don't leave for a week and Mr. Dar will be back in two days, so you can leave me a message
to give to him, or you can wait to deliver your message in person," Mr. Welp told us as he sorted and
looked for something on the large desk that he had walked behind.

"I'll tell him myself," Captain Norton said a moment later. Mr. Welp looked up at him as he paused his
paper shuffling. "I do have the time like you pointed out, and it isn't anything pressing," Captain
Norton explained.

"Of course, of course," he said as he lowered his head to look at what he was holding. "And here it is,"
Mr. Welp soon proclaimed. He then turned the paper around and placed it in front of me. Or at least
he was about to when he pulled it back. "Do you know how to write Mr. Naill?" Mr. Welp then
inquired. I almost felt insulted.

"Yes, Mr. Welp, I know how to write," I answered him. And read, I almost added.

"Good, that will help with our records," he said before finally placing the contract before me and
handing me an inked quill. I took it from him and quickly read down the document as I looked for
where I believed I had to sign. I would be locked into service aboard any ship that Captain Evan Norton
was master of for the next five years. My full name, my current age, and where I was from had already
been added to the agreement. I was also becoming an employee of the shipping company, and I
wasn't allowed to endanger their interests along with my captain's for as long as they employed our
ship.

It said that I would be paid a percentage of the value of the cargo we deliver, but not a set amount. I
guess that was one way to cut down on theft. And that is what the next part went into detail about;
stealing aboard ship. It ranged from a decrease in pay to being flogged on the ship, to being
discharged from the vessel without pay depending on the severity of the crime. I jumped over the
passages about murder about ship vs. in port and desertion.

I paused when they mentioned what would happen to my belongings and last pay should I die at sea.
An image of my mother floated through my mind, but I didn't know where she was or if she was still
alive. I finally got to the end and saw two empty lines waiting to be filled in. There was nothing to
indicate which I was supposed to place my name to so I checked with Mr. Welp. He nodded his head in
agreement to where I pointed, and I set about signing my name and officially starting the next part of
my life.

"Now your turn Captain Norton," Mr. Welp said when I was finished and turned the document
towards Evan. When the Captain finished, Mr. Welp picked it up and sprinkled sand over the contract
to keep the ink from smearing before it dried.

"Let me be the first one to welcome you officially to the crew of the Summer Seas," Mr. Welp said as
he held out his hand to me once again. I shook it enthusiastically.

"Thank you, Mr. Welp."

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 CHAPTER 25

-= Tracy's P.O.V. =-

"Ha, ha, ha, ha."

The air vibrated from both our voices and the wet sheets stuck to our skin as we collapsed onto the
bed. I was half laying over Evan, and he was still in me, but I really didn't want to move. I didn't want
either of us to move. Then my bent legs started to hurt, and I finally rolled over onto my back and laid
next to Evan as he smiled at me.

"I don't think I'll be able to move ever again," I half complained as I looked up at the roof of the room
we were renting. It wasn't a traditional inn, but I don't think we would have been able to do what we
did if this was a traditional inn. Evan made a few inquiries, in Spanish, that lead us to a place that did
an excellent job of looking like a forgettable wall, with a recessed doorway. Once we were allowed
inside, it was a whole new world. Some lamps lit the main entryway and connected hallways in many
colors, which made it a wonder just to be standing in the middle of it all. We didn't see many people
before we got to our room. There was the man that Evan paid. There was a couple that peeked out of
one apartment on the first floor as we walked by. They seemed to be teenagers. There was another
couple where the man looked to be about my age, while the woman looked old enough to be his
grandmother. I froze in place when they paused to kiss in front of us. Evan pulled me along so we
would get to our rooms sometime soon.

Just as I was starting to really wonder about this place, two women holding hands walked towards us.
We stepped aside, and they bobbed their heads in our direction before continuing on their way. We
then arrived at our apartment, number twelve. I think that was at least two hours ago.

-= Evan's P.O.V. =-

"How about a story?" I asked Tracy as I wrapped my arms around him. I was tired too, but the need to
hold him close won out against my fatigue.

"What story do you want to tell me?" Tracy asked back.

"Well," I started as I tried to think of something. "Have you heard of Sea Pigs?" I asked him.

"A what?" he asked in surprise and with a broader smile on his lips.

"Sea Pigs," I said again.

"Has Cook feed us any?" he asked sounding a little alarmed. I laughed before kissing the side of his

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face.

"No, not yet," I told him honestly. "But they taste excellent," I let him know as I thought of how to
start my story. "You may know the animal by another name. Most do. The Guinea Pig," I explained.

"Those little balls of fur that eat like rabbits?" Tracy asked.

"Yeah, those things," I confirmed.

"I thought they were pets," he told me sounding a little unsure.

"So are rabbits," I pointed out. "I'll tell you why they are called Sea Pigs, and that will explain why they
are also eaten," I told him.

"Ok," he said as he turned on his side to lay his head partly on my chest.

Guinea Pigs as we know them now as cute fuzz balls, that kids and some adults are attached to as
pets, didn't always have such an easy life to look forward to. In fact, some are still used for what
they were made for. Yes made for. They are but one example of man bending nature to it's will, and
creating something they needed. From centuries of breeding a rodent that was once commonly
found in the mountainous region of Peru, locals now had a dependable source of meat that didn't
take up too much space, survived the climate, tasted very well when cooked and provided small
pelts that were collected to make larger garments.

Every home had a small hut that was sometimes attached to the house, but sometimes not, that
sheltered anywhere from ten to twenty-five of these creatures at a time if not more. They never
needed help mating, and each birth consistently resulted in a litter of at least three every four
months. So it wasn't uncommon to find herds of them residing in neighboring yards.

Over time this became a problem that individual villages dealt with in their way but soon found the
same answer in time. Trade. Quivi, as they were known and sold as, slowly made their way down
the trade route and out of the mountains. They were soon found in villages and coastal towns
where they were being sold to fishermen who lived on their ships and ate at sea for days at a time
before having enough of what they were fishing for before coming back into shore. Some of the
tribes that didn't live on the mountain called the animal 'mountain steak' in their language.

As the years went by, some children would be given the task of cleaning the Quivi in the surf before
their mother would kill and cook it for dinner. Around this time, it was discovered that they could
swim and got the nickname swimming fur. The children had races where they would 'play with their
food' before it was prepared to become their lunch or dinner. A few fishermen were even known to
keep their swimming furs in the water the entire time they were at sea. They were held in nets and
just floated there next to the boat. For some of the fishermen that caught smaller fish, this turned
into an unexpected benefit. The droppings from these creatures would bring some species of fish
closer to feed, which made them easier to be caught.

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More years passed by and now we have Spaniards dropping anchor and trading with some of these
small seaside villages and towns. In one town where the relations were on good terms, one captain
was talking with another sea fairing man, and the subject came up of what they ate on their long
trips back to where to they came from. The captain recounted with a fair measure of
unpleasantness the shortcomings of their diet aboard ship and how he wasn't in any rush to start
his voyage back because of it. This is when he's told that he could take some swimming furs on
board with him like the locals do when they go deep-sea fishing once a month.

The captain was skeptical, but at hearing that they could have fresh meat on his trip back home, he
asked more about this swimming fur creature. He then finds out that what he and his crew have
been jokingly calling baby pigs because they were mostly served split roasted and tasted like pork,
were these swimming furs his friend was telling him about. He was told that they wouldn't take up
much space on his ship and that they breed quickly so he would have an ongoing supply once he
had enough food for the creatures on the long voyages and that they ate almost any grass and
vegetable.

The captain thought it over and even went to see a merchant of these swimming furs with his friend
acting as translator. The price was reasonable, and he would also be given some pregnant ones at
the same price this time to see how well it worked out for him. But next time he was warned that
the rate for those would be a little bit higher. The captain said that he would talk it over with his
cook and first mate. If they agreed they would be back the next day. The seller agreed and promised
he would hold a few pregnant ones for him.

Over a meal of the same swimming furs that he brought from the mainland, along with sides of
boiled potatoes, roasted onions, and fried bananas, he proposed this new idea. He wouldn't deny
that it was a planned strategy on his part to help them see things his way. And it worked. The three
of them met the captain's friend, and together they went to the merchant. There, a few more
details were discussed and hammered out before they returned to the ship carrying five very full
cages with about forty swimming furs and a bag full of their preferred diet.

"No more swimming for you," the cabin boy said to one of the Quivies as he picked it up out the
cage to give it to the cook.

"Do you want to rename it then Brian?" the cook asked the boy before he chopped the head off and
turned it over on a rack to allow the blood to drain down the wall and out a hole on the side of the
ship.

"Well, we are seamen, so... it's now a sea pig," he said before stopping to think about it. "Yeah, sea
pig," he said again with a smile before he retrieved another and handed it to the cook.

"Sea Pig," the cook said as he took it from the boy. "Not bad," he commented as he positioned the
animal on the cutting board and brought down the cleaver, decapitating it also.

By the time the ship made port in one of its colonies in the Caribbean, to take on fresh water and
vegetables, the whole crew was calling them sea pigs. It was a resource that was served sparingly

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and too much fanfare, but still, they found themselves having to leave two females and two males
alive so they could repopulate their numbers along with the six young ones that were born on
board. They were handed over to a local plantation owner who was given instructions on how they
were to be cared for and the warning of how quickly they could reproduce. He was to raise them for
the ship so they could resupply for when they pulled into port next time. For a few reasons, they
couldn't take them across the Atlantic and decided that a farm at one end would be best.

Years passed, and the sea pig lived up to its name on the island where that plantation became the
only one to sell the animals to any captain willing to pay his price for fresh meat on board his ship.

I turned my head and saw Tracy's closed eyelids. I wonder when he fell asleep. He has been absolutely
quiet during the telling of my stories before, so it wasn't possible for me to know when he fell asleep. I
kissed the side of his face before moving to hold more of him as I decided to take a nap also. I had
paid the innkeeper for one day, with the promise of making our stay longer if we found his
accommodations acceptable.

So far I think the likelihood of us staying longer was a real possibility. Before sleep calmed me, I felt
Tracy as he pulled us even closer in his sleep. My heart warmed, and there would never be a time that
I would be able to lie to myself about why it did.

"My ... ," I whispered into his shoulder before I kissed it. My love? My Tracy? My heart? All of the
above? Before long I was dreaming of a sea pig that was winning a swimming race against Tracy as I
cheered on him anyway.

==== The End ====

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