Entry 2
The journey was not an easy one. Despite my station as a woman of noble blood, I was forced to perform servant's work cleaning the decks and assisting the cooks. I was even forced to keep watch in the area of the ship called the "crow's nest." I expressed my concerns that this work was not appropriate for a lady of my station. The captain, whose name was simply Takeru, merely laughed and said, "This isn't a pleasure cruise, my dear. Even ladies have to earn their keep."Â
Needless to say, I was deeply incensed. How dare a lowly peasant speak to me in such a manner! Under normal circumstances, such disrespect would receive severe punishment. A public flogging perhaps. However, I was in no position to make demands. The captain has ultimate authority over his ship, especially out on open waters. Had I made myself too much of a burden, he could easily have his crew throw me overboard, despite his relationship to Kaede.
The time I didn't spend working was devoted towards combat training with the knives Kaede gave to me. One of the captain's crewman, a Miqo'te woman of sturdy build named K'licca, was in charge of teaching me the ins and outs of knife fighting. She was a brusque woman of few words and she would drill me until I could scarce stand, let alone fight. The first two weeks were some of the most trying weeks of my life.Â
Between the hard labor and the combat training, my body ached constantly and I developed calluses and blisters in places I knew not could get them. I am no stranger to physical exertion, having trained in the Way of the Sword since I could stand, but that skill was developed over years of moderate training. What I went through now was like condensing all those years into a single month of intense training.
Though the days were brutal, it was the nights that were my truest challenge. Not for any external source, as the sea remained relatively calm the entire trip. No, instead it was in these quiet hours, that I was haunted by my own mind. As I lay on deck among the coils of rope, for I had no bed to speak of, I would curl up from the ache of body's physical exertions. Memories of my murdered family and all that I had lost would then come flooding back to me at once. Images of my family's bodies covered in their own blood forced their way into the forefront of my mind. It was all I could do to stifle my sobs until I fell asleep.Â
However, even unconsciousness failed to render peace. Hellish nightmare images tormented me. Visions of my family's mutilated corpses would cry out to me for justice. Sometimes they would label me a coward for hiding whilst they died and other times they bade me throw myself into the sea or slice my belly open with my knives and join them in death. During these long nights with little rest, the only comfort I could find was in the beauty of the night sky, where the stars would sparkle peacefully in the darkness.
The journey was not an easy one. Despite my station as a woman of noble blood, I was forced to perform servant's work cleaning the decks and assisting the cooks. I was even forced to keep watch in the area of the ship called the "crow's nest." I expressed my concerns that this work was not appropriate for a lady of my station. The captain, whose name was simply Takeru, merely laughed and said, "This isn't a pleasure cruise, my dear. Even ladies have to earn their keep."Â
Needless to say, I was deeply incensed. How dare a lowly peasant speak to me in such a manner! Under normal circumstances, such disrespect would receive severe punishment. A public flogging perhaps. However, I was in no position to make demands. The captain has ultimate authority over his ship, especially out on open waters. Had I made myself too much of a burden, he could easily have his crew throw me overboard, despite his relationship to Kaede.
The time I didn't spend working was devoted towards combat training with the knives Kaede gave to me. One of the captain's crewman, a Miqo'te woman of sturdy build named K'licca, was in charge of teaching me the ins and outs of knife fighting. She was a brusque woman of few words and she would drill me until I could scarce stand, let alone fight. The first two weeks were some of the most trying weeks of my life.Â
Between the hard labor and the combat training, my body ached constantly and I developed calluses and blisters in places I knew not could get them. I am no stranger to physical exertion, having trained in the Way of the Sword since I could stand, but that skill was developed over years of moderate training. What I went through now was like condensing all those years into a single month of intense training.
Though the days were brutal, it was the nights that were my truest challenge. Not for any external source, as the sea remained relatively calm the entire trip. No, instead it was in these quiet hours, that I was haunted by my own mind. As I lay on deck among the coils of rope, for I had no bed to speak of, I would curl up from the ache of body's physical exertions. Memories of my murdered family and all that I had lost would then come flooding back to me at once. Images of my family's bodies covered in their own blood forced their way into the forefront of my mind. It was all I could do to stifle my sobs until I fell asleep.Â
However, even unconsciousness failed to render peace. Hellish nightmare images tormented me. Visions of my family's mutilated corpses would cry out to me for justice. Sometimes they would label me a coward for hiding whilst they died and other times they bade me throw myself into the sea or slice my belly open with my knives and join them in death. During these long nights with little rest, the only comfort I could find was in the beauty of the night sky, where the stars would sparkle peacefully in the darkness.
