Home At Last, for November

[Aly Hayden]

Aly sat outside her home. She had come home for a few days from the war front. She was now with her sister and two younger brothers, not to mention, her mother. She was happy to be home. It was different, but she wanted to make those few days last as long as possible.

[November]

The ship had made port in Italy, probably only for provisions. Andor didn't pay attention, all he knew was that he was to be back on the ship before the sun set fully and night rose. Presumably, the Capitan made this rule for him because he was young and also because in the weeks that he had sailed with them since she had picked him up on a whim and added the orphan to her crew she had come to realize that the combination of Andor's intelligence, stubbornness, and mouthiness was likely to get him in trouble if he encountered a drunken sailor...or something.

Andor was dressed a little more finely then the ragged clothing he had been picked up in. When the Capitan had taken him he had brought only the clothes on his back, his instruments, and his tools. With the rewards he recieved for playing his music he was now shopping. Andor had never been outside of Norway, aside from sailing only to make dock right back where they had begun. Italy was an array of sights and smells and sounds, all new and amazing and precious to the young man.

Under his arm, Andor carried a roll of several different cotton materials and a slash of thick leather material. His blond hair fell over his eyes and ears, his dark tan didn't quite fit in with the naturally dark skin of the Italians and his hair made him stand out like a white sheep among a pack of black wolves.

His mouth was agape as he walked the streets, his eyes wide in wonder and his young mind absorbing everything like a sponge.

[Aly Hayden]

Aly sighed. She had nothing to do. That was the bad part of being home. The days were long, but she had nothing to fill them with. Nothing to do in the first place. Elizabeth was out to the market getting more cloth, Jack and Will were at target practice, and her mother was knitting a sweater. She sighed again. She stood up and called inside "I'm going to the docks." she headed off. The docks were a good place to go. And she liked seeing things being unloaded. Sometimes she even saw a few pirates. But that was rare. Even though she enjoyed watching everything, it wasn't all fun. Sometimes she would be asked what her business was at the docks. She was almost arrested once, but she escaped it by saying her father was a General and he had more authority than the guards did. She passed by the Governor's daughter. "Good day to you." she said formally as she passed. When she got to the docks, she sat on a rock and watched. Today she saw a few pirates there. One looked very young.

She took one of her long braids and played with the hair tie around it. She eventually took her hair down from both sides. Her long brown hair floated in the wind. The spray of the sea felt good against her legs, and the breeze rustled her long lilac and sky blue dress. She loved the sea spray and the wind blowing her hair and dress. That's the main reason she came here. To get away from formality.

[November]

He passed her in his transition from the path from the city to the docks. Nightfall was a few hours off still and he still wanted to see so much more of the city but he had to get rid of the items he had purchased or else he would have to carry them around under his arm for the remainder of the day and he was not inclined to do so.

He watched her as he passed by her, his pale gaze following her air out onto the wind, then he returned his gaze to the task at hand, navigating the crowded dock with an arm full of items.

He stopped at a sea beast known by the name of Forthright and climbed aboard. There were only three of the crew on board at this time, left there to watch and guard the ship in the Capitan's absence. He went below deck and he stored his fresh, new material by pulling up the straw mat that was his bed and laying his material on the wood bunk, then smoothing the sleeping pad back down over it. This served two purposes: first that no one would likely steal his material, second that it was stored out of the way to preserve space.

When Andor resurfaced and hopped off of the ship and back down onto the docks, skipping the gang plank all together, his eyes drifted back across to the maiden on the rocks. He crossed boldly to her and he smiled briliantly as he approached. "Is it your dream to be at sea or do you watch because you like the noisy bustle and the forigin language that all Sailors speak in?"

It was true, the manner in which a sailor, no matter the kind, spoke seemed like a whole new language of its own.

[Aly Hayden]

Aly looked up. She saw one who seemed to be younger than she was, but of course, part of the pirate crew. "To me, they don't speak in a forigin language. They're speaking Italian." she replied to his question. "I do like the sea, but I'm much more comfortable at the war front with my father and brother." her Italian accent was showing a lot, and she was rather ashamed of that. One of the normal workers passed. He said hello in Italian and she did the same. She pulled an ivory comb out of the pocket of her dress. She gently pulled her hair back and used the comb to keep in together in kind of an Italian bun. "Anyways," she began, "I can understand every word they're saying. Like those men over there." she gestured to a group of men hauling a heavy package, "They were just talking about how the package was for a general's daughter and it was to be hand delivered. The general's daughter could possibly be me, but there are plenty of them here." she lied. She liked being the general's daughter and she was the only one. But her mother told her that a little white lie could keep the boasting level down, and that was how her family lived. They did not boast about how General Scott Hayden was always sending them gifts. She enjoyed getting them, but wondered why she hadn't gotten it while she was there at the war front. Perhaps it would have been to big to fit in the stage coach she was transported in.

[November]

Andor's smile was gentle and patient.

"I didn't mean that they spoke in Italian," he told her, "although I do not understand a word of Italian myself," he grinned and it was almost, almost sheepish. Where her accent was Italian his accent was that very unique lilt of Norwegian that was hard to imitate and harder to find anywhere else in the world but in Norway. His accent lilted thicker in response to all of the accents around him. "I meant their...unique dialect," he told her.

Then he imitated a deeper, older voice: "Hemps me bones, barnacles be me teeth, seaweed be me clothes," he mocked with a face that looked suddenly older and possibly grouchier. One thing was certian, he could act and he could make poetry and "lines" on the spot. "My mo'd'er was a meremaid and me fa'd'er was king Neptune. I'm tough I is I am I are....arrrr."

It was Andor's born talent, to sing, to play music, and to be so creative that he could spit out a line to make one cry, laugh, or shout in a heartbeat of a moment. He hoped to make her laugh.

[Aly Hayden]

Aly giggled. She felt surprisingly young today. Normally she was the formal one of the family, but today, she was just being herself. And she would always be a kid. "I guess they do talk different, but I can still understand them. I can speak many languages. I have to. When me, my brother, and my father go to a different country, I need to know how to talk to them!" she smiled her lovely smile.

[November]

He frowned. "Well when they go to a different country can't they still just speak to you in Italian?" It didn't make sense to him to learn a whole new language to speak to your family in when your whole family already speaks the same language. Andor has far too much logic in his head for a young man of only fifteen. The stuborness is probably a result of too much logic.

"I can only speak the two," he told her. "Well...three. Norwegian, English, and Icelandic. But Icelandic is sort of just a different dialect of Norwegian so it's not like learning a new language, just a different way of using the same basic language." He smiled. "I'm not inclined to language," shrug, "to hard for me to learn. I speak the language of music fluently though."

[Aly Hayden]

Aly shook her head. "I mean to talk to the people that speak that language! The ones that live in that country." she explained. She rolled her eyes. How come pirates never understood her?

[November]

"Oh," he replied and smiled. Maybe it wasn't pirates that didn't understand her. Maybe she was too educated to speak to many of them because they were uneducated and maybe some of them were so intelegent that everything was made more complicated in their minds. Andor was one of those who made things more complicated then they must be, despite all of his simple remarks and comments.

"Care to show me around the city?" he asked her. "Or would someone think the tumbleweed pirate was kidnapping the general's daughter?"

[Aly Hayden]

At this, Aly laughed. "Depends. Are you going to be in town for a while?" she asked. She would be happy to, but she wanted to sound stubborn. Being stubborn was just really fun, so she was planning to be.

[November]

Being stubborn was just second nature to him. He doesn't plan it, he just does it.

"Only until the sun sets." He smiled. "The Capitan keeps my leash short and my collar tight." One could only imagine why.

Andor gave his hair a flip to get it out of his face and he held out his hand to her, as if in gesture to help her down, whether or not she needed the help. The one small guesture said a thousand words and confirmed a lifetime of events. Obviously this young man had not always been a pirate. Someone had raised him to have manners, to pray to the gods before taking a meal, and to always offer his assistance to a lady.

[Aly Hayden]

"Well then perhaps I could show you around a bit before you have to get back to your owner." Aly smiled and teased, using his reference of leashes and collars to form back to dogs. Hence the owner bit. The smile didn't leave her face, yet it softened as she accepted his hand down. She appreciated the gesture, showing that not all pirates were after much more then just a night on the town.

[November]

Of course pirates weren't just out for a night on the town. They were also out for loot, booty of both natures, and beer. Ok, so the latter two are part of being out on the town but they also want that when they aren't out on the town.

Andor took her hand and his were rough, as one might expect, from the work he kept on the ship. However, beneath the callous exterior of his hands they were gentle and steady with very little tremor running through them. They worked with small delicate objects and touched with careful caresses. He released her hand and guestured her forward.

"Well then, after you m'lady."

[Aly Hayden]

Aly stepped down off the rock with grace and noticed how rough his hands were. She walked in front of him. "Well i guess it would be a good idea to go to the general store first... I need to get something there anyways. I had planned to do it on the way back home, but seeing as that might not be an option, I can just do it now." she rambled. She had a tendency to over-talk. Her father would always say that if there was ever someone coming to attack them, she could just talk them to death!