Nerina sat on the deck of the Eternal quietly as she looked at the alcohol in her hand. Remembering her last experience from drinking too much, she made sure she kept under control.

She had spent the last few days having too much fun with her Pirate friends. She had never felt so free in her life…

This thought brought forth the thought of her family. She wondered if they were thinking of her right now.

Were the looking for her?

Did they even care?

She hadn’t thought of them much since she left them, but now that she did, she realized that she missed her brother the most.

She wondered if he was enjoying himself with his wife right now. She hoped with all her heart that he was happy.

She then thought of her father. She missed his warm hugs and knowing that he would always take her side.

And then there was her mother. She was surprised when she felt the sadness when she thought of her mother. I guess I miss her too. She thought.

She wondered if they would ever accept the way she was now. Almost as instantly as the thought came into her head, she looked at herself.

She was glad that she was no longer wearing her expensive gown that her mother threw onto her to impress Prince Dale. Instead she was wearing the trousers that the Captain had given to her earlier and a white shirt that had its bottom ripped off, showing most of her midriff.

And she wasn’t even wearing her corset. Of course, she felt a little strange… but she never knew how good it felt to not wear a corset until she felt the breeze blow through her shirt.

She felt free.

Her hair was probably the worst part of this getup. It was out and looked as if she had just woken up and gotten out of bed.

She let out a small laugh.

No, they would never accept her like this.

And Nerina never wanted to return to living under her demanding mother.

She sighed as she got up and looked out at the sea. She looked hard, wondering if she could see her home from here, but couldn’t see any land other than Pirates Isle, where the ship still sat waiting for its crew.

She turned to sit back down, but suddenly heard splashes.

Turning back around, she peeked over the railing of the ship. Her eyes widened when she saw what she never thought she would see.

Mermaids.

They swam towards her, giggling and calling her.

Mermaids? She thought. How could they be so brave to come this close to the shore?

She remembered Richard telling her that the mermaids often tried their best to stay away from the shore, since it’s easier for the humans to catch them when they are near.

But that thought was quickly pushed out of her mind.

They were so beautiful.

She had always dreamed to look as beautiful as these mermaids were. With shining skin, lovely eyes, silky hair.

“You must be Nerina of Caspian.”

She didn’t know which one of them spoke, but she nodded her head.

“Why don’t you swim with us?” Another asked.

Nerina surprised herself by looking down, calculating how far of a jump it would be to the bottom. It was too far. “I can’t.” She said.

The mermaids laughed.    

Nerina stared at the beautiful creatures as they swam around, calling her. “Come on! The water is fine! You will love it here, I promise!” One of them, with golden blonde hair said.

“Don’t you want to be like us?” The red haired one asked. “Don’t you?”

Nerina nodded. “Yes!”

She’s always wanted to be a mermaid.

“Then come! We will take you to our king, he will change you into one of us!” The brunette said.

Nerina got up onto the edge of the ship and stepped onto the plank. She seemed confused, but at the same time, she seemed so sure of what she wanted. If she were to become a mermaid, she could hide from her demanding mother forever. She could explore the sea and enjoy life.

And maybe he would like her more. He seemed to adore mermaids, which is what she assumed because he always walked around saying Aina’s name. And from what Nerina had seen, Aina was indeed a mermaid.

“Yes, come, come!” The blonde cooed. “You are a beautiful princess, and becoming a mermaid will make you even more beautiful!”

“Really?” Nerina asked. Now she was sure he would like her more.

She could hear his voice, calling her already. This made her more confident.

She lifted her leg, preparing herself to fall over, and the mermaids began to clap. “Come! Come!”

She wasn’t listening to them though. She was listening to the distant voice that called her name.

      But then his distant voice got closer, and her name was replaced with curses. As she tipped over the edge of the ship, she felt someone grab her waist. The next thing she knew, she was thrown hard onto the ships deck…

And he was on top of her, cursing her for her clumsiness.

She stared at him, confused. What had she done wrong?

And she listened, she listened as the mermaids laughed and soon, their laughing became muffled as the ocean engulfed them and they returned to their homes.

“You fool!” Edward yelled, still on top of her.

Nerina blinked a couple times, as if she had just snapped out of a dream.

The Captain lifted himself off of her and sat down in front of her. “You could have killed yourself if you jumped!”

“The mermaids—”

“You cannot trust them! You know that!”

“But…” She suddenly felt drunk. She shook her head vigorously and blinked a couple more times.

The Captain suddenly looked a little worried. “Are you alright? They must have enchanted you…”

Nerina hesitated but nodded as she pushed herself back up. “Yes, I’m fine.”

The Captain sighed. “Don’t ever do that again, do you understand?”

Nerina nodded again.

The Captain looked back at Nerina. “I was looking everywhere for you… what on earth are you doing here?”

Nerina shrugged. “I was just thinking.”

“Of what?”

Nerina shook her head. “Nothing important.”

“Your family?” He said.

She was surprised that he was so easily able to figure it out. But when she didn’t respond to him, he just smiled. “Maybe it’s about time you go home.”

Nerina smiled to herself. “You don’t want to use me to get more pirates anymore?”

The Captain smiled too. “Pirates don’t do that to their fellow pirates. That is a form of betrayal. I will not have that on my ship.”

Nerina’s smile widened. “Really?”

The Captain nodded. “Of course.”

“Since when did you turn so nice?”

The Captains smile faded. “If you want me to stop then fine.”

Nerina laughed at that. “No, please don’t! I like this side of you better!”

The Captains smile returned.

Suddenly, Nerina heard thunder. When she looked up she felt the small drops of rain touch her skin.

She closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the feeling that the rain gave to her. It felt like tiny kisses on her skin.

When the rain started to fall a little harder, she looked back at the Captain, who was watching her carefully. “You really do enjoy this, don’t you?”

Nerina smiled and hugged her legs when she felt her wet shirt start to stick onto her body. She didn’t want the captain see too much of her body, though her heart raced at the thought of that.

They were both silent for a moment, but soon, the Captain spoke up. “Rumor has it the Caspian Navy has set sail to search for you.”

Nerina’s eyes widened and she turned to him.

He didn’t look at her. “I’m trying to find a way to hand you over peacefully—”

She scoffed. “But I don’t want to go!”

That made him turn and look at her with a small smile on his face.

“I’m a pirate of the Eternal now! I belong here!”

The Captain laughed. “Being a pirate may be fun now, but it will get challenging.”

Nerina began to pout.

“There will be sword fights and other battles and people will die gruesome deaths—”

“Then teach me how to fight… teach me how to use a sword! I promise I won’t be a burden!”

The Captain watched her carefully but then suddenly got up.

Nerina watched him, confused, as he walked a short distance away.

Suddenly, he pulled his sword out of its sheath and threw it at Nerina.

Nerina let out a short scream as the sword landed right in front of her, making a loud clattering noise.

“Get up and try and hit me with that sword.”

Nerina raised an eyebrow. “I—”

“If you want to be a true pirate on the Eternal, you will do as I say.”

Nerina hesitated for another moment, but shook her head as she prepared to get up. But she stopped herself.

She suddenly remembered her wet white shirt and the fact that she wasn’t wearing a corset.

But she decided to push that thought aside.

It was just the Captain… it’s not like he would do anything to her.

But as she stood up, sword in hand, the Captain did notice.

He had to blink hard though, and lightly shake his head to concentrate on looking at only her face.

“What if I hurt you?” Nerina asked as she held the sword in both her hands.

The Captain simply laughed. “Attack.”

Nerina hesitated but knew that there was no way she would be able to hit him. So might as well do as he said. She then lifted the heavy sword and ran towards the Captain, putting most of her focus on trying not to slip on the wet deck.

As she approached him, she flung the sword.

He simply stepped back. She missed.

She flung the sword at him again, and again, and again, but missed every time as he stepped back another step.

So she stopped for a moment.

The Captain raised his eyebrows at her, and the second he did, she jumped forward, as if trying to slice him in half.

The Captain stepped to a side, looking impressed. “That was an okay strike.”

Nerina felt a little proud.

The Captain smiled at her. “Come on now, keep trying.”

And she did, for a long time.

The rain was still pouring as Nerina continued to try and cut the Captain, and though she had slipped almost a hundred times, she didn’t stop.

The Captain was thoroughly impressed with her determination, but that was exactly what he was looking for. He refused to teach someone who wasn’t as determined as Nerina proved herself to be.

She really wanted to be a pirate.

The thought made the Captains heart skip a beat.

She wanted to stay here. On the Eternal, with his crew… with him.

As he dodged her attack once more, he wondered why she was like this. Most women despised pirates. And those who did like them, liked them because they enjoyed the thought and the thrill of being oh so naughty.

Nerina wasn’t like that.

It was clear that she had a genuine interest in his type of people.

She was different.

And he liked her type of different.

His eyes suddenly widened as he felt a sharp pain in his upper arm.

Nerina let out a sharp scream as she dropped the sword and rushed over to him.

He had lost concentration

“Oh my dear god, are you alright?”

The Captain placed his right hand over the small wound on his upper hand and let out a small laugh. “You got me.”

Nerina suddenly grabbed his collar and started to unbutton his shirt.

“What are you doing?” The Captain asked as he pulled away.

“We have to treat the wound!” Nerina said, panicking.

“Relax.” Responded the Captain. “It’s just a scratch.”

Nerina ignored him and went back to unbuttoning his shirt. “Look at all the blood!”

“It’s just a scratch!” The Captain repeated, pulling away again.

Nerina began to pinch his other arm and felt satisfied when the Captain winced.

“What are you doing?” He asked as he pulled away.

“You will close your mouth and listen to me, do you understand?”

Edward raised an eyebrow.

“My brother once got a small wound which soon got infected because he didn’t treat it! If my father wasn’t the King who had enough money to hire a professional doctor, my brother would have had to cut his leg off!”

Now both the Captains eyebrows had risen.

He let her remove his shirt and watched as she ran back to where they were sitting earlier and picked up the bottle of alcohol she had.

She rushed back over to him, placed the bottle at their feet and used the sleeve of his shirt to carefully clean the excess blood off the small wound.

He watched her as she took so much care into cleaning that small wound.

No one has ever done that for him, at least, not after his parents had died.

When she had cleared the blood, she picked up the alcohol and poured it onto a clean the other sleeve of his shirt.

She patted the wound with it and the Captain winced at the burning sensation.

“You should be our ships doctor.” The Captain said after the pain faded.

Nerina let out a small laugh. “This is all I know though.” She said as she tore a strip of cloth from the captain’s shirt.

“There goes my shirt…” The Captain muttered.

The Princess smiled as she began to tie the strip of cloth tightly around the wound. “My mother used to treat my wounds all the time… that’s how I know how to do this.”

The Captain nodded and watched her smile. He was a little pleased that she had a fond memory of her mother.

“Done!” Nerina said as she tied the final knot. “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“The cut wasn’t bad to begin with.” The Captain said.

Nerina frowned at him.

Edward watched for a moment and then laughed. “Thank you.” He said to her.

She smiled at him, pleased with his politeness. “You’re welcome.”

They looked at each other for a moment and as Nerina felt her cheeks start to burn, she turned around to go pick up the sword. “I must be pretty good to have been able to cut—”

Edward grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him.

She gasped as she turned around, and lifted her hand to lower the impact of her body hitting his.

But though her hand did the trick, Edward still managed to, so professionally, capture her lips against his.

He acted without thinking, but he was shocked when he realized that he didn’t regret it at all.

Her kiss was different. Maybe it was because her lips were so soft… or maybe it was because he was able to concentrate on the feeling of the kiss rather than trying not to suffocate on all the scents that a woman would wear, as it is with most of the other women he had been with.

He also enjoyed the feeling of Nerina in his arms and was thoroughly annoyed with the thin piece of cloth that Nerina was wearing which separated their bare bodies. It took him a lot of effort to not rip it off.

So he continued to focus on her kiss, deepening it when Nerina wrapped her arms around his neck.

Her mind had been clouded the second his lips touched her, and she couldn’t seem to put any of her thoughts in any sort of order.

All she really knew was that she had never felt a kiss like this in her life. None of the other boys she had kissed before could compare to this one.

Though the rain was cold, her body felt like it was burning everywhere, especially where his hands touched her.

The worst part was, since her shirt revealed her midriff, his hands were touching her bare skin.

Nerina thought about that again.

No, that wasn’t bad at all.

Her heart was racing and beating so loudly that that was all she could hear.

His lips were hard against hers, but she liked it. She liked how hard his body was, it made her feel safe in his arms.

She moved her hands from his neck and ran her hands down his chest, as if she was trying to memorize the shape of his body.

She let him deepen the kiss further, and a soft moan escaped from her throat.

With all this clouding her mind, she was finally able to pull forward the thought of love. Did he love her? Or was he just thinking of sex?

Did she love him?

Her heart started to race some more as she thought of loving him.

But suddenly, the rain water started to feel as cold as ice.

What normally felt like kisses, felt like tiny needles stabbing into her skin.

She pulled away, gasping for breath and wincing in pain, and the second she did, the pain stopped.

The rain stopped too.

The Captain looked at her, looking almost as breathless as she did. “What’s wrong?” He asked.

She looked at him for a moment, wanting to kiss him again.

She took a step forward.

“Ed.”

The two turned around and looked at Sam, surprised to see him.

His eyes flickered at the Captains wound, and then at Nerina, and then at the sword. “Everythin’ be alright?” He asked.

The Captain was lost for words for a moment. “Yes.” He finally choked out. “Everything’s fine.”

He then walked over to his sword, returned it to its sheath and then walked away.

Nerina suddenly shivered as the rain water that slid down her skin turned cold again