Day three on the ship dawned over a restless night of sleep. Elwin had barely been able to close his eyes, at first, from the worry over what exactly had happened with Prin. He had clearly been sugar coating, or watering down the story, at the very least.

Eventually exhaustion had got the better of him and he finally fell into a fitful rest. At least his arm was around Prin and he knew that he was safe, for the moment anyway.

He was half awake already when the door was pounded on, but was startled nonetheless. “We got it, thank you!” He called out quickly, stopping the knocking after the first head jarring pound.

The prince groaned a little and nuzzled his head into Elwin’s chest.

“Yes, it’s that time once again.” Elwin said reluctantly. “Let’s go get some breakfast, I guess.” He sat up slowly, lifting Prin up with him and careful not to dump him off the bed like yesterday.

Prin opened his eyes. In the darkened room they glowed with an internal light, like two embers.

“Ah.” He said, a sad ah, not an excited ah.

Elwin stared into those eyes for a long moment before lighting the candle. Did they glow like that before the witch? Surely this must be a recent thing.

“Hey, can you see in the dark?” Elwin asked.

“Huh?” The prince tilted his head to the side.

“Like a cat?” Elwin wondered. “Eh, never mind. How are you today? Are you feeling alright?”

Prin made a face. “As good as can be expected.” As soon as he said that he leaned forward clutching his stomach. “No, on second thought, maybe not.”

“Are you sea sick again?” Elwin asked. He got the bucket in hand, just in case.

Prin frowned. “I don’t know, I guess.”

“Do you want to stay in here and rest? It’s okay, the captain had fair warning that you were still recovering, I don’t see how he could complain. You are trying your best.” Elwin would feel a lot better if the prince would stay in the little cabin, safe and tucked away out of sight. He didn’t know what worried him worse, Prin’s health or his encounter with the creep yesterday.

“No, no, it’s not that serious.” Prin waved his words away with a flick of his hand. “I’ll be okay if I can make it to the kitchen.”

“You mean the galley?” Elwin asked.

Prin narrowed his eyes, eyebrows gathering. “You know what I meant.”

He definitely didn’t seem like himself, but Elwin didn’t particularly want to (or have the strength for) a repeat of yesterday morning’s argument. So, he just put on his boots and helped Prin on with his.

The two of them went to the galley together, Prin holding on to Elwin’s arm a time or two for balance, when his walking stick wasn’t help enough. His face was drawn and clammy looking, and he didn’t seem to want to talk.

Elwin knew he was sick but didn’t know what to do about it.

Once he had parked Prin on the bench, he motioned Squeaks over on his way out the door.

Squeaks looked at him with curious dark eyes beneath that curtain of messy concealing hair. He tilted his head to the side slightly in question, like a dog. No, he was more of a cat.

“Can you do me a favor? If Prin gets too sick, can you walk him back to our cabin?” Elwin asked. “He seems to be really seasick again today, although he doesn’t want to give in to it. Hard to say whether it will get better or worse. He may seem okay usually, for the most part. But he’s only recently recovered from a lifelong illness and . . . he’s frail. He is pushing it way too hard the last few days.”

Squeaks nodded, the gesture making his entire, slightly hunched over, little body bob and sway.

“I’ll look after ‘im.” He said. “Not to worry. Tha’s pretty much what I been doin’ anyway.”

Elwin patted his shoulder. “Thanks, that eases my mind.”

Elwin grabbed some water and a quick breakfast. He debated with himself whether to be more pushy about Prin going back to bed, especially when he barely ate or talked during breakfast, but decided not to risk his ire.

Elwin reluctantly went to work, leaving the prince in Squeak’s (capable?) hands.

Prin felt like someone had stabbed him in the guts and then twisted the knife. And since the last time he had felt this way, it had not ended well, to say the least, he tried his hardest to push away the feeling.

If there was any way to ignore or overpower physical discomfort through sheer force of will, he had already long ago become a master at it.

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Squeaks was staring at him with a slightly different look than usual. One some might interpret as concern.

Prin took a deep breath in, and breathed it out again slowly. The morning air was cold, hitting his lungs in a painful, but bracing manner. “What did he say?”

Squeaks stared at him blankly, holding a potato in each hand, like a couple of brown rocks.

Prin wondered if you could stone somebody to death with a potato.

“El, Elwin, he was talking to you about me in the doorway.”

“Oh, right.” Squeaks nodded. He put down one of his defensive potatoes and picked up his paring knife. “Nothing. Just to look after ya. Which is what I already been doin’. Case you hadn’t noticed.”

Prin tried to smile, though it felt strained. He picked up his own knife. “He’s not my keeper you know.” He said. “He doesn’t know everything.”

Squeaks tilted his head to the side. “Who said ‘e was? He’s your . . . good friend though, innit? And ‘e cares about you a lot. Plain to see.”

Prin smiled, more relaxed this time, although the pain in his stomach was making it hard to concentrate. “Yes. I feel the same way about him. But no one can control me.” Where had that come from? He didn’t really feel like Elwin was trying to control him, did he? Overly protective, sure. That wasn’t the same thing. Still, he had said it?

“ Course not.” Squeaks assured. “ D’you got a fever? Your face is a little . . .” Squeaks reached out as though to touch him and pulled his hand back before making contact. “I gots a remedy for you. Lemme make you a drink that’ll fix you right up.”

“No, no, that’s okay.” Prin wondered if his injured arm had become infected. He hadn’t freshly bandaged it since they got on the boat. “I have my own medicine back in the cabin.” This brought up thoughts of the terrible hunger, and how it had started with this stomach pain, like a belly full of sharp rocks. The hand that held the knife shook.

“Should I go get it for ya?” Squeaks asked. He stood up quickly. “Though I doubt it can beat my own fever remedy, tried and true.”

Prin took some more slow deep breaths. “It will surely pass.” He lied. He now knew exactly what this was, though he hoped to hell he was wrong.

“D’you need to lay down?” Squeaks asked.

Squeaks sat back down, unanswered, staring, staring, staring at the prince, like he was wont to do. Before standing back up abruptly. “Maybe I’ll make some anyways.” He went to the cabinets and shuffled some things around, pulling out a tin from a back corner. Squeaks put a kettle onto the old stove that was lit all day, to boil water. He proceeded to mix a concoction of powders in vials and liquor out of a sea glass green bottle that looked older than the gods themselves.

When the kettle squealed, Squeaks poured hot water and a scoop of tea for taste over his potion, then stirred it with a long wooden spoon. He walked carefully over to Prin, carrying the hot mug with both hands. He smiled shyly. “First ya just breath it in for a while, its hot.”

“I don’t have a cold.” The prince said. He took the mug and sat it down, sniffing it cautiously. It smelled very strange. Like dark earth and sharp chemicals. Prin wondered how alcoholic it was. Looked like a lot of homemade moonshine had gone into the recipe. Enough to make you forget your troubles?

Squeaks waved his hand dismissively. “It’s good for e’erything.”

Prin breathed in the steam, feeling a little drunk already. He wasn’t sure it was a good idea to drink any of this. But Squeaks had gone to a lot of trouble. And wasted precious ingredients on him. Eventually, when judged sufficiently cool, though no less toxic, Prin took a drink. It tasted about like it smelled.

“Thank you.” Prin said, taking another cautious sip. It wasn’t as bad as he had thought it would be.

“S’it goin’ down alright?” Squeaks wondered.

“Seems to be.” Prin said. He wasn’t sure if it was helping him any, but it wasn’t causing his stomach any further revolt.

“Good.” Squeaks said. “Now that your tongue is loosened up, tell me whatcher ‘lationship is with that Elwin figure.” He motioned to the door as though to say, that guy who was standing there, in case Prin wasn’t sure who he was talking about. “If yer not sleepin’ together, what is it? Cause you don’ act like frens, no offense.” He had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, and he was in his element. Gossip.

Prin took another sip. “We do sleep together.” Prin said. “In fact, we made a pact to sleep together every night. I don’t know how long it will last, but it seemed to make El feel better to say it.” He shrugged.

Squeaks blinked. “Ah, you mean you sleeps side by side on the same bunk e’erynight, don’tchas?”

“Yep.” Prin said. “Only for the last few days, though, before that the last time was back when we were kids.”

“So you aint romantical together then.” Squeaks said.

“Oh no! I mean yes, we are.” Prin sipped his concoction. Prin wasn’t sure why his gut reaction was to defend their relationship as ‘romantical’. What did he care what people thought of it? The prince didn’t think the alcohol was affecting him, but maybe it was. He had been in a weird mood all morning anyway.

“See, that’s what anyone would fink, seeing you twos together.” Squeaks agreed. “Yer just an innocent, so yous barely knows what I’m askin’ ya.” He smiled at Prin. “Yer so cute.”

“We’re actually running off to elope!” Prin said defensively.

“Really?” Squeaks asked. “I guess you’re savin’ it for the wedding night.” There was a teasing tone to his voice that Prin didn’t really appreciate.

“I guess we are.” Prin said firmly.

“Finish yer drink before it gets cold.” Squeaks urged. “You don’t even know what ‘it’ is, but that’s okay.”

Prin tried to think of all the romantic activities from books he had read. How could he have gone on picnics, walks in the woods, to the temple to ask a favor from the gods . . . How could he even know what else there was he had been missing?

“I was too sick.” He said. “I’ve been sick all along, since I was a baby. I could never do the things normal people could do. I had to stay in my room and hope every day to wake up in less pain, instead of more. It took up a lot of my focus, I guess, and I couldn’t think . . .” He didn’t feel defensive or irritated anymore, just sad.

“I’m sorry.” Squeaks said. “I understand you now. I had a little bro’er who was like at, and there wasn’t nuffing could be done fer him. He never made it to as old as you. Or as tall.”

“Now I’m the one sorry!” Prin laughed ruefully. Immediately regretting it when he felt a sharp pain through his stomach. “I’ll get better though, this is just a temporary setback.”

“When you do get better, you gotta seize the day. An do all the fun things you couldn’t do before.” Squeaks said soberly. “Cause next thing you know yer dead. You could get chewed to def by sharks, beat wiff an oar, drown, fever that won’t g’way, shot wiff a canon –”

Prin held up a hand to stop the gruesome onslaught. “I agree.”

Even if he was able to hold on to some health, for now, it came at the heaviest cost. And what would happen after they found the witch?

“What about you? You aren’t having any fun yourself, so who are you to talk?” He teased.

Squeaks perked up. “Sure I am! I’m sittin’ here talkin’ to you aint I?”