Chapter 5 Love is So Short and…So Long

Tine watched Hafoc staring intently at the boat as he continued to wind the rope from the lantern over and over again around one wrist. She briefly wondered, Is he planning to take the boat and leave us all? Hafoc had remained uncharacteristically quiet during the negotiations with the sailors; so far, he had a habit of pushing his opinions on the others.

She turned her attention back to the rest of the group. Everyone was back on the ice now. Autumnus had lent his long coat to the sopping-wet Kylia. Rhalie, who was equally wet, hogged pretty much all of the pelts. Zawn kept hers, though, Tine noticed. The sailors had easily assumed the role of rescuers, but as far as she could tell, the short one really just dog-padded alongside Rhalie and Kylia, who swam to shore by themselves. But…they did have a small boat, so maybe it was best to let them think what they liked as they considered the idea of helping the group cross over to Svlandir.

"We-ell, we 'soitainly have room for these lassies on the ship," drawled the tall sailor as he ogled Rhalie and Kylia in their wet clothes, "but, I don'na know about the rest of youse... whaddya, think, Gai?"

"Aye, Odie, that we can. Let's load the wet lassies up into the boat before they freeze off their sweet jaloobies." Gai gazed fondly at Rhalie's chest and twitched his mustache. "You can use gear in the aft to hitch this chunk o' ice to the stern and we can tug along the rest of 'em, if'n we get a good wind in our sail."

Gai, a gnome, continued to boss his lanky shipmate around as they connected the ice floe to the boat.

Tine looked longingly across the water. So close to land, yet so far.

[https://i.imgur.com/U3nbJh5.jpg] [https://i.imgur.com/U3nbJh5.jpg] [https://i.imgur.com/U3nbJh5.jpg]

It took some doing, but the ice floe was attached firmly to the boat.

Not so sure about all of ‘em, Gai thought. He cast a glance at the disgruntled human holding a lantern, then towards the oblivious Aamonwelp with her head in a book. But we could always get rid of that lot, if they proved troublesome, he mused.

Gai rubbed his chin. They probably could squeeze everyone on the sailboat for such a short jaunt, but he was really only interested in the soggy beauties he rescued.

He turned to Autumnus. “Ahoy there, devil..y friend, we're looking for horny company of a different kind. Tell you what. We'll let you guys ride with us and the wet pretties if'n you can tie a knot faster'n me. Then youse'n can man the sails for us for a bit. Me hands might be busy elsewhere..." Gai waggled his fingers and bushy eyebrows at this.

Autumnus coughed into his hand. “Well, thank you for letting me hitch a ride with you." He bowed, then continued, as he looked at his traveling companions. “Mightn’t we all fit onboard for such a short ride? I hate to be presumptuous, of course. I only worry about the others. I’d hate to lose them downstream when we’re so close to our destination.” He lit the fire in his hand and held it close to himself.

Gai shot a glance at Odie. His shipmate, as usual, was clueless. Gai sighed. I’ll be damned if that devil of an Aamonwelp sets my ship on fire out of spite. He calculated the space on the deck of the yawl in his head again. I guess’n we could let the scary ones aboard so’s they don’t gang up on us and keep an eye on ‘em. When we're not with the ladies, that is…since they’s seem ripe. Gai looked at Rhalie, who winked and let a bit of shoulder slip out from under a pelt.

“Right. Fine.” Gai announced. “Let’s you’n the hooman on board, too. “If you’se kin man the ship in payment. It be your fare, like.” Odie nodded and began to escort Kylia onto the deck of the small ship. He steered her toward the cabin, but she lingered above board. Rhalie and Hafoc clambered onboard, and Autumnus followed.

As they readied to launch the small yawl away from the glacier, Gai counted heads on the ice floe they towed behind them. “Hey — where’d that cat gurl go?"

Tine shouted down from one of the masts. “I’m up here, don’t worry about me.”

When did she get the foremast? That damn kitty slinkered onboard without me noticing, Gai glowered. Ah well, nothing doing now, he supposed, at least she was out of the way. He turned his attention to Rhalie’s chest, instead.

[https://i.imgur.com/U3nbJh5.jpg] [https://i.imgur.com/U3nbJh5.jpg] [https://i.imgur.com/U3nbJh5.jpg]

Tine watched the others from her perch high up, away from the accursed water that surrounded the boat. The yawl was a small vessel, so even sitting on the topmost beam of the mast didn’t give her much security. She held a hand up to shield the glare and tried to focus on the port of Svlandir. Almost there.

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Looking down, she could observe the others easily; the sailors were distracted by Rhalie and Kylia but they clearly wanted everyone else out on the ice floe. Zawn and Nemophily seemed resigned, or even satisfied to be ferried from the rear. They were already waiting to be towed on the large piece of ice that was tethered to the boat. Zawn was practicing aggressive axe swings while Nemophily read “How to Make Friends & Influence Sailors.”

Tine heard Rhalie flirt with the smarmy gnome as her companion settled in on deck. “This is working quite well,” Rhalie said, as she checked through her things. “If I do say so. Which I do.”

First onboard, Kylia was quiet, as usual. Tine noticed that, while she tilted her head and smiled in response to Odie’s attempts to charm her, Kylia held a knife behind her back. Clearly, there were limits to this flirting routine.

Autumnus and Hafoc had accepted Gai’s terms to board the small boat. But, at the moment, only Autumnus seemed to have passed Gai’s knot-tying test. Hafoc held more of a rat’s nest of rope in his hand where a slip-knot should be.

Gai cackled but seemed to take pity on his crestfallen face. "Ah, don't look so down, lad. If ye don'no how to even tie a knot, you're better off hitching a ride on the ice anyways. Enjoy the view. I know I will,” he nodded towards Rhalie.

Tine saw a sullen Hafoc grab his dagger briefly, then shrug. He didn’t leave the boat just yet, but faded into the background while the sailors focused on “the wimmen.”

Rhalie pulled the map out her bag and winked at Gai.

Gai sputtered a little. “Ooh, you gots a map? Good thing, beecuz I keep getting lost in yer…eyes.”

Rhalie chuckled but did not look up as she surveyed its contents.

Gai pulled Odie towards the bow, away from the others.

Tine saw him whisper to the other sailor. She was amused to see that the gnome’s face was beet red. She remained still and strained to hear their hushed conversation.

"One o' them is in-ter-rest-ed in me, Odie" Gai whispered fiercely and stuck his barrel chest out. "She wants a piece o' this."

Gai paused. His eyes got big, and he lowered his whisper even more to hide the crack in his voice. "Noone's been interested be'ore, Odie, whad-do-I-do?"

Sailor Odie rolled his eyes. "You gonna c'plain about sumptin' like that? Yer a mad gnome, Gai. I Dunno. Be nice. Offer ‘er sumptin' or mebbe ask her what she'd like — wimmen, I heard they likes that.”

Tine watched Gai saunter over to Rhalie as he twirled his mustache. As he approached her, he stumbled on a plank and winked. Gai swaggered, yet sweated a little as he wooed her. "So, my bonny bonbon, is there anything I can do you for? How can I put a sweet thing like you at ease for our trip?"

Gai noticed Hafoc again with surprise. He and Odie were so taken with their female "guests" that they had momentarily forgotten their original plan to put everyone else on the ice floe.

“And egg-zactly what are you still doing here, man? We offered you a ride and your seat is over there." He pointed to Zawn and Nemophily on the ice floe. They waved half-heartedly. Nemophily didn’t look up from her book and Zawn continued to swing her axe.

Rhalie grabbed Gai’s face in her hands. “Why, what a big…hat you have,” she turned him towards her. “I hadn’t noticed before. What with the cold and everything.”

Gai blushed, now blinded to everything else. Odie sighed and approached Hafoc.

"Look, we want some time with our new friends here, if'n you know what I mean." Odie winked at Kylia. "and it's not like you're shipworthy."

He began to shoo Hafoc down the plank to the floe. "Let's get you over there, so we can raise anchor and get going already. if'n yer in a hurry, start thinking of a way to put some wind in our sails. We're becalmed for now.” He licked a finger and held it up. "Yep. Still no wind."

“Oh, there’s wind, all right,” Hafoc growled. “Most of it’s coming from your mouth.”

Autumnus held up a long, red finger. “Why didn’t you say that was a problem?” We Aamonwelp learn to read the elements at a young age. I can tell a light breeze is on the way.”

Rhalie continued to seduce Gai into submission. “Oh, please let them both stay, Honey-Gai. They won't be any bother on deck. And it will ease my mind to know they are aboard.” She twirled his mustache.

Kylia chimed in. “Yes, please let them stay,” she attempted a wink. Tine could see she still had a tight grip on her dagger.

Gai straightened a bit and proclaimed, "Anything for you, my sweet gnom-ess!" He turned to scowl at his crew mate, "Odie, I can'na bee-lieve I let you talk me into towing her friends on a bit o' ice. How inhospitable you be!" He sidled up to Rhalie to cuddle close and pat her knee.

Odie turned red, and sputtered, ”Me? What? No!" He sank down low on the deck near Kylia "Yer gotta berlieve me...that was all hiz idea. I swear it on my knot-tying hands!" and practically lay himself down at her feet.

Kylia relaxed her shoulders and sheathed the knife hidden behind her back. She held a rigid arm out to pat his shoulder stiffly. “I’m so glad you agree that my friends should stay on board.” She cleared her throat. ”Odie, since you are such a…great sailor, I bet you can get us to the port even without much wind.”

At once, Odie jumped to action. Thankfully, a thin wind had indeed picked up, allowing him to set course. He hollered directions at Autumnus, who hurried to keep up. “Set sail 22 degrees port side! Those sails’ll need ta be close-hauled tight to go against the wind — get to it!”

Gai noticed their wet lady friends were shivering. "Oi, there, Lassies, lemme warm you up a bit." And waggled his fingers again, but unfastened a storage panel. Gai pulled out some blankets to wrap around them. He sat down next to Rhalie and tried to rest his head on her lap. Laying his head down, he looked up with a squint, as if anticipating a blow between the eyes. None came.

Meanwhile, back on the ice floe, Zawn and Nemophily entertained themselves with Flame Ball, a game they created in which Nemophily cast orbs of fire and hurled them at Zawn, who used her Greataxe like a bat to swing at them. They scored by awarding extra points if Zawn managed to hit anything. So far, she had +50 for singeing a seagull. And Fisher was, well, fishing...

Odie and Autumnus managed to sail the small yawl efficiently, and it looked like they would reach Svlandir’s docks soon. Hafoc, still onboard and ever alert, rode in deathly silence, as he played with the tip of his dagger. Tine couldn’t wait to make it to land.