My precious flower

21| The voyage

PLZ COMMENT!

We had been aboard this ship for six days now. The routine was pretty simple for me which involved walking around the ship, observing others do their tasks, and enjoy the ocean view- so not too happening. Arsalan had ordered the chef to send my meals to my room so I wouldn't have to sit with the rest of the crew and could have my own space. I didn't see him too much after the first day as he was often busy with some of the other crew members planning for the next few days and maintaining the safe voyage. He had asked me not to wait for him at night since he'd be off late so I'd often fall asleep before he'd come. These six days had taught me quite a bit about how a ship works, what routines are common for a voyage, some of the dangers involved with sailing, and much more. I had met a young boy onboard the ship, three years younger than me who was the source of most of that information. His name was Yaqub. Yaqub was traveling with his uncle who was onboard too and was about my father's age.

Whenever I'd be bored which was quite often, I'd go to him and help him out if he needed any. One day, both of us worked on peeling numerous potatoes in the kitchen while he told me about him family back home and his reasons for traveling. Initially he was quite hesitant to talk to me saying that I was too above him, but after my persistence, he opened up a little. Even then, he would frequently stop me from helping him out but I thought that if he was taking the time to talk to me through his heavy work day, then the least I could do was help out a little bit.

Today morning, I saw Yaqub helping out the other men in repairing something so I couldn't help much with that. After a while of being bored, I offered to help Arsalan but he said most of his work involved knowledge about creating routes, cartography and preplanning for the next destination. He didn't know how to do all of it either which is why he had specifically skilled people working with him. Regardless, he took time out to explain to me how to properly read a map so I understood some of the work. He then proceeded to show me how they created routes based on where they were heading while keeping in mind the danger zones in the sea. It was quite an informative session and I must say, seeing him know so much made me admire him and his intelligence.

The rest of the day went by smoothly as well. I spent most of the evening helping Yaqub with fixing one of the sails. Once the sun set into the horizon, I took my leave for the night and returned to the captain's cabin. I began preparing the bed for the night while waiting to be brought dinner. After a short while, I heard the door creek open and then shut. The sound of someone's footsteps filled my ears and I thought to myself who could this be at this time. It was dinner time but everytime someone brought me the meals, they would knock on the door and wait outside for me to go grab it or would place it inside if I were away. I turned around to see who it was only to lock eyes with Arsalan standing close to the door holding a tray of food. It wasn't a very fancy meal but sufficient in quantity.

"I realized we hadn't spent much time together in the last few days so I thought we could have dinner together tonight" He said and walked to the main table.

I had lighted a few candles in the room to illuminate it and it made a huge difference. Once Arsalan set the tray on the table, he invited me over and I walked there. He pulled out a chair for me which strangely made me feel important and I took a seat. He then went to his seat on the other end and sat down. We both ate our meal in silence which was perfectly fine by me since I enjoyed eating in silence anyways. Once we were done, I stacked my two plates and put them in the tray, Arsalan did the same. A few moment later, there was knock at the door and Arsalan grabbed the tray from the table and took it there. One of the crew members stood there and took the tray from Arsalan and left.

"I have to show you something outside in a bit but we have to wait for the rest of the crew to return to their quarters. In the meantime, I wanted to ask you a favor" Arsalan said breaking the silence. With nothing else to say, I nodded my head