Tsuki ✔️COMPLETE

Chapter 2: The Disaster

Mimi had taken sole charge of measuring, pressing and distributing her medicine. Her grasp of mathematics and natural sciences was unmatched. Mimi was a small, frail looking girl who appeared about eighteen. She always looked too pale no matter how much sun she had. Her hair had dark roots but the most of it was dyed silvery purple with a common ornamental flower, dried and ground into powder. Her hair colour changed now and then depending on what she bought at markets. Her upturned eyes were tawny, the left bearing a small mole below the eyebrow. Three times a day, Mimi made tea and the crew of the Disaster came together to enjoy a quiet reprieve from ship's duties.

"Tea time." Mimi said softly.

"I'll go get the boys." Rubi replied, putting off the tablets for a little longer. "Where are they?"

"Crows nest, rigging."

"Oh." Rubi sighed. "Is he stuck again?"

"Yes."

Rubi stepped out into the glaring morning sun. It was a nice morning, as it tended to be so close to the equator. As captain she plotted the course they sailed and often chose to stay in the warm, chasing the summer around the globe as best she could. They visited ports famous for their medicine, reputation and culture. Her leather bound logbook was vast now with notes and sketches of all they had seen together.

"Kagemaru? Take'Ichi?" she called, shielding her eyes with her hands and looking up the mast. A familiar figure in the rigging waved and another in the crow's nest shifted. Take'Ichi was stuck and Kagemaru was trying to get him down.

"I am trying here!" Kagemaru was saying, exasperated. "Unfasten your damn vines!"

The younger boy just groaned. The immersion method of conquering his fear of heights was not working on sweet Take'Ichi. The forest sprite would involuntarily tie himself to the spot most of the time, often marooning him where he did not want to be. Kagemaru would need another pair of hands to unwind the poor boy.

She scaled the rope lattice to join them and began to unwind the quivering vines that had sprouted from Take'Ichi's bare feet.

"Come on, bud." she said, taking a grip on his tunic. Pale green eyes looked at her gratefully and his small hand reached for the ropes. Both boys were very different to her and to each other. Take'Ichi was shorter, with a baby face and sap green hair falling in a loose tail passed his shoulders. Everything about him was quite green naturally, but less so now that the seasickness had subsided. His ears were gently pointed unlike anyone she had ever met before.

He was not sure how old he was and the idea of birth dates was quite odd to him. All sprites were born in the spring and which spring that was used an astrological calendar far different to one anyone else had used. Take'Ichi was unsure how long he had been a mere seedling, still growing a mind and personality. Mimi calculated he was around sixteen from what he described and his mannerisms seemed to match an awkward mid-teen boy.

Kagemaru was the opposite. He was twenty three, the oldest aboard, very angular and thin. His build was very slight but he was still strong regardless. He was birdlike, hair a dappled blend of blonde and chestnut, which matched the pair of narrow wings on his back that spanned five feet on either side of him. He could not fly but each year the wings grew a little more, giving him high hopes of taking to the sky one day. Four years at sea had nurtured a warm glow in his beige skin.

After ensuring the sprite had the proper grip on the rigging, the two coaxed him down. Take'Ichi looked relieved to be back on deck and scurried inside to Mimi and the tea laid out on their mess table.

He did not eat much, preferring to drink and bask in the sun. Kagemaru ate everything, Rubi ate when her body allowed her, and Mimi ate nothing at all. It did not bother anyone anymore that Mimi probably was not a living thing. After all, a winged man, a plant boy and a runaway princess seemed normal companions now.