The World of Rhune

Hannah blinked the weariness from her eyes. She vaguely remembered Will and Jasiri’s argument last night. It didn’t seem too important so she pushed it to the back of her mind. Rubbing her eyes she sat up. Guessing by the light being let in from the porthole she would guess it was around eight. She noticed she was still in last night’s dress and quickly changed into a pair of white breeches and a dark blue tunic, with a wide, gold belt. She pulled her hair back into a tight Dutch braid, tying it off with a piece of leather cord. She found her canteen and emptied some of the water into her hands, quickly washing her face. Ready for the day, Hannah headed out of her cabin.

Sammy stood at attention as always. “Good morning, Sammy,” Hannah smiled at the little boy. “Morning, ma’am. Anything you need?” Hannah rubbed the little guy’s head, “Nope. But if you could tell me when we are planning to dock?” Sammy looked up at her, “This afternoon, actually. Early than we thought we didn’t expect to land for the next few days, thinking there would be a storm, but it blew over. Andato should have lookouts for our ships but I don’t think they’ll be expecting us so early.” “Well that’s good. You can be off now Sammy, you don’t need to follow me.” Sammy frowned a little, he looked unsure, “Well actually ma’am, I would like to actually do my job today. You see, the quartermaster is a little disappointed in my lack of work.” “Oh, well of course then, I wouldn’t want to get you into trouble,” Hannah frowned a little, she hadn’t thought that Sammy could get in trouble if she dismissed him, “Well, mine as well go up.”

Hannah blinked in the warm morning light on deck. The ship was bustling, obvious to clean themselves before they arrived in Andato. The swabbies mopped the deck, in some places it already gleamed, the Boatswain called out to the riggers and other sailors where the sails were threading, or the rope coming loose. Several of the other sailors were polishing the cannons and brass on the ship, it seemed impeccable to Hannah already yet still the shined. Hannah quickly spotted Jasiri and Will up in the rigging, working together on a sail that had begun to thread on the edges. Will seemed to notice her looking and flashed a quick grin in her direction before returning to his work, Jasiri didn’t look up. “It looks as if everyone is occupied today,” Hannah said to Sammy. “Yes ma’am, preparing to dock in Andato.” “Say Sammy, do you know any games?” Sammy seemed to ponder this for a moment then his mouth pulled up at the edges, “Yes ma’am, I do. I know where one of the cabin boys keeps his cards. I can go get them right away.” Hannah smiled at the small boy, she had always wanted a younger sibling, “Well go get them and we can play a game.”

She waited as Sammy disappeared below deck and he returned with a grin on his face. “I know just the game we can play,” He said a little rushed. ‘What’s that?” Hannah asked. We can play Kapaga.” He must have seen the confusion on Hannah’s face, “Don’t worry I’ll teach you. It’s really only a sailing game, you won’t see it much else. Alright so here’s how it goes.” Hannah and Sammy sat down on two low crates, a barrel between them, and Sammy launched into a very thorough explanation of Kapaga, including its history, but Hannah didn’t mind.