First Mate

"Put this down below. It's the bread we'll need. I don't want it getting moldy after two days," the woman directed men with boxes away as she checked another item off her list.

"What about this?" asked a large sailor, two heavy barrels on his back.

"Keep those barrels on deck. The crew will need water readily at hand during the days we're at sea, I don't want them wasting time to go below and sneak a sip." She paused to check her list, "How many morebarrels are there?"

"Five." another man answered as he came abroad with a load of his own.

"Good, that should last the journey... Alright, put them over there. And--" she was cut off by a small, far away voice. 

"Isn't it bad luck having a woman aboard?"

The new voice made Isolde blink and turn around on the deck, her long brown hair catching in the wind as she searched the faces of the crew for the speaker. They all looked just as confused as she did, however, and it didn't take her long to go to the side of the ship and look down to the dock. What she saw made her dark eyes go even darker, a look the entire crew knew all too well. The sailors down below, however, were not so wise. "'Twill bring great misfortune to sail with a woman aboard. Send the lass down here to us! And we'll show'er how a real sailor handles his ship..." The man and his friends all burst into laughter, looking up at Isolde and making gestures with their hands and lips. Isolde rested her elbow on the railing and her chin in her hand, smirking down at the men with a slightly evil twinkle in her eye.

"I fear I would serve a better purpose by staying up here. You see, if I were to leave, great misfortune would instead fall upon you and your comrades," she fired back calmly. The men only laughed, continuing with their jokes and catcalls, but it wasn't long before she heard the sound of the air being cut in two as a blade went flying over her head, causing the men to scatter. It stuck in the dock, sitting there quite harmlessly, but the men still looked from it back up to her with shock and fear shining in their eyes. Isolde only twitched an eyebrow as one of the other crewmen came up behind her, arms folded over his large bare chest and a threatening gleam in his foreign eyes.

"The lady stays with us," he said in a thick tribal accent. Within seconds, the men turned tail and fled. Isolde could only laugh, turning around to thank her good friend, but when she saw his face her smile faltered. Niccolo held out a bottle of rum to her and then jerked his head in the direction of Spike's quarters."He's yelling for you. I'd go now before he decides to take those dogs up on their offer." Isolde sighed and rolled her eyes a little, but took the rum from him and marched straight into Spike's office. She was the only person who had the right to barge in there whenever she pleased. Even if she wasn't the First Mate, she'd still have that luxury. For some reason, she and the Captain simply understood each other. He was the only man who could handle her intelligence and wouldn't try to take advantage of her, and she was the only woman who could get through to him in his moments of rage. They were good together.

But neither of them would ever say that out loud. Certainly not her. Isolde just burst through the door, slamming the rum down on his desk then setting her hands on her hips as she glared up at him. "There's your damn rum, now stop screaming! You're acting like a child! What could possibly be so important?"