Tying Knots [Treyjen/Nalyra]

[Zen]

9 Turns Before The Start Of The Pass
Treyjen: 17, Nalyra: 9

“The flitter comes outta between, goes 'round backa the tree, and then hops back between,” the little girl chimed in a sing-song voice, tying a rope into a knot. She pulled it tight and after a moment of realizing it wasn't coming loose, she held it up triumphantly, “Treyjen I did it! Look, look!”

Treyjen bent down to peer at his sister's knotwork, then reached out to ruffle her hair, “So y'did, but lessee how it holds now.” He took the bit of practice rope from her and tugged a few times, then grinned down at her, “Good work, Nalyra. I think y'got the bowline down.”

“Show me another one!” she demanded.

The boy worked free the bowline, pondering briefly the next knot to teach her, “Lessee... y'already did the figure eight and the double overhand.... And what one do we use?”

“Never, ever the figure eight,” Nalyra parroted back at him with a roll of her eyes, “Why'd you even teach me if we don't ever use it?”

“'Cause I want y't'know the difference. Just 'cause y'know not t'use it doesn't mean other people do. If y'see one anywhere, y'should fix it into a double overhand before it slips,” he glanced down at the rope in his hands, then pulled a second length of rope from where it hung on his belt, “Let's try the sheet bend.”

“Oh, oh... a bend is for tying two ropes together... right?” she looked up at him excitedly.

He smiled, a smile he reserved for his little sister, “Clever and pretty. The best kinda woman.” She grinned up at him, beaming at his praise, but when he held up the rope to begin she focused on what he was doing, “Form a bight in one of the ropes. If the ropes aren't the same thickness, use the thicker one. Hold it in one hand, take the other rope, pull it through the bight. Now you take it 'round the tail end of the other rope first, then come 'round the other side and tuck the second rope underneath itself. Like that.” He tugged the ropes to tighten the knot and held it out for Nalyra to see, “This is only t'be used on load bearing ropes or it'll come loose. Y'want me t'show y'again, or d'y'wanna try?”

She held out her hands, “I can do it. Let me try.” He untied the ropes before handing them both to her. She looked at them for a moment, then settled one over her shoulder so she could focus on the first, “First form a bight....” She folded the first rope into a loop and took the end of the other, pulling it through the loop. She frowned a bit, chewed her lip, and glanced up at Treyjen.

He raised an eyebrow down at her, then laughed, “Y'can always ask me for help, Nalyra.”

She looked down at the ropes in her hands, her voice a bit quieter, “But you just showed me.... I don't want you to be mad....”

“Why would I be mad?” he was rather baffled.

The girl shifted slightly, “Daddy always gets mad when he has to repeat stuff he just told me....”

A flash of anger passed over his features, but he did his best to shake it off. His voice still came out in a bit more of a growl than he meant, “I'm not father.” She looked up at him with wide eyes and he sighed, “I'll never get mad at y'for asking for help, Nalyra. I promise. Y'can always come t'me. For anything. Now where are y'stuck?”

Nalyra looked back down at her ropes, “Uhm... which way does it go first?”

“The tail end,” he supplied, watching her as she pulled the rope around and started tucking it back through the bight, “Hold on, not quite. Don't put it back through the bight like that. Just tuck it under itself.” He leaned down slightly to point out where she went wrong and she quickly fixed her mistake. He grinned, “Now, pull tight.”

She giggled, “That one was too easy, Treyjen.”

“Oh? Do it by y'self this time, then y'can call it easy,” he teased, but she untied the knot and tried again. He heard her whisper tail end to herself, but otherwise she was quiet until she'd finished, pulling the knot tight to check that it was correct. He laughed, “Well, all right then. Suppose y'can call it easy now.” He ruffled her hair again, “Wanna try another one?”

She handed the ropes back to him, then grinned mischievously, “Nope! Race you!” With that she took off, toward the rigging on the far side of the deck.

“Hey!” Treyjen laughed as he loped after her, letting her keep ahead of him. She flung herself at the ropes and started climbing before he'd gotten there, and he stood below her for a moment, “Y'know, it's pretty sad that even cheating, y'still can't beat me.”

She stuck her tongue out at him, never pausing in her climbing, “I'm beating you now!”

“Not for long!” He pulled himself up after her. Their mother and father didn't like her climbing very high, some nonsense about it being too dangerous, but they'd let him and his brothers do it at her age so Treyjen didn't see the harm at all. He caught up to her rather quickly, grinning over at her as she struggled to get ahead of him again, “I even let y'get a bigger head start this time.” He tsked at her. She blew raspberries back at him.

He reached the wherry's nest leagues ahead of her and sat there, legs dangling, waiting for her to catch up. Finally she pulled herself up beside him, panting, and leaned against him as she caught her breath, “Good effort.”

She made a face, “Who cares, I didn't win.”

Treyjen had a good laugh at that. The girl was after his own heart, “True. But y'gotta be used t'that by now.” He grinned down at her and she punched him about as hard she could in the shoulder, “Hey! I actually felt that one!”

“You big wherface! Wait til I DO beat you. I'll just push you off when you finally get up here,” she huffed at him and stuck out her tongue.

“Ah, but if I fell and broke my neck, who would teach y't'tie knots?” he smirked and sat back, leaning on his hands as he watched some of the men working below. If they sat there too much longer, someone was likely to yell at them for being lazy. Not to mention what his mother and father would say if they saw Nalyra all the way up here again. He found the thought more amusing than concerning, however.

She rolled her eyes, “Anybody can tie knots, not just you, Treyjen.” Then the ship rocked unexpectedly, and she clung to his arm as the fear of falling passed through her.

“It's all right... just a rogue wave. I got ya,” he reassured her, wrapping his arm around her when she released him.

“I wasn't afraid,” she insisted, though she didn't remove his arm from around her either.

He smirked, “'Course not.”

“Treyjen if you don't get your lazy arse down here soon, I'll climb up there and drag you down myself!” the familiar, grating voice of his father called from below, “How many times do we have to tell you not to let your sister up there!?”

Treyjen leaned over the edge a bit, giving his father a puzzled look and cupping an ear with his free hand, “Sorry? What was that? Wind's loud up here!”

“The wind!? You hear me just sharding fine now you both get down here NOW!”

Nalyra giggled beside him, “We should go down, Treyjen... before he gets even madder.”

“Ayyeee...,” he agreed reluctantly, watching Nalyra slip over the edge first and waiting until she was about half way down before climbing after her, preparing himself for the usual lecturing he knew he would get as soon as his boots touched the deck.

Treylok looked down at his daughter, “Get below, your mother is waiting to give you your figuring lessons.” Well at least he was sending her away before he started yelling.

Nalyra made a face, but she wasn't about to argue with her father when he looked like that, so she turned and scurried off, casting a look back at her brother. As soon as she was gone, Treylok turned to Treyjen, and Treyjen tuned him out, watching two men working on mending a rip in one of the sails. Until his father grabbed his shoulder to get his attention, “Are you listening to me?”

Treyjen smirked, “Actually, I wasn't.” The man's face turned almost instantly red, and Treyjen held up one hand, counting off on his fingers, “But I imagine it was something about my being lazy, irresponsible, reckless, worthless, an overall embarrassment to the family... that about right?” He'd rather been expecting the backhand that followed, but it still stung. He resisted the urge to rub his cheek, his breath hissing out as the pain had flared briefly and slowly ebbed away.

“I am sick to death of your insolence,” his father spat, “Now grab yourself a brush and bucket, and make yourself useful. I want this ship spotless.”

He couldn't help himself. He bowed low, “Of course, father, I live t'serve.” He turned to do as he was told, for once. It wasn't like he minded the work.

Back on deck after fetching the supplies he would need, he wasn't certain where his father had disappeared to, but he also didn't much care. He took to scrubbing at the well worn wood of the Lokarra's deck, sure his cheek was starting to purple by now.

“Scrubbing the deck again? What'd you do this time?”

Treyjen lifted his head to see Karosh looking down at him, a rather exasperated look on his face. He grinned, “I had the audacity t'allow my sister t'climb the rigging and take a break from working. Imagine that.”

“Uh-huh... and then you ran your mouth, judging by your face,” Karosh supplied, knowing very well there was more to it than that. Treyjen often pushed his father to violence when it was completely unnecessary.

Treyjen shrugged, “Small price t'pay. He looked like a sharding redfruit.” He laughed as he continued scrubbing.

Karosh sighed, “You must really enjoy being in trouble, Treyjen. I'll go grab my own brush and bucket and help you.”

“Hey now, it's my punishment,” Treyjen looked over at him, “I don't mind doing it, Karosh.”

“Neither do I,” the other boy replied, “Besides, you might have been ordered to do it, but I wasn't. I'll just look like the responsible one... as always.”

Treyjen laughed again, “Aye, profit off my suffering, I know your game.”

Karosh grinned and disappeared to fetch his own tools for the job and Treyjen kept working. The sound of something in his bucket when his back was turned had him looking over to see Nalyra dipping in a brush. He frowned at her, “Aren't you supposed t'be at lessons?”

She stuck her tongue out, “They're boring.”

“That may be, but how are y'gonna become a proper trader if y'can't even do your figures? Y'need t'know how t'keep up with inventory, track our accounts, even just knowing what t'buy and sell for-”

“I don't want to be a trader. I just want to sail. Some of the crew can't even read, I don't need to know all that stuff,” she insisted.

Treyjen narrowed his eyes, “Nalyra. Y'should never turn down the opportunity t'expand what y'know. The more y'know, the better future y'can build for yourself.”

She shook her head, “I don't care. I just want to sail.”

“Nalyra!” their mother's voice called as she reached the top step leading below deck and spotted her daughter, “You're late for your lessons again. Come now!” She made her way over and Nalyra shook her head again.

Treyjen sighed, “Well, that's fine. You don't need lessons.”

Nalyra beamed, “Really?”

His mother shot him a look, “Treyjen-”

“Nope,” he cut his mother off and continued, “Figures will just be something else you can never best me at. Second best forever.”

He grinned up at the girl as her eyes narrowed, and she tossed her brush purposefully down into the bucket, water sloshing out. “I'm going to be better than you at everything,” she promised, and turned to stalk away.

Jenara covered her mouth with one hand to hide her amusement until Nalyra had gone below, “Well... thank you.” Then she frowned a bit at the sight of his face.

Treyjen shrugged, “She's competitive. Y'can use that against her.”

“Are you all right?” she asked, with some concern.

“I'm fine. It's just a bruise,” he returned to his scrubbing.

She sighed, “I don't know why you insist on driving your father to such lengths, Treyjen, he's never raised a hand to any of your siblings.”

He paused, “Sorry t'make y'see that side of him, mother.”

Karosh returned then, calling cheerfully when he saw the woman, “Ah, afternoon Jenara!”

Jenara turned to look at him and shook her head, “Has he roped you into helping?”

“Not at all! I volunteered. Ship oughtta be clean. The more working on it, the sooner it'll happen.”

Treyjen rolled his eyes, “Don't think too highly of him, mother, he's just doing it to make himself look good.”

Karosh feigned offense, “I never!”

Jenara laughed, “Well, don't have too much fun with it, or Treylok will have to find some other punishment to give him.” She raised her hand in a farewell as she walked away to return below, where Nalyra waited for her.

“Get t'work, ya gasbag,” Treyjen laughed at him.

Karosh replied as seriously as he could, “Aye, Captain Ash-head."