Queen of the Sea (Secret Santa 2015)

"We will always be together, my love… I promise."

————————————————————————————

They had been through much together. But this was a step he was not sure he was ready to take.

"I'm coming with you, Briggs."

There stood his wife, Chaucha. Their son Eoleo was rested against her hip, and she had a cold, unmoving stance that reflected in her face.

"I'm coming with you, and you will not stop me."

The sea captain tried not to let his frustration show.

He had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but was not in the least bit surprised that it did.

-*-*-

For a while now, the sea had been dying. They could not catch any fish, and the waters were crueler than usual. They had lost a few good men to the sea's embrace as they ventured further and further away in the hopes of finding food… but it was all in vain. It seemed there was none to be found.

And now, Champa was beginning to starve.

With his grandmother the de facto matriarch of the whole community, Briggs felt responsible for holding it together and bringing them hope and peace. Try as he might, he could find no solutions anywhere near home. He had grown desperate—and had been driven to (what to him seemed) an inevitable choice.

He had chosen the most loyal crew he could find, and had prepared the people by promising to return with enough food to end the famine… but little did they know what he was really planning.

-*-

"Piracy?! Are you out of your MIND?!"

"Shhh—! Please, darling, keep it down!"

"Briggs, you can't do this! It's too dangerous!"

"I have no choice, Chaucha!"

"There is always a choice!"

"Do you think I haven't tried? Do you think I haven't looked EVERYWHERE else for an alternative?! There is no other option, by the sea's curls—Champa is dying!"

"Don't! Don't give me that! What good will it be to Champa, to your son, to me—if you leave on this quest of madness, only to be taken and killed by foreigners?! You know how cruel they can be!"

"This IS for your sake! This is so Eoleo will have a future, so that I won't have to watch you suffer, weak from hunger, giving most of what you can to keep our son well fed! I can't just stand by and watch this happen, not to the people I love!"

"And I can't stand by and let you leave!"

"Please, beloved—you have done just as hard a task time and again. It is the way of a sailor's wife. I look across the waters to the horizon, knowing you do the same from atop the cliffs, waiting to see my colors and know that I have come home. This is nothing new."

"Yes, but that is one thing, to face the sea! She may be unpredictable, but you know her! Foreigners with weapons are another thing. All your strength there will do you no good if… if…!"

"Please. Please, Chaucha. I know this is hard. And I promise! I will return. With food, enough food that I'll never have to leave you like this again! Please, Chaucha, I beg that you see…"

-*-

After that argument, she had stormed off. He felt horrid, and worried that maybe he would never return—that was the last that they would ever speak to one another again.

The last thing he had expected was to see her standing there, blocking the way to the ship, with all his crew behind him.

And then for her to go and insist on this madness…!

-*-*-

"Chaucha…"

"You can't convince—"

"Chaucha, please," he growled quietly. "Whatever point you're trying to make, I have to leave…"

"Of course you do," she retorted bluntly. "And I'm coming with you."

They stared one another down.

"It's too dangerous."

"If it's safe enough for you, then it's safe enough for me."

"You know that isn't true."

"You know very well that I am more than capable of handling myself! Who do you think must do all the work of a man when the man is out at sea? His WIFE, that's who!!"

"No, that's not it at all!"

"Then you have no reason to defy me!"

"Chaucha, PLEASE!"

They were starting to shout now. Eoleo squirmed uncomfortably.

"I am not going to let you leave without taking me with you!"

"I am not just your husband, I am the CAPTAIN, dammit, and I say you can't put yourself at danger!"

"How DARE you!"

Eoleo began to cry. Chaucha lifted him up and comforted him, speaking softly to him. Briggs turned to glare at his men, but they had long ago taken the hint to leave.

The moment of pause gave them both time to calm down, and Briggs stepped over to his son and his wife. He gently ran his hand over his son's crimson hair, and the two of them stood in silence before looking again at each other.

Briggs gently slipped a calloused hand to his wife's face, brushing his thumb against her cheek.

"Beloved…"

Her eyes showed her true feelings now—those of fear. Worry. Sorrow.

"…I don't want to see you get hurt."

She didn't speak. This was somehow more painful, knowing that she remained silent to avoid speech that was broken by crying.

"You are indeed as strong as any man would be on land. I don't deny all that you can do. But this isn't about you being weak…"

He sighed and leaned his head against hers, closing his eyes as he murmured…

"…it's that the weakness… lies with me."

She said nothing, only placing her free hand to his face. Like his, her hands were calloused as well—worn rough by the hard work of a sailor's wife, of one who had to reckon with—and live from—the unforgiving seas.

"If you… if you got hurt, I…"

His voice escaped him for a moment, and he struggled to regain it, his eyes were tightly shut, his teeth gritted as he fought against an unhappy admission.

"…I don't think I could go on without you. I can't… I can't lose you…!"

Chaucha pulled her hand away to readjust her hold on their sleeping child. Briggs looked down somewhat miserably.

"Briggs…"

He looked up into her eyes.

They were red with stinging tears, and she spoke shakily.

"Let's go together."

Now, it was his turn to be silent.

"Let me come with you. We'll go together."

She looked down at Eoleo.

"We'll be together again. As a family. Mother, Father, and child."

"I…"

"Whatever may happen, we'll go through together. We'll make it through. And you can find the means to save Champa, and we can return together. You won't have to worry about not seeing me again. We'll be right there with you, side by side."

He looked down at their sleeping baby.

"…He… it… it's not going to be an easy journey…. It will take a while…"

"I don't care about the hardships. I'll take care of you, and you can take care of me. For what good will all this be, if we are to part forever? Take me with you."

Briggs sighed heavily.

"…Trying to argue with you is like trying to conquer the sea."

She leaned forward and kissed him, acknowledging his surrender and the wound to his pride.

"Things will be alright, you'll see! Someday we'll look back and be glad we went through this together."

"You do understand that this doesn't mean I'll take you on every seafaring mission?"

Chaucha gave a small laugh.

"Hopefully, you'll behave yourself enough that I won't have to. Just… whatever happens…"

"I understand." He took her hand into his own with a smile, escorting her onto the ship. "We will always be together, my love… I promise."