Fall 18, 498 AV
Open Sea
It all began living upon her parent's palivar, watching her father, mother, and eldest sister sail the ship. They would tell her to run and trim a sail, or furl it with her siblings. At first, she was slow to respond, and even slower to carry out the action, often needing the assistance of her brother to fight the winds and manipulate the sails how she was asked. But, as time went on, Edreina got faster when it came to climbing up the mast, stronger when hauling the sails.
Then, her family would let her help them pilot their rowboat. She would take one paddle, and her brother the other. Together, they would work as a team - often yelling and arguing with one another at first before settling into one another's patterns and rhythms. But, being children, they wore out quite quickly and their parents would take over before too long.
Finally, the day came that her father saw fit to let her take the wheel itself. They were on the open sea, running supplies back to the Flotilla from Zeltiva. He called her over with his booming voice, blue eyes twinkling with the mischief of a parent. He opened his arms to her, taking one hand off of the wheel and beckoning her over. Grinning, young Edreina ran over, and began jumping up and down, recognizing the gesture from when he had done the same with her brother. Still smiling, her father took Edreina by the arm and led her over to the wheel, placing her small hands on the inner tines upon the wheel.
"Feel the ship, through this wheel, for you have your hand upon it's mind. From here, you can control everything. Close your eyes... live as the ship..." With a quiet breath, Edreina closed her eyes, hearing the creaking of the ship as it went from one wave to another along with the motion that went with it. She also heard the splashing, rumbling sound of the ship as it cut through the water smoothly. Above her, Edreina made out the flapping of the sails as the wind fluctuated constantly, and the sound of seagulls overhead. But, for the first time, she could really feel the ship. Through the wheel, she could feel how the rudder constantly fluctuates ever so slightly beneath the water, and how the jib is on a constant rock back and forth gently in the wind.
"Want to angle starboard-" her father's voice causes Edreina to snap out of the trance and open her eyes "-turn the wheel like this..." From the outer pegs, he began to turn the wheel in the opposite direction of where he wanted to go, making half wheel turn to turn the boat about 15 degrees. "Now, correct what I just did..." He instructs, smiling broadly. A look of terror crosses Edreina's face, what if she does this wrong and disappoints him? What if she ends up getting them totally lost and off course? Her father lets out a hearty chuckle at the young one's look, roughing her short hair with his wide, tough palm. "Worry not, my little coral bloom, you will do fine... I'm here." He doesn't even remove his hands from the wheel, worried that any underwater current may jerk the helm in a way that Edreina cannot counteract.
Nodding, trying to put on a brave face, Edreina turns to the helm, little hands tightening upon the tines as much as they can. Taking a deep breath, she begins to slowly turn the wheel, as her father had, but in reverse. Slowly, she counts the pegs, turning the helm halfway about so that their course has returned to it's prior line. The whole way, her father's hands rest upon the pegs, lightly enough for her not to notice but to the point that he could still grab it if anything went wrong. With a wide smile - despite some teeth missing, a sign of childhood - she looks up at her father, head tilting back so that it rests in the middle of his abdomen.
Grinning as well, her father roughed her hair once more, inciting a sound of dismay from the little girl that is quickly covered by his chuckles. "Now, let's turn it the other way, together." Slowly, he began to turn the wheel the other way, and she takes over, continuing until the slow moving ship has made a complete circular turn. When she is facing the prior direction once more, she stops and looks up at him again, unsure as to whether or not that is what he wanted.
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by Edreina on March 22nd, 2013, 9:41 pm 
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