Firouz and Maeve were below in the cargobay standing over Firouz’s new invention. He excitedly was pointing out all the levers and tubing connected to his new invention.
“ I call it The Relaxation Tub.” He proudly pointed to the wooden tub that was beginning to fill with sea water.
“ See, it circulates the water as the Nomad sails. When you are finished you pull this lever,” he pointed to the lever above the front of the tub, “ and it lets all the water out. Back into the sea.”
“ Oh, Firouz! This is wonderful. I have so longed to just sit and relax in a tub again. It has been so long since I was able to actually bath in one. When can I try it?” She asked almost as excitedly as Firouz was about explaining the workings.
“ Right now, if you want. Just close the door to the cargo hold and I try to make sure that no one disturbs you.”
She hurriedly hugged Firouz, who promptly blushed as rosy color at the show of affection, before she headed to her cabin to retrieve a few essentials. Upon returning she had noticed the Firouz had started to fill the tub again before he left.
“ What a wonderful man. I will have to get him something at the next port to show him how much I appreciate this.” She muttered to herself as she began to remove her clothing. She had no doubt that Firouz will let the crew know that under no circumstances were they to enter the cargobay without knocking and giving her time to cover herself. Though she did lay a ragged blanket next to the tub, because on a ship full of men she really didn’t want to take a chance. Besides, what if Firouz hadn't gotten to all the crew to let them know that she was in the cargo hold and didn't want to be disturbed.
“ Ahh,” she said as she submerged herself in the cool ocean water. She laid her head back against the tub’ rail and could fell all the tension and stress leave her body as she sat there.
Meanwhile, Firouz had just made it up top to where he saw Rongar. He promptly walked over to him to ask him where Doubar and Sinbad were and to tell him that Maeve was in the cargo hold and didn't want to be disturbed. He had just finished telling the crewmembers who were in the galley having lunch not to bother her and all he had left to tell was Rongar, Doubar, and Sinbad. He was chatting with Rongar when Doubar walked up behind him and startled him.
“ Well, man, decided you needed a break and some fresh air so you decided to join us up on deck. Where have you been all morning?”
“ I was in the cargo hold finishing my new invention. And I was looking for you.”
“ For me, why?”
“ I wanted to tell you that you can't go into the cargo hold until Maeve is finished.”
“ Finished? What is she doing in the cargo hold? And why can't I go in there?”
“ Well, it isn’t just you, Doubar. It's everyone. All the crew. Maeve is trying out my new invention.”
“ Your new invention. That lass has got to have her brain examined at the next port. Why would she try out one of your new inventions alone? Doesn’t she know that she could get hurt or something?” He said jokingly to Firouz while he patted the inventor on the back.
“ I take offense to that Doubar. Not all my inventions have caused problems. I know of a few that has saved your behind a couple of times in battle. Besides, it’s nothing that can hurt anyone. It's what I call the Relaxation tub. It fills with sea water and circulates as the Nomad sails. It relaxes tired and stressed muscles. And I know that Maeve, being a woman, likes to sit in a tub and bathe. Unlike other people I know.” He pointedly looked at Doubar who he felt could use a good dousing in the tub himself. He smelt of fish and sweat. Not a good combination if you asked Firouz.
“ Hey. What’s your point? I’ve been catching dinner.”
“ Anyway, where is Sinbad? He wasn’t in his cabin, was he with you?”
“ Uhh. He just went to uhh...”
“ Oh no, tell me he didn’t just go into the...” He didn't have time to finish his sentence because up came Sinbad running for his life from below. He had a mischievous grin on his face and his clothes and hair looked to be wet.
“ I am going to kill you, Sinbad!! Get back here!!” Maeve charged up after him in only her tattered blanket.
Sinbad ran and hid himself behind Doubar, though not effectively enough because Maeve tried to catch him. They proceeded to run circles around Doubar, Rongar, and Firouz who started laughing at the childish behavior of both their captain and resident sorceress.
“ Come here!! I am going to kill you!” Maeve made a lunge at her captain who adeptly dodged her hand and proceeded around behind Firouz.
“ Why Maeve, if I had known that you wanted me this badly then we could have resolved this matter sooner. There's no need to be this wanton.” Sinbad laughed at the fire that burned in his sorceress's brown eyes.
“ Whoa. Okay, okay, you two, what’s this all about?” Doubar chuckling asked as he tried to stop the two from running around him.
“ I’m starting to get dizzy. Sinbad, STOP. Maeve, HALT.” Doubar bellowed.
“ He started it.” Maeve accusingly pointed her finger at Sinbad who stood behind his older brother looking as innocent as a new born babe.
“ I did not, Maeve.” He said.
“ Oh, come on, Sinbad. You just happened to come into the cargo hold while I was bathing?” She asked him skeptically.
“ I didn’t know you were in there, like... like that.” he laughed.
“ Oh, so now you think that this is amusing, do you? You think that I am amusing. Something for you to laugh and make fun of, right? Well, Captain, I will have you know that I don't appreciate being treated like this!”
“ Now come on Maeve, I wasn’t laughing at you. I was...” He stepped from behind his brother to face her only to stop short at the tears that he saw forming in her eyes.
“ Maeve, I..”
“ No Sinbad, no explanations. I should have expected this. Goddess forbid that I could bath without someone walking in.” She sighed defeatedly and turned on her heal and walked down below to her cabin. Which she promptly slammed close. Sinbad, Doubar, Firouz, and Rongar all brave and courageous men jumped at the sound of her cabin door. Doubar, Rongar, Firouz all turned and looked accusingly at Sinbad.
“ What? I really didn’t know that she was in there. I was going to get the rope that we needed to fix the net with, Doubar, you know that.”
“ Aye, little brother, but did you have to bait her like that?”
“ Her feelings were clearly hurt by your callous remark.” Firouz turned angrily at his friend and captain.
“ I think that you should go down and apologize to her, little brother.”
“ Hey, how did I become the bad guy here? And if and when I want to apologize to her, I will. Now I am the captain and I am pulling rank. Stop giving me orders.” Sinbad stomped off toward the stern of the Nomad.
“ Okay, can someone please tell me what just happened here?” said Doubar, “how did everything get so out of hand?”
“ I am going to go down to check on Maeve. She seemed pretty upset.” Firouz said to Rongar and Doubar, “ maybe you should go check on Sinbad. He too, seemed upset. Try to find out just what happened down there, okay Doubar?”
“ Yeah. Rongar would you mind staying at the tiller for awhile longer? I know that I was supposed to relieve you, but under the circumstances, I think it would be best for me to find Sinbad and talk to him.”
Rongar gestured for them to go and straighten out the situation. He then turned back to the tiller.
Sinbad was standing at the railing in the stern of the ship, lost in the memory of Maeve soaking in the tub. He couldn’t get the image of her out of his mind. It wasn’t his fault that she was so beautiful that he froze in place and stared at her. It had taken her slashing him with some of the water to bring him out of the trance. Even then he was really too dumbfounded by her naked beauty to do anything but stutter.
“ Sinbad?” Doubar cautiously approached his little brother.
“ What?” He growled without even turning around, “ I’m sorry Doubar, I didn’t mean to snap at you it just that... I don’t know what it is.” he told his big brother and continued to look over the railing at the sea below.
“ Sinbad, what happened down there? What did you do to make Maeve so angry with you?”
“ That’s just it, Doubar. I don’t know. One minute I was looking for the rope, the next minute I saw Maeve,” Sinbad’s eyes glazed over as he lost himself in the memory,
“ She was so beautiful, Doubar. Sitting there, soaking in the water. Her skin glistened in the candle light. She had her eyes closed with her head laying the top of the tub. I don't know how long I was there watching her, I couldn't help myself. I was mesmerized. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. All I could do was stare. That's when she splashed me with the water. She asked me what was I doing there and I just stumbled over my words. I stumbled over my words, Doubar, I have sent lots of women unclothed and I have never stumbled over my words. I felt like a child who had just seen his first nude woman. I grinned and tried be nonchalant but I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. When she asked me to turn around I said, ‘ geez, Maeve, you should be flattered. It’s not everyday that you have my full attention.’ How stupid was that? I just basically told her that the only way that she’d ever have my full attention is if she were nude. That's when she wrapped that blanket around her and charged at me. I knew that I had to get out of there because seeing her in the blanket was just as mesmerizing as seeing her in the tub. So I ran up deck, figuring that she wouldn't follow because of what she had on. I should have known better.” Sinbad held his head in his hands covering his face as he shook his head back and forth.
“ Ahh, you've got yourself into quiet a predicament. So little brother, how you going to fix this one?”
“ I have no idea, any suggestions?” He smile timidly at his older brother.
“ Well, you could go down there and tell the girl exactly what you just told me. And tell her that you love her already.” He looked at Sinbad.
“ But I don’t...”
“ Sinbad, stop denying it. Everyone can see it. Do you think that the crew and I tease the two of you for the hell of it. You two are just too stubborn to admit it. Remember Sinbad, pride is a hindrance at times.”
“ Doubar, what if she doesn’t feel the same way? What if she laughs in my face? I’m not sure that I can take that humiliation.”
“ Sinbad, this isn't you. You are the great Sinbad the Sailor, he who is afraid of no monster or man on the planet, yet you are afraid to reveal your true feelings to the one person who would make you the happiest man on earth.”
“ Doubar, it’s easy to not be afraid of monsters and mad men, I’ve never been good revealing my emotions. You know that.”
“ Sinbad, you should tell her. That's all the advice I have for you. Now I have to go relieve Rongar at the tiller before he collapses. Good luck with whatever you decide. Just remember little brother, she may not wait forever.” He turned and walked away leaving Sinbad alone with his thoughts again.
Hours had gone by. Darkness descended upon the Nomad. Sinbad was still at the stern of the ship. This time it was Firouz who walked up to the captain.
“ Sinbad?”
“ What is it, Firouz?”
“ Well, I think that you should come down stairs to the galley and eat. Have you even eaten today?”
“ No, but I’m not hungry now. Has Maeve come out of her cabin yet?”
“ No. I’m afraid to say that she is still too angry with you. I believe that you should go down there and try to smooth things out with her.”
“ Yeah, sure, if I step one foot near her, she'll probably send a fireball my way, thank you but no thank you.”
“ Sinbad, as a friend I have to tell you what I told Maeve.” Sinbad turned to look at his friend. Firouz took Sinbad by the shoulders.
“ Sinbad, this has to stop. Both of you are being so childish. It was an accident, you weren’t spying on her. I feel as though this is all my fault. If I could have found you sooner than the argument never would have happened. But maybe, everything that happened today happened for a reason. Go to her. Tell her how you feel. It’s important that you do something soon.”
“ Why’s that Firouz?”
“ Because she’s threatened to leave the crew at the next port. She said that she would probably be better off if she left.”
Sinbad’s face showed his shock. He couldn’t speak again for the second time on the same day. What would he do without her? How would he live without his heart? That settled it. He turned to walk down to her cabin but stopped and threw a “Thanks” over his shoulder to Firouz.
Downstairs Sinbad walked pointedly past the galley. His crew including Doubar and Rongar knew that their captain had finally swallowed his pride and was going to apologize to Maeve. What Sinbad hadn’t realized was that he now had himself a large audience. He took a deep breath in and knocked on her cabin door. ‘This is it’ he thought to himself. She slowly opened the door and peeked around it. When she saw Sinbad, she began to close it, but he stopped the door with his hand. The harder she pushed on the door to close it the harder he pushed to keep it open. It soon became a battle of wills and strength. Maeve was the first to give in. She stepped away from the door and let Sinbad fell unceremoniously to the floor in her cabin. This received a few chuckles from the crew that was watching.
“ What can I do for you, Captain?” She asked sarcastically as she watched him get up and dust himself off.
“ Well, I came...” he noticed the crew staring and listening. He realized that they had an audience. “ Can we talk privately? Would you mind if we closed the door?”
“ What? Why?” He didn’t need to answer her for she realized that they were being watched. She glared at the crew as she shut the door.
“ What is it that you want to talk privately about, Sinbad?” She turned and sat down on her bed as Sinbad took a seat in the wooden chair across from her.
“ Well, as I started before, I came here to apologize, Maeve. I am sorry if I made you feel bad. That was never my intention.”
“ I know Sinbad, and as Firouz pointed out we were acting childish. I mean, we are grown people. It was an accident. I should have know that you would never intentionally spy on me. But me and my temper. Will I ever learn how to control it?”
“ Maeve, I am sorry. I should have turned around left when I saw you, but I froze.”
“ Why did you freeze? It’s not like you haven’t seen naked women before.”
Sinbad blushed slightly.
“ I froze because of you, Maeve. You were so beautiful sitting there. I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. Then I just stuttered like a school boy. I got angry with myself and took it out on you. I’m sorry. What can I do to make it up to you?”
It was now Maeve’s turn to blush. How many times has she just been so mesmerized by the sight of him that she too froze.
“ I understand, Sinbad. I have had the same thing happen to me on occasion.” She looked into his sea blue eyes so that he would understand the meaning behind the sentence. He did. He scooted the chair closer to her and took her hands in his.
“ Maeve, did you mean what you said to Firouz today?” She looked quizzically at him. She had said a lot of things to Firouz today.
“ You’re going to have to be a little more specific. I said a lot of things to him.”
“ You said that you were going to leave us, leave me, at the next port.” She looked down at her hands in his not able to look him in the eyes.
“ Yes, I said that. I was actually considering it too.”
“ You can’t. I won’t let you.”
“ Is that an order, captain? Because I will have you know, that I will decide whether to say or leave. How dare you try to order me to say!”
“ I wasn’t an order, Maeve. I’m sorry that it came out that way. I just -- I just, umm...”
“ You just what?”
“ I just don’t know what I would ever do if you left me.”
“ What? Sinbad, what are you saying?” Taking a deep breath he continued.
“ Maeve, I wouldn’t be able to live without you. You own my heart.”
“ Sinbad,...”
“ No, Maeve, let me finish please, if you don’t I might never be courageous enough to do it again.” He looked at her and she nodded in agreement.
“ Anyway, my soul has found it’s mate. I can’t let you go because I love you like I have loved no other. I would gladly give up my life for you...” She silenced him with a kiss. But broke away from his lips as quickly as she arrived.
“ What was that for?” Sinbad had a goofy grin on his face.
“ You were babbling. Besides, I wanted to tell you that I love you too.” She smiled as the goofy grin got larger. He surprised her by taking her into his arms and passionately kissing her breathless. They only broke apart because Dermott squawked from his perch completely forgotten.
“ Oh, Dermott.” She removed herself from Sinbad’s embrace to let Dermott out of the cabin. That’s all she would need for her brother to be in the cabin while Sinbad and she were kissing each other breathless.
When she opened the door to let him out Doubar, Rongar, and Firouz all stumbled into the room. It was apparent that they were trying to listen through the door.
“ So fellas, did you hear what you wanted to hear?”
“ Well, honestly, we couldn’t hear a thing over Doubar’s heavy breathing.” Firouz looked at Doubar.
“ I wasn’t breathing heavy.” Doubar retorted. Maeve and Sinbad were just smiling at each other.
“ So did you tell her, little brother?”
“ Tell me what Doubar? That he doesn’t want me to leave the ship? Yeah he told me.” She smiled at Sinbad who just sat back in the chair.
“ Little brother, tell me you told her how you feel.”
“ I did, I told her she was a valuable member of my crew and if she were to leave we would all miss her greatly.” He gave a conspiring wink to Maeve. Rongar, Doubar, and Firouz all groaned loudly. Maeve walked over to where Sinbad was sitting and sat on his lap. She ran her fingers through his hair, kissed him quickly on his lips, then looked at their friends who still remained on the floor staring at them dumbfoundedly.
“ I’m a valuable member of the crew.” She smiled first at their friends then turned her full attention to Sinbad. He instantly seized her lips with his own in a fervent kiss filled with so much emotion that it was the three men on the floor who turned red watching the two express their love for one another in a truely intimate way in front of them. But they smiled nonetheless, as they got up and left the cabin quietly. Leaving Maeve and Sinbad still in each others arms kissing passionately.
Finished