The Wonders of H-ARR-T (Patreon)

A few days later…

The young boy sat on the deck at night after being discovered by the famous pirate queen, Natalie Knots, and admired the thousands of stars in the night sky. He was a little bit worried over what he had gotten himself into after being found, and if Natalie was genuine in her kindness towards him. And right as he was wondering about those things, he heard the heeled footsteps of someone behind him. It was the captain herself, bringing along a bottle of the strong stuff and a pair of cups.

“A toast.” She told him. “To freedom.”

The taste was so sharp that he could not swallow it down, which Natalie laughed at with compassion in her voice. And after coughing a few times, he simply had to ask why she was so nice to him after he had snuck aboard her ship without telling anyone.

And so she told him her story:

Tis be a true story that once I was no pirate queen. Indeed at one time in me life, I was neither pirate, queen or even named Natalie. But such things ain’t never set in stone when ye sail the Seas of the Realm. These seas be filled with adventure and only a fool believe themselves to be immune to the effects of an ever-changing environment like this. Such was what me own mentor, Captain Falch, told me when me name was Neddy Knots and not Natalie. And truth told, I feel no shame in having a previous identity revealed. It may not be for everyone to reveal such things and that is to be respected without hesitation, but this here story is mine to tell and none other’s. And so here it is in short.

I was once a young shipmate who found himself aboard the infamous pirate vessel, the Ginger Swann. I was but a boy enjoying me last year of teenagehood and I had grown tired of the farmer’s life at me family’s employment outside of Shellside. I dreamed of a life of adventure, freedom and riches told in the stories that I heard be sung from the city’s taverns during the rare nights I visited. So I packed me a bag, left a note of loving words to me family and set off to seek my fortune in that famed city of piracy, gambling and Goblins. Took me barely a day before Captain Falch saw me walk the harbor with a curious look on me face. She brought me aboard along another couple of landlubbers and told us of our duties. Swabbing the deck, polishing the cannon, helping the more experienced pirates and so on.

But then the worst of it happened. Once we set sail it took no more than an hour after leaving Shellside Bay before I hung from the ship’s railing with sick erupting from me mouth. Apparently a life on a farm did little to prepare me legs to be sea-ready. Captain Falch was nothing if not honest and at this point, honestly annoyed. But with a towel in her hand and confidence in her voice she told me these words:

“I brought ye aboard me ship because I saw that there’s more than adventure and riches that you seek upon the Realm’s Seas. Innit’, Neddy?”

I don’t know how I could have missed it when I was land-locked, but once those words got heard by me ears, I knew exactly what she meant. I sought not the seas in specific, but the freedom that came with them. The freedom to be myself. To be Natalie.

As many treasures I’ve found over the years of sailing, I think the rarest of all the world’s treasures is to be given a hug by a pirate. But on my very first day of sailing, I was given one by my dear old captain Falch.

And with that, we all sailed to find the islands where we gathered the ingredients for the concoctions that a year later made me the woman I am today. Sea-legs and all!

And that is why I decided to let you stay aboard me ship, lad. Just tell me if “lad” is what you want to remain.

She patted him on the back, knocked down her cup and sauntered back to the captain’s cabin. Perhaps becoming a pirate would be a bigger adventure than he thought.

The End.

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Sorry it almost took the entire month before I finished this, burnout and all x)

But thanks for your patience <3