She loved this feeling. A salty breeze rolling over her cheeks with her eyes closed, taking in the sensation without sight. When she opened them she saw the sight of what sailing really meant to her. A clear sky, with no land in sight and the sun just rising, creating a beautiful golden backdrop for the purplish clouds to caress, and the shimmering line of reflected light to look like a sunken mountain of gold. It was nothing but everything, possibility manifest in the freedom that a ship granted. Travelling faster and farther than anyone else with no one to tell you to stay put. It was her life, and she loved it.
"What do you see?"
A familiar voice shouted from down bellow. Sylvia looked over the railing of the crow's nest to see a familiar shape on the deck. Her friend and cabin-mate grinning in the cold morning air. When she chuckled to match his useless question the heat from her breath let vapors trail in front of her nose. She wasn't as bundled up as she should be, but it certainly woke her up like this.
"I'll come down and let you know!" She shouted gleefully downward, already climbing down the main mast. She had done this a thousand times and felt no fear in the height. But when one foot pushed the ladder plank out, and the one second of unnoticed left her free-falling, she remembered fear once again.
---
And her eye opened. Her heart was racing now. She starred up at the wooden ceiling of the inn room she had rented. The booze of last night making her head still swim a little. She groaned as she sat up, looking around her room. Thankfully there were no clothes strewn about, meaning she was the only one who had slept here last night. She sighed and grabbed the headband from her bedside table, and placed it where it belonged. Keeping her mess of hair out of her one good eye, and covering the ghastly stitched up one. She stood up with another groan and made her way to the window, needing to air out the night of merriment. She propped the wooden hatch open and rested her chin in her palm, overlooking a street of shops. The sound of a merchant's aid unloading heavy boxes of drink nearby is what awoke her. Gods what time was it? She must have been out for a while. That meant she needed to stretch her legs. With a stretch of her arms behind her back and set to gathering her things. Once sure they were all there she suited up and made her way outside. She was in a pretty good mood despite the dream, so she payed her tab on the way out.
Once she was in the hustle and bustle of the city, she took a deep breath, trying to recapture any feeling of a morning on the seas. It didn't come to her, naturally; but she didn't feel a fool for trying. She just shrugged inwardly and set to it. Might as well pick up a job while she's about. There's always gold to be made.
