SUMMER 85, 514
"Belslea, what do you think?"
Minnie stood in the yard of the Guild's custom-house, with a Zeltivan sailor in front of her, and beside her pretty, young Akvatari, perhaps eight years of age. The sailor had great mutton-chop whiskers and a curled mustache, which had mesmerized the dark eyes of the girl, but Minnie was focused on a small barrel the man held in his lap, its end opened to reveal clear, fragrant whale oil.
"Belslea?"
The girl started, visible as a quick jerk of her pale wings, "Oh! Oh, Onti, I am sorry, I... I was distracted. I did not what thou askest of me."
Minnie smiled playfully, "It is my fault. Who am I, then for expecting talk of oiling book-spines to compete with a well-waxed mustache?"
"Would the gentlemen let me touch it?" she blurted the statement out before her courage failed, looking dog-eyed at the sailor.
The sailor chuckled, with a mixture of kindness and pride, and offered, "I'd be right honored, from such a lady, Mussy."
Tentatively, then, Belslea fluttered a little closer, and reached a hand forward still bearing the last traces of baby fat about its wrists, closer and closer. She touched the very tip and drew back with a blush, "It is stiff, like a fishbone!"
This last was louder than the girl expected, and a few other sailors, lounging in the fading heat of the early evening, overheard this, and roared good-naturedly with laughter. The whiskered man looked a bit chagrinned, but smiled, "Well, how else should a fellow make it stand up so?"
"Does... does the gentleman resin it, like a bow?"
The sailors roared again, Minnie smiled, but blushed at the same time, "Well, then, dovey, I think we ha' been long enough at the good-man's time. It will do, sir, if it's clean?"
"Clean and pure, Mussy, from the fore-tun of a grand 'un only t'ree weeks yon. I know the ship, the Constance, and she 'as an honest master."
Minnie nods, "Very well, y'are good to keep a bit aside for me, I know it canny be so easy as selling it by the hogshead."
The sailor waved his hand dismissively, obviously in a good humor, "Petchy-reds. For a Mussy o' the low-streets of home? T'trouble is a pleasure."
Minnie slipped several coins into the man's hand from the petty cash of the House of Lives Lived, and he took a mallet, to thump the lid securely back in place, before saluting Belslea with playful gravity, "And the young mussy, I hope, when she is a-having need of information regarding men's grooming, will ask after Binny Jinkfoot, aboar' ship. It is my pleasure to serve such an august craicher." HE winked at the end, a gesture that seemed to confuse Belslea to no end. The girl simply nodded and murmured a gracious thank you. The man rolled the barrel off with his foot, and Belslea leaned in close to Minnie.
"Onti, why did the gentleman bat his eye at me?"
Minnie laughed softly, "Oh dunny you mind him, he's just flirting with you."
Belslea only looked more confused, "But flirting, that is when one wishes to lie with someone else!"
Minnie blushed and looked at the girl with her own brow knitted, "He only meant it in teasing... or... maybe flirting was the wrong word, I think. Yes. Come, I've to be after some ink, and a mender for the woodwork, still."
Minnie, her blue and white dress sputtering a bit in the sea-breeze, held her hat on her head as she fluttered outwards towards the edge of the yard, to pass before the Hospitality House, towards the quayside warehouses.
x
"Belslea, what do you think?"
Minnie stood in the yard of the Guild's custom-house, with a Zeltivan sailor in front of her, and beside her pretty, young Akvatari, perhaps eight years of age. The sailor had great mutton-chop whiskers and a curled mustache, which had mesmerized the dark eyes of the girl, but Minnie was focused on a small barrel the man held in his lap, its end opened to reveal clear, fragrant whale oil.
"Belslea?"
The girl started, visible as a quick jerk of her pale wings, "Oh! Oh, Onti, I am sorry, I... I was distracted. I did not what thou askest of me."
Minnie smiled playfully, "It is my fault. Who am I, then for expecting talk of oiling book-spines to compete with a well-waxed mustache?"
"Would the gentlemen let me touch it?" she blurted the statement out before her courage failed, looking dog-eyed at the sailor.
The sailor chuckled, with a mixture of kindness and pride, and offered, "I'd be right honored, from such a lady, Mussy."
Tentatively, then, Belslea fluttered a little closer, and reached a hand forward still bearing the last traces of baby fat about its wrists, closer and closer. She touched the very tip and drew back with a blush, "It is stiff, like a fishbone!"
This last was louder than the girl expected, and a few other sailors, lounging in the fading heat of the early evening, overheard this, and roared good-naturedly with laughter. The whiskered man looked a bit chagrinned, but smiled, "Well, how else should a fellow make it stand up so?"
"Does... does the gentleman resin it, like a bow?"
The sailors roared again, Minnie smiled, but blushed at the same time, "Well, then, dovey, I think we ha' been long enough at the good-man's time. It will do, sir, if it's clean?"
"Clean and pure, Mussy, from the fore-tun of a grand 'un only t'ree weeks yon. I know the ship, the Constance, and she 'as an honest master."
Minnie nods, "Very well, y'are good to keep a bit aside for me, I know it canny be so easy as selling it by the hogshead."
The sailor waved his hand dismissively, obviously in a good humor, "Petchy-reds. For a Mussy o' the low-streets of home? T'trouble is a pleasure."
Minnie slipped several coins into the man's hand from the petty cash of the House of Lives Lived, and he took a mallet, to thump the lid securely back in place, before saluting Belslea with playful gravity, "And the young mussy, I hope, when she is a-having need of information regarding men's grooming, will ask after Binny Jinkfoot, aboar' ship. It is my pleasure to serve such an august craicher." HE winked at the end, a gesture that seemed to confuse Belslea to no end. The girl simply nodded and murmured a gracious thank you. The man rolled the barrel off with his foot, and Belslea leaned in close to Minnie.
"Onti, why did the gentleman bat his eye at me?"
Minnie laughed softly, "Oh dunny you mind him, he's just flirting with you."
Belslea only looked more confused, "But flirting, that is when one wishes to lie with someone else!"
Minnie blushed and looked at the girl with her own brow knitted, "He only meant it in teasing... or... maybe flirting was the wrong word, I think. Yes. Come, I've to be after some ink, and a mender for the woodwork, still."
Minnie, her blue and white dress sputtering a bit in the sea-breeze, held her hat on her head as she fluttered outwards towards the edge of the yard, to pass before the Hospitality House, towards the quayside warehouses.
x
