TREADING WATER [c]

It was growing smaller. Not by the second, and certainly not by the minute, but the ship was getting smaller. Using a mug on the railing, he had periodically checked as his men had gone about their work of steering the ship and keeping it running. They had done a commendable job so far, but the hardest part was now – when they really could not do anything.
Dalton sighed. There was nothing to do. The winds were in their favour so far and unless they changed, they would make it out of the bay of dragons unmolested. Hopefully, they could lose those guys until then so that they could actually start what they had sat out to do.

But sadly, that did not mean he could relax. Well, no one could really relax while they were followed by a royal ship or whoever that was. Yet, he did not have time off, either. Having excused himself earlier on, he now had to return to where a high lady was resting, while a daughter of house Baratheon kept watch. Things certainly had gotten out of hand.
Before arriving though, the captain had made a quick stop, picking up two jugs and two mugs. Both of them he stored on an empty spot right away, as soon as he entered the room once more.

“We're getting away,” he simply stated, not looking at the girl for now as he poured himself some ale. Not a full mug, , but he needed something relatively strong now. “You drink ale? I brought you some water, too. And for her. But you should drink something. You have exerted yourself, so even if you don’t feel thirsty due to the thrill, you really should get some.” He would pour her either water or ale, depending on her answer, before sauntering over to her. If she had not gotten up by then, he would kneel down to hand it to her.
“You alright?”

Well, he was not exactly surprised about this. In his experience, the smaller girls were rarely drinkers. And if they did drink, they usually got drunk much faster than men. The one Lannister he’d met in King’s Landing had been a bit of a difference, yes, but from what he had been able to gather, she really was used to drinking. Not that he minded anyway. Getting his ‘hostage’ drunk could have caused other problems he did not even want to imagine.

Thus, she got simple water, hopefully giving her some measure of relief. From the sounds of it, she rarely travelled by sea. And even if, escaping other ships was likely reserved for her brothers, if at all. Believing that she could use some actual company, he decided to screw being overly coy around her and just sat down next to her, one leg angled up to rest his head upon. “Dalton’s fine. Anyone who flees the capital carrying a high lady of another house can call me by name,” he spoke, followed by a clear, but still somewhat restrained laugh. Did not want to wake said high lady if he could prevent it.

Besides, he really did not like formalities. Here on the seas no one called him ‘my lord’ or fancy stuff like that. He was the captain, nothing more and nothing less. Though he did like it when his salt wife called him that. Speaking of. “Pyke? Hah. Do you think I want to keep you and make you my salt wife or something? No, no. We’re going to drop you off somewhere safe so you can go home before searching for my father. This is a problem of my and Ashe’s design. A chaos that I wouldn’t want you to be drawn into. You should go back to your family, before someone actually thinks that I abducted and raped you. People are very quick to assume that when we Ironborn are involved.”
He did not look in her direction as he said this, but his voice was relaxed and amicable. Hopefully, his sense of humour did not scare her.

In the end, he guessed, the girl could say what she wanted. If he wanted to drop her off, he would drop her off. Physically weaker than him, he could always just literally drop her into the water and let her swim, once near the coast. Granted, only a jerk would do that, but the option still remained. If anything, it would likely be safer than keeping her around. For him and for her. She seemed to believe herself unimportant and not missed. But every girl had a father, every cute young lady had suitors. It would be both bad and stupid to keep her around.

But on the other hand, it was not really his problem. Briefly, the sun-kissed man chuckled to himself. “Well, I guess if they think I abducted the lady Tully, having an off-branch stag as well does not really matter.” Another of his jokes, but much darker this time. It was not fully true anyway. Or maybe it was. Lady Baratheon already hated his kind; she did not need any more reasons to do so. Best case scenario, it deterred her a little, knowing that her step-niece was with him.
However, there was something else she’d said, something that had slightly taken him aback. Yes, she had displayed signs of this before. But it was now that it had become really apparent.

Placing his half-filled mug on the ground, he sighed. A little lesson was in order, one way or another. Without warning and with all the speed his tired body could muster, his gloved hand suddenly surged forward. If she did not stop him, he would grasp her chin and turn it towards him. With a bit of force, yes, but he would make sure to not intentionally hurt her. Still though, he would lean in and fixate her eyes with his own. “I don’t plan to do any of that, yeah. But you really should not be this trusting. Even if you don’t think of me as an Ironborn, you barely know me. Are you really sure that you can trust a stranger enough to live on his ship for the foreseeable future? Even though I have not really given you any reason at all to trust me?”

Hmm…
She did have guts, he gave her that. Many others would have shown more fear at something like that happening, rather than embarrassment. Yet, her eyes betrayed a sincerity that made it clear she was not taking any of this lightly. Those amber orbs, albeit dulled from her current predicament, were filled with determination. He had expected nothing less from a Baratheon, yet the latter usually did not live up to such. It was good to see that not everyone had succumbed to being a butt about everything.

Easily, he let her go again and watched her do her duty. Truth be told, he knew little of the connection between the two. Back during their first meeting, she had seemed rather timid and insecure about what to do as she’d been around the lady. But now, she was tending to her proper without even giving him a second glance in spite of what had just transpired.
“No,” he simply replied. There was nothing more to say in that regard as far as he was concerned, but he knew that more would be necessary. After all, he owed the girl at least honesty, if not a bit loyalty. She had given both to him unasked for, after all.

“Fear…father believes that it is the one true instrument. He may talk about being ‘the Ironborn that reads’, but he has been obsessed with these things in his own way. Fearlessly standing up to your aunt, out of fear of looking weak. At least that’s what it looked like to me. But as for myself? True, it is good to be feared by your enemies, but if you make anyone fear you at first glance, you just make more enemies. I am more the kind of person looking for friends and lovers.” Still sitting there, he smiled to himself – before realizing how that could be taken. Thus, he quickly added: “Ashe is firmly in the former camp though! I would never dream of going after married women, I have at least that much honour.”

Well, maybe she was at least a little bit naïve after all. The way she talked about father…..yes, for a given set of rules she might be right. However, he was reminded of something that someone important had once said to him. A man was the sum of his actions. Bad and good, neither was absolute. There were absolutely heinous acts, and there were acts of utter selflessness. But even those could not determine a man by themselves. Yes, someone was likely to be remembered for that one grand deed or gesture, but that did not make them. That was just a shorthand for people.

“Father, he is good to his men I guess. He gives them what he wants. And he treats his children well,” he simply replied, watching her come back to him, which was a surprise. She did not even increase the distance. Maybe she would, once she realized the danger they were in. “And yet, to outsiders he is cruel. My sisters are only my half-sisters because father captured and took their mothers, only to kill them right after childbirth. I don’t know if he did the same to my mother as well. If he had the two of you in his cabin like this, who knows what he would do.”

Dalton, on the other hand, did nothing at all. Sipping from his mug again, he leaned against the wooden hull, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. He could feel every wave meeting the ship that way. “The bad does not erase the good and the good does not erase the bad. Even I can’t really be called honourable. I help her, I protect her,” he said, nodding towards Ashe, “But I also did things in my life that I am not proud of. I struck men from behind and abused them being stranded and helpless. And even now, I am not atoning for these things. I am not doing this to better my reputation, or to wash away my sins. I am doing this because I’m not an arse and can do something. Does that make me honourable, Sera? I don’t feel very honourable running from the city watch.” Another sigh. “But I do feel good doing what I deem to be the right thing. I guess there’s that?”

Some surprisingly deep thoughts for a young girl of a great house. While he could not say for sure, Dalton just assumed that the lady next to him had had a sheltered upbringing, especially being rather petite like this. For all he knew, she could be hiding some very deep scars under that chipper attitude. But until proven wrong, he was going to continue to see her in that light. Though, admittedly, her line of thinking had some flaws.

The Greyjoy did not bring those up at all though, at least not until after he had gotten up, taking her mug with him, and filled it with ale as well. It was filled moderately. Sera had already said she did not like the taste, so she was going to drink for other reasons. Not judging about that in the slightest, he handed it back to her, just before he resumed his place as well. “Well, I guess since we both have ale now.” He raised his mug towards her, offering a little toast. “To getting out of there with our hides intact. And to an adventure on the high seas, because that’s what this is forming up to be.”

Yeah, he was not going to drop her off unless she asked to. The girl had her positives and he liked her company. Plus, it was not selfish if she herself had insisted to stay. Afterwards, he would take another generous sip from his own emptying mug. Then there was another laugh.
“But look at you. A few hours on my ship and you are thinking almost like an Ironborn already. A few more and you will become the dread pirate Sera, fury of the seas. Now that is a good pirate name. Much better than king of orphans, really.”

“Hours,” he said lightly, chuckling. The girl likely did not know a whole lot about nautic travel, now did she? Well, time to disabuse her of some notions. “We’re going to be here for days. By tomorrow, we will hopefully manage to lose our pursuers. After that, we need to figure out where my father could even have gone. He will likely stay clear of the major ports and fortresses, like Storm’s End and Dragonstone. Knowing him, he likely brought part of the fleet with him, not too far from the bay. From there, he might go and stir up some trouble somewhere. He’ll be hard to find. It will likely take weeks or months.”

He tried to be thorough in his explanation. It was quite clear that the lady knew next to nothing about all of this, so there was some need to be specific, but also to not be too detailed. Dalton really wished that his father had given him more information other than having something planned. Oh, and he wanted to ally with the Starks, most likely. Good luck with that, given that Dalton had, in the eyes of some, taken a Stark daughter there.
But for the moment, he sought to forget about that. Smiling to himself, he actually quite liked the idea of explaining such things to someone eager to learn. Maybe he should take on some apprentices. Likely not as cute as this girl, but also more likely to stick around for longer.

“If you really do not want to be ferried home, I think we will first make our way to Lys. I have a friend there that can help Ashe, hopefully, and who has a good network for information. Finding father is pointless without her getting back to full capacity. You’ve never travelled down there, I presume? This does seem like your longest journey on sea so far. But it seems to agree with you, too, judging from how easily you calmed down.”