Stepping out on deck once more, the young captain breathed deeply the clean, fresh sea air surrounding him before heading to the stern for the helmsman. Gingerly walking, avoiding the different crewmembers, some sick from the voyage that day or perhaps from the new cook’s gruel.... Well, that wasn’t what he called it but the term would suffice. Glancing up, a heavy set man with tufts of brown hair streaked blonde by the sun glanced at the captain. "Aye, Captain. Would ye like to take the helm y’self to anchor her?"

"That won’t be necessary, Alego," he said sternly, "I’ll simply be overseeing this anchoring." Then glancing back at his crew said, "I believe some of the younger crewmen might need the break tonight, though I still want partial crew on deck at all times. Bring her about and get the crew ready."

Sharpening his posture the immense man puffed out his chest and gruffly answered, "Yes, sir!"

The men began to anchor and the helmsman slowly swung the ship around into the current. As the anchor set, and the ship settled into a gentle rhythm, many crewmembers brought their dinners on deck to dine in the crisp salty air. Allowing himself a slight grin, the Captain sat near the helm as most of the crew went off duty to relish the small break. A voice from his right alerted him to a certain visitor that had recovered from the earlier rolling of the seas.

"Sir?"

"Watson, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Holmes?"

Slightly shaking himself to the concept, Watson replied, "As many times as is needed. I’m sorry, Holmes. It’s just that among the crew I feel it would not be formal enough."

"There is no need for formalities on a ship. All there is need of is a captain that the crew can trust and respect."

Nodding, he turned back to the crew and said, "I just wanted to say that I did see something else in town yesterday."

Acting as if he had known all along Holmes let Watson finish. "The town was great but I just kept getting this awful feeling every time I turned my back. I wrote it off as paranoia but, somehow I just don’t think that was it."

Nodding slowly, Holmes brought his hand to his chin in a look of thoughtful determination. "You could sense what you could not see. Very good. Perha...."

"Yo, Mister Holmes!" Wiggins yelled from the center deck. "Play us some music on that fiddle o’ yours."

"Violin, Wiggins." Holmes said irritably.

"C'mon, Holmes! Play us the lively fast one with the short ending again!"

"YEAH!"

"Aye, that be a good one."

"Or at least the ballad one."

"Who knows, maybe the screeching will drive off the sea birds…"

Rolling his eyes, it took not long for the captain-prince’s ego to fully saturate in the pleas of his crew. Sitting down, lifting the violin to his chin, he slammed the bow on the strings and started a fiery jig. Almost immediately, the once sparse crew gathered around bumping their feet to the tempest rhythm of the song playing into the night.

Preparing to the end the song as abruptly as it had begun, concluding the enjoyment of the crew, he thought, ‘I truly need a new crew. This one knows me all too well.’

Two heads broke the surface not far off the bow, the speeding rhythm drawing them both ever nearer to the deck.

---

Okay, everyone, be honest, how is it? I had this written a long time before I ended up dropping from the site due to schoolwork and all so I decided I'd go ahead and drop it on you guys now. Usually I try to write a good chapter ahead of what I post but I'm not quite done with the next chapter (and this one is unusually short...for me, anyways).

Oh, and one more thing: I tend to write my stories in chunks (not always in the order I post them...yeah I have some huge portions written that are far ahead of this) and I had that 'many times as needed' mess BEFORE Pirates of the Carribean came out. Can you imagine how ticked I was leaving the movie theatre after hearing that? I don't think I heard or saw any of the movie after I heard that line for the first time for myself fuming (I went again so I could get the actual story down after I cooled down). Just wanted to say that ^_^. I still get a little irked whenever I hear them say that line on that movie.