Tangled in sheets and a man's legs, Beck was awoken by loud bells ringing from the ship's main deck. She squinted heavily at the midafternoon light pouring through her porthole. She shoved at the man beside her a few times, who grumbled, as he slowly looked about and stumbled into his clothes leaving through the door. She didn't even like Dagen really, but sometimes she liked falling asleep alone a little less. She wrapped the smooth red and black blankets closer to her naked body revelling in their smoothness for a moment longer before huffing to start the day.
Reluctantly removing herself from her silken cocoon of blankets, walking to her closet, she pressed a button and several outfits hanging impeccably on racks, all moved fluidly towards her. She brushed her hands across several of them, all doting the appropriate red and black of her mangle before settling on one. She wasn't particularly excited with the schedule her father had thrusted upon her since she turned twenty. She moved to choose long, well fitting, shiny, black pants and a complimentary red henley with black buttons. She smiled at herself hoping the choice would give her father some discomfort.
Moving to her own personal bathroom, she started a hot shower, slowly lathering her jasmine scented shampoo through her long curly dark hair, and following it with her personal vanilla scented body wash. She closed her eyes a moment, willing the shower to keep herself from chastising herself too harshly about last night's engagement. It wasn't that she didn't have fun sleeping with men, it just did nothing to fill the void within her heart, and she knew her father heavily disapproved. Sighing heavily and bringing herself to turn off the water, she stepped out and clad her blood red silk robe around her, twisting her hair into a black towel and moving to her vanity.
She dabbled in a few drawers before applying her routine black eye liner and red eye shadow. The dark colors brought out the dark circle of brown that surrounded her green irises. She applied lipstick, a single black line through the center of her mouth and red meeting it to the edges, the little left of the black lipstick annoyed her, slamming it back into the drawer, shoving it closed loudly. She dressed herself easily and fleshed out the shirt admiring herself in the full length mirror before leaning against the frame of her porthole and staring out into the brightness.
She glanced to the empty coffee machine dreading she had run out yesterday and groaning out loud. She hoped they were close enough to port to restock her makeup and coffee supplies, but only the vast ocean and cloudless sun glared back at her. She signed heavily in annoyance and grabbed her notebooks beside the door and pulled open the bulkhead of her room heading to her dreaded lessons for the day.
She knew she was late already but she made no attempt to rush through the hallways past all the other workers milling about. They each stopped as she came near and gave her the traditional half body bow as she passed them. She loathed the traditional greeting that her birthright gave her. She stepped over the several bulkhead door frames on her way taking a few hallways and turns easily without thought.
When she arrived at her lesson, she was greeted by a table with ten other students, all adorning red and black attire, already deep into the lecture and taking notes. She put her head up high and her lips twitched slightly when the chair she pulled out screeched loudly against the floor. Renner's back was to her as he was writing something on the board at the front of the room. Most of the others looked at her with disgust as she sat and straightened her back.
"How nice of you to finally grace us with your presence, your highness," Renner said in his commanding voice before turning around to face her. "How many times have you been late since the last fallout?" he chastised her.
Renner was slightly taller than you average man, but not intimidating in size, his presence and demeanor on the other hand was. Time had been kind to him but his age was apparent in the lines around his dark green eyes and mouth. His perfectly tailored military style black coat with deep red epaulets showed his muscles were still able and willing. His black pants were also form fitted with the same deep red color in a single stripe down each leg. He commanded the outfit as if he was born with it on. It wasn't as intimidating to her since she had known him since birth as her loving uncle, who seemed to be less and less loving these days.
She pretended the jab didn't claw the walls of the hole in her chest a bit wider, opening her notebook and clicking her pen before meeting his gaze, "A few times here or there." He glared at her, glanced at the male student who was in her bed this morning once more for a moment, then leaned, putting both hands on the table and staring her down.
"By my count, it has been ten times since fallout. That is more than all of your companions," he glanced back to her overnight guest, and ground his jaw tightly, "combined. You out of everyone here should know the importance of the knowledge I am trying to grace you with. You should be the star pupil here, the shining example of what royalty here represents. You should be the first to arrive,-"
"And the last to leave," she cut him off having heard that several times before.
"Yet somehow you seem to be content with precisely the opposite of that." He continued.
She glanced down, pretended to write something important down, then met his glare again as if they weren't engaged in a conversation already.
"Tell me Beck, what law states that water carries the weight of the ship?" His glare was heavily disapproving. She rubbed an eyebrow with her thumb and glanced at her notebook which didn't hold very many notes at all.
"Newton's law of gravity," she rattled, thinking any answer was better than no answer. She knew the answer was in her somewhere, but this early in the morning, she didn't care to be bothered with much of anything, especially after she had forgone her morning coffee. She met his gaze again, cocking one eyebrow. She knew it was wrong but she was in no mood to deal with his mockery.
"Degan?" Renner asked, not taking his gaze from her.
She heard him clearing his throat, "Archimedes law." She shot Degan a harsh look.
"Thank you Degan," Renner began again. "The law of Archimedes is correct. It seems some of you mates here can still function while they indulge in a nightlife."
If Degan could blush he would have, he only shifted in his seat slightly, coughing to cover his laugh. Most of the others seemed to have a similar reaction to her being scolded so openly. She didn't even want to look at him and loathed herself for having spent the night with him, again. She didn't care for him in the slightest.
"I am sorry I have so rudely disrupted our lessons for the day Renner," she deliberately placed her pen flat down on the table, "You may continue." She was trying to regain the authority that rightfully belonged to her.
Renner took a visibly large breath, "Everyone out!" he yelled. All her mates started gathering their stuff, "Not you Beck!" he was still shouting slightly. She had only closed her notebook and licked her lips pursing them together in irritation. Neither said a word, while the others cleared out quickly. She crossed her legs underneath her and waited for the inevitable lecture about her frivolous behavior.
Renner moved to the porthole and held his hands together behind him, "Your father has much more confidence in your ability to take his place than I do. You are making my job to prepare you to do so very difficult if not impossible Beck." His words cut into her slightly but she couldn't let him see that, she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.
"You will take his place, and when you do, everyone on board this ship will look to you. To keep them safe, to keep order, to keep afloat, to keep them fed, to continue your family's legacy, to keep us alive." He paused and turned to face her finally, "When will you grow up Beck? These childish behaviors must cease immediately. You will have authority on this ship one day and your mates will have to follow your lead, but you cannot expect to be successful if they do not respect you or trust you. I will not be the one responsible for mentoring you into a mutiny. Your family has held this ship together for generations."
She uncrossed her arms and leaned both elbows on the table, "We both know I have everything I need to take over when my father is ready. I have watched him command since before I was old enough to understand what that means. I know how to keep this ship afloat and keep everyone fed. We both know that I do. These lessons are beneath me. I could interpret navigation maps before I could read, tell the weather by the clouds before my first fallout, navigate with the stars before I was ten, knew the mangles and their colors before I knew the alphabet, my first words were things like bow, stern, and bridge. I have been preparing for this my whole life."
He gazed at her grinding his teeth together and turning back to the porthole. "Your father has high expectations for you Beck, he and I have weathered many a storm on this ship." He turned to face her again, his face distant and pained. She was almost taken aback at the vulnerability there. Her uncle was never one for showing such a raw emotion. His age showed as he sat in the chair beside and took her hands in his. "I do love you darling Beck, you were the daughter I never had, you know that. But things are changing below deck. I am trying to prepare you to be a leader, not just a captain. The people you command every day depend on you to live, they have to trust you." He rubbed her cupped hands and stood once more slowly putting the chair back in place with the table.
"Your father is becoming complacent with age." He confessed.
She didn't like the sudden turn of the conversation and his eyes carried a deep weight that threatened to bring tears to his eyes. She sat up straighter clenching a fist against her thigh in genuine concern. His hands fell to his sides and a slight tremor flicked through them.
