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Journey of a Thousand Miles

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"

-Confucius-

Part 11

"Dear Trowa,

I hope this letter finds you well. Although I realize that I won't be able to send it until we reach port somewhere, I have decided to write things down while they are still fresh in my mind. I'll add a little every day and thus give you a detailed account of our journey.
So far I'm having a wonderful time. The crew is so nice. Would you believe it if I told you that Captain McCain even let me steer the ship for a while?

But more about that later. Firstly I would like to tell you about Duo. Duo is the cabin boy aboard the Rebecca. He very much takes care of everything. I think I liked him from the moment we met. He has such an enjoyable and cheerful attitude, you just can't help but smile if you are around him. But Duo is also a little prankster, and he brings out a mischievous side in Zechs that I have never seen before. Beware if the two of them get together. You might find your tea pastries filled with mustard rather than with jam, or discover that the pants you had been looking for for hours, are hanging from the highest mast. To say the least, it is never boring being around Duo.

You may laugh now, Trowa, for you were right when you warned me about getting seasick. I suppose I should have taken your advice more serioulys. It hit me the moment we reached high sea. My stomach was churning and rolling in unison with the ship. I had never felt so miserable in my entire life. But luckily Duo came to my rescue…

::: Start Flashback :::

I was lying on my bed with a pillow over my head praying for the dizziness and nausea to stop when there was a knock at the door to my cabin.
"Come in," I called out weakly.

Duo walked into the room looking extremely cheerful and energetic. Life just wasn't fair.
"His Excellency asked me to tell you that dinner will be served at half past six. Tonight we will be having crab salad, herb roasted potatoes and…"
"Duo, please stop," I begged him. "Don't mention another word about food."
He stepped a little closer and gazed at me. "You look terrible, Quatre," he remarked. "Are you feeling sick?"

"Sick? I think I'm dying," I moaned.
Duo chuckled. "Nobody has ever died of a little sea sickness. Excuse me for a moment. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere."
Don't go anywhere? Where does he think I'm going to run off to?
After what seemed like forever Duo returned with a cup of steaming hot tea.
I frowned. "Duo, I told you already, I can't eat or drink anything right now."
"But this is a special tea the cook made for you. Sit up!"

"I can't."

"Yes you can."
Duo helped me to move into a sitting position, and I took the tea cup from him. Just to make him go away and leave me alone, I took a cautious sip. It tasted terrible. "It's awful!"

He nodded. "I know, but it will make you feel better."
"Are you sure," I asked doubtfully.
Duo gave me an almost hurt look. "I never lie. Anybody who knows me will confirm that."
Very well, I thought. It wasn't like it could make me feel any worse.
After I had finished my tea Duo left me with the promise to come back later to check up on me.

About half an hour later my cousin came to see me. He had a very guilty look on his face. "Oh Quatre, I'm so sorry. I had no idea you were sick. I know you didn't get much sleep the other night so I thought you were just resting. I should have checked on you earlier. Please forgive me."
I managed to give him a weak smile. "It's alright, really."
"Did Duo bring you some tea?"
I nodded. "Yes he did."
"Good, that should make you feel better soon. Perhaps you should try to get some sleep "
I nodded again. "That sounds like a good idea."
"I'll leave you then. Good night, Quatre."

*****

When Duo came to check on me the next morning I was already up and about.
"Looks like you are feeling better," he remarked.
I smiled at him. "I do, thanks to you."
"You should still drink some more of that tea for a few days till you have fully adjusted to the sea." He suggested. "Are you hungry?"
"Like a wolf."

"Good! Let me show you to the breakfast room. What would you like to do later? I thought perhaps I could show you the ship. Have you ever been on the bridge?"

"That would be wonderful, thank you. And no I have never been on the bridge. But do you think we can just go and take a tour through the ship? Perhaps we should ask the duke for permission first?"

"I don't think that's a good idea right now," Duo replied. "I just served breakfast in his Excellency's cabin. It seems that he and Mr. Merquise are… umm… shall I say enjoying each other's company this morning. They might not want to be disturbed."

"Oh," I blushed slightly. That was a little more information that I had needed.
"Besides," Duo continued. "You are the cousin of the man who owns this ship. Who do you think would dare to tell you where you are allowed to go and where not?"

That made sense, in a way.

I had breakfast and then met up with Duo again. The braided boy showed me around the ship. We visited the crew quarters. They were small in comparison to my own cabin, but still looked comfortable enough. Next we went to the kitchen, or the galley, as it is called on a ship. The cook and his helpers were already busy preparing lunch. I suppose if you have eighteen people to feed every day there is always something to do. In the very end we went up to the bridge.
"Captain McCain, Quatre here would like to take a look around. Is that okay?" Duo asked.
"But of course. Come right in, Mister Winner." The captain gestured for us to come closer. He was kind enough to show me the charts he was using to determine our course, and explained to me how to read them. Then he asked if I would like to replace the helmsman for a while. He showed me how to hold and move the steering wheel then let me try it by myself.
"Just make sure you keep us on course to Greece," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "We wouldn't want to end up somewhere in India instead."

::: End of Flashback :::

It is hard to believe that a whole week has passed already since we left England. The duke had been worried at first that I might get bored while we are at sea, but being around Duo takes care of that problem I suppose. He always comes up with something to do, and in-between we just sit and talk. I love hearing his stories of earlier journeys he took aboard the Rebecca. Mostly they are rather funny and he can tell them so well. I have been trying to get him to tell me about Madrid, but thus far without luck. So I thought; if he doesn't want to tell me, perhaps somebody else will…

::: Start Flashback :::

The perfect opportunity to bring up the subject came while we were sitting down for pre-dinner cocktails.
"Zechs, the day we left England you mentioned something about an incident involving Duo and Madrid, do you remember? What exactly happened?"
Zechs gave a low bubbling laugh. "I'm surprised Duo hasn't told you yet. It's quite a funny story. Wouldn't you agree, Treize?"

"It seems funny now, though, I wasn't very amused when it happened."
"I'm dying to hear about it."

"Well, let's see. Your cousin had come to Spain for a meeting with some business associates of his, and I had accompanied him. I believe it was on our second or third day in Madrid when Duo asked me if we would be interested in going to a dog show. He had met somebody who knew where one was and was able to get us tickets. It sounded interesting enough. Treize knew that I love dogs so he agreed. Since Duo was the only person who knew the man with the tickets he came with us. When we asked the carriage driver to take us to the address the man had given Duo, he gave us a strange look. Perhaps that should have set some alarm bells off in our heads. But it didn't, and so we drove for about an hour until we came to a very shady part of town. We asked the driver if he was certain he had the correct address, because this didn't look like any place you would expect a dog show. But there was the man Duo had told us about, and as he ushered us into the building we realized that instead of a dog show going on, there were illegal dogfights."
"Oh no, that's terrible." I exclaimed. "Did you call the authorities?"
"We didn't have to," Zechs said dryly. "Somebody else already had. Before we ever had a chance to turn around and leave the place was swarmed by dozens of constables."
My jaw dropped in shock. "What happened?"

"Your cousin and I were taken to jail along with a few dozen very shady characters."
"What about Duo?"

"Mister Maxwell had used the chaos and confusion to disappear."

I couldn't believe it. "He just took off?"

"Well, I will have to mention in his defense that he informed Captain McCain at once about what had happened. The captain was able to find us a good lawyer, and after a lot of legal mumbo jumbo, we were released."

"Oh I'm not surpised Duo was reluctant to tell me this story." I laughed. "This was most certainly not his brightest hour."
"I would agree," Zechs nodded. "Although I'm sure he had no idea what was behind this so called dog show. But this wasn't the end of it."

"You mean there is more?"
The blond aristocrat gave another nod. "We set sail the very next day, but suddenly strange things started to happen on board."
"What kind of things?" I asked curiously.
"The cook reported that he was missing food, and very mysteriously socks and shoes started to disappear all over the ship. Occasionally we would recover some tattered remains of them. And one of the crewmen swore he saw a ten pound rat running over the main deck during his night watch. Your cousin and the captain decided that this was enough, and ordered a search of the entire ship."

"And did you find anything?"
"Actually we never started the search," Treize explained. "Because Duo decided to solve the little mystery for us."

"It turned out that during the raid he had used the confusion and chaos to snatch two adorable puppies from their cages and run off with them. God knows what their fate would have been if the police hadn't raided the place." Zechs continued the story. "Anyway, Duo smuggled them aboard, and for a while he was able to keep them hidden from everybody."
"Oh, how sweet."
"Yes, I suppose. The only problem was that by now they were not so small anymore, and they seemed to be growing by the day. And they were clearly not born to be ship dogs."
"So, what happened to them?" I wanted to know.
"You've met them. Their names are Boreas and Aeolus. Somebody had to take them. After all, we couldn't just throw them over board, could we? Besides a friend of my father's used to own Wolfhounds. I fell in love with the breed and wanted one ever since I was a little boy."
"So, everything turned out to the best?"
"It most certainly did. Just don't let Duo know that," Zechs winked at me. "I still love to tease him about it."

::: End Flashback :::

Three days ago we sailed into a terrible storm. Cousin Treize told Duo and me to stay under deck, while he and Zechs helped the crew. Waves as high as two-storey buildings rolled over the main deck, and at times it seemed that the whole ship was thrown into the air. I thought we were going to sink for sure. I hadn't been this scared since the day our house burned down.
We lost two sails during that storm which slowed the ship down somewhat. As a result we arrived at Zakinthos, a small island at the west coast of Greece, a full day behind schedule. We will stay here for a few days to repair the damage before continuing our journey to the port town of Spiantza on the Greek mainland.
It is time for me to end this letter now. I want to send it off as soon as we get on land tomorrow. I promise I'll write another one soon.

Until then.

Sincerely Yours,

Quatre R. Winner

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T.B.C.

Author's Note:

Sorry it took so long to update. But the good news is from here till Valentines Day I'll have one update per week for this story.

Feedback is greatly appreciated, constructive criticism is welcome :-)