Dane

The water was pretty choppy that night, Dane thought to himself, staring at the wooden ceiling from his hammock, which was rocking enough to make it hard for him to sleep.

Not that he was worried or anything, he knew that he and the rest of the crew where relatively safe and sound there: if they managed to get through that terrifying storm of a few days ago, sure as anything they were going to make it out from this rough waves as well.

He tried to roll over onto a side.
Maybe changing position would have helped him a little bit.
He kept his eyes closed, forcing to not think about anything besides the sound of the waves splashing against the sides of the ship, the whistling wind and the rhythmical hitting of the rain drops.

Still, that didn't help him much, as he found himself starting to stir uncomfortably just a few moments later, kicking the ragged and sea-smelling sheets off of him in an attempt to make the situation better.

He had always felt weird thinking how he could never sleep through a storm like the rest of his companions, who were now snoring loudly, some even babbling something unintelligible in their sleep.
Yet, there wasn't much he could do about that anyway: he would have had to wait until his body decided to finally give up and let him have some deserved rest.

He turned around once again and peered at the rest of the crew that was there with him in that messy room.
They were scrambled all over the place, some even looked like they fell from their hammock and continued to sleep on the floor, half of their body hanging up and the other laying down.
Weird? Yes, indeed, but Dane would have been lying if he said that he didn't enjoyed all the shinanigans at least a little bit.

The shipmate life had always been something he lounged to.
Even when he was a little hatchling, seeing those big ships being built and coming and going made his heart swell with excitement and joy.
He loved talking to other shipdragons, listening to their fascinating stories while they consumed their meal in his parents' tavern.

Dane would spend hours playing, imagining himself as the captain of a big ship, fighting off pirates and discovering magnificent places and treasures, sometimes even during working hours, which caused more than one accident involving plates and clients.

He did that for years, until one day he decided he was now old enough to try and make his dream come true.
He wasn't going to rot in that old tavern, no matter how much his parents pleaded him to stay with them, or say how they needed him.
He knew what he wanted in life, and what he wanted was to live out there, in the sea.

He couldn't say that he had gotten there in the most ethical way, if one could consider sneaking into someone else's ship ethical, but at this very point there was little to no way he could have ever decided to leave.
Ragnar was harsh sometimes, but he was his captain, and he was going to be loyal to him, no matter what.

It was only thanks to him that he was able to live the way he wanted to, and that was something that Dane just couldn't ignore.
He was still thankful to him, even when sometimes he would yell at him for some reason Dane couldn't wrap his mind around, even when the decisions he made seemed insane.
Ragnar was a great captain, he knew that.

Dane closed his eyes once again, not before throwing a quick look to the tiny window that was on the wall: the sky was slowly clearing up, and a tiny slice of moon was starting to be seen.
The sound of rain has stopped without him realizing that, and the boat was definitely rocking less.

The imperial let out a yawn, and stretched, his body finally catching up with his desire to get a nice, restorative sleep, just in time for the next day.
He would have had a lot to deal with, he told himself, before cuddling up to his pillow, already feeling himself dozing off.

And yet, it wasn't a problem.
That was the life he had chosen, and he loved every second of it.