A Safe Harbour, Siren Free

20260611

Prompt from “pridemonthprompts” 2025 list.

“Ah, um, ahoy?”
Captain Scarlett pushed her cap back to appraise the lass loitering awkwardly by the gangplank. “Can I help ya?”
“Er…” The lass looked up at the Salted Aria’s nameplate, then back at Scarlett. “Is it true you only take women for your crew?”
“Not exactly. We run a direct route from here to Kingsport - right through siren territory. Know much about sirens?”
The lass shook her head. Small surprise, she looked a right landlubber.
“Well, the short of it is, their have beguiling magic. Anyone who might be stirred to bed a woman-” Scarlett noted, without surprise, how the lass twitched “-gets driven frothing mad with desire on hearing one sing. Jumps overboard. And soon as they do they’re doomed, for the sirens grab ‘em, drown ‘em, mate with ‘em, and eat ‘em - yes, in that order.”
“M-mate with??” The lass gawped, horrified and disbelieving.
“Aye, it’s cause they have no men of their own, see. You’d think they’d be gentler with ours, make each one last longer, like, but, well, predatory drive or summut. Any flesh which enters their waters gets ripped to shreds quicker’n you can blink.”
“So.” Scarlett hooked her thumbs in her belt and gave the lass a gentle, though sceptical, smile. “If you can promise me, hand on heart, that you won’t spend half the trip trying to drown yourself and needing to be tied up and minded all hours…”
The lass flushed and looked away. At once awkward and uneasy.
“Then I can’t let you on board. Wouldn’t be safe, see? For you or everyone else.”
Without a word the lass turned to walk away. Slumped. Clearly devastated and embarrassed.
“You new in town?”
A surprised glance. A nod.
“Then get yourself down the docks, past the fisheries,” Scarlett pointed, “and look for a tavern called the Nacre Lamp. By all accounts, it, well… is frequented by plenty of girls who’d fall for a siren song, mhm? And lads I could have on board, if’n they were comfortable with being surrounded by drooling women. Reckon them folks are best placed to help you get settled in. Life in a bustling port town takes getting used to.”
She smiled as the lass lit up. Aye, it wasn’t dreams of the sea which had drawn her here - though, with the Salted Aria having proven many a point, there were captains who now accepted sailors of all ilks. And the fishing crews had long been sensible about such things. If she wished for the sea, she’d surely find a place. And if she didn’t, well, a town like this had berths for all sorts.
“Fair winds, young’n.”
“And to you!”
Away the lass dashed, like a terrier after a rat, leaving Scarlett to wryly shake her head and turn back to her manifest.
Good to know that the Salted Aria's record-breaking deliveries were making enough of a stir that even landlubbers heard about her - but clearly folks were leaving key points out of the tales!

Prompt was “Boat Ride”.