The Brimstone Doctrine Chapter 4: Regent For what seemed like the hundredth time in the two hours we'd been sailing, I throw up over the rail of the ship. Kell stands at my side and pats my back as it happens, steadying me when I'm able to stop leaning on the rail for a moment and stand on my own. "You okay?" She asks. "I don't think I've ever seen someone puke so much." I shoot her glare. "I grew up on land. I'm not exactly used to ocean travel. I hate water." Kell smiles a little. "I know, earthworm, I know," She says, gently grabbing my arm. "Come on. You'll feel better if you lie down for a while." She leaves no room for protest and pulls me along as she walks briskly to the center of the ship where a door is cut into the deck. The ship must have a lower level. She lifts the door up by a little handle and opens it to a flight of stairs. She motions for me to go down first. "After you, sicky!" She chants. I reluctantly move forward, taking the first few steps and then stopping to lean against the wall when the vertigo strikes again. Kell comes down after me and pulls the deck door closed behind her. She then links her arm with mine and pulls me from the wall, bearing the brunt of my weight as she guides me down the rest of the stairs and to a long hallway at the left of them. After a few seconds of walking, we come to a little table where a very small man with silver hair and blue eyes like Kell's was sitting crossed legged in a chair. He was reading some kind of Human book that had "World Atlas" printed on the cover. "Hey, Cleo," Kell greets, her voice monotone and lacking any and all enthusiasm. "We need a room, please. We'll share." Cleo looks up from his book and raises his gaze to Kell. The corners of his mouth lift into a half-hearted smile and his thin lips reveal a set of perfect, pearly white teeth. "Kellisandra," He says, almost purring as the name leaves his mouth. "It's been a while." "It's Kell," Kell snaps, letting go of me to cross her arms over her chest. "And after this I'd like it to be forever." Cleo chuckles a little and shakes his head, now shifting his eyes to me. He looks me up and down-and unlike the boy when we first got on deck-he's unfazed. "Regent Servinand," He says, broadening his grin. "I had a feeling we'd be seeing you here. You're looking a little green, though, my dear." I nod, and Kell's arm finds its way back around mine again. "Leave her alone and just give us a damn room," She growls. "We didn't come down here to chit-chat." Cleo smirks and shakes his head a little, and he climbs out of his chair and stands. When he does so he comes even with my elbow, and I'm overtaken by a brief moment of shock. I stood at only 5' 2" when I didn't slouch. "This way." He mutters, and takes us past his table and down the hall further until we reach a massive metal door at the end of it. He twists it's knob and opens it to yet another long hallway, this one adorned with hundreds of doors in either side, a different number painted on each. "Ladies first," He says, motioning for us to go in. Kell leads the way and pulls me inside the door with her. As soon as we're in, Cleo enters himself and closes the door gently behind him. He moves forward past Kell and I and steps in front of both of us once more, continuing to walk down the hall. He doesn't ask us to follow him so we don't move, and after a couple more seconds, he stops at a door with the number "213" painted on it's front in thick blue lettering. He opens it and holds it open for us. "Here you go," He says with flourish, his voice taking on a high pitched trill as the word "go" leaves his mouth. "Last free one we have. Of course for you, Kell, if its too cramped for the both of you my room is always open to share." In a flash Kell's arm is drawn back and she punches Cleo, hard, in the side of the jaw. His entire body is thrown sideways with the impact and he falls to the floor. "Eat embers." Kell growls, stepping over his body and into the room. I follow suit and once I'm inside, she kicks his arm out of the threshold and slams the door closed. She waits until we hear Cleo pull himself to his feet, step away from the door, and walk back down the hall in the direction of his table before she speaks. "I can't stand that guy!" Kell bursts, clenching her hands into fists at her sides. "How do you know him?" I ask. Kell sighs. "To make a very long story short, his younger brother was the guy I told you I killed before. Let's just say they hated each other's guts and when I killed Mallory, Cleo suddenly fell in love with me. He's not even cute and let's be serious, could you date someone two feet shorter than you even if he was?" I shake my head and laugh, but paired with the rocking of the ship, it made my dizziness and nausea worse. I use one hand to hold onto the wall and the other to pinch the bridge of my nose in an attempt to lessen the awful sensation. "Here." Kell prompts, stepping forward and touching my shoulder, pointing to the bed that was in the corner of the room. I obey and let her lead me to it's side. I slowly lower myself to sit on the bed's single sheet and hard mattress with a sigh. Kell gives me a little bit of a smile when I'm settled and steps over to the sink, picking up a small, filthy rag that had been sitting in a stiff heap on the counter. She runs hot water over it for a solid minute and wrings it out three times. Then she switches the tap to cold and wets it again. Once she's finished she turns off the faucet and returns to the side of the bed. "Lie down," She commands. I do as she says and pull my legs up into the bed, letting them lie straight out in front of me, my arms propping up my top half. I look at Kell expectantly, waiting for her to use the cloth on me, but she doesn't, not yet. "All the way, Earthworm." She tells me, pushing me down by my shoulder to lie flat on the mattress. She then draws the cool rag over my entire face, focusing on my temples. After a few minutes she folds the rag in half longways and sets it flat over my forehead. The coolness of the cloth made it easier to cope with the rock of the ship, and lying down relaxed the swirling of my stomach and my head. After a couple of minutes Kell takes the cloth away and tosses it into the sink from her position on the bed with one quick move of her left hand. She had expert aim. "Give me your hand." She commands. I obey and she presses her thumb firmly into the inside of my wrist with the rest of her hand pressing into the outside of it. She squeezes periodically and after only a few seconds, the nausea begins to melt away. I can't keep a sigh of relief from escaping my lips, and Kell doesn't stop herself from noticing. "Better?" She asks. I nod. "Where did you learn that?" I question. The work of her fingers freeze a little at the inquiry and it takes a few long seconds before she gets them moving again. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked-" "No, no, it's okay. Sorry. I was a medic back at home, but-I-I-learned this from my mom when I was little. My dad wasn't a water type either and he reacted to sailing worse than you do." "That really must be bad." She laughs just lightly, and wears an expression of amusement with subtle hints of sorrow. She brings her eyes up to meet mine, and I'm able to see the tears brimming in them before she lets go of my arm and wipes at them before they can fall. "Yeah, he-he was something else alright," She tells me, speaking incredibly fast. "You, uh...you really are feeling better now, right?" "Yeah. I think it worked. Thank you." "You're welcome. And uh, I really just want to go to sleep now. I can take the floor, but could I share with you? This sounds crazy but you remind me of my mom and I just want to feel-" Her words stop when the tears start again. This time, three of them slip down her cheeks before she can stop them. I pull myself up into a sitting position and pull down the single sheet to slip under them. After I'm settled, I pat the pillow next to mine, giving Kell a small, genuine smile. She gratefully moves up to the head of the bed and slips under the covers beside me. She was shaking and her breaths were falling in rapid, sporadic intervals like she was cold, but it had to be close to eighty degrees in the room. "T-thank you." She whispers, turning on her side with her back facing me, like she was embarrassed. "No problem." The bed was was uncomfortably small to begin with, and sharing made it twice as bad, but I don't say a word about it. It takes a good ten minutes for Kell's breathing to even back out, but her shaking doesn't stop. At one point I give up half of my sheet for her and pull it up over her shoulders. She gives a little laugh, and that puts me a bit more at ease. "Thanks, earthworm." She says in response, and the tone of her voice is grateful, but something about it suggested that there was more to it. I don't ask. All I knew was that maybe, just maybe, I could trust this girl as much as she seemed to trust me. I turn on my side too after Kell's soft snoring reaches my ears. I stare at the peeling white paint on the wall until I'm pulled into sleep. When I close my eyes I can see the map in my mind. I know exactly where to go, exactly how far I have to run, where the quicksand pits are and where the Full territories are established. It was exactly two miles from our landing port to Narath, and I had to run it all without stopping. I exhale and finally drift off, both anticipating and dreading the first hint of morning light, but I decide that the potential reward is well worth the risk, so I try to be positive. After all, there was no looking back.