Just Another Day

Shanku watched him go below deck to his quarters. She looked curiously behind her. The deck was broad, had a few barrels of water to the sides with empty ones nearby to catch fresh rainwater, and between the three masts were two grated openings leading to the cargo hold. She strolled past these to the open door of the kitchen. Shelves and cabinets and counters lined the room and it smelled positively delightful. There was a man at one of the counters in the white shirt with short, loose sleeves and grey breeches the crew often wore. He was clean shaven and had a white bandana tied around his head. He was chopping a fish into slices.

"Can I help?" Shanku asked as she stepped beside him.

"Ya can peel them taters if ya don't cut yerself," he gestured with the slimy knife to a pile of potatoes below the counter. He went back to preparing the fish. "So, you're doc's new pet, eh?"

"I'm not a 'pet', but he is looking after me. Name's Shanku Ravenwing," Shanku said grumpily as she reached into a basket for a potato.

"Jeffrey Templeton, ship cook!" Templeton introduced himself.

"Where will you cook at?" Shanku looked around the room. Nothing was in there but the cabinets, drawers, shelves, and counters.

"No cookin' in this room. Stove's at the prow in a sand pit. Don't need the wind blowin' a possible fire through the whole ship, after all," Templeton nodded.

"Makes sense. What's for dinner?" Shanku asked eagerly.

"Fish an' taters!" Templeton beamed and held the fish up by the tail.

"Yum!" Shanku grinned.

"That's 'bout all your kind eats, eh? Fruit, fish, and clams? And sometimes a dog?" he grinned.

"Nah. Back home it was all roast deer and goat," Shanku said as she begin to peel the potato. "Or other critters. But never dogs or cats. Fellow predators aren't very tasty."