The cleaning girl, however, was not on the deck to witness the first signs of wind. Her body, glistening with sweat, moved feverishly on her bed, her long red hair tumbling down her back. Her tan showed she was well-travelled, and she had indeed seen strange people and curious things. Cleaning jobs offered myriad opportunities after all. Outside, the moon’s pale face was shrouded by clouds racing each other like galleys. The stars were fleeting points of light in the dark sky. If she had paused to listen, she could have heard the sound of the banners flapping and the keening of the lines, but she was otherwise occupied.

They rolled on the bed till she was on top of him again. She took his face in her hands. The honey hue of his eyes swirled with golden flecks. In all her years of travel, she had never met a golden-eyed person before, and now she had two orbs of fire staring back at her. She parted his tousled hair and kissed him deep. His brownish black hair felt thick and soft in her hands. Her hands scratched the side of his face till they reached the shadowy hollow under his cheekbones and rubbed his wide-set lips. He was delicious. As she was about to kiss him again, he pushed her aside violently and spat acrid bile into the bucket that stood beside the bed.

‘Well,’ said Mati, ‘isn’t that flattering now?’

‘I’m sorry, Kala’ the man muttered the name she had assumed for this voyage, still bent over the bucket, heaving wretchedly. But he had already emptied his guts and all he could do now was make un-erotic retching sounds. Mati had to grudgingly admit that even puking the man was easy on the eyes.

The sufferer managed a wry smile. ‘As you can see, I am thoroughly enjoying my first sojourn on a ship.’

‘Can I do anything to make you feel better, Ser?’

‘Just put me on land,’ he moaned, turning over to lie flat on his back. ‘Some place where the world does not move up and down, sway and shake.’

Mati laughed. You needed a special kind of stomach to be sea-sick on a ship was stuck in the doldrums. ‘You pitiful land-dwellers,’ she sighed, shaking her head sadly. ‘You look greener than phlegm, Little Lamb.’