Raephier couldn't remember the last time he had felt this excited. His stomach felt like there was a shoal of Guppies in there, their fan tails tickling the sides of his stomach.

When Sally had knocked on his door a couple of hours after the Captain had left, asking if there was anything he needed, Raephier had asked whether it was possible to get a bucket of water to have a wash.

Imagine his surprise when Sally led him to a tub that held enough water for him to be able to actually get in it!!

The strangest thing happened though when he got into the tub. The moment the whole of his lower body was submerged into water, his legs turned back into a tail! He didn't realise just how much he'd missed it until he was staring at the iridescent blue and purple shimmering scales as he gently fanned it through the water, the sensation bringing back so many happy memories. What he would have given just then to have been able to go for a swim.

Movement from outside the washroom brought Raephier back to the task in hand and he used another of those slippery bars to clean everywhere he could, including his hair.

It was quite an effort trying to get out of the bath with a tail, but thankfully the moment he plopped over the edge onto the floor his tail disappeared and his legs were back.

An hour later and Raephier was dressed, his hair had received a trim from Sally and he was pacing up and down the room in eager anticipation for Jacob's return.

When Jacob did enter the room, Raephier couldn't help the big smile that stretched across his face as he bounced up and down slightly on the balls of his feet.

"Wow, Raephier, look at you!" Jacob said in surprise as he stepped into the room.

Raephier willed his cheeks not to blush, but he knew that they wouldn't listen as he felt a warmth stretch across his face.

"I feel under-dressed now," said Jacob, going over to the small wardrobe and selecting something clean to wear. "This is beginning to feel like a date!"

"A what?" Raephier asked, not sure whether that was a good or bad thing.

"A- you know what, it doesn't matter," Jacob said, and Raephier couldn't help but notice he looked a little uncomfortable.

I guess a date must be a bad thing then.

Before he could dwell on it further, Jacob shut the wardrobe then strode over to Raephier with his clothes draped over his arm.

"I'm just going to go and get washed up and dressed, and then we'll get out of here. I've got a surprise for you," he said, before he winked at Raephier and then left the room with a definite spring in his step.

"Huh," Raephier said to himself, slightly bemused.

He made a decision that he wasn't going to overthink things. Jacob seemed to be excited about tonight, and Raephier could say he definitely was, so he was determined that he was going to just relax and enjoy it. And hopefully by doing that it would turn out to be nothing like a 'date' after all.

By the time Jacob was leading him out of the door, Raephier was practically vibrating with excitement.

"Have a lovely time!" Sally shouted to them as they walked out of the inn, and Raephier could have sworn he saw Sally wink at Jacob when he replied that they would.

The air outside had a slight chill to it, but Raephier was grateful for that as it cooled down his fevered body.

"Where are we going?" Raephier asked.

"To my favourite spot," Jacob replied, leading Raephier away from town and onto a narrow path that had quite a steep incline to it. By the time they reached their destination, Raephier was totally out of breath and the top of his legs felt like they were on fire.

"Are you trying to kill me?" he wheezed jokingly as he plopped down onto a small wooden bench, which he assumed must have been placed there for people like himself who needed to recover after the short uphill walk.

"I don't think being cooped up in a room all day is doing you any good. As soon as we get home, I'm going to help you get your fitness back," Jacob said, coming to sit next to Raephier.

Raephier couldn't help but stare at Jacob as he tried to process his words. But one word stood out more than any other.

"Home?" Raepheir asked.

Jacob's eyes widened slightly.

"Well, I suppose it's my home, but I hope one day it might be your home too," he said, looking straight ahead rather than at Raephier.

Raephier was almost relieved that Jacob wasn't looking at him, because he had absolutely no control over whatever emotions were on his face right now.

"I-I'd like that," he said in barely a whisper.

Jacob finally turned to Raephier and smiled.

"I think you'd like my home too. It's quite a small island so you are never far from the sea which I love, and the people are really warm and friendly. Not like in these bigger ports. Everyone knows everyone at home, and so we're kind of like one big family. It's nice."

Jacob was still smiling but Raephier could see the sadness behind his eyes. He knew it well, because it was the same sadness that Raephier carried around with him when he thought about home and his family.

"It sounds wonderful," Raephier said trying to hide the crack in his voice. "Can you tell me more about it?"

Raepheir had no idea why he asked that. But Jacob was more than happy to oblige. He told Raephier about his family, including his sister and his niece and nephew. He also told him about the house where he lives, which to Raephier sounded really grand and impressive although Jacob assured him it was actually quite modest.

Raephier eventually came to the conclusion that he asked to hear about Jacob's home because he must like to torture himself. Because listening to Jacob was very bitter sweet. On the one hand Raephier loved to hear Jacob talk about anything, and hearing about his past and things that were important to Jacob made Raephier feel special, like Jacob was giving him the key to his most prized possession box. Yet every little thing, every little detail that Jacob told him made the ache in his chest grow deeper and deeper.

Over the years, Raephier had learned to live with pain. But that didn't mean he purposefully put himself in situations that would cause him pain. So basically that meant that he learned to live in the present. Thinking about the past caused him pain, and imagining a future also led to pain, so he used all his energy dealing with whatever pain was thrown at him in the present. Until Jacob came along.

For the first time in his life, his present was actually pretty pain free. But now, he was spending more and more time remembering his past life, and had Jacob trying to paint pictures in his head of what his future could be like. Only that wasn't his future. Raephier knew that. And that made it so much more painful.

Jacob finally stopped talking and turned to smile at Raephier.

"Do you not like heights?" he asked.

Raephier felt his brow furrow at the question.

"I can't say I've ever really been high up, but I don't think it would bother me. Why?"

"Oh, it's just that since we've come up here, you've not looked out over the harbour once," Jacob said, nodding straight ahead.

Raephier turned his head and then gripped onto the bench tightly as he tried to process what his eyes were seeing.

"What the....?" Raephier said, staring out across the harbour. He'd never seen anything like it in his life, and it took his breath away.

Jacob chuckled beside him. "I can't believe it took you this long to notice. Why else did you think I would drag you up here?"

Raephier continued to stare at all the boats bobbing on the sea.

"They look tiny! Like toy boats," Raephier said laughing. "Look!" he shrieked jumping up. "That little moving dot, that's a person!!! Jacob look!!"

Jacob just burst into laughter next to him.

Raephier suddenly realised that this wasn't new to Jacob and quickly sat back down, feeling his cheeks warm up slightly.

"Don't be embarrassed!" Jacob said smiling, "Everyone is like that when they first see a view like this."

Raephier nodded, feeling a little better for his outburst.

"It changes all the time as well," Jacob said, staring at the view. "Everytime I come here, I spend time sitting right here. Because even if the sun is in a different place in the sky, or the seasons change, or different boats come and go, the beauty remains the same, and that's.....well, comforting I guess."

Raephier couldn't help but stare at Jacob in wonder.

"It's beautiful," Raephier said quietly, his eyes still fixed in place. "I could happily sit here all day."

"Well good thing I brought this then," Jacob said, snapping Raephier out of his thoughts. He looked at what Jacob was showing him to see that he had brought a satchell with him. Jacob opened it up and pulled something out, wrapped in cloth.

He handed one to Raephier and then kept one for himself.

"It's warm," Raephier said, and as he opened it up, a heavenly smell wafted over him.

"It's one of Barny's special sandwiches," Jacob said.

Raepheir pulled his out and marvelled at the sight of the two thick slices of bread between which were nestled a thin piece of steak with a fried egg on top.

The two of them sat in silence, devouring their food, while staring at the view in front of them. Raephier honestly couldn't remember a time when he'd felt so content.

But of course, all good things in Raephier's life must come to an end, and before he knew it they were making their way back down into the town.

The sun had fully set now and the sky was an inky black.

Jacob gave Raephier a tour of the town, but at night there wasn't really much to see. Raephier might have been disappointed, but earlier, when he'd jumped at some creature rustling in a bush, Jacob had taken hold of his hand and pulled him close into his side, which made Raephier think it was more than worth it.

They were nearing the Inn when a shout made them both snap their heads round to a small alleyway off to the right.

Raephier felt Jacob's grip tighten around his hand as he pulled him past the alleyway. Before he could really register what was happening, three men came tumbling out, clearly involved in some sort of a fight, and they barrelled straight into the pair of them, sending Raephier crashing to the floor.

Raephier felt his heart rate spike with alarm, but was relieved to find that the brawl seemed to continue without any acknowledgement of his presence.

Jacob was at his side pulling him to his feet in seconds, asking him if he was alright.

"It's ok, I'm fine," Raephier said, inspecting the graze on the palm of his hand that was really starting to sting.

Jacob glanced over at the men, with a scowl on his face. But then his face changed to recognition as his eyes opened wide and he let go of Raephier's arm to walk towards the men.

"Tyler?! Oy! Get off him!" Jacob shouted at the group.

Raephier tensed up as the men stopped and turned their attention to Jacob.

"What the fuck's this got to do with you?" One of the men snarled at Jacob.

This particular man was the largest of the three, with thick uncovered arms, despite the cool breeze, which showed off his heavily inked arms. Both of the other men who were on the floor mid tussle, were staring at Jacob with wide eyes, so Raephier was no closer to figuring out which one was Tyler.

Jacob ignored the question.

"What's the boy supposed to have done?"

The blonde on the floor scoffed at the word "supposed" so Raephier assumed that the rather young looking redhead must be Tyler.

"That boy is a thief and a liar!" the man with the tattoos spat back.

"Tyler?" Jacob asked, turning to look at the redhead.

Raephier was impressed with Jacob's composure. Raephier felt like he was close to making a run for it, while Jacob looked as cool and composed as he'd ever seen him.

The young boy, Tyler, scrambled to his feet.

"I didn't steal nothing!" he spat towards the tattoo guy. "It ain't yours till you paid for it!"

"IT WAS ON HOLD FOR ME!" the other guy roared, making Raephier flinch.

Tyler had shuffled himself closer to Jacob, who was still standing tall and unaffected by the other guy's attempt to intimidate him.

"I think," said Jacob, clearly trying to put himself between Tyler and the very angry man, "that the fault here lies with the vendor, not Tyler. Why not take it up with the man you made the arrangement with?"

"BECAUSE HE DOESN'T HAVE MY SHELL!!!"

"Well that's hardly a reason to......wait your what?"

Jacob turned to look at Tyler with confusion written all over his face.

"All this is for a shell?" he asked incredulously.

Tyler smirked. "It's a real beauty!"

"Oh jeez, I think I'm gonna just let him kill you," Jacob said with an air of nonchalance that Raephier didn't think was at all acceptable given the situation.

And apparently Tattoos thought the same as that was the moment he decided to lunge at Tyler.

His fist caught Tyler square on the jaw, making Tyler's head snap violently to the right, his body following a second later, leaving him crumpled up in a heap on the floor.

Tattoos clearly wasn't done as he stomped over to Tyler's limp body and swung back his leg to deliver a blow to his ribs, but Jacob was quicker to respond, pushing Tattoos backwards, then delivering his own punch while he was off balance.

The guy could clearly take a punch better than Tyler, and recovered quickly, squaring off with an angry looking Jacob.

They both lunged for each other at the same time, but Jacob came out on top, and gripped Tattoos in a headlock.

"Do you yield?" Jacob grunted out, clearly using a great amount of force to keep Tattoos in place.

Raephier could see from the anger and determination in Tattoo's eyes that he wasn't done yet.

Tattoos thrashed around, trying to trip Jacob and doing everything he could to get him to release his grip. But Jacob clung tight, matching his effort.

"DO YOU YEILD?" Jacob shouted again, and just when Raephier thought it was going to be all over, he caught a movement out of the side of his eye.

He turned to see the blonde haired guy had found a large piece of wood and was charging towards Jacob with it raised over his head.

Raephier didn't even think about it. His body just reacted on instinct, and he propelled himself straight into the side of the charging man, tackling him to the ground.

Thankfully the blonde wasn't nearly as built as Tattoos, and so Raephier was able to use his early advantage and pin him down. The blonde wiggled and thrashed, but it was having no effect.

Raephier heard Jacob shouting again to Tattoos asking him to yield, and thankfully Tattoos finally conceded.

The blonde guy stopped moving under Raephier and Jacob walked over and offered Raephier a hand to pull him back up onto his feet.

Jacob then went and crouched next to Tyler who was still lying on the floor.

Jacob had managed to get Tyler to sit up, much to Raephier's relief, but he still looked quite dazed.

Raephier went over and retrieved the satchell that Jacob had dropped on joining the fight, but when he turned back around he saw something that made his blood turn cold.

Tattoos was slowly making his way up to Jacob from behind, his posture clearly gearing up to attack.

Without thinking, Raephier reached down and picked up the lump of wood that Blondie had dropped earlier, then charged forward and swung it at Tattoos.

The lump of wood slammed straight into the side of Tattoos' head and he dropped to the floor like a sack of coal.

Everything went silent. Jacob and Tyler stared open mouthed at Raephier, while Raephier and Blondie stared at the unmoving lump of Tattoos on the ground.

"Shhhhiit!" Tyler eventually said, cutting through the silence.

"Did I kill him?" Raephier whimpered, looking over at Jacob, who was still staring at Raephier in shock.

Jacob stood up and walked over to Tattoos.

"No, he's still breathing. You just knocked him out," Jacob said, making Raephier let out a sigh of relief.

"Come on, let's get back before we find any more trouble," Jacob said, pulling Tyler to his feet.

Raephier nodded, and stepped around Tattoos, before joining Jacob and Tyler who were heading down the road.

"Are we just going to leave him?" Raephier asked nervously.

"His friend will help him," Jacob said, and Raephier glanced back to see that Blondie was kneeling down next to his friend. He was about to turn back, but he noticed that Blondie's hand was pulling at something on Tattoo's belt. It eventually broke free and Blondie shoved it into his pocket.

Raephier quickly turned back around. Did he just rob his friend while he lay unconscious?

Raephier decided that he had too many other things to worry about, so he would try to forget what he saw. It wasn't like Tattoos was a nice man anyway. Anyone who tried to hurt Jacob would never be worthy of kindness in Raephier's eyes.