Jacob found himself strangely distracted throughout the day. At first, he thought it was just because of the many issues surrounding the weapon he'd bought, like how he would actually use the Siren when the time came, and how the magic actually worked. But as the day wore on, he realised that the most pressing thought in his mind was whether Raephier was alright. Was he lonely or scared? Had he eaten the lunch he'd got Pete to take in for him?

He resisted the urge to go and check on him, knowing that if he did find him distressed, he would struggle to leave him again. And he was currently needed to strategise with his crew on how they were going to make it home.

The setting of the sun couldn't come soon enough for Jacob, and instead of waiting for someone to bring him his food, he went down to the galley to seek it out himself.

He collected two plates of fish with boiled potatoes and was heading back to his cabin when he heard his name being called.

Jacob looked towards where the sound came from and saw Lyle walking over to him.

"I thought I better remind you," Lyle said, "that it's nearly been 24 hours so we'll need to take some more of that seaweed."

"Oh yes," Jacob replied, feeling slightly nervous that it had totally slipped his mind.

"Here, hold this," he said, handing one of the plates to Lyle.

Lyle took the plate which left Jacob's hand free to reach inside his jacket pocket and pull out the bag of Muntle seaweed.

"Take four, one for you, Pete, James and Marco. Tell them that they can either take it now, or wait until they need to be near Raephier.

"What if they forget to take it?" Lyle asked, while taking out the sprigs as ordered. "Surely it would be easier to just all take at the same time?"

Jacob shrugged. "To be honest I really don't think he means us any harm. I would say, just a few more days and we won't need to take it at all."

Lyle's eyebrows shot up.

"You can't do that! What if that's what he's waiting for, and as soon as we stop taking it, he uses his powers to escape?"

Jacob sighed.

"I really don't think he wants to escape. And we've not got enough seaweed to last the journey anyway, so we're going to have to trust him at some point."

Lyle clenched his jaw in irritation. There wasn't much he could argue though. He eventually let out a sigh of defeat.

"Just please, be careful," he said. "And we do still have plenty of the seaweed, so please don't stop taking it yet."

Jacob still believed that he was right and Lyle was being paranoid, but he could also appreciate that Lyle was just concerned for his Captain's wellbeing, as any good sailor should be.

"I promise I won't stop taking it without discussing it with you first," Jacob said.

Lyle's shoulders relaxed slightly.

"Ok, thank you," he said, before handing Jacob back the plate then turning and heading towards the galley.

Jacob shook his head gently, then headed back to his quarters. He found he felt a strange sort of anticipation in seeing Raephier again.

He unlocked the door and strode in, fully expecting to see Raephier sat on his chair, or lying on the blanket on the floor.

What he didn't expect was not to see him at all. He quickly set down the plates of food.

"Raephier?!" he said, his stomach turning over in fear.

Jacob saw a movement out of the corner of his eye, and swung round quickly, his heart pounding.

He let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding when he saw a Raephier sized lump squirming underneath the blanket he'd given him, inside the cage.

It had never occurred to Jacob that Raephier would choose to go back into the cage.

He watched in amusement for a moment as the movements beneath the blanket seemed to get more frantic. The blanket was quite large and heavy and Raephier seemed to be struggling to find his way out.

Jacob probably would have watched for a good while longer if it wasn't for the sharp intake of breath followed by a strangled sob that came from under the blanket.

Jacob was kneeling beside the cage before he'd even had time to think about what he was doing. He quickly took hold of the blanket and pulled it off Raephier.

As soon as air touched his skin, Raephier curled up into a ball, his whole body shaking.

"Hey, hey, it's ok," Jacob said gently, reaching out and placing a hand on Raephier's back.

Raephier tensed for a moment, and then there was a small pause before Raephier's head shot up and his bright blue eyes locked onto Jacob's.

Jacob smiled and then watched in wonder as the expression on Raephier's face changed from pure fear, to immense relief.

Before he knew what was happening, Raephier flung himself at Jacob.

For a split second, Jacob thought that he was being attacked, but that thought soon flew out of his mind when he felt Raephier's arms wrap around him, clinging to him as if he was his lifeline.

On pure reflex, or so he told himself later, he put his own arms around Raephier's body and held onto him just as tightly. He could sense that Raephier needed an anchor to hold himself together, and right now, Jacob was more than happy to be that anchor.

As Raephier's shaking subsided and his arms loosened from a death grip to a firm hold, Jacob moved one of his hands up into Raephier's hair. He gently stroked his head, being careful not to tangle his fingers in his hair. Raephier had dark blond hair which reached the bottom of his jaw. It was hard to tell if it should have been straight, or had a slight wave, because it was actually a tangled mess.

"As soon as we get to land, I'm going to find a room with washing facilities and we're going to get this hair sorted out," Jacob mumbled quietly.

He felt Raephier slowly pull away and Jacob lowered his arms to allow him to leave. Only he didn't. Raephier only pulled back far enough that he could look at Jacob's expression.

"What's wrong with my hair?" he asked, with a worried look on his face.

"Nothing that can't be sorted," Jacob said, unable to help but grin in response to Raephier's worried expression. "I'm guessing it's been a while since you've had a proper wash."

This time Raephier swiftly backed away from Jacob, putting at least a body's length between them.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking at the floor.

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Jacob said, walking away to try to get rid of the tense atmosphere. "I've brought you some food. It's potatoes and..."

Jacob trailed off as he noticed the bread and cheese that he'd sent up at lunch time was still sitting on a plate on the desk.

"Did you not eat your lunch?" Jacob asked.

"I did not know if it was for me," Raephier replied.

"Did Pete not say it was for you?"

"I-" Raephier paused as he thought about it.

"He said something, but with my head under the blanket, it was muffled so I wasn't sure what he said."

Jacob rolled his eyes.

"Any food that is brought in here during the day is for you. Do you understand? I promise you that I will never be angry at you for eating anything, even if it was intended for me. You need to eat!"

Despite his reassuring words, Raephier looked tenser than before, and on reflection, Jacob realised that his tone hadn't been as gentle as he intended. The truth was, he was a little frustrated with Raephier and it was hard not to show it. Not only was it getting tiring to have to remember that he seemed to need babysitting in order to do even the most basic of things, but he'd also wasted good food. And that was almost unforgivable, as any sailor would tell you.

"I'll have to throw this away now," Jacob grumbled, knocking the bread against the desk to show that it had now turned stale and hard as a rock.

Raephier looked as though he was going to say something, but Jacob spoke before he could.

"Bring your blanket over here, and sit down," Jacob said, pointing to a space next to his desk.

Raephier did as he was told, still not looking at the Captain.

Jacob went and picked up the two plates and handed one to Raephier before sitting at his desk with his own. He opened his desk drawer and pulled out two forks and held one out for Raephier.

"Here," he said, and Raephier finally looked up, but only long enough to take the fork from Jacob's hand.

They ate in silence, and Jacob couldn't help but notice that this was the first time he'd seen Raephier eat without enthusiasm. He must have been hungry, having eaten nothing since the morning, but every mouthful seemed forced, like he was eating cold gruel.

"Is it ok? Do you not like it?" Jacob eventually asked.

"No, it's good. I like fish," Raephier replied, but his body language didn't seem to agree.

Jacob decided not to push it further, and let him eat in peace.

The atmosphere that evening felt tense and uncomfortable, so Jacob decided that he would spend the last part of the day, getting lost in the novel he had purchased when he was last on land. It was a story about dragons, wizards and knights, and Jacob became immersed in its world in a matter of minutes.

It was late when he finally lifted his head, and he was surprised and slightly unnerved to find Raephier staring at him intently.

"Is there a problem?" Jacob asked a little defensively.

"No," Raephier said quickly, dropping his gaze to the floor again.

It was only then that Jacob realised with a start that he had forgotten to take his sprig of the Muntle seaweed, and it had now been longer than 24 hours since he took the last piece.

He tried his best to keep his exterior calm as he picked up his jacket and pulled the paper bag out of his pocket. He picked out a sprig and popped it into his mouth.

"You don't need to take that," Raephier said, making Jacob startle slightly.

"I think that's my decision to make," Jacob replied, then he started undressing ready for bed.

No more words were exchanged between the two, Jacob getting under his covers on the bed, and Raephier curling himself up on the floor in his blanket.

Jacob felt restless. He was beginning to think he wasn't cut out for the role of being a Master. Well, no, he knew that from the start, but what he didn't expect was to have to deal with someone as emotionally fragile as Raephier. Jacob had no experience with such things. He was used to giving orders and dishing out punishments as needed. Not that they were needed very often on his ship. He picked his crew carefully. And sailors were a hardened bunch, not prone to emotional outbursts.

Jacob couldn't help but feel that he had got everything wrong this evening. From allowing Raephier to hug him, to chastising him for not eating his lunch. But even though he suspected he'd done everything wrong, he had no idea why or what to do about it.

Jacob was just about to be pulled under by sleep when a noise snapped him awake. A wooden ship on the sea made lots of noises at night, but the fact that Jacob picked this one out meant that it was something different. He stayed very still, concentrating on every sound.

There it was again!

It seemed to be coming from where Raephier was sleeping.

Jacob slowly sat up and let his eyes adjust to the dim moonlight that was coming through the windows.

Raephier was curled up underneath the blanket again. It wasn't the warmest of nights, so Jacob couldn't blame him, even if it did seem to induce some sort of panic attack earlier. As his eyes focused, he could see that the Raephier shaped lump was shaking. And there was the noise again. And then it suddenly made sense. Raephier was crying.

Jacob lay back down, both relieved at having figured out the noise, but also slightly disturbed that Raephier was clearly in some sort of distress.

He briefly considered saying something, but then thought better of it. Afterall, Raephier was clearly trying to muffle his sounds under the blanket, so he probably didn't want Jacob to hear him.

Jacob decided the best thing he could do was deal with it in the morning. Everything looked better in the morning. That was what his mother used to say anyway.

But when Jacob saw the first light of dawn creeping into his cabin, and he was still wide awake, he was beginning to think that maybe this time, his mother had been wrong.



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