The Blessing and the Blessed

The next day I was on cleaning duty. I was stuck with washing the top deck, while two other crew mates cleaned the main deck. Sarge played with some string as he pounced and pranced around the deck. Every once in a while he would try to attack my rag, to which I would push him causing him to slide across the wet floor. He pouted at me until he got distracted by something else and left me alone to continue my work. Halfway through scrubbing I sat up and directed, "Change course 2degrees South and we'll move faster."
Ace looked back at me. "Ye sure? Spades 'ill 'ave me 'ead if yer wrong."
"I be sure. Have I ever lied to you before?" Ace simply grinned down at me and turned the ship slightly to the South. "So, is Captain pissed today? I wasn't able to give him his coffee today. Oh look blood." I started scrubbing furiously at the darkened spot.
"We 'ave a lot ov that around 'ere." Ace chuckled. "'e seemed fine today."
"Good, I be tired of always fighting with someone." We fell into a comfortable silence as Ace started humming to himself.
I was washing the last portion of the deck, when we were visited by a guest. "Afta noon, Spades." Ace greeted.
I looked up and nodded a greeting. "Captain."
"What brings ye 'ere?" Usually Captain was mapping out a course or something.
"I came for ye, Al." He gazed at my neck.
I cleared my throat, self-conscious of the bruising. "Aye, Captain?"
"I want yer side of what happened last night. I got most of everyone else's, now it be yer turn."
"Oh." I stood up awkwardly. He listened attentively, his eyes never leaving me. "Well-"
"I want to hear everything, Al."
"Aye, Captain. I, ah, was serving dinner as usual when I gave... ah..." I was uncomfortable under his intense stare and the last thing I wanted was Knives to have yet another reason to hate me more. "Knives his food. He complained, I gave him a sarcastic remark, he threw me to the table... then there was yelling and that be when you appeared."
"And yer neck?"
I touched it without thinking. "That happened when I got slammed to the table and held down. I see why you keep him around, mighty grip he has." I started wringing my rag. "Anything else, sir?"
Captain stay quiet thinking; his eyes swirling with thought. "What be the argument about?"
I groaned inwardly. "Um, the amount of food." He raised a blonde eyebrow. "He wasn't happy with the ration size. I've had to downsize lately." I held my breath, I didn't want to get into this argument again.
"Okay," He turned to leave when his head turned to face me. "We be docking in three days time."
"Yay!" I cheered, kicking the bucket of dirty water which splashed everywhere. "Shit!" Captain left with a ghost of a smile on his lips as he went to be judge and jury.
I quickly soaked up the pool of water and headed to the bow of the ship to ditched the water. Sarge decided to stay behind with Ace to be scratched. I leaned on the railing and looked out to the horizon. It was magical and looked like it would never end. Freedom it sang to me. I smiled at the word and knew this is where I was meant to be even if I did get into arguments a lot. I took a deep breath of the salty air and turned around to do other jobs. At some point Sarge joined me as I worked; he to catch unwanted pests, and me to fix dinner. Hopefully this time I wouldn't get hurt.