Tearlach mutters, hollers at the first mate "Whitlow, you have the deck", and heads below to find Paolo. Ideally, he'd've sent Whitlow to find the sailor and bring him up, but his legs are all pins-and-needles from standing in one place, and he wants to stretch them.
Paolo isn't in his bunk, or anywhere else below decks, except the places Tearlach can't easily check. He can probably reasonably eliminate being with Aodhan's or Tintavius's quarters, so that leaves Talia's...
Tearlach rolls his eyes. I thought he was just boxing the bald monk -- looks like he decided to give it some exercise instead. He grits his teeth and goes knocking on Talia's door.
Muffled voices can be heard as Tealarch knocks, which stop abruptly. The door opens and Talia can be seen behind her desk. Paolo can't be seen, but it's easy to tell he's trapped behind the open door and the massive desk in this part of Talia's quarters. Several pieces of parchment can be seen on Talia's desk. "Yes, captain?"
Tearlach leans back on his heels. "I'm missing my crow's nest lookout. Paolo. He's on afternoon watch, and it's just struck six bells. Was wondering when you were going to be finished with him."
"Paolo is a bit more of a crow's nest lookout, captain. He's primarily my Loremaster. He just enjoys the crow's nest. One of his long standing orders from me, is to keep an eye out for sources of Arcane interest. When we get out of the pleasantly calm waters of the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic, I'm asking him to keep an eye out for anything that might match the accounts of Himilco, a Carthaginian explorer of antiquity. It occurred to me that we will essentially be following his course. Carthaginian explorers navigated by the stars, much as we do, or should I say Paolo does, and we have little fear of leaving sight of land and not knowing where we are, much like the Carthagininans and Phoenicians of antiquity."
The air between Tearlach and Talia grows thick. Talia arches her eyebrows a and stares back at the captain, with just a hint of a smile appearing at the corner of her mouth.
((Wow, how did I miss this? Sorry about that.))
Tearlach nods slowly. "All right. I'll rearrange the watch bills to give him time for his observations." He turns and takes a step away, only to swing right back around. "Wait a moment. Navigate by the stars, ye said. Can yer magic clear the sky when it's overcast?"
"No, not as a rule. But it's not cloudy every day now, is it? And we're fully provisioned, with water and food, so being out of sight of land isn't that dangerous. If we lose sight of stars and land both, we drop anchor for the night, or a few nights." Talia takes a deep breath. "Captain, we're going to do our best to avoid the Bay of Biscay. The weather is too unpredictable this time of year and the numerous shallows coupled with the propensity for June weather to be foggy all make it a place best to avoid. So, once we reach the Northern part of the Iberian peninsula, we're going to sail due more or less north by northwest. You've wanted to see what your crew can do, well, soon it will be time for them to show you."
((I'm assuming Talia meant north by northeast, since we're not going to Greenland. 
))
Tearlach hmmms, chewing thoughtfully on his beard. "Just cut straight across till we sight Ushant or Land's End, and then swing into the Channel? Doable. I'd not want to do it with a normal ship, mind, but with this one, ye can do all sorts of fun tricks." He considers. "I'll likely need to request yer presence on deck to control the winds as we're passing Dover. The Straits are a cast-iron bitch even in the best of weather."
"True, but I'm a tougher bitch." She smiles at Tearlach, and continues, "My goal is to enchant a ship, but I might have to, in the meantime, enchant parts of the ship that will let you have similar capabilities. If you had your druthers, I'm sure you'd pick the ability control the wind, am I right?"
Tearlach leans one shoulder against the doorframe, and considers for a few seconds. "Control the wind. Smooth out the waves: if we don't have to deal with the cross-chop from yer wind meeting the real ones, I could get another two knots out of her, easy. Mebbe make the yards stay dry in all weather, so it's not so hellish easy to slip? Make the ropes easier to haul on so the sailors don't rupture themselves playing pulley-hauley? Mine arse on a bandbox, commodore, I could give ye a list as long as me co... arm."
((I had meant for it to be a priority question, and left first out of her statement... What would he want enchanted, first? Part of my problem as a player is a bit of analysis paralysis. And though Talia is decisive about what to do, I am not. ))
((Probably the wind first. I looked that spell up on the wiki: it doesn't veer with the ship AND you can change the direction of it by concentrating. That's extremely useful and doesn't have any downsides I can think of. There is the aforementioned cross-chop, but that's not that much of a problem. ))
"By next summer I could create a lesser device out of a ship's sail that creates its own wind." Tailia is pretty well booked for the rest of the year. She's ensuring that she has the necessary spells to collect Vis from Nessie. And also taking the time to study the book on Magic Theory, which she has ended up giving up for some reasonable and valid alternatives. Even still, Tearlach will have the cask, one of the chamber pots, and the Vitalizer of Provisions.
Paolo goes above decks and resumes his watch, but to do so, he has to close the door a ways and shimmy through, which isn't all that tough for him.
"Captain... There is one task aboard ship you have not yet undertaken. If you'd like, I could tie you up again... She speaks in Latin for a moment and conjures a coil of what appears to be sturdy vine. "Or we could have a bit of role reversal, if you'd like." She grins lasciviously.
(( Tearlach is oddly resistant to the idea, and his player isn't quite sure why. Give me a bit to have a heart-to-heart chat with him, please? I'll post when I'm done. ))
((Ohh...that could be interesting, too! And I actually kind of hoped for/expected a no.
Curse of Venus
))
(( I thought Curse of Venus was more towards romantic relationships, not casual liaisons. Want to let me know in more detail why you hoped for a 'no'? Were you thinking about Talia as the pursuer and Tearlach as the pursued, or the other way around?))
((It has two forms. The character falls for the wrong kind of person, and you attract the kind of person you do not wish to attract. It is perhaps, the one way he can hold some measure of power of Talia, and still hold her respect.))