Hello,
Dream travelers,
And welcome to the Story Nexus.
Tonight,
You'll be falling asleep to a story entitled,
The Captain's Steady Bed.
He gazes through the telescope at the huge stone castle along the shore.
His ship is gently swaying as it glides along the ocean toward his childhood home.
The Captain took a long,
Deep breath of salty air.
With Castle Waveborn in sight,
He feels more relaxed already.
This is Captain Cornelius Waveborn.
He is a seafarer and loves nothing more than to travel to faraway lands seeking adventure,
Interesting people to talk to,
And strange things to collect.
Tonight,
However,
He has come home to Castle Waveborn,
Where his steady bed awaits.
Even a lover of the sea,
Like the Captain,
Craves the physical stillness and endless solidness of a stone castle every now and then.
There are other things on the Captain's mind tonight,
Too.
He left Waveborn Castle with some trepidation a few months ago.
Tonight,
Upon his arrival,
He'll be looking for answers to questions he had been wrestling with for weeks.
The lantern in the lighthouse at the tip of the coastline pointed the Captain's way to the docking area in the inlet.
Captain Cornelius lifted his head and gazed at the stars and allowed the ship to slowly make its way closer to the hidden dock.
The moon is hanging low tonight,
As if it was a huge silver coin holding dominion over the dark sea below.
With the grace of a seasoned seafarer that he was,
The Captain unhooked a rope and began dousing the sails like tired wings.
He was approaching the berth at a slow pace following the lanterns swinging near the shore.
The docking area was in a naturally hidden alcove of the cliffs.
Once Captain Cornelius slipped past the coastline,
He would be shielded from all onlookers except those of Castle Wavebourne itself.
Arriving in the inlet without a sound,
The Captain let the anchor slip into the water with a soft splash.
He then battened down the sails and dropped the dinghy into the water.
He got in and rowed himself to the pier and docked the dinghy.
For as long as he could remember,
Captain Cornelius had been anchoring ships and docking boats in this inlet since he was a boy.
For all the years he'd spent venturing,
The Captain always found a way to Castle Wavebourne before the winter storms set in.
Captain Cornelius' boyhood home stood on the headland exactly as it had for centuries.
The castle was quite large,
Sturdy,
Built of gray and white stone,
With ivy climbing the walls and three turrets reaching toward the stars.
No grand banners fly on this castle.
There is only the warm glow of a fire burning in the hearth,
Shining through the windows,
Welcoming him home.
The Captain grabbed the lantern from the hook at the end of the dock and made his way up the flight of steps to the base of the castle.
He felt the crunch of the pebbled stone underneath his boots and listened to the tide wash ashore as he moved along the path.
Slung over his shoulders,
The Captain carried two woven baskets laden with fish,
Silver mackerel,
And bright-eyed sea trout that he'd caught just that morning.
Soon,
However,
The Captain had company,
For down the winding path came Castle Wavebourne's trusty guard dog.
Part security and part companion,
The jovial German Shepherd trotted his way down the path with a small lantern tied to his collar.
He was wagging his tail furiously.
The Captain stopped and smiled.
He bent over and stroked the head of the happy animal.
The dog whimpered and licked at his hands.
The Captain's voice was low and warm as he said,
Just then,
One of the mackerels slid from the basket and plopped down in front of Bronn.
The German Shepherd abruptly stopped his greeting and sniffed the fish.
He then picked it up in his mouth,
Turned around,
And headed back to the castle.
The lantern tied to his collar swayed back and forth as he went.
Captain Cornelius sighed and said to himself,
Ah,
Aye,
Tis always the way.
The journey itself is much longer than its end.
He adjusted the baskets on his shoulders and made his way up to Castle Wavebourne.
Once he arrived at the top of the cliff,
He took one last look around the ocean he sailed in on.
He was grateful for all the ocean had given him.
Adventure,
Food,
Treasures,
And endless waves.
Tonight,
However,
He would sleep in his steady bed.
It was housed in his childhood room.
It was a huge room that he'd inhabited for as far back as he could remember.
He looked forward once again to spending time there.
The heavy oak door creaked open as he entered the castle.
The scent of wood smoke and herbs met him.
The captain called out,
Who's in the lighthouse?
This was a family joke since no one was ever in the lighthouse.
The only time the lighthouse had a visitor besides the occasional seabird was when the groundskeeper,
Gideon,
Would make his way over once a week.
His job was to fill the oil in the large lamp they kept burning in the window at the top.
It was the only time a person set foot in there.
A wave-born family member,
Though,
Hadn't been in the lighthouse for nearly 20 years.
That story is for another time,
Though.
Captain Cornelius made his way into the great room and laid the baskets of fish near the fire.
His mother,
Father,
Grandmother,
And his sister and her husband all came to greet him.
There were laughs,
Slaps on the back,
And hugs and kisses from everyone.
Captain Cornelius discovered his sister Anna and her husband were expecting a child in the spring.
He beamed with delight.
He was happy,
Too,
To see his parents and grandmother in good health.
Then everyone grabbed a fish and began to scale it,
While bunches of sweet herbs were brought down from their hangings so they could be stuffed into the fish as they cooked.
Now seemed the right time for the captain to ask about what had been nagging him for weeks at sea.
He pulled his father aside and asked,
Father,
Do you have word from Marcella?
Marcella was a stunning red-headed woman the captain had been engaged to once.
She called it off before he set sail this last time.
He'd been very confused then about why Marcella had suddenly become distant.
It wasn't like her.
Then she left abruptly,
Leaving only a short note behind.
His father confided that he had no word from Marcella directly,
But the gossip was that she was living with her family in a neighboring town.
Captain Cornelius made a promise to himself to call on Marcella in the next few days.
Soon the fish was ready to put on the fire.
They smelled delicious and cooked quickly.
They all sat down to eat together at a beautiful wood table that the captain's father had carved himself earlier in his life.
It was a treasured family heirloom and often received compliments by visitors to the castle.
They sipped wine and ate fresh bread and dug into the mackerel and sea trout.
There was much chatter as well,
As his family filled Captain Cornelius in on the happenings of Castle Wavebourne since he'd been gone.
The family had acquired a new stallion and several mares.
They looked forward to taking the foals to auction in the spring.
As well,
A new apple tree had been planted in the garden while he was away.
Apples can be very difficult to grow near seawater,
But their groundskeeper Gideon managed to get this tree to bear fruit in the fall.
Then finally supper was over and it was time to draw closer around the hearth.
The captain sat on a wooden stool that he himself had carved as a young teenager.
It was still his favorite.
From his leather satchel,
He took small treasures that he'd found on his travels overseas.
A pink starfish,
A large conch shell,
A coconut fully intact,
A true luxury.
Even a piece of driftwood shaped like a sleeping dragon.
Then it was time for the captain to tell of his tales of his travels.
And this was how it always went.
The family would share the new events with him over supper,
And the rest of the evening would be the captain telling of his adventures across the sea.
There was a land I sailed to where I met shepherds who sing to their flocks every evening.
Their sheep wear small bells around their necks that chime softly when they move.
That way the shepherds never lose one.
The captain took a sip of the hot cocoa his grandmother had made.
She sweetened it with honey and crushed the cacao beans herself.
It was one of the captain's favorite things about coming home.
He had yet to find any other people anywhere on his travels who made hot cocoa like his grandmother.
Captain Cornelius continued his story.
One afternoon I found a huge oak tree and lay beneath it to nap.
While I slept a family of squirrels ran the branches with nuts in their cheeks.
Some of them fell and one landed on my forehead.
I awoke with a start and I swear on Poseidon's trident those little creatures were laughing at me.
The room erupted in laughter.
Everyone pictured the large,
Hardy captain being awakened suddenly by a small family of nut-spitting squirrels.
The captain just smiled,
Shrugged,
And continued.
I took that as a sign I should sail on to the next land.
There I found the people had a custom to share their bread with any stranger who passed.
It is similar to the way we share our fish with our neighbors.
That land in particular reminded me of home.
At this last remark everyone fell silent and stared into the fire.
It crackled softly in return.
Soon the family rose to retire for the night.
They made their way up the stone stairway to their sleeping chambers.
Everyone said their goodnight and closed the doors.
The captain,
However,
Continued up the stairs to the very top of one of the towers.
He opened the door and sighed.
This was his room.
He'd had it for as long as he could remember.
It was massive.
In fact,
It was larger than many of the huts in the villages he'd visited,
And those were for entire families.
The captain said a silent prayer of thanks for this wonderful private space.
And of course,
The room was exactly as he had left it several months earlier.
A heavy wooden bed was against one stone wall.
It was piled high with wool blankets on top of a deep feather mattress.
This was his steady bed.
He couldn't wait to get into it.
He changed into a soft linen nightshirt and made his way under the covers.
Finally,
The captain felt like he could relax and let go of everything he felt he had to hang on to during the day as a seafarer on the water.
It was taxing being a captain of a ship.
He often went on these adventures alone.
He did everything himself.
The most important thing being keeping the ship afloat.
Now,
Though,
He didn't have to worry about anything.
He was in his childhood home with his family.
The bed was solid,
Still,
And warm.
He closed his eyes and began to feel heavy as the weight of the day left him.
The memory of his rocking ship faded away and the quiet laughter of his family melted together into one soft,
Glowing thought behind his eyes.
His breathing grew slower,
Deeper,
Calmer.
As the captain began to drift off to sleep,
Visions of Marcella entered his mind.
She was standing in the field of Castle Waveborn,
Smiling and waving at him.
He stood in the window of his room and waved back.
This was the woman that,
Not long ago,
He was going to marry.
She was now coming into his thoughts,
Welcoming him home.
Just before sleep overtook him,
Captain Cornelius vowed he would discover the reason Marcella so suddenly left his life nearly without a trace and certainly with no explanation.
The captain rolled over in his steady bed and found the deep sleep his body was craving.
And with that,
We'll say goodnight to the captain.
Sweet dreams,
Traveler.
Let it be so.
