Jamie and Mace

      Mason laid on the bunk in his cramped cabin tossing a little wooden ball in the air and catching it over and over again.  Jamie had dug it out of some forgotten corner of the ship, abandoned there since the last Black child had toddled over the deck playing with it.  He had left it with the Prince along with a few books and a tin whistle.

      The Prince had been taught to play the whistle as a child, as well as a violin.  He had never been particularly good at either of them though, so the whistle had remained in its pouch to save the other men on the ship from suffering through whatever he managed to make squeak out of it.

      Feeling as if he would die of boredom, Mason was considering trying a nap just to make time pass faster.  He was putting away the little ball when a quick knock came at his door, and it swung open.

      Jamie stood in the doorway with a grin on his face and chocolate eyes alight with excitement.