Full Sail
(Which, despite the setting and the cameo, is not Hornblower fic, merely random sailor fic. Also written at Lewis and Clark College, inspired by a rose of the name given for the title.)
As he stood on the docks of the ship, a proud and powerful member of the Britanic Royal Navy, he couldn't help but be perfectly content. Here he was, back on the Indy as the ship was commonly called, feeling the floor rock gently beneath his feet, smelling the tang of the salt in the air, hearing the regular snap of the sails and the periodically caught the breeze. They had yet to leave port, but the scruffy, bronzed sailor already felt like he was back home on the seas.
He found himself staring into the ocean's depths and his mind slowly drifted back to a time before he had discovered the love of the ocean, when his love had been for something else someone else. A pale girl, quiet, but with brown eyes that had shone with life whom he had met in Liverpool years and years ago. She had died finally; it was her pallor and not the brightness in her eyes that had accuratly presented her health.
To the man's dismay, he found himself unable to remember many details about the her; it had been too long, too much had happened to him, but one thing stuck out in his mind: she had loved roses. Not the blood-red ones with their deep, evocotive scent, not the eye-catching pink blooms that dazzled in the sun, but simple white roses with pure, full petals open and smiling to the world.
"Morgan!"
The shout knocked him out of his reverie, and her straightened quickly and turned around. "Sir?" He found himself facing a lieutenant, quite the superior.
"We will be setting sail soon. How about making yourself useful?" The tone was commanding but not harsh.
The sailor couldn't help but smile at the announcement. "Yes, Mr. Hornblower."
The other man left and Morgan found his eyesight transfered from downward to upward to the unfurling sails, which in that moment reminded him of the falling petals of his sweetheat's favorite roses.