The Nine Oceans

Chapter 6

Korball

Duke Mont stood in the narrow passage, gathering his wits and patience before having to go above deck and pretend to be a spoiled twit. At least as Duke he could be as rude and ill tempered as dealing with people usually made him feel.

Footsteps out of sync with docking and offloading caught his attention. He stepped into the darkest shadow the halls of his mother's ship offered and waited for the footsteps to approach and then pass where he was standing. "Halt and identify yourself," Justin whispered, then fought back a grin as his younger cousin – mostly a brother, if he was honest – froze in place and raised his hands to his shoulders with fingers splayed wide to prove them empty.

"I'm not here to cause harm, cousin," Bernard replied, also whispering, and not turning. He made certain to emphasize the family relation, as if it was actually possible for Justin not to recognize him.

"You'd be more gearblocked than usual to try causing harm," Justin countered. "Mother's here on business and pulled me off the Gem to come with her. My alternative was going home to play Duke, though, so here I am."

"Playing Duke in Korball instead?" Bernard shot a quick grin over his shoulder as Justin seemed to melt out of the darkest shadow in the tight passage. The older of the two head locked the younger and pulled him, both chuckling, the short distance to Justin's cabin.

"So now you know why I'm in Dalk. What are you doing here? Mother didn't mention you when she enlisted me." Justin only spoke once the door was safely closed. He didn't know who else knew Bendy was here, and didn't want to cause trouble if the wrong people found out first. Bernard produced a small pouch he'd had secured flat against his stomach and handed it to Justin.

"Dad had me jump ship to the Cally to check up on Elsie, remember? Rita jumped to the Gem so you'd all still have a surgeon," Bernard reminded his cousin as Justin eyed up the gems.

"I recall," Justin replied. "So why are you here?"

"The Lindy carried the payroll this season for the northern complement of Korball's navy," Bernard said as he walked over to Justin's closet to start going through his clothes. "You know Elsie's bosun is the only other blueback my sister trusts for payroll thieving, and it didn't take a ship's surgeon to figure out she's too pregnant at the moment for dodging around on a Korball navy ship."

"Right. I forgot Jenna was expecting. Well, Lynn will appreciate getting this after a slow summer." Justin tossed the pouch back. "And I already heard a couple dock rumors that the stranded Lindy allowed a stow-away prisoner, thief and suspected saboteur to escape. Why did you let them catch you?"

"Less of letting them, and more of getting turned around on board and having to play stow-away," Bernard admitted. Justin cocked an eyebrow at him. "I'm a surgeon, not a bosun. I keep the layouts for the internals of people in my mind, not of ships, remember?"

"Right."

"Anyway, I nabbed the payroll and then the Lindy ended up having really awful leak problems just off Madam Isabelle's estate. One of their dry dock portals. The hole is proving incredibly difficult to patch," Bernard said with a shrug, clicking the ratchets back in place to hold the pouch against his skin. "Likely because they've suffered a draught's worth of bandit trouble since being stranded. I've been staying in Madam Isabelle's walls for the past five and a half weeks while the navy's camped on the beach, fixing and re-fixing their ship."

"Sounds convenient for your one-sided romance. What of your silent penpal?" Justin chided.

*****

"Not as silent as you think," Bernard said, handing over the few letters he'd decided to bring. Ariadne had given him her entire eight year stack a couple of days after he'd arrived, and he'd read through all of them. He knew, when questioned by his family, the four he carried with him today explained everything the best when combined with his own side of the tale, which he recited while Justin was reading.