A Weather Eye on the Horizon

A Weather Eye on the Horizon (19)

all right.... what if i promise that i won't babble this time? then you guys can read faster! excellent!

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A Few Days Later

Dear little book,

Today I was out on the deck, talking casually with Fitz and coiling a rope. Someone walked up to me. It was Piotr. He’d been avoiding me since the incident. I think he realized that David and I are friends again. I don’t know. He told me a little awkwardly that the captain wished to see me. I straightened up, glancing up automatically. I saw the figure of David swinging jauntily from a rope. I gritted my teeth. “All right,” I muttered. Piotr walked away. Fitz looked at me.

“You all right, love?” he asked.

“Yessir,” I answered, making him grin. I hesitated, then, as Fitz said gently, “Best not to keep him waiting, lass,” I walked off in the direction of his cabin. I knocked timidly on the door, and then barged right in anyway. Who cares? He looked a little surprised to see me.

“Ah, love, sit down, will ye?” he asked.

I ignored this, standing in the middle of the room. I put on my haughtiest voice. “What do you wish, sir?”

He looked slightly awkward, for the first time I’d come across him. “I want to apologize,” he said, and I stared at him. “For – ah – a couple days ago…”

I stood there a moment, too surprised to speak. “It shouldn’t be me you’re apologizing to,” I said. “I mean, you should, and thank you, but don’t you think David deserves one too?”

“Who?” The captain’s face was blank. I felt a surge of anger rising inside of me.

“Your cabin boy,” I snapped. “The dark haired one? Who looks about seventeen?”

His face cleared. “Oh, him,” he said offhandedly. “What about it?”

I blazed, “He’s the one who took your punishment!”

There was a silence. Calico Jack looked shocked. “Oh” was all he could get out. I gritted my teeth, not for the first time that day, and probably not for the last, either. “Well…” He glanced around. “I’ll make it up to him… You have to understand, girl, it’s all part of a ship’s life, ye know.”

I could have screamed in fury. I just glared at him and snapped, “But neither of us did anything!” and then stalked out of his cabin. Seppi, one of the crew, was right outside and he stared at me in surprise.

“Why, love, I’ve never seen anything like that before!”

I glared at him before stomping back on deck. Fitz looked over at me but I ignored him. Instead, I climbed into the rigging, where I sat, feeling the sea breeze on my face and breathing in the fresh air. I could feel myself relaxing, but I suddenly felt the deepest sense of homesickness. This isn’t where I belong.

But there is nothing I could – can – do about it.

Next Day

Dear little book,

I believe today is the eighteenth of September. I do not want to believe it; can it have been that long since I was at home? I was captured by the William on June eighth, according to you, little book. That’s more than four months that have gone by. Who knows how long it will be still?