The Pelican moved slowly as the wind was gentle and the sea was calm. Kail checked on Terrence, who was still unconscious. He never really valued him as anything other than a replaceable crew member. He couldn’t look at him anymore that way. He was family, like Foghorn. Like Callaghan was.
After waiting with him for a few minutes, he decided that there was little he could there, and went to check on Faber.
He found him down in the food room piling in more fish. “How’s the hand?”
Faber looked up from his plate, slightly startled by Kail’s voice. “It’s not broken,” he answered, pieces of chewed trout falling from his mouth. He lifted his arm, revealing a gash a few inches wide. “But I wouldn’t mind something to wrap this with.”
Kail grabbed a cloth from the table and tore a strip of it off. He tied it around Faber’s arm, tight enough to stop the blood from seeping out. “You good down here?”
“I’m always good where there’s food.”
Kail smiled and went to find Butterfield. He had something important to say but Kail couldn’t remember what about. He was glad the old man stayed below deck when the Algathians came on board. He asked about, only to find Butterfield curled up in a ball in the hallway. Funny place to take a nap.
Kail had saved the person he really wanted to talk to for last. He found Selestia sitting on the floor in the artifact room. They weren’t really artifacts, but personal possessions of the crew. Paintings, jewelry, fishing rods, anything that was found that someone wanted to keep went into this room. The room was Kail’s idea, but he didn’t utilize it very often.
Selestia looked up him. She was beautiful, though lines of annoyance ran across her face. “What was that smashing I heard up there?” she asked.
He instinctively chose to answer in his usual, vague manner. “Just something large hitting the deck.”
She wasn’t going for it. Her annoyance turned into full scale agitation. “Can you please give me a straight answer?” Her polite words attempted to mask her temporary feelings of malcontent towards him.
He was good at reading people that he knew. He didn’t technically know Selestia, but he felt like he knew her his whole life. He relented under her piercing stare. “Faber and a Viking pirate took a tumble while wrestling and crashed through the deck, and now we’re going to Icithis to repair the damage,” he spat out. “Anything else you would like to know?”
“Just one thing.” She hesitated. “What did you mean, I saved your life?”
“Well these Hawks were chasing me and,” he stopped when she put up her hands.
“No, I know what you said earlier, but I guess what I meant to ask is why?”
He looked at her and genuinely wished he could give a better answer. “I wish I knew that myself.”
Her lips pursed, and her eyes wandered. “Is that the truth?” she asked. “Look me in the eyes and tell me that’s the truth.”
He remembered those words all too well. The same words that she spoke to him before. He took a deep breath. “I don’t know why you saved me, but I wish I did,” he said complying with her request. He could tell from her reaction that she believed him.
