Viola

Cards

The last question was asked by Victor, who had not been invested in why or how I had returned and was simply finding a way to pass his time.

"Yes." I finally answered firmly. "How do you play?"

I'd never touched a deck of cards in my life.

The game was, apparently called pitch. They started naming numbers after receiving nine cards each and when it came to be my turn, I had no idea which number to name.

Fahad had named four, Kaito five, Victor six, and I said nothing.

"If you think you can get seven points, say so. If not, pass." Victor said.

"How do you get points?"

Victor groaned.

"Aaron!" He waved to a bearded man with a hawk nose. "Teach her how to play."

He knelt next to me and told me to pass.

"And then what?" I looked at him.

"I tell you what to do,"

Victor won the bid, apparently. Then he called the suit as 'diamonds.'

"What's a suit?" I whispered.

"The type of card. There's clubs, spades, diamonds, and hearts." Aaron pointed to each one as he named them. "You get rid of every card but diamonds, opposing jack, and jokers,"

"What?"

Clearly, there was a lot to learn, but several minutes later and I could tell you the point values and power order of each suit. It was a mental game for sure: there was so much to keep track of.

It made me wonder why father didn't allow cards to be played. If it was such a good mental exercise, then why were they sinful?

"Madeleine," Aaron's patient voice reminded me it was my turn.

I played a four.

Fahad played a three.

Kaito played a seven.

Victor took the deck, separating it into point cards and nonpoint cards. Threes were worth the most, but were so low on the order of power it was foolish to play them if the person across from you played a less than leading card.

You and the person across were on a team of sorts. Collusion wasn't allowed, but your points were tallied together.

Victor laid a king.

I played a colored joker, mouthing apologies to Kaito whose face remained stony as ever.

Opposing jack.

Two.

Kaito kept his card and started our own little point pile.

Victor and Fahad won that round. And the next. And the next.

But by some stroke of luck, Kaito and I won the next one.

Aaron informed me they played to fifty-two points, then again.

Some time later, Fahad stepped out and Aaron took his place.

Then Kaito stepped out and was replaced by Beni.

It was Victor and I left, and he showed no signs of slowing or stopping.

I wondered if the Lady Captain knew about this habit and what she thought of it. She probably knew. It seemed like the Lady Captain knew everything and did nothing about any of it.

It was nearly sunrise when I finally stopped playing. I wasn't good, by any means. Victor was obviously the master card player of them all and I was at the very bottom of the totem pole. But at least I knew the rules.

Of one game, at least.

The crew laughed as I collapsed into my hammock.

"If you were that tired, you should've stopped earlier!" one called.

I slept.

The next day kept me busy with sewing and mending until finally, after dinnertime (these pirates ate, by standard, one noontime meal per day, but I often ate dinner with Henri in the kitchen), the Lady Captain called a meeting.

I didn't see her often. It seemed our conversations were confined within the doors of her bedroom, and outside it I was just another of her valued pirate crew.

But every time I saw her visage it was as if it was the first time. She cut an impressive figure, tall, lithe, solid. Burgundy coat with the collar turned up with both a sword around her waist and a pistol in her pocket. And of course, the hat. The hat of a British navyman, large and important. It commanded attention and conveyed importance. The eye couldn't help but absorb it all.

The meeting was to discuss their next course of action, as one person in particular who shouldn't be mentioned even though everyone knows who she is very kindly ruined it.

She did not mention that point of view, but it underlined the entire meeting, acknowledged yet unspoken.

"All in favor of selling before raiding?"

A few pirates raised their hands.

"All in favor of raiding before selling again?"

This time, more pirates raised their hands. I raised my hand too, wanting to be the least controversial person on board, wanting to sink into the mass as best I could.

Like most things I planned recently, it didn't seem to work out.

"Madeleine," The Lady Captain addressed me, savoring my name in her mouth and letting it dissolve partially before letting it escape like a particularly catchy tune.

A torrent of fear swept my body. "Yes?"

"As the one who knows nearly firsthand why we did not sell our total bounty, your opinion on our next matter seems pertinent."

Her voice reminded me of a lawyer who had courted me over a year ago, when I was seventeen. My parents were anxious to arrange a match for me, but the man had slipped away by then.

"Care to share it?"

I answered too slowly. "Of-of course,"

I rose to my feet having been sitting on the floor below the others, who had made chairs for themselves of barrels and rails and sacks.

"I think-" I started.

There was no end to my sentence.

I scanned the crew.

They were interested.

I had to find the end as I went along.

"I think to sell only a few items would bring in much less of a profit in the long run than stealing them selling. Yes, selling a few is less profitable than selling more initially, but stealing-"

A pirate next to me coughed and it sounded suspiciously like 'repossessing.'

"Excuse me, sorry. Repossessing more items not only gets the crew back on track to the usual rhythm, it also fulfills the next city's confidence in sales,"

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Mademoiselle." I ended my speech.

A pirate's head turned to the Lady Captain and I realized my mistake.

Heat flushed to my cheeks.

"I mean Madame. No, Captain. I mean Captain."

I nearly fell back down to my spot on the floor.

The Lady Captain raised an eyebrow and I wondered how she could convey so many emotions with a single sardonic gesture. There was surprise, disappointment, concern, and maybe I was imagining it, but respect as well.

"That reasoning seems to be sound. All in favor of Madeleine's plan?"

All pirates raised their hands.

"Wonderful." She clapped her hands together, dark eyes dancing. "We raid in two days' time. Madeleine, I need a word or so with you."

She beckoned me into her bedroom.