Then, with just a pack to her name once more, Vi emerged into the early morning.
She made her way through the narrow streets and alleyways of the compact city down to the docks. Vi instantly knew which ship was theLady Black. It bore Twintle’s family crest on an oversized sail.
“And what’ll you be wanting?” A gruff sailor sitting at the end of the gangplank stopped her as she approached.
“I’m here to see Lord Twintle,” Vi said in Mhashanese, hoping to earn some favors with the man.
“You really think the Lord sleeps on a ship when he has the comforts of port?”So much for winning him over.
“Then I’d like to speak with the man named Cole.”
“That’s cap, captain, or Captain Dower to you,” the sailor corrected.
“May I please see Captain Dower?”
The sailor stared her down for several long seconds, spit something he’d been chewing into the strip of water between the boat and the dock, and finally pushed away from the pylon he’d been leaning on. “All right, green gills, come along. You’d best hope it’s something good to be troubling the captain this early.”
Vi followed him onto the main deck of a narrow ship. She was instantly reminded of theDawn Skipper. TheLady Blackwas a little larger, designed to carry more cargo, but both vessels had clearly been designed with speed in mind.
“You wait here,” the sailor ordered, disappearing into the captain’s quarters at the stern for a minute before reemerging with the man Vi recognized from the night before as Cole—Captain Cole Dower, she now gathered. “This is the one looking for you, sir.”
“Thank you.” Cole dismissed the man and looked Vi up and down. “You had two others with you last night.”
“They decided the high seas are a bit too intimidating for them.”
“So the scrawniest came instead.” Cole shook his head and turned away. “Go home, girl.”
“No.” Vi stood firm. But the man didn’t so much as glance over his shoulder. When he continued toward his cabin, Vi had no choice but to scamper after him. “I said I would not leave.”
“Well, there’s no room for you here.” Cole opened the door and disappeared into his cabin, leaving Vi standing on deck, a bit dazed.
This was a test. Her trial period had begun and they were going to see how determined she really was.
Vi did a quick scan of the deck and then started toward a man who was pulling out a bucket and mop. The ship was fairly quiet in port. But that didn’t mean there weren’t chores that needed doing.
“Give me those.”
“Who are you?” the man asked, but he was already handing her the mop.
“Your new crew mate,” Vi declared, hoping she’d be right by the end of the day. “When I’m done with this, what can I do next?”
The man gave her a long list. After she finished swabbing the deck, Vi coiled rope and sanded a portion of the wall underneath one of the windows in the crew’s quarters. She worked without question or comment other than, “What’s next?” or “What else can I do?” until the sun hung low in the sky. The narrow opening to the cargo hold kept catching her eye, but Vi ignored it, for now.
If there was one thing she’d learned, it was how to be patient.
“I thought I told you to go home.”
“I’m almost done with this for the day,” Vi replied, not even looking back to confirm what she already knew from the voice alone: Captain Dower had come to check in on her.
“I have no pay or berth for you. Go home.”
“I don’t have a home, sir,” Vi said. The feeling of Taavin’s arms, closing tightly around her, filled her mind. He was the only home she had.
“Is that supposed to illicit sympathy from me?”
“No,” Vi answered, dipping her brush into the heavy paint and caking it onto the wall she’d spent the better part of the afternoon sanding down. “I’m merely stating facts.”
“Then my facts remain as well: I have no room for you. Now, off my boat,” he growled.
