New reader? Start here.
Back to Part 007 – Forward to Part 009
For six hours every day, The Rose belonged to Xiphos. While the crew slept, during the First and Mid shifts, Xiphos was the only crew member awake, and thus, though no one said it, Xiphos was acting captain. Cait was happy to let Xiphos take on this position. She could remember herself at Xiphos’s age, and knew Xiphos functioned best at these times. Cait had often stayed up until four in the morning when she was that young, which had made study at the Academy in Archertown difficult.
That was usually how things went, until this leg of the trip. In the last few days, Xiphos had noticed Toby out in the quiet hours of the night, sneaking up to the kitchen in the guest quarters to make himself something to eat, and then sauntering back down his bunk. Xiphos avoided him, standing silent in darkness just outside the guest quarters, waiting her turn.
This was also Nina time, when Nina wanted it to be. Sometimes she’d steal Xiphos away from the bridge. Sometimes she was content to sit with Xiphos at the controls, talking quietly until the Morning Shift started.
The captain’s door opened, and Cait stepped out, washing the bridge with the pale light from Cait’s office. Xiphos squinted; she kept the bridge’s lights low, especially when they ran close to the surface. Cait tilted her head, and closed the door behind her, returning Xiphos’s domain to the low lights of the controls. Cait staggered to the empty navigator’s chair next to Xiphos and slumped down into it.
“How are we sailing?” Cait asked. Her voice cracked just a little, her eyes heavy with lack of sleep.
Xiphos pulled her knees up to her chest. “It’s mostly quiet, sir. Most talk tonight is about news.”
Cait yawned. “Anything interesting?”
“There’s a major tropical storm system brewing just north of Beiguo. Yr’s missing its goddess…” Xiphos’s ear twitched. “The New Archer Revolutionaries seem to have disappeared, too.”
Cait nodded. “Perhaps Manni herself has taken the goddess.”
Ahead of them, another sub slowly emerged in the haze of the water, its lights visible first, and then its sleek body. It rumbled past them, heading back towards New Haven. Cait read its flags on screen, but seemed to find nothing of interest.
“And what of our pirate attack?”
“Wasn’t Burian Lake.” Xiphos tilted one of her screens towards Cait. “A pirate, but not Burian Lake. Other than that, nothing on the report. The area’s gone quiet now.”
Cait read over the report. It was nothing exciting, just a few lines of specifics about the attack, what was taken, and a few quotations from Ocean Guard officials. Xiphos could guess when Cait got to the part where the Guard stated that pirates liked to use Lake’s name because terrified merchants into giving up their cargo: Cait rolled her eyes and pushed the monitor back to Xiphos. And then she sat quietly, staring out the portal into the darkness of the ocean.
“No Nina tonight?”
Xiphos hadn’t expected that. Her ears dropped. “Sir? Nina?”
“Usually, she’s stolen you away by now.”
Xiphos swallowed hard. She tried to hide herself in her monitors. “No, sir. Not tonight.” Her mouth pulled shut tight, and she watched Cait out of the corner of her eye.
Cait gave an interested “hmmm…”
“Sir, I’m sorry,” Xiphos said. “I didn’t mean to hide anything from you, sir. I mean it. I really like Nina, and we have a good connection, and it was both our choices and I didn’t think it would be a bad thing, and-”
Cait reached over and rested her hand on Xiphos’s arm. “I’m not upset, dear. Nina is a good girl. She is a good balance for you.”
Xiphos pulled into herself. She watched Cait, the fur on her face flush, tinged slightly red. “Sir?”
“Xiphos, dear, I’m the captain. Do you think I would not have noticed by now?” Cait patted the girl’s arm. “I am not angry. If she makes you happy, then by all means… Just don’t let her interfere with your job.”
Xiphos nodded. She folded her arms on top of her knees and tried to will away her shaking. For a moment, the two of them let silence have the bridge. The Rose moved onwards, leaving their conversation behind.
“Are you not sleeping, sir?”
Cait tilted her head at Xiphos. “Not tonight, it would seem.”
Xiphos nodded, letting another silent moment slip between them. She checked a few dials on her monitors.
“May I ask you a personal question, sir?”
“Of course, dear.”
“Are you okay?”
Cait turned to face Xiphos. “That is a serious question.”
Xiphos dropped her eyes. “Sorry.” She waited for a response from Cait, and when she got none, she said, “It’s just that, you’re not sleeping. You never don’t sleep.”
“I’m fine,” Cait said. “What brings this up all of a sudden?”
“Sometimes,” Xiphos said, not looking at Cait, “I worry about you.”
“Xiphos, dear,” Cait said, placing her hand on the girl’s arm again, “you should never let me worry you. It is a bout of insomnia, and it will go away once we are headed off to deliver our cargo.”
“Once we are away from Anchorhead…” Xiphos said, mumbling into her arms.
Cait breathed a sharp sigh out her nose. “Yes.” She fixed a hardened stare out the bubble.
Xiphos nodded. “I’m sorry, sir. It won’t come up again.”
“Nonsense,” Cait said. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. Especially coming from you, dear. I would like to see you put that much consideration into how you treat young Tobias.”
The cat nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on the monitors. “Yes, sir.”
“When I put you in charge of him, I meant what I had said. And I did not do so because I thought you were incapable of that level of protection.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, then.” Cait stood and stretched. “Would you like some tea, dear? I am up for good now, I may as well get things done.”
“Yes sir. Please.” Xiphos heard the little electric kettle click on in Cait’s office. In front of her, the water had started to brighten, so slowly she hadn’t noticed it until now. Sometime in the past few minutes, they had strayed into the Morning watch. In a few hours, they’d be in Anchorhead.
[g]
Wait.. was that a Manni reference?
That was, in fact, a Manni reference. And I can’t even begin to into why it’s there, but there it is. We’ll get there eventually.
Good eye!
UGH you say that about EVERYTHING!
i’m so frustrated
Yeah, it’s totally like a year away, too…
whaaaaat
dude, you better give me something, I don’t think I can wait that long.