"So, what's it like growing up in the Monastery?" Anita asked.

She voiced her question in little more than a whisper, and it was a accompanied by a great deal of sloshing as the ship's engineer turned over in her bath. Clarissa, in her own tub a few feet away, reluctantly sat up to ensure her head was over the sides.

"I didn't think much of it before now," Clarissa said. "Was mostly lessons, six days a week. We studied writing and math, the history of the isles, some science. We specialize when we turn seventeen, I'm supposed to pick mine when I get back from the Shield."

"Specialize?" Anita asked.

"Medicine, engineering, research, history, that sort of thing. The services the Monastery offers the isles. I'm honestly not sure which I should take." Clarissa admitted. She looked at her hands, rubbed raw by the work of the last few hours. "I might not take up engineering if it involves so much shovelling."

"Rather doubt a monastery engineer wouldn't have lackeys aplenty to do the grunt work," Anita said, and she leaned on the rails with her arms dangling over the sides. "But I don't mind saying I'm envious of the chance to choose your way."

Her statement left Clarissa stammering in astonishment. "You didn't choose to become an engineer?" she asked.

"Mechanic. I ain't accredited by any of the guilds, or by the monastery," Anita said.

"Really? But you're, well, you're amazing! You seem to know that engine like the back of your hand."

"I helped build her," Anita admitted. "But I didn't come to run engines and machines by choice. Been working on ships and engines since I was young enough to pick up a wrench. Had to."

"Your parents forced you into it?" Clarissa asked.

"Only to keep me with them. I spent my childhood on a corsair's cove. You know what that is?" Anita asked.

Clarissa recognized the term, but only from textbooks. She had a feeling Anita wouldn't appreciate a bookish answer to a story she had lived. "It's a small island dominated by a pirate band of some kind, isn't it?"

"You've read a bit about 'em," Anita said. She scowled and huffed slowly and looked at her hands. "Pirates ain't the kindest sort under the sky, and often make life decisions for other people at the end of a pistol. Since most of the big islands outlawed slavery, the trade hasn't been what it used to be. But when a corsair claims a small freighter as a prize, your life might not belong to you anymore. It's how my parents ended up on that island; the pirates needed a mechanic and my parents had the skills they needed. Easy to keep someone once you're on one of the small islands, all you need to do is make sure they never reach the boat. My mum was carrying me when it happened, and they taught me machines so I wouldn't be dragged off for whatever else they needed."

"How did you end up here?" Clarissa asked.

"I tinker with things. One day, I made myself a glider, and the first time they sent me on a ship as their mechanic, I leapt over the side and aimed for the first ship I could see. Took six hours, nearly died doing it, but I landed on the deck of a Volante sloop called 'The Hood', Captain and Mercy's ship. They took me in, and two years later, showed me the Ravens' Child while she was still being built. Haven't been separated from her long ever since."

"Wow. You just jumped off the side of the ship? With nothing but a glider?" Clarissa's mouth hung open, and she only noticed when she tasted soap as bubbles slid down from her cheek. "That is the bravest thing I've ever heard of!"

"Then Mercy ain't told you how she got that scar yet. Nor has Leslie shared how he got us the steel for this hull. Captain's got a few stories during his years in Volante's fleet. Heck, even Tonya did braver that day we first met her," Anita disagreed, and she leaned back into the tub.

"Oh." Clarissa reflected on the story Mercy had told her just last night. "No, I guess you're right."

"Not saying it ain't brave, just that I'm in rather august company in that department," Anita said, and she held out her hand to Clarissa. "And today wasn't too bad for you, either. You ran the Child through the Pillars and shot a Corsair hunter. That's a good story for your first flight, and we still have a ways to sail yet."

Whatever Clarissa might have asked next was forever silenced by a knock at the door. The knock was followed quickly by the turn of a latch, and the door swung partially open.

"I have lunch," Leslie said from the door. Clarissa shrieked and shrank back into the tub, warring between being mortified and murderous. The impulse dissipated somewhat when a plate of food lead the way inside, followed by the ship's gunnery officer wearing a scarf wrapped around his eyes.

"Sorry about this, thought you'd both prefer it warm. Tonya's at the wheel, and Mercy's been asleep for the last hour. Could've asked the captain, I suppose. Or Yannick." Leslie chuckled at the last thought, and gave a quick shake of his head. "Not sure he'd have taken that well."

Anita laughed, but Clarissa sat up a little and asked, "Who's Yannick? I keep hearing the name."

"He's the ship's navigator. Best guide through the endless blue a crew could hope for. He's been a bit pouty last couple of days, with all the course changes we keep taking," Anita said, as she began to tap the side of the tub gently. Leslie walked over at the sound, and stopped with surprising precision beside her, lowering a plate slowly.

"Thank you, Leslie," Anita purred as she took the plate. Clarissa noticed, finally, that Leslie was carrying three plates when he took one of the two he was carrying on his left arm, and shifted it to his right hand.

"Clarissa?" Leslie asked without turning his head.

"Straight behind you," Anita replied, as she put a bit of food in her mouth. "Three steps."

Leslie spun around, light on his feet, and took three steps towards Clarissa. Clarissa followed Anita's example and tapped on the rim of the bathtub a few times, and Leslie lowered a plate down to her.

This close, Clarissa found herself aware again of how big the man was. His arms were comfortably as thick as her legs, with hands that looked capable of crushing walnuts. When she took the plate from him, she could see his knuckles and fingers were heavily scarred, and his forearms had the markings of several old burns.

Taking the plate, Clarissa settled back into the bath happily to examine its contents. "Thank you Leslie," she said.

Leslie set the third plate down beside the tub. "Would one of you take that to Yannick, when you get the chance? I have the next watch, so I'm on the top deck for the next while. Reports from the Grey Fleet suggest raiders have taken to hiding in the forests past the pillars."

"No chances on the monastery job," Anita recited the captain's orders. "How long till we pass Volante and hit the slipstream in full?"

"Another five hours at the rate we're going. Captain's a bit worried though, thinks we might have to pass near the Ruins," Leslie said.

"Fall forever, I hope not," Anita said.

"What are the ruins?" Clarissa asked.

"Something we won't have to look at, hopefully," Leslie said. He turned around, and walked back to the door, holding out his hands as he went. He reached the door with surprising directness, fumbled a moment for the latch, then opened the door just enough to slip through.

"Well, eat up," Anita said as she leaned back. "Best to get that to Yannick reasonably soon."

"Wait, I have to do it?" Clarissa pushed herself up and looked over at Anita to see if she was kidding.

From the solemn expression on her face, Clarissa suspected the woman was quite serious. "Leslie gave you an assignment. You're crew, and he's the gunnery officer, basically second mate. Unless his orders contradict something the captain or Mercy said, you do the job. You have a problem with his orders, you take it up the chain of command."

"But he said 'one of us'," Clarissa countered. "Leslie made Yannick sound somewhat awkward socially, and he's never seen me before. Wouldn't it be better for him if you went?"

"Yannick ain't an Obervarian Vase, and it's past time he met you," Anita said. She waved her hand dismissively and kept eating. "Don't rush yourself, finish your lunch and all. He's on the aft end of the ship, last door down this hall. One of the few rooms on this ship with a window."

"I thought most of the rooms of the ship were inside, with the halls running around the outside of the ship?" Clarissa asked.

"Most of them are," Anita said. "Yannick's the exception to a lot of rules around here. You'll understand why when you meet him."