Sighing to yourself, you leaned up against a bulkhead carefully. Aleksander was still off doing Captain Things, probably setting a course and manning the bridge like he always did. Not your problem, personally. Nobody wanted the chief of the espatiers to stand around looking bored, considering the amount of grief that your boys would make. They were quite good at that, really. Warmed your heart, not that it was particularly hard. The Valdostas had always had thin frames and thin blood, and just because you were a girl didn't change any of that.
That didn't change the fact you were Lucia Valdosta, head of Espatiers, and you desperately needed something to do. Sighing, you just headed off to the Espatier Quarters on the topdeck of the citadel. Boredom, as your old teacher had said, meant you obviously needed to be doing more training. To be fair to the old man, you did need to push further. Those Gras that Alek had gotten you were still sitting in their crates, since holding a firing drill on the topdeck would be problematic in the Aether, and in most cases flat-out not allowed. That said, you needed to get to it. Whether to drill or not to drill, that was the question. To suffer the slings and arrows of your best friend's rage, or by taking up arms to soothe it?
"Hey, Lucia!"
And here came Donald! An excellent way to break your moral quandry. Grinning, you leaned up on the bulkhead. "Donald, what brings you to my neck of the woods?"
"Lauri's gotten sick, actually." The First Mate said, frowning. "We need you to run a guns drill on the topdeck. The bearers on the ammo team have the blanks laid out already, so it shouldn't be a huge problem."
"Lauri's sick?"
"Yeah, something from the mess set him off. Czeslawa's gotten him dosed up in the medical bay, but that's only worth so much. Don't want him near the guns when he's like this."
You shook your head, sighing. "He's stubborn, like all of us. This is a good job- we can't loose it."
"And we won't. If I know one thing, the only thing to get Alek to give up this ship is another one, or loosing it entirely. Fought tooth and nail to get the
Carolina Anahiem, and this ship is no different."
"He's serious about his dream, isn't he?" you asked rhetorically. "I remember flying with him, and he was always the safest pilot I knew."
"Flying is his life. I was talking with Mrs. van Riebeck once, back before they had the manor house, and he never touched the ground until he was three. She lived on the ship with Caspar until she was ready for Alek's sister to be born-"
You fell off the wall and into Donald like a thunderbolt. "He has a sister?!"
As the young man's face stilled, you sensed you'd hit an old nerve. "Had. She was with his father for an early midshipman's cruise, and…"
The silence spoke volumes. When you'd run cargo with Alek, he'd never mentioned a sister, and trying to pry anything out of him on his father was like pulling teeth. You knew he had disapeered in an accident, though, some… eight years ago, thereabouts…
"Oh no." you muttered, the pieces falling together.
"She was with him on the
Liberum Mercator when she was lost." Donald said, face drawn. "The ship was presumed broken up in the Aether with all hands lost, after they found six shrouds from her sails floating through the aetheric point around Columbia. They haven't been found since, and after a year lost they were declared presumed dead."
Morbid curiosity drove your words. "And in the shrouds?"
"Scrap metal, and the battered remains of the corpses. The coroners couldn't make heads or tails of the cause of death, and the remains couldn't be identified. They were laid to rest in Columbia with airman's honors. We went once, when the trade was slow a few years ago. Alek was in a bad place, I wasn't much better."
You gulped, nodding. "I'll run that gun drill, now."
Distantly, you heard footsteps over the decking, and you wondered if anyone had overheard. Still, this secret, it wasn't yours to share. It might not have been Donald's secret either for that matter, but that didn't matter now. Moving up, you collected your Espatiers and the gunners for the drill. Eight shots rapid over the broadside, then swing to the opposite and a different elevation to engage. After, you'd be doing volley fire with the Espatiers, and a few bayonet drills. Barking orders dryly, the entire process was ready to go off on a moment's notice.
"BATTERY READY!" the gun captain yelled, waiting.
"Target port, bearing three hundred, elevation twenty! Fire as you bear!"
As the gun shot once, twice, and a third time you watched the ammunition slings carefully. The gun was pedestal mounted, so bags of powder and shells ran out from a pair of lifts, where they'd then be slung and rammed into the gun. All eight shots went out without issue, and you grinned. Lauri had them working together, and damn well at that.
"Target starboard, bearing one zero five, elevation three! Fire as you bear!
This time, the shooting was interrupted halfway by an absence of dummy shells, prompting a glare at down below. You'd need to talk to them about that. Still, once the shells came, the battery did excellently, the six-man crew keeping the gun shooting as long as they could. Grinning, you saluted them for the work.
"Good shooting! Gun crew, stand down from duty!"
As the lot relaxed, you set up the Espatiers with their rifles, and started teaching. Almost an hour of gun safety later, and they could be trusted with live rounds. After that, it was volley, volley, volley. Twenty rifles might not have been much, but it was twenty more than before. Sighing, you dismissed your men and went belowdecks. Time to head to the bath.
---
Between you and the four walls, one of the bigger factors that had been used to snooker you into working with Alek was the proposition of a hot bath whenever you had time for it. Back home, a hot bath meant going to someone's house, heating the water over the fire, and then pouring it in a cramped tub to soak. It eased your aches and pains, loosened the skin, and let you uncurl, even in the slight tubs of Sault ste. Marie. Here, though, in the Ottoman-styled baths with their large tin communal pool and wide open personal baths, you felt almost like a puddle. Back when things had been easier and you were both younger, you and Alek had shared a few baths when the money was running thick and you could afford a hotel room in Detroit. It still marveled you that you could get hot water from a tap, sometimes. The fact there was just pools of the stuff, here, though! Ahhhhhh!
"Might want to avoid doing that." You heard from the door, the light voice spooking you. She must have heard your happy little sigh there. It was Elizabeth, a bathrobe under one arm and her hair loose. "Might attract the wrong attention."
"Of who?" you remarked. "I did flip the sign over on the door."
"Like Alek would notice that sign." Elizabeth harrumphed adorably, her hair shimmying in an amber wave. "Bloody giant."
"Ah, he's seen me in the bath before." You replied, flipping a hand around evenly.
"I did hear about that incident from Czeslawa. You haven't gotten him back for it yet?"
"Why?" you asked carelessly, propping yourself out of the water a bit.
"You seem the type."
You laughed, and smirked as Elizabeth slipped into the communal tub with you. "Well, I would, but it's Alek. He's harmless."
"He is not!"
"Is too!" you objected artfully. "Big ol' softy, he is."
"Can we not?" she said, huffing. "I don't want him falling for a different set of 'softies'."
Your brain tried to process this, and failed miserably. Elizabeth just frowned at you, before cupping her own breasts, and then holding her hands far away from her chest.
"Oh!" you jumped. "Czeslawa!"
"No, I was thinking of you with a pair of lift cells under your shirt
yes of course it was Czeslawa."
Paddling over, you looked at her carefully, before the hint of grapes hit your nose with an arcid whiff. "You've had a few haven't you." You muttered under your breath, sidling up to Elizabeth.
"Two." The Navigator muttered back. "Ayse wanted to share a Turkish brandy to see what altitude did to it."
"That's two too many for you." You replied, slipping an arm under her hers and shoring her up with your relative bulk.
"Oh shove off. Not like you're after Alek too… I think…"
Shruging, you felt Elizabeth's head roll back on your arm. "Probably? We're friends, but time's worn on it a little."
"Good… I'ma going to have to share anyway… 'though you'd be nice. Can't tell you're not like… him…"
"Like him?" you asked, feeling the sleepy Navigator start pulling you towards Morpheus' arms.
"Nice guy… lots of muscles… makes me warm insides." Elizabeth said, before finally passing off to sleep. Resisting the temptation to join her, you got the pair of you out of the baths and swaddled up, heading to your cabin. Elizabeth was nice and fluffy, and you didn't like sleeping alone- it always reminded you of the bad times, back when you slept behind the bar in the alley, or wrapped up in your coat under an old lighter hull by the air yard. Not even Alek knew about what the bad times were like for you, and if you had your way he never would.
The fact you thought Elizabeth's sleeping form in your arms was adorable as all hell too didn't hurt. A girl was just as nice as a guy, if all you were measuring was someone to wake up next to- and a little nap never hurt, right?
---
Alek Votes
Things didn't go so good. At all. Rather embarrassing, really. How do you react?
[] Frustration: you spent an hour between buisness on this!
[] Rage: you found the bottles shattered in the cargo stores- that's more than theft, that's plain dangerous!
[] Apathy: what's done is done. Let it rest.
You're almost to Tabriz; you found the way! What's your plan when you get there?
[] write-in
Lucia Vote
[] Find an opportunity to reminisce with Alek
[] Find out what Elizabeth was talking about. You were... comfy?
[] Make sure you can handle the on-and-off that resupplying lighters means.
