The press of voices scattered from Danae's outburst. It became quiet enough to hear Camille in the saloon below, making known her intentions to retire, and a quickening lap of water low beneath the Charlotte's prominent deckhouse.<br/>"R- rude!" Sputtered an incensed Zoe. "Scolding all of us to quiet our suggestions, only to intrude your own. And what do any of us truly know of it, save Mlle. Corinne? It's she you should heed, not jockey to be heard."<br/>"Look, the wind returns." Hannah swam her hand to find the direction of a cooling breeze. "The mist melts away with it."<br/>"Worry not," said Zoe, "We have bottled it right here." Capped by her hand, there seemed to be nothing at all within, and yet her palm dimpled under the press of glass mouth, diligently seeking the approval of a woman of science.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Danae's Perception</div><div class="spoiler_body">It was then that it became clear to Danae, from the frothy texture of the sea's spray and dark foundation behind the retreating mists, that this wind was not sent by good fortune but a coming storm.</div></div><br/><br/>With the fog thinned, movement of the crew on main deck below became visible though a dreamlike haze persisted. In diffused light, the white of Captain Renée Thoubold's cabric ruff drew the eye, among the crew thick trimming the sails and tuning the rigging.<br/>Eloise followed a handful of steps behind Aloisa, down the ornate stairs and onto the main deck where the unsightly work took place.<br/>When only Hannah and Zoe remained of Saint Ezra's foursome, Hannah seized the opportunity to remind Danae of her offer. "No business at all, now. I pray sleep does take me, for it must be quite late indeed."<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Captain Thoubold's white-trimmed sleeves were waving Aloisa away from the deck, as she approached. Out of the mist, she gave the guardswoman the benefit of a face to face- a ginger woman, her hair piled high, lips thin with worry. She was a senior to the ladies of Saint Ezra's and Voix and The Cocoa House, but a peer to Mlle. Goulet and those who made the journey before, a familiar face to this game, ever with the straight face shielding the surreptitious pleasures of the Charlotte behind heavy-lidded eyes. But in that moment, she was frayed, not so numbly composed.<br/>"Watchwoman Kriechjagd, you've saved me the trouble of sending a runner. I see from the saloon lights that our passengers are in high spirits again. You must escort them all belowdecks to their cabins. See that bodies and belongings are secure. If they resist, you must be insistent- better to offend than to lose any to this storm."<br/><br/>"The Charlotte has spent all her momentum in stays. It will take all the wind we have to bring the beakhead to bear and break that first rogue wave. Even if we manage, it will be a rough heave down. If we do not, we will face head sea to starboard until the storm founders us."<br/><br/>Came the whisper from Eloise, "What did she say?"<br/><br/>Clear through the lifting shroud, forks of lightning ripped through the dark sky. A terrible storm was coming.