<em>The Deck </em><br/><br/>"You fear you have been rescued by corsairs."<br/>A captain was accustomed to dealing with such questions, from petty port officials with the authority to cause great inconvenience and expense. When the questions came from Danae, Baykur set her in a withering glare.<br/>"The ladies in your care did not share your concerns, but all of you are fussy in your own way, I see it now."<br/><br/>"We carry goods to the clinic on the island. Doctor Heinfroth owns the ship, and pays me to fetch what the island does not provide. These men are natives."<br/>Baykur turned to watch the sailors working like a well-oiled machine, quick and tireless, and this gave her joy.<br/>"Doctor Rehner is a friend of Heinfroth. When she is aboard, it means we carry patients from the mainland. These are not to be disturbed. I will do what can be done for you, but not at cost to them, or to my crew, or to the doctor."<br/><br/>Baykur opened a door to the aftercastle, where she'd warned either woman not to venture, and beckoned loosely with the expectations that her directives fall on ready ears.<br/>"Come here."<br/>Into a cramped deckhouse crowded by crew cabin doors she stepped, and opened the rearmost port door with a jangling ring of tarnished keys. As soon as the door opened, there was a flutter within, an excitable motion.<br/><br/>Within the captain's cabin a large window looked out over the<em>Mercy's </em>rippling wake. A rising sun shone in to illuminate her fine roll-top desk and regal seat, and a high bed for two with unmade sheets gathered around the body of a young woman, her skin smooth, unblemished by the seafaring sun, a halo of perfect yellow gold in the morning light through her hair.<br/><br/>"Colleen," Baykur named her, "we have castaways. See their journey to the island is pleasant as possible. They will need food, and water."<br/><br/>Bare feet thumped to attention. Colleen was dressed in ill-concealing rags, and her body moved tawdry with a practice for flashing belly and thigh through the tattered gaps. If she was a slave, she betrayed no suffering in the company of her mistress.<br/>"Who are you?" Colleen asked breathless, with a wide-eyed wonder. "Where did you come from?"<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Colleen</div><div class="spoiler_body">(https://i.imgur.com/JqcD8Ej.png)</div></div><br/><br/><em>The Store Room </em><br/><br/>Once the clothes began to come off, a fashion was set, the same way it had been within the<em>Charlotte's </em>sheltered saloon. Sage peeled from her wet clothes, and watched agape and shivering Doctor Rehner cup and breathe over her fingers to bring them warmth. The yellow lantern came down from its hook, and sat between the huddle for added warmth.<br/><br/>It had not been a day since the<em>Charlotte's </em>lamps exploded and set fire to the cabins. Michelle sat apart from the huddle, fixated on the flame as Rehner exposed it to greater airflow and grew it to a lashing orange tongue.<br/><br/>"I suppose," said Margaret Hotspur. From a full state of dress she began to disrobe in layers, under scrutiny. Action under urgency had not shaken her resolve, but now she became flustered. Corset loosened, and brown sugar breasts which had steadied a musket exposed. The effort stalled at her petticoats, and Rehner knelt to help her from them, to stilted stiffness and discomfort. When she was nude, Margaret Hotspur covered herself, her eyes averted.<br/><br/>"Yes," Zoe answered, "Please."<br/>The feel of Corinne's fingers in her hair soothed. Zoe's eyes became heavy-lidded and dreaming, floating away from the unpleasant ship's closet and the rough scent of hemp and tough canvas. A small sound was made in her throat, of nerves, which was twisted-up and reedy like an emotion close to tears.<br/><br/>Doctor Rehner clucked her tongue. "No open fire on the ship. Your clothes will hang dry, but only when you give them to me."<br/>The rest of the wet clothes gathered in a heap. Rehner waited expectantly for Aloisa to undress, too. A hand came out, and when the flask was not tightly attended, Rehner tipped it briefly to her lips for a sample.<br/>"Mm, good. Little of this on the island. This will all be a little secret between us."<br/>She winked, the doctor winked, and felt the fabric of Aloisa's silk sash between her fingers.