Jacqueline's word play tickled a flash of amusement to the captain's eyes, but it did not hold long against the barrage of questions, nor the tales of distress pouring from Sage and Michelle.<br/>"We have not seen them by night," Baykur report. "We sailed from Martira Bay. Out here, the shoals are dangerous. If there are more boats, we will find them soon."<br/><br/>Zoe stood small on the deck after kissing Corinne, a lonesome reed bending with the slow sway of the ship. She attempted to meet the eyes of the crew, and found something deeply unpleasant in her new situation, and felt compelled to look away.<br/><br/>"We will sail a short time," said Baykur to Danae. The respectable rank Danae boasted did not seem to move her, nor stir the least curiosity, but she took notice of Michelle's smocked body.<br/>"The<em>Mercy </em>brings goods from the mainland. When we reach safe port, someone there will care for you."<br/>Baykur reached for the sodden hem of Michelle's bedclothes and drew the fabric up, up to expose pale skin and red marks left by burning wood. She might have exposed more, were the cries of protest not so forceful.<br/><br/>Instead, the captain took a step back, and gave an order to the crew in their guttural language. One man went belowdeck through the weathered sterncastle doors, and Baykur waited, her head at an angle, looking at each castaway in turn.<br/>"That is a captain's gun," said Baykur.<br/><br/>Margaret regarded the weapon. "It saved us," she said. And sensing the tension of a firearm loose on the ship's deck, she offered the musket to Danae's hands.<br/>"Along with Lieutenant Danae Vine-Lott. I wish to surrender it to her custody, for she is our acting captain."<br/><br/>Another woman stepped from the sterncastle, this one with marcelled curls in bright copper and the robe of Ezra's learned doctors, white at the edges from years of laundering. Her eyes were witch-blooded.<br/>"Doctor Rehner," Baykur introduced her, "will examine you."<br/>The doctor opened her physician's bag to let out the fragrance of clean gauze and poultice to the salty sea air. Only once she was poised to pry most intimately did she become aware of the eyes on them, and the nerves of her patients. "Come with me. We will do it in the store room."<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Dr. Rehner</div><div class="spoiler_body">(https://i.imgur.com/CuqhiQN.png)</div></div>