<div class="floatleft">(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/c4/a2/eb/c4a2eb3622a5fd5f4149b8e094a22fa3.jpg)</div><strong>Name: </strong>Danae Vine-Lott (https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/13428552/mqOlTT)<br/><strong>Location: </strong>The Mercy, Deck<br/><strong>Wearing: </strong>White cotton jodhpurs, loose grey muslin riding shirt with collar open and sleeves rolled up, barefoot<br/><strong>Content: </strong>Questioning<br/><strong>Tagging: </strong>Baykur, Jacqueline<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The musket she accepted with gratitude from Margaret, though she had little use for it now.  It was a symbol of authority, perhaps, but it carried little weight on this ship.  If the crew of the<em>Mercy</em>wished to overwhelm them, they surely would and there was little they could do to stop them.  As for the designation of acting captain, that was a stretch.  Danae was not a woman of the sea.  The first time she had even seen it was when she was first commissioned, and led a patrol out to the perilous cliffs and heaths by the Mordent coastline.  She had never sailed the waves, but she now had to repay the vote of confidence that had been placed in her.<br/><br/>"Captain," she addressed Baykur once more, "I have little experience of seafaring, and to call me captain is a disservice to your experience, so I ask only for your indulgence if my questioning seems unlearned.  May I ask which goods you carry, and to which destination?  My companions and I would return to the mainland.  If news of the wreck of the<em>Charlotte</em>makes its way back to Dementlieu there will be many a concerned spouse or relative.  Madame Jacqueline and I are of one mind that we do not intend to impose on your generosity.  If you see so fit, though, you may bid your cabin girl to tend to the wounded and the shocked among us.  As for the rest of us, what fresh water or drink you could spare would be most welcome."  The heat and the long journey aboard the tender boat made dehydration a serious concern.<br/><br/>She fixed Baykur, appraising the captain with the studied gaze of a soldier.  They were warriors, both, though their callings were different.  She positioned the musket butt flat on the decking.  To have a weapon, albeit an ineffectual one under the circumstances, in her hands was reassuring.  She no longer felt denuded and entirely at the mercy of her new hosts.  "Your Dr Rehner is a woman of learning, no doubt.  It is most curious to find a woman of her erudition on a cargo ship."<br/><br/>Danae was seized by the sensation that there were eyes on her.  The crew would be regarding her with narrow, savage eyes.  They were prey here.  Behind a thin veneer of courtesy lay a fatal imbalance in power.  Hospitality and safety would be at the sufferance of Captain Baykur and her crew.