“Stars above, yes! Calu and I got married yesterday, remember? And we didn’t get to spend last night alone.”
“We did get to spend it playing pirate,” Calu said.
“Yeah, we did.” Alli giggled. “That will make a great story for our kids. Playing pirate on our honeymoon night.”
“They probably won’t want to hear about that,” Captain Banda said, approaching. “Master Mechanic Mari, my sailors and those from the Gray Lady who are still aboard this ship wish to present you with a gift.”
“What? A gift?” She turned to see the commons gathered nearby, one from the Gray Lady in front.
That sailor stepped forward and offered Mari something.
She stared at the object in the sailor’s hands. “A knife?” Mari picked it up carefully, turning it to examine the weapon. It was a sailor’s knife, with a short, broad, heavy blade designed to handle dozens of tasks. The handle, gleaming hardwood inlaid with mother-of-pearl from seashells, contrasted with the dark metal of the blade. Folded into the handle was a curved spike that could be swung out for use. “It’s beautiful. Why are you giving it to me?”
“It is traditional, Lady Mari,” the sailor said. “To gift a knife whenever someone is initiated into the fellowship of Jules.”
“He means the pirates,” Captain Banda explained. “You can be certain that most new pirates don’t get a knife nearly that nice.”
“Most new pirates aren’t the daughter herself,” the sailor said. “Any doubts anyone had disappeared when we saw you take this ship like Jules would have. Her blood is in you.”
“Thank you,” said Mari, looking down at the knife, simultaneously feeling proud of the gift and embarrassed by it and the praise. “I will do my best to, uh…” Be a good pirate didn’t sound right. “Live up to the example of Jules.”
The sailors backed away, smiling and nodding.
“Put the knife in your teeth,” Alli suggested. “Let’s see how piratical you look.”
“Weren’t you and Calu going back to the Gray Lady?” Mari asked pointedly. “You’re going to need your rest. How many days until we reach Edinton, Captain Banda?”
“If these winds hold, about three days,” Banda said.
“Three days?” Alli said. “What do you think, Calu? Are you up for three days of serious resting on our honeymoon?”
Mari tried to keep a straight face as she shook her head at Alli. “Over the next three days you’re not supposed to be resting nonstop, wench, you’re supposed to be helping plan our attack on the Guild Hall!”
“I am not a wench!” Alli said as Calu led her away. “I’m your armaments expert! And don’t you forget it, your daughterness!”
“Don’t call me that!”
Mari noticed Captain Banda smiling at her. “Your friends must be a great comfort in times of stress,” he said.
“I don’t know if they’re always a comfort,” Mari said. “But they do help me keep my head on straight. And help keep my head from exploding when the pressure gets too high.” She indicated Alain. “But by far the most important is Mage Alain. Without him, I couldn’t do this.”
Banda studied Alain. “It’s real, then? I’ve noticed the promise rings but didn’t wish to pry.”
“It’s real,” Mari said, putting her arm through Alain’s.
“You were wise not to make too much of that while convincing the others,” Banda said. “They’ve had enough to take on as it is. We’ll clean out the half of the main cabin that was occupied by the Senior Mechanics so you’ll have a place to stay on the ship. I don’t think any of the Mechanics you’ve freed will begrudge you a little more space and privacy for the next few days.”
Alain woke just before dawn two days later. Mari sat in a chair before the window looking out over the stern of the Pride. He got up as well. “More nightmares?”
She shook her head, keeping her gaze fixed on the water. “Just very restless. We should reach Edinton tonight, and so many details of our plan have to wait on exactly what we find there.”
“There is something else,” Alain said, walking to stand beside her.
Mari sighed. “Serves me right for trying to lie to a Mage. Alain, I’m worried about what might happen. If I mess up in Edinton as badly as I did at Julesport, we could have a disaster on our hands.”
“You messed up at Julesport?”
“Don’t pretend otherwise,” she said unhappily. “You’ve been very nice, you and everyone else, not to bring up my mistakes. But I still made them, and things could easily have ended up a lot worse because of that.”
Alain moved to be able to see Mari’s face. “Mistakes?”
She glared at him. “You do remember that you were kidnapped, right? Because I wanted to play Master Mechanic and ignored my larger responsibilities? Including my responsibilities to you?”
“This has been bothering you?” Alain sat down on the small ledge running just inside the stern window.
“Of course it’s been bothering me! Alain, if I hadn’t sent you off alone, you wouldn’t have been kidnapped.”
“I was not alone,” Alain pointed out. “I had soldiers of Julesport with me.”
“That’s sort of irrelevant, isn’t it? They couldn’t protect you and I wasn’t there and they died and you got kidnapped,” Mari finished, sounding both miserable and angry with herself. “I messed that up so badly. And now we’re going into Edinton and if I mess up again like that dozens of people could die.”
Alain paused to think his words through. “I understand your worries, but do not blame yourself for Julesport. Mari, you know I was knocked unconscious, and the soldiers were killed by Mages using spells to conceal themselves.”
“Yes. So?”
“The two Dark Mages we found and Mage Niaro could not have so quickly and silently killed that many soldiers. They must have had help. I have discussed this with the other Mages, and they agree that the Mage Guild must have assisted in my kidnapping, using at least several other Mages, then turned me over to the Dark Mages for degradation and humiliation.”
Mari frowned, then gave him a demanding look. “Why haven’t you mentioned that to me before now?”
“Because it has been clear that you did not wish to discuss events in Julesport.”
“All right, but so what? How does that change anything?”
“It means,” Alain explained, “that if you had been with me, you would have been killed along with the soldiers. You could not have defended yourself against opponents you could not see. Perhaps the Mage Guild intended that and were frustrated by you not being there. Perhaps they would simply have taken advantage of the opportunity to kill you. But had we both left the city hall in Julesport at the same time, I would still have been kidnapped, and you would have died.”
Mari stared at him, her mouth partway open. Finally recovering, she shook her head at him. “You’re saying that my unthinking and selfish decision saved my life?”
“And mine,” Alain said. “For without you, Mage Asha could not have led the others to me.”
She fell silent, looking past him at the waves. “All right. But even if it is true that I made the right decision for the wrong reasons, the fact remains that I had no idea it would be the right decision.”
“Perhaps you did,” Alain said. “You stayed to fix that Mechanic device, which is of value to the commons in Julesport. That was not selfish. It placed them in your debt. Perhaps that unselfish act is what led them to ask the Confederation warships to protect our departure from the harbor.”