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RESTORATIONS

T HE MATE ROUSED ALTHEA from a deep sleep with a cautious tug at her sleeve. ‘Hey,’ Grag Tenira said in an undertone. ‘Captain wants to see you now. He’s on anchor-watch, so meet him on deck. Roll out now.’ Grag turned and left without waiting to see if she would obey.

A scant second later, Althea’s bare feet hit the deck. Around her, the forecastle was dark and quiet. The rest of the crew had liberty tonight. Without exception, they’d gone ashore to carouse. Althea, more eager for solitude than beer, had pleaded lack of coin and stayed aboard to idle and sleep.

The Ophelia was in port at a small island city called Rinstin.

It was one of the few completely legitimate settlements in the islands of the Inside Passage.

Originally founded near a tin deposit and possessing a good supply of freshwater, the tin miners were prosperous and the town was beginning to be a trade centre as well.

The inhabitants could afford a few of the Rain Wild goods that Tenira had to offer.

He’d turn a nice profit selling off the casks of salt meat he’d taken on in Jamaillia as well, and depart with tinwares to sell in Bingtown.

The man was a savvy trader. In her brief time with him, Althea had already grown to admire him.

As she emerged onto the deck and looked about for Captain Tenira, the oddness of the situation suddenly struck her.

The captain was on wheel watch in port? And he’d sent the mate to fetch her?

A terrible suspicion welled up in her. Ophelia had given away her secret.

When Althea spotted the captain smoking his pipe up by the figurehead, her suspicion became certainty.

The young sailor perched on the railing nearby would be Grag, waiting to witness her exposure. Her heart sank into her belly.

Althea paused a moment in the shadows, to smooth her hair back into its queue and rub the sleep from her face.

She straightened her worn clothing as best she could.

As bad as it had been to be thrown off the Reaper , this was going to be worse.

These men knew her family, and would take this tale home with them.

So. Head up. No tears, no anger, she promised herself.

Dignity and pride. She wished her stomach would settle. She wished she’d had more warning.

As she walked forward, Ophelia’s rich voice carried on the night air, almost as if she intended Althea to hear her words. ‘And you, Tomie Tenira, are turning into a cranky old curmudgeon, with no sense of adventure left to you.’

‘Ophelia,’ her captain warned her.

‘No sense of humour, either,’ Ophelia confided to Grag. The deck-lantern left the mate’s face in shadow, and he made no verbal response to her. Althea felt her mouth twist in an ironic smile. She wondered what Grag Tenira thought of his former dance partner now.

She smoothed the smile from her face. She kept her features dispassionate as she greeted Tenira with, ‘Reporting, sir.’

‘Indeed,’ Captain Tenita said heavily. He took his short pipe from his mouth. ‘You know what this is about, don’t you?’

She tried not to wince. ‘I’m afraid so, sir.’

Tenira leaned back on the railing with a heavy sigh.

‘We’ve discussed this, Grag and I. And Ophelia has had her say.

And more than her say, as is usual. I intend this for your best, young woman.

Gather all your things. Grag will give you some coin and escort you ashore.

There’s a rooming house on Clamshell Street.

It’s clean. He’ll see you safely there.’

‘Sir,’ Althea conceded hopelessly. At least he wasn’t shouting angrily at her.

By keeping his dignity, he’d allowed her to keep hers.

For that, she was grateful. But Ophelia’s betrayal of her trust still stung.

She looked past him to where Ophelia regarded her sheepishly over one round shoulder.

‘I asked you not to give me away,’ she rebuked her softly.

She studied the figurehead’s face. ‘I can’t believe you did this to me. ’

‘Oh, not fair, my dear! Not fair at all!’ Ophelia protested earnestly.

‘I warned you that you couldn’t expect me to keep such a secret from my captain.

And I also told you I’d try to find a way for you to stay aboard, if you wished to, under your own name.

Now how could I do that without telling him what your real name was?

’ Ophelia turned her attention to her captain.

‘Tomie, you’re enjoying this. Shame on you!

Tell her the rest, right now. The poor girl thinks you mean to maroon her here. ’

‘This is Ophelia’s idea, not mine,’ the captain observed grudgingly.

‘She’s taken quite a shine to you.’ He took a draw from his pipe while Althea waited in suspense.

‘Grag’ll give you enough coin to fix yourself up.

A bath, the proper clothes and so on. Tomorrow afternoon, you’ll come back aboard as Althea Vestrit. And we’ll take you home.’

‘And,’ Ophelia cut in excitedly. ‘And, oh, this is the best part, my dear, and you can’t imagine how hard it was for me to persuade Tomie.

Grag was easy, of course, Grag’s always easy, aren’t you, my lamb?

’ She didn’t wait for the mate’s murmured assent.

‘You’ll be acting as mate for the rest of the voyage home,’ she announced to Althea gleefully.

‘Because a day or so out of Rinstin, poor Grag’s going to have such a horrible toothache that he’ll take to his bunk.

And Tomie’s going to ask you to fill in, because he knows you sailed with your father. ’

Grag leaned forward to see her expression at this. At the shock on her face, he burst out laughing. His blue eyes darted to Ophelia, sharing his delight with her.

‘Do you mean it?’ Althea asked incredulously. ‘Oh, how can I thank you?’

Captain Tenira took the pipe out of his mouth.

‘You can thank me by doing a damned good job so that no one says I’m daft to have taken you on.

And you can keep it to yourself, for ever, that you ever shipped aboard Ophelia as a boy and I didn’t know it.

’ He rounded abruptly on his figurehead.

‘And I expect you to keep your word on that as well, you old busy-body. Not a word of this to anyone, man or liveship.’

‘Why Tomie, how can you doubt me?’ Ophelia demanded. She rolled her eyes and laid a hand over her heart as if stricken. Then she tipped a showy wink to Althea.

Grag choked and the captain whirled on him. ‘Stop your sniggering, pup. You’ll be as much a laughing-stock as I if this gets out.’

‘I’m not laughing, sir,’ Grag lied merrily.

‘I’m just looking forward to the prospect of reading and lazing all the way from here to Bingtown.

’ His eyes darted to Althea’s to share the joke.

His gaze lingered on her face, and she was sure he was trying to see the girl he had known in her grubby boy’s guise.

She lowered her eyes uncomfortably as his father spoke to him.

‘I’m sure. Well, be prepared to make a quick recovery if I decide I need you on the deck after all.

’ Captain Tenira swung his gaze back to Althea and almost apologized as he added, ‘Not that I think I shall. I’ve heard you can scramble lively and with the best of them.

Now. Do you anticipate any problem, ur, changing from boy to girl again? ’

Althea shook her head thoughtfully. ‘I can go to the rooming house as a sailor lad and get cleaned up there. Tomorrow morning, I’ll shop about town for “gifts” for my sister. Then back to my room, change clothes, do my hair, and whisk out the back. Unnoticed, I hope.’

‘Well. Let’s hope it all goes that simply.’

‘I truly don’t know how to thank you, sir. All of you,’ Althea’s warm gaze included Ophelia.

‘There is one other thing I’d ask of you,’ Captain Tenira said heavily.

Something in Althea braced at his tone. ‘And that is?’ she asked.

‘Ophelia has told us about your situation with your ship. If I may be bold, young lady, I advise you to keep it a family matter. Oh, I’ll vouch for you, if you prove yourself to me.

I’ll give you a ship’s ticket with a mate’s stamp on it, if you perform well.

I’ll even stand beside you in the Traders’ Council and take your part if need be.

But I’d rather not. Vestrit family business should be settled behind Vestrit doors.

I knew your father, not well, but well enough to know that’s how he’d prefer it. ’

‘I will if I can, sir,’ Althea replied gravely. ‘I’d prefer it that way myself. But if it comes down to it, I’ll do whatever I must to regain my ship.’

‘I knew she’d say that,’ Grag crowed. He and Ophelia exchanged triumphant glances.

‘I knew your great-grandmother,’ Ophelia added.

‘You take a lot of your looks from her. And your spirit. She’d want you to have her ship.

Now there was a woman who knew how to sail.

I remember the day she first brought the Vivacia into Bingtown Harbour.

There’s even a notation about it in my log for that day, if you’d ever care to see it. Anyway, the breeze was fresh and—’

‘Not now,’ Captain Tenira chided Ophelia.

He fixed Althea in his gaze. ‘I’ve my reasons for asking you to keep Vestrit family business in your family.

Selfish reasons. I don’t want to be seen as siding with one Trader against another.

’ When Althea looked puzzled, Tenira shook his head.

‘You’ve been away from Bingtown for a while.

Things are heating up there. It’s no time for Trader against Trader problems.’

‘I know. We got enough problems with the New Traders,’ Althea agreed quietly.