"Between corset strings and blood-stained velvet Thomas? Aye, you'll have to increase my share of our bounty, just to cover the costs of mending, washing and replacing my wardrobe. Coin well spent though, never fear! After all, what good is a spider to you, if she can't blend into shadows when she must?"

Despite her words, Antonia's wide smile was all approval for the man who'd known very well to forego the grog when he truly wanted a drink and a toast with his rogue. She liked the light in those coppery eyes, the gratitude spoken, the acknowledgement unspoken, and despite the fact that Édouard had likely seen his last night in Port Royal? Antonia didn't really mind so much, so long as she could rest comfortably with her lovely man, banter and drink their fill of wine, and then speak as equals beneath the stars on the best of nights, of matters both great and small. Like all her masks, Édouard had served his purpose, and would be replaced eventually with any one of a cast of thousands Antonia kept tucked away in her storyteller's imagination.

And though she did take up her own surprisingly full mug of wine, sipping off the top to keep it from spilling over the edges as she moved, Antonia didn't quite take her seat beside the Captain yet. Instead she returned to the bar - not for more wine, of course, but stepping lightly behind it, knowing very well neither James nor Madeleine would care in the least. 

"And frankly Thomas," she continued as she knelt down, pulling a dark bottle of ale from the solution of water and saltpeter in the bucket where it was being kept cool, "Why you bother telling me lies after all this time, I'll never know. I'm far better at it than you are, and I can still see yours coming from some ten leagues at least... " 

Antonia set the bottle up on the bar with a *clunk* of clay and solid wood, and then went about the task of finding the cleanest bit of linen she could before standing once more with a smile. "You know damn well there's no 'men of a different persuasion' you'd worry about sniffing after your dear rogue. You truly just fear my endless charms will steal all the attention of your women too - and the humiliation of [i]that[/i] would be simply endless... "

She winked at him coyly, chuckling under her breath, as she wrapped the linen about the cool class of the bottle, tucking it all under her arm for a moment as she retrieved her mug of wine and returned to the table. Antonia took a long drink of her own wine before setting the mug down beside Thomas' own. 

"Here now," she said softly, standing beside him now as she offered to press the cool clay of the bottle against his poor, aching face, "I'll grant you, I'm no grand surgeon like your First Mate? But my own Maman taught me nothing works to help the swelling like the touch of something cool - though I'll let you do it yourself there - even your Antonia's not [i]that[/i] cruel."

She slid easily into the seat beside Thomas, taking up her own mug once more and raising it up with a wide grin. "To our next endeavor then! And if Dujo says it can be done, this swift turn-around in port? Oh, I'm feeling the winds of fortune whispering to me this very moment! But never fear - don't believe for an instant, I'll leave all things to the capricious whims of chance... And to think, your Mademoiselle Beauchamp and Monsieur Xander likely believe they are being hounded this night, all for a round gleek and the unspeakable joy of their incomparable company!"