Nicki bit her tongue when the captain dismissed her address of him in formal terms, her brow furrowing in discomfort. She ached to correct him, to tell him he was captain and as such the health of the ship relied upon the public display of deference to him. She understood well how relaxing one’s grip even a little meant for more work in the long run. She did not call him captain and treat him with respect for his ego, or at least not solely. She did so to model and encourage such respect and deference in those below her. 

She let it pass without comment because they were not on the ship and there was no one to see but a little boy with curls and eyes that followed her and made her uncomfortable. That this boy was somehow connected to Antonia who saw far, far too much did not please her. She kept her eyes straight ahead, to a space just past the captain’s shoulder and considered his other, less scandalous words, keeping her scar in the shadow cast from the lamp, certain that was what had the boy’s attention. She let Jax and Antonia speak to the boy and focused on the mission. 

A straggling treasure ship was rich, fat prey waiting to be plucked. The question was how had they come by this information and how many others had it as well? She was more concerned with competition than she was with resistance. A storm addled ship, alone, even with fat treasure wasn’t going to give up much resistance, not without support. That treasure was not the sailor’s and she doubted they would lay down their lives for it. But other vultures might have heard about it in the same was as the Skate had and they would put up more fight, they would be in better shape to put up a challenge. 

Speed was their key, she knew. Speed to get there first, speed to spirit it away from anyone else, including its rightful owners. They could do it, she was certain. Her eyes dipped to the helmsman as he chatted with the boy whose eyes were unaccountably still on her and she jerked her head away in discomfort. Unsettling child. She considered the Helmsman, a newer addition to the ship, much as she was. He had been skilled thus far and had he not unsettled her so thoroughly she might have had an easier time admitting his skill. But she thought he was up for the task and she knew that she was up for the task of pulling from the men their best work through a mix of intimidation, authority and discipline. They could do it, if they were fast. 

From what she’d seen before she left the ship to come to this card game, the captain had preparations well under way so it was only a matter of them agreeing which seemed like a mere formality. She didn’t understand and that, coupled with the eyes of that unsettling child who was nibbling on ginger still fastened on her made her tense and tight. Her sense of well-being and control which had been won in the card game and well worth the cost in gold began to fray in the presence of confusion and scrutiny. Despite the Captain’s earlier request, she did not soften her rigid pose, nor did she let the formal register slip from her honeyed tongue when she spoke. 

“I think I do not understand why you asked this of us, Captain. I saw much activity when we left the ship, preparations for a journey, no? So that tells me that you have made up your mind and we are doing this thing. Which is right, we should do this thing. I am in agreement. So I wonder only why you made it a request. Were you hoping to see if you could shake loose some dead weight? Or did you wish to measure something within us?”

She suspected the latter but simply raised a honeyed brow and looked past his shoulder, waiting for an answer, her fingers still in a deathly tight grip around the bottle.