"It's not like all we do is fool around," Elaine pointed out. "Look. We're not fooling around now. I...we could ask Andre, I guess, but she's been all shiftless and up on the deck any chance she gets. I don't know if they've been sleeping at the same time."

"Obviously it is all we do," Starling said bitterly. "Gods know we can't possibly have any other subjects in common. After all, I'm a sixteen-year-old boy. You know what we're like." He rolled his eyes, then got back to business. "But anyway, I'm pretty sure your da' would notice if she wasn't."

"Assuming they're on the same schedule. She keeps going on whatever watch Ceallaigh is on, like he might disappear if she doesn't keep an eye on him."

"I hadn't noticed that." He frowned. "So . . . maybe avoid the captain, tell your father instead?"

"My father will get upset, and then we will get in trouble," Elaine replied. "I'll tell the captain. I can tell her outright she threatened you, even, like it was a threat and not something we really did. Judith knows we're fooling around. She doesn't care as long as she doesn't catch us. It's not like Spider and Andre aren't."

"Maybe someone needs to get upset," he said. "She wouldn't have bothered to get pissed at me if she weren't up to something." He considered the idea. "Yeah. Tell the captain. She can sort it all out if she thinks it needs sorting."

Elaine turned and gave Starling a kiss on the cheek. "I won't let anybody whip you," she promised.

He gave her a half-hearted smile and rubbed his cheek. "That's not exactly what I'm worried about here but it's appreciated all the same."

She ruffled his hair. "How bad d'you think it is?" she asked. "I mean, has she done this before?"

"Not since I've known her. It was just . . . " He stepped out of rumpling range, looking uneasy. "First she was like scared. Then she snapped at me. It just wasn't like her. Maybe she was embarrassed, I don't know."