Honestly, Jochy really didn't fancy finding Judes. He'd gone down to the harbor, having a look around, but he still had no idea what he'd say to her if he actually saw her. So instead he'd purchased a loaf of bread and was sitting on a barrel, eating breakfast.

Going over every argument in his head.

Unfortunately, even in his head he was failing, badly.

Damn he wished he had a better way with words... or that he hadn't kileld her and some of ehr crew back then. The woman could hold a grudge.

And from seemingly nowhere, Curr popped up at his right elbow, or at least his head came up to about Jochy's right elbow when he was sitting on a barrel.

"Jochy! I need to talk to you!"

"Changed yer mind?" Jochy broke off a pice of the bread, tossing it to the kid with a curious look on his face. "Elaine's been hard at work I think, she's dead worried about us going off together."

"Not really," Curr said, coming around in front of him to watch him with his head tilted to the side, birdlike. "She sent -the Judith- after me."

"Well, she went for the big guns then." Jochy sighed a little, giving the kid a faint grin. "I'm alright with it either way you know, for once this is actually about what you want to do. Sure, I get a bit annoyed that people don't trust me not to get yer killed, but..." he looked around and lowered his voice a bit. "I think Elaine was worried because she thinks that yer want to break her and me up."

Curr looked entirely displeased at this new information, and gave an incredibly and quite admirably intense and dramatic sigh, rolling his eyes. "Of course she does, because Elaine thinks she is the only pretty girl in the whole world and that I want to be her boyfriend. I'm... I'm another thing for her to be all angst about."

Curr frowned, shoving hands into pockets and sort of slouching his shoulders forwards, leaning against the barrel next to Jochy's.

"Judith either thinks I'm tryin' to prove somethin' to Elaine or that I'm in love with you," he said miserably. "And I feel so... I feel so -special- that she wants me special, she -said- she wants me, to take Starling's place 'cause she's movin' him up. Two months ago this would've been, I would've been throwing a party I'd be so happy th' Judith thought of me."

Well, the part about being in love with him made Jochy snort, choking back an outright laugh. "Seriously, I think Judes overestimate my attractiveness." He did a little pose, looking thoughtful. "Or maybe she's the one that's in love with me, that'd explain why she bitches at me all the time." He quickly sobered up, looking araud. "Don't tell her I said that by the way, I'm about to try to make peace with her as it is, and I don't think she'd get that joke."

He looked down at Curr, ruffling his head. "So what's the problem? That yer ain't sure if she's making the offer 'cause Elaine asked her to, or because she really wants you to have Starling's spot?"

"No, it's... she gets me to -say- things, somehow. That I wouldn't say otherwise." Curr wrinkled his nose at the ruffle to his hair. His cheeks seemed a little ruddy, but then, the wind was blowing more than usual today.

"I don't... I don't want to go on the ship. But I don't want her to be -right- about me either."

"She's the sea-witch, but even she can't decide what's yer about. Yer can't go around worrying about what other people thinks about you, there's gonna be a ton of different people thinking different things, they're bound to think things yer doesn't like eventually. I mean, -are- you trying to prove somethingto Elaine?" The other thing seemed to be so completely unlikely he didn't even mention it.

"No! That's what's so... horrible about it. I made a decision, I -made one feckin' decision- and all anyone wants to talk about is whether or not I'm moonin' over Elaine and want to break you two up, or whatever. And this isn't about her, at all. She's not... she's not -involved in this decision-!"

He sighed again, though it was less masterfully dramatic this time.

"I think Judith thinks you're going to get me killed or kill me yourself."