Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 23 2007, 12:58 PM
Much to the annoyance of the other sailors, Judith whistled as she approached the Mistral.

Posted by: Fortuna Sep 23 2007, 01:08 PM
A cry rung out from over the railing as she approached. "Bonjour Commandeur, I was told to tell you than you can go straight down to le Grand Commandeur's office. But if I was you, I would knock silently, he's in a foul mood and suffers from le gueule de bois..."

A line of faces trying not to stare would be what awaited her on the ship, it seemed that much of the crew had been added since last time, and many were interested in seeing the legendary petit pirate.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 23 2007, 01:17 PM
"How the hell does one 'knock silently'?" Judith called back as she mounted the gang. She got only so far before the staring became irksome. She flapped her hands at the assembly. "Go to, all of you, I'm sure he ain't gonner be in a much better mood when I tell 'im you left off to gawk. Fall to!"

Sadly, she still hadn't forgotten where Renaud's office was. At the door, she had the decency to scratch the door, rather than knock.

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 23 2007, 01:28 PM
"entré..." The words were quiet and hardly made it through the wood, but they seemed to take quite a lot of effort to utter anyway.

The office itself would have been cleaned up now, no trace of blood left on either floor or desk. The desk had of course been covered at the time, he was not that fond of bloodstains. The only reason the girl had ended up there was that it was the cleanest spot on the ship, and the sickbay had already been occupied by the unfortunate fella that had got a foot crushed the other day. The doctor still wanted to amputate, and from the smell he would most likely get his wish sooner rather than later. That left Renaud another sailor short, but that was not the reason for his headache.

Neither was the woman that entered really, though the glare he shot he might suggest differently.

It was quite funny really, even hungover like this Renaud managed to be quite neat. He had shaved, the braid was as proper as ever, and the uniform spotless. His one concession to his condition was the fact that the jacket was hanging over the back of his chair, and the shirt not being buttoned all the way up to the neck.

"I didn't realize you had been away long enough to develop a conscience Madame..." The words were soft, rough and seemed to hurt his throat as he spoke them.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 23 2007, 01:37 PM
"Is that what this is? A conscience?" Judith laughed quietly as she closed the door behind her. Immediately she commandeered the only other chair in the office and made herself comfortable. "Either you still can't hold your liquor or you've been drinkin' the native rotgut. Gods' sake, man, pull yourself together. You've got a full crew out there who knows you're too laid up with the hangover to drag yourself outta your quarters."

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 23 2007, 01:48 PM
"I would not touch that native eaux grasses if I was dying of thirst..." No of course not, it had to be fine rum.

Which he had admittedly overdone.

"I have been ill lately madame." He added the last as if it was an explanation for his appearance, gesturing to the chair that had been placed on the other side of the desk for politeness sake. Generally he only brought that out for more esteemed visitors, but she was special.

"I suppose my crew should be grateful for that, because they are going to be working too hard to gossip later this day." He shot a dark look at the wall as if he could see through it to the men beyond.

"You on the other hand Madame, look surprisingly fresh for someone who must have spent all last night writing."

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 23 2007, 01:53 PM
As if in reply, Judith reached up her sleeve and brandished the rolled report. "Not all night. Just long enough to edit in the bit about me junior crewman gettin' herself shot under the Aquitaine authority. I shouldn't have bothered, but you'll probably need to pass that bit on to your superiors, will you not?"

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 23 2007, 02:02 PM
For a moment he regarded her with serious eyes, then he couldn't help but smile. Shaking his head he accepted the scroll, chuckling though it threatened to turn into a cough. "Judith..." It was rare that he used her name like that, and it always managed to turn his voice a shade or two softer. "Don't tell me you have taken up writing reports in your spare time? Where is the woman I remembered that almost had to be held at gunpoint to make proper reports? Even if you had Monsieur Guntersson make them for you?"

He seemed quite amused as he unrolled the parchment, nodding slightly as he quickly looked it over. "I might need to report that bit, yes. I suspect Admiral Romain might very well appeal to a higher authority and it is better to beat him to the point."

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 23 2007, 02:10 PM
"His higher authority may well be the devil." Judith crossed the room so as to be directly across from Renaud. "It's the only way I can see him gettin' here anywhere near the same time we did."

Falling heavily into the seat opposite him, she gave him a grim if soft-edged smile. "Where's the man I knew who had to be blind-drunk to get nostalgic?"

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 23 2007, 02:15 PM
"I mayt not be completely sober yet Madame..." He frowned a bit as he rolled back the parchment further, giving her a curious look. "Is Monsieur Guntersson not longer in your employ?" It seemed unlikely, but that had to be the only explanation for this.

But the Admiral was more important than the report, and he only paid it a little attention as he begun to speak again. "La petite Mademoiselle was right to be concerned then? It was hard to know what parts were serious and what parts were youthful flights of fancy."

Unfortunately he had learned that around Judith, flights of fancy tended to he hard and solid reality.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 23 2007, 02:27 PM
"Aye, Guntersson's gone back to his own folks. Missed his family. It were startin' to tell on his performance. Don't tell me you recognise the change in handscript." She gave him a steady, curious look. "Next you'll be tellin' me you kept all my letters."

The look held a fraction longer, then dissipated into business as she relaxed in her seat.

"I don't see how you could take her to be exaggerating by much, considerin' the man cracked a shot at her. That alone should point to some serious business. But aye, he's been after us a good few months now, with the goal of takin' the girl away. The girls, I should say--she has a sister but the sister's with her father, and safe, I hope. Now he's sunk deep enough into his delusions to want to kill her as well." She let there be a long pause. "That's close enough for an official statement. He may be Admiral where he's from but I doubt he's got the wherewithal to summon any of his forces from there to Aquitaine's waters. He's got some meddling little Faerie countess funding him on this side; she's already set him up with a ship after I knocked his first one out from under him. And there's another fellow, a man called Bainbridge, who seems to be under his thumb, but I don't know who he is, what he's got, or where he come from. I think he's just some upstart who got himself a set of guns and a grudge."

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 23 2007, 02:41 PM
"I'm no fool Madame, regardless of what you probably say behind my back." Renaud looked down on the parchment again, chuckling carefully to avoid coughing. "Monsieur Gunterson had legible handwriting and was quite to the point. You, less so." He looked up at her again, letting the parchment roll closed on the desk. "I will also overlook the fact that the whole scroll was most likely penned in a single night. Ink fades Madame, and this is as fresh as it gets without being smeared. All the way back to the beginning."

He had an eye for detail, there was a reason he had reached this position. It wasn't just luck.

At the comment about the letters he just gave her a look, leaving it uncommented. Of course he had kept them. But she didn't need to know that.

"Few men are willing to start wars for their own whims. His title gives him respect here, but if he tries to use it to push people around I think he will soon be aware of how far away he is from home." He had not heard of this country, France, but he assumed it must be south of Cecilia somewhere.

"I will give the word that they are to be watched." He sighed, shaking his head as he pondered the situation. "If he comes after her here, he will have to answer to the authorities. Especially at sea." He seemed quite invigorated at the thought of a sea battle.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 23 2007, 02:52 PM
"We've already sunk the bastard's ship once. With him on it. He shouldn't've walked away from that, but he did. I suspect he's got an in somewhere with my folks." She raised a cautious brow at him. "I know you don't like me to mention it, but the option must be discussed. I know he were tryin' to hire me when his son got hold of me first, which is how I ended up with the girl to begin with."

Judith stretched herself out, propping her feet on the bottom edge of the desk. "This is fair warnin' if you want to stay out of it. I'd appreciate the help with keepin' him off mine for as long as he's here, but only if you're willin' to offer it. If not, we'll handle it ourselves. We've done it before." Finishing up the stretch, she studied him closely again. "So don't get your heart set for an open fight, and keep that itchy hand off your pistol."




Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 23 2007, 03:03 PM
Renaud sighed, leaning down to pull open a drawer. A half filled bottle of wine was deposited on the desk, followed by two glasses. Actual proper glasses, though one had to wonder how many would break on the sea. Casting a questioning glance at Judith he poured two glasses, then re-corked the bottle and leaned back once more.

Wine was for thinking.

"I don't especially like to consider it madame, but if you sunk him and he walked away I fear I have to. I know the damage you can do." Oh he did, he considered himself lucky a bullet was all he had got. The thought made him scratch his thigh a bit, over the scar.

"And you forget one thing Madame. You are my Commandeur now. My subordinate. I can't very well have an upstart Admiral go around sinking my ships. It would look bad."

And he still liked his career. A lot.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 23 2007, 03:12 PM
Judith tipped back her head and rolled her eyes in an expansive, condescending expression. She took up the wine glass, raised it to her chin, but did not drink. "Oh, there we go. I wondered when we'd get to the whole subordinate-superior arrangement. What happened to the other fellow, Merchante or whoever he was?"

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 23 2007, 03:21 PM
"Monsieur Merchante? Oh he managed to get himself shot. It was quite a scandal really, it was believed that he had an affair with a local woman, and her husband took offense. It was all hushed down and he was buried with the highest honors." He raised the glass in a quiet toast to the man, taking a deep drink of it. Immediately he had to stifle a cough, pressing his fist to his lips until the urge passed.

"What would you have me do then Madame? Like it or not I am Grand Commandeur now, and since you still have your charter that makes me your superior. Not that you ever did anything but disregard Monsieur Merchante, I don't expect you to do anything differently for me. As long as the proper protocols are observed that is."

He did give her a wink then as if he knew that would forever be a hopeless battle.

"Not everyone has as great luck as me when they get fired at."

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 23 2007, 03:38 PM
Judith stiffened her shoulders. Her hooded eyes dropped to slits. "By the letter of my commission, I answer to the Grand Commandeur--which, in this case, is you. But that's chain-of-command only. I were brought on by the Crown. They came to me. I take me orders from them."

She took a sip of her wine, then added, by way of an afterthought, "How long you had that cough?"

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 23 2007, 03:47 PM
"I am not a fool Madame, I wouldn't try to order you to do anything, even at gunpoint." Renaud gave her a pointed look. Things might have been somewhat forgiven, but not really forgotten.

It was a hard thing to forget really, being shot.

"We haven't had much word from the crown at all lately, it seems like they have left us pretty much to our own devices." He liked that, and hoped that it was not about to change.

He sipped the wine this time, a bit more careful with it. At her last question he stiffened slightly, dark eyes growing sharp and hard. "Some days are worse than others madame, you caught me on a bad morning."

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 23 2007, 03:55 PM
"Oh, let the damn shooting go, what? You know damn well you would've shot first." Her nose wrinkled in a tiny scowl. "By that statement you're implyin' that this has been around long enough to divvy into good mornings and bad. How long, Renaud?"

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 23 2007, 04:05 PM
"A few months now." Sometimes he hated her perceptiveness, though it was one of the things that had attracted him to her from the start. "It is annoying more than anything, I am perfectly alright." The look he gave her dared her to claim differently.

"The mornings are the worst, it clears up after a while."

He sipped the wine again, carefully putting the glass down, willing himself to breath calmly and controlled. He was not about to have an attack in front of Judith of all people.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 23 2007, 04:15 PM
"Suit yourself." Man wanted to cough his lungs up, it was his own business. Leaning forward, she put her elbows on the desk. "Back to business, if it makes you more comfortable. What's the general tone here on Serenidad? You said you haven't heard from the Crown in a while; are they goin' through another one of those times when they're too busy tryin' to conquer Cecilia in the off-season to pay much attention to what you're doin' out here?"

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 23 2007, 04:28 PM
"It has been quiet here for the last six months or so. Ever since the Coraggio finally went down, the seas have been calm." Renaud smiled a bit at that, it had been a battle worth remembering and one he had nearly lost as well.

But nearly was not enough. He was still afloat and they were not.

"I don't quite know what the trouble is back in Aquitaine. The way I hear it, it's internal politics mostly. Lorraine's making rumbles again, and if that's the case it means that the crown is looking elsewhere there as well. But you know how things are here Madame, any news we get are old once they filter down to here. We could be at war with Cecilia already for all we out here would know."

He drunk to that, another small and careful sip. "Quite frankly, I've been bored. I would almost welcome that."

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 24 2007, 03:21 PM
"The Coraggio. The name isn't familiar." She sipped a little wine, rolling the taste in her mouth as she tried to put the name in a frame of reference. "I can't keep up with everyone who rises and falls in Cecilia. Last time I heard anything, Viceroy Alstanzo was threatenin' to clean up his side of the waters by offerin' pardons. Or possibly by promising to give the bucklers pie if they'd surrender. You never know with the Viceroy."

She snorted softly at the man. "Get yourself another commission. No one goes to war over the Isles. It's like a tradition now. There's so many flags on this wee lump of islands, you could stitch 'em together and sail the whole Wreath further south."

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 24 2007, 03:28 PM
"Oh, it was some upstart who led a mutiny and deposed of their old captain because he had failed to make them all wealthy or something like that. For a while there, that was the ship everybody feared, but in the end he got little but a meeting with Davey Jones."

Renaud scoffed at the mention of the viceroy, the scoff turning into a light cough which he stifled quickly. "Tradition is a strong force Madame, perhaps you are right. But I have grown fond of this place... there is nothing for me back in Aquitaine anymore."

Except bad luck.

He gave Judith a fond smile, sipping some more wine. "It's been dull here without you."

That were quite possibly the most heartfelt words he had said all evening.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 24 2007, 03:41 PM
She raised her eyebrow at his cough--less concern and more I-told-you-so--and swished the wine in her glass to warm it. She never understood the purpose of chilled alcohol.

"I can't much say that it hasn't been good to see you've done well with yourself," she replied, in the same good-hearted tone. "You'd've been bored to tears back in Aquitaine, war or no war. You're like me. You do best with a ship on your hands, somethin' to deal with day to day, rather than all these . . . abstractions." She waved dismissively at the report. "Speaking of Davy . . . "


Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 24 2007, 03:49 PM
"Which is why I am quite interested in Admiral Romain. Whatever happens there, i suspect it won't be boring." He would have to make sure to find out where the man was staying, what kind of ship he was currently sailing, and how much of a threat it would be on the waves. He had always considered half the battle won before the first shot had ever been fired.

"But don't belittle the abstractions Madame." He smiled a bit at the scroll. "They serve a purpose after all, apart from driving home the chain of command. They are my eyes and ears on other ships... I hate to sail blind."

He pondered for a moment. then sighed. "Off the record madame... how much of that is truth? I will not raise an argument either way, but I'd hate to believe a figment of someone's imagination."

At the last, he drowned slightly, the wrinkles of his forehead deepening. "Speaking of Davey...?"

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 24 2007, 04:05 PM
"The details aboard the Sirene are true. We tracked 'em down, but by the time we got there, the surgeon had already succumbed under torture. I didn't see much use lettin' 'em stick about, so we dropped 'em." She shrugged--so much for that. "The Iris turned out to be a bloody salvage ship, eight cannons, hardly a threat. They were terrified of us, turned down the flag the minute they seen us approach. They knew what they were in for. We escorted 'em without incident to the nearest Aquitaine port and turned 'em to the authorities. That's all a matter of record; you can write to Grand Commandeur Dieudonne at Santa Cinghaile if you want to wait six months for the full statement, or you can just take my word on it."

She smiled back at Renaud and propped up her feet again. "Davy's one of the ones as may be on the Admiral's side. At least he's the only one I know who'd spare a man that I put down."

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 24 2007, 04:16 PM
That shut him up.

For a few moments he just looked at Judith, as if trying to decide whether she was joking or not.

Apparently not.

"I'd rather he would have brought his foreign fleet... what is it with you and your acquaintances? Is everybody aligned with some créature surnaturelle?."

He disliked such things intensely, they disturbed his world view. And while he was not fool enough to deny their existence altogether, he maintained his belief that most of it was simple superstition.

Judith was the one person he was willing to give the benefit of the doubt.

"He might just be lucky madame, I survived after all. No supernatural creatures involved." Just pain and surgery.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 25 2007, 03:30 PM
"Get to be my age, you stop believin' in luck," she told him soberly. "I had a young man on me crew a month or so ago who lived off luck. Literally. It were like luck dragged him about by the nose. Didn't make him one whit happier, and it ended up gettin' him in more trouble twice over than any man you'd call unlucky. There's no such damn thing as luck, and there is no coincidence."

She hadn't planned on such a vehement speech, and afterwards she laughed to brush it off, but the laugh had a wary edge to it, a bit like whistling past a graveyard.

"If it's Davy . . . I've got some old touches here in port that might know one way or the other. Davy and I are on the outs, at the moment. I made it up to him, but there no knowin' that man's temper. I've got no friendly means of contactin' him now." She gave Renaud a flat smile. "I know it bothers you to hear me talk of it like it's a business associate, but after a while, it all starts bein' just that. Business."



Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 25 2007, 03:40 PM
"I always held that people made their own luck, so perhaps you're right madame..." Renaud liked being prepared, liked knowing what would happen before it did. he rarely entered a fight without having all the advantages that were possible on his sides, and collected various tidbits of knowledge almost religiously.

It kept him from being bored while he was ashore. That was what he usually did there, drink and listen to gossip and rumors. He never drank at sea.

"If there is no coincidence, then you are in trouble madame. Admiral Romain running into la petite mademoiselle the first day she was ashore... what would that mean if it was not chance?"

Renaud sipped the wine again, fingering the glass thoughtfully.

"Davy Jones would have known I suspect... though I would be more likely to believe a spy in you're crew. Or someone that knows both you and these seas well enough. It is possible to pinpoint destinations with a general heading if you know the person sailing the ship." He had done that more than once, chanced guessing where a ship would turn, catching them unawares. The times he succeeded built his reputation, and the times he failed... well, one needn't tell people of those times.

"After a while everything turns into business madame, the only question is whether it's a business one wants to be a part of."

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 25 2007, 04:09 PM
"You know how hard it is to catch up to me when I don't want someone to?" Judith looked as if he had maligned her. "This son-of-a-bastard's done it three times. We've shifted the crew around a couple times since then, too. The only think I can think of is that he's pinpointin' the lass, and I'd rather get rid of the man hisself than her."

She slouched in her chair, the half-emptied wineglass resting nearly between her breasts. "I'd say somethin' sharp only you're askin' questions like you want to be part of this business."

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 25 2007, 04:16 PM
Renaud was looking at her glass. Really. That was all he was looking at.

"I'm asking questions because I am already a part of this business madame. I carried la petite mademoiselle to safety, and I was the one that claimed I would arrange matters with the authorities. Besides, let us both be honest here. Unless you turn around and sail out of here soon, chances are things will erupt."

He poured himself some more wine, giving her a questioning look whether she wanted more.

"I have a charter here madame. If the peace is broken I will have to interfere. I just prefer to know the waters before I sail them."

His smile was crooked but happy.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 25 2007, 04:21 PM
"I didn't come here with the intention of things eruptin' in quite this direction. Last word I had with the man, he was headin' for Lorrain." Frankly, she had rather hoped he would head straight for Andre, wherever the man was, and the more relevent granddaughter. So much for hope. "What if I promise to be good and let the authorities do what they're paid for? Not that I'm not going to hammer the man flat if he comes anywhere near my crew again . . . "

She grinned, drained the glass, and held it out for a refill. "Here. Anything to stop you staring at my tits."

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 25 2007, 04:27 PM
He poured her another glass without batting an eyelid. "That would imply, madame, that you had any to stare at." Renaud chuckled, then immediately held up his hands on a capitulating movement.

"Peace, madame, I apologize. Can you blame a man for being nostalgic at times?"

After a moment's hesitation he nodded. "I will not go out of my way to interfere madame, but if the man brings trouble it is on his shoulders. I might complain about being bored, but that doesn't mean I will abide trouble."

No, he could be quite the stickler for rules at times, and had no problem with enforcing them.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 25 2007, 04:35 PM
"Then no looking for my tits, either." She settled back comfortably with her wine. "Talk of nostalgia: I'm sittin' here before midday gettin' drunk on Aquitainean red with a hungover captain whilst my first mate is goin' mental takin' the deck and my apprentice is laid up with a bullet-wound. And you're not much better."

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 25 2007, 04:42 PM
"But madame, I always prided myself of finding whatever I was looking for." Renaud winked at her then, chuckling slightly as he sipped some more wine, suppressing a cough.

It was too bad really, the mornings were the worst, he would have preferred to see her in the afternoon. He felt more like himself then.

"And unless I am sadly mistaken, it takes a lot to get you drunk madame, more than would be in my stash." he still remembered the first time he had tried to drink her under the table.

Or rather, he remembered planning to, the rest was mercifully blank.

"It must be a bit of adjustment without monsieur Guntersson, he was a capable man." In fact, he had made an attempt to buy the man out and get him to sign on with him.

Really, fair is fair, and he knew skill when he saw it.

It took him a moment to realize exactly what Judith has said. "Wait a moment madame, the girl is your apprentice? Not just a sailor... and what do you mean that I am not worse? I am every bit as good as I used to be."

No, he wasn't really flirting. Really.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 25 2007, 04:56 PM
"There's a long, long line of twelve people who ain't seen my tits, Renaud." She shifted, crossed her legs, and flipped the front of her jacket closed--before she realised what she was doing. Oh hell. "Knocksie was damn good. I hope he ain't been soured from the waves completely, I know he loved it. The dwarven folk are like that. When they get to pining for home, there's no keepin' 'em. He'll find his way back to me, or I to him." Somehow she doubted it. It was rather pleasant to think that her old friend would be back in the godforsaken freezing-cold mountains he loved.

"Aye, she's the apprentice. For the moment, anyways. I'm tryin' to keep patient with her but she's such a . . . a girl." She shook her head in mock despair. "Gods, I've near about forgotten what it means to have a girl about the place, tossed about by every mood that strikes her. Goes from chirpin' like a lark to missin' her young man in the time it takes to change your socks." Then she grinned. "She's a good one. She's got bedrock under all that fluff. I like her."

She nodded in sympathy to Renaud, folding her hands around the wineglass. "I don't imagine you're not still as much as you ever were. It helps to stay in practice."

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 25 2007, 05:04 PM
"She could handle getting shot, and that is always a measure of a man... or a petite femme". Renaud tried to remember the last time he had heard Judith being so flattering towards one of her crew... at least one that hadn't been with her for years. he couldn't remember.

Apparently the girl was special.

"Women and girls are always temperamental and filled with fool ideas. You've claimed to have outgrown that?" His lips twitched in a smile. Judith might pretend not to be one, but he still had a hard time seeing her as anything but a woman.

"It helps to stay in practice..." Renaud echoed the words, then petted his engraved gun. "I am a better shot than I were last time..." But he also had a worse time dealing with bad weather on the seas. Lately the cough had been getting worse, and when the mists rolled in he had trouble breathing. He knew he had been losing weight and strength.

"So you wish for no interference with you and the admiral then?"

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 25 2007, 05:19 PM
"I'd appreciate as much interference as possible. Although, if it's not entirely him in there, I'm wonderin' if a priest would do you any good. I can put it to the lass; she knows how these things work. Whatever his, er, madness is, it raised havoc aboard once and it can swap hosts if it's threatened." She tipped a sweet, blackly mocking look at Renaud. "And I should hate to have to shoot you again if it jumps. Particularly if it's not out of personal spite."

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 25 2007, 05:25 PM
Renaud sighed heavily, this was getting him a headache. Possessions. Priests. "Contagious madness... I will make sure to be careful madame. And to see what can be done against him, within the extent of the law."

He could be a stickler for that at times. Law and duty and country.

"I trust you will keep your guns holstered until you are sure, and not use this as an excuse to even old scores. Which, if I remember correctly madame, still ended up in your favor."

But he had managed to finagle a promotion out of it, so he was not really that sore.


Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 25 2007, 05:32 PM
"So we'll say I owe you one, then." She emptied the dregs of the second glass and stood up. "Never mind the priest, get a doctor. I can hear you rattle from here." For a moment there her voice was less strident, more sympathetic.

Posted by: Renaud Moreau Sep 25 2007, 05:40 PM
That made Renaud raise an eyebrow, giving Judith a disbelieving look.

Had she just said that she owed him?

That had to be the single strangest word that he had heard pass her lips... and that included calling Davy Jones a business associate.

The last however made him grimace faintly, putting his glass down.

"I fear doctors will do little good. There's no cure for la Belle Dame sans Merci but faith and the blessing of a priest, and I lack both. I will not waste time hunting witchdoctors and imaginary potions. C'est la vie."

At least the blood had not come yet. It would, eventually and then he would know the number of his days.