To the ship

Brenan spent the next couple hours catching up Davy with the news of his crew. He arranged to have some of Davy's workers carry over the sails, and listened patiently as Davy warned him several times not to trust Walter Ambrose more than he'd trust a spiked taper lizzard in his bedding.

It was dark by the time Brenan got back to his new ship, one of the crew had left a lantern hanging near the gangplank, but he didn't see any other activity. He was still approaching the ship when he heard a cheerful greeting from above.

"Hi C-captain!" Brenan could barely make out the form of a man sitting on the boom of the mainsail, but it was easy enough to recognize the slight stutter in the welcome.

"Good evening Tyler." Then out of curiosity "Were you waiting for me?"

"That, and we thought we should have someone on watch, just in case." Brenan smiled, this was exactly the type of crew he wanted. Most ships didn't bother keeping watch when they were in a secure port, but with Sasha on board and the Veertor agents looking for her, who was to say which ports were secure anymore.

"Good." Brenan smiled, "is your brother going to relieve you at any point?"

"Yep, he's g-got the second watch. Then I g-guess one of the n-new g-g-guys." Tyler was too far away for Brenan to see his face, so he wasn't sure if Tyler approved of the Caruthers twins or not.

By now Brenan had climbed the gangplank. "You were right to be cautious, let's take a few more precautions." Brenan lifted the gangplank from the pier with a impressive show of strength, and then blew out the lantern that hung by his side. "I'm guessing you don't need that to see, do you?" He asked the Lantian above his head.

"Not much." Admitted Tyler.

"Good, then it would probably help anyone trying to get aboard more. We'll leave it like this." Satisfied with the safety of his ship, Brenan climbed quietly below deck to find Kyle and Michaels doing most of the talking while the other three listened. The two were discussing the worst food they'd ever eaten while at sea. The gunner was trying to convince the others that he had known a cook who could soften shoe leather in lye and spice it up so it tasted just like beef.

"Let's hope we never have to try that." The five were startled by Brenan's comment, but soon all six were drinking Sasha's tea and chatting together in a relaxed manner that would never have happened on any of the bigger ships that Brenan had sailed on. With a crew of only eight, it seemed impossible to avoid a more casual relationship between officers and crew. that was fine with Brenan as long as everyone on board knew whose orders they had to follow.

"Good night everyone, busy day tomorrow. You especially." Brenan said as he glanced at Julien. "As for the rest of us, we have cargo to load and then we'll sail on the evening tide. So get some sleep."

Brenan headed for his cabin aware that he didn't know how they were going to work out the sleeping arrangements, and decided he didn't care all that much. Closing the door he settled into his wide captain sized bunk with a contented sigh. After his past two nights of sleeping first out under the stars and then on the floor of Red's cottage, sleep came easily.

He awoke sometime latter with a quiet knocking on his cabin door.