Selvia

Wrist marks fade in three days. The torn half of paper thrown on the table being real is the more annoying part.

• AmelLeft the salve tin by the door. Don't put it on, it'll fester, missy.
  SelviaNot 'missy'. And that salve had no kick to it.
  AmelSo you can tell that much. Fine, fester then.
• LorcaThose hands are worth money. Scar them up and the price drops, so take care of them.
  SelviaI couldn't care less about your prices.

The scum on the bilge water caught the lamplight and looked like stars for a second. Not something to smile at, and I smiled anyway.

• TheoUm, that's the thing you saw last night, right? I saw it too, really.
  SelviaIf you saw it, write down the angle. Say it out loud and nothing's left of it.
  TheoI wrote it down!! Three times!
• YuanaThat's not scum. That's mold.

Three days on this heading and we run aground on the shoals. I don't care if I die, but dying from someone else's bad math I couldn't stand, so I went up.

• AmelThe clank of chains dragging carried clear to the far end of the deck at dawn. Everyone pretended to sleep through it.
  SelviaYou're the worst at pretending to sleep, Boatswain.
  AmelMy eyes were open. I was checking where a blanket had gone.
• KiranIf we run aground, the powder kegs flood first!! That's genuinely the worst part!
  YuanaThe hull breaks first.
  KiranOh, that one you can just fix, Yuana.