Golden Autumn - Part Eighteen
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
It’s a cold, wet night in Port Sitka. A shimmer of fine rain is falling. The ocean waves are high, slapping against the piers and docks in choppy bursts, but the streets are mostly quiet. The moon is hanging very high up in the sky, and most of the stars are behind wispy clouds. The warmth of the day has long since evaporated. My breath fogs on the air as I walk beside Aiden.
“Have I told you yet that I appreciate you making Ralph go to Greenrock?” I ask, looking up to catch his eye. “I know he didn’t end up talking to Father Leo like you planned, but still. I think it’s really good that you brought him.”
Aiden seems pretty pleased to hear that from me, but he answers like it’s all casual.
“I just knew he wouldn’t go on his own. And I was thinking about how good it felt to talk to you about things I’ve been keeping to myself for a long time.”
I squeeze his hand gently, then break my gaze away from his before he can spot the mounting blush in my cheeks. I still can’t think about our conversation at the Guardian Tree without my heartbeat stumbling.
“Well, we’re almost there,” I tell him, with my best attempt at sounding breezy and chill. “You’re doing better with being around bars these days, Callahan. Actually seems like it’s getting easier for you.”
“Yeah, well… part of why I drank was because I wasn’t happy.” He puts his arm around my shoulders, stamps a kiss onto my forehead. “Got one less factor working against me now. A pretty major factor, too.”
I snuggle up closer against his side, the love in my heart warming me better than my jacket.
It’s a little spooky out in Port Sitka tonight, so I’d be sticking close to him anyways. I glance at the bakery we walked past on our last visit here, where we saw a pink-haired girl gazing excitedly out of the window at the ocean. It’s closed at the moment, dark and silent.
We didn’t mean to get here this late, but we did plan to come at night. Aiden figured that’s when the most sailors would be at the bar, and it would save us some time if the bartender recommends someone we can simply cross the room to talk to.
I can see already that Aiden’s guess was right. The town may be sleepy and quiet, but as we get closer to the docks there are more glowing lights in the windows, a lot more people out on the street, more chatter. Even from a distance, it’s easy to see that there are way more boats at the dock than there were last time. One or two of them are pretty huge, and all of them brought back sailors who are now scattered across the nearby pubs and restaurants.
The bar we’re headed towards seems to be doing a bustling business. There are clusters of people outside of the doors smoking, and a lot of noise from inside. The entrance is busy, almost too crowded to get in. Aiden and I stop on the sidewalk in front of it, gazing up at the illuminated wooden sign over the door. Harbor Lights, the bar is called.
The building is three stories tall, but somehow it seems small and cozy, inviting in a reassuring way with the golden glow of the binnacle lamps at the doors. I can see why so many seafarers and dockworkers are crowded around it, trying to get in.
“C’mon,” Aiden murmurs, giving the sleeve of my jacket a tug. “I don’t want to force my way through all that. Let’s take that side door Calla brought us through last time.”
We slip together into the little alley off the side of the building. It’s much darker and more full of shadows now than it was when we came here for lunch. There’s only the residual glow from the streetlights to see by. Normally I think Aiden would make a few fireflies, but there are two guys coming down the alleyway from the other end who would see.
Aiden stops suddenly, like he just spotted something in the darkness. A shape stirs near the dumpster behind the bar, and a shadowy figure sits up, says something to the two guys walking past.
“Jesus Christ,” one of them mutters, skirting out of the way. “Let’s get the fuck home.”
“What was that even about?” his friend asks, as the two of them speed up.
“I dunno. Probably wanted money for crack.”
There’s some movement from the ground by the dumpster, and a booze-slurred voice shouts – “Not what I said, fuckface! I asked if you – if you seen…”
The two guys hurriedly disappear back out onto the street, leaving us alone at the end of the alley. The person sprawled out by the dumpster trails off, then huddles up again, disappearing into the shadows.
Aiden catches my hand and goes swiftly, directly for the side door of the bar. I follow him, but I can’t help slowing down a little to take a look at whoever it is leaning heavily against the dumpster. They’re silent now, not moving much. Cutting a very forlorn figure in the rainy moonlight.
Aiden shoots me a warning glance, pulling at my hand, but – I can’t help myself. I stop in front of the dumpster, looking furtively at the motionless shape hidden there.
What I can discern from the shadows is someone wearing a dirty fleece crewneck and loose-fitting drysuit pants, which are tucked into heavy, slip-resistant work boots. A sailor, then, unlike the two guys who just went past us.
The moonlight shifts with the clouds, revealing a long braid that looks like it hasn’t been washed or redone in a week. Blue-painted fingernails, too. A – lady sailor, maybe? Her head is hanging down, her cheek flat against the dumpster, stray curls from her braid falling into her face, so. It’s hard to tell much of anything.
“Hey there, friend,” I try gingerly. “Are you okay? Do you need help?”
She looks up at me, blinking fast. Her eyes are only half-open, and blurred with alcohol. Wild flyaways are floating around her face, damp from the rain.
“Hey,” she laughs, without any humor in her slurring voice, “Aren’t y-you nice? You want to be – even nicer and – see if Bhavini will send a drink out to the – alley, for Robin? But watch out, ‘cause who knows – who the f-fuck knows who’s – out in all these dark corners… you’ll want to be – careful, keep safe… sweet one like you…”
I stand there frozen in bewildered alarm, and she slumps back against the dumpster, falls silent again. Aiden folds an arm around my waist, then gives me a reassuring squeeze when he feels me trembling.
“You just had to, huh?” he sighs affectionately, pulling me into the bar. “Didn’t occur to you that could be unpleasant?”
“Of course it did, but-”
I break off and bite my lip, twisting the malachite necklace in my fingers. It’s hard to explain to Aiden, but knowing that once it was him sleeping out on the street… that makes me look with new eyes at anyone I see doing it now. It’s hard not to feel some soreness in my heart, knowing that someone is out on the concrete behind the bar. Even if she frightened me and I’m still trembling just a little bit.
“I know you want to be nice, Jamie,” Aiden murmurs, running a soothing hand down my back. “But that doesn’t mean you have to go up to every stranger sleeping in an alleyway.”
“I know, but shouldn’t we do something?” I ask worriedly, letting the bar door swing closed behind us.
“Gotta be careful with that. For all we know that’s where she lives, dude. We don’t want to blow up her spot, if that’s the case.”
“Still, we can’t just leave her there, can we? There must be someone we can talk to, or – something.”
Aiden thinks it over, then gives me a nod. “We’ll get the captain’s name from the bartender, then send them to check on whatever’s going on out there. Drunk sailors in the alleyway is probably something the people who work here know how to deal with, so. How’s that sound?”
“Yeah, okay,” I answer in relief, raising my voice as the volume of the bar hits me.
There’s quite a crowd tonight. It’s busy in here, packed with sailors from end to end. People are drinking, leading loud debates, telling noisy stories that have their friends shouting with laughter. I’d feel guilty asking for the bartender’s attention when they’re this slammed, but there are three of them working, and not one of them seems fazed by the carnival atmosphere in the bar. Seems like this is a pretty standard experience for them, once the ships all start coming in at once at the end of the season.
Aiden and I have to more or less fight our way across the room to reach the bar top, which is crowded with people waiting for a drink.
“Her, right?” Aiden practically has to shout in my ear, pointing through the crowd.
There’s a short, stout woman at the end of the bar who seems to be in charge. As we watch, she goes past a guy who’s just started climbing up on a table to make a toast. She catches him by his sleeve, firmly wrenches him back into his chair before he can hit his face on the decorative brass propeller on the wall, and gives the top of his head a gentle pat. All without missing a step, or spilling anything on the tray she was bringing back to the bar top.
She’s calling out instructions to both the bartenders and the patrons with easy authority that makes me think she might own this place. A suspicion she confirms for me once we reach her.
“Handed down through two generations of my family,” she says proudly, then gestures to the busy bartenders. “One of my children will take over for me one day.”
That day might not be for a while, by the look of it. She doesn’t seem anywhere near out of energy to run things herself. She’s on the far end of middle-aged, with tawny skin and warm, bright brown eyes. She doesn’t seem uncomfortable in the chaos of the bar even a tiny bit. I’m actually a little jealous of her poise. Her clothes are rumpled from activity, but the beautiful orange scarf wrapped loosely over her hair is still perfectly in place, and she goes on chopping up limes as she talks to us without really having to look at what she’s doing.
She also has a motherly air about her that makes me not at all surprised to discover that all three bartenders are her children.
“It’ll probably be my daughter Bhavini who takes over,” she adds, with a touch of obvious pride. “She has an excellent head for business. Besides, we often need my sons out on the floor to keep things – well, as calm as they can be.”
“Is it always like this in here?” Aiden asks, raising his voice over the din.
“Ah, can’t blame them for wanting to blow off some steam after so long out on the water,” she answers, with an affectionate nod at the rowdy sailors. “I grew up in it, I’m used to it. You two don’t strike me as seagoing men, though.”
“We’re not, that’s why we could really use your help!” I explain, since I can tell that Aiden doesn’t like shouting over the noise. “Is there someplace we can talk where it’s a little-?”
The bar owner is already beckoning to us, so I break off and follow her to a set of stairs leading up to a second floor. Despite how crowded the bar is, no one is headed up or down the stairs. We stop on the landing halfway up to talk. The noise does fall off sharply here, I notice with some relief. Something about the gently-curved walls muffles the noise.
“Whew, thank you, Mrs…?”
“Just Wasiya is fine. You do away with formalities after a life spent with sailors.”
I give her a bright smile as I shake her hand. “Very nice to meet you, Wasiya! Real nice place you’ve got here.”
“And you are?”
“Jamie, and this is Aiden. We wanted to talk to you because we need to hire a captain to take us on a little trip soon. Seems like you’re familiar with the crowd, so we thought you might be able to recommend someone.”
She eyes us curiously, tilting her head to the side. “What kind of trip?”
“We’re hoping to get to that inlet near the mountains. The road is closed off, so we can only go by sea, and we need to camp there.”
Wasiya gives me a look of faint reprimand. “You boys can’t just postpone your camping trip until it opens up again? Patience is a virtue.”
“Oh, Jamie knows that,” Aiden laughs softly. “But there’s a reason we need to get out there as soon as possible. It’s for work.”
He wisely leaves off the fact that it’s Ghost Office work, but technically it’s true.
“And, um – we’re on a limited budget,” I add quickly. “Extremely very limited. But we can provide a lot of snacks!”
Wasiya narrows her eyes at us thoughtfully, then lowers them to the floorboards. “Hm… the inlet is choppy this time of year, so you’ll need an expert hand. Without too much of a budget, I don’t-”
She breaks off abruptly, looking up at us like something just occurred to her.
“Wait one moment,” she says, then quickly darts back down the stairs.
Aiden and I watch in confusion as Wasiya catches the arm of her daughter, who was carrying a tray of empties back towards the bar. That must be Bhavini. She looks like a willowy, slightly taller version of her mom, except unlike her mom she seems distracted, visibly worried about something. She blinks hard when her mom pulls her out of her thoughts.
Wasiya draws her up a few steps and quietly begins talking in her ear, pointing up at us. Bhavini glances up at us, listens to something Wasiya is saying, then draws back in surprise and concern.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, mama?” she asks, in a hushed voice.
“Maybe this is just what she needs, Bhavini,” Wasiya argues softly. “Some work. To take her mind off of things…”
Bhavini bites her lip anxiously, but Wasiya seems to have come to a decision. She hurries back up the stairs to us, trailed by her daughter.
“I know just the captain!” she tells us brightly. “The best we have, in fact! I’m biased, as she’s an old friend of the family, but anyone in this bar will tell you I’m right. She’s been sailing about as long as she’s been walking. And fortunately for you, she’s available!”
Bhavini shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot, fidgeting with the scarf around her hair. “I’m not sure if she considers herself available right now, mama-”
“You should ask her,” Wasiya tells us resolutely. “I can introduce you. Bhavini, is Robin downstairs?”
Aiden and I look sharply at each other, simultaneously drawing back in disbelief.
“Wait – Robin?” Aiden asks incredulously. “She’s the captain you’re talking about?”
Wasiya tips her head to the side in confusion. “Have you met her already?”
I bite my lip, then reluctantly answer – “I think so. She’s passed out in the alley behind your bar. We were actually going to ask you if there was anything we should do, or if… that’s normal?”
Wasiya and Bhavini freeze, then exchange a wide-eyed look with each other. Bhavini drops her tray on the steps and races after her mom down the stairs.
Aiden and I follow them back across the bar and out into the rainy night, where Bhavini gasps when she sees Robin curled up by the dumpster.
“Oh, Robin,” she wails softly, dropping to her knees. “This has to stop! This is too much, now!”
Robin half wakes up, stirring in the garbage beside the dumpster as Bhavini grabs one of her arms and a very upset-looking Wasiya takes the other.
“S’the bar still open?” she mumbles, then lets out a groan of complaint, finding herself being pulled to her feet. “I need another drink, Bhavini… I’m still thinking too much…”
“No! You’re cut off!”
“I handed you my entire fuckin’ paycheck for my tab…”
“And you’ve already burned through it, all of it, everything!” Bhavini blurts out, sounding close to tears. “I had half a mind to refuse it in the first place! I should have! Look at you!”
Robin swallows hard, the expression on her face difficult to make out in the darkness. “Just leave me alone, I’m fine…”
She trails off, sways on her feet for a second, then abruptly crumples, nearly pulling Bhavini down to the ground. Aiden hastily steps forward and catches her.
“Upstairs?” Bhavini pants, looking at her mom.
Wasiya makes a faint clucking sound of dismay. “We can’t let the others see her like this, more than half of them have sailed under her before! They’ll notice, it’ll cause a scene!”
Aiden silently takes off his snapback and settles it down over Robin’s hair. He catches her long braid and hides it beneath the arm he has around her shoulders, and with her head hanging limply down, it’s pretty hard to take a guess at who that is.
“That’ll have to do,” Bhavini says, holding open the door of the bar. “Let’s just go fast.”
Aiden slips through it, pulling Robin with him. She stumbles along without seeming aware of where she is, and the stairs prove to be one challenge too many. Aiden waits until we’re on the landing, out of sight of the downstairs floor of the bar, then sweeps Robin up into his arms and carries her up the rest of the stairs.
There’s a little boy in pajamas sitting on the topmost step. He looks up from his book as we approach, pushing his dark hair out of his face.
“Is that Robin, mama?” he asks Bhavini, scrambling to his feet, his eyes going wide with worry. “What happened to him?”
“It’s her now, baby, remember?” Bhavini says distractedly, smoothing a hand over the little boy’s hair.
“What happened to her? Is she okay? Are you okay, Robin?”
“Just fine, bud,” comes the mumbled answer from Aiden’s arms. “Don’t you worry.”
“She’s – not feeling well,” Bhavini hastily explains, hurrying ahead of us down the hallway. “You go upstairs and get into bed, honey. Dad will come tuck you in as soon as he’s done in the kitchen. Okay?”
Bhavini’s son obediently sets off up the next level of the staircase, and Wasiya leads us out into a second-floor hallway lined with doors, numbered like hotel rooms. I guess this place must be an old-school tavern and inn combination. Bhavini takes a ring with lots of keys from her pocket and opens one of the rooms up, then steps back to let us in.
“Where should I put her?” Aiden asks.
Wasiya hurries past him to open a door in the hotel room. “Here, she needs a shower. Bhavini, help me?”
The two of them manage to lead a stumbling Robin into the bathroom. Bhavini goes in with her and closes the door, leaving me, Aiden, and Wasiya outside. We all retreat back out into the hallway, Aiden retrieving his snapback from the floor on the way.
A brief, anxious silence falls over us, broken up when Bhavini comes out of the hotel room and strides past us towards the stairs.
“She’s in the shower, and I’m going to get some of my pajamas,” she calls to her mom, heading up to the third floor. “Maybe there’s something that’ll fit.”
“Yeah, she’s got some muscle, huh?” Aiden says, stretching out his arms, sounding impressed. “Heavier than I expected her to be.”
Wasiya is trying to pull herself together. She looks pretty shaken.
“You’ll have to excuse…” she begins, then trails off like she’s not sure where to start. “My little grandson’s mistake. He only forgets because Robin only told us the day before she left for her last expedition. And then she was gone for months, so – he’s not gotten too much practice with the change. But he’ll get it down soon, I’m sure. He’s got her new name down!”
Wasiya runs a trembling hand over her forehead as Bhavini comes darting back down the stairs, pajamas clasped in her arms and a hairbrush in her hand. She disappears back into the hotel room and closes the door after herself.
“It’s okay, Wasiya,” I answer, nervously twisting the heist ring around my finger. “Don’t apologize to us for anything! If anything I’m just sorry we came at such a bad time…”
“No, no, it was just the right time!” she says hoarsely. “I don’t know how we’d have handled the stairs without you. I would have had to pull my sons off the floor, and that would certainly attract attention.”
Aiden glances around at the doors lining the hallway. “Good thing this is a hotel, too. Do most of the sailors stay here when they’re docked?”
“No, mainly we get visitors from out of town. The sailors with family in Port Sitka go home, and the ones with nobody usually sleep on their ship, but Robin – Robin hasn’t even been making it back to the ship, lately…”
I take a closer, lingering look at Wasiya’s expression. You’d think Robin was like one of her own children, based on how concerned she clearly is.
“You said you’ve known Robin for a long time?” I ask gently.
“Oh, yes, she’s a dear friend of my daughter’s. Been coming to our bar ever since she was old enough. Unsurprising, since she was sailing long before that…”
Wasiya fades off into worried silence, then does a double-take in Aiden’s direction, catching a glimpse of something behind him. I turn around and follow her gaze to the stairs. Bhavini’s son is hugging the banister, having snuck back downstairs to eavesdrop.
“Is Robin in trouble, grandma?” he calls anxiously, then gets to his feet on the steps, bravely squaring his little shoulders. “I’ll protect her! Tell her so, so she doesn’t worry!”
Wasiya’s eyes grow very warm with love and affection as she heads over to gently usher him back up the stairs. Aiden and I turn to look at each other, having a silent conversation with our eyes.
Wasiya comes back over to us, opens her mouth to say something, then spins around in alarm, hearing some shouting from the closed door of the hotel room. Wasiya goes rushing in, I rush in after her without thinking, and Aiden follows me.
Robin is showered off, wearing Bhavini’s plaid pajamas. Her long hair is clean and shiny, released from the braid, falling in tangled waves down her back. She’s awake again, revived by the shower, and she’s in the middle of a heated argument with Bhavini, who’s planted herself in front of the door with her arms thrown out wide. The two of them don’t even notice us as we freeze just inside the doorway.
“Get out of my way, Vini!”
Bhavini shakes her head fiercely. “No, are you joking? You need to lay down, you need to rest! When’s the last time you actually slept?”
“I need to keep looking,” Robin snaps, taking a step closer to Bhavini.
“You’ve already looked everywhere!”
“I don’t fucking care! There’s still a chance, so I need to keep looking-”
“It’s not going to help, Robin!” Bhavini blurts out, her voice wavering with tears. “You know it won’t help, that’s why you drank yourself into oblivion until you collapsed in the alleyway!”
For a second Robin looks so furious that I think she’s about to start screaming at Bhavini.
Instead she sits down on the floor, and begins sobbing.
Bhavini lets out a shaky breath. She hurries forward and closes her arms around Robin, then turns to look pleadingly at Aiden.
He gently lifts Robin again, sits her down on the bed. Without looking at him, without even seeming to notice him, Robin drags herself under the covers and pulls them up over her face.
Bhavini sits down on the bed beside her, rests a hand on her arm through the covers. Robin sobs into the pillows for a minute. Slowly, gradually she lapses into sniffles, then silence. I don’t think she stopped crying, really. I think she just passed out again.
“Poor lamb,” Wasiya says quietly. “I’ll go make some tea. Find something for her to nibble on when she wakes up.”
She slips out of the hotel room. I know we should leave, too, but I can’t help myself. I come a little closer to Bhavini, my heart aching with bewildered sympathy.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her softly. “We should probably go, unless there’s anything we can do to-?”
“She’s not normally like this,” Bhavini tells me hoarsely, reaching for the hairbrush. She begins to gently work through the tangled, damp mass of hair escaping from under the covers. “I swear, she’s really not.”
“Has she been having a hard time since she came out?” Aiden glances in the direction of the bar downstairs, his expression darkening, his voice dropping to a growl. “I don’t mind putting anyone loudmouthed back in their place on her behalf.”
“No, no no. Robin can more than fend for herself, firstly, and secondly – she was happier than I’d ever seen her, once she told us! It was so good to see her like that. I mean, I’ve known her forever, we’re like sisters, and even I had never seen her so…” Bhavini closes her eyes for a second, catching her breath. “It’s not that, is what I’m saying. It’s – she got some – some very painful news when she got home from her last expedition. Almost two weeks ago, now. Just when everything was looking so bright, too…”
Bhavini fades off, sniffling, gently getting a tangle out of Robin’s hair. She reaches for the bottle of detangler she brought downstairs, spritzes Robin’s curling waves with it, then stops and looks up at us suddenly, an imploring expression coming into her eyes.
“Please don’t judge her based on this first impression,” she rasps softly. “This isn’t her, honestly. My mom wasn’t exaggerating, Robin is the most capable captain to ever set foot in our bar, at least since I’ve been working here. Ask anybody downstairs. If you need to navigate the mountain inlet there’s no one better. There aren’t many mariners her age who get hired to captain vessels and expeditions like the ones she does. There are a lot of deep-sea marine biologists who would have no data to work with if it wasn’t for Robin keeping the ship perfectly in place while they deployed their landers. A lot of sailors who might not have made it home without her at the helm, too. My brother swears she’s saved his life before.”
I stare at Bhavini in surprise, then look at Robin, realizing that she moved a little in the bed. She’s still passed out, but now her face is peeking out from the covers. With the grime washed off I get my first real, good look at her.
She has rounded cheeks dusted with a sunburn. Long, fine lashes resting against them. A heart-shaped face, and angular brows a deep auburn color, like her long hair. Her shoulder is curled in towards her cheek. From that alone I can see that Aiden was right, she’s got some muscle. It’s clear she’s strongly built, so it pulls painfully at my heart to see her looking so ragged, with residual tears clinging to her lashes.
I’m thinking now of what she said to me in the alleyway, which at first I didn’t think much about at all. It sounded like a burst of incoherent madness, but what was it actually? She told me that I’m nice, and then she said that I should be careful, keep myself safe.
I know basically nothing about Robin, but I’m finding myself seriously relieved to see her in the hands of a caring friend, in the snug, warmly-lit room at the inn. It’s a comforting place in many subtle little ways. The bed looks cozy, with a thick, scarlet comforter, and there are pretty paintings of clipper ships on the walls. The window has been left half-open to let the ocean breeze roll in. Robin has already started taking deeper, slower breaths in her sleep.
I look over at Aiden. He’s holding his snapback in his hands, his troubled blue eyes resting on Robin’s face. I think we’re both sorely tempted to ask what kind of news it was Robin got when she arrived home from her last expedition. I can tell we both want to help, no matter what the situation is.
I can’t help but linger over Robin telling Bhavini there’s still a chance.
“So… I guess we shouldn’t ask Robin to take us anywhere right now?” I ask Bhavini, who’s starting to make some real progress on brushing out Robin’s hair. “It’s okay, if so. We probably couldn’t afford her services anyways. Not if she’s the best captain on the dock.”
Bhavini lets out a shaky laugh.
“She’s currently both the best captain I know and the brokest captain I know, and she’s in no fit state to accept a long, high-paying expedition right now, so whatever you’re offering would be welcome. My mom is right, too, it’s dangerous waters where you want to go, but Robin could handle them in her sleep. And she has her own little boat she could use for this, so that’s not a problem either.”
“Oh.” My eyebrows drop low in confusion. “Sounds like this might be a good fit, then?”
“Yes, but – it’s just…” Bhavini gives me an apologetic look. “I know my best friend, and I don’t think she’ll accept the job right now. I think she feels like she needs to be here, just – just in case.”
I nod understandingly, taking a step back. “No worries at all, we wouldn’t want to-”
I break off, interrupted by the deep, quiet sound of Aiden’s voice from behind me.
“What do you think, Bhavini?” he asks, catching her eye. “As Robin’s best friend? Do you think the trip would help her, like your mom thought?”
Bhavini bites her lip, dropping her gaze to Robin’s curled-up form.
“Maybe,” she says softly, smoothing another tangle out of Robin’s hair. “It’s certainly not doing her any good to stay here. But only she can really decide. If you want to ask her when she’s sober, you could wait until tomorrow. She has to oversee the offloading of all that marine biology equipment from the ship she just brought back to port. It’ll be busy during the day, but it winds down at night. I don’t think they’ll just let you board the ship after hours without an explanation, though.”
Bhavini pauses, then looks up at us like something just occurred to her.
“Wait, you still want Robin to captain your little expedition? After – all this?”
I look at Aiden again. Our eyes meet and lock in unspoken agreement.
“Which ship can we find her on?” Aiden asks.
~~~~
“That’s the one,” I whisper, pointing around the corner of the harbormaster’s office.
Calla leans around me and Aiden to have a look. It’s the biggest ship docked in the moonlit harbor, with a long gangway that people have been going up and down all afternoon. Big pieces of machinery were taken on and off the ship by even bigger pieces of machinery, all part of the noisy bustle of the docks. Now the foot traffic has slowed down to almost nothing. Only one tired-looking sailor remains standing at the end of the gangway, keeping an eye on things.
“And you guys are sure this is the captain you want?” Calla whispers back.
“We’re sure,” I tell her firmly. “The whole team is in agreement, ghosts and all.”
We left Robin safely asleep at the inn, tucked under a heap of warm blankets, with Bhavini gently braiding her hair for her. Wasiya said something about making sure she got a good breakfast in the morning. I’m hoping that all means Robin will be feeling somewhat better tonight, up to speaking with us. I do feel a little guilty about sneaking onto her ship to talk to her. But I also can’t shake the feeling that we’re doing the right thing.
“So that’s it, one guy at the gangway?” Calla asks, disappointed. “There’s basically no one else even on the docks! This wouldn’t be a challenge at all, if I’d had time to grab anything to bring with me besides a tube of lipstick. Still isn’t a challenge even with that factored in, really.”
“Alright, I’m taking that to mean you’re willing to be our distraction?”
Calla flashes me a grin, straightening up. “Good thing I always keep an emergency wig in my car. Sneak down into the shadows right there, you see where I mean? Then wait for me. Won’t be long.”
She takes off towards her car while Aiden and I slip around the side of the harbormaster’s office. We sneak together along the shadowy docks, keeping low. There’s a stack of wooden boxes near the sailor at the gangway, who’s looking through some papers on a clipboard, ticking things off. Aiden and I steal up to the boxes and hide behind them, crouching down together.
A few minutes pass by. Only the sound of the ocean lapping against the docks and the boats breaks the quiet.
I try my hardest not to fidget, doing my best to just take calming breaths of the salty, diesel-scented air. No matter how many break-ins Aiden and I do together, I never quite get used to it. My heart is racing.
“How are we supposed to know when-?” I whisper to Aiden, then break off at the sound of swift, high-heeled footsteps coming down the dock.
The two of us peek around the boxes to find a woman striding towards the gangway. Calla, I realize after a second. I almost didn’t recognize her now that she suddenly has shoulder-length blonde hair, a drunken stagger to her walk, and a very large martini in her hand. I have a feeling someone at one of the dockside bars just had their drink go missing.
The martini sails gracefully through the air to shatter lightly against the side of the ship. The man at the end of the gangway startles and swings around, then stares at Calla in bewilderment.
She doesn’t seem to see him. Her focus is wholly on the ship. She cups her hands around her mouth, then begins shouting in a very hoarse voice, as if she’s done a lot of shouting already today. It keeps her volume low while making it seem like she’s doing her best to yell at the top of her lungs.
“Gary, you piece of shit! I know what you did! You think you can hide from me on your boat? Whose lipstick is this?”
The sailor pauses to watch in amusement as Calla waves a tube of lipstick at the ship, then widens his eyes in alarm when she starts stumbling closer to the edge of the dock.
“Hey, miss!” he calls out, pushing up from the box he was leaning against. “You need to be careful on the docks! You got the wrong idea anyways, there ain’t no Gary on this ship! Miss – seriously, you’re too close-”
“I know he’s in there!” Calla insists tearfully, stumbling just a little bit closer to the edge of the dock. “He’s hiding in there because he knows I can’t swim!”
She teeters on her high heels. The sailor immediately drops the clipboard and rushes towards her, calling for her to get back.
Aiden squeezes my hand, lets it go, and gives my back a gentle shove. With my heart hammering, I dart out from behind the boxes and silently steal up the gangway of the ship. I can hear Aiden’s soft footsteps behind me, but Calla is still talking to the sailor, so I don’t think he’s going to hear us.
Still, I let out a soft breath of relief when I touch down on the deck of the ship. Aiden drops lightly down behind me, and we take a second to look around.
After a full day of activity, the ship seems to be mostly abandoned now. I’d guess that it’s too late for many people to still be working, and too early for anyone to be back from the bar. The deck is empty and silent, mostly hidden in dark shadows.
Aiden and I exchange a swift glance, then straighten up.
“Are we sure she’s still here?” Aiden asks softly, as we head towards the front of the ship.
“Let’s hope so, ‘cause Bhavini said it might be hard to track her down again once she takes off for the night,” I whisper back. “Do you think Robin will be mad that we snuck onto the ship, though?”
“I have no idea, Jamie. We’ll just have to meet her and find out.” Aiden glances around, looking impressed. “Pretty cool she knows how to operate a ship this big, huh? She’s definitely overqualified for what we’re asking her to do.”
“Well, thank god, because neither of us is qualified to captain anything. What are we even headed towards right now? The – stern? Is that it?”
“The bow, actually,” someone answers, in an airy, conversational tone of voice. “You’re almost at the helm. Where you can usually find the captain.”
I spin around with a sharp gasp. Aiden whips around, too, and we both find ourselves facing Robin. I open my mouth to begin a hasty apology and explanation, then stop, staring at her in startled silence.
She looks so different that it’s almost hard to recognize her. She’s standing tall tonight, her auburn hair falling down her front in a loose braid that reaches all the way to her waist. She has wavy bangs, and a few loose, windblown curls framing her face. She’s much more appropriately dressed to be on a ship than we are, wearing black bib overalls over a navy crewneck, sailor’s gloves over her hands, and the same work boots from last night on her feet.
That night of good sleep – and presumably that hot breakfast Wasiya mentioned – really made a difference. Robin’s eyes are bright and clear and sharp at the moment. Still a little puffy, but free of tears. There’s a wrench in her hand, like she was busy fixing something up before we got here.
I have to hand it to her. Now that she’s clear-headed, she knows how to maintain a composed front. I would never guess the state she was in last night, or how she must still be feeling now. Her shoulders are relaxed, and she doesn’t look at all alarmed by our unexplained presence. More like faintly puzzled. She’s standing there with her arms crossed over her chest and one eyebrow cocked, her light brown eyes flitting curiously between me and Aiden.
“What are two landsmen doing sneaking around my ship?” she asks. And then, with a faint trace of amusement in her voice – “Did you arrange for that little racket on the dock just now?”
“Yes,” I answer, then wince deeply at my own honesty. “Sorry about that. We were looking for you, and we didn’t think they’d just let us on the ship, so…”
Aiden winces, too, but Robin breathes out a little laugh, allowing a tiny smile to spread across her face.
“Really? Wow. Having a friend throw a martini at someone’s ship is an interesting way of introducing yourself. If you wanted my attention, you’ve got it.”
I step out into the moonlight where Robin can see us more clearly, pulling Aiden with me. “Well, then let’s try introducing ourselves again, in a more normal way! You’re Robin, right?”
Her eyebrows drop low in confusion. “Have we met?”
“We – well – we certainly have, now!” I give her a friendly, hopeful smile, lifting one hand in a wave. “I’m Jamie, and this is Aiden. Can we talk?”
Robin looks at us with narrowed, scrutinizing eyes for a moment.
“Alright,” she says slowly. “I’m listening. Talk.”
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