“Sea serpents!” Amber suddenly exclaimed. “Ah!” For a long time, she was silent. Then he almost felt the warmth of her smile wash against him. “Sea serpents,” she affirmed to herself softly. “Thank you, Paragon. Thank you for that much.”

“IT'S NOT YOUR WATCH.” OPHELIA SPOKE THE WORDS QUIETLY.

“I know that as well as you do. I couldn't sleep,” Althea replied. She looked out past the figurehead. The waves were gentle swells. The soft spring wind pushed her light cloak against her body.

“I know that as well as you do,” Ophelia countered. “You've been tossing in your bunk for two hours now. Why? Are you excited about docking in Bingtown tomorrow?”

“Yes. But not in a glad way. I fear all I must face tomorrow. My sister, my mother. Kyle, perhaps, if Vivacia is there. Oh, Ophelia, I even dread facing my ship when the time comes. How can I look at her and explain how and why I let her go?”

“You know you will not have to. Just put your hand to her planking and she will feel it all, as surely as I do.”

Althea slid her hands lovingly along the polished railing. “It is such a wonder to me, the understanding that has developed between us. It is another reason I dread docking in Bingtown tomorrow. I have felt so safe aboard you. I hate to leave you.”

A light footfall on the deck behind her turned her head. It was Grag. He moved across the moonlit deck, his bare feet falling softly. He wore only his trousers. His hair was tousled and boyish. Obviously, he was recently awakened, yet there was still a tigerish grace to his gait as he crossed the deck. A slow smile crept across Althea's face. Very softly, Ophelia answered her thought. “Men have no concept of their own beauty.”

Grag grinned as he approached. “I tapped at your door. When I didn't find you there, I knew right away where to look.”

“Oh?” Ophelia broke in archly. “Are you in the habit of tapping at Althea's door at this hour? With no shirt on?”

“Only when my father wakes me up and asks me to,” Grag replied easily. “He said he wanted to have a quiet talk with both of us.”

“I was not to be included in this 'quiet talk?' ” Ophelia demanded, already offended.

“I assume you were, since he asked me to wake Althea and bid her to come here. I thought you might even have suggested it.”

“No. It's my idea.” Captain Tenira stepped quietly into their circle. A coal glowed in the bowl of his short-stemmed pipe and fragrant smoke drifted with him. “Call me a fearful old man if you will, but there are some precautions I'd like to take before we dock in Bingtown. And they involve Althea.” His serious tone quenched their banter.

“What did you have in mind?” Althea asked.

“I've been thinking about our encounter with that Chalcedean galley. They were flying the Satrap's banner. Things have been changing in Bingtown for the last few years. I don't know how much favor and influence that captain may have there, or whether he would send a complaint there about our response.” Captain Tenira gave a disgusted snort. “When he finally got under way again, he may even have fled there. So. Depending on how much influence he has there . . . and on how badly the Satrap currently grovels to Chalced ... we may have an unpleasant welcome awaiting us.”

A little silence fell over the group. It was obvious to Althea that Grag had given this no more thought than she had. It was not that she had dismissed the incident as trivial: never that! Ophelia's beautiful, slender-fingered hands were scorched. No matter how many times the figurehead assured her that she did not feel pain, at least not as humans did, Althea still winced at every glimpse of her blackened hands. Althea had looked forward to reaching Bingtown, and expected that the other Old Traders would share her deep anger and affront at the attack. Never had she paused to think that others there might think the Chalcedean galley and her crew had been wronged.

Captain Tenira gave them time to mull this before he spoke again. “As I said, I might simply be a fearful old man. What, I asked myself, is the worst they can do to me? Well, I answered, they could seize my ship when I tied up at the tax dock. Why, they might even take custody of my first mate and me. Then who would go to my family, to tell what had befallen us? Who would witness to the Bingtown Trader Council and demand their aid? I have many good hands, good sailors one and all, but,” he shook his head, “good speakers they are not, nor are they Bingtown Traders.”

Althea grasped it instantly. “You want me to go?”

“If you would.”