A Trip To Tuanaki

Chapter 12

In spite of Mal's dire predictions, the distant blacksail ship turns out to be more of an annoyance than a threat. Over the course of the day it slips in and out of sight, though Mal does his best to keep The Ship Without A Name flying at optimal speeds.

Somewhere in the mid afternoon, Gunny gives up on their urgent watch of the distant stern horizon. Mal doesn't stop checking every few minutes, at least for as long as Alice is willing to stay on the deck to watch. It's as windy as the day before, so it's not exactly easy to have a conversation. Unfortunately, this leaves Alice with little to occupy her time. Maybe if she goes back down to the cabin she can go back to digging around in Mal's things in search of something to read. Not that there's any guarantee she'll find anything interesting, of course, but she's bound to find something. Maybe, if she's lucky, something boring enough she'll be put to sleep. There's certainly not anything useful she can do on the ship, and it kind of irritates her. She knows she'll regret it if she asks for something to do.

When Alice gets down to the lower deck, she hears what she slowly recognizes as a muffled fiddle. She follows the sound to the cabin door, which she pushes open.

Inside, she finds Gunny with her back to the door, elegantly sawing away on a fiddle. Alice stands still watching her, quietly impressed.

When Gunny concludes her piece, Alice applauds. It certainly does the job of getting Gunny's attention.

"Oh! Alice!" she says, sounding startled. She looks around the room, as if confirming she is in fact in the cabin. "I'm sorry, I forgot this was — I forgot you where staying in here," she says. It sounds sheepish, almost embarrassed, though she certainly isn't blushing as violently as Alice would be in the same situation. In fact, Alice herself is feeling a bit embarrassed. And foolish, for not making her presence known earlier.

"Your playing is lovely," Alice says. "It's been a long time since I've heard any good music. Thank you for playing."

Gunny shrugs. "I have the thing," she says, gesturing with the instrument a little self-consciously. "I may as well use it. But I'll go back to the hold, I don't want to—"

"No, no, please stay," Alice says. "I mean, unless you don't want the audience. I was just gonna be going through Mal's things."

Gunny raises her eyebrows, not sure whether to take Alice seriously. "I don't mind the audience," she says. "As long as you don't mind the worse bits of my playing."

Alice grins. "Anything to pass the time. Do you know Lament for a Sailor's Wife?"

#

Gunny is on watch and Alice is up on the deck of the ship when they see their first indication of land. It's far off in the distance, and even though she has Gunny point it out to her, Alice has trouble recognizing the distant discoloration of the horizon as something they might actually want to investigate. However, having their destination in sight is certainly exciting, and it very slowly becomes more so as they approach the makeshift airship dock erected on an island that barely looks more substantial than a sandbar.

Thankfully, they reduce their speed significantly for the docking procedure. Alice gets to stand next to Mal without her goggles on and she can even talk to him in a reasonable voice and expect him to hear her — and her to hear his answers.

"This is such a tiny island," Alice says, even though it's not a very insightful comment. She just can't help looking at it and wondering if they maybe went the wrong way.

"We're still pretty high," Mal says. "But it's not large, no. All we need is fresh water, though. And we've been promised there's plenty."

"Ooo, do you think there are pools? I would love a soak."