In draft-
Snorting into her mug, Salda glanced at him sideways, looking thoughtful. She was saved from answering by the pitter patter of tiny feet running along the railing. “What in the world was that? Surely we don’t have rats, there’s nothing for them.”
A tiny, indignant scoff.
“Rats slink and hide,” Rippen said, carefully looking away from the railing and keeping his eyes on Salda’s weathered face. “This guest is not like that.” He turned his back on the sea and took a half step away from Salda, letting his arms swing free around him.
This, of course, spilled his untouched tea on the decking and splashed Salda for good measure, but Rippen affected not to notice as he went on. “Those little feet belong to someone…” he paused.
“Slinking and thieving?” Salda said as she flicked the tea off her canvas trousers in irritation.
Rippen hissed. “Of course not! It’s someone who wants to see great adventures that will be told for years to come! Bold and daring, sly and cunning, that’s who our guest is!” He continued to sketch shapes with his wide flung arms in large movements, then paced the deck as though enthused about his topic. “Those that join us will get to see parts of the world unthought of since the Joining! What hardy souls, what bravery, what…” and his voice broke off as he spun, flinging the tea mug over the rail with one hand, and scooping up his listener with the other. “What do we have here?”
The next instant quickly devolved into chaos as Rippen squeaked with a rather girlish sound and flung whatever it was that he had caught but not yet identified at Salda. Salda had had her hair tightly braided as was practical for a lady upon the sea, so while their guest bounced off her shoulder, they ended up clinging to the buckskin vest she wore. Before she could react, it slid down her neck and into the V point of the vest- directly into her cleavage. Instantly Salda clapped one hand above and one hand below, trapping it there.
“Stop!” cried a tiny voice. “Dark dark in here! Stuck stuck, no air! Bold one need breath!” Holding her hands firmly in position, Salda dashed into the pilot’s house and indicated to Rippen to open the shuttered lantern so that they may see their catch.
“Very well, bold one, we’ll let you out, but you need to sit still so we can talk about this. This is a very serious offense,” Rippen said, trying to keep his tone earnest. Salda rolled her eyes before fishing a tiny squirrel out of her underwear. Dropping it to the table with a slight thud, she was still startled by the speed with which Rippen scooped it into an unlit lantern enclosed by glass. No larger than Salda’s finger, it was a deep slate gray with a lush tail twice as long as it was.
And, judging from the way it pounded on the glass with its tiny paws, it was furious at having been tricked not once, but twice in the space of five minutes.
“You gonna let me out now now now now! I call down the wrath of Queenie Meanie on you with all my witchywitchy powers!” The miniscule taps on the glass stopped as the paws were contorting into odd, wiggling arrangements, as though the squirrel was casting a spell on them.
“Well, you might want to give that thought another think. Though we all respect her majesty the queen, as her servant you do her great injury and dishonor by violating the Sacred Code of the Sea, paragraph 5, line 23 concerning the rights and responsibilities of stowaways.” Rippen lowered his face to the lantern until he was eye to eye with the stowaway in question. “What say you to that?”
“Rights, what rights?” Almost immediately upon hearing the words Sacred Code of the Sea, she had folded her hands to her chest where they washed each other worriedly.
Rippen’s eyes danced with amusement as he looked to Salda, who took up her cue.
“Stowaways got no rights, and everyone on board has to obey the captain.” She also leaned down on the opposite, that the squirrel would be able to see her face, too.
“Cappy Tanny, old man’s fanny!” The squirrel flung her paws at them derisively before turning its back on Salda, sauntering to the candle holder with her tail held high. “Climber cares not for sea code, Climber is only listening to Queenie Meanie.” Climber sat down decisively, folding the tiny arms and giving her captors a ‘so there’ kind of nod.
They exchanged a glance before Rippen gave a theatrical sigh. “Well, okay then, if that’s how you want to be. Salda, do you want to go and wake Captain Jeran so we can make this little rodent walk the plank?”
The word ‘rodent’ sent Climber the Squirrel into an absolute flurry of rage, rocketing around the insides of the sealed lantern and squeaking unintelligibly before stopping to pound the glass with all her might. “Am not rodent! Not vermin!” it would shriek before going back into frenzied circles again.
“Seems a shame to wake him, what with paragraph 5…” Salda trailed off.
“Line 23. It’s perfectly clear to me, we could just fling the little rat right over the side. We’re miles and miles from shore, so it would… most… certainly… drown.” Rippen carefully spaced out the last words, solemn as a pledge, with a sure nod for each of them.
The movement from inside the lantern stopped abruptly. “Miles? Drown drown?” Climber’s mouth hung open, showing prominent front teeth that did look rather rodent like. The little squirrel’s whiskers quivered so pathetically as she crouched in her sealed lantern, that, for a moment, Salda felt ashamed of them, as though they were bullies teasing a small child.
“Yes indeed, drown drown. You know, unless you want to be like us,” Salda said. “We all work together to keep each other safe so we can get to see all the wonders out there, right Rippen?”
Rippen nodded along, his long blond forelock flapping earnestly into his eyes before he pushed it back again.. “That’s right! We’re going to go see everything there is to see, and then we’ll do it again. We’re the boldest and bravest of sailors. We even know the whole code!”
Over the top of the lantern, Salda mouthed, “What whole code?” at him, only to have him shoot her an eloquently piercing glance. As instructed, Salda shut it.
It had been the right tack to take. Climber was back at the glass, her dark eyes shining, tiny paws out in supplication. “Climber wants to see, too. More than anything. Climber hear about star ship, sneaky sneaky to see. Want to be boldest and bravest. Want to know code, too!”
Tipping Salda a satisfied wink, Rippen moved as though to open the lantern door. “You give your word? We’re all here to work together and keep each other safe, right?” When Climber began nodding so fast he feared she’d rattle her brains, Rippen set her free with his hand down, palm up, for her to step in to. “Alright, let’s shake on it then, and you’ll need to shake with the captain too.”
Solemnly, he held out his forefinger and accepted the Climber’s paw grasping it to shake with a little nod. Then, with a very earnest expression on her tiny face, the squirrel leaped to the table and offered her forepaw to Salda. Something in the way she stood so straight, looking up, her tail stretched out behind her with only the veriest tip of it flicking nervously back and forth. “Well, okay then little one,” Salda held out her own finger, admiring the squirrel that wanted to go see what was beyond the home she knew more than anything.
Curiouser and Curiouser 