Captain

Disclaimer: The character of Daja Kisubo and all locations herein are the property of Tamora Pierce. Plot, original characters and actual written words owned by me. Written for Challenge 18 of the Seanfhocal Circle.

The Anderrani harbor had little claim to fame, beyond exporting some of the finest printed cotton around the Pebbled Sea, decided a the young Trader captain. Well, there was also the clear blue harbor water, the warm sunshine, the briny breeze and the damp rocky beach the children played on so happily. Perhaps, if the cotton sold well, they would dock here again next summer, maybe even sooner than that.

Isabis was just getting comfortable in her new role -- complacent, she would later call it -- when the shouting started. Someone down at the beach was calling for the captain. For a fraction, Isabis froze. It was at that moment that she realized two things: she was the captain, and her child was down at that beach. She ran.

"What happened?" she asked her cousin breathlessly.

He pointed out to the sea, speechless.

She saw turbulence and flailing and -- were those dorsal fins? Her throat tightened.

"Captain!" someone called.

Isabis spun around quickly.

"I've got them!"

Mahdi and Keb were swimming to the shore, each hefting a small body under one arm. Isabis felt her heart beat unbearably fast, then slow down to a near halt. She pressed a shaking hand to her chest. Could she do this?

"Get them over here!" she cried, her voice shrill but strong. "Get dry blankets, clothing, bandaging -- somebody call a healer!"

"Isa," sounded a voice to her right, calm and assured.

Isabis fell silent.

"The girls just went out for a swim, and found a school of dolphins. Pesks liked our calves so much, they didn't want to let them go." The woman chuckled, and patted the older child's wet, salty curls.

"Mother," said Isabis with an almost inaudible sigh. Was it of relief, she asked herself? She looked at her daughter and thought of that terrible moment when she saw the fins and was afraid of the worst. But that didn't mean that her mother didn't still think her unfit to captain Third Ship. Isabis shook her head and kneeled down between the two girls.

"You scared us all terribly," she said sternly to them. "You may well have set back our work. Who told you that you could go swimming alone?" she demanded.

Daja shook her head. "No one, mother."

"That's because you can't," said Isabis firmly. "Not until you're older, and not that far from shore. You must never disobey your captain! You hear me? And never ever scare your poor mother like that, again!"

The girls both nodded soberly. Satisfied, Captain Kisubo got up and started back to the ship. That was when she heard her mother's last words.

"Never swim alone, with dolphins," she said. "That's your lesson, learn it well. They look almost exactly like sharks, from afar."

She faltered for a moment, her teeth clenching despite herself.

Her mother caught up to her easily. "You never did learn to tell the difference, did you, Isa?" she remarked, and, chuckling softly to herself, passed her eldest daughter by.