II's Company
"T'ere's not much ah can do about it!"
"Of course there is, Elvis."
"And what is yer proposal miss high 'n mighty Adelle?"
"Get rid of it. That's your answer."
"And just HOW am I s'pposed t' do that, eh?"
"Toss it into the fire. That'll take care of it.
"I canae do that t' a priceless artifact! Sufferin' scallops, what type of advice is that?"
"The kind that works. Here. I'll do it for you."
"Nae nae NAE, missy!"
"Give that here!"
"Not, ergh, likely wi' that attitude!"
"Elvis! Give… give…!"
"Gah! Yer stronger than you look!"
"How dare you?! Ergh, hah!"
"Gah! NO, tis not yers!"
"What's going on?"
Elvis and Adelle froze at the sound of someone entering the room, and turned to see Seth standing there, looking none too pleased at the moment.
When they didn't respond to his question he frowned, and his voice grew louder, "I said what's going on?"
The two of them glanced at each other, and then proceeded to explain, talking over each other in loud voices.
"Er… Elvis was trying to…"
"Adelle wouldn't leave m' alone…"
"…We found this artifact…"
"…I was just trying' ta work."
"But then HE kept going on and on, blah blah blah…"
"Eh? I was STUDYING! And then…"
"…Might have done some good, but he wouldn't listen…"
"Tah bossy lady kept carryin' on!"
"How dare you?!"
"Twas true, Seth! She... YEOWCH!"
Elvis grimaced and shouted loudly as his ear was pulled and he was dragged out of the room by the much shorter, and seemingly stronger sailor boy. A cry next to his side said that Adelle was being pulled along as well.
They were dragged right into the another room and practically tossed onto the floor. Adelle shouted at Seth furiously in a fast language which none of them understood. Elvis rubbed the side of his ear and turned around.
"Eh, Seth?" He said, with surprise, "What was that f…"
He was stopped short as a kitchen knife was thrust into his and his partner's hands. Seth pointed to a set of buckets containing fresh vegetables, meats, and herbs, and then pointed to the large pot which sat ready and full of water above the fire.
It crossed their minds that Seth had been working in there. He did seem to have the best hand at cooking while on the go and most of their meals came from him. But why was the cutting board in two pieces…?
Seth didn't address that question though. He only gave them each stern and hard glares, then said:
"Get to work."
And then with a turn of his heel and a slam of the iron door, he was gone. Elvis glanced at the vegetables and meat, then to his red-faced comrade standing by his side.
"Wha is it?" He asked, "D'ye not know how to cook?"
The red on her face disappeared into one swift and cold glare, and she turned away, walking smoothly over to the raw meat and picking the basket up. She turned back to him with a look of indifference.
"Why don't you take care of the potatoes, hm? Wouldn't want to dirty your scholarly fingers on the meat now would we?"
Elvis scoffed, "Nice. Did'ye just think that one up?" But he made no protest and picked up a crate of celery, moving it over to the pan.
As for Seth, after he had slammed the door on them, he dusted off his hands and moved in a satisfied way down the hall, whistling a sea shanty he had learned when he was little. He nearly ran into a certain someone who stood just half inside her door.
"Ah!" He said, stopping short, "Princess! Didn't see you there."
Gloria held her head up and bit her lip to keep from scolding him again. At least he was using her title… "Seth, what was the meaning of that?"
Seth blinked, "What? Oh, you mean with those two?" He jerked a thumb back down the hall and chuckled, "Just taking care of business, Princess, no need to worry."
Gloria's frown deepened, "From what I heard, they were having a falling out."
"They were, I guess."
"And you chose to intervene?"
"Correct."
"And without listening or understanding what was happening, you dragged them roughly into the kitchen?"
"By their ears, actually."
Gloria took a deep breath, as if to keep herself from growing angry. She looked to him and motioned towards the chairs which stood nearby.
"Would you mind if I spoke to you about this?"
Seth cocked his head to one side, then hesitantly sat down. Gloria followed suite and looked down at the ground.
"Seth." She said, "That is not how you solve an argument."
Seth just looked at her. She couldn't get used to that, how he'd look at her. As if they were equals. It was so unnerving.
She continued nevertheless, "When one comes across a disagreement of some kind, one must act accordingly. One must first listen to both sides of the story and gather what facts they can. Then one must make a decision of punishment. That is, who was right and wrong. And then one must solve the problem oneself with a solution that will benefit both parties and leave them satisfied. This is how you do such things."
Seth leaned back and put his boots up onto the table, wearing a very thoughtful expression and oblivious to the silent disapproval of the Princess.
"See miss…"
"Ahem."
"Princess, That may work for you, but I'll stick to my own methods."
Gloria frowned again, "I beg your pardon?"
"I don't take nonsense." Seth continued, looking at her with an unreadable expression, "Petty fights, disagreements, quarrels… if you can't find it in yourself to sort it out easily, then there's something wrong. You know what happened when a fight broke out among the sailors on my ship? The people involved in the fight were put to work. They were given galley duties and all the extra excruciating chores. And you know what? There were less fights after this happened. No man wanted to end up on the wrong side of the captain. Sometimes he'd even get mad enough to toss his crew overboard."
Gloria gasped in horror. Seth quickly added, "I mean, make them swim to shore. He'd never kill them, just dismember them from the ship."
"Seth, how could you endure such a life? The crimes of those people… and now you wish to perpetrate such things into our group? Into MY following?!"
"Gloria, just give my ways a chance." He said, "That's all I ask."
Her face turned red as her frown deepened even further, though wether it was from anger that he had used her name, or embarrassment that she had shouted at him, neither knew. She just stood and walked away in a huff, heading back into her room to spend the remaining hours alone.
Seth sighed and stood as well when she was gone. He was half tempted to walk over to her door and talk again. Maybe even apologize for upsetting her. Except she still didn't trust him. She had made it a point that on no circumstances was he welcome in around or near her room. He was't a pirate for haddock's sake, he was a sailor! Someone who worked AT SEA. But apparently there was no difference for her from the merchant vessel he had sailed on and the brigands that harbored the pubs.
Dinner was served up a few hours later. It was a rather odd mixture of spices and herbs, as if two completely different people had been making it, but the crew was satisfied. Gloria made note of how much better behaved Elvis seemed to be, and in turn, Adelle. The older man wasn't calling for his ale in loud tones and the younger mercenary wasn't scolding him for it. She hated to admit it, but Seth's approach to the problem seemed to have worked rather well.
"Pass the carrots would ye…"
"Salt, please."
Seth didn't say a word on the matter to them. Neither did they say anything to him. In fact, Elvis seemed to be avoiding him rather well, while Adelle was shooting daggers of mistrust out of her eyes at him every time she thought no one was looking.
Is that what I look like? Gloria vaguely wondered as she picked at her food. Maybe she had been a bit too hard on Seth. She made it a point that she would apologize to him on the morrow. After all, if this was always the result of a no-nonsense approach to things, perhaps his methods could be of more use. Not that she would tell that to him, of course.
That night, she was woken by loud noises. Crashing, banging, shouting. But for a while she was too afraid to go and see what they were. And by the time she was tired of it, the noises had stopped. Just when she was falling back to sleep, with the intention of asking about the noises tomorrow, there came a knock on her door.
"What is it?" She asked warily, still a bit mistrustful of the people on their ship.
"Adelle, your majesty…"
"Oh…" Gloria hastily dressed herself and came to the door, to find the mercenary standing there looking rather uncomfortable.
"What is it?"
"Your majesty…" Adelle said slowly, "I would like your advice on something…"
"Or course." She answered automatically. This was what she had been taught to do, after all. "What about?"
"Elvis." She stated blatantly. "And earlier this morning. We had an argument, and… well, he wanted my opinion on something, and I gave it. But then he didn't like my opinion and decided to give me such…" Here, her language switched back to the tribal tongue she used often. Gloria listened as she recounted the events of that morning, and apparently, that night as well.
"He just never listens to me!" She finished. "He's always asking for my opinion and he never accepts it. It's just… agonizing."
"I think you need to be more forgiving to him." Gloria said, after a pause. "He is, after all, a scholar. An odd one as well, and scholars rarely ever do things in a way that they disagree with. It is perhaps better to not allow such problematic behaviors as he has to get to you and bother you. Just let him work. And if he asks for your opinion, give it, but don't expect him to listen." Such was the way with politics as well.
"Forgiving…?" Adelle muttered, then she sighed, "I suppose I could try… he is just a boy anyway."
Gloria said nothing. Adelle thanked her, and seemed to leave satisfied with the advice she had been given. Gloria was just turning back to her bed when another person approached her, his black coat blending in with the darkness of the corridors.
"Ah, Majesty." Elvis tipped his hat, "Would ye mind offering' yer vast knowledge of disagreements and given' me ta bit of advice?"
Gloria sighed and nodded. And then listened as he recounted his side of the tale that had unfolded that morning.
"Ye see… I was working… Miss Adelle kept on bugging me 'bout having a solution, and of course, I canna make decisions just like that!" He snapped his fingers, "Ye have to think things out. But she twouldm't listen, and kept telling' me to do certain things in a certain way, and eventually she even tried to destroy my work!"
Gloria, now knowing both sides of the story, smiled, "Is there a possibility that you were asking for her opinion?"
Elvis frowned, "I guess… I… suppose I was…"
"Well there you have it." She said, "When you ask for someone's opinion, they give it. And even if it is not what you want to hear, you should listen to them, and treat what they have to say with high importance. Anything else is aggravating and mean to the person you are speaking to."
Elvis blinked and scratched his head, nearly making his fedora fall off. "I s'pose I have been a tad bit nasty a' times… Hmm… perhaps I should apologize…"
"That's a grand idea." Gloria said, then she waved farewell to Elvis and turned to go into her room. However, before she could go back to bed, another person came down the hall, whistling. When he saw that she was awake, he came over to her wearing a self-satisfied grin.
"What are you doing up at this hour?" She said, glaring at the sailor boy distrustfully. She could understand why the other two had been up, they had been fighting. But why Seth…?
"Nightwatch up on the deck." Seth replied "I'm just turning in.
"Oh." She nodded to him and looked away. Silence reigned, for a while.
"Well?" Seth said at last, smiling in a self-satisfied way at her, "My methods sure worked this evening didn't they? I think, Princess, that you owe me an apology."
She glanced at him, waiting expectantly for her to speak, the smug grin he wore not fading for a second.
"Of course, Sir Seth." She said, smiling back to him, "It seems that I was incorrect. That was the quietest meal I've had in weeks,"
Seth's grin grew broader and he began to speak. She held up a hand and silenced him.
"However, Sir Seth. Next time the people involved in the disagreement come to me in the middle of the night to ask for help and advice, I'll send them to you. After all, I'm sure you'll be just as good at giving them good counseling as you are giving them bad. Good night now."