Jack staggered to the prow of the ship, careful on legs that were slightly tipsy. He stopped next to the silent first mate, and held a handkerchief out to her with a couple of biscuits. She took one, slowly, nodding thanks and looking to sea as she munched.
"I don't know about you," he offered, "but I am always in a better mood when I've something in me belly."
"Mm," she nodded agreement, munching. "T'ank ya."
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," he took another swig of the rum. "But you're on my ship now, and under my jurisdiction. And in my jurisdiction, women needn't pay for their own pleasure."
She looked down at him silently, looking back out to the horizon. "Has it ever happened to you?"
"No, love."
"It haunts you. You see it every morning when you wake up, every night when you go to bed. Whenever you think you're past it, it haunts you at the most inopportune moment. You never really get past it. You think you do, but…" she looked at him, her eyes sad in the moonlight. "I had so many opportunities to leave. To die, to desert, but…" she looked away again. "What do you want from this?"
"I want my own ship. Not one that I've commandeered, or bought, or traded. One that I have built, that I've designed, that I've offered my own blood for. I want a ship that will outlive us both."
"That might not be hard," she smiled at him. "It's expensive. Naturally it would have to be uncatchable."
"And unbeatable," he replied. "Black as the devil's heart and faster than the wind that carries her."
"That's why you're being so patient with me."
"I'm patient with you for your own sake. But yes, that's part of it."
"Once we get past the Straits, we're headed south. Around Africa."
"Are you taking me the long way? I don't plan to kill you."
"He's raiding the Philippines. If we take this route, it is the quickest way around him, and we loot his main hold last. We'll lose less if we're caught."
"We won't be caught," he smiled at her. "Now if you'll excuse me, I man the helm at daybreak. You have watch. Bed."
He motioned with the rum bottle to the cabin, and she let out a snort of amusement as she untangled herself from the rigging and followed him back.