8:
"When I mentioned supplying you with a stick, I meant it to be figurative." Gilder groaned. "What happened?"
"He had it coming." Aika stuck her tongue out at the sailor crumpled into a ball on the deck.
"I can assure you that Leo's always got a few things coming to him." Gilder replied dryly. "But I didn't realize a crack against the back of his skull with a broom was one of those things."
"She's crazy!" Leo declared as he lifted his pock-marked face from the deck.
"You're beginning to look pretty crazy to me too, Leo." Gilder cut in. "You've just insulted a woman who's already bested you while she's currently armed."
Gilder placed a firm hand over Aika's which was in the process of raising the broom into an offensive stance. Aika glowered, but she lowered the broom.
"Now." Gilder said calmly. "One at a time, tell me what happened before I'm forced to throw you both overboard."
"I was just walking along the deck minding my own business." Leo hoisted himself to his feet. "I was running an errand for Rodney. All of a sudden she just started thrashing me with a broom!"
Leo stared murder at Aika with his blue eyes, while she rolled hers. Gilder raised an eyebrow at Leo.
"For no reason at all?" Gilder asked.
"Absolutely no reason!" Leo affirmed.
"What do you have to say for yourself, Aika?" Gilder tried to hold back his smirk.
"I was sweeping the deck like you told me to." She spoke through gritted teeth. "This oaf drops whatever he was carrying as he passes me so he can bend over and look up my skirt!"
"Is this true?" Gilder turned to Leo.
"Of course not!" Leo cried, although his eyes darted everywhere but Gilder's hard stare.
"Some people have no tact." Gilder shook his head. "Aika should have hit you harder."
Aika smiled, triumphant. Leo looked like he was going to be ill as she raised the broom at him.
"I didn't mean for you to hit him again! Take a break, Aika." Gilder ordered. "I'm going to have a chat with our dear friend, Leo."
Aika strolled off, the broom still in her hand. Leo gulped as Gilder threw an arm around his shoulder.
"What do you think you were doing?" Gilder raised and eyebrow over his dark eyes.
"I didn't mean anything by it." Leo insisted.
"I'll bet." Gilder muttered. "You should know better."
"I know." Leo grumbled.
"Aika wears shorts underneath her skirt." Gilder grinned. "She outsmarted you, pal."
"What?" Leo's jaw dropped.
The smile died on Gilder's face and he turned serious. "Don't ever let me catch you doing this again." he warned. "Otherwise, I'll be the one beating you with the broom. Got me?"
"Yeah." Leo sighed.
"Why the glum face?" Gilder asked. "I didn't say you couldn't look at her. I just said not to pull another stunt like that."
"What do you mean?" Leo's eyes narrowed.
"Don't be so obvious. Look at her elbow." Gilder instructed.
"Elbow?"
"Yes, elbow." Gilder repeated. "Stare at it, know it, love it. It's still an expanse of flesh on a woman's body; the main difference is that a lady won't try to bludgeon you with a blunt object if she catches you ogling it."
"I think I understand…" Leo murmured.
"You're learning." Gilder patted the younger man on his shoulder. "Now, get back to Rodney."
"Aye-aye, Captain!" Leo gave Gilder a salute before he hurried off.
Gilder leaned against the deck's railing and sighed. He placed a cigarette to his lips, grateful for the moment's silence. On a chivalrous whim he had given Aika his Captain's lodging so that the girl could have some privacy from his men. Now that he was stuck bunking with the rest of his crew, it was difficult to find a room below deck where he could smoke to his heart's content without someone complaining.
The bathrooms had an uncomfortable draft, and the Engine room was out of the question for obvious reasons. So he had tried in the Crew's Cabin, but Felix went on a rant about his asthma. He had moved to the kitchen after that and was left bloody by his cook's spoon. Maybe Gilder was too lenient on his crew, but the man just couldn't get any respect.
As he lit the cigarette in his lips, he eyed the radiant blue sky before him with suspicion. It was beautiful and quiet. Too quiet. Gilder realized that he hadn't seen the Primrose in a long time. It would be just like Clara to wreck the minute bliss that managed to float his way.
Gilder squinted at a large cumulus cloud. He tried to see a lewd shape in the mass, but in the end, admitted that it was just a ball of fluff. He was just delaying the inevitable.
Aika was there for a reason. Sure, one could conclude that it was a coincidence that she landed face-first onto his deck, but Gilder liked to think that he was more astute than that. She was troubled. Aika was running from something and found it convenient to hide behind Gilder's trench coat for the time being.
He was okay with playing her game for the moment. Gilder wasn't exactly one to make visits; so after he was done pretending to be a hero along Vyse and his crew, he did what he knew how to do best. He disappeared.
It was almost refreshing to have someone as youthful and insipidly cheerful as Aika on board the Claudia. Between the antics that girl was capable of stirring up along with the lack of direction he and his crew had at the moment, Gilder enjoyed her company.
But he would eventually have to sit the girl down for a long chat. He'd give her time to lick whatever wounds she was nursing, Gilder liked to think that he was a gentleman, but he wasn't going to wait forever. He'd make her talk even if he had to dangle her over the railing of the Claudia by her ankles.