12 Ships, Cigarettes and Confessions:
"Lola, honey, you don't mean that." Gilder snorted, then rolled over onto his side.
Aika groaned. She peered over her shoulder to make sure that she and the Claudia's captain were the only two in the Crew's Quarters. She had tried to wake him gently, but apparently it wasn't working. Aika bent over, pressed her shoulder into Gilder's back and shoved him off the bed.
Gilder grunted as he made contact with the floor and Willy squawked frantically. Aika grinned, pleased with her handiwork.
"So nice to see you up, sunshine." she said.
"I can't get any respect from anyone, can I?" Gilder moaned from his spot on the floor.
"Help! Help! Help!" Willy wailed.
"Captain, we need to talk." Aika announced.
"Funny, I don't feel like talking." Gilder replied. "What I feel is a lot of pain in my tailbone. You wouldn't be able to explain that, now would you, Aika?"
"The Claudia is your ship, Captain, how do you expect to run it if you're asleep?" Aika raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms firmly.
"My men know what to do." Gilder grumbled.
"But I don't." Aika shot back. "What's going on, Captain? I wake up and discover that we're docking."
"We've probably run out of loqua." Gilder shoved himself up to a sitting position. "It's no big deal."
"Why didn't anyone tell me?" she demanded.
Her lower lip jutted out and Gilder realized that he was under the influence of the "Aika Sulk." In the meanwhile, Willy perched himself on a bedpost.
"I doubt that everyone realizes that you're part of the crew yet." he replied. "It's no big deal. Just go to the dock and help the rest of the crew restock."
"You won't do anything funny, will you?" Aika asked.
"I've done several funny things before." Gilder squinted as he patted his nightstand down for his glasses. "Be more specific."
Aika shuffled her feet. "Funny like, leave me at the dock because of all the trouble I've caused with Leo." she mumbled.
"I thought we settled everything with Leo already." he replied. With his glasses in place he began to finger comb his thick brown hair.
Aika tried to grin casually but it was too smarmy. Her smile was crooked and her eyes were shifty.
"What happened?" Gilder asked. He opened the drawer to his nightstand and pulled out the metal cigarette case. From the guilty expression on Aika's face, he had a hunch that he would want a cigarette desperately soon.
"I think he was trying to apologize for earlier." Aika tugged on one of her fat braids nervously. "But he snuck up behind me and I got spooked and clobbered him on accident."
"You clobbered him on accident?" Gilder opened the metal case and propped a cigarette in his lips.
"Yeah." Aika nodded. "My fist was flying instinctively before I even realized it was Leo. Don't smoke in front of me."
Gilder sighed and dropped the lighter that he had found. He kept the unlit cigarette in his mouth and sucked on it pensively.
"Did you apologize?" Gilder asked.
"That's just it." Aika explained. "Before I could apologize, Leo started screaming. He called me names until I hit him again."
"I see." Gilder murmured.
He sat down on the foot of the bed and motioned for Aika to join him. She plopped down beside him on the untidy mattress. Gilder looked her square in the eyes.
"Now, don't get me wrong, Aika." he said. "I'm all for the occasional unadulterated violence. But usually the violence is against Black Pirates or the remnants of the old Valuan Empire. It's not crew member versus crew member."
"I know." Aika sighed.
"I know that you know and that's why I'm bringing it up." Gilder replied. "Leo's new to this. He's an idiot, but it's excusable. I've seen you in action before with Vyse, so you have no excuse. You know this isn't acceptable."
"I know." Aika said. "It's just… well…"
"You haven't been acting like yourself." Gilder murmured.
"I haven't been feeling much like myself." she admitted.
"You know, you don't have to be part of my crew." Gilder said. "If you want, you can be my personal guest. Just while you get your head sorted out."
"No." Aika insisted. "If I'm on a ship it's going to be because I'm part of the crew."
Gilder shrugged. "I'm just trying to help."
"I know."
Gilder raised an eyebrow. "For someone who knows an awful lot you're sure in a rut." he said dryly.
"I ran away." Aika blurted out. The muscles along her neck and shoulders tightened at the admission.
"What?" Gilder asked softly.
"I ran away." Aika repeated. "I needed some time to myself so I ran away, okay? I didn't really know where I was going and ended up getting blasted out of the sky by Black Pirates. Now I'm here."
"What ship were you on?" Gilder asked. "It didn't look like the Delphinus."
Aika seemed to relax. The question that Gilder asked most likely wasn't the question she had been expecting.
"It wasn't." Aika replied. "It was just some little ship that I swiped."
"Just some ship." Gilder mumbled. "What was the ship's name?"
"The Salvation, I think." Aika said.
"You think?" His glasses slid down Gilder's nose. "Didn't you name it yourself?"
"No." Aika admitted. "It was just the name it came with."
"So that's how Vyse is naming all his ships now?" Gilder shook his head. "No, don't answer that question. I can't believe you didn't name your ship!"
"Why?" she asked.
"Why?" Gilder groaned. "Don't you realize that the most important thing to an air pirate is his ship? Why would he ever allow anyone else the privilege of naming his own ship? That's preposterous."
"I don't see what the big deal is." Aika said. "It just makes things easier."
"Because the name of your ship is important." Gilder insisted. "Because you're stuck on your ship for long periods of time. Because you could die on your ship. You need to have your ship named something that's important to you. Something you would risk dying for."
"But what about Vyse's ship?" Aika asked. "He didn't name it the Delphinus."
"No," Gilder said calmly. "but it was named after an ancient animal like all the other ships in the Valuan Armada. Ask Fina sometime what the Delphinus symbolizes."
Gilder saw Aika flinch at the name "Fina" and grinned. He was getting closer to the source of Aika's troubles.
"What should I name my ship, then?" Aika wondered.
"That's not for me to decide, kid." Gilder answered. "You need to look inside yourself for that."
"Okay." she agreed.
"Then head out to the dock and start helping the rest of the crew." Gilder demanded. "You're smarter than this."
Aika stuck out her tongue before she bounded off the bed. She flung the door open, but hesitated in the doorway.
"Captain?" Aika's voice was reluctant.
"Yeah?" Gilder studied his unlit cigarette.
"What was the Claudia named for?" she asked.
"I named it after Claudia." Gilder replied cryptically. "Now, get back to work."
Aika nodded and left her captain to his thoughts.