Chapter 11
24 December 1659 = Wednesday
Walking arm in arm with Megara to the governor's mansion that evening, I felt wholly uneasy in my new 'uniform'. What had been delivered by the tailor had been a mere coat and copper gorget which, as I found out, compromised the entirety of the Danish major's uniform and I was expected to provide the rest, usually from my normal wear. Except for the white epaulets on the shoulders, there were no other distinctive markings on the jacket to dictate rank which left me confused, but after putting on a clean set of clothes and donning the jacket and gorget, decided I was dressed for the night. Megara joined me in a purple satin dress that I felt was too revealing for the period, but it did make me wonder where the ultra-conservatism about cleavage would later come from.
"Worried about the dancing still?" Megara asked me as the mansion came within sight.
"Some," I admitted to her. "I also figured there would be more to the uniform than a jacket."
"A jacket only would be a captain," Megara told me. "The gorget is given only to majors and colonels have a sash over their right shoulder as well. Admirals will be the ones with hats, and if you see anyone with a large medal over their heart that will be a baron, but I haven't heard of a baron entering port so I doubt we see one tonight."
"Just the higher officers of the king's navy?" I asked her to get a nod of agreement. "I can see the simplicity of it."
"You'll get used to it," she told me as we entered the mansion's grounds and began to pass what I thought might be wealthier merchants and citizenry hanging on the outskirts of the party. "You don't even have to stay for the whole party, after a few hours you'll see the party thin considerably and no one will say anything about you leaving."
"We shall see," I told her as I nodded to Simmons who stood guard at the door. He nodded as we passed, entering the mansion to find it packed with naval officers, most seemed to be either captains or majors like myself but there were some colonels among us.
"Greetings, major," I heard as Megara and I walked through the crowd. I stopped and turned to see Rapunzel dressed in an exquisite dress in varying shades of purple and gold trim. I didn't see the governor, so I figured he and his wife were doing the social butterfly thing with their guests.
"And a fair evening to you, Miss Ryder," I said in greeting to her. "May I introduce my fiance, Megara."
"I believe we've met," Rapunzel said with a smile on her face. "In the company of a young Greek, I believe?"
"Hercules," Megara said, trying to be conversational with the slightly off-kilter woman. "His ship was sank by the known pirate, Captain Hook. There were no survivors."
"Oh no," Rapunzel said as she covered her mouth with a hand. "I'm so sorry."
"I suppose even if he had been a humble merchant mariner he still would have been susceptible to pirate attack," Megara conceded.
"Hook is a menace," Rapunzel agreed. "And he's completely wrecked Saint Martin. King Frederick has written Flynn several letters expressing his...displeasure...that Saint Martin hasn't taken better foothold. His most recent letter was asking for consideration for a replacement governor, but I fear Saint Martin won't recover unless Hook is stopped."
"I'd need a good frigate and a full crew to even try," I mused aloud but Megara tightened her hold on my arm at the thought. "It'd be best to summon a ship-of-the-line to beat Hook into submission."
"That was Flynn's recommendation as well," Rapunzel informed me, "But...it's not financially viable. The best we can do is recommend people stay clear of the area and to run at the first sign of sails on the horizon."
"An admiral course for those wishing to live a healthy life," I said in agreement as a band began to tune their instruments. That familiar screech and wail was unmistakable and brought a wistful smile to my face.
"A smile," Rapunzel said happily as she turned to where I could see the violins, cellos and what I thought might be a bass being tuned in the corner and my smile deepened at the thought of such familiar instruments being played tonight. "Looking for to the dance, are we?"
"The dance itself, not so much," I admitted as I brought my gaze back to Rapunzel's beautiful smile. "But as a musician, I can't help but enjoy music itself."
"Then you should hang around after most of the festivities are done for the evening," Rapunzel teased. "I would love to hear you play something."
"I'd be almost at a loss without a harpsichord," I said as I quickly named the era's piano equivalent though I had no idea how to replay the older version of the piano though I knew mentally the only real difference was that the string was somehow plucked instead of hammered like in modern pianos.
"We have one!" Rapunzel exclaimed happily. "It was a gift from father though I have to admit to not having mastered it."
"Then I shall have to showcase my own talents later," I said with a smile but warring with myself that I didn't even know the range a harpsichord had compared to a modern piano. I knew I would lose a few octaves, at least one on either end, but that also led to my own thoughts of what to play as I had no idea how to play anything in the Baroque era, what little I knew of piano pieces came from Mozart and Beethoven who would be Classical era composers in a hundred years when it hit me that I did know a piece from this era, or at least the story went.
"Looking forward to it," Rapunzel said as I spotted Eugene clapping his hands for everyone's attention. "That's my cue! Enjoy your evening!"
With that Rapunzel began to wind her way through the crowd as I looked to Megara to find her beaming with pride. "You're handling this way better than Hercules ever did."
"I've done little except share a conversation with a woman," I said as she began to lead me by the arm through the crowd as Eugene began to call for Rapunzel by name.
"I didn't think you had much in the way of musical talent but you're promising to hold out for a solo?" she said than laughed. "Hercules would have turned three shades of red and begged off rather than offer a private concert let alone dance."
"I just lack the coordination to be an effective dance partner," I admitted to her. "And my timing tends to be slow."
"Just follow my hand signals and you'll do fine," she commented as I noticed Rapunzel joining her husband.
"Now that my beautiful wife has joined me," Eugene said in the silence that followed. "We'll start our Christmas Ball off properly. All parties interested in dancing join me on the dance floor. Everyone else gets to watch!"
"Come on," Megara said as we followed several of the officer's and their dates to a parquet floor. Rapunzel and Eugene took the center of the floor while Megara and I were on the edge where she guided me to the starting position before backing off and facing me as the music began to play a piece for a string quartet.
Following the directions given and my own limited timing I had to figure we were doing pretty given I never stumbled over my own two feet or fellow patrons like many of the captains and majors. I also saw what was likely many a potential romance end in embarrassment as many a young lad were dragged off the floor by a scowling woman.
"Poor lad," Eugene said during a brief reprieve after an hour of dancing as he and I watched a woman dress down a captain I'd seen faceplant in his dance mate's bosom. "No better place to land though."
"That's a matter of perspective," I told him and he chuckled. "For him that would be true. For her, she'd rather he never tripped at all in the presence of others."
"Just glad a have a good grasp of terpsichory," Eugene told me, the term throwing me. "It's about the only way I can keep up with Rapunzel. Sometimes I wonder if all she does is practice while I'm busy with affairs of state."
"Maybe in the past," I said as I noticed Megara and Rapunzel talking among themselves. "Considering the quality the one piece of art I saw her working on when we first met, I'd say she's since moved on to painting and mastering that as well."
"I...I wouldn't know," he finally admitted. "Sometimes her eccentricities make it difficult to be around her, her always calling me by another man's name, for example."
"I know there's difficulty in dealing with a loved one who's not all there," I told him consolingly. "Especially when it's someone you're quite close with."
"We've had two children together," he told me as he looked at his wife. "Maximus and Pascal are two fine upstanding gentlemen who do me proud as officers in the king's service."
"But still," I said as I looked at the man standing beside me and seeing the pain in his eyes. "Doesn't curve the pain of there being something between the two of you."
"No, it doesn't," he said quietly. "I don't mean to bore you with my own problems..."
"A load shared becomes easier to bear," I told him even though I knew that even in modern times cases like this could only be counseled and hoped to clear up the confusion. Past that, there was little we could do except keep them out of society if they became irrational.
"I hope you're ready for another round of dancing?" Eugene said as the ladies returned.
"Thrilled," I said as I quoted Bruce Willis and with the same tone.
"You and the governor looked to be in deep conversation," Megara said as Rapunzel dragged Eugene away.
"Just discussing his wife," I told her as she took my arm and we began to drift back to the dance floor.
"Poor thing," Megara agreed as we seemed to follow the governor and his wife to the dance floor. "Being kidnapped by pirates? At least they found her and brought her home."
"There are...other...considerations," I said as we took our places. "I'll tell you later."
Megara nodded as we began to dance again, though as I looked around the dance floor saw the crowd was already thinning. This time only the best dancers seemed to be on the floor as not a single performer made a terrible misstep or blunder, even as the dances became more complicated and intricate. Megara seemed proud that I could hold my own even though I didn't quite get the timing right to do anything fancy like twirl her but we were among the short list of those who were still dancing as the last tune was played.
"Bravo!" people called as we took our final bow and the musicians began to pack up for the evening. I didn't know how late the evening was but it seemed vastly more personal now than what it had been.
"I know some attending tonight have stories to regale us with," Rapunzel called cheerily as she seemed to glow as all attention fell to her. "But first, I have learned that one of you plays the harpsichord."
The assembled cheered at that and feeling obligated moved to join her as four men hefted the instrument into the room. It was smaller than a piano by almost half and was shocked to find the standard black and white key colors inversed so that the normally large white keys were black in color instead. A stool was proffered for my use and I sat to the keys where a run a few notes across the keys to the general merriment as I looked like a fool but was just really getting a feel for where middle 'C' was and found that the song I wanted to play barely fell in the range as a few notes would be the furthest left one could go.
"Are you actually capable of playing it?" one man, a colonel asked me jovially. "Or do you merely fancy yourself as one who can play such a difficult instrument?"
"An organist taught me to play this," I said to give credit to Johann Pachelbel, the man whose work I would be borrowing tonight. That he would be about six right now was beside the point, I still didn't want to steal his thunder even if it would be twenty years in coming. "You'll have to forgive me, it's been some time since I've sat to play."
"Oh go on," Rapunzel said encouragingly as Eugene held her close nearby. I gave her a smile as I put my hands on the keyboard, closing my eyes to remember them properly, then began to play Pachelbel's Canon in C, not the usual D major it was often played in as a wedding march. The smirk quickly fell of the colonel's face as I played, quickly catching sight of Rapunzel's gleaming visage before I returned my concentration to the keyboard and the more complicated melody as the song progressed, though really it was just a round like "Three Blind Mice" or "Row, Row, Row your boat."
I played on and on, letting the melody build as I played and glad my fingers were nimble and the notes filling my memory to let me play without error even though the harpsichord seemed a register above the normal sound of a piano, almost as if I were playing a guitar through a keyboard array.
When I hit the last four notes in the song holding the keys to let them ring, I finally looked around to see the smiles of those who enjoyed my work. Rapunzel herself seemed delighted and Megara placed a hand lovingly on my shoulder as I received a wondrous round of applause from the assembled.
"Lovely," Rapunzel said once the clapping had died down. "Would you care to play again?
"Sure," I said as I wondered what I should play. The Canon was one of the only pieces of Baroque music I knew, but not the only piece for the piano. "How about something more fitting to the occasion?"
"Certainly," Rapunzel said as I lifted my hands again to the keyboard, this time playing an old Christmas carol that, again, started its life in a church when the organist became sick and the pastor needed a piece to play for service.
"Silent night," I began to sing, the familiar carol flowing easily through me as I sang. Everyone seemed to hold their breath as I continued on and sang through the songs four verses, somehow remembering the third verse even though we never sang more than the first, second and last verse to any song with more than three in a Baptist church. As with the first song, not one error or problem marred my performance as I continued on, finally finishing the song with another moment of silence before people realized the performance was over and began to clap and cheer.
"Marvelous," Eugene called over the cheering crowd and I thought I saw tears on Rapunzel's cheek before she turned to kiss her husband.'
"Marvelous performance," the colonel that haggled me earlier said to me as I stood from the harpsichord. "Rather gifted, I'd say."
"Thank you," I said as Megara pulled herself in close to my side.
"I hate to break up the party," Megara informed the group. "But it's been a long night."
"Too right," a few of the other ladies said as they pulled on their beaus.
"Rapunzel, governor, the party was a pleasure as always," I said as I bowed to my hosts.
"Anytime, major," the governor said with a smile of his own. "I look forward to seeing you again."
"You too, governor," I said to not call him by a name and risk upsetting either him or Rapunzel. "My lady, a pleasure as always."
"The pleasure was mine," she said with a glowing face. "I'm going to have to have you play again at our next gala."
"Then I shall rehearse," I said to cover the fact I didn't have any other songs to play just yet. "Until then, fare thee well."
Turning, Megara and I left the party and the mansion, finding the night was in full swing. With no light to guide our way, Megara huddled close to me as we left the dim light leaving the mansion and began entering the dark town.
"I didn't think you could play that beautifully," Megara finally said as we walked along, our pace slow from the long evening. "I know you play a few instruments, they're in your cabin, but a harpsichord?"
"I didn't grow up at sea," I told her, though I didn't want to tell her too much. "And I mostly taught myself to play the other instruments but my mother wanted me to learn the harpsichord so I could replace the aging musician at our church. I think she wanted the extra prestige it would bring."
"Well, I'm the one who'll be cashing that in," she said with a chuckle. "I don't think I've ever danced the whole night before, but don't worry about leaving when we did. No one else plays an instrument and I can tell you everyone's war story."
"I'm definitely going to be paying for it tomorrow," I said as I held her close. "Might be a good time to stay home in bed."
"Now that, I can get behind," she said jokingly as we rounded a corner and found the docks, the few lanterns that hung from ships giving wan light to navigate the docks with.
"I'll be the one who's doing the getting behind," I joked with her as I led her through the darkness, my eyes seemingly better adjusted to the dark night. I could, and had, driven at night without headlights but only because my alternator had went out and needed to get it down the road to pickup the part, install it, then make early morning delivery.
"Looking forward to it," Megara said as I found the Saucy Mare and we climbed aboard.
"Welcome aboard, cap'n," Meredith said once I reached the top.
"Standing lookout?" I asked the young lad and he nodded.
"McGregor's orders, sir," the young lad said. "He wanted to make sure no one messed with our stocks."
"Very well," I said, letting that one stand as I couldn't see any wrong in it. "How many aboard the ship tonight?"
"Me and twenty others," the lad said decisively. "The China-man named Shang will relieve me at eight bells."
"How much longer is eight bells?" I asked, since I wasn't sure of the time.
"Eh," Meredith said as she pulled the lantern down to look at the hourglass timer ships carried to ring the bells by. He studied it for a minute, then shrugged before flipping the timer over and setting back down on the barrel to run out again.
"Merry Christmas, cap'n," he said brightly once he straightened up and touched his cap again in respect to me and the lady.
"Merry Christmas," Megara and I said together, then chuckled as Meredith went to ring the bell to mark the time properly. The ring was soft in deference to those asleep, but I was really past caring. They could ring the Bells of Notre Dame and I'd just sleep right through it.
Meredith soon disappeared down to get Shang up to stand his watch and Megara and I slipped into our cabin, both of us too pooped to enjoy the high of the night's festivities and stripped in the darkness before crawling into bed together and, with Megara spooned up my front, soon fast asleep.