Submission
"All right," Law said upon entering the girl's recovery room. He closed the door behind him then walked over to the bed. Like always the girl tensed up at his closeness. And like always, he ignored it and unlocked her cuffs. He then walked back over to the door and took his usual place against the wall right beside it. He crossed his arms over his chest. "It's time for you to walk now. Off the bed."
The girl rubbed her wrists before slowly letting her feet slide to the floor. Pushing off the bed, she walked around the room, keeping as much distance between herself and her pirate babysitter.
Law didn't mind if she stayed as far away from him as she could. He was just glad that she was starting to obey him more often now. He recalled this past week while his eyes remained lock on her. He found it a bit hard to believe that she has been on his ship for an entire seven days. And in that time she has continued to fight him, but he started to notice that she was wearing down. He couldn't help but wonder if she was trying to trick him or if he was legitimately getting through to her that she has no hope of escaping from his clutches. He saw no signs of her trying to put together some kind of plan in escaping. He wasn't really sure if she was smart enough to do that, or assertive enough to pull another escape attempt off. She still didn't speak to him or Shachi when his subordinate was in the room with them or even really look at them. And despite the fact that he still hasn't gotten anything out of her, he felt that he was slowly getting somewhere with her. He really felt like he really was starting to wear her down.
"You're getting your hair washed today," Law said after a while. "I've told you about that before. Your hair is a real mess and we can no longer afford to let it go unwashed. You hair should have been washed when you first came here, but I wanted to give you some time to get use to us being around. Shachi is going to be the one who washes your hair since he's be the only other one who's been in here the most. He'll be here in a little while."
The girl only responded by tightening her arms around her body. Her bare feet were silent as could be on the metal floor of the sub. And for whatever reason, Law couldn't help but notice she had a graceful walk to her steps. It made him wonder if she was from a family of wealth or possibly nobility. But if she were surely there would be pictures of her going around in newspapers and bulletins to get her back. And he's seen nothing of the sort in any newspaper that he's read before. Of course that really didn't mean she wasn't from a noble family. Someone or something could have killed her entire family. Or her family might just not care enough about her to look for her. He was going to have to keep a closer eye on the newspapers and bulletin boards when they land on islands from now on.
…
Law had no idea how long he was lost inside of his own thoughts on where the girl might be from while his eyes remained locked on the mysterious blue haired girl before him. But it was a knock at the door that pulled him back to the real world. He said, "Yes?"
"It's Shachi!" Shachi said from the other side of the door. "I'm ready if she is. Or if I need to come back in a little while I can."
"It's fine. Now is as good as time as any," Law said while he opened the door for the man. "Come on in. I've already told her you were coming."
"All right then. As long as she knew I was coming," Shachi said when he entered into the room carrying an empty barrel and a towel over his shoulder. "Bepo should be right up with the water."
Law nodded in acceptance before returning his eyes to the girl. She had wrapped her arms tighter around her bandaged body and was practically walking right up against the wall to get as far as she possibly could from the two men in the room. He noticed that even with Shachi in the room during her feeding times, she was always more relaxed when it was just him in the room. She would always tense up more when there were two of them in here with her. Most of the time she would do what she was doing now, if she was walking. But if she was locked onto the bed she would keep her eyes anywhere but on them, her breathing would increase, and he knew her heartbeat would increase as well. It only prompted more questions from him about her. He wanted to know what happened to her to make her so skittish around people. Still, he had to wait for his answers. She wasn't anywhere near answering anything yet. After all it's only been seven days since he brought her here. They all just needed more time.
He also started noticing a few days ago that she still kept looking over at the door like it was going to disappear on her if she didn't check if it was still there. The only logical reason he could come up with for that was because it was the exit, the only exit unless she managed to break the thick porthole window, which wasn't likely since it was made to be thick enough to handle the water pressure when they traveled under the waves. So she had to be keeping a close eye on her escape route. The door she had once escaped from. But he knew she wouldn't get anywhere with his crew around. They were patrolling the medical bay hall now with her here. So far no one has reported hearing anything that sounded like she was trying to escape. He had a thought at one time to put a visual transponder snail in this room to watch and see what she was doing when no one was around her. He never did it though. He just couldn't bring himself to actually do that. He wasn't sure why though.
"All right, back to bed now," Law said. He watched her reaction carefully. Her eyes flittered constantly back and forth to Shachi and the floor as she slowly made her way back over to the bed. "Hurry up now. We don't have all day. And you know he's not going to hurt you. He's been in here plenty of times before, remember?"
His impatient was growing as she pushed herself away from the wall a bit more. Finally she picked up her speed and she walked back over to the bed and sat down on it. He then walked over to the bed himself, mentally noticing her flinching when he started putting the cuff back on her right arm. He tugged on the chain to make sure it was securely locked in place before shoving his hands into his pockets. He said, "Shachi is going to wash your hair now. Do not cause him any trouble. I'm posting another crewmember over by the door in case you get the idea to try and escape again somehow. He won't come any closer under my orders, but if you cause the slightest bit of trouble he'll inform me immediately and I will return. And I won't be happy if that happens. So do us both a favor, just obey and don't cause any trouble for Shachi or me."
Just then another knock came from the door. The knock was followed by a muffled voice saying, "Permission to enter, Captain? I have the water Shachi asked for."
"Come on in, Bepo," Law said, watching the girl closely. She didn't seem anymore uncomfortable than she already was considering a third party was about to enter the room. It made him wonder why. He then thought about what Bepo had told him before on how she reacted to the bear when she saw him. She appeared to have no issues being around animals but was confused for some reason about Bepo. The door opened, her eyes flickered over to the bear entering into the room with a barrel in his paws. "He's not the one who'll be staying in here. He's only bring in the barrel of water Shachi is going to use to wash your hair."
"I'll just leave it here at the foot of the bed. The water's nice and warm. I didn't think hot would be good right now," Bepo reported. He moved closer to the bed, carefully watching the girl. He placed the barrel at the foot of the bed then looked up at her again. His nose twitched as he breathed in the air around her.
"What is it, Bepo?" Shachi asked. "Are you just going to stand there and sniff the air all day?
"No, I'm not. I thought I just smelled trees or something. But it's nothing," Bepo said, standing up straight. "I'm just imagining things I guess. I'll be going now."
"Okay then," Shachi said, watching the bear leave the room. "He can be so weird at times. Anything else, Captain?"
"No, just get her hair washed completely," Law said. "It might take a few washes to get it completely clean."
"Don't worry, Captain," Shachi said with a salute. "I'll be sure to get every last piece of dirt out of her hair. You can count on me."
"Behave now," Law said, regarded the girl one last time before finally leaving the room.
When he stepped out another man stepped in. Since he was fairly new to her, she could only keep her eyes on him for a split second. She vaguely recognized him from the time she escaped from this room and it was clear she didn't like him being there. She curled more into herself and turned away from him and Shachi.
"That's just Conner. You don't have to worry about him at all," Shachi said. "He's not as scary looking as he might seem."
"Hey!" the man protested. His outburst caused the girl to jump then enter into a round of tremors.
"Easy, sweetie," Shachi said soothingly. "He didn't mean to get so loud." He shot his crewmate a glare. "He's just being very insensitive to your feelings."
The man scoffed but didn't say anything while he leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Anyway, if you're ready to get this over with we can start now. This might be fairly uncomfortable considering your current state of being chained to the bed, but try to bear with it," Shachi said with a smile for her despite the fact she was refusing to look at him. "I promise I'll hurry. And I promise I won't hurt you one single bit. I'll start off by washing the ends of your hair. That way you can get use to me being that close to you. Then I'll slowly work up to the roots of your hair. Does that sound good to you? Will you lay down now for me? You can lay whatever way is comfortable enough for you. Just as long as your hair is hanging over the side here."
Shachi waited patiently, for several minutes, before she finally shifted her body to lie down on the bed. She carefully inched towards him until her hair was hanging over the edge. He continued waiting patiently for her to find a comfortable position. Once she had stopped moving, he spoke again. He said, "You're such a good girl. Thank you. I'm going to come closer now."
He paused for a few seconds to let her adjust to that idea before actually stepping closer to her. He noticed her body flinch when she felt him close enough to her. He didn't say anything about it though. He spoke to her before adjusted the empty barrel so it would be under her hair. "I'm going to move one of the barrels closer now. I need it under your hair to catch the water. It's going to scrap across the floor, but it won't hurt you."
He moved the water barrel closer to the bed, trying his best to not let it scrape too much. When he got it set, he then grabbed the bowl out of the barrel of water and started to wet her hair. He held up her hair with one hand while he poured the water over her tresses. That alone took a lot of the dirt out of her hair. "Okay, here we go now. How's the water? Nice and warm, huh? I think Bepo did a good job picking the right temperature. Kind of odd since he's a bear. I don't think he takes many warm or hot baths. He get's too hot with that fur coat of his."
He took a moment to glance down at her. He noticed she was stealing glances at the door, and probably his crewmate, from the corner of her eyes. He smiled and decided to continue talking to her again like he had been instead of bring attention to what she was doing. "It's been a while since your hair has been cleaned, huh? I'll bet you'll feel a lot better now that it's being washed. I know I feel better after washing my hair when it's been days since the last time it was clean. It's so nice and refreshing, especially after a long hot day outside."
Finally, he got her hair completely soaked and he pulled out a shampoo bottle from his pocket. He held it up so she would be able to see it before he used it. He waited for her to notice it before talking again. "This is just shampoo. It won't hurt you. It will sting your eyes if it gets into them, but I won't let that happen. I promise."
"I doubt she's that stupid, Shachi," Conner scoffed. "Surely she already knows what shampoo is."
"I don't think she's stupid at all. I think she's just scared and confused." Shachi turned a quick glance at the other man. "She needs to see that we mean her no harm whatsoever. I'm just showing and telling her what I'm doing so she doesn't get taken by surprise before I do it. It's called earning her trust."
"Hm…" The man hummed in thought. "Possibly, but I don't see us gaining her trust anytime soon. She won't even look at us in the eyes. Or have you not noticed that?"
"Pay him no mind, sweetie. He can be a bit of a pessimist at times. He's actually a really nice guy." Shachi turned his smile back towards her. To his surprise, he caught her actually looking at him. Her eyes quickly averted from his when he noticed, but she did sneak a couple more quick glances at him. "If you have no objections, I'm going to shampoo your hair now."
Shachi waited a minute. When he saw no signs or objections, he popped the lid and squirted the contents into his hand. Once he had enough of the cream in his hand, he sat the bottle down on the bed then began to work the cream into her hair from the bottom up. After a couple minutes he started working his way up, occasionally pausing to get more shampoo since her hair was a lot thicker than he thought it would be. "You have really pretty hair. It reminds me of the sky. You know, on those bright sunny days when there are absolutely zero clouds in the sky? You've probably seen lots of those being outside as much as you have. And there we go. You're all lathered up now. I'm going to start washing it out. Then I'll brush your hair out so it won't get tangled."
Shachi reclaimed the bowl in his hand. Dipping it into the water, he poured the liquid over her hair as carefully as he possibly could. But while rinsing the shampoo out of her hair he accidentally splashed some water on her face. The drop landed near her eye, causing her to jump and curl back into herself. "Sorry about that, sweetie. Let me wipe that away so it doesn't get into your eye. I don't want you getting hurt."
He tugged the towel off his shoulder then pressed it to her face, earning another flinch from her and causing her to tightly close her eyes when his hand came close to her face. He lightly dabbed the drop away from her eye as quickly as he could. Returning the towel to his shoulder, he went back to washing out her hair. "I'll be more careful."
It took up at lot of the water to get all of the shampoo cleaned out of her hair and he was able to see some dirt remained. So just for good measure, he washed her hair again. Luckily, the last of the dirt came out with it. So he didn't need to call Bepo to bring more water for him. He was glad. He got the feeling her neck was starting to hurt her despite the fact she wasn't showing any signs of discomfort. Once he was sure he got out all the shampoo, he pulled the towel off his shoulder again and carefully squeezed the water out of her hair, starting at the bottom and moving upwards until he got enough out of it. "There you go, sweetie. Your hair is finally washed and clean. You can sit up now."
She quietly sat up and scooted away from him.
Shachi pulled out a comb out of his pocket and showed it to her. "I'm going to comb out your hair now. I'm going to have to sit behind you to do that. Is that all right?"
He blinked behind his sunglasses in surprised when she actually nodded slightly in response to him. It took him a few seconds for his brain to register that he didn't dream the action into reality. He stepped towards the bed, carefully monitoring her comfort level and making sure to keep as much distance between him and her. He sat down. The distance didn't matter. She still flinched with him so close. Scooping her hair into his hand, he slowly began to run the comb through her hair. He tried his best not to pull on her hair when the comb teeth collided with a tangle. "Sorry about having to use a comb on your beautiful hair. It's all I could find around the sub. I don't know many men who actually use brushes since they don't typically have such long hair like women do. The next time we dock at an island I'll pick up a brush for you. It'll be better for your hair than this old comb."
Shachi went quiet for a while after that but he felt like he just had to try again to reach her. "You know, you really don't have to be so scared of us. We really mean you no harm. We're just trying to help you." She shifted, but didn't reply. "And Penguin won't hold a grudge against you. You remember him, don't you? The man you kicked in the ribs when the captain pulled you back into this room after you escaped? That's Penguin. He even has his name on his hat. He's a really nice guy. He's not upset at you at all for attacking him like that. He understands that you were just scared. None of us blame you for anything. We'd be scared too if we woke up one day to a bunch of strange, ugly men hovering over us."
Taking a soft breath, he continued to talk softly and cheerfully to her. "And Bepo, the bear that came in before, is a real softly. He's only aggressive to enemies, which you're not one. You'll just love him once you get to know him. You're such a little cutie that I bet he'd let you cuddle against his fur. He won't let any of us. Only the captain can lean against him. Of course we four have known each other longer than the rest of the crew. And I have to say that I believe Bepo is that captain's closest friend due to an issue that happened when we were teenagers. Maybe Penguin or I will tell you about that some day. But it makes sense that Bepo would allow the captain to lean again him. And believe me, Penguin and I have tried to do it too, on several occasions. Especially when we've been near islands of snow and ice. He's the lucky one on those islands, born with a built in fur coat while the rest of us freeze. But he's terrible when it comes to heat. He can become so pathetic and miserably. Although, I don't blame him for whining like he does. He is the one with a build in fur coat, literally. It can't be helped that he gets so hot."
Shachi went quiet after that. He leaned to his right a bit so he could quietly studied her. She was hugged her knees to her chest, but didn't seem as stiff as she was before. He wondered if he had reached her with anything he had said. He hoped he did. He hoped that she was starting to realize that they weren't going to hurt her at all. He turned his eyes to the door when he heard footsteps coming closer. His eyes went back to her when she shifted. He sighed upon seeing her curl back into herself and trembled again. Maybe he wasn't reaching her after all. Maybe they just wouldn't be able to reach her.
The door opened, revealing Law with Bepo close behind him. The captain cast a glance at the bored man still leaning against the wall by the door. "You can go now."
"Great." Conner nodded as he left the room.
Law then turned his attention to Shachi and the girl just in time to see Shachi sliding off the bed. He asked, "Well? How was she? Did she cause any trouble?"
"She's been a very good girl, Captain," Shachi reported. He shoved the comb back into his pocket. "She didn't try to fight me at all the whole time."
"Good." Law nodded. His eyes went to the girl. He caught her giving him a quick look before she looked at Bepo then started down at the bed.
"Uh, should I get the barrel now or wait?" Bepo asked.
"Go ahead, Bepo," Law said.
"Aye, Captain," Bepo said.
Law watched while Bepo slowly inched towards the girl. He couldn't help but noticed that the girl was watching Bepo secretively from the corner of her eyes. And she was showing no signs of fear or being uncomfortable with the bear so close. What he did saw was slight curiosity in her gray eyes. He wondered why. Was it because Bepo was actually a mink instead of a normal bear that she's probably used to seeing? That had to be why. There was nothing else it could possibly be. He continued to watch for any other signs or hints to anything. He just wanted something, anything to help him figure out his mysterious little girl.
He almost scoff out loud upon realizing that wasn't the first time he's thought of her as his mysterious little girl. He forced his mind back onto the girl and Bepo. His bear subordinate had his paws on the barrel but his eyes were on the girl. And the girl was actually looking back at him. He carefully shifted closer to see that it appeared the girl was looking Bepo directly into his eyes. It was a quick passing moment before she averted her eyes when Bepo smiled at her. He watched Bepo blink in confusion then sniff the air curiously before finally picking up the water filled barrel.
"Well, I'll be leaving now," Shachi announced when Bepo started to walk away from her and the bed. He grabbed the empty barrel and headed for the door. "See you later, sweetie."
Law kept his eyes locked onto the girl. His mind was going over and over what Shachi had told him. She didn't cause any trouble at all. He felt like it was a small step, but a step nonetheless. So he made an on the spot decision. "I'm only going to leave your right wrist chained up now. This will give you a bit more freedom to move on the bed. Don't make me regret this decision."
With that he said left the room. Leaving the girl with her own thoughts of what everyone had said.
She remained curled into herself until several minutes after the men had left her completely alone. She laid down on her right side. Her eyes locked onto the cuff bound around her right wrist. She stared at it for a long time before she started tracing the cuff with the tip of her finger. She exhaled softly and waited for the tall black haired man to come back with her next meal.
…
"I can't believe it's been two and a half weeks since she's been with us," Bepo said while unrolling a map on the table in his navigation room.
Law only nodded in response. He couldn't really believe it either. And he still couldn't figure out what was causing him to keep her here with them. She wasn't the type of person that needed to be around pirates. They both were lucky that nothing bad happened to her when the pirate group attacked them before. He knew it wouldn't be much longer before another pirate crew got the same idea.
"Captain?" Bepo's voice said. "Uh, Captain?"
"What?" Law asked, turning his eyes to his navigator.
"You were lost in thought again," Bepo said. "Were you thinking about the girl again?"
A frown tugged on Law's lips.
"I'm sorry." Bepo bowed his head. "I didn't mean to…"
"Don't worry about it," Law said, a bit confused at why he frowned at Bepo's question. It was a legit question. And she seemed to always be on his mind. He sighed and rubbed his neck with the feeling this girl was going to drive him insane before he got any answers from her. "I was thinking about her. It's all I seem to think about anymore."
"I think that's understandable," Bepo said, bringing his eyes back to his captain. "You're the curious type. And I think anyone would be questioning themselves if they were in your shoes, especially since you're not the type to randomly bring someone onto the sub unless you see potential in them as part of the crew."
"Yeah." Law nodded. "Anyway, how much longer until we get to the next island?"
"Well," Bepo said, dropping his eyes back to the map, "since the wind and currents have been with us we'll arrive sooner than I expected. We should be at the next island at the end of next week." He looked back up. "Is there any reason you're in such a hurry to get there?"
"I just want to get the girl some of her own clothes since she's going to be staying with us for a while," Law said. "She can wear a shirt of mine if needed until then, but she can't always wear my clothes or bandages around her body. Plus, I need to get some monthly supplies for her."
"So she's old enough for that," Bepo said before blushing. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine. It's a natural part of life," Law said. "There's nothing to be sorry for. And even though she does have her monthly cycle it doesn't mean she's very old either. She could just be an early starter."
"I suppose you're correct. You're the doctor after all. Anything else you wanted?" Bepo said.
"Nothing for now," Law said. "Let's go to breakfast."
"Aye, Captain," Bepo said. He left his map on the table and followed his captain out into the hallway. "So how is she doing with Penguin coming into the room now?"
"She's doing like she always does," Law said. "Curling into herself and not making eye contact at all."
"I see," Bepo said. "Do you think we'll ever get through to her?"
"It's a possibility," Law said. "It would be better if we knew what happened to her. Then I could adjust things around a bit where it would help her better."
"Do you think that I might be able to help with that?" Bepo said. "It does seem like she's a lot less scared of me than she is of everyone else."
"I've thought about that, but I'm not so sure it's a good idea right now," Law said. "She needs to realized that we're not going to hurt her. If she doesn't then she'll never be able to live in society at all and she will most likely succeed in killing herself."
"I hope she doesn't," Bepo said. "I think she's really a nice girl."
Law nodded. He couldn't help but agree with his navigator. The girl had to be a nice person since she didn't purposefully try and attack them outside of that one time from being so scared. If she weren't a nice girl then she would be doing everything she possibly could to escape instead of shying away from them all.
Wandering up the stairs to the third level, the two pirates were quickly greeted with the aroma of their breakfast. The halls were filled with the yummy smells of fried eggs, jam, bacon, and sausage so it wasn't a surprise that's what they were having for breakfast when they had entered into the chatter filled galley. Penguin had made them a completely balanced breakfast like always with bread despite the captain not liking it. Law wasn't going to deprive his crew of something he didn't like personally.
"Good morning, Captain," his crew said upon him and Bepo entering into the galley.
"Morning," Law said, sitting down in his chair. He took off his hat and placed it on the table before he started filling his plate. The morning then proceeded on like normal. He ate and read the newspaper while his crew talked about what they were going to do for the day.
…
"Here you go, Captain. I decided to slice her up an apple to accompany the rest of her breakfast," Penguin said, passing the tray over to his captain.
"That'll be fine," Law said, taking the tray filled with one fried egg, a piece of bacon, toast that was lightly buttered and jammed, the apple, and a glass of milk.
"Who's coming with you today?" Penguin then asked.
"I'd like you to come," Law said. "Shachi's been in more than enough since he's washed her hair a couple times now. I want her to get more use to you."
"Are the rest of us going to have to go in there too?" Archer asked.
"It all depends on her," Law said. "If she keeps doing what she's doing, then I'll start having the rest of you go with me when I feed her."
"Great," Conner grumbled.
"Shut up," Archer snapped.
"Why? We're pirates not babysitters," Conner said.
"Enough," Law said before the argument could go any farther. "I know some of you are still questioning my decisions about the girl. And that's fine. I'm still not clear on everything myself. And I will not have someone who's going to be so negative around her much."
"Good," Conner mumbled.
Law chose to ignore his subordinate. "I hope to get her to the point where she feeds herself. When that happens, and when she shows more signs of calming down, I'll have her eat in the galley with us. Until then be a little more patient with her."
"Aye, Captain," the crewmates said.
Law nodded. With the tray in his hand and Penguin behind him, he left the galley to head up to the medical bay. For a while only the sound of their boots tapping on the floor could be heard through the hallways and stairs.
"Conner doesn't mean any harm," Penguin then said when they reached the first floor. "He's just a bit…"
"I know he can be a bit difficult when it comes to things that aren't explained clearly," Law said. "You don't have to defend him like that. I'm not going to get upset with my men voicing their concerns about anything."
"Aye, Captain," Penguin said. Ascending the last flight of stairs to the medical bay, the two men continued their walk in silence. He opened the door to allow his captain to go in first before following him in. He wasn't sure why he always did that when he came in here. He just wanted the girl to see his captain before walking into the room himself. Staying beside the door, he closed it and leaned against the wall like he always did.
Law proceeded on over to the girl. He noticed that she had put the pillows behind herself at some point before they came up here. He wasn't sure what to make of that. Once close enough, he placed the tray down on her lap before sitting down on the bed himself. He shifted his position then reached for the fork. His hand paused in midair when he found her fingers were already on the silver utensil. He blinked in confusion as he watched her cut a piece of the egg off and lift it half way to her mouth. Coming back to his senses, he looked to see that she was glancing back and forth between him and the fork. "Oh, uh, go ahead. You can eat it."
She nodded slightly then put the bite of egg in her mouth. He watched her chew the bite slowly before turning to look at Penguin. His subordinate was holding his own look of confusion before his hat covered eyes lifted up to look at him. With no answer as to why she was suddenly deciding to feed herself, Law shrugged at the man then turned back to the girl. She had taken a small bite out of the toast and was just putting it down to take a small sip of the milk before going back to eating the egg.
Still confused, he continued to watch her quietly as she continued to slowly eat what was on her plate. Occasionally, he would glance over at Penguin who was still just as confused as he was. Was this girl actually starting to give into him? Or was this possibly some kind of trick? He kneaded his eyebrows. He just couldn't convince himself that it was a trick. Despite only knowing her for little over two weeks, she didn't come off to him as the trickster type. If she were, surely she would have made a move long before now. Just then he heard a soft voice speaking out to him, snapping him out of his thoughts. He thought he was imagining things at first since it was so soft.
"Did you… did you just say something?" Law asked the girl. He noticed that her bangs had fallen over her eyes. He began to think again that he had just imagined the voice, but he then saw her nod slightly.
"I… I submit… to you," she said in a voice just above a whisper.
Law was a bit taken back by her words. He just sat there for a while with his eyebrows kneading in consideration if she really meant what she said or not. He took a slow deep breath in and slowly let it out. He decided that he was going to give her the benefit of the doubt, at least for the time being. He was still going to watch her very closely even though she said she submitted to him. "Very well. I accept your submission. You can call me Captain from now on. Do you understand me?"
"Yes," she whispered just loud enough for him to hear, "sir."
