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Cordelia Runs Away From Home

It's not as easy as it may sound. The palace is surrounded by a wall, the gate in the wall has guards, etc.

But Cordelia planned it. She's a planner. She probably mulled for weeks over how absolutely unfair everything is.

She had packed a knapsack earlier with some food she'd been sneaking into her pockets at meals when she was more alone, or not being watched closely: things that would hide well and travel well: some grapes, a small peach, celery, a piece of cheese, a roll. She had a waterskin for when she went riding with Lady Keera, and was able to have water brought up to her rooms by servants occasionally so she could fill it.

She brought an extra pair of socks, bloomers, her plainest dress (all scrunched up in a ball so that no doubt her nannies would have a fit), a small knife (pocketknife or utility kind), whatever she usually uses to light candles at home (flint and steel? something like matches?), and one candle, and a a bracelet with some semi-precious stones on it to pawn somewhere if she needed money.

She also prepared some of the clothes she wore for fighting practice to look as shabby as possible. She ties her hair back with a kerchief and tries to sneak around in the more deserted back hallways until she gets to a door to an outer courtyard.

She slips into the back of a wagon and rolls away with the rest of the empty barrels and crates.

The wagon doesn't come to a stop until it reaches the hustling, bustling New Port District -- a place that Cordelia's only seen from the window of a royal carriage.

She knew she'd better hustle herself if she didn't want the waggoner to realize that he's got a hitchhiker along....

Cordelia drops from the back of the wagon and hurries away in whatever direction she's facing. She mentally calls herself some names when she realizes she should have brought a map of the city along, but thinks she can remember the ones she's studied if only she can find a landmark of some kind.

She spots one landmark immediately: the massive Temple of the Unicorn, towering over the nearby buildings.

Her immediate plan was to see a little of the city and enjoy her adventure. She'd like to see the Temple of the Unicorn and from there maybe some other parts of the city she hasn't been to - or hasn't been recently... She would try to stay away from the worst parts of town, though.

After that, she'd try to find out if she could book transportation on a ship to Le Forsure and her mother's relatives, using the name Corey Roe and any money she could get for her bracelet.

There are a number of what appear to be large, ocean going ships near where she is now. Some of them look like they are preparing to get under weigh. Perhaps she should find out when any ships to Le Forsure are leaving before she spends time sightseeing?

Perhaps. When that idea occurs to her she heads toward the dock area, trying to find someone/someplace to find out the schedule of ships embarking and where they are sailing to.

She finds someone who looks like an old, salty sea dog, someone who looks like he really knows his way around, the very image of a weathered veteran sailor and she asks him.

"Aye, lass, I kin tell ye of a ship bound fer LeForsure," he drawls out. "The Piedmont over yonder be yer gal." He points to a ship at the very end of the pier. "But ye'd best hurry, lass, they sail with the tide." He knuckles his brow to her and moves off.

When she gets down to the end of the pier and draws closer to the Piedmont she gulps a little because it's a very big ship.

It looks like they are leaving soon -- in fact they're lifting the gang plank!

But she sees that there is still a roped up bundle of cargo they have yet to hoist aboard. Now if she had guts -- if she was Chase -- she'd dart up to that bundle, climb aboard and get behind one of the barrels, hidden from view. Then when she was hoisted aboard she could reveal herself, pay for her passage and be on her way to Le Forsure....

She hesitates all right. There's a lot more sneaking involved with this than she'd planned... But it may be her only chance...

She rushes up, stashes herself in the bundle of cargo and waits. She fully intends to reveal herself once on the ship, pay for her passage and food and explain why the deception was necessary - she couldn't very well swim out to the ship, after all.

She climbs aboard the webbed up crate and stows herself behind a barrel.

The crate is lifted up and hoisted into the ship's hold. As the pallet comes down it's not lowered precisely evenly and one end touches down before the other, some cargo shifts and a crate tips forward, hitting her in the head and knocking her unconscious. Everything goes black....

When she comes to there are people standing over her, towering over her. Men that don't look at all pleasant....

"Get up!" One of them grabs her arm and jerks her to her feet, making her head pound and her vision blur. She feels unsteady on her feet, like everything is rocking back and forth. It takes her a few minutes to realize that this isn't because of the blow to her head -- everything is rocking back and forth. That's when she remembers that she's on a ship at sea....

....

Upon discovery by the furious Captain Printze she was subjected to a torrent of insults and verbal abuse the like of which she had never experienced in her life. So hurt and so shocked was she that she couldn't even speak, tears just rolled down her face.

It turned out that the Piedmont was a family run business, the officers mostly made of the captain's family. His wife, first mate, his brother second mate, and two of his cousins acting as sailing master and quartermaster. Even his daughter was on board training as a midshipman.

But just because it was a family business didn't seem to make it any softer. In fact it seemed that rather than the business softening to suit the family, instead the family hardened to suit the business.

She found out right away that the ship wasn't even going to Le Forsure! They had a last minute change of plan because of a decent cargo they were able to acquire. Now they were bound for Begma!

When she offered to pay, the captain took a look at her bracelet and sneered. This wouldn't even pay for a trip around the bay, let alone full passage to Begma -- if he was even the type to accept obviously stolen jewelry. He tossed it back to her.

Printze made it very clear that he didn't want her on his ship but there was no way in hell he was going to turn around and go back to Amber. There was no profit to be gained with a hold already full of Amber cargo. Cordelia was stuck on board the Piedmont until he decided what to do with her.

There were calls to throw her overboard and be done with her. Some said that it would be more profitable to sell her to slavers. The captain decided that he would take some time to think about it. She was clapped in irons down in the rat-infested cable-tier.

This was the worst experience of Cordelia's life. She spent the time weeping uncontrollably and wishing she had never left the Palace. She missed her brother and cousins, and Lady Keera, and yes, even Daddy...

Later that day the third mate came to fetch her and bring her to the captain's cabin. Standing before the captain's desk she heard his decision: since she couldn't pay for her passage, she was going to have to work like any other member of the crew.

It was twelve days sailing to Begma, after that they were making their usual circuit of the Court: Begma to Oxwen to Shamlo to Osril to Poran to Crimson Isles to Szin to Farwan to Shawa to Arn to Abril to Tay to Dophan to Hunly to Fon to Aesgard to Tangen to Le Forsure to Amber. She could leave the ship in Le Forsure. About 90 to 100 days in all.

"You do your work, follow orders, obey discipline, and you'll be treated no different than any other member of the crew. You cause trouble, shirk your work, disobey and you'll face punishment just like anyone else. Those punishments range from revoking of privileges to extra duty to flogging. And," he leaned forward, "don't think I won't be willing to flog a young girl if she steps out of line."

After that, she had no choice but to settle down into shipboard life.

It was the first time that she had ever been required to do things like clean up after herself, wash her own clothes, perform chores, even pick up after others. Since she had no real skills, and not much physical strength (at least they didn't expect a girl of twelve to have any physical strength), she was relegated to the most menial shipboard duties of cleaning, holystoning the decks, and working in the galley; of course she couldn't cook either, so she ended up peeling potatoes and cleaning up the mess.

It was horrible. Absolutely horrible. She was a princess -- she shouldn't have to be doing any of this!

The Piedmont is like some kind of sick nightmare, the rest of the crew are terrible to her, she doesn't know her way around, she talks funny, she doesn't know any nautical terminology, and everyone laughs at her. She's the constant butt of jokes and put downs, everyone thinks she's spoiled, no one seems like her, so, of course, she hates everyone.

It's all so unfair.

Cordelia is bitter but realistic. She cries a lot, but settles into her routine, working as hard as she can and despairing about her pretty hands. She does all the work anyone asks her, but says nothing to anyone. She ignores the jokes and insults, keeps her head down and pretends she's Cinderella. Cinderella got a fairy godmother and a ball and a handsome prince. She might be going about it in the wrong order, but it's sure to get better sometime. She can't imagine that it can get worse. And perhaps she can get away in Begma... she doesn't know anyone there, but the bracelet might get her far enough to get a better job - something that doesn't involve the worst jobs and constant ridicule.

After a little while of that she might be able to afford booking actual passage in a passenger ship to Le Forsure...

In the meantime, she makes up nasty little names for all the crew members that she calls them in her mind and tries not to think about how much she misses her home.

One morning, about a week into the voyage, she's on her hands and knees holystoning the deck with two other hands when another sailor, not looking where he is going, trips over her.

The sailor snarls something nasty about vermin underfoot but another sailor sticks up for Cordelia. "Leave'er be," the other sailor says, "she works hard, harder'n you, anyways."

That's when she realizes that she's started to earn some grudging respect from the other crew. She works hard at her tasks, she does what she's told and she doesn't complain. The other sailors can respect that, it seems.

As this goes on, Cordelia grows up some, lets go of most of her bitterness and takes more interest in what's going on around her. She's still quiet, but not nearly so petulant.

She also witnesses something else of interest. The captain's daughter, a middie named Hepzibah, was punished for a serious infraction. She was on watch on the quarterdeck but was concentrating so hard on practicing her azimuths that she neglected her duty and forgot to turn the hour glass when it ran out.

Apparently that's pretty serious because the hourglasses regulate all shipboard life, including when watches begin and end, mealtimes, etc. More importantly, losing track of time can effect navigation, throwing the ship off course.

The captain sentenced Hepzibah to six lashes with the bosun's cane. Hepzibah is taken below and, while the rest of the crew, including Cordelia, watches through the grating, she's bent over the capstan, and given six hard whacks on her ass with the bosun's rattan cane. The last one leaves a long red line across her white duck trousers. After the punishment the captain sends her forward to be treated by the doctor.

The rest of the crew shake their heads. It was a harsh punishment, but a fair one, they seem to think. The girl is unlikely to ever forget to watch the hourglasses again, seems to be the consensus among the crew. "Best she learn her lessons now," Cordelia hears another sailor say.

When next she sees Hepzibah on deck, her eyes are rather watery and she's standing rather stiffly, but she's keeping an eye on the 'glasses.

Cordelia makes a note of this. While the punishment is at first horrible to her, since she's never experienced corporal punishment before (or even seen it administered), she does notice its effectiveness.

And as Cordelia begans to realize that the sailors do indeed have a point about her, that she really should have to pull her weight, and that they aren't all unfairly mean all the time, she stops using most of the nasty internal names, pays more attention to what's going on around her, and stops crying all the time.

She tries to do better at what she's asked to do - work more quickly, more thoroughly, etc., but she also tries to pay attention to other people's jobs and if anyone is interested in teaching her anything she is very interested in learning. The old knowledge-thirsty Cordelia reappears.

She notices that, around noon-time, a group of the younger sailors who are appointed midshipmen, the lowest officer rank, most of them close to her age, are grouped on the quarterdeck with the sailing master (the navigator) learning how to use a sextant and take a reading of the sun to determine at the precise occurrence of noon-time. They are also run through various exercises involving determining azimuths and plotting ship positions, etc.

The math is ridiculously easy but the other kids struggle with it.

Cordelia hesitates. She's not yet comfortable putting herself forward while onboard - memories of the rough first days are still too strong in her. She thinks she's making some progress with the sailors, and doesn't want to ruin it by overstepping her bounds. Showing off at being better than they are is probably not a good way to make friends with the midshipmen her own age...

But she's also beginning to be worried about the time she spent away from home. She realizes that, back in Amber, they are probably going crazy looking for her. Of course they would not expect her to be on a ship bound for Begma of all places.

If she could make any friends, she'd ask them if there was a way to contact Amber from their next stop on the GC tour.

Cordelia had never been particularly good at making friends - she's too innately shy with people. She goes about her attempt at making friends in a tentative way, not really expecting it to work. She quietly begins to address the other sailors, especially those close to her own age - she offers pleasantries. Every once in a while she works up an idea to start a real conversation and then chickens out.

At first Cordelia is put off by her lack of success (because at the palace, where everyone knew who she was, a smile and a polite hello were enough to get people to make most of the running of a conversation) but after a little while, she steels herself and tries harder. She sees one of the young midshipmen struggling at math, comes up next to him and quietly, diffidently, eyes on the ground, says, "Excuse me... I... um, I'm Corey... What are you working on?"

The midshipman grumbles about not being interrupted but he shows her the small chalkboard where he's working on various navigation calculations. "An assignment from the Sailing Master," he explains. With a little bit of prodding he can be convinced to explain the problems.

It's easy for Cordelia to help him. Although she has never actually done any navigation problems before, she understands the basic math behind the exercises, which is essentially very simple, and is able to show Harold, Midshipman Cargill, how to solve them.

Later that day the Bosun, the guy who usually metes out the punishments aboard ship, comes looking for her. "Sailing Master wants to see you in the Wardroom," he growls out. "Smartly now! Don't keep the man waiting!"

Cordelia's knock ushers her into the wardroom to face the sailing master. The second mate, one of the Captain's sons, is also there working on some paperwork.

The sailing master is a grey haired, weatherbeaten man who looks to have been at sea all his life. He's the ship's chief navigator and a cousin of the captain. He looks her up and down before speaking. She notices right away that he has Harold's chalkboard in his hand.

"Mr. Cargill tells me that his sudden impressive improvement in navigational mathematics is due to your expert assistance," the Sailing Master says, finally. Cordelia suddenly remembers that his name is Prowse, 'Mr. Prowse,' or 'Sailing Master Prowse' to someone of her station (at least her shipboard station).

"He tells me that you're practically an old hand at these figures." He peers at her closely. "Tell me, lass, how do you figure the area of a triangle? What is the azimuth equivalent of North-by Northwest-a-quarter-West?" He asks a few other mathematical questions.

She is able to answer them all, easily and quickly, which surprises the Master. The young second mate is also surprised and has left off his paperwork to devote all attention to watching her.

"These are the kind of figures that a stable girl, or even a shopkeeper's daughter is likely to know," Master Prowse observes, "where did you learn this?"

Cordelia tells Master Prowse that her father was very interested in making certain she was well educated. She tries to hedge around giving more information, but if pressed will hint that he was a merchant of some kind.

"Clearly you can read and write, but tell me, do you speak any languages besides Thari, lass?"

She tells him she reads and writes Thari, the language of LeForsure and that of Shamlo.

The sailing master nods thoughtfully and then dismisses her. As she's leaving the wardroom she notices that the second mate is smiling at her. He's a young man, perhaps as old as 20, which to a 12-year-old seems very adult and grown up, and she notices for the first time that he's very handsome.

The next morning as Cordelia runs up to the main deck to begin her morning chores of swabbing and holystoning the deck, the bosun catches her arm and yanks her to a stop. "Report to the Captain on the quarterdeck," he growls.

And she reports as ordered. Cordelia's still a bit nervous around the captain, but she tries to look as attentive and intelligent as possible.

The captain is looking over the log book, reading the report of the previous watch officer. He doesn't look up at her as he starts talking. "The Sailing Master tells me that you can read and write, speak three languages, and have a fine head for mathematics," the captain says as he jots some things in the log book. "He recommends you for the open billet we have for midshipman, but I'm not so sure."

Now the captain stops what he's doing and looks at her. "Every midshipman must take a turn as officer of the watch, this is a position of great responsibility. Trouble at sea can come suddenly and for those vital moments between the time that trouble strikes and the arrival of a superior officer, the fate of the ship and her entire crew rests in the hands of the officer of the watch," the captain tells her in a very serious voice.

"You snuck aboard my ship without permission, no doubt your parents or your masters have no idea where you are, either. That seems to me like the actions of a child who has no regard for rules, responsibility, or authority. I simply cannot entrust the welfare of my ship and crew to a person who has no respect for rules or authority." He turns his attention back to the log book. "Unless you think I'm wrong...."

Not far away the Second Mate stands on the Quarterdeck, the 'glass of the watch officer tucked under his arm, completely ignoring her conversation with the captain as if he was worlds away.

Then he glances at Cordelia and gives her an encouraging wink.

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