0016 Lookout, Intern

 Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

 After executing Thomas, Lorraine let Hina help her down to the water cell and stood in front of the shattered and voiceless Lek for a full half hour.

 Half an hour later, he stepped out of the water cell, hoisted the fishing boat onto the boat rack of the Atis Beauty with the help of Haina, gathered up all the china and pewter, and opened the barricade of the water closet.

 It's time to really part ways ...

 Lorraine handed over the deed to the water barn's premises, Old Barry's IOU, and two hundred gold pounds to Haina with a slight smile.

 "I should get going, hopefully we'll have a chance to meet later."

 Hina's eyes were slightly confused, "Can you sail this big ship by yourself?"

 "Originally it was possible." Lorraine felt the weakness in her body and couldn't help but let out a bitter smile, "Now it might be slightly harder."

 "I can help you."

 "Eh?" Lorraine raised an eyebrow in surprise, "You know how to sail a boat too?"

 Hina shook her head righteously, "No, I won't. But I'm a very fast learner, that's not a problem."

 "If that's not a problem ... then leaving Black Harbor for a strange sea ..."

 "This ... isn't home." Hina's eyes grew bright as she looked at the bloodstained warehouse, "I hate it here, I just never could find a way out. Going to the sea might be the right direction ..."

 She turned back, smiling broadly at Lorraine, "And it's fun to be with you, and it's fun to not have to measure lives ... with money once in a while."

 "Really ...," Lorraine smiled back, "Hina . Ms. Yzra, congratulations, you've been accepted."

 Smoke is rising from water silo number three.

 In the midst of the rushing fire, there was a big, slightly fat ship sailing askew out of the water gate, raw but determined, toward the broad channel, setting sail ...

 ...

 In order to teach Haina the skills of lookout and helm, the Atticus Beauty, with her sails furled, drifted through the calm channel for ten full days.

 In ten days, Hina, who was a quick learner, had barely become a qualified sailor, and Lorraine's injuries were mostly healed, and although there was still a risk of a disintegration, her daily routine was no longer a major problem.

 April opened with the return of the Atis Beauty to Plymouth.

 After registering the ship's cargo at the Soto Port Authority and paying three pounds in escrow, Lorraine cast off and joined Haina in a carriage for the town of Axminster, famous for its flower-woven carpets.

 That's Lake's old stomping grounds.

 The carriage stopped in front of a small, cream-colored, two-story building, and Lorraine and Hina jumped out to see a strong boy in a sailor's shirt in the yard.

 He was a handsome lad, probably only eight or nine years old, with flaxen hair and emerald green eyes just like Lake's, and was earnestly launching himself at the large trees in the yard, using a branch as a sword.

 It made Lorraine think of her own eight years old.

 The first time he was eight years old, he was in second grade, raised the first baby turtle in his life to death, and pulled a girl's pigtails as the only way to show affection.

 For the second time, at the age of eight, he threw up on a Gallant ship bound for the Indian Ocean because of a sudden storm and wondered for a moment if he would actually live to see Calcutta.

 Of course, that was if he wasn't Lorraine yet.

 Lorraine lost her smile and raised her hand to ring the bell at the door.

 Jingle, Jingle ...

 The boy, who was practicing his swordplay in earnest, looked up blankly and saw a man and a woman outside the fence.

 Both were young and tall.

 The man was dressed in a tuxedo, with an umbrella and a bowler hat, and the woman in a broad, plain black smock, even her face covered with a light veil, revealing only the bridge of her upturned nose and her eyes as turquoise as jewels.

 A strange combination ...

 A strange, and strange combination.

 The boy was cautious, pinching a twig as he carefully approached the door and asked through the fence, "Sir, ma'am, are you looking for ..."

 "You're Pierce, aren't you? Pierce. Artis, Lake. Artis's son."

 "Yes ..."

 Lorraine closed her eyes and recalled the broken and desperate look of Lek in the middle of the watery prison.

 A short while later, he reopened his eyes.

 "My name is Lorraine. Arnason. Drake, a member of Mr. Artis' crew. I regret to inform you now that your father has passed away. He died very peacefully of a fever ... caused by an illness while traveling on the ship."

 LOL!

 Pierce stayed there, the wooden branch, crashing to the ground.

 ...

 "Before he died, Lake entrusted me to become your guardian."

 Lorraine and Haina entered Lake's simple, shabby ancestral home and sat in the living room, softly explaining the next arrangements for Pierce.

 "I am going to send you to Plymouth Sea School; Sir Layton was my mentor, a nobleman of integrity, rigor and faith, and the best instructor at the Sea School, and the best officer in the Royal Navy."

 "He has no children at his knee, and I will convince him to become your adoptive father, which will help you in the future."

 Lorraine crossed her fingers and frowned, looking at the disoriented Pierce.

 "And the Atis Beauty ..."

 "It was Lake's ship, and now it's yours, and I wish to buy her."

 Haina was silent as she pulled out a zip of gold pounds, a hundred in all, from under her smock.

 Lorraine continued, "The Attis Beauty is a standard Kirk model with a market price of five hundred pounds, which I couldn't get for a while."

 "Of the one hundred pounds, fifty pounds are the proceeds of this trade, the property of Lake. Of the other fifty pounds, I wish to hire the Beauty for the time being at a rent of fifty pounds every two months. I will sign a note of indebtedness and settle with you in one year the payment for the ship and the remainder of the rent, totaling seven hundred and fifty pounds."

 "Of course, if you don't trust me, this note can be notarized by a local gentleman at my expense."

 After saying this, Lorraine took a deep breath, "Pierce, are you willing to accept my arrangement?"

 Pierce looked at him dumbfounded, "Mr. Drake ..."

 Lorraine nodded slightly

 "Father and I have said that the Beauty is very old and will only fetch two hundred pounds ..."

 Lorraine laughed dismissively, "The captain doesn't know anything about boats, he's being lied to."

 "Old skins don't sell for the price of new skins. Although I didn't learn to nitrate leather, I grew up following my father in business, so I still understand this." Pierce gave Lorraine a grateful look, "You're a good man, thinking of me wholeheartedly, but I can't accept your arrangement."

 "Why?"

 "I want to sail!" Pierce clenched his tiny fists with determination, "After getting the ship, my father's dream was to become a sea merchant. I want to follow in his footsteps, not inherit a large sum of money and become a good, yet completely different person than him!"

 "You ... want to go to sea?"

 "I want to go to sea!" Pierce stood up and waved his arms excitedly in front of Lorraine, "Mr. Drake, after my father left, I learned to swim, I learned to fish, and I learned simple cooking! I ... I'm hardworking and brave, I can wash the decks on the ship, I can cook, I can keep watch and carry cargo ..."

 "I can do without that ship!" He looked over pleadingly, "Sir, will you take me? Let me go to sea like my father, will you?"

 Lorraine looked at him steadily, "Becoming a sailor on a merchant ship will be hard work, you'll have to learn a lot, and more than that, you'll have to realize that the sea eats people."

 "I am not afraid of death! I'm more afraid of ... than of death, afraid that after you send me to Mr. Layton's, I'll slowly forget my father ... I don't want to forget him, I don't want to forget ... "

 Large tears rolled out of the boy's eyes, but he just kept his eyes open for fear of missing the, perhaps, very slight nod.

 Lorraine smiled bitterly and looked at Hina.

 "Hina, you know what? I was also eight years old the first time I went to sea, working as a trainee on a relative's merchant ship that did nothing but add to the chaos ..."

 Hina was quiet and expressionless, "You're the captain, you don't need to ask my opinion."

 "You're shirking your responsibilities ..."

 "You bet."

 "Really ..." the bitter smile on Lorraine's face intensified, "Piers. Artis ..."

 The boy snapped and stood up straight, "Aye, Mr. Captain!"

 "In the near future, I will be forming the Drake Chamber of Commerce. If you bring a ship into it, I can consider giving you 10% dry shares."

 Lorraine deliberated, "It will probably be a losing proposition, for if the Chamber's assets do not exceed eight thousand pounds, the value of ten percent of the dry shares will be less than what I originally arranged for you."

 "I don't care about the money! Sir!"

 "You'll have to learn to care, because businessmen are born to deal with money." Lorraine got up, smiled and extended her hand to Pierce, "Welcome, Second Mate Intern Pierce. Mr. Artis, you're accepted."

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