"Adm'ral Jack! Adm'ral Jack!"
Admiral Jack Aubrey turned with a smile at the curious little form running
across the deck towards him, followed anxiously by her constant shadow, Padeen.
"Adm'ral Jack." Brigid stopped in front of him and planted her
hands on her hips. She was wearing her nankeen trousers and blouse, and her
short jacket, all painstakingly sewn by Killick to fit her tiny frame.
"Adm'ral Jack, will you plait my hair for me? Padeen's fingers are too big
and Papa never does it right."
Jack's heart melted at the demanding pose, the sturdy, pointed little chin.
How like her father she looked when she frowned; the only time she did resemble
Stephen.
Jack lifted her onto a lashed cask and deftly plaited the spun gold strands,
ignoring the smirks and downright doting grins on the hands around him. Killick,
Brigid's other shadow, had made some excuse to be on deck and hovered by the
rail, trying to look busy. When Jack was done he accepted her hat from Padeen -
an actual straw hat, not a bonnet, woven for her by Padeen, complete with a
ribbon embroidered with Surprise - and placed it on her crown.
"Now then, let's see," he said, planting her back on the deck and
staring down at her sternly. Brigid clasped her hands and looked up at him
anxiously. "All shipshape and Bristol fashion," he pronounced, and she
beamed.
"Adm'ral Jack?" she said confidingly, and Jack bent his head to
listen. "I'm to be a sailor when I grow up!" she announced.
"Are you indeed?" Jack said. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather
be a sailor's wife?"
"Like your father," Killick said, sotto voce, then dropped
his bucket of potato peels as a distraction.
"No," Brigid said firmly, and there was that stubborn chin again.
"I'm to be a sailor, like you!"
"I'm sure you'll be a fine one then," Jack said, giving in as he
nearly always did at that Maturin chin. "Let's get you started. I'm sure
Killick will be happy to show you the ropes, ey, Killick? A little splicing and
some knots?"
"Which it is Sunday," Killick protested, but at the Admiral's
lifted brow he gave in and stomped down the deck, reaching out a hand for
Brigid's. She skipped off by his side, a sea-fairy in a straw hat, with
Killick's inaudible grumble an accompaniment to her merry chatter.
Smiling, Admiral Aubrey lifted his glass and turned back to his view of the
wide, blue sea.
