“Phooey,” said Aria, spearing another forkful of eggs, “you’re just making fun of me. I know that Palamar is hardly the cosmopolitan center of the galaxy. Still, I lived a pretty comfortable life there.”
“Regretting your decision?” teased Jack.
“Just keep this coming,” replied Aria, “and I’ll have nothing to regret.”
“Savor and enjoy them now, my dear,” encouraged Jack. “The life of a pirate has many twists and turns. French coffee and fresh bacon in bed today, recycled krill around a cold camp tomorrow. Enjoy the good times, and let their memories sustain you in the hard times.”
Aria looked up at him. “Sounds like you’ve made that speech before.”
Jack smiled. “To myself, when I’m eating recycled krill around a cold camp.”
Aria shook her head. “The life of a pirate. I guess that’s my life now.”
“How does that feel?”
“It should be terrifying, I know. Instead, it’s just, well, terribly exciting,” she replied.
Jack nodded. “I recognized you for a kindred spirit very early on. I came from a powerful family myself, lived the life of endless identical social events, scoring points off of other socialites…living a life where novelty becomes the only thing worth pursuing because there was no way to pursue anything of meaning. It choked me. So I left.”
Aria put her fork down. “Sounds like there’s a story there, Jack.”
“So there is! I’ll tell you someday, I promise. But all I meant to say here and now is that I saw the same things in you, in all your finery on Palamar, that I’d seen looking in the mirror many years ago.”
“Truly?”
“Truly,” replied Jack. “Once you’ve seen that wanderlust, that desire to rebel, in your own face, you can recognize it in others.”
“Well, points to you, Jack Marx,” said Aria, lifting her coffee cup in salute, “because it turns out you were right.”
It was true. Jackwasright. Aria would not have been able to put her feelings into words in the way that Jack did, but he had more time to really consider the whole thing. She wondered about what his background really was. She would have to trust that he would tell her in time.
“Well,” said Jack, as they finished their leisurely meal, “there is another thing that we are going to need to deal with as well.”
“You’re married,” teased Aria.
Jack snorted. “No, heavens no! Nothing of the sort. What we’re going to need to figure out, I’m afraid, is how to build trust between you and my crew.”
“Ah.” Aria set her coffee down. “Yes, there is that.”
“Gossip spreads like wildfire aboard any ship, and pirate ships are worse than most. Your attempt to signal the authorities will be well-known by now.”
Aria sighed. “I can’t believe I did that. What was going through my head?”
“It’s not all that surprising, darling,” said Jack. “You were in two minds, and one of those minds was hell-bent on rescue. I can certainly see that, although of course, I did not and do not approve. I hold no grudges about it, and anyway, you’ve faced the consequences of your act.”
She shifted on her sore bottom. “That’s certainly true.”
“However, I’m not about to show that evidence to the rest of the crew.”
“Oh, good grief. That’s certainly not an option.”
“This is a difficult one, I must admit,” mused Jack. “Nothing occurs to me immediately. We may have to let this take its own time, I’m afraid.”
Aria nodded. “I understand.”
“You may catch a lot of hard words and glares over this,” Jack warned.
“I know,” she sighed.
