[Wave] Saienne to Maire

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Single Cabin 1 - Portside - Grace O'Malley
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The cabin is mostly dark, the only light coming from a cluster of fairy lights clustered in a tangle by side of the bed. Everything smells of smoke and burning; an acrid smell, unpleasant and strong. Saienne, dressed in a pair of red Thai fishermen's trousers and a cream shirt, is sitting cross-legged on her bunk in the shadows, the faintly flickering lights illuminating her face just a little. She has her PDA open and on and its blue screen casts an eerie light upwards.

"I know, Jacob," she is saying, very softly. "I know it's the middle of the night an' your mammy ain't goin' to be happy when you wake her, an', truly, I am sorry about the bawlin' out you're goin' to get from her." She pauses, and smiles very sadly into the little screen. "But do your Aunt Saienne a favour an' give your mother a shake for me... tell her it's important, won't you?"

Saienne leans back against the cool bulkhead, presumably as her nephew goes to wake his mother. Beside her, on an upturned tea chest that seems to be serving as a temporary table, is a small teapot and a bamboo cup. The liquid in the cup steams gently, and an aroma of lemons and lemongrass rises into the air, doing its very best to battle the smoky smell in the rest of the room. Saienne runs a somewhat shaky hand through the dark stubble on her head and a tinkle of glass can be heard as a shower of glittering shards fall into her lap.

"Gou shi!" She says, animatedly, as she tries to sweep the glass away without cutting herself. A burst of chatter from the PDA causes her to look up sharply, and reach for it with long-fingered hands.

"Maire?" she asks, peering into the little screen. Her face is illuminated cold blue, and she looks tired. "Maire, I surely am sorry. No - I wasn't cussin' when Jacob could hear, I swear it." She looks to be on the verge of tears. "Oh, Maire," she says, wearily, "Just lay off the snipin', will you? I knew it wasn't a sensible thing to wake you up in the middle of the night but..." And she sighs, heavy and heartfelt. "Mei mei... do you remember when we used to climb the oak tree in the yard an' throw stones down at the boys an' laugh our gorram socks off until Mam came an' bawled us out for gettin' Daniel in the eye or spookin' the dogs or somewhat similar..." A pause; a very small voice: "Can't you just be that Maire? Can't you just be her for five minutes, an' all?"

Maire can be heard to reply in much softer tones, but she still sounds tinny through the tiny PDA speaker. Saienne runs her hand through her hair again, more silver-blue slivers tumbling onto the bunk.

"I got glass in my hair," says Saienne, miserably. "Ain't got no idea how that got there, what with my gorram hat coverin' most of my head with its feathers an' its broader-than-broad brim. Hell, I ain't got much hair to get glass in. An' now Aunt Lottie's fine an' fancy dress smells like a bonfire on All Hallows." She turns to pick up the bamboo cup from the table beside her and sniffs the cooling liquid reflectively, citrus smells replacing the smoke that is still strong in her nostrils. "Least it's only glass an' pungent smells I got to deal with, mind," she says. "Ain't hurt. Ain't bleedin'. Ain't languishin' in a Fed lockup somewhere."

There comes some reassuring patter from the PDA and then, after a short silence, a question. Saienne sits a little straighter and frowns down at her sister's tiny image.

"No," she says, "I didn't have nothin' to do with it. I ain't the troublemaker you think I am, Maire." She pauses to sip from her cup. "No doubt you'll hear all about it over the Cortex before long, Maire. You want to be lookin' at the Persephone feeds. Some fong luh idiots blew up a restaurant in the slums an' the local warlord decided to take the fight to the bombers - meanin' the Feds came down every on anyone in the area, an' then there was some riotin'."

She takes a breath, and a gulp of her lemony tea. "I'm sorry, Maire, truly, to haul you out of your sleep for this. It's just - it all blew up right in the middle of the most wonderful party I've ever been to an' I was wearin' Aunt Lottie's dress. For the first time since... well, since we did that thing for Daniel." She looks away from the PDA and the blue light causes the tears at the corners of her eyes to glimmer and shift. "An' I surely did feel proud. An' a young gentleman asked me to dance, an' we did. An' folk seemed to think the hat was fantastic." A pause, and she swallows back the tears, her voice strengthening. "I always knew the hat was fantastic. I remember Lottie wearin' it an' she surely looked like a million credits." She smiles a lop-sided smile. "But hearin' folk - my folk, an' all - sayin' they liked it, an' they liked me in it..." She takes another drink, and looks back into the PDA at her sister. "I did tell you all about Josephine, didn't I? She did look all kinds of beautiful that night, dancin' away, an' so did the Captain an' Lucinda an' Matty looked uncomfortable as the six hells but she was fine an' dandy after the Captain got a couple of tequilas down her..." She chuckles

"Oh, Maire. I am so sorry. You get back to bed, of course. I know you got plenty to be doin' in the mornin'. Me an' all." A pause, and Saienne leans forward, bamboo cup clasped in both hands. "An' you tell Jacob I'm sorry for wakin' him, won't you? Tell him I'll see him soon as I can."