Hello! I have another chapter of Daisy on the Water for you! :D This one pretty much explains what happened ont he night when the pirates attacked, so its not terribly exciting or anything. :I

Self promotion time!

I have a pirate RP forum up on this website called Pirates RPG (creative, eh?). If you'd like, go check it out. Just type 'pirates' into the search box when its set to forums and it'll pop up.

Don't you just love self promotion? xD

Sewing in the Parlour

"It's terrible, absolutely terrible!"

Father, Mother, William, and I were sitting around the table that night. Father and William had just got back from the town. William wouldn't speak of the town but Father, on the other hand, rambled on and on.

"Half the bloody place is burned down!" he cried, throwing his hands up in the air. "Nothing but black wood and ashes now! Those poor people... Bloody pirates... Bloody, bloody, bloody pirates!"

"Calm down, dear," Mother said, resting a hand soothingly on Father's arm.

"I will not calm down!" Father snapped, pulling his hand away. "Something must be done; those pirates must be caught!"

"Well, do they know which pirates did it?" Mother asked, resting her fork gently beside her plate.

"Oh, yes," Father said, nodding. "They know who did it; Terrence Sheppard and his crew! The vile beasts... Poor Mrs. Hathoway's son was shot down by one of them; Oliver Barrington, I believe."

"But he was just a child!" Mother cried, staring at Father in disbelief. "The poor boy was but eleven!"

"They have no hearts, pirates..." Father muttered, shaking his head again. "They'd kill anyone they can get their bloody hands on, they will!"

I decided to tune out the rest of their conversations; Mother was going to end up just as riled up as Father and I just didn't want to hear it. Once any of them got started on a subject they feel strongly about, there's no talking of anything else for hours.

I wondered if Tom was part of Terrence Sheppard's crew; Sophie had never mentioned his last name and she didn't know what the name of the ship he joined was, nor who its captain was.

"...and Corvander's shop was blown apart by one of the ship's cannons. They reckon it was the surgeon. Nobody saw him in the town..."

Every now and then I caught snippets of Mother and Father, listening for any mention of anybody named Tom.

Once dinner was over, William retreated outside to the veranda and Father and Mother went into the parlour to further discuss how horrid pirates were. I decided to sit in the parlour as well, to listen into on their conversation again, but pretended to be working on my sewing.

"They better catch those pirates soon," Mother fumed, taking a sip of the tea our maid, Beatrice, offered her. "All those people they've murdered must see justice; death is the only way to get that!"

"I agree," Father said, nodding curtly. "The crimes these men do... And why, I cannot fathom!"

"Oh yes, they are extremely cruel and unnatural." Mother said, shuddering.

For some reason, what my parents were saying was making me furious. It was almost as if... I was a pirate. But of course I wasn't, so I couldn't understand why I was acting that way. Maybe it was because of Tom...? Maybe after listening to Sophie talk so much about him, I felt like I knew him and had to defend him...

"Jane, dear, why do you look so mad?"

Mother's voice brought me back from my thoughts, and I looked up from my sewing.

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to look confused, but I don't think it fooled my mother.

"You look sour and ready to lash out at somebody," Mother continued, raising an eyebrow at me. "Jane, don't tell me you're supporting that foolish pirate friend of Sophie's!"

I hardly ever told lies; especially not to my mother. She would be furious if she knew I ever lied to her. But something told me to lie to her about that, that she shouldn't know that I was protective of Tom.

"Of course not!" I said quickly, trying to act as if the whole subject were insane. "Why I support such filth!"

I must have said the word 'filth' with much disgust, as Mother nodded approvingly and went back to sipping her tea and talking with Father.

Beatrice kept glancing nervously at me, and I was wondering if she had seen through my lie. But then I remembered that my family and I hardly ever spent time together; it was usually only Mother and I in the parlour, and when my parents came in here to talk, they were usually alone. It must have seemed odd to Beatrice that I was willingly sitting in the same room as my parents while they talked, let alone working on my sewing, something everyone in the household knew very well I despised.

"Oh, um, I'm going to go prepare for bed..." I said suddenly, deciding it would be best to leave Mother and Father alone to complain alone.

Neither of them acknowledged me as I slipped my sewing away and hurried upstairs to my bedroom. Once the door was closed behind me, I walked over to the window and peered outside.

Nothing moved, and nothing made a sound. Everything was perfectly... quiet.

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