Aggie had, as always, made all the correct decisions. Rue didn’t have to like the woman to know she was good at her job.
Rue trotted through, annoyed by how the pads of her paws picked up soot. No wonder Tasherit avoided the boiler room.
“You!” accused Aggie.
Rue blinked at her slowly. Cat trust, cat calm.
Aggie seemed to find this annoying.
“Shoo! Get out. You’re not welcome here.”
Rue sneezed as a bit of coal dust got caught in her whiskers and then continued walking towards the back corner of the room where the preservation tank nested under its tea-cosy cover. She went up on her hind legs and kneaded it with her front paws.
“What on earth?” Aggie followed her.
Rue continued to pick at the cosy.
“You want to get inside it? Why? It’s not gassed at the moment.”
“Rrrrrourrt,” said Rue.
“Oh, of course. If you immerse yourself fully, you should get your humanity back. Certain you want that, ladyship? You’re a whole lot easier to kill when you’re nothing more than prissy human.”
Rue continued pawing.
“How could you let Quesnel get hurt? He was only up there because he was worried about you. I told him not to bother.” Complaining the entire time, Aggie pulled off the protective cover and cracked the tank top.
Rue leapt inside.
The orange-tinged liquid was cold and weirdly slimy. She took a breath and lowered herself until she was totally submerged in the stuff, even the tips of her ears and tail. At which juncture, the liquid cut off her tether.
She turned back into a prissy human.
Rue reemerged, gasping for air. She’d gone from the painful agony of shift to the general discomfort of the numbing feel of liquid. She hoisted herself out, entirely naked except for the slime, and decided to simply be at peace with this. She was a metanatural after all. She was bound to be naked in front of her crew. The two sooties on duty carefully pretended not to look.
Aggie didn’t care. “You’ve treated him shabby, poor lad. Taking advantage of his expertise and affection. Imagine boldly as to ask for an education of that kind!”
So Quesnel told Aggie that, did he? Well, to be fair, I told Primrose. “Now who’s prissy?” Rue wiped liquid from her eyes, nose, and mouth. She made a put-put-put sound, trying to blow the foul-tasting stuff off her lips.
Aggie almost stomped her foot she was that angry. “You owe him an apology!”
Rue said, “I happen to agree with you. Unfortunately, he was unconscious last I checked.”
“Try again!” A pause. “Wait. You agree with me?”
Rue rolled her eyes and marched towards the spiral stairs. “I didn’t think he really cared for me.”
Aggie followed. “But he’s been potty about you since the duck pond incident.”
Rue wrinkled her nose. “That’s disgusting. I was eight!”
“The second duck pond incident, you idiot. Why else do you think he stayed aboard?”
“To see the world? To get away from his mothers?” Rue was flushed with annoyance but tried to keep an impassive demeanour. She was learning much from Aggie’s diatribe.
Aggie scrunched up her face. “Well, yes, that, too, but also he’s in love with you.”
Rue’s thoughts whirled. Is Aggie right? Is it really more than a lust-filled whim? She shied away from the word love. It was too bold, even in her own head. The very notion that Quesnel properly loved her was slippery with impossibility, like an oiled ferret. Could they really have that honest constant kind of love? The kind that meant he might stay the whole night in her bed and wake up next to her? He hadn’t acted like it so far.
“Oh for goodness’ sake, don’t you understand anything?” Aggie huffed, her tone modified in her own confusion at Rue’s persistent unwillingness to rise to the bait.
By this point, Rue was halfway up the spiral staircase.
“Apparently not. Thank you, Miss Phinkerlington, for a most educational conversation. I may come down and have you yell at me again, next time I need my relationships explained to me.”
Aggie put her hands on her hips and glared up. “You do that.”
“Now, if you will excuse me, I should get back to the man in question.”
“You might want some clothing.”
“Yes, thank you, Miss Phinkerlington.”
Things were quiet on deck.
Rue, wearing a perfectly respectable brown paisley robe, hair loose but thick with orangeish goop, found the group around Quesnel busy planning to relocate him to his quarters.
Primrose was in charge. “I think we can improvise a litter. It’s better to move him to an environment where we can keep him safe, out of the way, and clean. Oh, Rue! Thank goodness. Tasherit said she felt her tether snap. We worried you might be dead.”
“Thought Aggie killed you,” said a weak voice.
Rue was on her knees next to her chief engineer instantly. “You’re awake.” She grabbed his left hand. “How are you feeling?” It was an utterly inane question to ask, but everything else she thought of was impolitic.
“Like I’ve been shot, strangely enough.”
“It’s no joking matter. You just collapsed. It was horrible.” Rue felt the prickles around her eyes from that memory. She shook herself and went on. “Smart of you to choose the right kind. Apparently through-and-throughs heal best. We doused you in cognac as well.” Rue caressed his palm with her thumb.