Then, followed by Bunny, Sinead and the two Murphys, Sean swarmed up the steps two at a time.
‘Where did you say you stashed them, Bunny?' Sean asked when they got outside.
‘First cabin I came to,' and Bunny pointed. 'Megenda was shaking so bad he needed to get warm't't'
‘Oh, that'd be the Sirgituks',' Chumia said, smiling. 'They won't mind. They're still down below. Shall I ask them to stay here, in our place, until we've got things all settled?’
‘Would you please, Chumia?' Sean said with an appreciative smile but he kept right on striding towards the place where Yana was.
In fact, he was at least ten strides in front of Bunny and Muktuk when he reached the door and went in. Bunny trotted to catch up and heard a very surprised Yana call out Sean's name. When Bunny entered the Sirgituks' cabin, they were locked in each other's arms, cheek to cheek, eyes closed, rocking back and forth and not saying a word. Yana's face was wet with tears.
Dinah O'Neill was looking Sean up and down as if she was hunting for something she wasn't seeing and there was a bit of a smirk to her grin. Megenda was still shivering, though not quite as violently now that he had the warmth of the soup in him. Yana and Diego had removed both of the pirates' clothing and their own in Bunny's absence, and were wrapped in the Sirgituks' extra clothing and blankets. A kettle boiled on the stove.
‘Dinah O'Neill, this is Muktuk Murphy-O'Neill and Chumia Murphy-O'Neill, your kinfolk. And the man by the fire is First Mate Megenda of the Jenny,' said Bunny.
‘Greetings, kinswoman,' Muktuk said, 'though I think we gotta do some straight talking before anyone's going to want to welcome you proper, like. Now let's get this fella seen to. Whatcha think, Sinead? Give him a tot of the Juice?’
Sinead had followed Muktuk in and was eyeing Dinah O'Neill with a less than charitable expression on her face. She had relaxed on seeing that Yana was well enough to cling to Sean and now she gave the shuddering Megenda her attention.
‘D'you have some of Clodagh's Juice?’
Muktuk nodded. 'Always keep some handy since the time it brought my brother back to life, when he fell into the fish-hole that winter.’
He rummaged in one of the overhead cupboards in the kitchen corner of the house and dragged out a medium-sized brown bottle, held it up to the light and twirled it, checking the level of the liquid. Satisfied, he got down a glass, poured in an exact two fingers of liquid, then handed the glass to Megenda.
‘This'll stop those shivers before you come loose at the joints.’
Megenda was evidently willing, at this point, to drink anything that might reduce the chill he had taken. Grasping both edges of the fur rug in one big hand, he took the glass in the other and swallowed the contents in one gulp.
Muktuk regarded him, and Megenda looked right back, sort of superciliously, until the Juice made itself known in his gullet. Then his eyes bulged out, fit to pop from his head, and he gasped, exhaling, and even Bunny, on the far side of the room, recoiled as his exhalation reached her.
Dinah O'Neill looked angry. 'What did you give him?’
‘Just what Clodagh would have given if she was here,' Bunny said smugly. 'You watch. It'll stop those shivers as if he'd swallowed a hot poker.’
Megenda, mouth still wide open, dragged in a breath as deep as the one he had just expelled, settled it in his lungs, shook his head, and stood straight and tremorless in front of the fire.
‘What was in that?' he asked in a raspy voice, letting the fur drop from his head. His observers could now see the beads of sweat standing out on his forehead. Close as he'd stood to the fire, it hadn't been able to warm him to sweating.
Sean grinned. 'Clodagh Senungatuck makes it up for dogsled drivers to use in case of a ducking. Used it a time or two myself to good effect.’
‘When you come out of the water after a good swim?' asked Dinah O'Neill with an odd smile on her lips as she regarded Sean, her head tilted to one side.
He gave her a long stare. Then he smiled back at her. 'I don't need it on those occasions, Dama. I'm in my element then.' He gestured to the table, pulled out one of the chairs and settled Yana in it. He hadn't let go of her hand all this time and he continued to hold it throughout the next discussions.
‘That stuff keep its whammy long?' Dinah asked, looking respectfully at the bottle as she took a seat. When Sean nodded, she asked, 'That's the sort of thing Petaybee does like no other culture?’
‘We have developed certain medications that are effective in this sort of climate, yes. That's one. I doubt it would have much use on, say, a tropical world where the general demand would be small.’
‘But something that when it's needed, there isn't anything as efficacious?' Dinah went on.
Sean inclined his head. 'Like the cough syrup that cured my wife's…" and he gave Yana such a fond look that Dinah O'Neill blinked wistfully, 'cough. How is it now, dear?’
‘I haven't so much as sputtered since I got back into Petaybean air, Sean,' Yana replied, squeezing his fingers.
‘No, you haven't.' Dinah O'Neill blinked again and then frowned before she gave her head a little shake. 'No, you didn't manufacture those coughing fits.’
‘No, I did not,' Yana said firmly. 'I definitely did not. But I'm not going to go off-planet ever again…' and this time her free hand went to the pouch at her neck, 'not for any reason, no matter how damned important.’
‘Not that Sean'd let you,' Bunny said.
‘Now, Dama, what do we do?' Sean said directly to Dinah O'Neill. 'Have you indeed come to seek sanctuary here from your pirate captain?’
‘Actually,' and now the famous O'Neill smile broke across Dinah's pert face, 'I'm here as spokesperson for Captain Louchard to discover what… ah, shall I say, local wealth, can be used to defray his costs.’
‘His costs?' Diego said, angrily.
‘Well, yes, of course, he has to make some profit from what has turned out to be an ill-advised undertaking.’
‘Won't restoration of the half-sunk shuttle suffice?' Sean asked, a twitch of a smile on his lips.
‘Oh, dear heavens, no. The shuttle can either sink on its own or the Jenny's tractor beam will lift it,' Dinah O'Neill said airily. 'No, the Captain expended a considerable amount of time and energy, plus rations and accommodations…’
‘Rations and accommodations…" Diego burst out.
‘Why, you were fed from the Captain's table…’
‘I doubt that,' Yana muttered.
‘Well, my table, then,' Dinah corrected herself. 'And fresh fruit and good meat…’
‘Only when we threatened hunger striking,' Diego said irately.
‘Whatever,' Dinah said, dismissing his complaint. 'Time and effort, as well as supplies, mean some compensation must be forthcoming or I fear the Captain will do something drastic.’
Sean cleared his throat. 'I do know that the gentlefolk in Marmion Algemeine's social sphere have set up certain precautions that make ransom impossible.’
‘She'd rather die than say yes?' Dinah said in an arch manner with appropriate gestures of hands and eyes.
‘Exactly,' Sean replied in a flat no-nonsense tone of voice. 'None of her rank are good kidnap targets. Your captain missed a trick there.’
‘Captain Louchard don't make mistakes,' Megenda said menacingly.
‘Oh dear,' Dinah O'Neill said, pretending dismay and she leaned conspiratorially across the table to Sean and Yana. 'The first mate isn't going to be very easy to deal with, what with all he's gone through.’
‘Then he'd better be grateful we bothered to save his skin,' Bunny said fiercely. 'Because I'll never do it again.’
‘You will find, Dama, that none of your captives are ransomable.’