[i]Monsieur[/i] Jax' admonition to sneak to the deck was truly not the least trouble for Luc. Forever and a day, his [i]Maman[/i] was chiding him for stealing about on cat-light feet, startling her at her cooking or the laundering or the cleaning with a yelp, a sigh, and then a long-suffering roll of her eyes. 

No, sneaking unnoticed above deck was not the least trouble at all, any more than the work [i]Monsieur[/i] Morneau had set him to. Luc had been scrubbing and scouring pots and utensils from the time he was even smaller than he was now, and the boy's ability to watch a pot and not let it set to boil was something of a small miracle to the beleaguered ship's cook. 

After the morning prep work had been completed, and with the promise he would return before dawn, Morneau let the silent, hard-working child go do as he pleased in the evening hours. Silent, because Luc had taken the Captain's words very much to heart. He should not speak unless spoken to, and he was yet to earn his place among these men. 

Silent, even when the friendly, familiar and perpetually smiling face of [i]Monsieur[/i] Jax had come to steal him away, and induct him into the secret Cabin Boy's Club. Luc had never been more proud than he was at those moments, when Jax told him he'd once done just the things he did now - and that even Captain Lightfoot may have at one time as well. A helmsman now, and even a captain - if there were a more ringing endorsement of the humble cabin boy's position, Luc surely could not imagine it. 

Silent, even though he desperately wished to share this amazing story - a tale all his own! - with his beloved [i]Tante[/i] 'Tonia. Feeling just a twinge of guilt for keeping these matters secret from her, Luc reasoned this was not a matter of life or death after all, but perhaps for the slim getaway through the hawsehole - and Luc doubted even his lithe, slender aunt might fit through there anyway. 

Yes, Jax had said these must remain the cabin boy club secrets, and secrets they would remain.

The boy treasured all the helmsman shared with him, swiftly putting all those valuable instructions to practice the moment he was free of the galley. The old gold piece Captain Lightfoot had given him for his [i]Maman[/i]'s pound cake, was secreted away behind that cleverly hidden plank, alongside a silver locket that contained tiny, exquisitely painted portraits of his mother and father. But the lucky shark's tooth Jax had given him? Well of [i]course[/i] he wore it about his neck, swaying beneath his loose linen shirt on the cleverly tied leather thong his [i]Maman[/i] had fashioned for him. 

[i]Monsieur[/i] Jax had insisted he would need this lucky little talisman, and Luc would not disappoint the helmsman if his very[i] life[/i] depended on it! Cabin boys, past and present, must certainly look out for one another!

Almost instinctively, Luc stuck to the shadows cast by the light of Lady Moon high above. The boy watched the older sailors as they gathered, recognizing from his life in the Parakeet that they had begun to cast wagers, laying coin on whatever "showing off" Captain Lightfoot and [i]Monsieur[/i] Jax were about to do. 

Quietly, with a near preternatural grace, he climbed the deck railing just high enough to see over the heads of the taller men, without the least worry of falling. Luc had no fear of heights, and had scaled near everything he could find that might have the least finger- or toehold from the time he first learned to walk. There was not a rooftop or gutter or gate wall in Port Royal that remained unscaled and unexplored. And so he wrapped an arm about a thick cord of rope to steady himself, and laughed along happily enough with the crew, those amber sparks in his dark eyes dancing merrily in the moonlight.

No, he hadn't the least idea why they laughed - he had not heard the small jest that sparked their mirth. But his uncanny sight spied the golden, angelic figure of the First Mate as she addressed [i]Monsieur[/i] Jax, shirtless and shoeless and apparently preparing for whatever contest he and Captain Lightfoot had planned. And though [i]Tante[/i] 'Tonia had once admonished him for staring overlong at the beautiful Nicolette, Luc could see no harm in watching her from afar, when surely she could not be discomfited by his gaze when she did not even notice his presence.