Antonia and Luc exchanged slightly bewildered, certainly bemused expressions that said everything needful without a single word between them. The rogue shrugged and nodded after the First Mate and her strangely terse invitation, and Luc only grinned as he fell in behind Nicolette. Captain Lightfoot had told him only this morning, he ought to speak little and obey far more until he had earned his place, and following the orders of the ship's First Mate certainly fell under that bailiwick! 

The First Mate's quarters were in complete and perfect order, as would only be expected by now. The rogue didn't doubt for a moment that the remnants of a night drinking, the bottles and the lingering smell of alcohol-laced vomit, were a mere aberration to the order Nicolette Beauchamp would normally demand of herself, and in everything around her. 

Luc's dark, amber-flecked eyes were wide with awe as he took everything in, half beside himself with the realization he was [i]actually inside Mademoiselle Beauchamp's quarters![/i] Antonia was only about to thank the First Mate for this unexpected and unasked for kindness when some commotion or other broke out on the deck, snapping up her attention.

Antonia wondered for a moment if she should follow after Nicolette. She knew as well as anyone what that smacking sound meant - but then again, she knew well there was nothing she could offer to seeing peace returned on the deck that Nicolette could not do just as well herself. And in truth? The rogue suspected Nicolette just might be half-glad for the reason to bolt so swiftly from her own quarters, despite her own invitation within. 

And so Antonia settled into one of the offered chairs, her eyes roving the small confines of the First Mate's quarters before pulling the other chair some closer, patting the seat to invite Luc to join her. Yes, that grey-eyed gaze had certainly caught sight of a rather battered pair of boots in the shadows, a pair that were far too large and not near-so-well tended as any the First Mate would wear. But this sight was probably the least mysterious of all enigmas and contradictions that whirled about Nicolette Beauchamp, and she was quite content to let this go unremarked upon. 

For not a moment did it occur to Antonia, or to Luc, that they might take advantage of the time they had alone within the First Mate's quarters to snoop about the golden woman's papers and possessions. Whatever mysteries still remained to Nicolette Beauchamp would remain her own and in the strangest bit of irony, were as safe in the presence of the roguish spider and her offspring, as they might have been in the deepest, darkest vault.

Besides, there were stories to be told...

"So... A story then!" Antonia clapped her hands together swiftly as Luc settled into his own chair, a signal the boy knew well for the start of a story it was meant to be. A slow smile began to spread over his face as he settled into his chair, knees to his chest, arm wrapped about them as he watched the animated and exotic features of his [i]Tante[/i] 'Tonia flicker in the flame light. 

"What do you say, another story of Anansi the Spider then? My own [i]Maman[/i] did love them so, the tales of the trickster rascal. But did you know... ?" Antonia's warm, spice-rich voice trailed off, the tease drawing Luc's rapt attention further to her laughing, grey-eyed gaze. 

"Not always did Anansi play the tricks! Oh no! The keeper of wisdom and stories, the crafty trickster must of course have learned so many before he could craft them himself! And so even when he was outwitted, he kept the story to share, for his beloved people to learn all the most clever of ways."

"One man who outwitted Anansi himself, was a fisherman. First know, that Anansi thought to trick the fisherman because the Spider, while so very smart, was also more than a touch lazy as well. But the fisherman was wise, and knew his friend's ways when Anansi suggested they go fish together... "