2 Days Later

"Give us a bit more Golden Tits!" one of the pirates shouted as he leaned over the wooden bar which served as the table in the main mess. He was an older man forty if he was a day and with blackened teeth beside. His companions howled with laughter at the joke, variations of which had been going around since Markus 'presented' her to the crew. Emmaline smiled sweetly and the rapped the pirates knuckes with the wooden serving ladle with which she had just dispensed the stew of bully beef and old biscuit that she had helped prepare. The pirate yowled and hopped back, clutching his bruised knuckles which were were burned by the hot stew beside.

"One ration per man," she said with a bland expression.

"You bitch!" the pirate snapped and started to make a lunge for her, but his messmates, still laughing at his embarrassment, hustled him onwards to keep the line moving. The pirates ate on the gun deck, using the twelve pounder cannons as improvised tables. The deck reeked of unwashed men and burned powder, but one did get used to it. The next pirate thrust out a battered pewter dish into which Emmaline obdiently ladled a scoop of steaming stew and then handed out a bottle of beer and a piece of hard tack. This pirate forgo to make any comment though he gave her an appreciative look. True to his word Markus had taken her silk dress from her and she now wore a shapeless white shirt and a pair of brown pants along with an ill fitting boots. Well all the clothing was ill fitting, but it was what the crew had and so she had made do. After some asking around she located a needle and thread and performed some basic tailoring. She had hoped that her current shapeless garb, in addition to the rather severe braid into which she had coiled her hair, might serve to lessen the amount of attention she raised, but it didn't seem like a ship full of men who had been weeks or months at sea were that easily put off.

Work as the cooks assistant had proven as congenial as she had hoped. The cook had been pleased with the company and with the help, in exchange she had been able to convince him to do her a few favors. It turned out that access to the rum ration, opened many doors, and with a little cajoling, the cook had been able to secure the small case of alchemical equipment which had been cast aside by the pirates as worthless. Most of it was hidden behind a crate of pickled herring, but a few select items, concealed amidst the various cooking paraphernalia had been put to use.  A kitchen wasn't a bad place for a Gold Wizard to work discretely, and the kitchen of a ship of war was an even better one. When asked by the cook what she was doing, she had made a few vague noises about wanting to experiment with sauces, something he had dismissed as the worthless efforts of an amateur, but soon they would begin to yield results.

Of Markus she saw little, desiring to stay out of his sight as much as possible, though on a ship this size it was impossible to avoid him completely. She had a measure of respect for him, despite his piratical ways, he certainly could have taken advantage of her if he wished, or allowed his crew to do so. That spoke... something about the man, though she wasn't quite sure what yet.