A Trip To Tuanaki

Chapter 2

Twenty minutes later, as the inspector is wrapping up his third time through everything, someone climbs out onto the upper deck. Mal's back is turned, but he has a good idea of who's just come out, and sure enough, he notices the inspector's eyes go wide as the older man sees the figure who has recently emerged.

"Mal?" Alice asks. "Is everything alright?"

There's something in her tone that makes Mal think of Pierson officers, and he finds himself turning back to face her. The woman who stands on his deck now cuts a much more imposing figure than she did when delivering his papers. It's helped, of course, by the subtle holster on her hip, and the veiled air of command in her question. Mal is taken aback, and he stares just a moment too long.

Where were you ten minutes ago? he wonders, when the gears of his brain catch once more. However, the harbormaster springs into action, sending the Nameless on her way to her slip so fast Mal's head is spinning. It's not until Alice makes an idle comment as Mal steers that he realizes why.

"It's always a shame to see people who still think that humans are better than elves."

Mal bristles. Really? Sailing into an imperial port, and you're proclaiming how bad it is to be an elf? Makes one wonder if it's really the Company you're hiding from...

He doesn't say much of anything in response. He grunts a little, but he's too focused on his work to say anything aloud.

"I mean, it's a shame people believe such a thing when it's so patently untrue. Look at you, for instance."

"Gunny!" Mal shouts. After an instant, she comes just high enough up the ladder to stick her head out where she can see Mal standing on the aft deck.

"Yeah?"

"Come tie her up, we've got a slip."

"Gimme a mo," she says, and disappears. Before she reappears, Mal finally responds to Alice's rant.

"I'm not an elf," he says.

Alice stares at him blankly, clearly more thrown off by his summoning Gunny than the rest of the conversation. "But you — you've got the ears. And the... build, and what you're wearing... I mean, sorry for assuming, but you really look it."

"Just half elf," he says. Gunny appears on deck a moment later, but he doesn't need to tell her anything — she knows to go to the bow and secure the ropes as soon as they're close enough for her to make the jump to the dock. "The other half's human."

Alice eyes him sidelong, sizing him up. "Now is this a top half/bottom half situation? Or—"

"We're moored!" Gunny shouts. Mal releases his hold of the wheel and practically leaps off the raised portion of the deck. In two strides he's above the hatch.

"Den! We're docked, we're getting supplies!"

He doesn't get a response. He wasn't really expecting one, and there's a fair chance Den is asleep at the moment. If that's the case, there's no way in hell he'll get up for one of Mal's half-hearted shouts.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

Mal looks at Alice. For the first time she seems actually unsure, and he wonders how long it'll last. He would have quickly said no, if she still looked like the misplaced merchant's daughter that appeared in his hold yesterday. But today she's playing a different role. The pistol on her hip, for instance, does wonders to change her appearance.

"Can you shoot that?" he asks, nodding towards the holster.

"Not well," she admits. "But it's better than nothing. Mostly having it is enough insurance."