Men are the root of all things evil. They are by nature, aggressive and warlike, and they try to dominate each other. The peaceful, idyllic existence they enjoyed on the island was only made possible by the near extinction of the male part of their population. Once the women were in charge, working together instead of fighting each other, of course there was plenty to go around. Women are by nature, caring, nurturing, and peaceful, governed by their mother's instinct and their desire for harmony.
At least, that's what Lisanne had been taught all her life. Now, she was really starting to wonder. She'd been on this boat for nearly a month, and during that time, was abused both verbally and physically, at every chance. She'd given up on asking any questions, since they always got her either slapped or kicked. Every crew member seemed to hate her with a fervor she'd never before seen. And every single one of them was female.
She was at least allowed free reign of the ship, she supposed since she wasn't any threat to any of them, and it gave them reason to give her a share of the work. Since she wasn't very strong, and her cooking skills were for the most part limited to infusions, tinctures, and medicinal teas, that meant swabbing the deck and cleaning everyone's quarters. She didn't really mind the work that much; oft-times, in fact, she had to stop herself from humming. She'd discovered that really made them mad. Or scared. Both mad and scared seemed to elicit the same actions from any of them, so she was never sure which it was.
Today, though, everyone had left her completely alone. It was making her wonder. She even tested one of them, humming loudly as the woman approached her. She almost forgot to keep humming when the woman just stared nervously at her and walked around her, giving her a wide berth. She decided to try pushing her luck just a bit further.
"What's going on?" she asked. "Everyone seems too preoccupied to kick me around."
The woman stopped walking and stood there for a second, seemingly trying to decide whether their captive really had a sense of humor. She apparently decided not.
"Shut up, witch, I won't have you spelling me!" She took off down a ladder and vanished from Lisanne's sight quickly.
Suddenly, Lisanne figured it out. They didn't particularly hate her, at least not most of them. They were scared of her. They didn't realize that her powers were completely ineffective on women. She started to laugh. Someone coming up the ladder saw her laughing and headed right back down, which made her laugh more. She realized every bit of abuse she'd suffered over the past three weeks was an attempt to shut her up. Well, that settled it. From now on, she certainly would not shut up, at least not until one of these crazy women decided to answer her questions.
She didn't waste any time. She picked up her sponge and bucket and set off down the ladder herself. She paused at the captains door, intrigued at the sounds coming from within. A racking cough. A concerned question. An attempt to answer, between coughs. She leaned her ear toward the door to listen. It opened and she almost fell into the room.
