"It doesn't look like much does it?" Miss Karin Butler said to her companion and slave, Nicola Astley, who had recently acquired the nickname Dolly. Of course those weren't their real names, but it is what they would be using for the foreseeable future.
"It may have seen better days miss, that's true," Manon was glad for a chance to rest her mistress's large bag and her own smaller one. It's not that they were heavy, although they were, but that Manon was short enough that carrying them without dragging them on the ground was quite difficult.
What they were looking at was a ship, the Ruby. To Manon's inexpert eye it looked like a ship should, pointy at one end, blunt at the other, with three tall masts. It also looked, well not shabby, because it was in fact quite clean and neat looking, but it was undeniably a little worn.
"Like an older lady Dolly, past her prime but well cared for," Belle said.
Various dock workers were moving about loading things onto cargo nets, that men on the ship were hauling up and swinging down into the guts of the ship. On a second look, Manon said, "Miss, all the crew I can see appear to be women?". Before Belle could answer a dock hand, having heard what was said, answered.
"That they are little miss, have been ever since the old captain's daughter took over as captain 20 years ago." He gave them an appraising look. "You'll be passengers for her then?"
Karin answered, a little curtly, "we are, not that it is any of your concern," and turned away from him.
Ignoring Belle's rudeness, he called out to a woman standing at the walkway that led from the dock to the ship. "These'll be your last two passengers."
The woman, dressed in long loose canvas trousers, with a thick navy blue jumper, looked them over. She saw a tall young woman, wearing a long grey wool coat, that had rain beading on it and in places was soaking in. She was neat and clean, but both the edge of the sleeves and the collar were showing a little sign of fraying. The ankle length skirt where it showed under the skirt was a deep maroon colour, but there was a visible though tidy repair at the hem. So well to do, but not by any means well off, the woman thought to herself.
The strikingly short young woman behind her, who she'd watched struggling with the two bags as the two women approached the ship, wasn't nearly as well dressed, and had no hat or coat at all to protect her from the wind and rain. A grey buttoned up jacket, over a brown skirt that was a little too long for her, it's hem was trailing in the puddles as they'd approached. When she'd put the bags down, she'd tugged sharply at the skirt to lift the hem up. This revealed shoes so battered that it would be a surprise if they were waterproof, but they were quickly hidden as the skirt inevitably slid down a bit.
"You'll be Butler and Astley then? Got your tickets?" the woman asked.
"I am Miss Butler yes," Belle said frostily. "Dolly, the tickets?" Belle said sharply. "Yes miss, sorry miss," Manon said fumbling around in her shoulder bag to find them, and giving them to the woman. Manon caught the gleam in Belle's eye, which no one else would have noticed, and smiled to herself. Belle was clearly enjoying herself, bossing Manon around and falling more and more deeply into character each time she did.
Having checked the tickets, the woman just said, "follow me, and mind where you step, deck's no place for you while we are loading. I'm Travers, second mate, quartermaster and in charge of anything that isn't nailed down to the ship. Like you and other cargo."
Manon was quite relieved when Travers picked up the larger of the two bags, and effortlessly carried it up the walkway as she trailed behind her and Belle. Both Belle and she quickly discovered why Travers and all the other crew they saw were barefoot, as their shoes had no grip at all on the deck, where the rain made it slippery.
"Ruby's not a passenger ship" Travers said, "we work for a living. Either of you been passengers before?" She asked as she led them forwards on the ship.
"No," Belle answered shortly.
"Huh, figures," Travers grunted. "So, third class cabin is here, next to crew quarters," she said, leading them down a short ladder, into a short very dark corridor.
"Door at the end is crew, stay out. Door here is the galley, you get your meals here three times a day, maybe less if we can't have fires in bad weather, then it's just whatever is cold. Your cabin is here, but first a few rules. Follow these rules and you'll be fine." Manon idly wondered what would happen if they didn't follow them, but tuned in to Travers again, who was still speaking.
"First If you are allowed on deck, you'll be told, rest of the time, stay in your cabin. Second, never hang about in this corridor, if crew are called to work, they'll come out of quarters real quick, and won't take kindly to you being in the way. Third, stay off the quarterdeck, it's off limits." Travers sighed, seeing the blank looks she got from Belle and Manon. "That's the raised deck aft, where we steer from and where the Captain runs the ship from."
