Instead of dwelling on it, she looked up at the young man, only to find that he had been replaced by a rather more familiar figure. She smiled demurely at the Compte de Pourpignion, reminding herself to be gracious to the man despite her dislike of him. She needed to keep him happy, at least for the moment.
"It is such a pleasure to see you, Monsieur le Compte," she said, smiling happily at him. "I feared we would never have the chance to renew our tragically brief acquaintance."
"Indeed, Mademoiselle," he said, voice heavily accented. "I too hoped that we would meet again someday. It is surprising how soon that day has come, is it not?"
"Quite," she murmured. "Have you chosen to ride aboard Urania?"
"Yes I have," he said. "Dare I hope that you too sail aboard that vessel?"
"You may hope all you like, Monsieur," she informed him, a touch coyly. "However, in this case, your hope is indeed justified. I do sail aboard Urania, and have often done so. I fear that the crew is tired of me by now."
"No one could ever tire of you," he said graciously.
She laughed. "You are too kind. I fear you have not yet seen me at my worst. I do not relish the day you must do so."
"Your worst, Mademoiselle, is better than any other woman's best."
Mara laughed again. "You seem to have met very few women, if you think so highly of me. Come; allow me to show you about Urania." She trusted that Captain Trevallion would forgive her for this. He had not seemed keen to have the Compte aboard Urania, but it was necessary. Mara had her own things to do, and one of them involved getting the Compte de Pourpignion aboard the ship, where she could keep a proper eye on him.
She nodded to those crew members she recognized, noting as she did so that there was at least one new face among the group. She studied the newcomer closely, wondering what function he would be serving. He looked oddly familiar, and she wondered if perhaps he had served aboard a different ship at one time. She filed this away as yet one more thing she would have to investigate, then went to work entertaining the Compte, not noticing when Gaston, who had followed them, casually dropped a device behind him, which promptly scuttled away.
Rilla, however, did notice, though only after it had left his hand, and she frowned, excusing herself to her companions and drifting away to follow it. When she was certain no one could see her, she dropped to her hands and knees, peering around in the cabin of the vessel, where she could have sworn she saw the thing go. She found noting, and sat back on her heels, vexed. She could have sworn that it had come here, but she could find no sign of the thing.
"Is this what you were looking for?"
A tall young man stood in the doorway, a metal thing clutched in his hands. Rilla blinked at him, then remembered that the Captain had asked Devlin to dress up for this voyage, and relaxed. "What is it?" she asked.
Devon shrugged. "I don't know yet." His voice was odd, pitched about half an octave below her usual -- admittedly low -- pitch, but Rilla knew that she would soon get used to it. The captain had asked Devlin to do this before, when he was transporting passengers who might not like the idea of a woman mechanic, and Devlin, who had grown up around both men and machines, had very few objections. Those she did have tended to be more because she had very little warning and thus nothing to wear than because she did not want to participate in the charade. "Would you care to come with me to examine it?"
Rilla hesitated, tempted. She truly did want to know what the metal thing -- which was now twisting in Devon's grasp -- served, but she also had her duty to do, and her early training would not allow her to shirk it. Reluctantly, she shook her head. "I can't," she said. "Do tell me if it's something interesting."
Devon grinned. "You mean something you would find interesting?" he asked.
Rilla inclined her head. "I do," she agreed. "I know that you find inanimate scraps of metal fascinating, though I can't understand why."
"And I can't understand why you like people so much," Devon retorted with a shrug. "Each to their own." He turned to leave the main cabin. "I'll send one of the younger kitchen boys to fetch you if I think you'll be interested."
"Thank you." Rilla too left the main cabin and made her way back to the deck, where she smiled at the newcomers and welcomed them graciously aboard the ship. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lady Mara deep in conversation with an unfamiliar man, but only shrugged to herself. Lady Mara was allowed to know men other than the Captain, though Rilla did not suppose that the good Captain would be terribly pleased about that.
Down in the engine room, Devon examined the metal creature he had captured. It looked up at him, wide red lens painted to look like a demonic eye. Devon would bet that it could be changed to emit some sort of light at night, frightening any person who saw it into giving up their secrets. He grinned his appreciation. A well made device always made him happy, even if the device had been made to spy on someone aboard the ship he loved so much. Devon did not stop to wonder whom the thing might have been set upon, only took up his hammer and screwdriver and began to delicately dismantle the device, whistling occasionally at the intricacy of the gears and shake his head at the amount of work it must have taken to put it together.
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