//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Kayleigh // Story: The Ties that Bind // by Birdco //------------------------------// The Ties that Bind By Birdco Pre-read by : Rokas, Blayaden, Yoshimon1, AlexKadin, Brambo96 “What is the difference between courage and foolhardiness?  Fear.  The brave know what to fear, and that knowledge makes them stronger.  The foolhardy do not fear the hazards they face, and that puts both them and others in danger. It took a soldier everypony thought was a coward to show me how little I knew of courage.” -General Hurricane, writing about Private Pansy in his memoirs. Chapter 5: Kayleigh Kayleigh jolted awake as her hammock swung and hit the engine room bulkhead.  She heard a dull thud as the book she had been reading earlier hit the deck. That was a good one. Kayleigh thought as she blinked the sleep out of her eyes.  She hadn’t intended to fall asleep, but reading about enchantment spell structures was about as exciting as scraping grease, and she was exhausted. Kayleigh shoved her purple bangs out of her eyes with a yellow hoof, and looked over at the engineering instrument panel. Service tank fuel level, check. Main engine power level, 40%, normal enough. Electrical reactor output, 5 kilowatts and stable, good. Levitation reactor... “Shoot, that’s high.  We must be icing up again,” Kayleigh said to nopony in particular as she rolled out of her hammock to her hooves.  She levitated the wool jacket off the peg in the corner, and struggled into it. She was glad she talked Rhumbline into paying for the modifications to the levitation reactor.  Reactors were fairly simple magical devices that converted chemical energy into magical energy through a gem with a catalytic enchantment.  This magic could then be used to power another enchanted device.  Normally, the reactor took alcohol and air, and generated magical energy, water, exhaust gas, and a little heat. The lift needed to keep the Dodo in the air came from two sources; a combustible, lighter than air gas that alchemists call phlogiston, and the levitation enchantment on the balloon.  The balloon enchantment is powered by the levitation reactor, and can be a big drain on fuel when the airship is trying to fly at altitude with a heavy load.  Increasing the concentration of phlogiston in the balloon can also increase the lift, but the balloon fabric leaks the phlogiston gas above a certain concentration. Kayleigh’s idea, which was implemented by the artificers at Canterlot’s shipyard, was to change the catalytic enchantment on the levitation reactor to produce phlogiston as a by-product of the magical reaction.  An addition of a magical filter, and some piping directing the gas to the balloon, and now she could maintain a higher concentration of phlogiston in the balloon, and could operate at high altitude using less fuel.   However, the high altitude in the storm brought a different problem, ice.  While ice won’t accumulate on the balloon due to the levitation enchantment, the hull had no such protection.  During their first night in this storm, ice had accumulated so quickly that the Dodo almost fell from the sky before Kayleigh could clear it off the bow.  She’s been watching the levitation reactor’s output closely over the past three days to catch the icing before it got too bad. Kayleigh looked quickly in the mirror she had hung on the bulkhead next to her hammock.  Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, but at least her hair looked a lot neater than normal.  She had spent much of the last evening helping Winter Gale recover from a recon flight that left the gray pegasus severely chilled and suffering from cramps.  It took an hour to fire up the hot water system in the head, but the hot bath was exactly what Winter needed.  Later, after an icebreaking trip onto the weatherdeck, Kayleigh took advantage of the still lukewarm water to warm up, and wash her purple mane.  Hot water was such a rarity when the ship was underway that she couldn’t let the opportunity pass.   The engineer donned her welding goggles, pushing them onto her forehead to keep her bangs out of her eyes.  She levitated her hammer from the pipe where it hung, and slipped it into the holster she sewed onto her workbelt.  Rhumbline might not like her carrying the stone weight hammer around on the airship, but it was the tool she needed for this job.  She trotted up the stairs that lead up to crew quarters, and began preparing herself for another trip onto the weatherdeck. Kayleigh peered into the room that she and Winter Gale would have been sharing, if the weather hadn’t demanded that the ship’s engineer slept in the engine room.  The guardpony was not in her rack, where by all rights she should still be, considering how exhausted she was last night. Out on another scouting flight, Kayleigh thought as she continued towards the hatch leading to the deck.  I hope that she will be alright. Kayleigh was trying to watch out for the guardpony.  Winter Gale did not have anypony she knew onboard...  other than the captain.  Rhumbline treated his sister-in-law with respect, their discussions were strictly about her duties.  While the captain was firmly focused on flying the airship when Dodo was in the air, he still occasionally talked about personal subjects with his crew to pass the time.  There was none of this interaction between Winter and him, and she had been going to great lengths to avoid the captain whenever her duties allowed it. Kayleigh tried to pry into the details of their relationship last night while she was drying and trying to braid Winter’s mane.  It took some gentle prodding, but the pegasus gradually opened up about herself, and her service as a guard.  She even talked about her previous assignments with Rhumbline when he was in the airship service.  However, Winter avoided any discussion about her feelings about the captain.  Finally, when Kayleigh couldn’t contain her curiosity anymore, and bluntly asked the guards feelings for the captain, Winter replied that ‘it was an inappropriate topic of conversation with one of Rhumbline’s subordinates.’ This only fueled the unicorns interest even more.  She felt that, of anypony onboard, she knew the most about the captain.  As a foal, Kayleigh marveled at the stories Rhumbline shared when her father would invite him for dinner.  However, after she left home and joined the crew of the Dodo, she had expected the captain to be the kindly relative she had experienced in the past.  Instead, she found a stern, serious stallion who was distant when the ship was in the air, even to Autumn and Palette, who crewed the Dodo on the first few voyages.  Now, there is another aspect about the captain she knew very little about. Kayleigh arrived at the hatch and took a deep breath.  She needed to get her mind on the task at hand.  She focused on the motion of the airship beneath her hooves, trying to get a feeling for the Dodo’s rhythm as she rode the winds.  Her horn lit as she levitated the safety hook from her work belt, and she used her forehoof to turn the latch on the hatch. Her first breath of the thin, frigid air stung her nostrils, and Kayleigh’s chest tightened from the sudden change in temperature.  She quickly latched the safety hook to the line that ran from the pilothouse to the Fo’c’sle, a line Rhumbline helped her set up on the first day of the voyage.  The morning light was muted by the dense cloud bank that the Dodo was sailing in, but Kayleigh could still make out the glint of the ice veneer that coated the deck. Kayleigh shut the hatch behind her, and took a few tentative steps out onto the deck.  The wind rushing over the deck whipped her mane, and rapidly chilled the exposed areas of her hide.  She scraped at the deck with her hoof, creating a furrow in ice. “That is not too bad.” Kayleigh said to herself.  The deck ice was not much thicker than the last time she was in deck.  This meant that the ice build up was on the bow, which she could deal with herself.  She didn’t want to have to bring Twilight Sparkle out here if she didn’t need to, because the purple unicorn needed to conserve her strength. Kayleigh trod carefully over the slick deck, being sure of her footing before taking the next step.  She didn’t think badly of Twilight for being as airsick as she was.  Kayleigh was feeling nauseous herself, and she had a lot more time on an airship.   Between steps, the engineer gazed up at the balloon, checking the connection points for wear, and looking for tears.  The new steel stay cables Rhumbline had installed prior to the voyage sang in the wind.  They were much stronger than the old hemp cables, but they could wear through the magic reinforced fabric of the balloon in prolonged turbulence if there is any slack in one of the cables.     It took Kayleigh a couple of minutes to cover the hundred hoof distance to the bow of the airship.  The unicorn had started shivering under the heavy wool jacket, and her hooves and snout were starting to get numb.  It was brutally cold at the 10000 hoof altitude the Dodo was flying, and if it wasn’t for the ice, nopony would venture outside the relative warmth of the interior of the ship.  She slipped her welding goggles over her eyes, and peered over the bow. The crystaline glint all along the stem of the airship confirmed Kayleigh’s concerns.  There was at least 2 inches of ice.  Using her telekinesis, the unicorn grabbed her hammer, levitated it over the edge of the bow, and started removing the ice with strong, methodical strokes.  The frigid wind on her face tempted her to work fast, but she knew one misplaced stroke or a lapse of concentration could damage the hull, or cause her to drop the hammer. The last thing Kayleigh wanted to do was drop the hammer.  She had found it in a chest of her grandfather’s things when she was a young filly.  Her grandfather was an airship engine designer, and the chest was full of books,  and drawings about airship engines, and tools, lots of tools.  Her father, Leyline, had made a deal with her. If she could lift the hammer out of the chest with telekinesis, she could have everything inside it.  It took her several months of trying, but she finally succeeded. By the time Kayleigh finished with the ice, she was chilled to the bone, and her nose was running.  She quickly holstered her hammer, and worked her way aft as fast as she could.  She had made it halfway back to the deckhouse when she felt the ship’s motion suddenly change. Kayleigh clamped her teeth around the safety line just as she felt her weight leave her hooves.  The momentary weightlessness instantly shifted to a heavy impact as the ships deck came back up to meet her.  Her left foreleg buckled, and she slammed side first into the icy deck. Kayleigh hung on to the safety line for dear life, gasping for breath.  She had fallen on her hammer, and the impact had knocked the wind out of her.  The pain from her leg brought tears to her eyes.  She laid there for several moments, holding tightly to the line, too scared to move. “Kayleigh, are you alright?” Rhumbline’s voice boomed over the megaphone on the bridge.  “Stay there, I’ll come out to get you.” Kayleigh tried to wave him off.  She didn’t want her captain to risk himself coming to save her.  She didn’t need saving, she could take care of herself. She rolled onto her hooves, and gingerly stood up, keeping her weight off her left foreleg.  She felt lightheaded from her shortness of breath, but she persisted.  She gingerly tested her left foreleg.  It hurt, but it wasn’t a sharp pain, and Kayleigh felt she could put weight on it without further injury. “Kayleigh, I told you to stay still.” Rhumbline yelled against the wind as he left the pilothouse.  The blue stallion moved quickly and confidently along the slick deck, his graying blue mane whipped by the wind.  He wore none of the safety equipment that Kayleigh had on. “Captain, it’s dangerous.”  Kayleigh tried to call back, but it came out as more of a wheeze than a yell.  She limped towards the pilot house, trying to show her captain she didn’t need help.  Rhumbline was undeterred, and moved swiftly to her side.  He positioned himself to help her keep weight off her hoof. “I know what I’m doing, Kayleigh,” Rhumbline said calmly.  “Don’t rush.  Everything is going to be fine.” Kayleigh leaned lightly on Rhumbline as she took a couple of initial steps towards the pilothouse.  She was afraid to put too much of her weight on the stallion, in fear of upsetting his foothold on the icy deck.   She inhaled sharply as she felt another shift in the airships motion.  Rhumbline leaned into her as the airship bucked to the side, which gave her the extra support she needed to keep from falling to the deck. “How do you do that?” Kayleigh gasped as she quickened her pace, ignoring the pain that it brought her.  The stallion’s support made the going easier.  It wasn’t just his physical support, having the captain there helped control her fear. “I’ve lived my whole life on airships,” Rhumbline said.  He shifted his position to help Kayleigh up the stairs that lead to the bridge.  As they reached the top, the door was pushed open by Spike “Are you allright, Kayleigh?” Joe called from the helm as the two ponies entered the bridge.  “You plum near got bucked off the ship.” “Is there anything I can do to help” Spike asked, pulling the hatch shut behind Rhumbline. “Grab my cushion, and put it over by the heating stone.” Rhumbline replied, guiding Kayleigh towards the heater behind the ship’s helm. She started shivering.  She tried to stop herself, but she couldn’t control it.  Kayleigh had been on Rhumbline’s airship for close to ten months, and this was the scariest thing that had ever happened to her.   I could have fallen off the ship, she thought as tears welled up in her eyes. “You’ll be fine, Kamelia” Rhumbline whispered in her ear, in the warm, friendly voice she remembered from her earliest childhood.  “You did the right thing and buckled yourself into the safety line.  That kept you safe.” “But you had to come out and rescue me,”  Kayleigh replied, tears flowing down her cheeks. “That was my choice, Kamelia,” Rhumbline replied warmly, helping Kayleigh ease herself onto the cushion.  She looked up at him, and the blue stallion met her gaze with his sunken, bloodshot eyes.  Kayleigh knew that he hadn’t been sleeping, He hardly ever sleeps when the Dodo is in the air, but she hadn’t noticed how tired and old he looked. “Spike.” Rhumbline said to the baby dragon, shifting back to his normal shipboard tone of voice.  “Please help Kayleigh out of her jacket.” “You got it captain!” Spike replied, as Rhumbline grabbed the kettle from the top of the heater stone, and carried it over to the chart table. Spike deftly unbuttoned the jacket with his dexterous claws, and assisted Kayleigh as she squirmed to get out of the warm, itchy cloth.   “Are you alright?” The dragon asked as he folded up the jacket. “I’ll be ok.  I’m just a little scared,” Kayleigh replied, rubbing away the tears with a foreleg.  she was starting to calm down and warm up, and her shivering had subsided. “You were limping when you came in.” Spike replied flatly. “I just tweaked my leg.” Kayleigh replied quickly.  Her fetlock still throbbed, but there wasn’t any sharp pain, so she didn’t think anything was broken. Rhumbline came over from the chart table, and set a steaming mug on the deck in front of Kayleigh.  “We need to get your leg checked out.  Spike, how is Miss Sparkle doing this morning?” “She’s awake, but she still hasn’t been able to eat anything solid.”  Spike replied.  Twilight Sparkle had been sickened by the combination of the altitude and the ship’s motion soon after entering the storm.  She had tried to carry on with her duties, but she was looking so weak that the Captain had ordered her to bed. “Would you ask her if she feels well enough to come to the bridge,” Rhumbline said to Spike as he walked back to the chart table.  “I want her to check out Kayleigh’s leg, and Winter should be back from her recon flight shortly.” “I’m pretty sure she will come up here, no matter how she feels.”  Spike replied.  He walked to the stair in the port aft corner of the bridge that lead to the Captain’s private cabin.  Silence fell over the bridge as the Captain went back to studying the chart, and looking at the crystal bezel of the tracker compass. The tracker compass was an invention of Rhumbline’s mother, Starline, and worked much like a magical navigational compass.  It gave the direction and range to a enchanted gem that Winter was wearing on her flight suit.  Rhumbline had been using it to navigate in the overcast skies of the storm by sending Winter to terrain features in the Dragon steppes, and using the direction and range to fix the position of the airship. Kayleigh admired Winter for the job she was doing scouting for the Dodo.  She had been flying nearly twelve hours a day for three days straight; in horrible, bone chilling weather.  She started before dawn, and ended well after dark. She did this without question and complaint, and she helped guide the Dodo to the safest areas of the storm they were flying across the Steppes in. “I’m really sorry about that, Kayleigh.” Joe said, breaking the silence.  He looked as nervous as she had ever seen him at the helm of the Dodo.  Even after eight months on the crew, Joe was still uneasy while the Dodo was in the air.  Normally, he felt most at ease when he was at the helm, when, as he put it, he held his destiny in his own hooves.  However, the storm had tested his resolve, and Kayleigh had taken time talking with him when he was off duty to keep up his spirits. “Blame the storm, Joe.  Last time I checked, you can’t see the wind.” Kayleigh said, then took a sip of the warm beverage Rhumbline had offered her.  Her face screwed up at the grainy taste, and she stuck out her tongue.  “Barley tea, Rhumbline?  You know I hate this stuff.” “It was hot, and it’s available,” Rhumbline said past the pencil he had clenched in his teeth.  He was drawing another line on the heavily marked chart, and glancing back at the tracking compass.  “Joe, come port one point and bring up the power up to standard cruise, we are going to pick up Winter.” “Aye Cap’n” Joe replied, turning the ship’s wheel to the left, and moving forward the lever on the side of the helm stand.  Kayleigh felt the thrumming of the ship’s main engine respond to the command, and was satisfied that the engine was behaving as it should.   “Cap’n, aren’t we getting awfully close to the mountain range?” Joe asked.  The brown and white stallion was still not as good a navigator as the captain, but his skill had greatly improved under Rhumbline’s tutelage.  If Joe was worried enough to voice his concerns, Kayleigh knew that he was getting really nervous. “We are, but we need to bring Winter aboard before we leave the storm, or she will have a hard time getting back aboard.”  Rhumbline replied, and turned to Kayleigh.  “Is the engine ready for a full power run?” “As ready as she ever has been, Captain” Kayleigh replied, “Though I will want to be in the engine room for it.” “Are we almost at the pass?” Twilight asked as she came up from the captain’s cabin.  Her mane was matted, and her stride up the steps was slow, and shaky.  She was followed by Spike, who closely watched over the lavender pony. Rhumbline nodded.  “You look wonderful this morning.  Are you sure you are up to this?” “I’ve been in that cabin too long,” Twilight grumbled, “Of course I am up to it.” She walked gingerly over to Kayleigh.  Twilight looked like a pony that had been throwing up her guts for the last three days, and the engineer was amazed she was even standing.           “The ginger root didn’t help?” Kayleigh asked.  Rhumbline had introduced her to the root on her first voyage on the Dodo, when she was airsick.  It really helped control the nausea, and she still used it when the ship’s motion bothered her.  She had given what remained of her stash to Twilight yesterday, in hopes that it would help her recover. “It helped a little.  I’ve been able to keep down water and thin oatmeal.” Twilight replied as she sat down next to Kayleigh.  The lavender unicorn examined Kayleigh’s left foreleg, gently prodding it with her hoof.  She then closed her eyes, and her horn glowed with a purple radiance.   “As far as I can tell, nothing is broken or torn,” Twilight said as she opened her eyes,  “I’m not particularly skilled in medical diagnostic spells, but nothing looks badly injured.  I’m pretty sure it’s just a sprain.” “That’s good to hear,” Rhumbline said as he yawned and blinked his eyes.  He had poured two more mugs of barley tea, and he took a sip from one of them. Spike took an elastic bandage from the first aid kit on the bridge, and began wrapping it around Kayleigh’s fetlock.  Kayleigh was very familiar with that first aid kit, since she normally played nurse on their voyages.  Luckily, the worst injury she had had to deal with was splinters from the aging wood deck.  The little purple dragon worked quickly, and while the wrap was sloppy, the compression helped soothe the pain in Kayleigh’s fetlock joint.      “Spike, when you finish up with that, grab the wool blankets from the chest in my cabin. Winter should arrive in a few minutes, and we’ll need to warm her up.”  Rhumbline asked.  The captain had been making good use of Spike on the voyage, keeping the little dragon busy.  During the first day of the voyage, Spike had been very apprehensive, but Rhumbline made it a point to involve him in everything he could, and that seemed to make Spike forget the concerns that he had. “You got it.” Spike said, and he headed back down the stairs. “Twilight, we should clear the storm, and arrive at the mouth of the pass in a few hours.”  Rhumbline stated as he motioned to Twilight to come over to the chart table.  Kayleigh eased herself up to join them, gingerly testing her leg as she walked.   “It will be too late to navigate the pass, so we will be spending the night at anchor here.” Rhumbline said as he pointed on the chart to a small enclosed valley near the pass.  “It’s a risk, but everypony needs some time to rest.  This valley should shelter us from the wind, and hopefully, keep us out of sight of unwanted visitors” “Kayleigh, Joe, you will be standing guard duty with me tonight,”  Rhumbline continued. “Miss Sparkle, I need you to recover your strength.  I will call on you if I need you, but I’ll need you as well as possible tomorrow when we are in the confines of the pass.” “I’ve been sleeping for three days,” Twilight protested, “I should be giving your crew a chance to rest.” “It’’s not a matter for discussion.” Rhumbline replied sharply, giving the lavender unicorn a serious look.  “You are no good to the ship in the condition you are in.  You’ve read Mareco Polo’s book, you know what we we can run across out here.” Twilight looked like she was about to argue that point, but Kayleigh nudged her hard, shaking her head.  Rhumbline was a stubborn old colt, especially when it came to how things were run on his ship.  Kayleigh knew that Rhumbline was not going to budge an inch from his position. Twilight seemed to take the hint, and held her tongue, though she did give Rhumbline a disapproving look.  Rhumbline did not react to this at all, though Kayleigh was certain he noticed.  Instead, he turned and looked out the forward portholes. “Did I miss something?” Spike asked as he crested the stairs with an armload of wool blankets. “No,” Twilight retorted curtly, as she continued to frown at the Rhumbline.  Spike set down the blankets near the hatch to the outside, and gazed at the lavender unicorn and blue earth pony. “Joe, I see Winter. Bring the Dodo into the wind.” Rhumbline ordered, never breaking his gaze out of the window. “Aye, Cap’n” Joe replied, rapidly spinning the ships wheel to the left, and advancing the throttle lever. “This is about to get rough.” Rhumbline said flatly, walking across the bridge, continuing to look out the window.  Kayleigh tried to see what he was looking at, but she saw nothing but clouds and haze. “Kayleigh, sit down before you get hurt more,” Rhumbline said sharply.  The ship’s motion was getting more erratic, and Kayleigh complied.  She thought her leg would be all right, but she wasn’t willing to test Rhumbline’s patience.  As the Dodo presented her beam to the wind, she started to buck and sway violently.  Joe braced himself against the helm, and Twilight and Spike grabbed the chart table.  Kayleigh grabbed the mugs of barley tea with telekinesis, and levitated them above the table.   The captain must be tired, she thought, He normally wouldn’t leave the mugs out if he expects turbulence.          Kayleigh looked at the captain with concern.  The stallion held his stare out the window, his only reaction to the turbulence was a slightly wider stance.  Kayleigh had never seen Rhumbline forget about anything during her time onboard.  He was always on top of everything, and was always thinking about what was about to happen.  Admittedly, the mugs of tea were a small thing, but what would happen if he forgot something more important? The Dodo’s motion eased as she put her bow into the wind, and Kayleigh finally caught sight of Winter.  She was struggling to make headway against the wind, and her approach to the stern of the airship was agonizingly slow. “Ease back on the throttle,Joe,” Rhumbline ordered. “Aye captain... but we’re hardly makin’ any headway against the wind as it is,” Joe replied nervously as he stared at his instruments.  He was sweating heavily, even though the bridge was cool. “We’ll be fine Joe,”  Rhumbline replied tersely.   As the airship slowed, Winter’s progress towards the ship accelerated.  Rhumbline, Spike, and Twilight gathered at the port weather deck door and Winter alighted on the deck.  Kayleigh held back, she would just get in the way, but she did stand up, to be ready to help if needed.  Rhumbline pushed open the door, and a burst of frigid air swirled around the bridge. Winter collapsed through the door, her flanks heaving as she was gasping for breath.  Her canvas flight suit, and her braided mane and tail were encrusted with a thin layer of ice.  Rhumbline pulled the door shut, and Spike and Twilight began layering the wool blankets over the grey pegasus, who sat on the floor, trying to catch her breath. “I’m... surprised... you came... this close...” Winter said between gulps of air.  Rhumbline walked calmly around her to the chart table. “Joe, bring the airship up to full power,”  Rhumbline ordered calmly.  Joe eagerly complied, pushing the throttle forward faster then Kayleigh liked.  She felt the Dodo surge beneath her, as the airship’s propellers grabbed the air. “I don’t think I made it more than ten furlongs from the mountains,” Winter stated as Rhumbline placed the mug of barley tea in front of her.  She had regained control of her breathing and composure, though she continued to lay on the floor. “You only made it six,”  Rhumbline replied, looking at the chart. “Six?!”  Joe exclaimed as he broke his focus on the instruments to look at Rhumbline.  His eyes were wide with shock. “That was bloody insane, Rhumbline.  We canna see more than a few hundred strides, and you took us six furlongs from the mountains, in fifty knot winds!” Rhumbline shot Joe a dangerous look, and the helmspony immediately shut his mouth and turned to face his instruments.  With Rhumbline, there was always a time and place for discussion.  Kayleigh had learned early when those times are.  Joe, on the other hand, was slower to figure that out.  When discussion was welcome, Rhumbline took suggestions, and even criticism well.  Other times, Rhumbline would quickly silence any discussion. However, in the past, he was always polite, stopping the conversation with a ‘not now’, or ‘we’ll discuss this later’.  Kayleigh was disturbed by this change in Rhumbline. “Did you find the griffin’s claw?”  Rhumbline asked Winter.  She nodded while she downed the mug of barley tea in a few long sips. “Was it erupting?”  Rhumbline continued. “It was clearly active, since it had no snow cap I could see,”  Winter replied as she lowered the mug to the deck.  “I did not see an ash or lava, but the visibility precluded any detailed surveillance.” Rhumbline grunted, looking back at his chart, and at the barometer hanging on the back wall of the bridge.  He then turned to Spike and Twilight.  “Miss Twilight, Spike.  The ride is about to get rough... far rougher than the past several days.  I need you to take Winter to the mess room, and strap yourselves in.  That will be the safest place for you right now.” “Kayleigh, help our guests strap in and get to the engine room.” Rhumbline said, looking Kayleigh in the eyes.  His voice was hard.   “Now is not the time for a break down.” “Aye Captain”  Kayleigh replied quickly.  She turned to hurry her charges down the starboard stairs.  Kayleigh had known Rhumbline all her life.  He had always been kind to her, even during those times when she mucked things up.  There was no kindness in his voice now, and this scared her more than the storm did.