Author: Kat
Title: Harvest
Story: In the Heart - EPIC PIRATE AU
Colors: Russet 11 (flax), harvest gold 8 (harvest), zing 3 (you just got served) with shadowsong's paint-by-numbers (Gail achieves a flawless victory).
Supplies and Materials: Canvas, bichromatic, eraser, pastels (disability (temporary)), brush (ad hominem), acrylics ("I'm gonna finish him like a cheesecake." -Fat Amy; Pitch Perfect), modeling clay (test), chalk (like daughter, like mother), novelty beads (A message).
Word Count: 758
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Gail gets no respect.
Warnings: mild sexism.
Notes: My favorite part of this is Nathan's reaction.


Prepared flax sold better than the raw harvest they'd taken from the latest ship, so Gail spent the morning on deck breaking it, and rocking Ivy's cradle with her foot. The autumn seas were rough now, heading back to England, She'd do the rest later, when her arm and shoulder didn't ache...

A shadow fell over her and she looked up, expecting Nathan, only to be confronted with a scowling pirate who'd joined off the last ship. Gail raised her eyebrows at him.

"Yes?" she inquired, as politely as she could, and went on breaking the flax, rocking the wooden arm down on the fibers.

"What are you here for?" he asked.

Gail rolled her eyes. This again. Barely four months she'd been married to Nathan and this was at least the fifth time. "I am the captain's wife," she said, calmly. "I go where he does."

The man snorted, arms folded across his broad chest. Probably the reason he'd been allowed to join up, actually. "Bad luck to have a woman on board," he muttered.

Gail smiled sunnily at him. "They say nothing about two women," she pointed out, and rocked Ivy's cradle again. Her baby daughter giggled to herself and grabbed at sparks of sunlight reflecting off the small pieces of metal Aaron had hung for her to watch. He was a good boy, Aaron, and fascinated with his new sister, where any other little boy might justly have resented her.

"Two women's twice the bad luck," the man said, scowling harder. "Cap'n should leave you on shore."

"Yes, well, he won't. Now, if there's nothing else..." Pointedly she turned her attention back to the flax.

He reached out, caught her wrist. "No, I..."

Gail lifted the handle, pulled his hand beneath it, and cracked it down. Only with half her strength, though, because otherwise he'd have a broken wrist and she did not particularly want to deprive her husband of a hand.

He dropped her wrist and screamed, shrilly, which frightened Ivy into crying. Gail sighed, let go of him, and picked her daughter up, rocking her against her breast. "Shh, darling. Shh, now, everything's fine. It's all right, Mama's here."

Nathan popped out of his cabin, a brief startled fear flashing across his face before he took in the situation, rolled his eyes, and looked at her. "Are you all right, love?"

"Fine," she called back.

He blew her a kiss, then went back into the cabin, saying something. Gail caught, "No, she has it under control," before the door shut and cut off his words.

She looked over at the pirate, now clutching his wrist and moaning, and shook her head. "Stop being such a baby, it's only bruised."

He looked up at her, fear writ large across his face. "I didn't mean no disrespect..."

Of course he had. "Of course you didn't," Gail said, "which is why it's only bruised. If you ever lay hands on me again it will be much worse." She looked up, across the deck—at Ian, lounging against the wheel and smirking, at a few crew members she knew from earlier, at the others, new recruits, watching her now with wide eyes. "That goes for everyone."

"M'lady," murmured one of the few crewmen she knew, a spotty-faced boy named Thomas whose heart belonged utterly and completely to Ivy. He was grinning, not quite hiding it behind his hand. "Would you like me to clean up the deck?"

"No, thank you," she said, and favored him with a smile. "But could you please put Ivy back to sleep? It shouldn't take much and I've got to finish this."

His face lit up and he stepped forward, shoving his crewmate aside, to take Ivy. He handled her like she was made of solid gold, awe in his eyes. She would be fine, Gail thought, and looked back at the first man, who was still clutching his wrist but had stopped moaning. "Do we have an understanding?" she asked, sweetly.

"M'lady," he muttered. His tone was very different from Thomas's amused deference, but she could let that go.

She smiled sharply at him and gestured at the deck. "Then you go back to your work, and I'll go back to mine." The flax had scattered over the deck; she stooped to pick it up, and when she straightened, the man had gone away somewhere. Not that she particularly cared where, as long as he was out of her hair.

There was always so much work to be done at harvest. She sighed, and went back to breaking the flax.