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merchandise below decks and stored in various trunks, barrels, and boxes.  Why, this cargo alone would make any man or woman wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.  But her questions over it would have to wait because Frank was not that forthcoming with some of the answers.
    “Do you ever transport animals?” she asked the captain at the first opportunity.  Today, it was an early dinner.  Supposedly a storm was on the horizon and their next hot meal would be delayed, so they were eating early.  There was not a cloud in sight so she wondered at this announcement, but as she had not eaten a lunch she welcomed the hot and delicious fare.  Today it was a stuffed chicken garnished with greens she did not recognize.  She’d been assured it was a plant unique to the tropics and something England would do well to import.
    Tina shrugged as she bit into her portion of the chicken.  She enjoyed her meals as she had to sometimes go days without them.  She suspected the storm that was over the horizon was going to delay decent meals for a few days.  Having been at sea most of her life she could feel the change in the pressure and knew in her bones that a storm was in the offing.
    “Your hold is certainly large enough and all those goods, surely you make enough of a profit to...” she began to ask, but stopped when Tina cocked a brow at her.
    “Your food is getting cold,” she gestured with a chicken leg at the food on Claire’s plate.
    “I am sorry,” she apologized contritely.  She realized she had been quite the chatterbox and that was so not like her.  Some of it was nervousness, but she also felt a peculiar excitement at what she had seen.
    Tina shrugged off her apology and wondered what she was thinking after all she had seen and heard.  She commented after a while, “Animals are messy.”
    After the long silence, Claire was surprised to hear the captain speak.  “But would that not be profitable?” she asked, wonderingly.
    Tina nodded, but then added with disgust, “So would slaves, but I do not believe in trafficking in humans and I do not want the smell either would give the ship.”  She shook her head in disgust at the thought.  “Once you transport animals or humans, the stench gets into the wood of a ship and you cannot get it out.”
    “You do not believe in slavery?” Claire asked.
    Tina shook her head vehemently.  “How would you like it if all your choices were made for you and you had to answer to someone for your very well-being?” she asked, as she pointed once again with her knife.
    Claire thought about it dismally.  Her life was like that already.  She had not thought of it in the terms of human bondage though.  To many people slaves were just that...slaves.  They did not think of them as human beings.  They were just a commodity to be traded or sold.  She thought about what the captain had said.  Her life was very similar in many ways.
    Tina could almost guess what Claire was thinking.  As she said it, she realized the blonde was probably answerable to her father in just such a way.  She hoped she would realize the similarities and never want to own a human being again.
    To change the uncomfortable subject Claire asked what she would be doing with the rest of her stores.
    “We will put into port and offload it soon.  I need to hear the gossip anyway,” she said, knowingly.
    “Where will we put in?” Claire asked, cheering up.  She imagined some bright and gay port where she could shop or see something other than the vast ocean she had been on for many months.
    Tina chuckled.  “Not like anything you would have ever seen before.  The docks in London would look pretty to the ports I will be sailing into.”  She realized this aristocrat was in for a shock to her system.  “Besides, it is not like you can be seen coming or going on my boat.  You’ll remain here.”  She gestured to the room they were eating in, her room. 
    “You mean I cannot leave here?” she