Kira shook her head. "They would have sailed well before sunset." She crouched down to where the owner was huddled on the deck. "Listen up. The sooner we're gone the sooner you'll be safe. Tell us where to go so we can land safely outside the city walls. We don't want to go out into the harbor. I promise we will pay you and not hurt you if you drop us off safely." The man didn't respond. Her temper flared. "Give us a course to steer, you—" adding a string of curses which had been the favorites of the first mate on The Son of Taris.

Hearing a sixteen-year-old girl swear like a sailor got the man's attention, shocking him out of his fear. He sat up slowly, looking around, then pointed a shaking hand. "That way."

"Two points to starboard," Kira ordered Jason.

"Aye," he responded, once again seemingly amused by something.

"What's so funny?"

"I was just imagining you talking like that in front of your parents."

Kira shivered at the thought. "That's not going to happen."

"They've probably heard worse."

"Not from me!" There weren't any more shots chasing them, and no other boats had left the pier in pursuit of them. She wondered why. A lot of lights on other piers warned that the harbor police might be getting ready to investigate the shooting, but as of yet there were no lights low on the water that would have shown police craft underway. Many more lanterns were visible on the anchored ships out in the harbor as awakened crews watched for trouble, but those were far enough off not to be a problem.

It seemed too easy, but for the moment the chase seemed to have let up. Kira straightened, holding to the mast again to steady herself as she searched the water for signs of trouble. "If my parents heard me talking like that they'd probably ship me off to be completely reeducated on proper behavior."

Jason grinned. "You've got better behavior than most adults I know."

"You must have low standards. You know, my parents were pirates at one time, so they must have heard worse language than that. That never really occurred to me before."

"They don't swear around the house, huh?"

"No. It's funny how much you don't realize about the people you've spent your whole life with, isn't it?" Kira reloaded again, trusting that Jason could handle the boat's owner if he tried anything, then holstered the weapon. She leaned forward to address the owner. "How far do we have to go?" The man shrugged. "I'm going to ask you again, and if I don't get an answer I'm going to get angry."

She had apparently impressed the man enough already for that threat to work. He stared into the night, thinking. "It's not far, but there are rocks along that shore. My boat could get badly banged up."

"Is there a better place along the water in this direction?"