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.Repatriated	By : keithcompany Category: Titles in the Public Domain > Gulliver's Travels Views: 3308 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: This is a work fiction, based on Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
(About, i dunno, 20 years later?)
Danielle curled up against the back of the cave and cried quietly to herself. It was almost dawn and almost time to start work.
Her captors spoke a strange language but had taught her a few commands. The most useful was 'do like I do.'
She tried to obey, but she hardly understood the tasks they gave her. They made her dig, but it wasn't farming.   She lifted stuff she couldn't identify and couldn’t' see a difference between where it had been and where she put it.
But she understood the pain. They stabbed her if she didn't do what they wanted, perfectly and instantly.
She rubbed her feet and whimpered. Sand was getting into some of the scabs. She didn't know if that helped or hurt. No one had mentioned anything about scabs in first or second grade.
And the tribe didn't care that she was hurt.
She had no idea where she was, either. The plane had crashed in the ocean somewhere between Hawaii and California. Her mother had put a float vest on her and shoved her out, then gone back for Grandma.
She never saw either of them again.
Dani had been excited when she saw the toys on the beach. Lots of action figures dancing around by a little log dollhouse.
Then the dollies had stabbed her and forced her into the cave.
They acted like the cannibals on the Tarzan TV show, but they were white with red hair. Like the Scots in Daddy's movie. She tried to hear if they rolled their Rs like Daddy tried to do, but mostly they just screamed at her.
Voices sounded on the other side of the fence and someone started to rattle the gate. She sat up. She'd pretended to be asleep once and they stabbed her feet until she cried. Then they made her limp out and tear down some trees.
The Chief was shouting grumpily at her. She nodded and crawled out of the cave. He led her to where a big wooden trough had some sort of food. Mashed shapeless, it tasted kinda like Mommy's tofu experiment.
"Thank you," she said, because you always said thank you for food. Even barfy food.
There were only a couple of mouthfuls and it was finished quickly.
Then she stood and followed the Chief to where some trees stood. He waved at them.
"Those aren't baby trees," she said. He waved some more. "No," she tried to explain. "They're too big for me. They're taller than I am!" He darted towards her feet with a knife. She shrieked and jumped.
"I'll try!" she promised. She grabbed the bole and shoved. To her surprise, the tree tipped over easily. With no central root, it was no match for the young giant.
Dragging it to where the Chief wanted it, though, that was much harder. Little children ran up and down the length of the timber as she tried. It looked like they were having fun.
Dani didn't even remember fun.
When the tree was where it was supposed to be, she sank down on her butt and rubbed her hands.   The Chief shouted at her some more.
"I'm tired and my hands hurt," she said. He was going to punish her, but she almost didn't care any more.
He shouted. She shook her head. Then his eyes got very, very big. He turned and ran towards the biggest hut in the village.
Dani turned around. A pirate ship was out in the water, coming straight for the beach.
"Captain Sparrow!" she cheered. Mommy's favorite pirate was coming to rescue her!
The ship stopped suddenly. It had hit the bottom about five or six steps out from the edge of the water. They were expecting that, though.
Pirate sailors were already swinging along on ropes when it struck. They flipped through the air to land in the water and ran ashore.
The villagers ran to face them with spears. The pirates swung swords.
She wasn't sure who was going to win when there was a huge booming sound on the ship.
The sails had been folded down before the ship struck, now one was unfolded. It rose up over the smoke of one cannon that had fired.
Dani was surprised. She thought all sailing ships had white sails. This one was blue with yellow lines.
When it was fully unfurled, the wind stretched it out. Dani was astonished. The sail was painted in Daddy's favorite team's logo. The New York Giants!
The little girl cheered. The cannibals saw the logo and screamed in dismay. They turned and ran through the village, headed for the mountain with Dani's cave.
That's when the other pirates showed up. A horde of little men and women came running out of the trees, firing muskets and swinging their swords.
The battle was violent and bloody and Dani loved every minute of it. Especially the pirate queen.
Among the other toy-sized figures, there was one woman the size of a Barbie doll. She had two swords and hardly ever swung one without killing a cannibal. Dani guessed she was in charge, because she was twice as tall as any other little person around her.
Also, she was the one who decided when to stop fighting. After all village men learned to run from her instead of fight her, she had time on her hands.
When she looked around, she decided the fight wasn't worth pressing and shouted something. The pirates disengaged and backed away from the villagers, knotting themselves into bristly groups.
The villagers ran off into the trees.
The pirate queen shouted orders in a language that seemed different from the villager's language.
Dani supposed it was too much to hope that NY fans spoke English. She took a deep breath, and hoped the pirates weren't going to be as mean as the cannibals had been.
The men and women pirates ran around setting the village huts on fire. The queen watched, nodded in satisfaction, then walked over towards Dani. She shouted towards the trees as she did.
A group of pirates with muskets came out of the woods. Dani saw they were as close to her as they could get without coming out into the open.
Were they guarding her or guarding against her? She shrugged. The queen was getting close, and it was time to try to tell her feet hurt.
She pushed out her legs. The queen saw the wounds and looked concerned. She twisted them back and forth so the little woman could see how many times the cannibals had stabbed her.
"Poor baby," the woman said in perfect English. "We'll get the doc to fix that up right away, okay?"
"Um...okay," Dani said, a little shocked.
"So, we heard the tribe here had captured a giant. You seen any giants around here?"
Dani shook her head for a second, then stopped. "Me?" she asked.
"You," the queen said. "Well, we're here to take you home with us if you want."
"Home?"
"If you want... Um, what's your name, sweetheart?"
"Dani. Danielle. Danielle Woods."
"I'm very pleased to meet you, Miss Woods. My whole crew is at your disposal. I have to go supervise the pickets, but we'll talk about how you're going to get to my dad's place in a minute, okay?"'
"Okay," Dani said softly.
"Great." She turned and started walking towards her crew. She yelled and people moved. They were smiling, too, Dani noticed. Not afraid of the giant woman shouting at them.
Two men appeared, each carrying the end of a stick with a roasted pig hanging off it. Dani's stomach growled. They held the stick where she could grab it. "Thank you," she said.
"Keb fellhawt!" they both said with big smiles.
"THANK YOU!" she shouted towards the pirate.
The little woman waved graciously, then slapped her forehead. "Oh, dear, where are my manners? My mothers would kick my ass."
"Mothers?" Dani asked.
"Three. Used to be two but one got pardoned. Anyway, I should introduce myself. I'm Captain Malone, Miss Woods.   But you can call me Renee."
----------
She was fed, a ship's surgeon looked over her cuts and three sailmakers swarmed over her clothing, making repairs. A sailor sang her what sounded like a lullaby. Until Malone ran over and yelled at him.
Dani smiled. It looked just like Mommy yelling at Daddy for starting to tell a dirty joke. Maybe it was a piratey sea shanty.
Captain Malone supervised refloating the ship as the tide rose, then set tasks for her crew. Finally she had time to concentrate on her new charge.
Dani described the plane trip and the crash, and floating in the water for days and finding herself on the beach and then the toys that went all evil and doing scut work and lugging stuff around and starving.
"Oh, yeah," Renee said. "That poi they make? Even my dad can barely choke it down and he can eat a horse."
Dani giggled. Renee smiled up at her. "YOU think I'm JOKING."
"A whole horse? Even if your dad's as big as you are, and the horse is as small as they are..." She paused. "Why are you smiling?"
"My dad's from Seattle," Renee said. "He's a Seahawks fan. Or he was, until he washed up on shore and became a Giants fan."
"Really?" Dani said in a breathless voice. "Does he...ever go back?"
"Oh, no, Miss Woods. Nobody can. He's trapped here. There's a magic seal around the islands." She leaned on Dani's wrist and started speaking fast. "But you'll like it here, you really will! There's my Dad's house and there's Aunt Arlene's and they both have hot baths. And the King'll make you a princess! Grandma'll make sure of that!
"What else?" she muttered. "You'll be protected from anything and introduced to society and you can do whatever you want."
"Except go home," Dani said. She started to sniffle. Renee looked around helplessly.
A rough looking individual came over and spoke softly to Renee. The taller woman crouched to look her crewman in the eye.
Dani thought this guy looked a little like the villagers that had captured her. Same color hair, and similar tanned skin tones, with extensive tattoos.
But his were more... mathlike, she judged, groping for the right term to describe geometrical shapes. Her captors' marks had been more...fluid? Long curving lines instead of triangles and stars and circles.
Renee nodded and stood up again. "Miss Woods? This is Bumper. He's from an island not too far away. He's my bosun.
"He says I should ask you if you like ponies?"
"Yeah," Dani said slowly.
"Well, Bumper says if you ask my dad nicely, he'll buy you a dozen ponies."
"I can't ride them..." she pointed out. But she didn't break out crying. She wanted to be cheered up, but wasn't sure if this was a good enough reason. Not yet.
"Well, no, but you can pet them and hold them. Oh! And Aunt Arlene? She has pet dolphins! You can swim with dolphins about as big as me! Arlene loves to play with them. And they'll love playing with you."
"Really?"
"Swear to Egg," Renee said. The phrase struck Dani as funny and she giggled.   Renee laughed with her. Bumper smiled and walked off.
----------
Renee stayed by the girl until she fell asleep. Four bonfires burned around her as nightlights and security.
Crewmen that weren't absolutely necessary on board were also sleeping or standing watch around her. She was as safe as Renee could make her.
She walked over to the edge of the water by the Captain's Gig. The Shark floated at anchor across from the beach. Her senior sailors smoked or whittled as they waited for her.
"Okay," she said as she walked up. "What's up?"
"The pickets haven't seen any sign of the Kiskalshi since we routed them," Bumper said. "I took a few Islanders out on a patrol. No one's within arrowshot of the camp."
"Thanks," she said, turning to look at the next man.
Doctor Felespann was new to the Shark and still adjusting to Renee's abbreviated protocol. He flinched from her look, then started to address her as he would have a Navy Captain.
"I have conducted my writ with respect to the crew, and to our new ward, with no difficulties or surprises."
Renee made her father's 'hurry it up' gesture. "Any casualties, Doc?"
"Ahem!" he coughed. "No deaths. One finger amputated, Seaman Chesgiak. Assorted cuts and contusions, nothing to interfere with their duties." She nodded.
"The giantess," he continued.
"Miss Woods," Renee corrected. There was flint in her voice. For years at school, she'd been 'the giantess.' It wasn't a pleasant memory.
"Um, yes, well, Miss Woods," he repeated, snapping out the foreign name, "has many small punctures, probably from spear points. They're shallow, but quite painful."
"Any infections?"
"A few. Your aunt's ointment will probably have them healed in a few days."
The other men and women reported ship and crew status. Everything was satisfactory following the rescue.
"Okay," Renee said. She sat down on the sand, the better to meet people's face. "Now what?"
Lieutenant Sthorprennd's eyes went wide with surprise. "Surely," she said, "we take her home. To Lilliput. To Cashpierent. And His Grace."
"I don't think she's in a condition to make my father's swim across the ocean," Renee cautioned.
"Oh."
"We found her floatation gear," Lieutenant Pfiddill pointed out. "We could tow her behind the Shark."
"I'm not sure her wounds will handle the seawater too well," the surgeon pointed out. "And if the scabs break, she'll attract sharks."
"Nice image," Renee said. Pfiddill started to apologize. Sthorp nudged him with her shoulder. The Captain didn't punish people for ideas, good or bad.
She did punish people for wasting her time. Apologies were a waste in her view. For now, though, she restricted herself to a glare at one lieutenant, and a smile at the other.
"So, we stay here until she heals/" she asked the group.
"Or," Bumper said. "We take her to my island."
Gunndershelvs, the pilot, chuckled. "It does have the advantage of not being a Kiskalshi island."
"But getting her there's the same problem," Sthorp pointed out.
"We rest her here for a while," Bumper said. "Then ask if she'd like to move away from the place the cannibals lived. Then tow her to Boommountain."
"But that's farther away from Lilliput," Renee said. She shook her head. "I don't want to take her farther away."
"She cannot make the whole trip to Lilliput," Bumper said. "But she can get to Boommountain. And there, she will be a treasured guest until His Grace comes to take her home in his god-raft."
"Oooh, I like that" Renee said. "We get her there, the Shark gets Dad, Dad rows out, happy endings."
"We can be underway early," Pfid said, "on the day after Doc says she's well enough."
"No," Renee said. "No, if we do that, the Shark waits for days, then sails away from Lilliput, then recovers the path... Too much time lost.
"No." She shook her head firmly. "No, "we'll send the Shark to get my father at first light. I'll need twenty crew for my gig, ten more for the dinghy. We'll guard her here, escort her there. Meanwhile, you get Dad."
"You can't tow her with the dinghy!" Sthorp protested.
"We'll guide her. She'll kick and push herself through the water. As Gunndershelvs says, it'll take her away from the cannibals."
"Oh," Sthorp said, "of course. Sorr-"
Pfid coughed. Sthorp blushed but didn't finish the apology. Renee smiled to see her officers supporting each other. She scattered them to make preparations and select hands for the escort.
Then she saw the coxsun walking up with a working party. They were more than a little dirty and obviously tired. She glanced around to see they were all carrying digging tools.
"Jennder!" she called out. "You guys finished digging?"
"Digging and filling," he said proudly.
"Filling?" she asked.
"We dug the hole deep, as you said, then threw all the bodies down in, and covered it with sand. Packed it well, too, those bodies aren't coming back up."
She ignored the zombie superstition of her largely North Shore crew. But she did step closer to kneel down beside the coxsun.
"Jennder? Do you remember me saying anything about burial?"
"Well, no, Captain. But we figured the only purpose of a hole that big-"
"Do you remember what I DID say?" she interrupted.
"Well, you... Ah. Um. 'Take fifty men and dig me a big....' Oh." He finished suddenly. Comprehension dawned.
She gently took him by the shoulders and turned him to face Danielle. "I wonder if I said something about a latrine? Do you remember anything about a latrine?"
"Aye, Captain," he said softly. "Come on men, we have a big hole to be digging." They slumped off towards the base of the mountain once more.
Renee shook her head. "Finish it in an hour and I'll double your grog ration!" The men and women cheered and started running.
"Sailors," she said with a smile.
-------
They roasted three goats for the giant's breakfast. Renee made sure they were slaughtered out of sight and hearing of the young girl.
She woke up to the smell of the meat and a barrel full of fresh fruit from Bumper's patrols.
Dani ate and used the latrine. Doc looked her feet over and applied more medication.
Then Renee told her the plan. "The Shark's going to go back to Lilliput and get my dad. He's got a boat big enough to take you all the way home.
The guys are going to escort you to Bumper's island. They love giants there. One of the first things Dad did was save Bumper and his king from being lost at sea.
"The guys'll guard you and the rowboats will guide you. You'll have to swim, but only to two islands. Then you wait there until Daddy arrives."
She paused when she realized Dani didn't look happy at the prospect. She started to explain how easy the swim would be, leaning on the float vest and kicking. Dani's lip started to quiver.
Bumper tapped the Captain on her thigh-high boot. "Did you tell her where the only person that speaks Englishman will be during all this?"
"OH! Oh, gosh, Danielle! Miss Woods! I mean- Well. The first thing I should have said? I'll be with you. My XO can take the Shark.
"I'll be in the Gig." She stepped forward and placed a hand on the knee beside her. "I'm not going to leave you, Dani."
Then she turned to glare down at Bumper. "It didn't HELP!" she hissed. "She's crying!"
"It's alright," he assured her. "She finally relaxed enough to cry. Considering what she's been through-"
Renee's surprised squeak interrupted him. Dani had grabbed the tiny woman and hugged her close as she bawled out the horrors of her days since the plane crash.
The pirate had never been one for children, even when she was one. Now she dangled from a tight grip and looked helplessly down at her crewman.
Bumper smiled and walked away.
"Zucking bustard!" Renee forced out. She twisted her arm at an awkward angle and pat Dani's shoulder. "There, uh, there-there. It'll be, um, it's alright."
Where were Mom when you needed them? Or Aggy... Or Dad! Dad could withstand this hug and still breathe. Or GRANDMA! Ike'd sort this out.
"Sweetheart," she rasped "I can't breathe." The pressure dropped a bit. Renee gasped and looked daggers at Bumper. The man had seven daughters. She suspected he knew this would happen.
Oh, how he was going to pay...
-------
In the end, there were about fifty men and women to escort Dani to the next island. Bumper volunteered all the islanders as being more useful in the islands than racing home.
"I haven't got room for all of you, though," Renee pointed out, gesturing at the two boats resting on the beach.
"I'll remind the noble Captain that we make much better ships than those. All honor to your father and his yard of ships, milady, but there are trees on this island. We'll be ready by the time Miss Woods can travel.
"And you do need us to keep the Kiskalshi away."
"I like that," Doc said. He was staying with his largest patient to date. The pharmacist's mate could handle the wounded sailing on the Shark.
"Okay," the ever practical woman agreed. "Send the last boat out to the Shark. My respects to Mister Hagglace, he's to enact the orders I've given him."
"Aye-aye!" Pfid said with a salute, then turned to run for the boat.
The crew watched silently as the anchor was weighed, the sails unfurled and the ship set out.
Then they set to their tasks. Food was gathered, cannibals were prohibited, wounds were treated and canvas slippers were sewn for Dani's sensitive feet.
Jennder stood close to Renee's hip as they watched a sailmaker measure the huge but dainty feet.
"Yes?" she asked, eyes on the girl.
"Begging your pardon, Captain, but the crew's been talking. I thought you should hear what they're saying."
"They're saying there's no money or loot in this," Renee said. "They joined for privateering. Well, tell them that the Duke will make sure they feel rewarded for their efforts here, okay?" She snapped out the last word and shut her mouth tight.
"Well," Jennder said, "the reward won't be turned down, that's for sure, Captain. But what I was gonna say, what the men are saying? That this is one cool mission we're on."
"They said, 'cool,' really?" she asked.
"One of your father's words, Captain."
"I know it is. I didn't know it was popular belowdecks."
"Well, it ain't, not really, but figuring how we're rescuing an Englishman woman, it's Englishman cool." He touched a hand to his forehead. "They're right proud to be involved, Captain. We all are. Especially the escorts. It's like we're doing the Duke a favor. Which is cool, don’t you know."
"I- Jennder, I apologize."
"Tain't nothing, Captain." He sauntered off, headed to give the sailmaker a hand with the slippers. Renee shook her head, a slight smile on her face.
-------
"She's a remarkably fast healer," Doc reported a few days later. "And they stabbed the top of her feet, not the soles. I think, if she laces her slippers up tight, we should be able to float her to the next island."
Renee and her officers stood at the boats, watching Jennder and some of his mates. They were teaching Dani a sea shanty. Her deep voice stumbled cheerfully over the foreign words.
The crew made encouraging sounds though her pronunciation would make a Brownie repudiate her contract.
"I wonder if we can just stay here..." Sthorp asked. He waved towards the singing lesson. "She seems happy enough."
"No," Bumper said firmly. "There are tribes coming."
"What have you heard?" Renee asked.
"Nothing," he admitted. "But word of the raid will have spread. Other tribes will want this island. They will want the Kiskalshi."
The others nodded. For any given tribe in the islands, they had a reputation. If you asked the neighbors, THEY were vegetarians and THOSE guys were cannibals.
Everyone seemed to do a little bit of cannibalism from time to time. Some more than most. And when a tribe was down on its luck, you either saw the next tribe over come to their aid, or come to take advantage.
"We really don't want to be here when the next tenant arrives," Bumper said.
"I know," Renee nodded. "Okay, we'll cook both the last cows tonight, fill her up with a big breakfast, then head off for Lindissgree."
She dismissed them and walked over to Danielle. "Miss Woods? How are you feeling?"
Dani stopped clapping and smiled down at the captain. "I'm great! Listen!" With great deliberation, she gave the names of every man and woman in the escort.
Renee smiled with amazement and everyone in the camp clapped. "My word, Miss Woods!" Renee laughed. "Even my dad can't pronounce Qikquiessiezek's name! You have a wonderful ear for Fuscan!"
"Thanks," Dani beamed. "Oh, and I learned what to call the potty!"
"Oh?" Dani rattled off a phrase in Fuscan. In a very credible North Shore accent, she repeated some sailor's amazement at just how much stuff could come out of a girl, even a giant one.
The vulgarities included fairly disgusting terms for urine, feces and body parts related to waste production.
Renee felt her smile freeze in place. If Grandma had ever heard Renee use those words, she'd have sent servants for a ladder and a switch, and to hell with Daddy's no-spank rules.
Halfway around the giant knees, a sailor turned beet-read and wouldn't look her Captain in the eye. "Shisseffa?" Renee called to the woman. "A word?"
---------
Dani was too short to wade all the way to the next island like Ted had. But she was comfortable enough just leaning back and kicking. The two boats kept her aimed in the right direction, holding station off her shoulders.
Renee found that yelling from boat to girl was difficult. She tried sitting in the bow of Bumper's canoe, but the turbulence of her kicking nearly tipped them over a few times.
So she just rode on the float by Dani's ear.
They talked as they traveled. And the boats could billy up close while the girl rested to give her a waterskin or a goat haunch.
"So how'd you get to be a pirate?" Dani asked.
Renee smiled. "Daddy. He used to take all us kids sailing and told us stories about corsairs and privateers and pirates. And there was this one movie, he told us about Captain Sparrow..."
"Pirates of the Caribbean!" Dani shouted. "I love him! Mommy has all the movies!"
"Movies?" Renee asked. "Plural? Daddy always said there was probably going to be a sequel..."
"Five movies and a tee-vee show and-"
"STOP!" Renee shouted, hands over her ears. "Don't tell me. Wait for Daddy, or you'll have to tell him all over again."
"Okay," Dani said. She kicked for a while. "So you wanted to be Sparrow?"
"I wanted to be Elizabeth," Renee said. "And Turner. AND Sparrow." She leaned down to the ear and whispered, "And Mrs. Sparrow." Dani giggled.
"Well. Ahem. Sequels, huh. Alright, alright. Anyway, Daddy always taught us there was nothing we couldn't do. Mom usually agreed, in theory. Sometimes Mom argued, but really, between their marriage, and Arlene's example, and Daddy's stories... Well, even Mom had to agree that 'society disapproves' wasn't much of an argument."
"So your parents couldn't stop you being a pirate?"
"Heh. Daddy built me the Shark. He just made me promise not to tell Moms." They shared a laugh.
"There isn't really any international shipping to prey upon, though. And what there is, Wayne Enterprises owns about half of.
"But there are lots of islands to explore. And cannibals to fight. And explorers to rescue and... Well, we keep busy, and we earn rewards, and we find treasures here and there."
"Are your brothers and sisters pirates?"
"No brothers. Sisters... Well, Emma's the first female doctor in Lilliput. She's the Royal physician. She attends the Queen AND the King.
"Mary's a lawyer. Men used to underestimate her in court. Now they settle out of court to avoid fighting her. Momma Ritchasska calls her Little Ike.
"Annette's finishing her studies to be an architect. Louise is going to attend Fenderflell on a soccer scholarship. It's the only school that would let her play on the boy's team. Denise is driving the boys crazy at Hogwart's. Janet almost got kicked out of Howart's for taking the school clock apart. But it works better now, so they kept her. Julie..."
The first leg of the journey was pretty short. Dani took quite a few breaks, but she never stopped kicking. Renee had been a little worried about having to tow her in on the final stretch, but they didn't have to.
On the last break, her feet touched ground and she just walked up onto the beach. The sunset spread her shadow across the waiting villagers.
Bumper had sent a canoe ahead to organize a reception. A large cauldron of seafood stew was bubbling over a fire. Three troughs of fresh water waited in the shade of some trees.
Dani lowered Renee to the sand and drained the water in three long swallows.
She knelt for the locals to loop a truly heroic lei over her head, then started to eat. Renee conveyed her thanks in the local tongue.
-------
They had far less distance to cover than Ted had, and they took it slowly. One day to swim to a new island, one day walking the length of the island, one day swimming, etc.
They stuck to places where the Shark and its towering captain was well known and feared, if not welcomed.
Dani slept on the sand while the crew mounted a security perimeter and purchased lots of goats and firewood.
Renee slept in Dani's arms, looking like a Raggedy Pirate doll in the giant's grasp. The pirate told her men it was for the girl's sense of well-being. The fact that her favorite naps had always been in giant arms hardly seemed worth mentioning so she didn't.
And neither did any of her crew.
All that changed when they got to Boommountain. Since the dark night that giant Ted had spat fire into the sky and saved their king, giants were especially welcome on the island.
Ted even visited every few years and participated in the current king's coronation as the Crown Holder (except for the traditional exchange of concubines between King, Prince and CH (Which was alright with both new and old kings, as the giant's consorts had a reputation for fire-spitting on their own and scared the royals silly.).).
Dani's arrival was greeted with a festival fit for the arrival of a new bride. So fit, in fact, Renee dropped to the sand and got Bumper in a headlock. He assured his captain that there was no misunderstanding; they weren't thinking Miss Woods was going to stay there and marry the king.
They just really, really liked well-behaved giants on Boommountain.
She giggled as dancers escorted her up and away from the beach.
A shallow cave had been filled to a depth of two dancers with grasses and leaves to cushion her sleeping spot.
Ropes raised from trees to the mountainside provided anchors for a wall of vines. That curtain gave her privacy to use her latrine. And a woven grass doll leaned against a tree in the clearing.
She smelled roasting tunas and watched as water was diverted from a waterfall into a barrel for her to drink from.
"Is it real?" she said softly.
"I'll tell you how real it is, " Renee said. "You're so safe here, I'm going to give my crew the night off."
"That... that's good?" Dani asked.
"They've been guarding you and guiding you since the battle," Renee said. "Now? These people? I trust them only a little bit less than my own family. We can all relax here." She noticed a little bit of anxiety on Dani's face.
"Unless you need them?" she asked the giant.
"Um..."
"Again, Miss Woods," Renee said, "I'm the only English speaker, so I'll be at your side the entire time. Okay?"
Obvious relief covered the girls' face and she nodded. Renee spun around to face the assembled crew, villagers and a few that were both.
Everyone saw the expressions on the girl and worried their welcome wasn't well received. They held their breath, waiting to learn what was wrong and what they had to do to fix it.
"As Firespitter, my father, says every time he comes to Boommountain: In the immortal words of the Shack of Caddies: We're all gonna get leis!"
The party lasted almost to the sunrise. Long before that, Dani crawled onto her green mat and fell into the deepest sleep since her airplane crashed.
Renee lasted long enough to brush hair out of Dani's eyes, pat the dolly on her coconut head, then curled up at the entrance to catch up on her own sleep.
  .
The Kidnapping.
---------
Not much scared her these days, but the guy with the knife was starting to. The leader paced the small quarters where she was confined, firing hateful glances at her for a while, then looking awfully smug, then back again.
Two of his cohorts were at the windows, watching the streets outside. All three of them struck her as middle to lower nobility. Nothing she could really put a finger on. Their bearing, their little mannerisms, maybe.
She just felt they'd be more comfortable playing bridge in a sallon, or gambling at the ostrich races, rather than in a hideout during a kidnapping.
The fourth man... He was not nobility. He was a thug, quite comfortable with the situation and with the knife he played with. His looks at her were...slimier, somehow.
She figured the other three had gotten him involved because he was the only criminal they knew. Probably owed him quite a bit of money.
That was another clue. They treated him like a servant when they didn't think about it, clearly feeling the advantage of their social stations.
But if he spoke, about when to send the message, about when they dared go out onto the street, they listened like he was in charge.
And they didn’t look comfortable doing it, either.
So, smug/hate, ignored, ignored and looked at like a targeting dummy.   Kind of reminded her of school.
The other girls hadn't known what to make of her, either. And their reactions were what Daddy called 'fear responses.'
"Tell me again what you think you'll accomplish by this?"
"Your father's weakness for his family is well known," Smug/Hate spat.
"I don't know of anyone on Cashpierent that thinks love is a weakness," she told him.
"It is, when properly understood," one of the guys watching the window said. The other laughed slightly.
"Your father," Hate went on, "owns far too much. Too many businesses, too many lands. He controls too many people's livelihoods. That gives him an unfair advantage in politics."
"It's clearly unfair," Watcher 1 said.
"Positively treasonous," Watcher 2 added.
"We calculate that if he gives up all his holdings in Blefuscu, and half his holdings in Lilliput, he'll still be a disgustingly rich man."
Knife guy laughed out loud, the only sound she'd heard him make in an hour. Hate rounded on him. "What's funny?"
"Disgustingly rich. That's not possible. There's rich enough, and there's more than rich enough. That's all."
"There's only so many riches in the world," Hate said. He was about to shout, obviously, but Knife glared at him and he kept his voice low but insistent. "So it's disgusting that one man has so much of it."
"Actually," she said, "the King's finance guy has shown that my father's businesses have increased the overall wealth of the nation. Creating jobs where none were, swelling the economy rather than simply feeding off of-"
"SHUT UP!" he yelled, instantly regretting his outburst. He shrugged an apology to Knife then crouched down by her ear.
He didn't have to crouch much. Even seated she was nearly as tall as he was. Daddy said she was going to grow up to be about three times as big as any man on the islands except him.
Mom was of varying opinion, but they all expected her to be at least twice their size.
"Your father is using real men to-"
"And women," Watch2 said.
"Yes, of course, real men and real women, as toys, to amuse himself playing at empire building. It's amazing that the King cannot see the depths of his evil.
"But we do. And we'll make him pay. Literally. His holdings will be evenly distributed among the lower Peers, leveling the playing field."
"So, since your fathers can't compete with my family in business, you'll steal an unfair leg-up. THEN everything will be fair and even?"
"That's not how we mean it-" Hate started to protest.
"Yes," Watch1 said with a shrug. "His novelty when he arrived let others underestimate him. Now we know better. We'll even things out, then go on from a more fair starting point."
She noticed no one thought to claim their fathers weren't part of the lower half of the Upper House. She knew they were, but confirmation was nice.
"And the next time Daddy and Mom out-perform your businesses, and end up rich beyond dreams of avarice, you'll just admit it was all fair? Maybe even apologize and give them back their property?"
"Of course they will," Knife said with a leer. "When the world doesn't match their expectations, they know to change their expectations. That's why their families are so successful."
"Shut up, Wil-" Hate stopped dead as Knife nearly stabbed his eye. The knife point twinkled just a hands' breadth from his pupil.
"No names," Knife Wil-something said.
"Of course not, Wil- EEK!"
Faster than blinking, Wil-something stabbed the tip of Hate's nose. Hate staggered back. "Next time, you'll lose something," Knife said softly.
Hate nodded and stood very still for a while. Knife went back to looking at their captive. Eventually, Hate started pacing.
About an hour later, Watch2 nodded at the street. "He's coming."
Hate and Knife nodded and stood.
Who could 'he' be? she wondered. Certainly not Daddy. She'd have known from the tremblors.
Everyone at Dollhouse always knew Daddy's mood, even if they weren't aware that he was nearby. The ground vibrations from his steps told a story as clear as the tone of his voice.
Right now, she'd have been afraid of the coming earthquake if Daddy was anywhere close.
Hell, even the Watchers would be wondering why their knees were weak and their bowels felt loose.
So who could possibly be-
Greiestandall, Baron of Creshtando, and a rival to her family in political and business arenas, stormed into the room.
"My Lord Baron!" she said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Fixing things," he snapped. He turned to Hate. "What in the hell are you doing in my city? With her?!"
"I know you want Duke Mawlhowne taken down, so-"
"Yes, sure, taken down a notch. Or killed, fine. I do not want an angry giant ripping my city apart brick by brick, looking for his daughter!"
"I tried to explain," she said. He cut her off with a gesture.
"He'll never know!" Hate assured the Baron. "We took precautions..."
"Which are meaningless against Mawlhowne!" Greie shouted. "He offered five thousand crowns for anyone with information about where his daughter was taken!"
"No one knows..." Hate said, but not as confidently.
"Five. Thousand!" Greie spat. "He's already on the way here!"
"Those are the footsteps I hear!" she said cheerfully. Hate and the Watchers looked at her, then got that far-away gaze of a listener.
She was the only person to note that Knife, a clear survivor, had slipped out the door when the Baron mentioned the size of the reward.
He probably wasn't out to claim it, but he knew what his peers would do for the cash.
"I don't hear anything," Watch2 finally said. Hate and 1 agreed.
"She's more sensitive to her father's footsteps," Greie said. "Alright, I'm going to go meet him at the river. Maybe I can talk fast enough so he'll only tear down this building."
He turned to the door.
"Baron!" Hate whined. "You have to help us! You have to protect us! We're in this together!"
"If I was 'in this,' my lad," he said from the door, "I'd have had a much better plan. Hiding her in a city I have interests in would be the first thing I'd change."
He left, banging the door shut. They heard his voice calling his driver as he stormed down the stairs.
Watch1 reported an armed military unit in the street. "They're guarding the building!" he said.
"So he is protecting us!" Hate said.
"No," Watch2 said. "They're pointing their guns at the doors."
"They won't let us out before the giant gets here."
"They probably are there," she said calmly, "to make sure the giant knows what building to rip apart."
"Eep!" Watch2 squeaked.
"Hey! They probably aren't watching the back door!" Hate said.
"That's probably where Knife went out," she suggested.
They finally noticed he was missing. The heart went out of the little conspiracy and they rushed out the door. From the sound of it, no one actually fell down the stairs, but it was a close thing.
She tugged at her bindings a few times in the silence. Then she heard footsteps on the stairs, rushing up the flights.
Baron Greiestandall stepped quickly into the room, brandishing a Pocket Carpenter. Duke Daddy had partnered with several of the Barons to establish tool factories all over Lilliput.
She'd never been so glad to see a multi-tool in her short life.
"You look happy," he said. "Not worried I'm going to slit your throat and hide your body someplace like Denderfall?"
"You're too smart for that!" she said cheerfully. "Even if 'the giant is on the way' was a bluff, it's only a matter of time before it turns to prophecy."
"True that," he said. He cut her loose and rushed her to the door. Again, he called for his carriage as they descended.
He had a four-and-four waiting just inches from the door. She climbed in and hadn't even fully seated before they were off.
"It wasn't exactly a bluff," he explained. "I'm the one that sent word, after that idiot invited me to have a chance to support his great rebellion against the foreign foe."
"My word," she said. The carriage tilted as it rounded a corner and she slid down the bench towards him. He took hold of a grip and braced her.
"Thank you," she said. He nodded acknowledgement. "So. You learned of an idiot in your domain and took steps to minimize danger to your holdings. I appreciate that."
He rubbed his chin and looked at her. "That's my public image. Everyone knows I hate your father. They assume I'll support an attack on him.
"He's humiliated me, he's cost me money, he's the reason Dad retired when he did, and he went from a nothing nobody to Duke in a matter of minutes while I had to inherit a Barony.
"But he IS a Duke, and I caution conspirators against something so treasonous."
"Out of self defense," she said. He flinched at her tone. "I also know that my family has made your family extremely rich."
"There is that," he admitted.
"And you dated one of Mom."
He said nothing.
"And you gave Renee her very first birthday present."
"My dad did," he said softly.
She leaned over and kissed him gently on the cheek. "And you saved me."
He sat very still for a long, long moment. "I had my reasons. They'll stand up to scrutiny in the press." He lifted her hand to his lips and gallantly kissed it. "And, well, the humiliation was a long, long time ago."
One of the new blimpies was hovering over a field just outside of Creshtando. Workmen were frantically painting 'ShE'S HERe!' on the side.
They were just finishing the last word when Greie ordered it released. An anchor rope kept it hovering over a party tent in the field.
He escorted her to a table appointed with some basic refreshments and sank into a chair. "Made it," he said softly.
She poured him a glass of wine and helped herself to some fruit. And bread. And cold meat. A tomato. Something fish-smelling. More bread. And something colorful carved from a radish. She sat next to him and started eating.
He watched her shovel it in for a while. She used to feel self-conscious about her appetite until Mom took her aside to point out she was half Englishman.
Anyone that had seen Daddy eat a snack wouldn't be surprised at what his daughters put away.
They hadn't bothered to feed her since she was spirited away from the dock. It took a bit before she had sufficient willpower to slow down to civilized expectations.
"So," he finally asked, when it looked like she could converse. "What's medical school like?"
----------
"Aha!" she said after a while.
"Duke?" he asked. She nodded. She poured another glass of wine and watched the waves build up on the surface. A few moments later, he could feel it, too.
He rose and offered her his elbow. They stepped outside.
Ted came around the hills and straight towards the blimp. She giggled to see him carrying the crowbar. He really would have ripped the city apart to find her.
The giant dropped to his knees in the dirt, crushing the crop and toppling several servants.
Emma was used to the tremors and rode through them easily. She even had enough balance to help steady the Baron.
"I had nothing to-"
"Oh, of course, you didn't!" Ritch shouted. She jumped out of Ted's pocket and slid down to the ground. Hort followed.
Mom offered Greie a hug of thanks. Mom stepped over and hugged Emma.
She wasn't surprised that Phoebe wasn't there. A family rule said that Dad or one of Mom was home at all times unless vitally necessary. Phoebe had the youngest child so she was playing seneschal.
And, if Emma knew anything about Mom, she was running her network of contacts to learn who did what and where they came from and where they were trying to hide.
Hate and Watch couldn't run far enough to hide from Mom.
But right now, she rested her cheek on top of Hort's head and sighed.
"I was so worried," Hort said.
"Mooooooooom! I was only kidnapped. And they heard Daddy coming and ran away like frightened little boys."
"Damn," Renee said. Emma looked up to see most of her sisters crowding around her. Renee was sporting her full combat suit. Hugging her was a bit problematic, but they managed it. The familiar clanking was kinda sweet.
Annette, Mary and Louise got hugs in. Denise would be home with Mom.
Everyone wanted to know the whole story, but Hort elbowed them aside. "Get clear, get clear," she said.
Then The Hand wrapped around her and lifted her up. Emma squealed at the familiar sensation of flight.
Then she was at the chin, kissing and hugging and assuring a very anxious giant that she was alright, she was okay, she wasn't hurt, and even managed to get enough to eat.
"Yeah," he said. "The Barons put on a good spread."
"Thank you, your Grace," Greie shouted up.
Ted nodded, then started looking Emma over closely.
"Daddy! I'm FINE! Trust me! I'm a doctor! I'd know!"
He finally sighed, hugged her once more, thanked the Baron and started to put people into the carry-haul strapped onto his chest.
Renee skipped back from his hand as he reached for her. "What?" he asked.
"Phoebe gave me some names!" she said in a stage whisper. "I need to check out some leads."
"NO!" he thundered. "I just got Denise back!"
"Emma," Hort corrected.
"Right, Emma," he said. "I shoulda named them alphabetically," he muttered.
"It would be dishonorable of me to identify the rogues," Greie said. "But I can accompany the young woman on HER investigations. And keep her from harm."
"Thanks," Ritch said. She gave him a last hug then beckoned for the Hand.
"Hey!" Mary protested. "If there's justice to be done-"
"Stick to your fencing lessons," Renee replied. "Right now you can't help."
"I don't think she should be doing this!" Ted protested.
"Well, Phoebe can't," Hort pointed out. "And I, for one, won't feel safe until these men are caught."
"Yeah!" Louise shouted. The others chimed in.
"Daddy?" Renee called in English. They silenced and he crouched down a bit further. "I can do this! It's my duty as a Malone!"
"It's your chance as a rebel," he replied.
She shrugged. "Six of one..."
"Half a dozen of the other," he finished. "Okay. Don't leave the Baron behind. And don't go where he tells you not to."
"It's possible," she said agreeably.
He nodded and stood. "I'll be back tomorrow at sunrise," he said. "Be here, safe, or a lot of people are going to get a sour wake-up."
He reached down to pat Emma's head once more then started walking home.
----------
"And what happened to the men?" Dani asked breathlessly.
"Hate and the watcher's heard I was looking for them and offered themselves to the court for prosecution."
"Did they go to jail?" Dani asked.
Renee stared into the fire for a moment or two. "They, uh, yeah. Yeah, they went to prison. For a long time." She used the tone of voice Mommy used when she lied about happy endings.   Dani wasn't sure what the real story was, but she also didn't think she wanted to hear it right now.
"And what about the guy with the knife?" she asked instead.
Renee smiled. "I took his knife. It's on the wall of my room back at Dollhouse."
Dani smiled back at the little pirate. "Good," she said.
----------
The Duke had lavished quite a bit of money on Boommountain over the years. It was the first place that had welcomed him, the first place the four travelers had felt safe.
And the place the four of them had really started to work together as a family. Not counting the surgery, of course. And that was too painful to celebrate.
One of the items he'd bought for the island was a lookout station on top of the old volcano. An enormous bell had been commissioned and installed in a tower.
The Boomers kept the signal fire full of wood and decorated the tower with rather fanciful drawings of the Duke and Duchesses and his rescue of the King.
Several days after they arrived, Dani carried Renee up to the station to see it. She knelt by the tower and looked over the drawings.
"Which one's your Mom?" Dani asked.
"All three of them," Renee said with a smile. Dani looked down at her suspiciously. "Really. Wait until you get to Dollhouse. My family isn't like any family I've ever known or heard of."
"That's... That's nice," Dani said. There was a sniffle and Renee started to panic.
"And you'll be part of the family, too!" she said quickly. "It's the law. All giants on the island are related. You're an Englishman, so Dad and Arlene are your family and that makes Mom and my sisters your family and Arlene temporarily adopts her Brownies so they're your sisters until they graduate that means you have family all OVER Lilliput and Blefuscu and any place you ever go, you'll never be lost because everyone will know who you are and where you belong and please please please don't cry I know you miss your Mommy but we'll make it okay, okay? Okay?"
"Does she want to ring the bell?" Bumper asked.
"What?" Renee asked. Bumper was standing at her elbow. Two tribesmen were standing by the bell pointing out to sea.
"They have seen the sails of a whomping great ship on the horizon. They ask if Miss Woods would like to announce that to the island."
Renee explained that someone needed to start swinging the bell because Ted was arriving. Dani gave it a desultory tap.
The men and women of the lookout station moaned and staggered around, crying about how the bell, it was broken. Renee translated the gist of their complaints.
Dani sniffled and pushed it to get it swinging. The lookouts pantomimed and cheered her on until she was giggling and ringing the bell for all she was worth.
"Okay, now let's go to the beach and get ready to meet my family, okay? Okay?"
"Okay, Captain Malone."
"Alright, Miss Woods." She held up her arms and Dani lifted her carefully to her shoulder.
--------
The giant dinghy had a truly majestic amount of sail put on. Renee had never even suspected there was that much on the craft. Daddy was in something of a hurry. Which meant the Shark was somewhere in his wake, scurrying to catch up.
"That's the Harryhousen," Renee said into Dani's ear. "Daddy won't explain why he named it that. But Aunt Arlene always rolls her eyes when he mentions it..."
She waited a beat or two for Dani to explain the name, but there was no response. From what she could see from the giant shoulder, the girl was staring hungrily at the boat.
Ted tossed the anchor out in his usual spot, then jumped over the side to wade ashore.
For once his wives didn't protest being left aboard in his haste. They waited patiently for the crew to lower the rowboats so everyone could follow him in.
Long before that he was standing on the beach near Dani. They stared at each other for a second or two.
"Theodore Malone, Duke of Cashpierent, may I present to you Miss Danielle Woods, Princess of Boommountain.   Miss Woods, this is my Dad."
"Hi," Ted said.
"Hi, Mr. Malone."
"Call me Ted, Princess," he said with a smile. "How are you doing?"
"Miss Captain has been taking very good care of me, sir," she said. "I am... I am well. I think."
"Ah." He lowered himself to his knees and looked Dani in the eye. "My daughter is a wonderful person, but she has an emotional blind spot." He spread his arms wide. "If you want to cry on my shoulder, I'm fully prepared to-"
Renee tumbled off Dani's shoulder as the girl surged forward. She grabbed the hem of the giant's shirt as she went past it and barely avoided falling all the way to the beach.
Her father's hand plucked her off her precarious perch and deposited her safely on the sand. There was a gentle squeeze that made her feel safe and protected for a moment, then he was concentrating on the young woman.
Renee went down to the water to wait for Mom. From what she could see, all Mom had come out to greet their new charge. And half the rest of the family was there.
Well, Egg knew there was room on the Harryhousen. The whole Dollhouse could spend a day on that ship.
Introductions took a while. Ted couldn't visit Boommountain without a party. Lucky for the locals, he'd anticipated that their food reserves would be a little dented by playing host to a growing girl. He'd brought most of a herd of cattle.
So the fires were started and the exotic foods, from an Islander point of view, were quickly mounted on the spits.
The Malone's presented gifts to the King and Queen and their princes, thanking them for assisting Dani during her time of need.
And they partied.
All Ted's children spoke English, so Dani was never alone. Leann, the youngest, took especial care to translate every lyric and helped Dani learn the steps of the 'Thanks Be To Maker For Dead Cow' dance.
With the girl occupied, Renee had time to worry about her command. Ritch found her on the beach, squinting at the horizon.
"Your father put the Shark in drydock for hull maintenance," she said.
"Oh. I guess it needs it." She still stared off to the horizon. Her mother wrapped an arm around her thigh and hugged.
"And you're worried about your crew? Good girl. Well, the wounded are at the hospital in Northern Fishing. Dad wanted to put them in Cashpierent, as it's a better hospital, but Phoebe said they'd be happier where their families could visit."
"That's what I would have done," Renee nodded.
"And Hort gave the healthy ones a month off with two month's wages."
"Oh... I can't really afford-"
"Think of it as a finder's fee. Out of the Duchy's pocket, not yours."
Renee dropped to hug her mother around the shoulders. "That your idea, Mom?"
"I may have had something to do with it," Ritch admitted.
"Thank you," Renee said softly. She glanced up the beach. Mom was up there, both of them smiling happily at Renee and her mother. Renee waved them over. "Hey, if you're all here, who's in charge at Dollhouse?"
"Your grandmother," Phoebe said.
"Oh. Good choice. So, you've all met Miss Woods?" They nodded. "She's been through a lot, but I really think she'll fit in well with the family. Or with Arlene, if Daddy's fastidious about a young woman roommate."
"Actually," Hort said, "he's strangely quiet about the permanent arrangements."
"Almost inscrutable," Ritch said.
"Really? Not even a hint?
"Nope."
-------------
Leann and Julie collapsed in Phoebe's arms when they finally set sail for home. Crewmen helped her carry them to the family's staterooms in the bow.
With the pushier young ones out of the way, Janet and Denise got to monopolize Dani's time.
They took her to the cockpit and taught her nautical knots and nautical terms and, when Mom wasn't directly supervising, nautical swears in Fuscan.
Dad heard, but Dad thought illicit knowledge was a fine thing for fighting depression and only pretended to warn people away from the practice.
And Renee was his helmsman.
She loved being in command of her ship, she loved being in charge and even being responsible for her entire crew.
But her childhood had been largely focused on being a good enough sailor to help Daddy with his sailing. She could helm his ships, and judge the winds and order the sails. She could even navigate better then he could.
Captaining corsairs was her life's blood, but serving her Daddy was an addiction she never quite overcame.
The others played at sailor from time to time. They were always encouraged to try things out, by all their parents. It was the joy of their existence and the bane of the governesses.
Right now, the latest two were leaning over the rail at the fantail, trying to survive the motions of Harryhousen.
Ted took in most of the sail for the night, set the watch and told Renee she'd done a passable job.
She preened at the compliment and danced back to where Dani sat.
Preserved food was broken out and passed around. Ted introduced Dani to shark fillets. Then he looked out to see, apparently interested in clouds lit up by the sunset.
"So.. My daughter says you've seen all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies...?"
Dani looked surprised. Renee offered her a thumbs up and a smile. "Oh, okay. Well, the second one starts with Elizabeth's wedding."
"To Jack?" Janet asked.
"No, to Turner!" Denise insisted.
"At the very beginning?" Louise sneered. "It has to be to Norrington."
"How about," Daddy asked in that dangerous tone he had, one heard in Parliament far more often that at home, "we let Miss Woods tell us the real story, at her own pace, in her own way?"
"Oh!"
"Yes, of course!"
"Sure."
"Sorry."
"I'm more sorry."
"You are pretty sorry."
"Hey!"
"Ahem," Hort said. Everyone shut up on the instant.
"You were saying, Miss Woods?" Ritch invited.
--------
Renee was the first to sight the famous landmark that separated Civilized Waters from The Wilds Beyond. The sharp cone stuck up out of the middle of the ocean, grey and foreboding.
She shrieked and slid down the ropes to the deck. "We're almost there!" she shouted. "See, Miss Woods? That's the Witch's Tit! Once we pass that, we're in Lilliputian waters and four days from home."
"Not going home," Ted said. He glanced in the direction his daughter had pointed and adjusted their heading.
"Not going home?" Ritch asked. She looked at the other wives, the children on deck. The backs of the seasick governesses. No one was less surprised than her.
"We're going to Arlene's," he said. And wouldn't explain. In front of the girl, they assured her that she'd enjoy Arlene, and the University, and the pod of dolphins that lived where Arlene had her daily swim.
Belowdecks, they discussed the issue.
"Maybe," Julie said, "Daddy doesn't want her at Dollhouse?"
"That's silly," Denise said. "She's got to come to the Dollhouse, to meet the King and the Queen."
"Maybe that's the problem," Janet said. "She'll meet the princes. Maybe Daddy's angling for a betrothal?"
"No way!"
"No!"
"He wouldn't do that! Would he? Tie Danielle to a guy that puts worms in people's food?"
"He only did that once-"
"Once was enough!"
"-And that was fifteen years ago."
"Grandma says that a leopard never changes it's stripes."
"That doesn't make any sense."
"It makes perfect sense. There's a reason leopards don't have stripes! They can't change."
"AND," Julie pressed, "he's not in love with you any more."
"Well, no, I rejected his worm. It's hard for a guy to recover from that sort of humiliation."
"He was four."
"Anyway," Renee said. The sisters instantly quieted. She'd used her 'I'm the Captain' voice. She thought she sounded like Daddy and earned their respect.
Actually, she sounded like Emma doing her imitation of Phoebe doing her imitation of Daddy. They just shut up because if they didn't she'd start hitting people.
Mostly mouthy sister people, but sometimes innocent sister people got in the way and got hurt. So they all shut up.
"I think," Renee said, "if it was something like that, he'd at least explain it to Mom. To get them on his side."
"And they were surprised."
"They are not," Louise pointed out, "above acting surprised for a plan they were part of forming. Just to keep us on our toes."
They tossed that around for a while, judging the relative surprise and acting skills they knew their Mom had.
In the end, there was only one thing they were sure of.
Daddy was up to something.
----------
Arlene met them on the docks with clean clothes, a fluffy towel and a rose-petaled path to the nearest hot bath. And a hug.
"She knew we were coming," Renee mused as she watched her Aunt escort the girl up over the cliff wall.
She'd have had to get word before the Harryhousen had left Fuscan waters.
Phoebe's expression was similarly suspicious. Renee overheard her direct Louise, Julie and Leann to try to get word on when and how Arlene had gotten word.
Daddy gave the ship's crew orders to keep the ship ready for travel, then took his family and household ashore.
They waited on Arlene's porch until she came out. "No trauma," she reported, taking up a barrel and sitting beside Ted. "Not physical anyway."
"You gave her a physical?" Janet asked.
"I gave her a bath," Arlene corrected. "Which gave me an opportunity to look over wounds and possible ouchies. She's getting dressed."
-----
Dinner was almost a state visit. The highest officials of the University attended, along with the Mayor of University Town. Promising students served, all trying to get the bemused girl to smile.
Or at least to draw the attentions of one of the Malone girls. Renee noticed a few 'significant' looks passing between the giant adults, but couldn't decipher their meaning or even what comment they were a response to.
She resolved to limit her alcohol intake and to stick close to Daddy as long as possible.
Finally the meal and the entertainment were over. Dani was amazed at the tumblers.
"It's the muscle to mass ratio," Arlene explained. "They're as muscular as small humans, but the body has less inertia to fight against, so they can jump higher than their own head."
Dani blinked. Seventeen people tried to explain it to her with analogies, drawings and math. The girl started to look a little overwhelmed. The Malone sisters rushed to drive the talkative instructors away.
"It's science stuff," Ted said. "We can explain it to you right now, or you can just clap at the performers."
"They jump real high, don't they?" Dani said, clapping. Everyone laughed and applauded as well.
The girls relaxed, slowly sitting back down, glaring at the math and physics experts.
"I think they've adopted a new sister," Ritch said with a laugh.
"Yeah," Ted sighed. It wasn't a happy sigh, either. Arlene looked sympathetic and pat him on the shoulder.
"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Hort asked. The giants shared a look. "Oh, stop that! Spit it out! What's the problem? Is Daneela a problem?"
"Why is your mom mad?" Dani whispered to Renee.
"I think we're about to find out," she replied in a normal voice.
"Fine," Ted said. "Everyone out of the hall," he ordered in Fuscan. Then in English, "All Englishman speakers can stay."
Soon it was giants and Malones, alone in the dining hall.
"Danielle," he said in English, "you mentioned your Mom and Grandma in your plane crash. Where's your Dad?"
"San Francisco," she said. "We were headed there when..."
"Yeah, yeah," he said. Arlene pat the cushion next to hers. Dani moved carefully around to sit between the adults. "So, even if Mom and Grandma went down with the plane, you still have family out there."
"If?" Renee asked. Dani sniffled and she instantly regretted questioning the statement.
"I'm not sure if they did," Ted said. "From Dani's description, she didn't see the plane go down. She went out the door and suddenly she was alone in the water."
"How fast do airplanes sink?" Phoebe asked.
Ted shook his head. "Not instantly. And if it were, then the suction should have taken Dani underwater with it."
"Then what did happen?" Dani asked.
"I think you stepped off the plane and into the magic spell that protects Lilliput," he said. Arlene nodded.
"Then where are the rest of the passengers?" Janet asked.
"I..." Ted looked over at Arlene. She shrugged. "We've been investigating a theory. We charted the dates Gulliver arrived, and when the rowboat he escaped with arrived. And when he left.
"And when Arlene and I arrived. There's a pattern."
"Does that mean....?" Dani asked. Or started to. Then she made fists and forced the question out. "Does that mean I can go home? To Daddy and maybe Mommy and Grandma?"
"Oh, she's so brave," Leann said softly. Most of her sisters agreed. Renee's hackles rose. Leann sounded proud, like her pet had just done a good trick. How dare she act like she owned Dani.
Renee found her first, dammit! She was about to say something when she noticed Mom looking over at all the girls. Mom knew, somehow, the thoughts of everyone and shook her heads in disapproval.
Renee nodded her own head in acknowledgement.
"I won't promise anything," Ted was saying. "I don't know if it's something we can control. I've never had a reason to try." He reached over to take Dani's hand and look her in the eye. "But we will try to get you home."
"Yeah," Arlene said, stroking the girl's hair. "You don't wanna go to school on Blefuscu. The desks are teeny tiny."
-----------
The sisters met in the common sleeper Arlene always hosted them in. The triple-long beds were even roomier than at Dollhouse. Arlene had expected really big nieces.
Right now everyone was around the conversation pit, talking in low tones.
"Clearly," Janet was saying, "Daddy's not going to take any of us on this trip."
"Which is stupid," Renee snorted. "I'm a-"
The others chimed in so they all said, "Better navigator than he is."
"Shut up!" she snarled. "It's-"
They all said, "It's a fact."
She rolled her eyes but gave up.
"That is a fact," Denise said. "So in the interest of getting Daddy back, we'd probably better help get Renee on board."
"We'll have to outsmart Daddy," Leann said.
They all looked at each other, then nodded as one. "We need Mom," they agreed.
---------
Mom wasn't in either the private rooms they used at Arlene's or, apparently, with Daddy in his room.
It was a crazy, mixed up seneschal trying to keep track of everything and the everywhere of everyone. He was still up at midnight, arranging things for the Mistress' morning.
"Your mothers?" Geddelflep asked. "I have no idea. Your father's in Mistress' hammock. We have to shift an entire bathroom staff to cover his toilet in the morning."
"He really doesn't mind-" Janet started to say. Geddy raised himself up, ramrod straight, and somehow seemed to be peering down at the upstart young Amazons surrounding him.
"I do not CARE what Mistress' guests do or do not MIND. I care to serve Mistress, and her guests, in my fullest capacity. Capeach?"
"Capeach," they all agreed.
"ANY way," he continued. "Your father's usual bed is bigger than Mistress cares to use for herself, so Mistress and Miss Brooks are sleeping there.
"Your mother's started the night with your father, but if the security watchmen can be believed, he fell into a deep sleep almost immediately, and they exited."
"Finally catching up on his sleep," Louise said with a nod. "He was a bit...excited on the trip out." They thanked Geddy, who was already across the kitchen, shouting to the furnace men setting the fires up for the giants' breakfasts.
"But if he's short on sleep, where are Mom?" Janet asked.
"Wait," Renee said. "Dad knows we won't let him go alone without a fight."
"Sure," they agreed.
"Mom know that Daddy would rather not face all of us in an argument."
"A given," Denise agreed.
"So where would Mom be right now?"
"Where," Luann said with a smile, "Daddy can't sneak out." They ran to the docks, splitting up at the top of the cliff. Half went to the Harryhousen, half went to Arlene's dinghy, the Barracuda.
----------
Ted woke slowly. Until he smelled bacon, then he popped awake. Mornings at Lake Beauty were awfully indulgent.
Arlene's staff doted on their giant and made sure to dote on her friends. He wouldn't tolerate his own household doing much for him. He always felt more than a little guilty that he even had servants, much less that he might order them to do things he could as easily do himself.
But as a guest of Arlene's, he somehow felt... Not that it was his due, as much as it was something he could tolerate, for a weekend visit. Like room service.
He ate in bed, making sure to congratulate everyone on a well turned out spread. Then he lay flat as four women lathered him up and shaved him.
Finally he dressed in clothes that had been laundered during the night and went looking for his family.
Arlene was out in the harbor, rowing her boat back and forth. Danielle leaned over the bow, trailing her fingers through the water for dolphins to follow.
Her giggles echoed off the cliff walls. He looked down at the dock and saw most of his family asleep on the fantail.
Ritch was sandwiched between Renee and Denise by the gangplank. Phoebe lay across the stomachs of Louise, Julie and Leann next to the tiller. Hort cuddled Janet on a coil of rope.
The comforts of all their rooms were well known to Ted. There was only one reason they'd spend the night on his dinghy.
They slept through his tip-toe approach, waking as he nudged the hull with one foot.
"You guys are pathetic," he said. They protested. "Seriously? You think I'd sneak out with Dani? Not giving her a chance to see Lilliput and Blefuscu before she goes home?"
Some of the women allowed as to how they thought, well, yeah, maybe, he could force himself to...
"You think," he went on, "I could ever redeem myself with the Royals if I never gave them a chance to meet young Miss Brooks?"
Some hung their heads is shame.
"And, if I did rush her over the horizon and back to her family, would I dare return home, to face a horribly insulted Ike?"
The rest hung their heads. Ted tsked reproachingly and waved at the Barracuda. Arlene pulled up to the dock. Dani recounted her morning in one long, continuous sentence of a report.
"...and the dolphins they swam right up to my finger and when I moved it from side to side they followed it and we saw a whale but she Arlene says it's a she, she didn't want to play."
"Breathe, girl," Arlene said. She scooted over and Ted took one of the oars.
"Now, the pilot whales, they don't want to play unless we're going at a pretty good clip," he said. They pushed off and aimed for the mouth of the harbor. "Lucky for your, Miss Brooks, we can get this boat up to that speed."
--------
Once they were beyond the breakers they threw their backs into rowing. Four pilot whales shot up out of the deeps, shouldering the dolphins aside to dance in the bow wave.
"Told you," Ted whispered to Arlene, nodding in the general direction of the docks and the nautical slumber party.
"So you'll just have to be even more sneaky," she whispered back. "I have faith in you."
"Yeah, unfortunately, all my daughters are way more sneaky than I am," he mused.
Dani squealed in the bow and splashed.
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