Blind Justice

"You're not getting anywhere like that." Clint's eyes narrowed.

He was larger, stronger, and had far more information about Jessie than she could even hope to know.  Clint would go so far as to say he even knew a few things about Tess himself.  Jessie talked about her childhood when she got drunk, especially with Clint, and the things she had to say about her sister weren't always kind but there was information there at least.

"Jessie a smart girl, puts the crew above her in a fight.  Did you not see the scars?  She's defended each and every man here, saved their life, at least once." Clint spoke quietly, his voice void of any anger to keep the situation as calm as it could be. "But she's also a hot head.  If she wants to do it, she will.  If she gets angry, she just does."

"As for the crew, there's only a few names you need to know.  There are thirty men aboard, including us." Clint moved away from Tessa and rummaged through the bottom dresser drawer in Jessie's room.  There was something there the girl would need to have. "I'm the medic as well as first hand, if you  need something, it's me you go to.   Deik is our scout, Rodney our weapons expert.  The cook's name is Will, and you're the only female on board, so get used to it fast as you can."

Once Clint found what he was looking for he smiled sadly.  A stupid request Jessie always made before she left the ship on her own.  Take my guns. She'd ask.  The importance of her hand crafted twin pistols was too important to risk capture.  Always too risky she'd say.

"And these." He pressed them into Tessa's hands.  She would need them in order to really pull off Jessie. "Don't lose them.  Jess and Tess.  And don't ever talk to me in that tone again, not about your sister."  Clint pulled his hands away and headed for the door. "One works with fire, the other steam, I think you'll know which is which."

She named her goddamn gun after you, after all.

"My Jessie never called me Captain. You'll do the same." He told her, not a hint of harshness in his voice, but more of a tip if anything. "And I'm not taking it, that burden is yours to bear."

Clint exited without another word.  That's just how he was.  When he wasn't upset with a certain Navy girl on board, he was silent.  The giant didn't speak up much except to offer wise words or the occasional directional hint.  He really was a brute, to his dismay.  It's just how he was though.  Clint Anderson, stone cold since the day he left home.

"So you found the Captain?" A joyous Deik clambered down from the roof of the ship, just next to an old fashioned wheel.  It's purpose was long wasted on pirates of old, more for show than anything else.

The Taivas had the appearance of a small pirate ship.  There were no masts, not many at least, because to say there were none was false.  Two main rods shot up into the sky, ropes and sails hung off of them like any normal ship, only the sails had been upgraded from the older times.  Solar powered, and technically advanced to respond to controls from within the ship.

"Yeah, I found her." Clint played along with the dirty secret.

It was going to be a long, long day.

"You're doing alright." Clint strode up beside her, admiring the view.  He saw it every day, the sun on the horizon, laced with thick white clouds which could easily show a day's weather if needed.  But it was never any less gorgeous.

Then he walked away, as if he hadn't said anything at all.  There were plans he had to make, in secret, because of their lost Captain.  He had to do it all as if there wasn't a thing wrong.  Outing Tessa meant outing Jessie, too, because the crew would only try to throw her off the deck and down to the land below.  Dead Tessa, failed mission, dead Jessie.  It all revolved around whatever mission she was blabbering on about.  Clint didn't even know, as much as he wanted to, it was simply too hard to get the information from the top.  They weren't connected there.

In the privacy of the kitchen, he chatted lightly with the cook.  They'd need to make a stop for food, something easy.  This time he wouldn't let the girl out of his sights, even if it wasn't Jess, the crew wouldn't forgive her if she got lost again.

"It really is just food." Clint answered.  He waited for the airship to be firmly planted on the ground, hovering close over Tessa's shoulder in case the worst were to happen. Still, he had to say he was pleasantly surprised to find out she really could fly the ship.  There was little hesitation, and she landed without so much as a thud on the upper decks.

Off the ship, Clint had the list, and he had the make believe Jessamine at his side.  His eyes stayed watchful, always glancing to her to make sure there was still a blonde headed girl at his side.  It was hard to forget that she wasn't the Jessie he was used to, but an imposer, a twin, only looking for rogue information.  Happily he would've thrown her into their small prison cell, had it not been Jessie's life on the line.

With no other prying members of the crew, he stopped and pulled her hastily into an alley.  Again he lowered himself to be just eye level with her, as if she were a child. "Now, tell me exactly what you're looking for." He ordered her.