[Written] And the good south wind still blew behind

[abidinglaw]

I find that I am forgetting more and more of the old songs.

[He is forgetting more than that, in fact. In truth he doesn't know how long he has been here. Each day he forgets a little more. He is sure that if he puts his mind to it, he'll have to count the time in years.]

And it is true that no-one I knew from home would have accused me of wasting my time unduly with such things then, but I am certain I need not go into detail with any of you about the ways in which Luceti seeks to change a man.

Yet, change us it does. We would do well to take measures to ensure that these changes are for the better. There must be some among you who can speak on this matter.

And others still who know of a new song or two.

-James Norrington.

Comments

[ written ]

[greenjacketed]

[ he frets about his response. at what point does a man reveal too much...? ]

Careful, Admiral. You're sounding a bit frog.

[ written ]

[abidinglaw]

[Perhaps this was not a popular sentiment among army soldiers. He should not wonder if they all clung to their commissions to a man, and each denied that there might be a better way.]

Oh, posh. Whatever you might mean by that I shall not hesitate to remind you that we fight on the same side, you and I.

Time notwithstanding.

[ written ]

[greenjacketed]

[ had no one yet explained the revolution to this man? sharpe is surprised. penitent, even, that he should take such a cheap shot and see it wasted on ignorance. ah, well. it still did as he had intended: it threw the admiral off the scent of his own broiling dissatisfaction with the way army promotion was handled. as dissatisfied as he could get, his code of honour was clear on this matter. he'd made his bed, and now he was to lie in it without complaint. ]

I fight on my own side. [ and on the side of his men. ] I do not see how it always adds up to fighting on the same side as...generals and admirals.

[ written ]

[abidinglaw]

And yet, so long as you do so, I fail to see any need for tiresome introspection.

[ written ]

[greenjacketed]

I believe the introspection began with you, Admiral.

[ written ]

[abidinglaw]

Indeed.

[Which is good, because if there's one thing that the admiral lacks these days it is young men and women given to back-talk.]

[ written ]

[greenjacketed]

[ young! norrington needs his eyes checked. ]

How long have you been here?

[ written ]

[abidinglaw]

We must be rounding on two years, now. I could not tell you the month of my arrival, however, so you shall have to be content with that.

[He did not mean to snap this time, but the need to approximate needled him personally.]

Is this information of some particular use to you?

[ written ]

[greenjacketed]

[ the snap goes undetected; sharpe's sense for what is or isn't an affront, when delivered in text, is not as keen as it could be. ]

Could be useful to know how long it takes before a man starts to forget his own songs.

[ written ]

[abidinglaw]

[James could see the merit in that. How unfortunate, then, that Norrington was a tainted variable. He had no place in this particular equation.]

Of course that would depend on how deeply you permitted the peculiarities of this place to insinuate themselves. There are a host of people, here, and each with his own memories. Do take efforts not to lose sight of yours in the crowd.

[Isolating yourself in a remote, empty house would be a good first step, Mr. Sharpe.]

[ written ]

[greenjacketed]

My sights are steady. [ were they? was seeking advancement in devil's magics even remotely close to the concept of steady? hard to think, let alone say. ]

Always have been. And will be for a while yet. This place can't change what I've been.

[ only, perhaps, what he could be. same bloody problem as being promoted, really. nothing erases the gutter, but the future is unknowable. ]

[ written ]

[abidinglaw]

[No, Luceti cannot change what you have been. What it can do, and will do, is provide a new barrel to look down and the time to set your eye to it. Today's rifle may have wider range of vision that you are used to. Tomorrow's may have a lense attached which magnifies the image ahead of you quite unexpectedly. And looking back through these sights, the way that he has come, a man sees details that he had never noticed quite this way before, or that way, or the other.]

No. I suppose not. So let us hope that you have lived a life without regret.

[If so, then Sharpe would be the first such man that Norrington had encountered.]

[ written ]

[greenjacketed]

Cannot afford the luksluxury of regret. [ can't afford much, really. back home. here? here all he has is time and his own thoughts and no harper to placate his troubled soul.

but he does have katniss. ] Regret gets a man killed.

[ written ]

[abidinglaw]

Speak to me again in two years, and you tell me then that regret is a luxury.

[ written ]

[greenjacketed]

[ a correction in two simple words: ] One year.

[ written ]

[abidinglaw]

Perhaps, but my point remains.

[ written ]

[greenjacketed]

...Could be long gone from this place before then. Might not matter at all.

[ written ] SHARPE WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR NECK OH NOOOOOOOOOOOo

[abidinglaw]

And I suppose that such things cease to be important so long as you are not present to observe them.

i dislike you greatly.

[greenjacketed]

No. It -- [ bloody damn well blast it ] -- ceases to be important once you forget it has ever happened. You need not be a scholarly genius to suss out that much.

[abidinglaw]

In which case it ceases to be important to you. A luxury which should not be extended to those who remain.

[Or to those who have no-where to return to.]

[greenjacketed]

Yes. Me. Since it is me you are accusing in the first place. Everyone else's business is their own. Although -- this place is not as terrible as they say it is.

[ and yet a million times worse. ]

[abidinglaw]

[Norrington would pursue what is fast amounting to an interrogation if he had any confidence that it might make the slightest difference. For now it is enough to have augmented his opinion of Richard Sharpe with the notion that he is a selfish brigand with no sense of why he fights, nor who he fights for. In short, he is dangerous.]

Oh? Is it not?

[greenjacketed]

[ you're not wrong, james norrington. you're not right either, but you're still not wrong. ]

Food. Supplies. Roofs. Ample time to march and battle. No pay stoppages in their points, no matter how daft the points are. And when compared to home, their sieges are pra--[ practically ] -- as good as civilized.

[abidinglaw]

We are made to march and battle in a war that is not ours, for a victories that we do not feel. We are dependent on our gracious hosts for the food and supplies that you value so. And what if we should lose their favor? Could we cause them to keep our shelves stocked if they decided not to do so? Could we prevent them from setting the metal men upon us?

No. We are birds in a cage, and it is neither good nor civilized.

[greenjacketed]

Britain's army or the Malnosso's -- same beast, really. You have as good as described the life of any private back home. [ what was it harper had said? ] Freedom to starve is no freedom at all.