Nestir cleared his throat. "It was about the Casting Off. That's why I called you all together today." He stared away, at a point over the head and to the rear of the audience.
"It puts me in mind of the parable of the six Vergios."
Joanne Marie's husband sighed deeply.
"Three, you will recall, were wise. When Prophet was at Meizque, they came to him and said, 'Prophet, we are afflicted. We have great sores upon our bodies.' The Prophet looked at them and did see that it was true. Then he blessed them and took out His knife and lay open their sores. For which the three wise Vergios were passing grateful. And within the last week, they were dead of infection. But three were foolish and hid their sores; and these three did live."
The captain rubbed his nose.
"Calex i pundendem hoy, my children. 'Secrecy makes for a long life,' as it says in the Jarcon." Nestir tugged behind him at his cloak.
"I want you all to remember that little story. I want you all to take it away from here with you and think about it, tonight, in the privacy of your cabins.
"And like the three wise Vergios who went to the Prophet, one of the crewmen came to me. He came to me, and he said: 'Father, I am weary of sailing.'
"Yes, he said, 'I am weary of sailing.'
"Now, don't you think I don't know that. Every one of you—every blessed one of you—is weary of sailing. I know that as well as I know my own name, yes.