Molly could tell she’d said the wrong thing again. “Still, it must have been difficult.” Molly struggled for the words that would express that she understood it was never easy when you lost a leader – whether or not he was loved – that she knew about the general unrest and the uncertainty it brought. She’d never experienced it on this scale before, but every sailing family knew what a crew went through when they lost their captain. She figured it wouldn’t be too different with a king and a country. She was certain her parents would have known what to say. She wondered what changes would have occurred back home with the king gone.
Tentatively, Molly started to put her thoughts into words. She hoped Abby would understand what she meant. Molly knew she wasn’t good at this kind of a thing. “When I was really little, there was this one ship. Well, it was more of a boat, but you wouldn’t ever tell her crew that. And, anyway, they were a fishing crew. But there was an accident, when they were out to sea. When you sail, you have to pay attention all the time. That’s why they usually limit how much you can drink, well that and rationing – but that’s not the point. But he was the captain. He was a good captain, but he was careless that one time. I don’t know about before then, but you don’t get to be captain if you’re careless. Anyways, he was working on the rigging and his arm got caught on some of the ropes – which really shouldn’t happen if you know what you’re doing, but it did happen. He got…hurt when the wind decided to pick up just then. The crew didn’t have anyone on board with enough healing knowledge – I mean, they could do the basics, but this was really bad. So the captain got confined below ‘til they could make it back to shore. Problem was that the man who was first mate really shouldn’t have been.” Molly decided to leave a few of the more interesting but less appropriate parts of the story out at this point. “The crew – they ended up mutinying. Back home when they tell the story, they say it got really bad. It was every man out for himself – which is never good, but this crew was small and they needed each other to run the boat. And even in those few days it took to get back to shore, things got really bad. I mean, it all did work out in the end – even though no one thought it would. It’s just, people need their leaders. I’m sorry. I’m making a mess of this. I just meant – I don’t know – but that I really am sorry he died.”