Undoubtedly, in order to set off and take hold of my destiny, that
being the obvious birthright of the Giant Ant Eater clans of Africa,
I was in need of a ship and a crew. My father, Lord rest his soul,
had been out at the time of his death with the fastest and largest
ship at the du Bois’ disposal and with him laid to rest in the
family vaults I lost any chance of using a du Bois ship to find the
Gants. Being the case, I sought a captain, and one worthy of my noble
quest.
Her name is Contessa Gatti, and she is the captain of the ship
that will one day be as famous as the du Bois name itself. As famous
as any, for I, Alexander Augustino de Bois III, have set out to begin
a journey that would make the likes of Homer blush. Captain Gatti has
assured me of our success and it would be hard for any man to not
believe her candor and forthrightness.
Captain Gatti had been recommended to me, of course, by the head
butler of the de Bois estate, a man named Afred von Duesche. I had
been hesitant at first obviously, as he referred to Captain Gatti as
his niece and in my shortsightedness I would normally have refused
his suggestion had it not been the portrait of my dear departed
mother and father. That portrait, painted in oil a scant month before
their sudden deaths, hangs in our prolifically ornate study with the
books and scrolls that have been collected throughout the ages of
this line and it is as if at times they are there to guide me on my
most noble endeavors. I knew at once, looking up into their faces
there above the mantle, full of glory and candor, that I must at
least meet this feline woman before I passed judgment on her
abilities.
Upon meeting the Captain I was still uneasy, it must be said. She
was rather young after all, much too young to be an experienced
seaman, or so I had presumed at first. Captain Contessa Gatti told me
that she had retired extraordinarily early from the navy when she had
been offered the most honorable title of Rear Admiral before leaving
the service. Assuring me that she escaped that role as if it were a
prison sentence, it was hard to disbelieve her. To the Captain it
seems, there are too many regulations to be followed in the service
and she seeks the freedom of the sea above all else and the loyalty
of her crew a close second.
I must admit that I felt a kindred spirit with Captain Gitta as
she confided all of this to me. There has never been a day that I was
not proud to be a du Bois but there had perhaps always been a small,
lingering part of my boyhood that screamed to me to cast away the
expectations of my family name and seek my fortune on the open sea.
My true home I always knew must lie there, just as it did for my
great, many times great, grandfather. The Captain had done in her
remarkably short and illustrious life what I never thought I myself
could, until now. She was indeed an exemplary of her kind and a
shining example to such an ideologist as myself.
I was honestly struck the moment I saw her magnificent ship as
well, the Sempre Fedele, docked idly in the harbor at my first sight
of it. Captain Gatti clearly took great pride and consideration in
the care of her ship as she surely did in every other facet of her
life.
The crew of that ship though . . . That most eclectic crew of the
Sempre Fedele was perhaps the greatest shock of my day. I understand
that it is a different day and age than the times of my great, great,
many times over great grandfather Alexander but really, to employ
such unsavory folk would have started just the sort of scandal then
as it does now. Never in my life have I been in the presence of such
classless people as those she employs on this ship.
Even with the word of Captain Gitta behind them and the entire
crew's obvious competence, I have to force myself to accept them. I
wonder what my father would say if he could know even now that his
son will have three humans and an aardvark in his
employ. His willing employ, and believing them skilled. I shudder at
the thought. Perhaps the rest her crew, made up of fine, upstanding
merpeople, felines and canines alike will be a good influence on the
less desirable members of that party, but I am not so sure.
Captain Gitta has returned to me after a short time of
commiseration and with her plotted course to get to the island of the
Gants. She claims she is knowledgable of them and I was eager to see
the chart, making some adjustments to them of course. I was very
impressed with it though, especially when she told me a human had
mapped this out!
I laughed when Captain Gitta presented me with the humble budget
for our voyage, though. Surely she thinks me a pauper and has
provided the barest of estimates. I insisted of course, and at the
earliest chance, that we should at least double it in order to
facilitate the ease of our journey.
At that occasion though it was that the brilliant Captain
suggested more that perhaps a greater investment of funds could help
to even better finance the expedition! I have the fullest of
confidence in Captain Gitta and thus I have poured all of the du Bois
liquid funds into the Sempre Fedele and her crew, humans and all. I
await with bated breath the outcome of our glorious expedition.
There is no doubt, of course, that I should be the leader of such
a remarkable endeavor.
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