Captain Darkwater leaned forward, resting his head on his thin, spindly little fingers as his one good eye looked at Jasmine up and down.
"Ya make it sound like ya don't want to pay me, lass," the Captain said. "That's not a very good thing, ya know?"
"No, no, that's not what I meant," Jasmine said quickly. "Something came up, so I have to leave Warfort. I'm just afraid that it will be seen as me running away, so I came to let you know that I'm not. I'll just be gone for a year at best."
"Hmm," Captain Darkwater seemed to be a deep thought. He turned toward one of the women and asked, "What's remaining for little Jas here?"
The woman he asked quickly flipped through a small accounting book and came back with the answer. "51,832 gold coins."
"That is a lot of money, lass," the Captain turned around. "If you don't pay it for a year, I will assume that you are intending to not pay at all. To live out the rest of your life without ever having to pay me."
