Tomo had his hand raised to knock, one of the thick twin braids that marked him a devout follower of the mother island’s new god Taurus fell forward over his shoulder.

"Tomo, why didn't you come to get me sooner… last night I told that old coot Blakestaff that we should be in port around noon today, when I went to give him the Evening Progress Report. An' you know what he's like, that penny pinching bastard is likely to say that I gave him a verbal guarantee of arrival time, and then demand a levy for every turn of the sand timer past high sun."

Lavender had been bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet in agitation as she spoke, and the rocking movement finally caused the scoop neck of the cotton shirt to slip off her shoulder, and end up halfway down her arm, almost entirely revealing her left breast in the process. Lavender froze, not even breathing for a moment, she might be one of the most unfeminine women you are ever likely to meet, but even she had limits!!

Slowly, En released the air that had caught in her lungs in one long breath, and relaxed her hands, which had instinctually clenched into fists ready to punch someone. Thankfully, the only person in front of her was Tomo… a man who had been one of her closest friends, as well as Artimus, who was the cousin of both of them, since they were all in swaddling.

Their mother's had bathed them together when they'd been kids; they'd even gone skinny dipping off the side of a skiff on more than one occasion in their teens. So Lavender's bare breasts were not something that Tomo had never seen before, and En wasn't entirely sure that breasts, as a whole, were things that Tomo was even particularly interested in anyway, unlike Artimus, who was definitely interested in breasts, though thankfully not hers.

"En, you forgot your girdle again." Tomo gently tugged the shirt back up her arm, and patted her shoulder to settle it back into its correct position. "Hmm, I was distracted, and in a rush when I was getting dressed this morning." Lavender turned back into her cabin, and looked round in confusion… where had that girdle gone? It hadn't been with the rest of her clothes, otherwise she wouldn't have forgotten such an important garment.

"Ah, isn't that your girdle underneath the cot?" Tomo pointed to where En's girdle must have been kicked the night before, when she'd poured her slightly tipsy self into bed. Lavender quickly pulled the errant girdle over her head, then wriggled it down until it settled around her ribs; so the boning supported underneath her breasts, and the lacing was adjusted so that the shirt was held firm, but did not restrict her breathing or movement.

Now decently dressed, En looked at Tomo, and felt a bit conflicted, "I hope Uncle Tomas… I mean the Captain, isn't gonna shout at me for dilly dallying, and keeping him waiting." Tomo smiled, "I doubt it… the wind dropped completely only a short while ago; and he only sent me to wake you up, and to say that you were to go see him once you were dressed. I was really quite surprised when you opened the door just as I was about to knock, you're not usually up this early, especially…"

Tomo's voice trailed off, "Especially what?" Lavender scowled at him, but Tomo just stared placidly back. "Never mind, let's go, let's go!!" If Tomo wasn't going to rub her nose in the fact that she had been a bit tipsy the night before, then that was fine by her… after all, was there really any reason to cut off her own nose to spite her face.