Swamped

"That's enough, Bertha," the Captain interjects suddenly. "That one's barely able to walk. Couldn't possibly have made a symbol."

"How young are we talking?" you ask, surprised. "Born on the voyage?"

"Not quite. But about that young," the Captain replies. "Not really your business, as far as I can tell."

That's strange. Just as strange as how cooperative he was earlier, without any particular reason. You didn't think too much of it at the time, but now you feel like something's going on that you've missed.

That's when you catch a glimpse of something around his neck. You think it's a pendant, but you don't get a very good look at it before he turns back to Resk.

"Captain, with all due respect, I think it's better we tell him about it now than have him stumble onto the child and get the wrong idea," Bertha says.

"I'm inclined to agree," says the Captain. "But you know full well that when it comes to matters regarding that child, I am not the one in charge."

The Captain of the ship isn't in charge? Then who is?

"Look, I'm getting a bit confused here. I don't need the full story, but can you clear up at least a little about what's going on with this kid?"

The Captain turns to you, a frown on his face. You can get a better look at the pendant now. It's more like a tiny jewel on a chain, though you've never seen a jewel that color, even in picture books. Looks almost like a water droplet.

He seems to be thinking hard about what to say.

"I can tell you this much. That's not a child of any of the crew. And we are responsible for their safety."

Not a child of any of the crew... Wait, didn't he say the grebling who left earlier wasn't part of the crew? Could it be her child?

A sudden thought strikes you. Is the child a halfbreed? That's definitely something that would be kept under wraps, considering the old stories.

Well, whether that's it or not, you don't think it would be useful to pry further. So now you need to think about what to do next. You do have this list Resk gave you to ask the wizard about, not to mention a few other ideas this conversation has given you.

Then again, Resk said he might ask a few questions after you were done. Maybe you want to wait for that? It might be better for maintaining goodwill not to hang around too long, though, given the current uncomfortable topic.

So, what will you do?