Free Without Rhythm (The Lament) by P.S. Power

ropes, which were all tied off carefully, in identical fashion. Except one.
    "Mara?" Pran stopped, pointing at the thing, trying desperately to not break out of the state she was in. It didn't work totally, but she was able to pay attention to the cool air on her skin and the stress of her left hand as the single finger pointed.
    "Good catch. This isn't right. You stay and guard it and I'll get the duty watch. This is ship's business, so we just report it, unless it overlaps with our own. Don't let the alert state drop."
    After the woman ran away, going much faster than the light movement they'd been using Pran realized she probably didn't have to continue pointing at the heavy bit of twisted rope. After all there was no one to see her doing it. Instead she watched, trying to see and hear everything. It was hard to do, even in the relative silence of the morning. Birds sang and the wind shifted and blew irregularly, reminding her of things long past. Things from the orphanage, and when she was a child. They weren't bad memories, but they weren't what she was supposed to be thinking of.
    Just as she managed to get them to shut up for a bit, a song started to run through her head. It was one she'd written, a simple tune for mandolin. That took a lot more focus to force from her mind and kept coming back, no matter what she did. Luckily there was some distraction a few minutes later when the older woman from the night before came out and saw what they were talking about.
    She had a cup of coffee in her right hand and nodded at the thing when she saw it.
    "Good call. Overhitch instead of underhitch knot. Not a real problem, but we'll need to get this one free first when we lift, or the pulling on it can cause lagging in line release. I'll note it in the log and warn the others. New apprentice caught that you say?" The woman sipped at her cup, steel gray hair moving slightly above her brown outfit.
    Mara nodded, smiling like she normally did.
    "Yes. She missed the people sneaking in from the woods, so don't praise her too highly. Just a few of your crew, out on the town no doubt, but she should have noticed them. Toward the south, off to your right Pran." There was no pointing or suggestion that she do anything about it, at all.
    She tried to shift her focus, without staring directly, since that always gave you away. Anyone that had ever been in school knew that. You waited for the professor to turn away before passing the note or doing whatever it was you didn't want seen.
    "Wondered why you bothered getting me out of my cot for this. Alright. I don't suppose you two would be willing to help me round them up? We have prisoners after all and that means everyone is supposed to be on alert, not off playing in town, or getting drunk. I just don't feel like chasing them around myself." She finished her cup of coffee first, in a few quick swallows, and moved to set it down on the ground.
    "I think that will make an acceptable morning exercise for the new girl. Pran, what I'd like you to do is run to the far side of the ship, then use it for cover as you go into the woods. Be as silent as possible, and double around behind the watchers. It should take you about ten minutes. The Captain and I will stay here. Try to stay in this mental state the whole time. It will be difficult, given the new terrain, but make the effort."
    Pran got the feeling that warnings to stay in the right state were going to be pretty frequent from then on. Still, it was apparent that Mara was right, the second she got into the woods, jogging instead of trying for anything faster. She was getting a little winded already, which probably meant she'd have to run every day or something from that point on. It wasn't her favorite thing, but she tried to do what she was told and make her way around the correct position. The woods weren't thick or anything, but they did provide enough cover at least. When she got there Pran realized something.
    She had no clue what she was