Sophia did not sleep easy, if at all; she had returned to her empty quarters with make-shift cot and spent much of the time staring at the door, assuming at any time Menelaus Winsolw Groat, the lighthouse keeper, would barge in. But he did not disturb her- in that sense, she supposed he was at least to be commended for being a gentleman. Then she quickly shook her head- no, he had kidnapped her and now was holding her baby half-brother as collateral if she refused to marry him! Plus, he had allowed her to look insane when all along he knew full well of the sealmen...

It was hard to say what the hour was when there was a gentle rapping on her door.

"...yes?" she said, slowly.

"Arf arf," came the reply. It didn't sound particularly aggressive, but Sophia hardly felt trusting of the creatures after the blood bath she had seen the night before on Sharpy Island.

When she didn't open the door, the sealman on the other side knocks again, a bit firmer.

"Arf arf!" he bellowed.

Not sure what else to do, Sophia opened the door this time. On the other side, she found the brown sealman (Sealy Stan, she recalled his name to be) with vacant eyes looking up at her. In the air was the smell of slightly burned toast. The table- used the evening before for Poker- now was clumsily set with a simple plate and fork. The plate had passable breakfast food on it, but it certainly didn't look well-made.

"Arf," Sealy Stan continued, motioning with a flippered hand for her to follow.

"Are...you asking me to go to the table?"

The creature nodded. As Sophia stepped into the room she could see Sealy Dan, the black and white seal, rocking baby Horace; the child was giggling, almost jubilant with joy. The sight caught Sophia off-guard, as the antics of the sealmen were not something that made her smile. The innocence of children, she thought to herself.

As she took a seat at the table Menelaus, her captor, and Sealy Jan, the third sealman, entered through another door. They seemed in the midst of conversation.

"No, Sealy Jan," the lighthouse keeper grumbled, "I can't promise you there won't be any barnacles..." his eyes fell on Sophia. "Oh! My dear! I see they've gotten you up for breakfast as I asked."

"I'm not hungry," Sophia replied, though truthfully the food didn't look that bad. With the drama of dinner last night she hadn't eaten for some time.

"Posh, you'll eat," Menelaus replied, pullng up a chair at the table to sit with her, "Sealy Stan's cooking is some of the best I've had!"

"You live alone on an island."

"Fair enough, maybe I'm not the best judge of such things. But go on, take a few bites, I swear it won't hurt you!" At that, Menelaus seemed to suddenly notice the loud giggles coming from Horace as Sealy Dan played with the child.

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"Can't you keep that babe quiet?" he barked.

"I actually thought it was nice," confessed Sophia, "to see some happiness in this dreary place."

"Oh boo hoo," Menelaus said, "yesterday you were mad that Sealy Dan killed someone, now you're all happy he's got a baby laughing."

"I didn't say I wasn't still mad," protested Sophia.

"Eat your breakfast," the creepy man commanded, though Sophia made no effort to pick up her fork.

Sealy Jan waddled over to the table and began pulling out a chair to sit down himself. Menelaus shot the creature the glance.

"Can't you see I'm spending time with my bride-to-be?" he snapped, "you three, get out of here. Guard the doors. And take that little brat with you!" He pointed at Horace who, with the change of environment from friendly to hostile started to tear up. The sealmen bowed their heads and complied, slinking out of the door quickly.

"He's not a brat," defended Sophia. "Just a baby-"

"-So you like him now too?" Menelaus was in a mood, it seemed.

"I...I do not blame him for being a baby."

"But you don't like him."

"I'd prefer my father hadn't remarried, yes, and he is the child of that union. But I do not blame him for being a baby," Sophia repeated.

"Speaking of marraige," Menelaus leaned in close. "Let's talk of ours. Now, we can't really have a traditional ceremony- I imagine if we got an actual priest or judge in here you'd complain about me forcing your hand, or what have you."

Sophia didn't answer, but Menelaus could tell he was right.

"So, in the interest of being fair, I'm giving you a choice- Sealy Dan, Sealy Stan, or Sealy Jan. Which one would you want to marry us?"

"None," Sophia answered curtly, "I don't want to marry you."

"You know the price of saying no to me, my dear," reminded Menelaus.

"I am a woman of faith," Sophia tried to argue, "not getting married by a real priest in a real church-"

"-it's not going to happen."

"Surely, then, you can't expect me to marry you-"

"Choose the sealman you want to marry us," Menelaus now was the curt one.

Sophia was silent again. What could she say? None of this was what she wanted, but she could not fathom letting her actions bring harm to young Horace, spawn of her hated step-mother or not. She let out a sigh.

Suddenly, a strange idea crossed her mind.

"I can't choose," she said calmly, "because I'm a bit surprised you're even asking me."

Menelaus cocked his head as a dog would when confused. "What's that?"

Sophia leaned in closer. "A wedding is a special occasion. You're not going to make a new sealman to serve as a priest especially for the event? Is our wedding is that unimportant to you?"

"I mean, I'm a man of science, believe it or not," the lighthouse keeper shrugged. "The wedding and service, that was for your benefit. I don't really need any sort of celebration or service to take you as my lover, darling."

Sophia shuddered as he referred to her as his lover, but did her best to quickly regain composure and press further: "Well, like you said, I've been thinking about my wedding since I was a young girl. And I would hope you would make a new sealman in honor of the event. That is, if you wanted to win my love."

Menelaus just stared back blankly at Sophia.

"You're telling me that the mere creation of a priest-like sealman to marry us will make you fall in love with me?"

"...yes?"

There was a silence a moment.

"...because it will show to me how much you care?" Sophia continued, grasping at straws, "Because it will demonstrate you're taking this wedding seriously? Because-"

"-Right, then," Menelaus said, rising to his feet.

" 'Right then' what?"

"I've got to go find me a fitting seal," Menelaus replied, "you said you want a priest, I'll make you a priest. The process takes quite some time so I've got a lot of work to do. Assuming that's what you want."

"Oh, it is!" Sophia exclaimed, trying to feign excitement. She had hoped the process would be time-consuming and hearing her gamble was right was somewhat relieving; it gave her all the more time to figure out an escape from this madness. But as she looked out the window towards Sharpy Island, she could not see any sign of motion from her family's home. With the sealmen on guard and Horace in their possession no doubt she would have quite the challenge getting away.