“So.” “Sew buttons.” That phrase always made Cam laugh. Her grandmother was the only one who still used it because she was probably the only person who still actually sewed buttons.

You're terribly successful, you see, the BYM of the Directorate. BYM? Bright Young Man. She emphasized the words carefully, looking straight at him.

He had only a tuppence worth of success.

topsail yards down upon the caps, and sails flapping and beating against the masts; and starboard watch hauling out the reef-tackles of the main topsail.