“Mr. Featherstone!” She called the man’s name, and his bearded face appeared at the rail, the look on his face one of alarm.“Yes, ma’am?”“Turn us around. I wish to return to the island – I believe we may be needed after all.”“Ma’am?”“Swiftly, please,” she ordered, and Rackham’s quartermaster stared. “I gave an order, Mr. Featherstone,” she reminded him sharply, and he shook himself.“Of course, ma’am,” he answered and she turned back toward the rail.

From Cup of Their Deserving:

When I first started writing Madi, I remember feeling this sense of overwhelming relief, actually, because her mind is an organized place. It’s quiet and calm in there, and she takes no shit and gives none in return. When she gives an order, she expects it to be obeyed without delay, and I love writing her because of all those things. That said – this is a frisson of disquiet, the sound of footsteps in the library that don’t belong there, Madi realizing that something is wrong, badly so, with that little shiver of foreboding that you get sometimes when you realize that something has gone terribly, terribly awry. There’s a sense of urgency here, and of course we all know what she’s going to arrive in time to avert, but in terms of the story, this is just a little bit of backstory to where we start off. I chose to do this as a flashback because the image of Madi stepping into the cabin to tend to James is one that grabs you immediately, whereas this feels like an extension to a scene that we’re not seeing. The partner to this, if it had one in a linear narrative, would be James having a truly horrifying conversation with Silver and then getting the shit beaten out of him and… well, hasn’t the man suffered enough on camera without adding more?

As to what Featherstone’s thinking – I think, just for long enough, he forgets that he’s not supposed to take Madi back to the island, and by the time he remembers, it’s too late and he’s going to take the blame anyway so he might as well do what she says.