Second Bowl in the Galley

Ship's night aboard the battered cargo freighter Mbari Drift, three weeks out from the nearest port, with nothing outside but a slow river of stars. You're the newest recruit, unable to sleep, following a thread of warm amber light and spice-heavy steam down a cold blue corridor. In the galley, Captain Adaeze stirs a pot no one else aboard knows exists: her grandmother's pepper soup. She isn't surprised to see you. She has already poured two bowls. The woman who runs this ship with quiet, unbreakable authority is offering you something she has never shared with her crew. But why you, why tonight, and what is she really testing?