"Oh!" Rose picked it up. "Polite society seems rather impolite to me," she said dryly. "Well, I'm sure my family don't mind ye live alone, as long as ye'r friendly. My mother used to say all people are created equal, and it ain't right that people act like some is more important than others and people draw up divisions between them, as if we're not all brothers and sisters."

"It is not as if I am nobility. My family has money, yes, but that doesn't give me the right to act as if I am better than you. I'm not. I like you as you are, you talk to me like I am equal and I thank you for it even if it is confounding to you that I might not want to be more like my peers." She stooped down and picked up a rather lovely and twisted specimen of driftwood. "Might I ask what the driftwood is for?"

Rose turned, so that Pearl could put the wood in the basket on her hip. "Well, I'm glad for it, or we couldn't be friends," she told her new friend with a smile. "We store it up and let it dry and burn it to save on coal." She said. It was less pleasant to burn then coal, but it was certainly cheaper. "It's free fuel! A lot of things are free when you think of it. Here!" With her free hand, she took Pearl by the wrist and gently led her closer to the water. Then she suddenly stopped and picked up a limpet from the beach. "We gather these and crack em open and use em as bait. That's me and me sisters' job, preparin' t' lines. And then me father and brothers use 'em to catch fish. And they're free too!" She beamed.

Pearl watched in fascination as the girl showed her things that were free. Well, then she would help Rose find more driftwood and such, and put another log into the basket. "That is incredibly resourceful," she said honestly.

Rose beamed. "That's how we live. It may be a tough life sometimes, but it's a free life. Father says at least we are our own masters." She frowned. "Well, at least they are..."

"The men, you mean?" she asked with no small amount of dryness. Indeed, men were becoming the bane of her existence with their, "Do this..." and "You should not do that..." based on reputation. "Men," she muttered.

"What?" Rose frowned, confused for a moment. Then she understood, laughed and shook her head. "Oh, no, I meant me father and siblings. They just work for the family. Me I have a master." She wanted to cheer Pearl up, for she had seemed quite bitter just now. "You're your own master now!"

Pearl blinked and then flushed red. But when her friend said she was her own master now, she shook her head, "I still have rules to follow, I do not own my own home and must abide by what my father says."

"Well..." said Rose. "Don't we all?" There was still so much about the other girl she just couldn't understand. Why was she so obsessed with living alone and being completely independent? As if anyone ever was. "He probably just wants what's best for you."

"To be forced to go to finishing school when it teaches nothing of import?" She snorted, "To be told one must act ladylike to obtain marriage?" She lifted a brow, "Absurd. Why can't I be independent and smart without being looked down upon for it?"