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13th Day in the 4th of Ründ’s Months, Dry Season, in the 29th Year of King Bornidin the Young’s Reign, 126th Reckoned Year
…Whisper to me a killing word
Soft as death, as light as the bones of a brittle bird.
Glance at me with grave concern
Brief as breath, as faint as the face of a lover spurned.
Sing with me a silent verse
Sweet as borrowed time, as desirable as dirt…
From ‘Dance of the Dintish Maid’, Finger Weaver tale, written by Galton Caster in the 42nd Reckoned Year
Petsune wakes up to find Bungle curled up alongside him. While Petsune tries to extricate himself from the covers, he gets his foot caught in something and ends up falling out for the second morning. He groans, curses, and looks around to see if any of the crew witnessed it this time. Bungle chuffs out a small snore, but he is the only other presence in the cabin. Petsune untangles his foot from the sheet, and finds it is bright blue. When Pet looks back at the chest of fabrics, he sees a wide array of colors. Thumbing through the fabrics, Petsune realizes he has been sleeping in the different colored sails that a vessel flies to identify itself. Bungle wakes up, yawns and stretches, then hops down to lay on the floor. Petsune knows the red sails of a whaling ship is being flown now, and in the chest, he finds the green fabric of a merchant vessel, the white of a medical barge, yellow sails for a personal craft or pleasure barge, and black for a plague ship. The blue that his foot got caught in is for the Dintash Navy, though he doesn’t see a gold symbol on it that would indicate a King’s Ship.
Petsune rifles through the fabrics but he doesn’t find the brown of a Broadfell Navy ship, or the purple of a Filkish Navy ship. After the fabrics have been thoroughly rifled and piled on the floor, Chapel walks into the room.
“Wow. Love what you’ve done with the place, Pet.”
“Chapel, did you know I was sleeping on the sails?”
“Well, yeah? I threw them in there, so you had a place to sleep.”
“I know you said you had permits for the colors, but how could this ship possibly be considered a medical barge? Or part of the Navy?”
“Shushilah knows medicine from his father back in the Oullman. The blue sails were already on board when I got the ship.”
“Stole.”
“Borrowed. With the intent of returning it to the rightful owner.”
“Whatever. My point is, won’t these blue sails be a problem when we dock at Ginders? If they do a random ship inspection.”
“Never been a problem before. And before you ask, yes, they saw the blue sails. Listen, I need you to head down into the hold and help Pickett move everything we’re offloading over to the bottom of the steps, okay? We’ll be at Ginders before the Saints sun reaches the water.”
“Oh, okay… Yes, alright.”
Chapel winks and leaves with a parting word, “Thanks, Pet.”
Petsune watches him leave, then begins restoring the sails to their chest. He feels a bit foolish for assuming the worst with the sails. Every time Petsune brings a question to Chapel, it ends up having already been considered and answered. He finishes repacking the sails into the chest, then makes his way out onto the main deck. The entire crew seems to be at work moving crates, tying knots, or cleaning something. Petsune quickly traverses the deck and descends below into the hold. He quickly locates Pickett, standing stock still amid towers of crates. He approaches him and gestures to the stacks of crates,
“We need to move all of these?”
But Pickett stares at his feet and only responds with a clipped, “No.”
So Petsune prods, “Okay? Which ones do we need to move then?”
Pickett simply points to a single tower of crates while continuing to stare toward the floor.
“This stack? Alright, I’ll grab the top one, you can grab the next.”
Pickett doesn’t respond, so Petsune grabs the crate off the top. Pickett grabs the next one and they walk over to the steps where Pickett sets down his crate.
Petsune sits his crate atop Pickett’s, beside the bottom step. Inside each crate are piles of ripe and colorful fruits, some Petsune has never seen before. There are yellow feepears and bright shiny oranges, squidberries on the vine, large round whale fruits, and several kinds of grapples. Pickett walks back over to the crates and picks up another, maintaining his silent downward gaze. Petsune tries to engage Pickett in conversation a few more times, but to no avail. He remembers Chapel saying something about Pickett not really talking unless it was about sea life. In an attempt to make the time go by faster, Petsune asks,
“So… um, do you know how big a tower whale can get?”
And to his surprise, Pickett answers right away, “Tower whales can reach a length of 7 towers.” Sensing that he’s getting somewhere, Petsune asks, “And a tower is 100 feet, right?” but Pickett doesn’t respond.
The two of them work in silence for a bit before Petsune tries again,
“How many types of whales are there?”
Pickett responds to the floor, “There are 5 known kinds.
“Oh, I only know 2 whales. What are the five known kinds?”
Almost right away Pickett responds in his rote manner, all while sorting crates, “Tower whale, called a tall whale in Broadfell Keep. They are the biggest of the whale species. They can grow up to 7 towers long. They are named after the vine because they like to swim through tower vine forests and are often seen with vines trailing behind them. The shallowback whale is the second biggest whale at 5 towers in length and is sometimes called a farmer’s whale because of its surface grazing habits. It is the only kind of whale that uses two long breathing trunks rather than a blow hole. Could you grab this crate please thank you.”
Petsune barely registers the request, as it’s given without any break in tone or speed from the information. He stammers out a response while grabbing the crate, “Oh, um, this one? Yes, I’ve got it, uh, good. Carry on?” But Pickett is already walking away.
Pickett carries a crate toward the steps and Petsune follows with the designated one. Pickett continues speaking, “The third largest whale is the pin whale at 4 to 5 towers long, called a bristleback in the Broadfell Keep or needle whale in the Filkish Oullman. It possesses two large tusks for goring it’s prey or threatening ships, as well as needle-like bristles on it’s back.”
Petsune never knew any of this, but he finds himself believing every word. Perhaps it’s the confidence that Pickett says it with. Pickett continues with his list, “the fourth largest whale is the red whale at 4 to 5 towers in length, named for its pinkish-red hue. It secretes oil from the large porous holes on its back, and is harvested for the oil in its internal glands. The smallest whale is the sun whale and was recently discovered and named. Not much is known about them other than that they live in frigid waters and sunbathe to keep warm. The few sightings have been of specimens a single tower in length.”
When Pickett stops speaking, Pet is amazed at the depth of information he knows. Petsune says,
“Wow, Pickett. You know quite a lot about whales. Where did you learn all of this?”
Pickett looks up briefly at Petsune’s face for the first time, then back down, “Books.”
“That’s very impressive. Do you read a lot?” But Pickett doesn’t respond, opting instead to walk up the steps and out of the hold. Petsune assumes this means they are finished moving crates, so he ascends into the light of mid-day. When emerges from the dingey light of the hold he is met with the blinding sting of the Saint’s sun low in the sky. As he rubs his eyes, he realizes there are sails all around. It is a skyline of billowing fabrics, dominated by green but with splashes of red and blue and yellow. Petsune almost forgot what life is like on a Mass.
They haven’t reached the dock yet, but there are plenty of ships in the waters surrounding the mass. Some are permanent fixtures in the seascape, others are seeking goods or selling wares. Every Mass is made from tower vine that becomes tangled into large rafts, but some are augmented with man-made docks and bridges. This means that there are often new masses appearing that are not on any map or inhabited. Petsune is curious to know what Ginders Mass looks like, so he makes his way to the bow of the ship. It is hard to see through all of the shifting sails and masts, but Ginders appears to be more manufactured than Thune was. As Petsune looks on, he can make out wooden walkways and docks, each fastened to the Mass and floating independently. Suddenly Mavis is shouting out commands to hold, tighten, and raise various things, and Petsune remembers himself.
Petsune helps The Big Man ready the gangway to be lowered, while other crew members bustle back and forth. The Painful Lady seems to glide delicately through the water and the surrounding ships. It appears that Ginders also boasts various docks, each devoted to a ware rather than a ship size. Mavis has evidently been here before, as he deftly manipulates the ship wheel and stoically watches the prow. The roots that stem from the Lady’s railings down to the sea make for a buffer against swaying ships and rocking vessels. Within minutes they are safely ensconced between two larger ships, one with green sails and the other with yellow. Petsune and The Big Man begin slowly lowering the gang way through a series of pulleys. When it is fully down, it is nearly parallel to the surface of the water, meaning Ginders Mass sits a bit higher than Thune. The noise and smells and chaos of the Mass are already overwhelming Petsune, who has become used to the quiet breeze of open water. He looks around for Chapel, but sees no sign whatsoever, fondly remembering where he found the Captain two days prior.
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(PS. the hardcover comes with a special cover I designed and three bonus stories)
