The Storyteller: The Tale of Sen

[annarti.livejournal.com]

Birth

The sky was thick with white overcast, turning the sea grey and threatening. Sen was asleep, tiny and so, so weak in the first mate’s heavy arms. Captain Tu walked ahead of them, her strong strides leading the trio up the white sands from their dinghy. They were the only two who had come ashore; everyone else was still on board the Horizons anchored in the bay.

The tiny village they had docked in had barely a hundred homes in all, white domes and tents as glaring white as the dunes behind and the sky above. The village was small enough that they rarely had ships as large as the Horizons making port. They didn’t even have a jetty.

Sen could see none of it, though it was her first time ashore and was set to be, if Captain Tu had her way, the most important day of her life. It was to be a story she would grow up hearing again and again from a hundred people, Captain Tu included. Hundreds of people followed them up the beach. They filled the little town square, such as it was, before the trio had even reached it. Expectation buzzed among them as the two sailors walked up the beach carrying their tiny bundle of responsibility.

Captain Tu stood before the communal fire pit, squinting out to sea, watching the fishing boats drawing closer, nodding in stiff satisfaction to see that every one of them was pulling into shore. Her hands were on her hips, bracing strong arms and stronger legs. She stood motionless but for the constant sea wind tugging at her undyed, loose pants and shirt, the tightly tied bandanna over her brow. Her grey eyes squinted into the sun but she didn’t lift a hand to shield her eyes from it.

As the last fisherman’s ship was hauled up the beach, Captain Tu began to speak. Even weak baby Sen roused to hear such a booming, authoritative voice, so accustomed to commanding her crew and being obeyed.

‘I am Captain Tu of the Horizons,’ she announced, gesturing to the magnificent ship anchored in the bay. ‘Daughter of Hask and Tiseh. The child my first mate holds is Sen, daughter of Jin and Uti.’

The locals all stood before her, some shielding their eyes, others squinting, a few of the older residents with their bandannas tied unashamedly over their eyes. A great number of small children clung to their parents’ legs, and even a few babies sat on hips or lay in arms. This was a young village, probably all of its residents the bastard offspring of sailors or even other landfarers, suspicious and envious of the sailors who had come to their fledgling town. They were all curious about what the stranger had to say, though.

‘Both Jin and Uti died last week, in a pirate attack.’ Captain Tu clasped her hands behind her back to appear strong, though First Mate Kes could see her wringing them. Sen probably would have seen, too, has she the energy to open her eyes. Her audience couldn’t tell, though. To them, Tu was a sea captain, higher in standing than the whole town together.

‘They both died nobly, defending their daughter and crew. They were true and strong crewmates, and now, as they died on my deck and under my care, I am responsible for little Sen.’ She held a hand out to the linen-wrapped bundle carried by her first mate. ‘But, gentle people, since Jin’s death, we have no new mothers aboard the Horizons, nobody who can feed her. Sen is weak, tiny, barely a week old, but she is a true born daughter of two sea-faring parents. As she is now my responsibility, I and my crew will fully fund her upbringing. I will visit yearly with takings from our annual voyages and take her back when she is old enough to handle herself on our ship.’

First Mate Kes frowned at that, and the strong arms tightened around Sen’s tiny form. This hadn’t been discussed, not with the crew and certainly not with the first mate. Sen opened her mouth to cry out but couldn’t make a sound louder than a tiny gasp. Kes’ rough fingertip brushed over the baby’s brow like soothing sandpaper.

‘With care, Sen will be strong.’ Captain Tu focused her attention on the parents of the youngest babies, those who would have the milk to feed the tiny baby. ‘She will bring you strength on her own along with a worthy investment; she will be a magnificent sailor as her parents and—’ Here Captain Tu bowed modestly. ‘—her captain before her. I implore only that you, the magnificent people of Jita, carry her through these first critical years of her life. As a trueborn child of two brave, successful pearl divers, I promise Sen will remember her upbringing here in Jita.’ Perhaps not in her memories, but Sen would remember them in her deeds, her profits and, most importantly for such a young town, her legitimacy. If it was to grow and succeed, a town needed more than bastards to its name. If any of them still dreamt of sailing the ocean, they needed the endorsement of a trueborn sailor.

‘Can any among you feed Sen?’ Captain Tu boomed, her ocean-trained voice rousing the tiny child she spoke of. Sen opened her eyes and looked up into the determined face of the first mate. Kes’ strong jaw was tense, brow heavy and worried. The child needed a home, for the captain’s sake.

‘Will any among you feed her, teach her, raise her?’ Her eyes scanned the crowd of locals, imploring anyone to take her into their lives but especially looking at those with a small baby in their arms.

‘We’ll take her.’

The captain and her first mate both studied the man who had spoken. Even in their desperation, they needed to be sure Sen was going to a safe home. The man was strong in the shoulders, with his own baby held in the crook of one arm and his other arm held up to shade his eyes. His wife—or perhaps his unmarried lover; she shouldn’t make such judgements in a town this new—stood beside him, arms folded and brow creased for more than just to keep the sun from her eyes.

‘Not yet,’ the mother added, then tilted her head back to gesture behind her without unfolding her arms. ‘We will speak with you first.’

Captain Tu paused for a moment, not in hesitation but to demonstrate she was the one in charge, then she gave a small nod and stride through the crowd, expecting that it would part for her. First Mate Kes carried baby Sen behind her. The tiny child looked up with weak, blue eyes at the locals staring at her. She was hungry, so hungry, but she was still too young to know what it was to be full.

‘My name is Sula, daughter of Ki,’ the mother introduced herself. ‘This is Nak, and our daughter Kaiji.’

The captain looked down at the baby, probably four or five months old, and tried not to judge. The girl would grow up knowing of only one grandparent, and even that one didn’t appear to be around. But Sen was desperate.

Sula, eyes narrowed in suspicion and judgement of her own, turned and led the way with Nak to their home.

The dwelling was typical of the town, a near-windowless dome built in glaring white sandstone, shaded overhead by a sailcloth from a ship big enough to shade three other houses. It was too hot to go inside—the shelters were only there to hide from the rain and store bedding out of the wind—so their hosts invited the sailors to sit on the folded squares of sailcloth outside.

‘So,’ the mother, Sula, began. ‘You’re pearl divers?’

‘Sen’s parents were,’ the captain replied. ‘My crew is a bit of everything, really. Big sea fishing, a few treasure seekers and some really expert traders and negotiators.’ She bent forward, stabbing a finger in the sand to emphasise her point. ‘My belief has always been that it never pays to be too focused. If we were all pearl divers, what would happen to us if the pearl market dropped out? My crew would be stranded. We’re a team. Every crew member has their job and we all support each other.’ She sighed heavily and looked down at the now sleeping child in her first mate’s arms, then reached out to brush a finger over her soft, downy blonde hair, touch her snubbed little brown nose. Sen scrunched her face up, but didn’t awaken. ‘That’s why this little one is so precious to me.’

Sula held her arms out to First Mate Kes. ‘Pass her over.’ Despite her brusque words, there was a softness hidden in her tone now. At a nod from the captain, Kes handed the infant over.

Sen looked up with sleepy blue eyes, bright in her dark little face. Her eyes met Sula’s darker grey ones. The softness that had been a mere glimpse in her earlier words melted away the mask she had been using to hide it. A quiet smile turned the corners of her lips and her brow creased with worry and sympathy for the infant.

‘You poor thing,’ she murmured, touching the back of one finger to Sen’s cheek.

Sen yawned wide, her whole face scrunched up with the effort.

Holding Sen’s head with one hand, Sula untied the laces at the front of her shirt to pull out one breast heavy with milk. ‘How long since she last fed?’ she all but demanded.

Captain and first mate exchanged an awkward glance. ‘At least a week,’ Tu answered. ‘Truth be told, I don’t think she ever has. We fairly hobbled ashore to the first village we saw, but their situation was the same as ours, no new mothers to wean her.’ There was unspoken but heavy hope in her voice as Sula encouraged Sen’s little mouth to latch onto her nipple. ‘We tried to feed her fish, but she just cried and wouldn’t take it.’

‘She will,’ Sula promised, her voice terse once more. This was not a voice to be argued with. She might have even made a halfway decent captain, with a voice like that, had her situation been different.

Captain Tu untied the canvas pouch on her belt. ‘For her first year,’ she said, handing it over to Nak, who had been silently contemplating the conversation throughout. ‘We’re on our way to Ryas for the annual boosting of the economy. I’ll personally put in a good word for Jita with every captain I meet there, and with the Office. The beginning of our partnership. You’ll have more ships visiting soon enough, and some cash to spend on them until the town finds a trade. You have a magnificent harbour already. In a few years, you’ll be able to even raise a jetty.’ She smiled encouraging, proudly, as though congratulating the village for a thing that had already happened. ‘On your back, Jita will thrive.’

Sula nodded, not breaking eye contact with the baby she was trying to nurse. Sen still hadn’t taken the nipple in her mouth yet and seemed to be falling asleep again. ‘All you have to do is live,’ she said softly. ‘Just live.’

The captain rubbed her hands on her thighs, dusting the sand from them in preparation to leave. ‘I’ll be back same time next year.’ She reached over to cup Sen’s head in her palm, the calluses rough against the fine dusting of hair. ‘I’ll see you again soon, little one. Do your parents proud and live. I know you will.’

STUFF

o Happy NaNoWriMo!

o This chapter was written partly in an Airbnb in the Blue Mountains, partly in a car on the way back to Sydney from the Blue Mountains, partly on trains around Sydney, partly in an airport Hotel in Sydney because Jetstar cancelled our flight and we were stuck in Sydney overnight, and partly on the plane back to Adelaide. I had hoped to get a chapter or two done by the time I got home, and may well have done if I'd left Sydney at the initially scheduled time of 4:30pm rather than the rescheduled arse-am.

o I'm three days behind. Try and get another one done tonight and begin the catchup.

o Working title. This one's just not sitting with me right now so we'll see where it takes me. Maybe something will jump out at me, idk.

o Llayan towns are all named after houses around where I grew up (and still consider to be home). Tsaythi ships are all named after cafés, bars and restaurants around Adelaide. Horizons is a cocktail bar down at the beach where I finished off a lot of SH:Gold chapters back in April. Doubtless some of this one will be done down there, too X3

Comments

[drazzi.livejournal.com]

I love how just different this is going to be from Rainforests and deserts and such. You just know from the start, this is all sky and sea and PIRATES maybe.

Horizons is a good ship name.

I love this big ship coming in and just two and a half people and its like "oooh what's going on? We must all gather. This is excite!" And that's just what Tu is kind of setting it up to be. Excite.

I do love the public captain persona and then the brief privacy of guilt or sadness hidden by her back <3

Sen you are so smol baby <3

Tsaythi ways and thoughts are so forgein and strange compared to like... the other people I've gotten used to. BUT I LIKE THEM. And they work well seeing them in story form and seeing how that plays out rather than just being like "yep, they are serious peoples" you know?

BABY IS SO TIRED AND STARVED SHE CANNOT EVEN SUCKLE SUBFUIBDBDF Poor Sen baby T_T

[annarti.livejournal.com]

They are so different and practical! They'll be a surprisingly interesting mob to get used to, especially the whole bastard thing. They must be seriously weirded out by Kazin, lol.

That's about as much humaning you're going to get from Tu this early on. She is big tough pirate captain, rar.

I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WRITE BABIES. WHAT EVEN ARE THEY.