yrae | The Storyteller: The History of Tranquilo (Reply)

Sixteenth Birthday

Sen and Kaiji kept a list of all the names of bounty hunters that were mentioned by the ships that came to Jita. Four names kept coming up, names they had been hearing and idolising for years before, too, but it wasn’t until Captain Wik of the Cibo, the only bounty hunter that ever came to Jita, instantly mentioned Cocoa Black that they properly decided on a destination. The other three in their list would be backup, in case Cocoa Black wouldn’t take them, but Sen decided they didn’t need backup.

They talked to sailors and learned the rigging and everything that a ship needed whenever there was a ship tied to the jetty, and asked every captain what he or she sought in a new crew member—and what would convince them to hire two teenagers who’d never crewed a ship before.

‘At least a basic knowledge,’ one said, ‘and a willingness to learn.’

‘Prove to me you know enough,’ another said, ‘at least enough that I don’t have to babysit you.’

‘Speaking another language is always handy.’ That one was hard, when no foreigners lived in the village.

‘Strength, obviously physical, but mental, too. You have to be tough enough to deal with everything the sea throws at you.’

After that, Sen and Kaiji both decided to stay outside when storms blew in, no matter how cold it got, no matter if hail started pelting on them. They practiced hard with their blunt training swords, each earning bruises and broken fingers but carrying on anyway.

One of the ships even allowed them on board while they completed their circuit, down the coast to Suti and back. Those three months on the crew of the Izakaya were the toughest of Sen’s life, and she loved it. They endured a storm and rough winds, navigated some dangerous rocks, hoisted sails, held concentration in the crow’s nest, bantered with the crew and learned about leadership from Captain Tuno. When they returned to Jita three months later, Sen knew they were ready.

All of Jita came out to farewell them, and Sula and Nak both boarded the Izakaya to see them safely to Tasi, where Cocoa Black made its berth, just north of Ryas. When they farewelled them, Captain Tuno promised to spread the word about them and bring the Cocoa Black home as soon as possible to evaluate them.

For fifty-seven days they waited in Tasi, training with their swords daily and asking the locals about the Cocoa Black, its captain and its crew. Finally, a year after they had made their decision to join a bounty hunter ship, the Cocoa Black pulled into Tasi.

‘Nervous?’ Kaiji asked as they stood on the dock and watched their dream ship cruise into the harbour.

‘Ready,’ Sen replied with a steady grin. ‘You?’

‘Likewise.’ She took Sen’s hand, boosting Sen’s courage even further. They had worked a solid year for this. She knew they were ready.

They stood back as the flurry of activity surrounded the docking ship, and spotted the captain as soon as he jumped over the railing. Captain Gandas was a huge, intimidating man with arms that looked like they could snap a mast in two if he put his mind to it, but Sen had been warned of this. She had also been told he was a man who didn’t take unnecessary risks and who planned everything in advance. As much as Sen and Kaiji had learned about him, he had probably learned about them. It was likely he’d already made his decision.

‘Sen and Kaiji?’ the captain boomed over them. His was a voice made for the ocean.

‘That’s us,’ Sen replied with a wide smile. Somehow, it made her feel proud just to know the captain of the ship she had idolised for so long knew her name.

‘You’ll refer to me as Captain Gandas,’ he informed them. ‘Captain Tuno put in a strong word for you both, and Captain Wik of the Cibo, too. We’re not due in Ryas for a month; you have until then to prove your worth, not just to me but to the rest of the crew. Welcome aboard.’

It happened so fast Sen was hardly sure it had happened at all. She almost queried what the captain had said but managed to bite her tongue. Her face broke into a huge smile when she processed just what Captain Gandas had agreed to. ‘Thank you, Captain!’ she blurted.

‘Thank you, Captain!’ Kaiji repeated, just as stunned.

‘We cast off at dawn,’ their new captain told them, then he turned away and walked off down the dock towards town. He didn’t leave them threats if they didn’t make it on time for cast-off; either he knew he didn’t need to make any or he knew they would be there.

Sen jumped on Kaiji in a crushing hug. In a moment, Kaiji returned it just as strongly with a loud ‘Whoop!’ to accompany it.

‘We made it!’ she cheered. ‘We made it! We made it!’

Sen laughed with her, jumping around in a circle, lifting her friend off the ground only for Kaiji to do the same as soon as she put her back down.

After they had calmed down enough, Sula and Nak both came over to give their own congratulatory hugs. It was only then that Sen realised just how much taller she was than both of them. The hair on the top of Sula’s head tickled her nose, and even Nak had to look up at her.

‘You were made for the sea, my darling’ Sula said, a sad but massively proud smile on her face.

‘Be amazing,’ was all Nak said with a cheeky wink. Sen laughed, too excited to even have tears in her eyes now. She took Kaiji’s hand and the two of them walked up the gang plank to their new home.

The crew welcomed them more warmly than the captain had done.

‘He’s softer than he seems,’ First Mate Teza told them, then held up her thumb and finger just a pinch apart. ‘Little bit. He’ll only ever tell you to do something once, though, and I really mean once. If he tells you to do it once, then he’ll expect it to be done and done right every time, every day, and that’s your job now. He doesn’t tell you to do things, he just expects them to be done.’

‘Got it,’ Sen nodded in understanding.

‘He will compliment you when you do a good job, though,’ Teza continued, ‘and honestly, he calls this a probation until we dock in at Ryas, but he’s made up his mind. Unless you do something like, I don’t know, steal from the takings or deliberately sabotage the ship, he’ll keep you on. He probably just wants to make a show of it when we get to the big city.’

After cast-off the next morning, Sen and Kaiji spent the next few days learning the ship and how it was different from the Izakaya they had learned on. When she thought about it, Sen realised how remarkable it was that the crew managed to hold off for two whole days before asking her about Captain Tu.

Sen just groaned and slumped down over the rope she had been coiling. ‘Later,’ she managed. ‘I joined up here to get away from her.’

Kaiji laughed and patted her on the shoulder. ‘Can I ask one question, though?’ She was asking this of Sen; Sen allowed her a nod but didn’t lift her head. ‘Just about the Tranquilo. I remember Mama saying something the day Tu left. Something happened to the Tranquilo.’

Sen lifted her head at the question. She vaguely remembered that now. She had only been little, and scared of all the yelling that was happening around her. All she truly remembered years later was Sula yelling and accusing Tu of being a pirate.

‘Oh, shit,’ Kenta swore, lacing his fingers behind his head. The crew of the Cocoa Black swore a lot more than the Izakaya had done. ‘You don’t know that story?’

Sen shook her head. ‘She said we were too young, then I forgot about it and never asked. I just wanted to know where she was.’

‘Probably fair,’ Kenta replied with a shrug.

‘All right,’ First Mate Teza agreed, ‘but you have to tell us all the stories she told you, or I’ll recommend to Skip to put you ashore in Ryas,’ she said with a wink.

‘Skipper won’t listen,’ Captain Gandas put in. He didn’t say much, but he did have a dry sense of humour that Sen was beginning to appreciate. ‘I think she deserves to know.’

‘Yes, Captain,’ the gathered crew said with simultaneous salutes.

‘Honestly,’ Kenta began, ‘there’s not a whole lot to tell. There’s only one fact of the story, and that’s that one morning, the Tranquilo was found adrift in Ryas harbour, listing to one side, sails hanging and clearly untended. The Ginza Miyako, I believe it was, sailed up to board it and see what was up. The whole crew had been slaughtered, throats slit, most of them still in their hammocks.’

A year ago, Sen wouldn’t have believed it. Now that she knew who Tu was, it felt sickeningly familiar. She thought again of the envoy ship that started a war.

‘Figures,’ she muttered. She could hardly believe she used to idolise her.

‘You’re a horrible storyteller,’ Del grunted, rolling his eyes.

‘Oh, and you’d do better?’

‘No, but Teza would have.’

‘Why?’ Sen found herself asking, voice bitter. ‘What more could there be?’

‘Mostly it’s rumour,’ Teza excused. ‘But of course it’s come up again since it came out she was the new lord of the Pirate Isles. I heard, for example, that Tu turned up in Ryas that same day to get married. Can you imagine that? Killing your whole crew then sidling up to the king and queen still with their corpses floating in the harbour?’ She shuddered.

‘I heard,’ Del added, ‘that she got a spot on Shōbōsho the next day, only because she threatened the captain. Pointed at the Tranquilo, tied up in the docks by then, and told him if he didn’t allow her and her new husband on board, that would be him next. Word is that’s why Shōbōsho sank, because too may people started learning the truth about the Tranquilo so she just wiped them all out and started again.

‘Wife,’ Sen muttered. ‘Kes is her wife.’

The circle of crew members went silent for a moment.

‘No shit?’ Kenta said.

‘And it was a leviathan that sank Shōbōsho,’ Kaiji added. ‘The only crew that survived followed her to the Horizons, so they were all properly loyal.’

‘Probably just as pirate as she was,’ Sen added. All the stories she knew from her childhood were suddenly taking on a different light now. Just how much had Tu lied to her? ‘She always painted herself to be the hero. How long has she been a pirate?’

The crew looked among themselves, all shrugging.

‘Hard to say,’ Teza replied. ‘I’m guessing she always had the viciousness in her, even when she was just a crew member, but Horizons?’ she shook her head. ‘Best bounty hunter out there, no question. We’ve always been a bit more circumspect, but Horizons always, always went for the worst name on the list. Either she was trying to be legit but still exact her vicious streak on anyone who crossed her, probably at the advice of her first mate—we do that, try to keep the captain from doing anything stupid—or she was just parting the waters for her tilt at the pirate lordship.’

‘Eliminating the competition,’ Sen agreed with a nod. ‘That’s what I’ve been thinking, too.’

The crew went quiet again.

‘I think,’ Captain Gandas said slowly, carefully, ‘that we have some unprecedented insight here. Young lady, I need to know everything you know about Captain Tu.’

Sen’s lips parted in a vicious smile that was almost a sneer. ‘Gladly, Skipper.’

STUFF

o Aww dip.

o Cocoa Black is a chocolate café actually head officed in Melbourne, but there's one in Rundle Mall and they make such beautiful hot chocolates that I decided to make an exception. TUNO Izakaya is a shiny new Japanese restaurant in North Adelaide, and Ginza Miyako is a sushi train type place in Norwood. Japanese restaurants make the best names for Tsaythi ships, though I think of their language as sounding more staccato, like Chinese. I just don't tend to frequent Chinese restaurants nearly as much as Japanese.

o Originally this was all going to happen back in Jita, with Kaiji saying she'd looked into the Tranquilo while Sen had run away, but with all the buildup last chapter about going to find a crew, they kinda had to find a crew. This is much more fun. I was bored of Jita, anyway.

o Aww dip.

o We're about to lose the cricket again. Goddamn Saffers. They're tOO GOOD.