The Pirates of Fainting Goat Island

by Teresa McCullough

  Vlid was welcomed back to his old job at the shipyard. He left his tools and a few other possessions with his uncle and was able to start work without buying expensive tools. He looked good in his “new” clothes. It was hard to remember the crazy man from Fainting Goat Island when I saw him.

  He brought a few of his fellow workers to the Kettle of Fish one evening to sample my cooking. I could tell they liked him, and I was also glad that he found his old friends. The friends returned now and then and two of them became regulars. Business increased in the tavern and my boss gave me a small raise.

  Vlid appeared to be taking up his old life, and I expected when Jerot recovered, Vlid would take his sister and nephew to live somewhere closer to work. We were marking time until Jerot got well. I couldn’t leave an injured man at the mercy of the people of this town and assumed the others of our group felt the same. The brunt of Jerot’s care fell to Milea, but even Amapola helped in his care, although she didn’t contribute to the household in any other way.

  When I pulled out money to pay for the household expenses, Vlid refused. “Jerot insisted on paying. I’ve paid the rent for another week and there’s plenty of money for food.”

  I arrived home late one evening and came in quietly. I heard angry voices which I identified as Amapola’s and Jerot’s, although I couldn’t understand what was said. Soon, a door opened and Amapola came downstairs, crying.

  “How long have you been here?” she asked me.

  “Just a couple of minutes, but long enough to hear you arguing with Jerot,” I said.

  When she didn’t respond, I said, “He’s still recovering. Can’t you be gentler with him?”

  “He’s recovered enough to reprimand me. Like I was a sailor on his ship. He told me I didn’t help us escape. He told me I was selfish, and I didn’t deserve the friends I had. That I did nothing for the household. After I made you that dress which got you that job!”

  She lived here and ate here. The time she spent making a dress for me was less than the time I spent helping the household, and she didn’t pay anything or do additional work. I understood Jerot criticizing her. She had more money from the pirates than anyone except Jerot and spent it only on herself.

  She then started justifying herself. She had no one and had to save for her old age. I asked her how old she was, and she told me she was twenty. That put her a year younger than I was. She talked about how hard her life was and how poor she was when she grew up.

  “But your aunt took you in,” I said.

  “She worked me,” Amapola said.

  I laughed. “If she hadn’t, you wouldn’t be able to support yourself.” A stricken look spread across her face. Apparently, that never occurred to her.

  Jerot’s voice interrupted us. He was halfway down the stairs and we hadn’t noticed him. He was hanging onto the railing with both hands. “How is your aunt, by the way? Have you sent her money? It must have been hard on her for you to just run away. Do you think she worried about you?” Amapola looked troubled.

  Jerot sat down on the stairs, causing me to ask, “First time down the stairs?”

  “I went down once earlier today. I wanted to thank you for all you’ve done for me. I owe you a cloak. I was too out of it to know what was happening, but Roddy told me. That was clever of you.”

  “Roddy probably exaggerated,” I said with a smile.

  His returning smile was a little lopsided, due to the swelling on the left side of his face. “Not completely.”

  “I’ll make it,” Amapola said. “Pay for the materials and I’ll make it.” She ran upstairs, carefully avoiding touching Jerot.

  “Cranket was at the tavern today,” I told Jerot.

  “Cranket?” He was suddenly alert.

  “The man who owned the Eagle,” I said. “I thought we told you about him.”

  “Nineteen, dark brown hair, brown eyes, about my height, overweight?”

  “Yes.”

  “My brother. Half-brother. His father was on the Eagle? That’s our father. When I told the Councilors that he wanted me to find out where the pirates lived, they told me that he was missing.”

  His father! He was surprised but wasn’t grieving. He might have been talking about a stranger.

  “Did you talk to Cranket?” Jerot asked. “Did he recognize you from the Eagle?”

  “No to both questions. I was busy cooking and my boss waited on Cranket. I watched him, and all I could see was that he enjoyed the food and ate alone.”

  “Well, it isn’t important. I don’t think I’ve met my father a dozen times and Cranket fewer than that. My father tried to meet me every time I came into port at first, but when he saw I didn’t need him, he let me fend for myself. He didn’t want to thrust me on his family. Aside from Vlid, Milea, and Little Vlid, I don’t have a family.”

  “You grew up early,” I said.

  “Amapola hasn’t grown up yet,” Jerot replied. He looked up the stairs where she went. In spite of his words, he looked like he was longing for her.

  Although it was still summer, the nights were cooler, and I wanted a cloak for my walk home. I wondered how long it would take Amapola to sew it. After all, a cloak wasn’t that difficult to make. A few days later, Amapola and Jerot gave it to me at breakfast, which was the only meal I shared with everyone. Amapola made a double layer of high-quality wool with a fur-lined hood.

  “Thank you both,” I said. Of course, it was beautifully made. I put it on and enjoyed the soft luxury of fur. I wouldn’t need the hood for the mild summer evenings, but it would be welcome in the winter. “It’s beautifully made,” I said to Amapola. “Thank you,” I said to Jerot. “I’ve never owned anything so magnificent.”

  “Amapola put it out on the table when we weren’t eating and pinned everything together. Mama told me not to tell you. It was supposed to be a surprise,” Little Vlid said.

  “It was a surprise,” I said. “It was a very nice surprise.”

  Cranket came to the tavern that evening and stayed until we closed. As I put the cloak on to leave, he said, “That is an expensive cloak. Did a man give it to you?”

  Could he say anything without being offensive?

  “A man and a woman,” I said. We both were going out the door and I felt no need to be friendly to him. “I resent your implication.” I started walking swiftly down the street, annoyed but not concerned.

  “I’m sorry,” he said as he caught up with me. “I’ve noticed you, and you don’t flirt with customers. You’re friendly, but you treat men and women the same. That’s unusual. I’ll walk you home. It’s not safe.” He put his hand on my arm and I recoiled. No need to use enhancing yet, but I didn’t want him to touch me.

  “It’s just that everyone is mad at me. I can understand some of it, but why you? You avoid me.”

  I ignored him.

  “Don’t deny it.”

  “I’m not denying it. Look to your own behavior.”

  “I suppose you heard about my ship. There’s gossip. I didn’t do anything wrong. The story is exaggerated.”

  “You mean about not even thanking the people who returned your ship and leaving them out at night? Refusing them the common courtesy of information and insulting them?” I said.

  “That’s not…. No, they’re saying I should have paid them for returning it. The ship is mine. It was damaged.”

  “Do you think they damaged it?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. But you are right. I should thank them.”

  “It’s a little late.”

  “I was upset at the time. If I told them that, do you think that would help?”

  “Help you get your reputation back?”

  “You don’t understand. My father and mother were on that ship. They died, I’m sure of it. As long as it didn’t come back I could imagine them out there. The pirates killed them. I know that now.”

  “And the people who returned the ship are responsible for this because...?”

  He hung his head
down. “I didn’t think. I’ll find them and apologize. I’ll pay them ten percent of the ship’s value. That’s what people said I should pay. No, I’ll pay twenty percent.”

  “You think you can buy approval?” I asked. He clearly didn’t recognize me as being on the ship, and I had no intention of enlightening him. I still wasn’t certain if anyone was looking for the enhancer who rescued Jerot.

  We were almost home. He didn’t answer until I walked up the steps to the door. As I was closing the door, he said, “No. I can’t buy approval or friendship.” He sounded sad.

  Cranket came to the inn every evening. I briefly considered that he was courting me but rejected the idea. My enhancing and my parents’ position as owners of the Pelican made me more attractive than my face, figure, or personality justified. Cranket didn’t act like Geltor, which I suppose was a mark in Cranket’s favor, and he didn’t act like the men who tried to flirt with me in Ship Town. Cranket wanted friendship, not love.

  I told the others about him and Amapola predictably wanted me to extort as much money from him as possible. Jerot said he wanted to wait until he recovered before meeting him, and the rest of us acceded to his wishes.

  Lina and Roddy left daily to find work. They didn’t always come back with money, but they were very cheerful, whether they succeeded in finding work or not. Whatever they were doing was pleasing to both of them, and I guessed some days it had nothing to do with working. I realized Roddy was closer to Lina than he was to me. I felt a brief pang of jealousy but seeing Roddy’s happiness made me glad for both of them. Roddy was there for me when my parents died and didn’t deserve my jealousy, but my support.

  The tavern where I worked closed when the last customer left, which meant I left work at different times. Vlid and Roddy were still downstairs one evening when I arrived home. Vlid was reading by candlelight at the kitchen table and sometimes taking notes. Roddy was doing something with a branch about one inch in diameter and eight inches long.

  “Goodnight,” I said, preparing to start upstairs.

  “Girl,” Roddy said, “I want to talk to you.”

  I paused, and Roddy left his work and went to some chairs away from Vlid, beckoning for me to join him. After I was seated, he said, “I don’t know if you are aware of it, but Lina and I have, uh, an understanding.”

  When I answered, “Yes,” without showing surprise, he looked as if he expected more of a reaction.

  He seemed flustered, which was unusual. I glanced over at Vlid, who didn’t look up from whatever he was reading. Could Roddy’s discomfort come from realizing Vlid could hear them? Apparently not, since Roddy explained, “Vlid’s cousin gave him some details about a ship someone is considering building and wants Vlid to help decide how much to charge him. I don’t think he even hears us. Besides, I’ve already told him.”

  “Told him what.” Why wasn’t he getting to the point?

  “Lina and I are getting married the day after tomorrow, early in the morning. We found an Ezant community. We would like you to read the part Lina calls ‘the branch words.’”

  Why was he so nervous? I smiled, stood up, and kissed him on his cheek. “I’m delighted. I hope you both will be very happy.” He smiled back at me and relaxed.

  “There’s one more thing. Lina is pregnant, and I have a request for you. I’m not trying to put a burden on you, but I’m an old man. Fifty-three. Lina will be thirty-nine when our child is born.” I hadn’t guessed Lina was pregnant, but it made sense. Several things fell into place. Lina’s morning sickness was mild, making it easy for her to conceal it, but there were some other signs a woman would recognize. Lina must have been in Roddy’s room the night I helped Kalten.

  “My mother was forty when I was born,” I reminded him. She would still be alive if it weren’t for Merko. I was angry that this happy moment was interrupted by a thought of him.

  “I know. We didn’t think we could have children. Neither of us did in our previous marriages.” I remembered Roddy’s wife died of a fever after just a few years of marriage. “But if something happens to me and if you live near our child and it is a daughter, can you teach her to enhance? Lina was never taught and didn’t do half the things you do.”

  “Of course. And if I don’t live near her, I will train her when she’s old enough. That’s whether or not you are alive.” It was an easy promise to make. I realized I owed Roddy enough so that I had to make and keep that promise, but that thought didn’t come until after I spoke. Roddy was family, even if we weren’t related. I had a responsibility to any child of his, the same way that Vlid was responsible for Little Vlid.

  “Thank you.”

  “Why were you so nervous? Did you think I would be upset that you are going to marry Lina?” I asked.

  “Girl, you sometimes jump the wrong direction. You correct yourself and go back on course, but I didn’t want you to be upset with me. You might not like the idea of my marrying Lina.”

  “If she’s pregnant, I wouldn’t like you not marrying her.” Not that it worried me. Roddy would never shirk a responsibility. “Is that the marriage branch? What are you doing to it?” I indicated the branch he was holding.

  “It is bad luck for it not to burn completely. A couple of people I’ve been working with will be coming to the wedding. They’ll be enough twigs I think. I thought I could cut a hole in it and put a little grease inside and it would be sure to burn. I made sure I found a branch that was dry, but it might not be enough.”

  “I’ll be there,” I said. “Don’t worry, I’ll see it burns completely.”

  Roddy smiled and reached for my hand, giving it a squeeze. “Thanks, girl.”

  “Are you planning food?” I asked. “I can cook something.”

  After Roddy and I discussed food, he went up to bed. I checked our stores to see how much I would need to buy. While I was doing so, Vlid spoke. I forgot that he was there. “Let me get this straight. You told Roddy not to cheat because you will do it for him?”

  “Yes. No one will know.” I looked at his pile of papers he was working on. “Are you deciding what to charge for building a ship?” That seemed like a lot of responsibility for someone who missed more than two years of work.

  “No. I’m helping by estimating the amount of labor and material it will take. I don’t know anything about prices. That is pretty complicated because it can vary so much. Some years lumber is cheaper than others.”

  Still, it seemed they appreciated his expertise.

  The Ezant community Roddy and Lina found an Ezant was about two miles away, and inland, meaning it was uphill. Jerot stayed home, since he was in no shape to make the walk. The rest of us arose quite early, bringing bread wrapped around cheese and sausage that I cooked. We came to a small building that turned out to contain one large room with benches and a stone bowl on a pedestal for the twig ceremony.

  Roddy introduced us to a woman with the title of Sister.

  “I’m not really a Sister,” she explained. “The Ezant Temple in Pactyl doesn’t know I exist. But my grandmother was a Sister and I’m the best we have. Lagudia courts recognize our marriage ceremonies, which sometimes matters.”

  The Sister took me aside and asked me if I was comfortable reading the branch words. I brought out The Wisdom of Ezant, where a bookmark showed the correct page. My copy belonged to my mother and had a more ornate binding than was usual.

  “May I look at your copy?” she asked me.

  I handed it to her and she held it almost reverently. She paged through it and came to the beginning. “This is signed and sealed by the High Priestess!”

  “My mother volunteered once a week to the Temple in Pactyl and helped train enhancers. After ten years they gave her this.”

  She handed it back to me. “We have nineteen Ezant families and only three of them have enhancers. We only have two copies of the Wisdom of Ezant. If you stay in Lagudia, we hope you will join us for our services.”

  “It’s far,” I said.

&nb
sp; “There is work for enhancers here, particularly in the winter.”

  “I’ll consider it,” I said, meaning it. I didn’t know what would happen when Jerot recovered. I didn’t think we would continue to live together indefinitely, and it would be nice to live in an Ezant community.

  The Sister started the traditional ceremony with a very short sermon. Then she led us in the twig ceremony. Since it symbolized how a community could do things an individual couldn’t, and often didn’t work very well with a small number of participants, I was glad that there were more people doing it than just our household. Five people from the Ezant community joined in the twig ceremony. Two people Roddy and Lina met since coming to Lagudia made the trek and joined it also. Little Vlid’s twig started to go out, but I used enhancing to keep it lit, which required concentration because he was waving it around.

  After the twig ceremony, with everyone’s twig in the bowl and the fire still burning, Roddy and Lina simultaneously reached into a bowl of water and pulled out the piece of wood Roddy brought. The water symbolized the problems inevitable in their life together. Their calloused, work-worn hands touched each other and carried the wet wood over to the burning twigs. Still dripping, they dropped it in the fire. The water sizzled but the twigs were enough to burn the marriage branch. This symbolized that a community could help them overcome these problems.

  The Sister read the wedding vows for Roddy and Lina to repeat. I opened The Wisdom of Ezant and concluded with the wedding words,

  With faith in god they can become

  Stronger, better, since two are one.

  They gain their strength from unity

  Supported by community.

  We all watched the fire burn down. The marriage branch burned to a satisfactory ash. No one other than another enhancer would know that I added heat. There would be no ill-omened unburned wood left.