The docks were always bustling; in times of strife, all the more so, whether it be from soldiers going about their business or common people seeking safer refuge \u2013 or some few enterprising souls moving into the niche the latter group left. In any case, there was more demand for ships than there were ships to meet that demand, and the mates of many a vessel were going frustrated.<\/p>\n
So it might be excused that Second Mate Alek Cooper of the Bounding Stag<\/em> looked on the ferret he found across from him, wearing the usual flowing robes of the desert clans and bearing a scimitar at his hip, and immediately said, \u201cWe’ve no room for passengers or cargo, I’m sorry,\u201d and began to look to the next in line.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m not here for passage,\u201d the ferret replied, pushing back his hood. \u201cI understand you need hands.\u201d His accent was fresh from the dunes, too, polished by wind and sand to something smoother than silk.<\/p>\n \u201cEh?\u201d Alek refocused his attention on the ferret, blinking at him. \u201cYou’re an unlikely sort of sailor, sand-rat. But the Captain would have me strung up on the foremast if I didn’t at least look into it. What useful skills do you have?\u201d<\/p>\n Sebastien reflected on the human’s words. He’d not said \u201csand-rat\u201d with any particular venom, as some did; harried as he was, any offer of help might well have the man’s full attention. Now he just needed to focus on what skills he’d picked up that might actually be useful<\/em> aboard ship. \u201cI’m good with ropes and knots,\u201d he offered. \u201cI can cook, and do well making limited preserves palatable and<\/em> stretching them out. I’m fair with a needle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHm?\u201d Alek leaned forward a little. \u201cCloth, leather, or wounds?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMostly cloth, thick or thin,\u201d said Sebastien. \u201cI’ve done some work in leather, and I’ve stitched a few wounds in my time, though I’m no surgeon.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that thing?\u201d A finger sought out the ferret’s scimitar.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m a fair hand with it, if need be.\u201d An understatement, that; Sebastien had bested men twice his age. He’d made a fair life with that blade, and with others like it before he’d earned the right to carry this one; but that wasn’t the sort of work he was seeking, not if he could find something else.<\/p>\n \u201cHmm.\u201d The human leaned back against his chair again, eyes narrowing slightly. \u201cSo what’s the hurry? And,\u201d before Sebastien could protest, \u201cto get ahead of that<\/em> many people, there had to be some<\/em> hurrying involved.\u201d There was a nod toward the massive press of people around the docks.<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t want to miss out on a berth,\u201d the ferret responded. \u201cI’m not in any great rush to get out of port, so long as I’ve got a place.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMm. Nobody after your head?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot that I know of.\u201d Sebastien shrugged. \u201cNot the law of anyplace, if that’s what you mean. I’ve probably crossed a few people, but I don’t think badly enough that they’d pursue me even this far, much less out to sea. Certainly nothing that would make anyone want to cut through an entire crew to get to me.\u201d It would probably not be the most delicate thing he could do to say that the few people he’d known who might<\/em> be crazy enough to do just that were already dead by his hand.<\/p>\n \u201cOkay,\u201d was Alek’s guarded response. \u201cSo why are<\/em> you heading for the sea?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI need to… move on,\u201d said the ferret, and shrugged. It wasn’t the easiest thing to articulate. \u201cI’ve shaken sand out of my boots a few times too often for my tastes.\u201d<\/p>\n The mate’s eyes narrowed a bit more. \u201cThis is no life for someone out to look at a few new things,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n \u201cI know,\u201d Sebastien assured him, even as he mentally cursed his tongue. \u201cI’m expecting to work for my berth and pay, sir, not to have them handed to me for breathing. I know how to earn my place \u2013 that’s<\/em> not what I’m trying to leave behind.\u201d<\/p>\n A frown touched the human’s face \u2013 more curious than disapproving, or at least Sebastien hoped he was right to read it thus. \u201cCan you swim?\u201d<\/p>\n Drat. That was one question he’d hoped might not be raised. \u201cOnly a little,\u201d the ferret admitted.<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s not as important as you might think,\u201d Alek assured him. \u201cSo long as you can keep your head above water long enough to grab a line \u2013 and except in a storm, that’s easier in the ocean than in a lake. If it takes longer than a few minutes… well.\u201d He shrugged. \u201cOur wizard’s good, but she’s no miracle-worker. Anyone but an otter had best make damned sure to get out of the water right quick if they fall in, and your kind,\u201d one finger straightened toward Sebastien’s chest, \u201cfar as I know, are even worse off than most.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUnderstood.\u201d Here Sebastien nodded, trying to appear decisive and informed. \u201cI’m told the sea’s as harsh in its own way as the sands, sir, and I can believe it. I’m not expecting the work to be easy, or without some risks. Some of those risks I might be able to help with,\u201d here he patted the pommel of his scimitar, \u201cwhile others I’m sure I’ll need to take more care to avoid. But I’ve walked these dunes for years, and been carried among them before that. Enough. I’m tired of the same shapeless blur all around me. At least aboard ship,\u201d he gestured out to the ship and the sea beyond, \u201cI’ll probably see at least two <\/em>different places worth the name.\u201d<\/p>\n The mate laughed, searching among his papers. \u201cAll right, you’re in luck. We happen to need another hand in the galley, helping to keep this lot fed. And it sounds like you’ve got enough skills here and there that if you do want to move up, it shouldn’t be hard to find another posting to build those other skills. I’ll send you on up to the first mate to go over the official terms of your hire.\u201d His quill paused in its scratching, holding poised over the inkwell. \u201cName?\u201d<\/p>\n The ferret relaxed. \u201cSebastien Mercier.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Years before the name Red Sebastien comes to strike terror in the shipping lanes, a young ferret seeks a place on a merchant crew.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[84,100],"class_list":["post-348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broken-isles","tag-flash","tag-sebastien-mercier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}