Lirran awoke better rested than the day before. The mere presence of solid ground gave him a soothing feeling, but the rich food and long rest had probably also helped. His Navigator Kaza and he ate some leftovers of soup, then she took the net, waved goodbye and disappeared into the water.
He still felt odd walking again, his skin was pale and sickly looking, still, he put his hands to proper work. With rope and nails, he got to affixing an oar as a mast on one of the rowing benches, the few knots he had learned as a deckhand were already paying off great. He affixed the triangular sail by putting another oar through the loops at its edge, then affixed that oar as a diagonal beam to the mast. To the point of the sail away from the mast, he led two ropes through the oarlocks, one left one right, allowing him to adjust and fix the direction of the tack while sitting on the stern bench by the rudder. It was primitive and when they faced harsh weather he would probably have to take it down to not lose it, but it would do for now.
Spanning a rope from the mast to the bow, he also managed to affix the tarp to form a little tent that Navigator Kaza could hide in from the sun during the day and he could sleep under in case of rain, if he crawled underneath the rowers’ benches.
When he looked at his creation, he felt an insurmountable sense of pride. He generally felt something that had been there for a few days now but suppressed by the feeling of hunger and sickness: purpose. He was no longer running from something and he had a goal set before him. For the first time in a long time, possibly his entire life, he knew he had a place in the world. Even under his old master, he had felt like an impostor, just learning what he did to abandon it then later on.
Kaza returned late forenoon with a net full of various squirming and wriggling creatures of the sea, not all of which Lirran would consider edible. They set up another thin soup of the clams, snails and crabs, then got to gutting and drying the fish.
During this sorting, his Navigator turned to Lirran and made a very specific sound, a sort of rolling “trrr” with a strong trill to it.
“I don’t know what that means.”
But she just repeated it. “trrr” Several times, until Lirran decided to just mimic it to mock her, but she seemed happy and nodded, then repeated it once more. “trrr”.
“You’re teaching me the sounds of your language?”
She nodded and began anew. This way it continued, Kaza teaching him the different sounds of this language. There were only a few, in fact. He tried is best to imitate them, but lacking the same mouthparts, such as a toothed tongue, he could only really try. The most prominent sound was the first, the typical click, which could be either a simply stopping “k” or a long rasping sound like an “chhh”. As a matter of fact, all sounds could be drawn out or spoken as a sudden stop. The trilling “trrrr” could be shortened into a simple “t”. The hissing sound with the tongue and teeth, a “ssss” shortened to a “tz”, the latter form in their name for themselves: “tzappatt” and the former in Kaza's. The “p” sound's drawn out form was “pfpfpfpf”, similar to blowing raspberries. The “shhhh” sound could be shortened to a “dsh”, and the last sound was that squeaking sound that he had heard her make, a long-drawn “nnnnng” or a short “woi”, but if spoken deep, it could also be a hum or grunt.
The most important feature of this speech seemed to be one he had not properly listened to yet: all sounds, if repeated or long-drawn, would rise or fall over time, never stay the same level. When a sound was spoken only in its shortened form, it would still have a rising or falling connotation in relation to the other sounds around it. Once he had been made aware of that, he heard it in all of her sounds and when she started to speak proper words, not just sounds to punctuate his statements, the melodic nature was all too obvious to him. Rising, falling, creating wavelike songs or repeating each in quick succession like a series of cries or yelps, it all merged together into a melody he had rarely heard before. He imagined what it must sound like during a conversation between her kin.
When they ate their thin shellfish soup, they had still some fish to go, by the time the fish had all been out on sticks above the stove to be smoked, he was almost hoarse. He stood before well over a dozen dried and smoked fish and when Navigator Kaza tried one of them, making a few sounds and pointing, apparently her first attempt at teaching him a word. It stood to reason she never had smoked foods before.
They packed them into a waxed linen and that bundle then into a wooden box that was stashed safely on the boat. Lirran looked out to the sea.
“The sun is moving towards the horizon; do you want to launch?”
Kaza nodded and made a short rising trilling sound, interrupted by a clicking stop intoned downwards. He had heard this before but only now could identify it properly. He assumed it to be yes and when he tried to say it, it sounded like “trrrui’k”. She seemed almost happy with that.
“Well then, let’s get all on board and set out.”
They packed their things, made sure all was stowed away and then took two of the remaining sails and pushed themselves into the water.
The boat glided along nicely, the sail was still wrapped around the beam, but when Lirran felt the first strong breeze, he decided to undo the pieces of string holding it. The sail caught the breeze and bellowed up, the force of pull surprised Lirran and he let himself fall onto the seat, ducking under the sail whipping around. Kaza, on the other side of the mast, was not as quick. The beam punted her backwards and she landed in the water.
The boat turned in the wind that blew strong northwards and was off on its journey. There was little in the way of rocks to look out for, so Lirran ignored the rudder and looked back. Kaza was already catching up. Her wide mantle flapped with strength and speed to get to the back of the boat and when Lirran stuck his arm intot he water to help her, Kaza quickly attached to it like a wet shirt sleeve, then he pulled her up. “Lady Navigator, you should watch out and stay low. This construction is not the best and even the better ones aren’t safe.”
She gave off a “trrui’k’k’k” and crawled towards the tent at the bow of the ship.
Lirran tamed the sail, held the lower tip of the beam forward by the two ropes and when he was content with the tack to the wind, fastened them to the railing. Then he grabbed the rudder and steered parallel to the coast. With constant corrections to ropes and rudder, he finally got everything under control. Kaza looked carefully from her position in the tent, observed all his movements. She had an understanding of winds and currents, that was sure, but the contraptions of a sailboat were likely new to her. With her as her Navigator and him as her helmsman, the two set forth, northwards, on the flows that would guide him to this new chapter in his life, his second chance and his journey into the dark.
