Chapter 108

The Thing About Besties.

(Boggo)

What a pal Thrush was to help us find the Craft. It had been wedged between bamboo which he had snapped apart. The bamboo had opened with long, splitting, deafening cracks.

Now, Ella and I rowed in quiet waters once again. Our oars dipped into the water, and water trickled over the blade and handle. We rowed deeper into the marsh. It was really, really humid. It was so humid, my fur felt thicker and heavier. A slight sea wind pushed small clouds across the surface of marsh waters. When I craned my neck, I could see the fleet through the stripes of bamboo.

Ella’s oar scraped against the gunwale as she pulled it in. “There it is!”

I craned my neck all the way back around to look over her shoulder. Yes! There it was, the boulders which together resembled a goblin skull. They looked as big as a sloop from our distance. Bamboo stood all around the skull, even through an eye socket.

I couldn’t contain my excitement. “That must be them! Thrush said he could smell them around here! …But it’s all water…”

Our oars splashed into the marsh. We paddled closer, but not without me feeling a stitch in my side. The rustling of bamboo leaves and the creaking of bamboo stalks became louder as we rowed closer. Less of the sun fell on us. Now we alternated which sides of the Craft we paddled by to navigate the marsh. Bamboo was close enough that we could spot scratches running up and down the stalks.

It was Ella who had first spotted those marks. “Well something must live around here. And Thrush did say they smelled like besties.”

“Well, we know we can trust Thrush.”

The skull loomed over us, and a gap of bamboo revealed the sea and the fleet. Sunlight lit the skull, and made its black stone appear gray where it was dry.

Just before we rowed under the overbite of the skull, our Craft slid upon soil and roots. We both tumbled in the Craft as it slid to a sudden stop. The paddles rattled against the deck and struck the bitts.

Ella giggled while she righted herself. “Oops. Wasn’t paying attention.”

Water trickled over the land, and came up to my butt when I plopped overboard. I worried tremendously over dangers lurking in the shallow water. There were snakes; there had to be snakes, why wouldn’t there be snakes, and all the submerged roots looked a lot like snakes! No matter how far we explored, those worries didn’t lessen—they seemed to amplify. Every step ahead of Ella felt more certain to land me on a snake. There was no escape; there wasn’t dry land to be found anywhere! As we went, I splashed extra hard to scare off the snakes.

Ella splashed just as much after me, shouting. “There’s just no way! How can there be besties?”

But the bamboo had lots and lots of scratches all up and down the stalks. The ones as thick as a mainmast had the most scratches. There were notches that both us had been able to fit our claws into. But as much as we strained to see against the bright sky, there were no structures at the top of the thickest bamboo. There were no crow’s nests or huts or leafy roofs.

When the sun had just risen enough that daylight was no longer soft and dim, the wind died, and the waters fell asleep. Our splashing ceased as we halted in the sudden still life.

Then the bamboo began rattling! All of them! The thinner ones rattled and shook, the thicker ones rattled but did not tremble. Hundreds of scratches came muffled through the stalks.

Together we raced to the top of a thick stalk. We pushed through leaves and hurdled over branches until we reached the highest point. The top had been cut off. The hole was plugged with straw and leaves and shredded bamboo. All around us, the tops of stalks had been cut off and stuffed.

I beat the plug with my hind paw. “Hello? Besties? Are there besties in here?”

We climbed several others, and everytime we knocked on bamboo, the stalk went quiet. We rapped on different plugs, we splashed here and there, we tried digging at wet bases, and we even tried shaking some stalks. For days, return after return, we searched for the besties. The only thing left was to dig at the plugs, but we couldn’t do that! How awful an entrance that would be!

We would not be meeting the bamboo besties; however, it wasn’t a bad idea to leave them something. So, upon the forehead of the giant goblin skull stone, we left a weird-color waterskin of warm warm beer for the besties to find. With tails drooping like sunken spirits, Ella and I paddled back to the galleon for the last time.

∞

Barnacle-eyes was installing a davit at the fore, starboard.

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She commanded a ring of goblins. “Ropes!”

“Please thank you!”

Ropes were quickly snaked across deck, over vines, and fed into pulleys at the davit, which extended overboard. The lengths were coiled into the Craft after tying them to davit tackles and clipping them through the bow and stern eyes. The Craft could now be lifted from the water by pulley!

Barnacle-eyes motioned for Ella and I to enter the Craft as it hung beside the taffrail. Stumble-not gently placed us inside.

Ella scurried in a circle. “Thank you!”

I was placed inside, and the Craft began to swing. My fur stood on end and I steadied myself on all fours. “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!”

But Ella stood, holding on to a thwart. “All right, Stumble-not! Lower the Craft!”

Goblins amassed at the taffrails. They peered overboard and watched as we descended. The pulleys squeaked, rope fibers stretched and creaked. The volume of goblins began to lower, and the volume of the sea began to increase. The sun was beginning to descend, and its color shifted from bright white to a soft orange.

Ella cupped her hands and called up. “Halt!”

Our descent halted midway. For a few moments, the Craft swung, but it seemed as if the sun and the sea were swinging instead! It didn’t help when Ella bolted to the stern. With a key, she opened the chest which contained our hoard. There were materials for a quick mast at the top. She removed the decoy items, and then removed a false bottom.

Gems sparkled in the glowing orange of the sun. Buried beneath the gems were goblin ear wax candles. With friction between sticks, we labored to light a candle which we stuck in the middle of the Craft. We brushed out our fur and mixed them together to make green poofs to sit upon. At last, the Craft stopped swinging so madly. Ella whipped out a bundle of canvas. She unfolded the roll to reveal a smear of smoked fish and a handful of dreambons. The dreambons looked super, super fresh.

I held one up that was nearly the size of my head. “Oh, these have lasted so long below deck!”

“Thrush gave me these.”

“Thrush gave you them? Really? He doesn’t just give dreambons to anyone. I think he likes you a lot. Gee, I’m so happy you and Thrush get along!”

We broke dreambons in half and shared them. We explored their varied tastes. We dove into the fish and gobbled everything up. The sea crashed below, and goblins unleashed their nightly chaos above. The sun continued sinking, and its orange color deepened until it was coral. And in the setting light, our gazes roved the marsh.

I peered hard at the skull. “Can you still see the waterskin?”

Ella leaned and peered. “Is that it? At the top?”

“What else would have weird colors?”

The sea calmed. Occasional slaps of waves sent a light spray over us, and the salt further seasoned the fish. When the sun dipped over the horizon, its body swam like hot red eels in the sea. Birds murmured over the marsh and over the galleon. A giant leaf tumbled down from one of the vines. It floated upon the water, as big as our Craft.

Ella laid back against a thwart and rubbed her tummy. “I’ve been thinking of some of our mechanics.”

“The last time…we were stuck, right?”

“How many skills or abilities do we let our players have?”

“I’ve been mulling it over, you see… What if we made every action an ability?”

“Even something as simple as walking?”

“Why not? What would it hurt?”

Ella nibbled at the shell of a recently slurped dreambon. “...And what if you gained a level in walking every time you rolled a 20?”

“And lost a level everytime you rolled a 1?”

“Maybe…”

I chomped on the other half of the dreambon shell. “Can you imagine rolling ten 20s in a row?”

Ella wiggled her toes. “You’re no longer walking at that point.”

“You’re strutting; one, two, and step. And one, two and-”

“-and turn.”

“And everybody’s looking.”

“You're turning heads.”

I cackled. “Now your charm is leveling up!”

“Next thing you know, you’re dancing through the campaign.”

“Thrusting a hip here-”

“-a hip there!”

Oh, boy! What a day we were having! We talked and joked and laughed back and forth. Sometimes we laughed so hard, the Craft swung, and the flame of the candle whooshed to catch up. And as the sun went down, the candle cast an orange bubble around us. The night cooled into a spring chill. We combined our poofs and lay in each other’s arms at the helm. Sea spray extinguished the candle, but the moon was bright enough to cast shadows.

Ella stirred. “Boggo, look!”

I lay my snout upon the gunwale beside hers. In the marsh, upon the goblin skull, Hawkin’s chimeric colored waterskin was moving! It looked like it was being dragged across the forehead. Then it disappeared as though a star had blinked off for the night.

I couldn’t help but keep my voice at a whisper. “The besties, you think?”

“Wasn’t a bird! Couldn’t be a fish!”

“Oh, do you think it was a snake? Those waterskins are pear shaped, bestie shaped! I hope it was besties! Did you see? Did you see what they looked like?”

“All I saw was the waterskin move.”

However hard I squinted, I could not make out any movement around the skull. “This is so annoying! We tried so hard! Why didn’t they come out? I bet they’ve never seen a blue or yellow bestie before. What do you think they looked like?”

Ella didn’t answer right away, not until she took my paw in hers. “Some besties may not be ready for some things. Sometimes the best thing you can do is give them time and a safe space so that they’ll always have the opportunity when they decide that they’re ready. You’ll be surprised what such a little thing can do to bring out the best in besties.”

“So you think we did the right thing? Just leaving them something?”

Ella leaned back and sank into the fur of my belly.

Oh Ella, you are the absolute best—100%! You know so much about the world! I wish I did too. I wish I knew things like you did. All I know is that when you are with the right bestie, you keep falling in love.

I curled my limbs around her and gave her a squeaky nuzzle.