Chapter 178
Shh…
Boggo
The sloop wasn’t nearly as fast as all the buffs that Barnacle-eyes had for her fleet through evolutions. We still made our way south through warmer weather. This morning it was unusually hot, and a fog peeled off of the sea and streamed on by.
Ella and I were cuddled together in the crow’s nest. It was a gentle quiet morning. Most of the goblins were still asleep.
Whispering as quietly as I could, I said, “Ella? Ella… Ell—”
“Shh,” whispered Ella.
“Sorry. I couldn’t tell if you were sleeping.”
Ella opened her eyes. The scleras were ruby red, and her topaz eyes exposed her weariness.
“I’m too exhausted to sleep,” she uttered.
I felt almost just as exhausted as her. My eyes burned red; I could feel them. The mist cooled us as it wandered through our furs. We had lately been through so much. So, so much!
“I can’t believe all that mutiny drama is finally over!” I said.
“Shh,” said Ella.
“It’s finally over, and we’re finally back home!”
“Shh. Boggo, please.”
I lowered my excitement. “This is the beginning of something great, don’t you think?”
“It’ll be a while before I can even begin to feel normal again.”
“We still have an hour before all the goblins wake up and then—”
“Shh!”
Ahem. “I said we still have—”
Ella nuzzled my snout with hers. Our whiskers touched, and an intimate sensation of love rushed me. “I heard you,” she said. I’m looking forward to seeing Bailey again and showing him our final game.”
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“It’s gonna take some time till we get there. I forgot how much smaller the sloop’s crow’s nest was compared to the Hand-O’War’s.”
“Boggo, lower your voice, please.”
“Sorry.”
“Same here. But it’s comfy. I like it. Do you like it? Do you think it's gonna be big enough for us?”
“It’s way bigger than the bestie tunnels we grew up in, right?”
“True,” she said.
“But with the sea and the wind and the seagulls and the goblins, it does get louder than what a bestie would normally be used to.”
“Oh, I think that’s all right.”
“I wish there was dirt,” I grumbled. “A bestie has gotta have dirt to dig in.”
“Digging is important.”
“No roots or insects either. Do you miss roots and insects?”
“Sometimes when I think of home,” she said.
“Do you think we’re too high up?”
“Compared to the Hand-O’War, this is nothing.”
“But still,” I said.
“I miss gillagrubs the most. I can’t wait to eat some.”
“We’re gonna have a whole pile of gillagrubs.”
“And dreambons?” said Ella. Her glossy eyes repeated the question.
“You betcha.”
“I can’t wait to see the red besties again.”
“And the green besties!” I said. “I hope we get the chance to meet the green besties one day!”
“Shh!”
Yipes! We froze together. Our eyes went wide. We held our breaths.
Between us, in a little blue poof-cocoon, tucked between the warmth of our bodies, a little blue ball of fur lifted its head. A mouth opened in the middle of the round fluffy poof to yawn. And after it yawned, it settled its head down into the depth of its blue-cocoon.
“That was close!” said Ella.
“Whew!”
“My back. I gotta rearrange myself. Do you want to hold them? You haven’t held any of them yet.”
“I’m too scared. What if I don’t do a good job? What if I’m a bad holder?”
Ella shimmied up, and she dumped a blue poof-cocoon, a yellow poof-cocoon, and a speckled poof-cocoon into my arms.
I held my babies for the first time. A blue one. A yellow one. A blue and yellow speckled one. By the elder besties!—Wow! They had all my attention: the attention of my gaze, the attention of my ears, the attention of my hold, the attention of my pounding heart.
As I held them, I felt keenly fearful. All other fears I’ve experienced paled in comparison to this new fear. But a new thing happened to me. It was the first time that I didn’t tremble one iota. Not a single fur—not a single whisker!—trembled because of my fear.
I knew that I would never forget the moment I held my three little besties for the first time. I spoke to them like I was trying to coo a perfect snowflake without blowing it away.
“Hello.” I gulped. I couldn’t find my voice for a moment. “Can I be honest with you guys? Geez, I don’t know how to say this. You see, I’m more terrified than I’ve ever been in my whole entire life. The world is filled with danger. And I may not have the weapons or magic or bravery that my friends have, but I promise you this. Your dad will fear nothing to keep you safe.”