I got there. It was closer than I would have liked at times, but I finally managed to return from what was supposed to have been a short trip just to clear my mind. Instead I had faced down several near-death experiences, and while I had come out stronger for it, it was not something that I was looking forward to repeating any time soon. Ideally I could get back in touch with Adam and his family, help them out in some way, get some aid in return, and then figure out what my next goal was going to be.

Right now all I wanted to do was to settle back into the berth that Adam had left for me and get some rest, but that wasn’t to be.

“You’re back!” was the sudden exclamation from the shore, jolting me back awake from the rested state I had fallen into. Before I could react or even recognize the voice, I felt the impact of a small body as it landed inside me, sending water sloshing around dangerously.

“I thought you’d gone off to do your own thing elsewhere and weren’t coming back after a couple of weeks.” Jim continued onwards as he got himself settled comfortably. “But this dock’s a nice quiet spot to relax a bit, ‘specially this late at night. Oh! No one’s around, so you don’t have to worry about doing your thing.”

I began tapping out a hello of my own, even as I tried to figure out what exactly Jim was talking about. It hadn’t been that long, had it? Maybe a day or three, five at most, but Jim made it sound like I had been missing for multiple weeks. With that said, I had a very obvious suspicion as to what might be responsible for my missing time.

Trying to share that tale with Jim was a slow process though, and eventually inspired a new code for communicating with instead of sticking to yes no questions or having me count out every letter. What started as a series of yes/no questions to split the alphabet in half multiple times ended up through repetition as something approaching binary. Five taps, either long or short, to say first or back half of the set of remaining letters. It might not have been as optimized as morse code, but it was convenient enough that soon Jim had heard the outline of my run in with the flat ocean and the spooky fog.

“Yeah, that’s about right.” He agreed authoritatively after I had finished. “It’s not the first thing you’d hear around here, but there are downsides to the piece of magic that makes sure Dirint stays so close to the other three cities. Shorter trips to some places need to balance out somehow, and it turns out that all the extra space and stuff they didn’t want ended up forming its own special thing.”

“People call it the mirror, and it’s something you dare your friends into doing, if they have a month or so to spare. Never directly harmful, but the lost time is a pain, and not all people can handle getting their inner self thrown at them like that. The navy makes everyone go through it at least once, to weed out the flakes.” Jim paused, as if something had just occurred to him.

“How did that work exactly, with you being a boat and all.?”

And so, with the words from the fog still fresh in my mind, I began to share my own story. Jim is remarkably patient with me, but I think he’s somewhat off guard from the revelation that I used to be a human, at least before I died and found myself in this body. He’s still listening and reacting appropriately as I share how I managed to leave Shellpin Bay and stumble across him and his family, but I figure that sooner or later he’ll have a boatload of questions for me.

“Damn.” He swears appreciatively once I finish filling him in on everything. “I’m sorry that you ended up here, instead of whatever afterlife you were heading for.”

I accept the platitude in the spirit it was meant, not wanting to get into the details of my previously agnostic stance at the moment. Instead I simply tapped out a simple question.

“What next?”

Jim thought it over for a bit. “Well, I wanted to see if I could work with you rowing people around town. We still can, but only if you want to.” When I didn’t immediately reject his plan he continued with an explanation.

“Mom and Dad are doing what they can, but having to start over isn’t easy, especially for my mom. This is her first time traveling, and she’s still adjusting to this city and all its little quirks. Dad’s obviously been here before, but his vow makes things difficult for him in some other ways.”

“What vow?” I ask, curious to see if Adam told his son more than the sparse details I overheard or pieced together.

“It's a skill, ‘Left in the Deep’. As long as Dad doesn’t involve himself with the ocean, everything from his secret past can’t catch up to him. He gets a sense for what exactly that means, but even with him trying to be flexible it means he can’t work as a sailor or even just as a dockhand. That’s most of the easy and available jobs right there, and while he’s getting some work as a handyman and woodworker, most of his time is spent just trying to drum up more business.”

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“Thanks.” I appreciate the explanation, and feel a bit embarrassed about the spits of resentment I was holding onto. It would have been convenient if Adam had been able to help me more, but there is obviously something in his past that he doesn’t want to risk catching up to him. Still, even if Adam can’t offer us his age and experience, I at least have Jim on my side, willing to help me out, for my own help in return.

I take a bit to condense my next abstract question into something short and understandable. “Why you, me?”

“Why? Because my parents are doing so much to pick up the pieces of their life already, but they don’t want me to ‘toss away my childhood.” I hear the sound of him spitting overboard. “Pax, Mary, and Suzie were my friends, and they all got left behind to deal with those soldiers and their conscription. They might not be targeted as blatantly as I was, but that doesn’t mean that they’re safe. I’m not about to pretend like everything's alright when my life is completely broken, my friends are impossibly distant, and I’m stuck in a city where everyone treats me as a country bumpkin. I get what Dad is aiming for, but I’ve lost too much to try and play childlike games.”

“I understand.” I tell him, and I do. It’s all too easy to be cut by kindness when the person doing the kindness doesn’t fully grasp the situation. I don’t know if it’s willful ignorance on their part or if they’re simply too busy and otherwise distracted to catch those thoughts that Jim has been bottling up, but I’m at least grateful that he’s comfortable enough to share them with me. If it was an external problem I have no doubts that Adam and Gladys would be fantastic parents, but there isn’t an easy way to get through teenhood, to keep everyone informed and up to date on the parameters of a steadily shifting relationship. Jim was no longer the child his parents had made and cared for, needing protection from every problem, but neither was he an adult capable of making his own way in the world. He might be close to that point, but every day would reveal issues and skills that he needed to master to reach that point, and every day what his parents could do to support him changed.

I might not be able to do much to help my new friend here, but what I could do was be there for him.

“I’m in.” was my simple response. I had no idea how exactly this ferry service would work, and I didn’t think Jim did either, but others could ask those hard questions, and time if nothing else would bring those up. Between the two of us we could come up with answers or alternate solutions.

“That’s great!” I could hear the palpable excitement in Jim's voice. “There’s almost always a crowd over on market street looking for a boat to help get their purchases home. Most of the time there are already boats lined up to help them out, but every now and again there’s times where customers have to wait, so I’m sure we can at least get a bit of business. Even just a bit of money would go a long way towards helping my parents relax a bit, you know?”

I didn’t know, and I didn’t think it would be quite as easy to join what seemed like an established ferry business, but I didn’t voice either of those thoughts. I couldn’t afford to keep to myself, to try and take on the world by my lonesome. The monsters and magic out there made it physically impossible, and my mental state made it personally impossible. I needed to start connecting with people again, to have the social structure around me so that I could start healing all the emotional wounds that had just been poked.

So despite years of experience telling me otherwise, and to spite days of a ghost throwing that experience in my face, I decided to trust Jim. It helped knowing that Adam was nearby and wouldn’t hesitate to intervene if Jim was truly in danger, but for the most part I was simply willing to take things on faith. Jim had been good to me, and I was going to trust that things would continue in that way.

“Can do.” I agreed. “But first, repairs.”

Curious to see what exactly the problem was, Jim climbed out, before slowly dragging me up and onto the dock. I winced a bit at the ominous scraping, but I had held together long enough to get here. Now it was time to build myself back up better.

Slappy - Rowboat

Autonomous Intelligence

Component

Weight - 165/750

Durability 3/10

Enchantments 3

Mana Saturation 15/24

Hull - Wood

Symbiotic Plating

Navigation

Listening

Oars - Wood

Automation

Name

Robert 'Bob' Rowland

Experience : 5348

Class

Ocean's Child : Lvl 6

Body : 0

Mind : 8

Spirit : 24

Perception : 8

Skills

Power Strike

Meditation

Blessing of the Tides

Saltwater Sense

Water Resistance

Mana Infusion

Active Sonar