| Continued from here. |
| Syna cast amber frozen fire over the skies to the east, already hot enough to steal any moisture splattered over the ship’s side in only a few ticks. It was early, but they had only half a day of sailing left before they made their destination. They would lunch at the notorious Black Beach Cavern. Reaching down to ruffle the young otter’s down fur, Sable glanced to Little Al. “This is the mast,” she patted the tall wooden beam the two sails billowed from. “That’s the mainsail, and that’s the jib.” A bony finger pointed imperiously toward a large sheet of material shaped like a right triangle that extended aft over the boat, and then to the slender obtuse triangle that stretched down to the prow. “This is the boom,” she gave a fond pat to the wood the bottom of the mainsail attached to. “And this is the jibsheet.” The jibsheet was a line that extended from a wench near the helm to the corner of the jib. “The boom moves, don’t let it take your head off,” the skipper warned with a grin. Taking her spot at the helm, she backed the sail, bringing the boom around to catch the wind that had previously been blowing straight into the ship, and made the hull rotate out. As they slowly cut across the breeze and away from Al’s ship, Sable continued her lesson, whether Aluria wanted it or not. If something happened to Sable, she’d need to be at least somewhat familiar with this sort of stuff. “Remember that jibsheet I told you about? Well, there’s a mainsheet, too. See how our sails are flapping around? I’m going to tighten the mainsheet,” and she proceeded to, “until the sail gets taut. You do the same for the jibsheet.” As they did so, the cheerful little casinor shot forward. “Great! Now let’s just hope that Al can keep up! “You’re luffing!” Sable called over the wind to the girl, a flash of teeth sparkling like Syna’s diamonds spread over the ruffled waters surrounded them. “See the way the front edge of the sail flutters like that? It means you can tighten it a little bit more. Be careful, though, because if you can’t tell if it’s too tight, only if it’s too loose. So tighten it up just enough to get it to stop flapping. When I tell you to ‘trim’ the sails, you’re going to adjust the tautness to account for the wind direction. So pay attention to those little ribbons I have tied on that line there, when they flutter in a new direction it means the wind changed and we need to readjust our sails. You’ll always have to make the sail luff and then tighten it back up to get it perfect.” Sable, kicking back and lounging, eyed her co-pilot appraisingly. It was a lot to take in all at once, but she had no doubt the girl would pick it up once she got comfortable. Gaze cut to Alexis’ ship, wondering how she felt about Sable’s mischief. Lynn now perched quite proudly at the prow of the Sparkle as the ship cut out and away from Al’s, half a fish at her feet. It had taken a few days, but Sable had methodically wormed her way into the dog’s favor by feeding her bits here and there, and this morning, she had had little trouble luring the puppy over with bits of prime fish. It was left over from the best meal Little Al had made yet. |
