Solo Spring Cleaning

[Telor Riptide]

14th of Spring, 515 AV

Telor squinted his eyes against the bright assault of Syna. The bonesnappers were common this morning, with strong enough winds to make even the weathered sailor cower below deck. And cower he had, until the sun had risen high enough to reach him even below deck. But now, finally out in the crisp morning air, with a mug of cold, fresh water in his hand to wake him, he knew there was no way he could do anything else.

Thy needed to stretch their legs. She needed a Spring cleaning. And he needed to sail.

Making sure he had everything in place, from buckets to brushes, from knives to rags, and of course, Rocky, Telor severed his rope connection with the docks and took her out to sea. In a bout of ectasy at his momentary freedom, Telor whooped loudly and tugged on a rope in the center of the small ship. This threw open the sails, which snapped and grabbed hungrily at the bonesnapping winds. The ship flowed on top of the water at a steady speed almost instantly, taking the Svefra boy farther and farther from the land.

The sailor could have sworn he could almost feel the soft smile of Lia Loon, and hear her gentle words. A song, brother?

Telor nodded subconsciously and whispered a gentle response to the deceased. "Sure, Loon." And in he started on her favorite tune, a ballad to Laviku.

"For Laviku,
The seas we ride.
With Laviku,
Under the skies we hide.
To Laviku,
we pray we're right,
And that we ne'er should falter."

Telor halted the song abruptly, unable to continue due to the dryness of the wind and perhaps, though he wouldn't admit it, he stopped partially due to the large lump in his throat. He would continue it later, he promised himself.

[Telor Riptide]

Once properly afloat, both the ship and her captain were already looking better. The Svefra boy breathed in the salty air and breathed out a contented sigh. The casinor bobbed up and down upon the waves in conjunction with the breaths of Laviku and the blinking of Syna's light.

As tempting as it was for the sailor to simply pull in the sails, lay down, and tan his already golden skin, he knew there were more important things to be done. So, after tying the sails so the boat stood sessile, Telor set to work.

His worn hands splashed into the bucket of water, covered only by the old rag cloth. That cloth had cleaned the entire ship from top to bottom many a time, and would likely do so many more; it would clean her at least once more, for certain. Today, Telor focused on the inside of the ship. Of course, the outside was crusted over with mussels and seaweed and gunk of all sorts, but that was normal for a well-loved ship. The splinters he had gotten from the tiller, the boards that were rotting away on the bow, and the moldy mast were not.

First task- the bow.
Glancing at the dripping rag in his hand and then at the rotting boards on the bow, Telor swore heavily in Fratava.
"Petching vagik. Why in Hai did you let it get this bad? And, more importantly, how are you going to fix it?"

[Telor Riptide]

He had a few extra boards, of course. A few extra boards that were too short to do much of anything, a bent up eating knife, a bucket of water, and a rag were the limits of his supplies.

That meant it was time to get creative. Telor sung Loon's song once more to himself as he gathered the materials in a pile and set to work. His voice was shaky and broken by the wind, but this song was for him, and him alone, anyway. He didn't need to make Loon's song perfect, and he didn't want it to be.

Using the knife as best he could, Telor began to pry out the boards which could not be salvaged. Most of those came out in crumbs and clumps of moldy, rotting wood, which Telor instinctively threw overboard. Those that didn't come out so nicely were attacked brutally. The knife was wedged into them, and then stepped upon like a lever so that they could be pried out. These boards, too fine still to be tossed, were taken below deck and placed in one of Telor's storage compartments. They could be sold or reused later.

As for replacing the wood, Telor found planks that were much too short to fit with the rest of them, but fit just right if he laid them perpendicular to the other planks. He stuck the boards in and jumped up and down on them, causing the entire casinor to rock and sway.

"Good enough, I'd say!" Barked the Svefra, proud of his handy work. After wiping down the rest of the bow and painstakingly peeling the mussels from the underside, Telor lay himself down for a good, long nap in the afternoon sun.

One task down, two to go.