Sons of the Tide (mlm)

Chapter 9: Repairs

Caleb

Caleb had spent most of the next week helping Alexander, the ship carpenter, make repairs to the ship. His mobility was limited thanks to a rope looped through his chains keeping him tethered to the mast, but he was able to saw wood into the correct lengths and sand down patches of splinters on the decks. He was so as helpful as he could be.

Caleb knew Joseph wanted to trust him, but he needed his crew to trust him first. He was fine with that. After all, they'd started out wanting to kill each other for their own gain. Trust would take time.

As Caleb used an extremely old and extremely dull hand-saw to hack away at a piece of wood, he listened to everything around him. Repairs had been slow going, since there was so much structural damage to the ship, so they'd been docked in the lagoon since they got there. Pretty much everyone left the ship at some point but Joseph. He never so much as set foot on the dock.

It made him curious, but the Captain was either talking with Cecelia over a make-shift table of maps or painting parts of the ship with a dark stain so the new wood would match the old and he didn't have the chance to ask about it.

Alex, who he recently learned was called Saw by the other crew mates, came up to him and took the small stack of already cut wood lying by his work station. "I'm surprised that saw is any good."

Caleb chuckled and handed him the two pieces he'd just finished. "You should sharpen it."

"Eh, it does fine." He smiled, his discolored teeth crooked. "Does for you, anyway."

He walked off with the stack of wood against his chest. Once he was gone below deck, Caleb set the saw on one of the barrels he'd been using to prop up wood and sat back against the mast. Joseph came out of his cabin then, his shirt sleeves rolled up and captains hat off—he hadn't been wearing his coat or hat around the ship while painting.

Caleb watched him put an old paintbrush between his teeth, the dented can of stain onto his belt, and climb up the foremast where Saw had patched up a cracked spot with nails and thin boards. It was a patchy job, but Caleb had a feeling a lot of the work done on the ship was. But if it sailed, it didn't really matter.

He used a loop of rope to hold him up and started to paint the patched wood. It was nearly dark, but he didn't seem to care. He took the same time and care on the patch as he did with the rest of them.

Caleb took to gazing at the horizon, past the opening of the lagoon and the ships coming and going. The sun had already set halfway, and the yellow reflected onto the water beautifully. He could get lost in the way the sea looked.

He must've, because he nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Joseph speak from beside him. "Do you ever miss her?"

Caleb looked up at him, but he was watching the sun. "Who?"

"Your mother. It's been a while since you left your island, hasn't it?"

"Yes, it has." He shrugged. "I go to visit her and my sister at least once a year. I haven't gone yet this year, though. Haven't had the chance," he said, laughing slightly.

Joseph huffed in amusement, not acknowledging the fact he had a sister. "I suppose being held captive doesn't make visiting her easy."

"Not really." He looked back at the water. "Why haven't you left the ship this week?"

"Too much work to be done." He paused. "And every time I go back to settled land, I want to stay. It's gets harder to come back to the ship every time."

Caleb hummed. "Did you ever imagine you'd become a pirate?"

"Hell, no." He scoffed slightly. "I always thought I'd become a forge-master. My father was one, but he never taught me. That was why I took the job cleaning the forge back home."

The way he said home was like it wasn't really his home anymore. It was just a place he used to live. Caleb didn't have a place like that, his mothers island would always be home. "What are you going to do after you kill Hawke?"

Joseph was quiet, and Caleb looked up at him. He looked troubled. "I never really thought about that."

They were both quiet for a few minutes, until Caleb broke the silence. "You could start a new life. Or stay a pirate."

He scoffed again, this time like he found that thought humorous. "Cecelia will be captain. She deserves to be captain."

"You could still stay on the ship."

"I wasn't meant to be a pirate." He shrugged, sighing. "Elizabeth would say I'm too soft for it. I used to hate blood, even my own."

He didn't know what to say to that. "I think you make a good pirate."

He finally looked down at Caleb, his eyes dark as ever. "Out of necessity. Truth be told, I'm not much good at anything else."

"Oh, c'mon. You've got to be good at something."

"I'm really not. I was a lousy cleaner, and I was terrible at anything a proper man should be able to do." He looked away again. "The only good thing about me was my wife."

Caleb frowned. "My mother used to say that you're only as happy as you allow yourself to be. You could be happy again."

He was silent, and Caleb feared he may have overstepped. Then Joseph said, "I don't think that's a option for me."

He walked away before Caleb could respond and went into his cabin. Caleb sighed and rested his head on the mast. As the few members of the crew who remembered to come back made their way onto the ship, he closed his eyes.

In the morning, he woke to Cecelia giving orders. Apparently, they were leaving the lagoon. He stayed sitting, as he usually did when he didn't have a task, and watched the crew ready the sails.

Cecelia stopped walking when she came to him. "On your feet. No one on this ships sits in their asses when there's work to be done."

He stood up. "What should I do?"

"Help raise the anchor." She started walking again. "Don't get your rope in anyones way, either."

He nodded and moved towards the men unlocking the anchor mechanism. Cecelia was less friendly then some of the other cremates, but she never came off as truly mean. She was just tough on her crew, and on him. She put him proving himself to the test, that was for sure.

Caleb used his strength to help pull the anchor out of the water, and soon they were sailing back on to the open sea.