A boat without an anchor

[seekingcrocodile]

WHO: Killian Jones
WHERE: The lake near 7I
WHEN: April 22
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: None

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Killian has been going farther afield, and for longer periods, lately. With the disappearance of Moana too, there's not really anyone expecting him in the village anymore, and there are others who fish. If he doesn't provide any fish for awhile, the rest will still be fine. And the weather has turned a little warmer and stopped dumping so much snow on them, making longer trips possible again.

He packs supplies sufficient for a few days in the pack he arrived with, intending to do some exploring along the lake near the second village. It just so happens that he has a couple of boats from a couple of winters ago, so his plan is to travel along the shoreline and then camp on land overnight. There's less walking, and it should be possible to get all the way around the lake faster than if he went on foot. Theoretically. He doesn't actually know how big the lake is, but he's determined to find out.

He doesn't know what he's looking for along the shore, specifically, just that it seems that if he wants to make it across the lake, it's better to do it with land in sight, not knowing where he's going. He wishes he could make a map of it, but paper is scarce, so his memory will have to do. At least if this is successful, there will be someone in the village who knows the lake.

Then, even though he's not expecting to find anything, he sees something. To most people, it probably wouldn't look like anything expect a pile of rotting trees covered by weeds, but to someone who's spent as much time as he has around seafaring vessels, he knows exactly what they are: boats. Good, sturdy, wooden boats, not like this flimsy collapsible thing he's got now. He beaches the boat and pulls it onto shore behind him, then goes to examine the boats more closely.

They're not in as good condition as they had appeared from the water, in bad need of repair, but they're still obviously wooden boats. With one of these as a base, he could have a boat unlike any he imagined he could have in this place. He could maybe even rig a sail to it, and salvage some things from the boat Moana constructed; she won't need the parts now, and doesn't think she'd mind if he used them for another boat.

He reaches out to touch one of the broken-down boats, almost lovingly. "You just need a little repair, don't you." It's not strange at all to him that he's talking to a boat, and he doesn't expect that someone other than the boat might be listening. "Don't worry. I can get you good as new, and then you can go back to doing what you were made to do."

He takes a step back again, assessing the state of the boat, making a mental list of everything required for the repairs. It won't be fast or easy, but it's possible. He may require help with some of it, but that is the point of this place, isn't it?

Comments

[rangerbecket]

Raleigh tends to go out fishing too since even with the change in the village, this is something he's capable at and comfortable with. In spite of all the changes (or because of them, possibly), he likes to stick with something familiar so he feels like he's still contributing without going too far outside the sphere of safety. Is he qualified? Yes. But he wants to be close to home in case others need his help in the village versus far afield where he might get injured or, worse, someone else injured.

Still, the lake is a place he feels safe enough traveling to and he goes, intending to set lines and fish there for the morning. When he gets there, he realizes he's been beaten by someone who knows a lot more about water than he does: Killian. There's also boats there that look like manna from heaven. They could use boats.

"I hope you know how to fix one of those as easily as row one," Raleigh says. "Because I don't know how to build a boat but I think I can learn."