Chapter Text
Chan can’t help his grin when the cabin door opens that morning, Jeongin emerging clear-eyed like he’d been awake for hours and Felix with eyes shut and hair fluffed up like a baby bird. He’d peeked inside last night, just to check that they were asleep, and had absolutely melted when he’d seen them wrapped around each other beneath the blanket. Maybe he was getting too attached. Maybe.
"You two slept well last night?"
He catches Jeongin’s blush before he turns away to jump up a crate.
Felix yawns, unembarrassed. "Yeah, why didn't you come in?"
The truth is that Chan hadn't slept, keeping course throughout the night- he hadn’t even realized how late it was until light began to creep at the corner of the horizon, and by then it seemed to late to try.
"Ah, you looked comfortable. Maybe when we dock?"
To be honest, he was tired- but without an experienced crew, he needed to stay at the helm if they wanted to get anywhere soon at all. And it was better for the younger two to rest.
"How long until then?" Jeongin asks, crouched on one of the larger boxes.
"Uh, hopefully two days. There isn't a big harbor soon, but- Felix, did I tell you we'll probably dock in Malesia?"
"…Maybe?” he mumbles.
"Ah, yeah, well- we're gonna need a bigger crew. And, we do need supplies. Water. Actually, I kind of stole the two of you, so…” he laughs. “Jeongin, would you trim the sheet? We’re going to tack.”
Jeongin springs down the deck to pull the jib line, tightening to sail. “What about the guys?” he calls, “That helped you get the ship at Port Sui?"
"The guys?" Felix asks. He’s pulled himself up onto Jeongin’s abandoned crate, blinking blearily against the sun.
“Friends of mine," Chan answers. "But, they have their own ship. And, they’re smugglers- it’s better for them to keep under the radar. I don’t know if anyone’s watching out, since we took back the ship…” The privateers did seem ticked off enough to hold a grudge, to be honest.
“…Yeah, they might consider this theft. Maybe piracy,” He settles. “Not that it was really theirs, but…” it wouldn’t end well if authorities got involved. And he’d asked too much of Bam already.
“Tacking!” Chan calls, turning the boat into the wind until the sails catch it perpendicularly. “This is good, Jeongin, you can come back up!”
“Piracy? Us?” Felix realizes, incredulous.
“I know, I’m sorry for corrupting you. It’s not too late to take Jeongin and run,” Chan laughs, but- honestly, they probably should.
“Innie, is this criminal holding you captive?” Felix asks, wide eyed, “blink twice for yes!”
“Hyungs, it’s fine,” Jeongin complains, running back up the stairs. “I was stealing when you met me, you know.”
“Oh, no- are you the one who’s corrupted us?? Reverse card?” Felix stares at Chan, before whispering “Are you under duress?”
Jeongin blinks. “Reverse card?”
“Ah, it’s from a card game called Avatar, have you heard of it?"
When Jeongin shakes his head, he nods. "Yeah, it's from Straya. I think I remembered to bring my deck, actually…” Chan muses, locking his wheel before standing to rummage through his satchel. “We could play?”
“Yes!” Felix cheers, jumping down from the crate.
“Is it hard?” Jeongin asks.
“Yeah nah, the rules are pretty simple,” Felix assures.
As he expected, it’s in one of the side pockets- he hands the deck to Felix. “You can show him how- I’m gonna see if there’s anything to eat, okay?”
He probably wouldn’t find anything more than the rest of the dried meat. Ah, if only they had rice- what Chan would do for some porridge…
“We can help you cook,” Felix protests.
His face has some color to it now, not like the sickly pale he’d been that first day. But he’s thin enough to see it in his cheeks, and Chan’s seen him wobble when he walks, though he’d done it on his own this morning- it would be better not to test it.
“Thanks, but I don’t think we really have anything left to cook,” he laughs. “I’ll be right back, okay?”
Sure enough, there isn’t much left in the kitchen- some dried orange, now that they’d finished the salmon the night before. Chan heats some water over the tin-lined fireplace, adding the last of the dried anchovy and spices. It’s really not much- but he figures a broth is better than nothing, and they look happy enough when he comes back to set the bowls and oranges down, sitting across the two of them.
“…basically, you should save the avatar card for if you don’t have the element you need,” Felix is explaining, holding up the multicolored card. “Or if it’s the end of the game. Otherwise, it’s kind of a waste.”
“Do the rules make sense?” Chan asks Jeongin, taking a sip from the broth.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Okay! Great!” Felix claps. “You can go first hyung, we already dealt the cards.”
Jeongin sips from his bowl, Chan setting his own down to check his hand. Not bad.
“Alright, sure. I’ll start with water,” he says, setting the blue card down.
The day passes similarly, with game after game until Chan’s stomach cramps from laughing. They take breaks to adjust the sails, but at some point he’s so immersed that he’d forgotten to watch for the wind until the boat slows to a stop, sails luffing loudly overhead.
“We’re in irons,” Chan realizes, setting down his hand to stand up. “Ugh. Jeongin, can you help me with the jib? We need to make some fake wind, basically, to get out of this.”
“What happened?” Felix questions, Jeongin making down the deck.
“You can’t sail directly upwind,” Chan explains. “There’s no wind for the sails to catch, so the boat stops.” Sure enough, they’re stuck in place- the wind must have shifted and he hadn’t noticed.
“…I can try bending?” Felix offers, setting his deck down. “To move us to the side?”
“Uh- yeah! If you can, sure!” It was only a pain to catch the wind again, but color Chan curious.
"Yeah, I think so," Felix says, using a crate to push himself up before walking down port side.
Chan opens his mouth to apologize to Jeongin- nothing needs to be adjusted, he can come back- before realizing he's already leaning over the rail at the bow, to watch where Felix is churning the water beneath.
Slowly, the boat turns, sails filling with wind.
“Do you think you can keep that going?" Chan wonders.
“Like this?” Felix calls, bringing one foot forward- combined with the new wind, the boat lurches ahead, Jeongin stumbling back with it.
“Sorry!”
Chan sees Jeongin wave it away, but can't tell if anything is said when the boy sits against the mast to watch instead. He might have never seen waterbending, Chan realizes, if he hadn't ever left Xina.
When Felix extends his arms behind him, Chan can feel the way the boat is lifted, water rising to roll beneath them when Felix leans forward. Steadily, the ship is pushed ahead.
They're moving really fast, he thinks, for the strength of the wind- Chan turns to look down the stern, where the boat cuts a deep v in its wake as water pushes them through.
It’s ten minutes of this before Chan begins to worry- bending is physically taxing, after all, and to be push too hard at this point could easily set back Felix’s recovery.
"Hey! Want to finish the game?" Chan calls. "I think the wind can carry it from here."
//
They play until nightfall makes it too hard to see the cards. At Felix's insistence, he'd started guiding the boat again- something about learning the hull’s angle. It's dark enough that Chan's just thinking to ask if they're ready for bed, when the soft plucking of strings carries across the still water. Chan feels the hairs of his neck stand on end.
“Felix, bring her to,” Chan whispers.
“What?”
It was . Through the thick evening fog, light flickers across the slow-moving waves.
“Bring- stop the boat,” he says. “Look.” He nods behind them- across the water, a ship’s dull metal hull is begins to cut through the fog- a black against red ensign luffing in the wind.
Fire nation.
It’s large enough that their own main mast is just crests the level of the other ship’s deck, which is easily more than four times their length. It’s probably what’s hidden them, Chan realizes, deck dark and small enough to hide first behind the fog, and now in this ship’s long shadow.
Not that they looked to be watching for anything- having drifted closer alongside where the other has dropped anchor, the strumming of music is rythmic and bold, sailors stumbling to the melody beneath the silhouette of… a whale?
Yeah- it’s a whale hanging over the side of their deck, the aroma of seared meat wafting under Chan’s nose. A whaling ship.
“Don’t you hate them?” Felix complains- his tone is pitchy, but his blue eyes are hard. “Ugh. Just smelling that makes me hungry.”
“Yeah,” Chan agrees. Above, figures stumble about the deck- he watches them, for a moment. Jeongin hasn’t said a word, careful green eyes staring up and across the water.
Imagine if they had some of that- Chan would bet there’s fresh water, too. They had enough water aboard, even if it had gone still, and Chan thinks they’d probably be fine to last a day longer without food, but… it wouldn’t be fun. It wasn’t already.
He can hear them singing, drunkenly careless, from the short distance he can even see one fall over. It’d be so easy.
And whose food were they eating, really?
Think about this rationally, it’s not like they’re the ones who-
Privateers had killed him, but they’d do anything for money. Chan knows who paid them- that same red and black banner flies over the whaling ship.
“What would you think if…” he starts. “Would you want to eat some?”
“What do you mean, would I?” Felix’s nose scrunches. “I love whale. Right now I bet I could eat a whole yak. And-” he stops. “Oh. you don’t mean…”
“Yeah.” Chan tries to laugh, but it falls flat. “It does make me angry, too. And- where do you think they’re taking the whale to, anyway?” Wax, candles, machinery. War machines.
“What if it was… cut loose?”
Maybe it was too much to ask. It was reckless, and Chan knows he shouldn’t be dragging two kids into his issues- but were they really only his? What with Felix, and- actually, not that he knows much about Jeongin. But they would at least get some money out of it, make it easier to start their own way-
“I would,” Jeongin speaks up, finally turning away from the other vessel. “I would do it."
“Really?” he looks over- “You don’t have to. I’ll drop this right now, and we can go on like nothing happened- we are close to shore, and-”
“I want to do it,” he emphasizes. “I think it’s a good idea. And I can steal well, so-”
“ Didn’t you get caught ?” Felix mumbles.
“Well- yeah, but that was different!” he sputters, turning back around. “I promise they won’t even know anyone was there! You should let me go."
“Well…” Chan starts. “It’s risky. I think we can pull it off, but if we’re caught-”
“Yeah, I know. That’s fine.”
“…I can too,” Felix speaks up. “Help. I mean, I don’t know anything about stealing, but I can help?”
“Oh- that’s fine, you shouldn’t be moving around much now anyways. Actually, what I was thinking was-” he gestures around, to where fog clings to the dark water, and finds an idea taking shape.
“Do you know how to make mist?”
//
The air is salty and cold when it hits his face. The feeling of water churning around his feet is- weird, and it’s only by the time they’ve risen enough to almost see the deck that Chan feels remotely balanced. He’s sure he’s fairly green.
To his side, Jeongin shoots him a grin, before jumping up to the to the roof of the cabin. The water unwraps from his legs in the air, like some sort of snake- when Chan steels himself to do the same, scrambling for balance on the rooftop, he’s surprised to find that he’s not even wet. The wave which had frozen to lift them so high retreats into the darkness below them, and he stops watching it sink when vertigo twists his stomach. Scaling the roof might be more dangerous (“I’ll be fine!” Jeongin had complained, “I can climb!”), but Chan knew the last place they’d think to look was up.
Not that they’re looking anywhere at the moment, Chan thinks, when he peers around the cabin to find only a few crew sitting around the deck. Jeongin would have to cross it- but they look lethargic enough and the deck is dark enough that if he moves as quietly as Chan knows he can, there won’t be any issues. Good.
Leaving the younger crouched at the front of the roof, Chan turns back to face stern. Anchor had been dropped, so the rest were probably in their sleeping quarters- which means that he shouldn’t go in through the cabin below him.
But, looking down the side of the ship- two more levels down, a window hangs open. Too low to be the crew?
Chan takes a deep breath. Carefully, gripping the roof ledge, he lowers himself off the wall. When his feet feel the rim of the window, he looks down to where the next hangs open below-
Dark water laps at the ship below. His stomach churns.
The most that can happen is you’ll get soaked, it’s going to be fine-
Taking a breath, Chan lets go, swinging his legs through the open window below.
Yes!
He stumbles slightly when he falls, wincing at the thud of his feet hitting the ground- but when he waits for a few seconds, there’s no noise. Okay. Great.
Chan looks around- barrels are stacked against the walls tightly enough not to budge. Water? No - cannonballs line the opposite wall. Good . He’d been worried he’d gone too low, but they wouldn’t keep ammunition below water. Regardless, it’s not like he could carry any of it back with him.
As carefully as he can, Chan steps through the doorway.
He squints through the darkness. He’s come through the end of the hallway, it seems, metal scaffolding separating the length into doorless rooms. Dining? Maybe? There might be a door further down, but it’s too dark to tell.
But- there is one to his left. Chan turns the cold doorknob- locked.
That’s fine. That’s good, he thinks giddily, nothing good would be left unlocked. And, so close to the supplies, maybe it was-?
Chan reaches for his pocket, where he’d slid a small pebble. Holding it between two fingers, it flattens- and, carefully, he brings it to the crack of the door. If they’d been too lazy to use the deadbolt, then maybe he could prod at the latch enough to-
He bends his finger, curving the stone inside just the slightest-
There’s a click. Chan holds his breath when he pushes open the door.
It’s as he’d hoped- a long room, stacked full of canvas bags (rice!) barrels, and at the end, sea chests.
But not all.
By the time Chan’s searched all the ones he could open, his bag is heavy and his heart is thumping loudly in his chest.
Money, jewelry, a very fancy letter opener, knives, more money-
Gold is heavy- he'll have to leave some of the rice. Chan grins, stupidly, covering his mouth when he realized he's almost laughed. Resisting the urge to get away as fast as he can, Chan closes the door behind him before leaving the hallway.
The climb back up is difficult, slow with a heavy bag Chan is terrified will clank with the coins he's stuffed it with- by the time he pulls himself up on the roof he's sweating, mouth open as he breathes shallowly enough that he hopes it can't be heard.
It’s a nervousness that rushes through him, prickling at his neck when he scans the deck for Jeongin- We've almost gotten away with it, we have to leave now-
But Jeongin isn't watching for him on the deck, instead-
There’s a small shadow on the beam where the whale hangs, twenty meters above.
Why was he all the way up there?
There was typically a cleat or lever that could be undone from the bottom, at least on the fishing vessels where Chan had worked- instead, Jeongin is crouched far above, halfway down the jib so his hands can grip the beam below. Of the three straps that had supported the whale, only the one below him remains, the giant carcass hanging precariously over the ocean. If that thing slipped off into the water-
If Jeongin slipped-
Putting both hands over his head, Chan waves. I’m ready! Come over!
He's probably already spotted Chan on the roof, he realizes, the silhouette waving back immediately before turning down to the beam. He’s going to cut it through .
It’s only a moment before Jeongin springs up- the line must have cut - and is sprinting the length of the crane towards Chan’s roof like he's one and not twenty meters above the deck, and then- It’s like time has slowed, Chan watching with horror- Jeongin vaults off the end of the beam with all the nimbleness of a fox.
The whale hits the water first, with a splash that douses Chan with frigid water, sloshing all over the deck below. The boat lurches violently to the side just as Jeongin hits the roof of the cabin, beside Chan, much further than a jump should have carried him , stumbling when the boat comes back to tilt the other way.
Chan reaches for him when it tips again, gripping Jeongin’s shoulders to hold him steady.
“Why were you up there?! I thought you would come back from the deck?” He whisper-hisses.
“It would be too loud if I did it down there,” he explains, eyes wide and bewildered. “The pulley made these clacking noises, and I didn’t think I could make it from the deck in time?”
In his right hand, Chan realizes, Jeongin’s holding a chunk of the whale meat. Blood drips on the roof.
By now, the crew have all rushed to the deck- someone’s yelling, and a few surround the crane. There’s nothing wrong with it- it’s only a matter of time before they realize the lines had been cut.
Chan exhales.
“Okay- come,” he gestures, crouching down to hang off the side of the cabin with his feet on the windowsill below. Jeongin swings over beside him, still holding the meat, dangling over the dark water lapping at the ship far below. It takes a lot for him not to break into nervous laughter.
Chan’s fingers grow numb as they wait, hanging- carried across the still air, the confusion on the ship grows louder. It shouldn’t be long- the impact of the whale hitting the surface had surely been long enough-
The brow of their ship pierces through the fog, riding a wave high enough to easily capsize a it- but Felix is as the brow, and when he sweeps an arm in front of him the water swells beneath the ship, carrying it forward.
“Let go on three, yeah?” Chan whispers. “One, two-”
When the ship’s deck has risen to just three meters below where their own feet hang, they let go. Chan’s feet hit the wood with a thud, impact running up his knees. He wobbles slightly when the wave begins to fall, whaling ship rising far above once again as their own meets even with sea level.
“Great job, that was perfect,” Chan whispters to Felix, before striding up the stairs. “I’ve got the wheel, it’s okay- just do the mist, yeah?” he calls, rushing to the wheel when Felix heads for the bow. “Jeongin, can you loosen the jib?”
Their own course runs perpendicularly past the back of the whaling ship, so as long as they keep up the speed, it shouldn’t matter. It would take the larger ship far too long to turn, not to mention rigging.
Above, Chan hears a yell.
“Behind! There’s a ship overtaking the stern!”
“What?”
Adrenaline courses through Chan’s veins; this is it. “Innie, can you loosen the foresail?” he whisper-yells. Going downwind, it needed to be open to pick up as much speed as they could.
The mist has thickened enough that Chan can’t see through it when he spares a glance behind, but they’re still close enough to hear the muffled confusion- close enough for the whaling ship to be able to hear them . As long as they got far enough ahead for any of those cannons to be used- they should be fine. The ship wouldn’t have known which direction they were headed.
Chan can’t help the smile at he corner of his mouth as they make more distance, grinning by the time the yelling is completely out of earshot.
Twenty minutes later, they’ve changed direction so many times that Chan is confident they won’t be caught, much less spotted through the thick fog. Confident enough to leave the other two above deck while he goes down with the whale steak. The aroma grows so rich as it cooks that he can feel himself salivating, can't keep himself from rotating it unnecessarily over the fire for all of the ten minutes that it takes to finish.
When Chan lifts the hatch to climb onto the deck, two sets of eyes quickly look over. Did he interrupt something?
“Food’s done,” he says, setting down the plate. “Try, it smells good.”
Felix picks a piece of the meat, humming loudly in satisfaction when he chews. Chan can’t see Jeongin’s face where the other leans into the meat, bangs hanging in front of his eyes.
Swallowing, Felix looks to him nervously. “Uh- so, did everything go… okay?”
Chan sighs. “Yeah, actually. It went really well.” He hadn’t meant to make the other two nervous.
There was no way that had been safe, but- Chan was the one who’d brought him on the ship to begin with, it had even been Chan’s idea.
“Hey, Jeongin- you did really good, I’m sorry for being harsh earlier.”
“Oh-” He looks up, eyes big and cheeks stuffed with meat. “Uhm, it’s okay,” he mumbles around the food.
“Just-” Chan’s lips are pursed. “Did you think, what if the boat tipped before you’d jumped? If it’s that dangerous, I wouldn’t have been upset if you had waited for me and we could’ve left without doing the whale. You did really good, I just- it was so risky.”
Jeongin’s closed expression shifts into something bewildered.
“It really wasn’t, though? I knew what I was doing.”
“You…” Yeah, Jeongin had sprinted across the beam like he’d been on solid ground. “…Definitely did. But that ship was still metal and wood, there was nothing either of us could have done if you’d fallen. Just….” he exhales. “Think about it, yeah?”
“…Okay…?”
Jeongin is still looking at him weridly, eyebrows scrunched up like Chan had said likes to take exams for fun, or something. What ?
Chan shakes his head.
“But yeah, it all went… really amazingly, actually. Really great work, both of you.”
“Oh, really?” Felix beams. “I was worried about this sailing thing, you know, I don’t really know how with all the sails and everything, but…”
“You did it perfectly, really,” Chan assures. “And Jeongin, you did really well too- just, that went great. And the meat, too- it’s a great cut.”
“Yeah,” Felix groans, “Such a good job, I’ve missed whale so much, ah…”
“Is it really supposed to be like this?” Jeongin asks, getting another piece and inspecting it. “Like beef, but… fishy?”
“Yup,” Felix agrees, taking a new bite. “Yum.”
Everything is better with a full stomach. By the time they’ve finished, Chan feels warm and lazy, like all the stress has been drained out of him despite the cold night.
“So,” he asks, dusting off his pants as he stands. “Wanna see what we got?”
“Yeah!” Felix calls, when Chan walks up to where he’d left his bag beside the wheel, making grabby hands when he brings it back down to the deck.
“Open it!” Chan laughs. Felix pulls it up from the ground onto a crate as Jeongin scoots over to watch.
“Woah, it’s heavy,” he comments, undoing the rope at the top and pulling a smaller sack out if it.
“The big one is just rice and other food stuff,” Chan supplies. “Check out the stuff at the top.”
Jeongin reaches for it, loosening the rope further to stare inside. He stills, looking up at Chan with green eyes like dinner plates- Chan can’t help the laugh that comes out.
“Huh? What is it?” Felix demands, pulling the bag back towards himself.
“I was thinking we could split the money,” Chan offers, “and you can take any of the other stuff you’d like. I just took what looked nice.”
“It’s so pretty!” Felix marvels, pulling out a necklace to hold it up to his face. “But isn’t it…” he hesitates. “I don’t know. I get the money, but I feel kind of bad taking this stuff… what if this is from someone’s mom or something? You know?” He looks over to Jeongin.
“It’s the same to me,” Jeongin says indifferently, rifling through the bag.
“That’s fair,” Chan assures. “For me, I guess I think that… if they got the money from the fire nation, then how did they get the rest of it? It’s all worth money in the end. That might just be my upbringing, though."
It’s as the code says-
Should I become the lackey of any crown or country, may I be ripped apart by thunderbolts… should I ever accept coin for my labors, may I be sliced to bits by a variety of knives.
Wasn’t this the same?
"You’re Daofei?”
It's Jeongin who asks, startling Chan from his thoughts.
“Not really. My dad was more involved,” Chan answers curiously. “Why?” His dad.
“No, I just… didn’t know that.”
His dad. What would he think? Is it wrong?
'They say they own the ocean… Look! How can she be owned!'
“Daofei? What’s that?” Felix asks. The coins clank at the bottom of the bag.
He’s dead. It shouldn’t matter what he’d think. It doesn't matter.
“Criminal organization stuff,” Chan responds, teasing. “You don’t need to know anything about that.”
“Oh yeah, sure, ‘cause this stuff is legal,” Felix agrees sarcastically, swinging the necklace around. “I thought you said this’d make us pirates?”
“Pirates?” Chan laughs. “We stole stuff from one boat…does one piracy make you a pirate?” he muses. “I wonder if that’s an insult to pirates…”
“This again?” Jeongin whines.
“And we stole this boat, remember,” Felix adds
“-sure, stole ,” Chan mutters.
“-And then you stole me. And Innie! You’re definitely a pirate!”
“-I stole you and the boat too,” Jeongin complains. “But he’s right, hyung.”
“Yeah, okay,” Chan says. “Great piracy today, everyone.”
“Yay!” Felix claps.
//
“Do I look okay?” Felix asks. He’s dressed in a set of Chan’s clothes- they’d all been wearing those lately, actually, Chan should keep his eyes out for more today - and though they fall a little big on him, it looks nice.
Jeongin, leaning in the doorway, says as much- Felix narrows his eyes at him in the cabin mirror, the younger grinning back before walking out onto the deck.
They’d gone to bed late the previous night, happy and full of whale. It was only when light began to glow behind the horizon that Chan shoved the other two off to bed- but they were so close to the nearest town that he hadn’t been able to resist sailing through the morning, wanting to reach land by the time they woke up.
And it worked- They were only half an hour from shore when Jeongin stumbled out of the cabin, and by the time Felix woke the ship had been docked.
“Nah it looks good, except maybe…” Chan turns to rifle around in his bag, before finding what he was looking for. “Ah! Yeah, take this-”
It’s a black hat. Chan pushes Felix’s hair away from his forehead before pulling it over his head, low enough to cover his white-blonde eyebrows.
“-yup, looks good,” He says, watching Felix scrunch his nose at his reflection. “I doubt they’ll place the accent.”
Chan tucks his coin purse into his satchel before he leaves the room, finding Jeongin already dressed and waiting on the deck.
“I still can’t believe there’s no fee,” he says, when Chan approaches. They hadn’t been approached to pay for using the dock, when they’d gotten in earlier this morning- but looking around, it was easy to see why.
Chan had chosen to stop at the nearest town on the map, and just how small it was had become clear as they’d docked, the only other ships being local sailboats. They were lucky to even fit in a boat slip. Compared to Port Sui, it’s night and day.
“Yup,” Chan responds. “It looks nice here.”
When Felix comes out of the cabin, having finished, the three of them take the short walk out of the dock and into town. There, they agree to split up, deciding to meet back at the boat if they hadn’t seen each other by four.
Felix had smelled food down the street and left, wanting to investigate- Chan, being the the only one with any letters to send and not yet hungry enough to eat, had wandered off in search of that. Jeongin… Chan had turned around, confused to find that he had had disappeared from his side at some point- he must have gone with Felix? Chan thinks. How long had I been talking to myself…?
It’s a cute town, he thinks. Buildings stand on wooden pillars high above the ground, in a style he’s unfamiliar with, with tall, sloping tiled roofs shading fenced balconies. The chattering of birds fills the heavy air, and everywhere, it’s green- grasses shooting through the stone-brick roads, plants and trees competing for light when he looks into the jungle from a road at the edge of town.
It’s much more similar in size to Harbour City, and he immediately feels more at ease than he had been in Port Sui. Walking, Chan nears a group of rocks set in a spiral next to what looks like a schoolhouse- on the rocks, five kids are taking turns hopping towards the center.
A girl, noticing him, points. “Sailors!”
The drawback of a small town, is that he sticks out as an outsider like a sore thumb.
The others look over- Chan winces when one of them stumbles on their rock- ah , don’t fall- before righting themself.
“Hi!,” Chan waves, doing his best to sound friendly and very not suspicious. “Do you know where I can find the post office?”
“Oh yeah, I can take you that way,” The girl says confidently. “I know a shortcut. My mom works there!”
“That’s a really important job,” Chan says. The girl puffs up. “You like visiting her there?”
“Yup!” She states, hopping off the rock. “It’s this way!” She yells, walking behind the rocks where the cleared area turns to thick grass and trees. The boy who’d almost stumbled looks back at Chan quickly, before following after her.
“Ah-okay,” he says, hurrying after them into the brush.
It’s a short walk, hardly a minute before they pop out the other side onto a smooth cobble road. Huh.
“Your bracelet is really pretty,” comes from behind him- Chan nearly jumps, before looking back to find a girl admiring his wrist. Since when had there been another one behind him?
“Oh, do you like it? You can have it,” He offers, unclasping it and holding it out to her.
“Are you sure?” She asks, big blue eyes staring up at him. “Is it a lot of money?”
“I think it suits you better,” Chan says, holding it out. “Just be very careful with it, okay?”
Her mouth hangs open when he sets it in her palm.
“….I actually have some more,” Chan says turning away from her to where the other kids watch the exchange with wide eyes. He reaches into his pocket for the small bag he’s brought, thankful he hadn’t organized any of it yet when he picks out four of the remaining jewelry. Squatting, he holds them out. “You can each have one, if you want?”
“…Mister, aren’t you drunk?” A boy questions- he chooses a ring just small enough to fit his thumb.
Chan laughs. “No! Don’t worry. My friends just didn’t want these ones.”
“…you have crazy friends,” the other girl mumbles, looking at the bracelet in her palm
He can’t help but double over in laughter at that. “You think so?” he grins. “Am I crazy too?”
“…kind of.”
“Ah, you’re smart,” Chan says, still grinning widely. He can feel their eyes on him when they’ve taking the jewelry, and he reaches back into the bag.
“You can give these to your parents, okay?” He says, counting out five gold pieces. “Thanks so much for helping me! I would have probably gotten lost.”
Chan hands them each one, and the girl he’d been talking with looks back up at him for a second before turning around and dashing back into the forest path.
“Nazra! Wait!” Another girl calls, taking off after her.
“Thank you! Bye mister!”
“Bye crazy rich guy!”
“Bye-bye! Thank you mister! Sorry they’re rude!” The last boy apologizes, before running after the other four.
“It’s okay!” Chan laughs, watching them kick up a cloud of dust as they run before standing up from the squat, dusting himself off.
He turns around to the post office when he sees a familiar face standing next to the door. Jeongin?
Chan tries to hide the way he stumbles in surprise- He hadn’t heard anything at all , that kid could be quiet .
“Oh! Hey,” he greets. “I didn’t realize you were there. You don’t want to buy anything?”
Jeongin shrugs. “Not really.”
“Oh. Well… I was going to look for food after I sent my letters off, ” Chan offers, reaching into his bag where two scrolls are written and tied. “Want to come?”
“Sure,” Jeongin agrees, nodding. Chan can’t read his expression- he follows the younger into the post office.
The process is simple enough. The only bird that can travel as far as Straya is a messenger tern, so the price to send that one off is a bit steep- it ends up being cheaper to send a cat-owl for Bambam, even though they track by scent. Chan walks out of the post office with his coin purse significantly lighter- and his stomach significantly hungrier.
They don’t have to walk far down the road before a sweet smell fills Chan’s nose. It’s one of the small shops, he realizes. A sweet, kind of… grassy, vanilla?
There’s a woman behind the stall, which displays an array of little cakes, all different colors- Chan can’t help but stop and admire them. His brother can’t have tried these yet.
“These are so colorful,” Chan starts, looking up at the shopkeeper’s blue eyes. “What are they called?”
“Kuih,” She says. “Here, try this one.”
She hands him a thick square with a slight yellow color- it’s soft when he bites into it, a little crispy at the edge and mildly sweet. Yum.
“That’s really good,” he says, swallowing it. “Do you have any that can last for a bit?”
“You can take this one,” She suggests. “This kind would last a for few months.” She holds another out to him.
He tries it- it’s crispy when he bites it, and sweet. “Oh! That one’s really good too,” he says, chewing behind his hand. “Do you think I could have a box of that one, and maybe an assorted box of the others?”
“Ah- yes, of course. It would be-”
Chan slides three gold pieces across the table. “Would that be okay?”
“Yes, I mean-” She stares. “that’s really too much, are you sure?”
“They’re really delicious,” he compliments. “You should charge more for them.” Picking up the boxes, he inclines slightly. “Thank you!”
The shop is a block behind them when Jeongin looks over to him.
“People are going to take advantage of you like that,” he says.
“Ah, you think so? Are you worrying about me, Innie?” Chan grins.
“…Maybe.”
“Well- you don’t need to, really I think it’ll be fine. It’s like Felix said, earlier- it’s not really mine, is it?” As long as he put aside the amount he needed, wasn’t it better if other people could benefit as well?
“So- don’t worry, yeah?”
Jeongin is fixing him with a look, and Chan has no idea what it means.
“Hmm.”
Chan laughs. “Ah, you should relax. Want to tey some?” He holds out the box of assorted Kuih pastries for Jeongin to pick, taking another for himself.
“Hyung, can I be crew?” He asks, popping the sweet into his mouth. “Mmm, this is good!”
Chan nearly chokes on his Kuih. “What?” He sputters.
“Can I join your crew? I want to stay.” Jeongin takes another from the box.
“I-” Chan exhales. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. There’s no steady money yet, I don’t have anything to offer you, really-”
“I have nothing anyway,” Jeongin states plainly. “And I really want to stay.”
“I…” Chan pauses. What was he supposed to say to that?
To be honest, he… had definitely gotten attached. How could he not? Selfishly, he doesn’t want Jeongin to leave.
But- there’s no way Chan could compensate him enough, not to mention the kinds of jobs that he’d probably take- then again. He’d been stealing before they met, hadn’t he? That stunt on the whaling ship had seemed normal to him-whatever that was, Jeongin probably won’t stop when he leaves.
And i f he stays, you can at least keep an eye on him .
“…yeah, alright,” Chan gets out, coughing.
“Really?” Jeongin smiles. “Great!”
Chan had almost choked on that Kuih, he thinks. Had that been deliberate? He narrows his eyes at the younger, who just beams back. That smile…
It’s only a couple more minutes before Chan spots a familiar hat in the crowd- Felix, standing at a shop, biting into a meat skewer with another in his hand.
“Oohhh. What is that, chicken?”
“Mhmm!” he mumbles through the bite. “S’good!” He holds it out to them, and Jeongin leans in to take a bite, nodding vigorously.
“I got some clothes,” Felix says, mouth still full of chicken.
“Oh, where?” Chan asks. Felix nods to the shop behind him.
“I’ll look around then,” Chan says, muffling his laugh when the two hardly pay him any mind, looking at the other meats on the menu. By the time Chan comes back with clothes for Jeongin, he finds him halfway though a beef skewer.
//
After lugging aboard fresh barrels of water and bags of grain, they’re ready to sail by evening.
Chan had already gone over the maps- it looked like the closest port city was Lamuri, and if they sailed through the night, he could probably get them there by tomorrow evening- so when the moon is high in the sky, Chan is still at the helm of the ship.
There would definitely be sailors looking to go out, Chan’s sure that within a few days he could find enough to have a real crew, and then-
“Hyung? Are you coming to bed?” It’s Felix, peering his head through the the cabin’s doorway. Jeongin must have fallen asleep, Chan thinks, amused.
“Ah, not right now,” he responds. “Sorry.”
He’s starting to feel the exhaustion spread under his skin, in that kind of sticky way- he’s colder than usual, and had found himself changing into a few extra layers after nightfall. But once they get to Lamuri, they’ll be docked a few days- he’ll probably be able to fall asleep then.
Felix hasn’t moved from the doorway, blinking tiredly at Chan.
“G’night,” Chan says.
“…G’night,” Felix is mumbling, and then the door is pulled shut. Chan turns back to the wheel.
