《My Friend Lukka》Journal Entry 8

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Dear Reader,

The last time I had a chance to write I had expressed my intention to go back to sea with Lukka. Thankfully, I was able to retrieve my boat, but I will mention that when I attempted to take it out to sea it began to take on water.

It has been a few months since then, Lukka will occasionally head out to hunt, but we spend a lot of time together now. In the water, or on the shore, and work has kept me very busy, busy enough that I have collapse upon my bed every night. It helps to keep away the nightmares, my mind does not have the strength to torment me, for the time being it has been helpful.

Since I do not have a ship, Lukka and I decided to build one ourselves. We started with some rafts, and they floated, but it was not stable and whenever Lukka latched on I would flip off into the water. That first week was hard, but I have felt myself get stronger, and now I have something to preoccupy my time, so the failures are not all bad.

We had a stroke of luck, Lukka and I, when a merchant ship stopped by. He was interested in one of the shells Lukka had brought back, a gift for his children maybe or just a collector of such things, I was not sure. What he had though was a scroll, it was for a ship design from a desert country far to the southeast.

Apparently, they used small boats, for one, maybe up to six people. The important part was that they only needed one person to use this canoe. Their design was narrow, a single paddle the only requirement to propel and control the vessel. Better yet very little shipbuilding knowledge was needed, it was just a tree trunk with the center dug out.

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It would take some time to complete the project, but time was all I had. These last few weeks were filled with just me and Lukka working on the canoe, or fishing in the shallows. Sometimes when Lukka came back from a hunt she would return with some interesting object, shiny like shells, pearls, and one time she even retrieved a handful of gold coins.

She has been very helpful, I think the other villagers are suspicious of me, probably wondering why I have not starved yet. They believe me a doddering old fool, incapable of so much as wiping my own behind, let alone spear fishing in the reef. It is true that I am having to rely on Lukka, she has been the main breadwinner for this time, but once the canoe is finished, I will be able to go hunt as well.

To be honest we were not that far from completion of the vessel, the central part had already been carved out, most of it. The outer hull just needed to be sanded down a little, carve away some of the rough edges, but otherwise it should be seaworthy. Not the best, but it should be okay for the shallows, the reef is not too far nor all that deep, so it should be fine.

If you get the chance and decide to go explore, make sure to be aware of predators, the sea in this area may be calm and beautiful, but that beauty still hides a primal savagery beneath the surface. Lukka herself is an ambush predator of the sea, and we are lucky she does not possess a taste for people, honestly you would never notice her sneak up on you. Also, if she grows any larger that may be a distinct possibility.

Lukka will never do that though. However, as you are reading this, just be careful. Especially of sharks, as they do come around every so often. In the shallows you may only run into the smaller varieties, but the ones out in the deep, they are big and sometimes they will come into the shallows. Just be aware of that, the sea is not safe, and is always seeking an opportunity to claim another body to add to its domain.

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As I wrote earlier, Lukka and I should be completed with this task soon. I will make sure to relay those details, as I am sure there will be many things to discuss after our first expedition. Wish me luck.

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