Chapter 137

Pliers

BarnacleEyes

“... a hundred more; we can really put it together; feel like I’m so close; we can sail the seas; the masts are going to have to be big; big enough to hold the sails; it’s weird to have a plan in my head and I’m trying to get it out of my head, but we need more wood; there’s so much work to do; it’s not gonna build itself; we’re so close, Hawkin; I…”

Abigail came through the doorway of the brewery.

“Morning, you two,” She said.

She smiled a beautiful smile. A smile that put a light in her eyes. Hawkin smiled back at her with a smile I’d never seen on him before. I trusted Hawkin 100%, so if he felt safe around her, then I could feel safe too.

“Morning,” Hawkin said.

“Morning,” I said.

“I’ll take but a moment of your time,” Abigail said. “I wanted to check how tall BarnacleEyes was.”

“Me?” I said and pointed to myself.

Abigail chuckled. “Yes, you. Thanks for letting me pop in and sorry to interrupt. I’ll leave the both of you to it. And Hawkin, I was wondering if we could talk about your planes cutter beers later, maybe?”

Hawkin eagerly agreed. Too eagerly. After she left he was smiling, smiling, smiling. His smile made me smile even more.

“She’s a lovely woman,” he said. “Don’t you think?”

“I like her smile,” I said, “but, remember, she did steal my key beer from me. I was right there when she did it.”

“Be that as it may, would you have let her through the Mist Hidden wall if she asked?”

“No..”

“She returned the key beer to you, didn’t she?”

“Minus a sip.”

Hawkin did have a point, and when I thought about things some more, I guess her actions made sense. I wouldn’t have let her in. She must have known that. I had to admire her cleverness and ingenuity.

After brewing, we spent an afternoon lumbering wood. Hawkin did all of the work. Cutting the timber. Planing the wood. All with one axe.

After he set the last plank of wood down, he said, “Alright. How many more, admiral?”

“Let me do some counting,” I said.

The numbers were in my head. The plans. They were rough, but if I was good at one thing—it was counting. My fingers helped me along the way. At some point I had to count out loud. All the way up to 513 planks of wood. I reported the number to Hawkin.

“So is that enough?” He said.

“Just enough,” I said. “All I need now is the joinery. I can make those myself though.”

“What about leaks between the planks?”

“My Boat Builder skill helps with that. It’s supposed to.”

I decided to stop for the day. Hawkin listened to everything I had to say as we returned home. I delighted in stepping on crunchy leaves as we went. Though Hawkin didn’t say much, mostly because I was the one talking, I thought we were having a good ol’ time.

When we arrived back at the cabin, Abigail came straight to see me.

“BarnacleEyes,” she said. “I have something for you.”

“For me?” I said.

Abigail came closer. Held out her hands. An item popped into her palms. Folded cloth.

“For you,” she said.

The folded cloth was blue. A pretty blue. I picked it up.

When I lifted it, it unfurled. It was a dress. A beautiful blue dress with dozens of pockets. One of the pockets had a stitched pattern of a pair of pliers over it.

“Are you serious,” Hawkin said. “Abigail, that’s so sweet of you.”

I looked at Abigail.

“I tailored it for you,” she said, looking at me.

“Me,” I said.

She nodded. “Notice how it's in your size.”

I held it up to my neck. The skirt came down to my ankles. I gasped. Held the dress out again to see it once more. But I couldn’t see it through a sudden wet blur.

“Perfect for an admiral,” Hawkin said. “Wouldn't you say so, BarnacleEyes?

I sniffled just as tears fell.

“THANK YOU SO MUCH ABIGAIL! I’LL BE THE BEST ADMIRAL EVER! THE BEST GOBLIN THAT YOU AND HAWKIN AND PEGTOOTH AND THRUSH EVER KNEW!”

I could no longer see a thing.

“Would it be alright?” Abigail said.

“Go on,” Hawkin said softly. “I think it’s ok.”

I felt a woman’s arms around me then. Hugging me. Light hair fell across my face and I was suddenly hugging Abigail back. Squishing my eyes to hold back the emotion of receiving yet another promotion.

Didn’t even know she was capable of promoting me.

I heard a cavernous voice then. “What happened to BarnacleEyes,” Thrush said.

“She earned another promotion,” Hawkin said.

“A what?” Abigail said.

Hawkin explained the promotion to her. Our hug ended and I was left wiping water from my face and blinking repetitively to see the dress again. I bolted for my shed and changed into it. When I returned, everyone had such good things to say.

I thrust out a hip. The hip with the pocket that had the stitched pattern of pliers on it. Then I slid my pliers in the pocket. A perfect fit.

For the rest of the day, I was over the moon. We had a great, big campfire and everyone gathered around the fire to celebrate my promotion. Each with a beer. Mine was an extra ptooey goblin spit beer.

“How do you feel?” Hawkin said.

“I feel like the most decorated goblin there ever was.”

“Are you really an admiral,” Abigail said. “I hope you’ll excuse me. I’m not too familiar with goblins.”

“Thrush gave me the biggest promotion of all,” I said. “A Fable Stone.”

“No kidding,” Abigail said.

“I got to talk to some goblin gods. They gave me a few options for quest paths. I took the admiral one. As soon as I build my sloop, I’ll take everyone sailing!”

“I’d love that,” Abigail said. “That sounds delightful.”

For the rest of the evening, and deep into the night, I was too stunned to speak. Too happy. Too overjoyed. I swung my feet every chance I had and listened to Abigail and Hawkin talk shop. Beer, beer, beer. That’s all they talked about. Thrush chimed in every now and then, but otherwise observed just like me.

I played with my dress. Explored the pockets. Delighted in the color.