Captain Al’Ocean Pokrock-Sea stood in the early morning sunlight of Pier 6 and gazed up in wonder at the galley. Overhead a pair of Dwarves were standing on the scaffold finishing the lustrous final coat of Buccaneer Black. Another worker was finishing the fine detail one the lettering of THE HELLHEISTER. Seeing this beauty, it’s sails furled, ropes coiled, the very definition of ship-shape, the little Kenku felt a small tear forming in his eye. He pulled himself together quickly. Pirates never cry.
‘You Old Poo-head! What’s this pile of poo?’ The captain whirled around, recognizing the mocking voice of his first and best mate. ‘Tabby, you poo-eater, glad you could finally make it. It’s a long way from Felderwin but being late on your first day? You poo’.
The tabaxi laughed and slapped his old friend on the back. He looked up at their brand new ship with a smile.
‘Look at us. Hey, look at us’
‘Look at us. Who would have thought’.
‘Not me’.
They had been through a lot together over the past few years. Hard times in the off-season when the ferries were empty, cold nights when the rum ran out and the huddled together on their little keel boat. There were times when Captain Pockrock-Sea wondered if it was worth it. The years at Darktow Pirate Institute, the jibes and insults. The voices haunted his dreams sometimes, ‘A little bird told me you want to be a pirate’, ‘Hey Seagull, eat poo!’ ‘No pirate is going to take orders from a Kenku’.
Tabby Mul-Lamphrey looked at his captain and saw the quiet contemplation.
‘You earned this, captain’.
The Dwarves were finished now, one gave a long, high undulating whistle and the scaffold descended to the deck. The captain looked down along the pier and spotted a large Orc, Oarnoc Yevlaf kissing his mum on the cheek and slinging his axe over his shoulder. A Tortle he recognised as Whalin’ Tony was kneeling beside him, giving a giant hug to his two kids. One-eyed Euain was cheerily signing goodbye to his fella, a burly Were-bear who owned an artisanal bakery in Ice-haven. His crew assembled and walked down the pier, their smiling faces causing Al’Ocean to once again choke back a tear.
He thought about all their hard work and the support of all his funders, he knew he wouldn’t let them down. He thought about their past adventures and all the adventures to come. He looked back at Tabby.
‘We earned this, old friend. We earned this together’
He hoisted his knapsack over his back and for the first time, started up the gangplank as the snow started to fall.