Vignette: The Gift
Bailey returns after a long day mending her mainsail to find an unexpected gift left for her.
It might not be that hard for an enterprising kid to find out where Bailey docks her boat. Or perhaps P'draig helped out. Either way, there's a package waiting for Bailey at the Even Star before she leaves. Opening it will reveal the shells she and Palia found, plus a few others, artfully strung together on a sturdy leather thong, rather than mere string. Some of the holes are a little bit uneven, testament to the eight year old's unsteady command of a small hammer and a nail. However, the kid has a bit of an eye for color at least, even if the handiwork is clearly childish as is the handwriting on the attached note. "I made this for you. Please don't be gone long. Love, Palia." There's also a drawing on the paper that wraps the necklace. The shapes are a bit fanciful, but it's recognizable as the sand hold they built and labeled across the top: "Hideaway Hold". Inside the hold's courtyard, sitting under a tree are two stick figures, one with sproingy shapes for hair the other with a smooth sweep drawn in black and brown. There's arrows in case it's not obvious who's who, though the spelling is interesting: "Baylee" and her own name correctly.
[Above received via +mail from Palia]
Tired and barely able to see around the enormous bundle in her arms, Bailey arrived back at the Even’Star just as dusk was falling. Dumping the first of half the mainsail onto the deck she went back for the last half, dragged it up onto the sloop and then scooped the mid-section up to join the rest. No colorful patches shaped like flowers adorned the sailcloth such as they did on the foresail, just squares and rectangles cut from rags of grey, white and tan. With the light all but gone, she spent the next hour or so preparing the mended sailcloth for the arduous task of reefing the following morning.
Only once she was satisfied that she’d done all that she could for now, did the brunette turn toward her cabin. It was then that her eyes fell on the small parcel left for her. Suspicion immediately had her eyes narrowing onto the item, a quick glance in the direction of the Orchid Rain and then back again. Carefully she toed it and waited. It didn’t move and nothing nasty came crawling out of it. Curiosity got the better of her and she bent to take it up, turning it over in her hands a few times before finally opening it.
With the contents spilling into her hands, a small breath of surprise expelled, her expression warming into a fond pattern for the simple shell necklace so painstakingly put together. Fingertips touched along each shell thoroughly investigating the gift from Palia.
It took a moment for her to realize that the wrapping it had come in was a gift in itself too. Quickly she flipped open a glowbasket hanging on a mounting over the doorway that led down to her cabin. Pale eyes took in every line and shape drawn by the little girl, grinning at the representation of the two of them under the tree in their secret Hold.
The shell necklace looped about the fingers of one hand, and the drawing held in the other, Bailey read and re-read the words written there until a droplet fell and slightly blurred the first of them. She inhaled deeply, used the back of her hand to wipe at her eyes and went below decks where another two glowbaskets were opened suffusing the small area with a warm light. Laying the necklace down, on an upended crate that served as an indoor table, she took up two small nails and a hammer from out of a box of meager maintenance supplies and set about carefully nailing the drawing above the doorway where it could be enjoyed from any angle in the tiny room.
She turned back to the necklace, lifting it up and admiring the colors once again and then deftly tied the leather cord around her neck so that the shells nestled along the base of her throat. Moving over to the drawing again, fingers reached up and traced along the words, lingering over ‘Love, Palia’. Whispering to the curly-haired child in the drawing, “I’ll come back, little one. I promise.”
It might not be that hard for an enterprising kid to find out where Bailey docks her boat. Or perhaps P'draig helped out. Either way, there's a package waiting for Bailey at the Even Star before she leaves. Opening it will reveal the shells she and Palia found, plus a few others, artfully strung together on a sturdy leather thong, rather than mere string. Some of the holes are a little bit uneven, testament to the eight year old's unsteady command of a small hammer and a nail. However, the kid has a bit of an eye for color at least, even if the handiwork is clearly childish as is the handwriting on the attached note. "I made this for you. Please don't be gone long. Love, Palia." There's also a drawing on the paper that wraps the necklace. The shapes are a bit fanciful, but it's recognizable as the sand hold they built and labeled across the top: "Hideaway Hold". Inside the hold's courtyard, sitting under a tree are two stick figures, one with sproingy shapes for hair the other with a smooth sweep drawn in black and brown. There's arrows in case it's not obvious who's who, though the spelling is interesting: "Baylee" and her own name correctly.
[Above received via +mail from Palia]
Tired and barely able to see around the enormous bundle in her arms, Bailey arrived back at the Even’Star just as dusk was falling. Dumping the first of half the mainsail onto the deck she went back for the last half, dragged it up onto the sloop and then scooped the mid-section up to join the rest. No colorful patches shaped like flowers adorned the sailcloth such as they did on the foresail, just squares and rectangles cut from rags of grey, white and tan. With the light all but gone, she spent the next hour or so preparing the mended sailcloth for the arduous task of reefing the following morning.
Only once she was satisfied that she’d done all that she could for now, did the brunette turn toward her cabin. It was then that her eyes fell on the small parcel left for her. Suspicion immediately had her eyes narrowing onto the item, a quick glance in the direction of the Orchid Rain and then back again. Carefully she toed it and waited. It didn’t move and nothing nasty came crawling out of it. Curiosity got the better of her and she bent to take it up, turning it over in her hands a few times before finally opening it.
With the contents spilling into her hands, a small breath of surprise expelled, her expression warming into a fond pattern for the simple shell necklace so painstakingly put together. Fingertips touched along each shell thoroughly investigating the gift from Palia.
It took a moment for her to realize that the wrapping it had come in was a gift in itself too. Quickly she flipped open a glowbasket hanging on a mounting over the doorway that led down to her cabin. Pale eyes took in every line and shape drawn by the little girl, grinning at the representation of the two of them under the tree in their secret Hold.
The shell necklace looped about the fingers of one hand, and the drawing held in the other, Bailey read and re-read the words written there until a droplet fell and slightly blurred the first of them. She inhaled deeply, used the back of her hand to wipe at her eyes and went below decks where another two glowbaskets were opened suffusing the small area with a warm light. Laying the necklace down, on an upended crate that served as an indoor table, she took up two small nails and a hammer from out of a box of meager maintenance supplies and set about carefully nailing the drawing above the doorway where it could be enjoyed from any angle in the tiny room.
She turned back to the necklace, lifting it up and admiring the colors once again and then deftly tied the leather cord around her neck so that the shells nestled along the base of her throat. Moving over to the drawing again, fingers reached up and traced along the words, lingering over ‘Love, Palia’. Whispering to the curly-haired child in the drawing, “I’ll come back, little one. I promise.”