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Charles was 12 when he went out to Zee for the first time.
"Of course I'm ready! 'm not scared, mister!" He puffed up his chest to make himself look a little bit taller.
"Kid, you barely reach up to the railing."
"Means I can't fall out!"
The Befuddled Mechanic in front of him sighed. They pinched their nose, not sure what to do with the kid they had just fished out of one of their barrels. Kid stowaways weren't that unusual, this one had just done a shoddy job of putting the lid back onto the barrel. They'd found him before they even left port.
The kid said his name was Charles, and he pretty please wanted to go with them when they left port, and that he'd surely be helpful?
"How old are you."
"I'm turning 13 soon!"
"Fuckin' hell." They sighed. "And where's your Ma and Pa?"
"Mama's working at the steel factory! She's takin' sis with 'er so I need a job too! Can't fall behind. Papa's at home teaching the others. I snuck out!" The ginger-haired boy explained happily, legs kicking from where he was sitting on top of the very barrel he tried to hide himself in. This was unfortunately not the first time he had failed to hide on a ship until after it left port. Well, eventually it would work, right?
"Sure you did..." The mechanic stemmed their hands into their hips. "And why do you think I would let you stay on my ship?"
"Um... I can lift things! Like buckets, even when theres water in 'em. You have buckets." He looked around. To Charles' relief there was indeed a bucket and a mop standing in a corner of the ship, and he pointed at the bucket. "Could lift that thing easily!"
"Please leave it where it is." Despite their exasparation, the Mechanic couldn't help themselves but be amused.
"Aww... I can also do other things!"
"And what would your parents say if you left and never returned?"
"I'm not gonna never return! I just wanna zail. Then I come back and tell them cool stories about all the things I saw! Is it true that theres a city made in a gemstone out there?!"
In a way, Charles reminded the Mechanic of themselves when they had been young. It was quite unuaual to see someone so bright-eyed and excited, unshadowed by the Zee... "Quite near actually. Look kid, why don't we fetch your Pa and ask him if you can come along?"
Charles GASPED.
"REALLY?? I can come?"
"Only if-"
"THANK YOU mister!!!" Charles jumped off the barrel, hugging the befuddled Mechanic around the waist. "I prommy I'm gonna be helpful!"
"First of all-" The Mechanic carefully pried the kids strong grip off of them. "I'm not a mister, I'm not doin' all that guy or gal stuff."
"Oh!! Like my brother - my sib'. Mama said I can't call them brother anymore or they'll be upset and cry and she will smack me on the head. I don't think Arne will cry but Mama will definitely smack me on the head so they're my sib' now."
"There ya go. Exactly like that."
"I can really come with you on your ship??"
"'Ts not mine, I'm just fixing it up. And sure - but you'll have to clean the deck." The Mechanic grinned and picked up the mop, waving it at Charles.
Excitedly Charles grabbed for the mop. "Oh! I can do that! Mops aren't heavy at all!"
"Ah ah!" They help the mop up above his head. "You gotta bring your Pa down here to the docks first."
"Aw..." Bummed out, Charles all but deflated.
"Don't worry, I'll wait up for you."
"You will? Ya' won't drive off when I'm looking for Papa like the other Captains did?"
The Mechanic snorted. "No, I'll fill up the fuel and wait here. But don't take too long, kid!"
"Yes'sir!" Charles did an awful salute, with the wrong hand even. "I mean Yes'chanic! That's short for yes mechanic."
"Off you go!"
"Yes!" Boots thumping over the plank that connected the tiny ragged boat to the dock, Charles ran off, full of excitement and adventure spirit and sheer glee that he had finally found someone who would take him on board.
The Mechanic smiled as they looked after him. Truth was, they were only testing out if their repairs held up on this boat - so they would only do a small round away from shore and back, a few hours at most. They didn't see the harm in making the kid happy by taking him with them, and get a free deck clean as well - although they doubted it would be a very good clean. Then they'd give him a coin or two as payment and he'd have something exciting to tell his family.
"...and what I'm doing here is a stress test. See all those pipes?"
"Yes!" Charles reached over to touch one of the pipes, but the Befuddled Mechanic smacked his hand away.
"Do NOT touch these! They're searing hot. The goal here is to see if they can withstand regular speed steam power after I repaired them."
"Oh!" Charles looked at the Pipes and Valves curiously, this time with his eyes only. They were snaking up and down, across the walls of the small crammed engine room, up into the ceiling, down into the furnace...
The Mechanic Shoveled another handful of coal into the furnace, then let it slam shut. "That should do us for a bit. Come upstairs."
"I can help with that!" Charles tried to pick up the coal shovel the Mechanic had just set aside.
"Nope. Definitely not." They took Charles by the shoulders and herded him out of the engine room. "That's for someone who has a few Zee trips on their back."
"Is it dangerous?"
"Only if you don't know what you're doing."
Going upstairs into the bridge, they let Charles pull the ships whistle - much to his delight - before pulling the ship away from the docks.
Slowly sailing out of the docks from the repair shop in Port Carnelian where they worked, they picked up speed once they were out of the close proximity of the building. Charles was pulling himself up on the console to look out of the front window, having the best day of his life. He was finally going out to Zee!
His dad, a gentle and soft man, had been more than worried to let him go. But after taking him to the docks by dragging him by the hand, and the Befuddled Mechanic explaining where they were going, how long it would take, and that they would not go further than out of sight of town, Charles' dad had reluctantly allowed him to go. He knew he couldn't stop Charles for much longer, and this seemed like as much of an controlled environment for him to get his feet wet as anything. Charles was over the moon.
He was going out to Zee!
He was a bit disappointed to only go out for a few hours - he had hoped to see London and what everyone called the Avid Horizon and maybe learn what those Tomb Colonies were - but this was a start, he supposed. And the Mechanic was real nice, as well!
They had explained to him how the ships engine worked, even if he had barely understood a third of it. Apparently the furnace made some water warm and it went through the pipes and then the ship moved forwards? He wasn't sure how warm water would move a ship but regardless, this was exciting.
"I'm gonna start running my tests - you can go up on deck to watch, but don't fall over board. And don't touch any of the steam pipes. And don't turn any valves, especially. And be a bit careful with the walls of the bridge, theyre freshly painted. And-"
"I just won't touch anything! Except with my boots." Charles pointed to his little waterproof rain boots. "Kinda have to touch stuff with 'em. Like the floor."
"...Yeah."
"Do you need me to do anythin'?"
The Mechanic scratched their hair below their bun. They did kind of hire him, and if they didn't give him any kind of job he'd just feel useless... "Hm... I left some tools on the deck - your first task is to pick them up and put them in here."
They handed Charles a metal toolbox, the weight made him sway to the side before he adjusted his grip.
"Yes! On it, Captain." Eager to please, Charles marched out the door of the bridge onto deck.
"'m not a Captain!" The Mechanic called after him in vain.
Cheery, Charles started wandering over the deck. He kept away from the railing at first and picked up all the wrenches, bolts, and a weird saw he found on deck, but after a while curiosity got the better of him and he clambered up to the railing. Gripping onto it, he stuck his head between the metal bars to look out.
Below him was dark, deep water. It seemed hungry, and scary, and alluring, fascinating. In front of him, the water stretched out and out, until it disappeared in haze and darkness. He could see the skyline of Port Carnelian not too far in the distance on the other side of the boat. Above him, there was the dark skies, with glimmers in it. Papa had always told him it was a big cave, and there were gems and lights in the ceiling. Papa also always said it was very different from the surface, but Charles wasn't quite sure what the surface was. Only that it apparently didn't have a ceiling? Which was, quite frankly, weird.
He sat down with his legs through the bars of the railing so he could rest his arms and head on one of the metal braces of the railing. Kicking his legs, he stared out at Zee. What adventures could await! What places to discover! What people to meet!
The more he thought about it, the more excitement rose in his chest. With a big grin, he dreamily stared out a bit more - hearing the boats engine chug somewhere under him. Feeling the metal of the ship vibrating as the ship picked up speed. Feeling it swerve to the side and take turns, alternating between slower and faster speeds as the Mechanic was testing out their handiwork.
The mechanic stepped out of the bridge after running their tests. Seeing the small figure of the kid sit at the railing and happily stare out into the distance, they couldn't help but smile. Hadn't most Zailors started out this way? As horrible and cruel and terrifying as the Zee could be, they understood the appeal it had to the kid. They were no different, themselves.
The Mechanic watched the boy for a few minutes before finally calling out.
"Ey, Charles!" He turned around, big cyan eyes. "Don't stare too deep into the Zee or it might just stare back." They said with a tone of amusement.
"What! No way. You're pullin' ma' leg!"
Chuckling, they headed back into the bridge, leaving the kid to brew in this newfound knowledge.
Charles did eagerly end up mopping the deck a while later, excited about this thrilling new task. At home he often dodged sweeping and cleaning chores but on a ship! This was much more exciting stuff. He had asked the mechanic if he could throw coal into the engine (along with a myriad of other questions) but they had insisted they didn't want him to burn himself or anything like that. Oh well, deck mopping was also great!
He wasn't sure whether he was making a difference in terms of the deck being clean, but it sure was wet after he was done. That must mean it had been cleaned! Proud of his work, he put the mop away where he got it from and wiped his hands off on his pants.
He spent a while exploring the ship - it was small and for fishing. Quarters with four beds, a crammed kitchen and a space to sit together, in the floor above the bridge, in the floor below the cargo hold and the engine room. The ship was currently emptied, as the Captain had given it to the Mechanic for repairs. Regardless of small size and less than impressive build, Charles still found the boat to be so cool.
The Mechanic couldn't help but snort to themselves as they watched him scurry around the ship, looking behind all unlocked doors and hatches. He did keep away from the engines furnace, as instructed.
After a two or three hours, just after the Mechanic had turned the ship around to start going back towards Port Carnelian, Charles saw something in the water.
He was at the back of the boat, looking at the lines that the engine cut through the water and waves. The low droning sounds the ship made were nice, and he just looked out for anything interesting he could find. Suddenly the water did seem a bit lighter in color...
But it wasn't lighter, it was shallower, because something was underneath them. Something big. Curiosly, Charles leaned forwards - and a shock ran through him when he finally understood what he was looking at.
A singular, gigantic eye.
It was as big as their entire house was - no, more. He suddenly felt very very small, a hot shiver running down his back. He could just about see where the eye was ending before it was engulfed in the darkness of the Neath. The pupil flitted about, then focused on their little tiny ship. Charles felt like he was being looked at, looked at by something he did not understand in the slightest., and it was terrifiyng.
He couldn't tear his gaze away.
He had started shivering, fingers going cold from how hard he was clinging to the railing. The eye blinked - once - sending a soft wave through the ship by the water it moved with it's blink. And then just like that, it sank down, disappearing in the black waves as if nothing had happened.
It left the Zee seeming much emptier, much larger and deeper than Charles had thought of it before. At the same time, the waters seemed... untrustworthy. There was something in it, something large and waiting.
It hadn't even attacked them. Just looked at them.
Charles wrapped his arms around himself and clambered down from the back of the boat, briskly walking into the bridge and shutting the door behind him.
"Oh? There you are." The Mechanic looked up from the controls, then frowned as they saw Charles' face. "What's up, little man?"
"There was something out there." He didn't know how to start.
No surprise there. "There's lots of things out there. Is it near the boat?"
"No... It. Went below the water again. It was like..." Charles pulled a face, the words to describe what he had seen evading him. He remembered the piercing stare of the eye, but when he tried to picture it or put it into words it seemed like a hazy blank spot. "...A thing." It was as if two magnet repulsed each other. He made a grim determined face.
"A thing... Anything more specific?" The Mechanic had some pity with him, remembering it was his first time out here. Mightve just been a weirdly shaped fish or one of the big crabs that popped up occasionally.
"Like... an eye? Looking at the ship?"
Well, Zee monsters and beasts weren't too unusual. "And you said it disappeared again?"
"...Yeah." Charles looked at the Mechanic, confused by their lack of urgency. that eye had been GIGANTIC. Probably spanning as far as the street he lived on did. "Is that normal?"
"Well, there's all sorts of creatures." The Mechanic casually said, busy kicking up the engine a notch and correcting their path towards port, just in case that Zee beast the kid might or might not have seen would return. "Giant crabs, eels, birds... Best you can do is avoid them, or burn up as much fuel as it needs to get away from it."
"Oh..." Charles slouched. Well if the Mechanic didn't think it was that big of a deal...
"We're close to Port though, whatever it was it prolly won't chase us." The Mechanic tried to reassure him, sensing his sudden lack of enthusiasm. "We'll be back in no time!"
Charles nodded, relieved.
He was much quieter for the rest of the journey. After half an hour he did get the spring in his step back, even starting to excitedly look for any other kind of Zee beasts. He didn't forget the eye he saw, but the urgency and terror of it started to fade after a while. He kept busy by asking the Mechanic so many questions they eventually gave him their tools to polish just so he would have something to do. Nonetheless he kept chatting.
"Alright kid.", the Mechanic finally said, getting back to their feet. After getting back into port, they had tried to teach Charles how to tie a zailors knot to tie the ship up on docks. He had had a few good attempts, and they had assured him he'd get it right eventually.
"There we are."
"Thank you for taking me with you! And teahing me! And letting me clean your deck and pick up your tools and see the big eye and polish the tools and that time when you let me press the horn was really great and that you had me tie up the boat here!" The words just bubbled out of Charles, excited as he was. He was feeling a little tired from mopping and running around on the ship all day, but it didn't dampen his sense of adventure.
"Yes yes." The Befuddled Mechanic laughed. "Aaanf here's your wage." They reached into the pockets of their overall, counting out a few coins and dropping them into Charles' disbelieving hands.
"Whoah! That's three whole coins!!"
"It's three pennies."
"I knew that! Thank you so much M'chanic!"
Amused by the honorific the kid had ended up with, the Mechanic ruffled his hair affectrionately.
Charles beamed at them. "Can i come back tomorrow?"
"Well, I won't be going out to Zee tomorrow, I usually work in the shipyard." They vaguely gestured over.
"Aww..." Charles was disappointed.
"I might have another job for you in time, I might not. Can't say for sure, kid."
"Oh okay!" Charles carefully put his newly earned money into his pocket, making sure it was the one that didn't have a hole in it. "But i can visit you?"
The Mechanic sighed. "...Yes, sure."
"Yay!" Charles gave them another bear-hug, around their waist where he could reach.
"Yep, yep, that's fine..." They allowed it for a few seconds before peeling him off once more. "Well then, off you go."
They had seen Charles' nervous father approach the docks, a smaller kid on his hand.
"Oh! Papa! Arne!" Charles quickly ran up to them and hugged each of them. "Goodbye M'chanic! See you around!" He cheerfully waved to the Mechanic, who gave a small wave back, then skipped alongside his dad telling him and his sibling all about his day.
"And the ship went out, and the Mechanic showed me the engine room and it was really cool, and i saw a thing-"
"Charlesie, why don't you tell this at dinner when everyone is there?" His dad stopped him. "I'm sure Mama and the others would want to hear it too."
Charles grinned. "Yes!! Oh! I also earned money!" He proudly showcased his three earned pennies. "They said 't was three pennies."
"Oh that's great! Good job." His father said, giving him a big soft smile.
His 9 year old sibling looked at Charles very seriously. "They scammed you."
"What?! No way!"
They squabbled on the whole way back to their house, and Charles wouldn't find out if he had gotten scammed or if his sibling was just messing with him until years later.