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You get home and tell your father what happened. You can see he is upset to see you carrying that vial back lower then when he last left it. But he seems calm, and he asks you if your friend asked for the Sweetwater after he dropped his.
<span class="mu-r">"No. It was my idea."</span>
"I see. Well... it was good of you to help your friend. But remember, in this life, you can't help everyone. Everett will likely be your friend for the rest of your life, but if someone else comes by and needs your help, they may be trying to take advantage of you. There will always be people out there who need help, and unless you want to become one of them, you need to stay vigilant. Some will confuse your kindness with weakness."
<span class="mu-r">"I understand, Father. But I know everyone on the island now. Aren't all of us friends?"</span>
"...Come with me, Son. Let me show you something."
On the <span class="mu-s">Black Ocean</span>, the islands and coats from the great desert that surround the sea are where all the people live. Distances can be vast, and traveling the water can only be done one with, with ships.
Once, you were taught, that ships were built of wood- a fantastical material made of "trees", which are like grass, but hard and long and straight and also float. It sounds incredible to you that such a thing could be real and grow from sunlight and water just like your beachgrass can, but apparently, that was how things were in the old world. Now, ships are made of <span class="mu-s">corals</span>. They grow on bones, and are carefully molded into shape by skilled Craftstmen... like your father.
"Look here Son. This is the ship I've been building. Not repairing or maintaining the other ships that come to this island, not growing corals for them- but this is just for me. For us."
<span class="mu-r">"What's the bucket for?"</span>
"You put the saltwater on the parts where you want the corals to close up- they naturally form a wall. If you seal up the holes, the ship can float- despite each piece being heavy and hard. Shelf corals make the deck and the other floors, bubble corals build the inner chambers, brain corals are put at the bottom as a ballast. Pillar corals curve to form the outer hull- strong and hollow. Holes are filled with branching corals in the event of damage, or chalk... This grows on its own, from the coralwind; we do not build bigger ships, we grow them."
<span class="mu-r">"What about those holes up there, Father? Are we going to close those?"</span>
"Oh no Son, those are gunports."
<span class="mu-r">"Is that safe? What if water goes in them? Won't it sink?"</span>
"The ship will be safer with them then without."
