First job
A few hits in the grid woke him up. He had only slept a few hours so the sun had not disturbed his sleep, and when the fairies appeared at his door he was still wrapped in the leaves of his bed. The sun that strained between the bars hurt his eyes and he could not distinguish the fairy accompanying Zarina.
"James, get up. Today you'll work with the water fairies."
He still wasn't used to hearing the voices of the fairies instead of the tinkling. Also, he didn't like the tone of superiority which Zarina used. He had spent the night trying to reorganize the information that was available and in the end he had only concluded that for the moment it would be best to obey the fairies, hopping that he would come up with some plan. That day he was planning to only observe the fairies, but the lack of sleep put him in a bad mood and it cost him a lot not respond to Zarina with sarcastic or offensive comments.
He left his red jacket and his hat in the cell. They were unpractical to move through the world of fairies and without them he gave more of a harmless image. He didn't understand how it was that his clothing had also shrunk, but he guessed it was the work of the same powders Zarina had used with him. His hook and his sword were nowhere to be found since the first time he had woken up, the fairies must had taken them.
This time they didn't tie his hands, it wasn't necessary. They only stood at his sides and leaded him to the river, where the water fairies worked. The fairy who had gone to search him together with Zarina was Silvermist, as expected. She met with one of the sparrow men who watched them with curiosity, while Zarina stayed with him. She didn't take her eyes off him, but she didn't intend to speak either.
"Okay, Stream says you can start by working at the dam", said Silvermist turning again towards them and beckoning him to come closer.
They put him on a leaf they had put on the water as a raft and Stream and she settled back to guide the makeshift boat down the river.
"Good luck Silver, I'll come back later to see how is it going!", called Zarina from the shore while they moved away.
"Don't worry!", answered her friend. "We'll keep him busy."
"She's not coming?", asked Hook.
"Oh, no. She has work to do at the factory."
For some reason the news disappointed him, but on second thought, her friend of the water seemed easier to deceive, so it was alright. They arrived to a small lake that began at the foot of a waterfall. Some water fairies and a lot of tinkers were working in the cascade, which was nothing more than a low dam.
"Tink cannot come to help us", explained Silvermist, "because yesterday she had to go to the Winter Woods, but she told us that humans are usually good at constructing, so we thought that you could lend us a hand."
"We need a waterfall so that salmon can practice jumping upstream", added Stream, "and we have not found any large enough."
"So Tink thought we could build one ourselves." said the fairy, funny.
"What a stupidity." Hook replied with contempt. He didn't care about the problems of the fairies and being made to work on a dam so that some stupid fish could learn to jump irritated him.
So that fairies could work in the waterfall, the tinkers had built a temporary dam so water didn't flood it, and that's where they found Clank and Bubble.
"Good morning Silver!" said the last one. "What brings you here? I thought you were taking care of the spider webs up the river."
"Oh, I'll go back to it immediately, but first I had to bring the pirate, he'll stay here to help."
The faces of surprise and terror of the two sparrow men were in part satisfactory.
"Bu... bu...but Silver! You can't leave the pirate without supervision, what if he attacks us? And if he runs away?! And if he sinks the dam?!" The idea did not displease James.
"Come on guys," gladly replied the fairy "that's why you are here. I'm leaving him in your care."
"Whaaaat?!" exclaimed the two sparrow men at the same time. But Silvermist was already flying away.
"I'll return at noon, have a good time together!"
Clank and Bubble's faces were pretty funny, but Captain Hook didn't laugh. Now he also had to bear with them.
"Weeeell…" said the skinny one. "what are you good at, this... James..." the face of the pirate told him that he did not like that name "umm... Mr. pirate? This... Captain? Isn't it? Perhaps... Hook? Yes? Better? That's it! Hook, how could you help us?"
"Oh, I know, I know Bubble! He could nail those planks there! He seems to be strong."
"Or he could varnish the wood with waterproof wax!"
"Yes, Yes! Or he could..."
The two friends kept arguing for a good time, but in the end they made him do a bit of everything. That did not bother him, work kept him distracted and prevented the giggles of the fairies and the stupid fish to put him in a bad mood. What he couldn't stand were the two sparrow men. While they were obviously good at what they did, they were also quite clumsy. Clank had even beaten him with a plank and had made him fall into the water. All the fairies had suddenly become quiet and had watched him with fear, as if waiting for a violent reaction by him, but he managed to remain calm and return to work, so it now seemed that the fairies weren't so afraid. Some were even working by his side and kindly talked with him, but they were still very cautious on revealing information of any kind. He obviously behaved like a gentleman, manners first.
Hours passed faster than he thought, and when Silvermist returned, the dam was nearly finished and Clank and Bubble had already no fear of the pirate. On the contrary, James was now victim of their curiosity. They kept asking him where he had learned to build and repair things, if he had build his boat, how had he done it... Soon a great number of fairies sat around him to listen to what the pirate had to tell. When he saw that Silvermist was approaching, James thought that she would get angry at them for having fallen to the pirate's charms, but she merely smiled, visibly happy and satisfied.
"I see that you have almost finished your work." she said to the two tinkers.
"Yeah!" answered Clank "Hook has proved to be a handyman. He would make a fantastic tinker!"
"Hahaha, it seems to me that humans are not born with a gift, Clank, but it's good to know." the fairy turned still fun and told some fairies to approach. "I thought that you would be hungry after so much work, so I asked the cook fairies to make honey cakes for everyone!"
The joy was general, everyone seemed to love sweet meals. "It must be a fairy's thing," thought James remembering how Zarina loved cakes. The truth is that they were good, and Hook had not eaten anything since last night, so he took the cake with great pleasure.
"I didn't know that you had cook fairies." He said to one of the fairies with apron which had brought the food.
The silence that followed his sentence surprised him, but he quickly realized what was happening. No fairy dared to explain anything about it, everyone followed the advice of the Queen. Damn, it was difficult to speak without asking anything! But when he went to apologize Silvermist interrupted him.
"Well, yes. You see, not all fairies have gifts for the nature. Like the tinkers, there are also fairies who do other things, like de cook fairies or the musicians."
The serenity with which she replied seemed to calm them and everyone resumed their conversations, but Bubble and Clank seemed concerned.
"But Silvermist, Queen Clarion warned us not to give him any information about the Hollow" hastened to remind Clank.
"I know, I know.", replied Silvermist, "But the poor pirate will need to know some things if he has to live among us. And also, I doubt that honey cakes could be part of an evil plan." she said this last words with an ominous tone to mock her companions, but they did not seem convinced. However in the end everyone forgot the subject and once the break ended they returned to work.
The afternoon passed without more accidents, in part because the attitude of Silver had eased the tension of the other fairies, and in part because James tried not to ask anything else. They ended the artificial waterfall in a short time, and the fairies sit to rest while the water fairies began to bring the salmon. That's when one of Silvermist's friends said:
"Don't you think there's something that stinks?" The others sniffed and everyone nodded, puzzled. There was no skunk there and fairies don't sweat. But pirates do.
"Ah, it must be him!" exclaimed Silvermist pointing to James. "don't worry, all the pirates smell like that. Zarina told me that all her crew members stank, although some were trying to disguise it with aromatic liquids."
These statements offended the Captain greatly.
"Not just pirates smell like this! What happens, my dear young lady, is that a in ship you rarely get the opportunity to wash properly."
He regretted what he said as soon as he let go of the words. Everyone was looking at him with the same idea reflected in their eyes, and Silvermist seemed the most excited of all.
"Then, you just need a good bath!" exclaimed she. James noted: never tell a water fairy that you need a bath. Silvermist rose rapidly and whistled a few salmon to come. Before he had time to protest a few sparrow men seized the pirate by the arms and took him to the leaf that had served him as a boat. Salmon began to pour water onto him with the help of their fins. Then other fairies came with the soap the animal fairies used to wash the inhabitants of the forest and began to rub him without bothering on removing his clothes. He was trying to break away but the fairies kept laughing, they were having fun. They were having fun at his expense. He did his best to calm down, but the strident laughter filled his head. The bubbling fishes, soap in his eyes, and laughter, laughter and laughter of those fairies. Those insufferable and tiny beings who had reduced him, Captain hook, to the size of a mouse! Those stupid, cheesy, insignificant... And he exploded.
"Enoooooough!" yelled he, getting up and moving away of the fairies with a strong push. The cry was heard even in the powder room of the Great Tree, but unfortunately one of the fishes was not listening, because it gave a last fin-beat to the boat, which pushed it under the newly constructed waterfall. The leaf sank and James with it. All the fairies remained silent waiting for the pirate to surface, not daring to approach. Even Silvermist looked at the water, worried. James didn't take too long to come out with great noise and grabbed the leaf once again with difficulties. And then someone burst into laughter.
The laughter of a single fairy flooded the lagoon and everyone looked confused. Who could dare to laugh at Hook in this kind of situation? James looked everywhere but could not see who was laughing, and his anger kept increasing. And then he raised his eyes and saw Zarina, who was just above him hilariously laughing. Truth is that the pirate showed a quite comic picture, holding on the leaf with difficulty, soaked as he was. Some fairies started giggling, and that should have made him furious, but for some reason all the anger was gone. Suddenly the laughter of Zarina captured all his attention, it had him mesmerized. It was the same feeling that he had on the pirate ship whenever he made her laugh or whenever she looked at him with a teasing glance, but multiplied by ten. He did not understand or he didn't want to understand what it meant, but a smile managed to escape his lips.
Clank and Bubble rushed to remove him from the water while Silvermist went to look for a quick fairy to dry him. Zarina landed in front of him, still funny. She then looked at the waterfall she had in front.
"I see that you have at least served as help." she dropped casually.
"Oh yes, Zarina, Hook has been very useful!" exclaimed Bubble to avoid the pirate to rage again.
"Yes, yes," added Clank "he's wonderful at constructing, he would make an excellent tinker!"
"Okay then, as his cell is next to your settlement, from now on he'll help you with the repairing" decided Zarina.
"Great!" answered Bubble enthusiastically. "But first we should ask Fairy Mary for permission, although I think she'll easily agree." Apparently he had already won the confidence of those two and it was only his first day! Things could not go better to him. In addition Zarina didn't seem to hate him anymore. Strange, the night before one of her glances could have struck him down, and however now she seemed in a very good mood. The change in mood seemed suspicious, but another of Zarina's smiles was enough to make him forget it all. Curse it, he would have to do more to lock up his feelings or they would put him in trouble. Good luck he had had many years of practice.