Chapter -156: Sunshine Coastline
Having departed from Justek's village, the two adventurers set forth across the lands to head to the Water Tribe of Aquamoria. Now that Sarajin was a little more accustomed to walking long distances there weren't any complaints on that front.
However, the lack of any real scenery still stood out as a sore point for him.
"It's really barren out here." His wandering thoughts, spoken aloud, got Justek's attention immediately.
"What, were you seriously expecting there to be more out here than this?" He stated so matter-of-factly.
So he shouldn't have been surprised when Sarajin gave a straight-faced, "Yeah!"
"All I've seen are rock formations and one big fallen tree to the east of here."
After Sarajin pointed in that direction Justek hummed and then remarked, "You do realize the world is much bigger than you think it is, no?"
"How big?" Sarajin snapped to attention.
"Well, nobody knows for sure, not even myself," Justek didn't take that as a failure on his part though, "Though I wouldn't fault anyone for assuming it's much smaller these days."
"What do you mean by that?"
Justek raised a brow and then scoffed, "That's a ridiculous question. Even you should be able to answer that."
"...If you say so!" Sarajin turned back with a shrug and with a carefree air surrounding him put his hands behind his hands.
"Are you serious?" Justek murmured to himself, and then kept his mouth shut as the two kept wandering North to their destination.
It wasn't too long before they wound up noticing Tanglefae's many trees sticking out in the distance to the left. As much as Sarajin would like to go over and check up on Carmine, his journey was taking him elsewhere.
To a long stretch of skin-colored grains bordering the east side of the forest. And beyond that, lied an expanse of azure colored waves sparkling from the sun's rays beaming down onto it.
It was already so different from the forest that Sarajin had to take a moment to catch his breath from how long he was gasping in awe. The land was perpetually being brightened by sunshine and both the mainland and the waters seemed to stretch out endlessly.
Sarajin wasted little time in running towards it, ignoring his friend's yell of "You're going to-!" right as his feet touched down on new land.
His body stiffened upright with a burning sensation shooting right up his feet to his head in an instant. Sarajin bounced in place and lifted his right foot up in his hand shouting, "Hot! Hot! Hot!"
These strange grains were stuck to the bottom of his feet and now refused to let go no matter how feverishly he tried to blow and sweep them off.
And it wasn't just the grains that were hot, the general temperature of the air was higher than anything he'd ever experienced before. It was like...Well, he didn't really know!
He hopped back to solid land on one feet only to hear his friend "struggling" to contain his laughter. Sarajin finally managed to get most of the grains off and stamped his foot down, looking a little annoyed at Justek.
"That's not funny! That hurt!"
Justek smirked and nudged his glasses back into place, "That's what you get for hopping barefoot on hot sand, genius."
"Sand?" Sarajin said, tilting his head.
"Think of it as finely crushed rock. It absorbs mass amounts of sunlight and becomes hot to the touch." Justek proudly spoke his knowledge.
"So then how am I supposed to walk through here?" Sarajin said, turning and squinting at the sand.
Justek shrugged and casually walked out onto the sand, protected by his shoes, "Don't know. Figure it out."
His tone lacked any faith in Sarajin's capabilities and he boasted his superiority simply by standing in the sand where Sarajin couldn't reach him.
Sarajin gave a brief pout but, unable to be deterred, looked down at his friend's shoes and suddenly was struck with inspiration.
He lifted his poncho up and after staring at the slats for a bit, nodded firmly. He then untied two of the slats from his poncho and sat down, lifting his feet up to lay them below.
Justek's smile wavered a little and he proceeded to stare at Sarajin as they took the pull strings off their poncho next. Then, laying his foot atop a slat on the ground, Sarajin used the pull string to tie the slat to his foot, and then did the same thing with the other foot.
He then hopped right onto his feet with a "Clack!" and marched right onto the sand, grinning when he touched down without any issue.
"Perfect!" He proclaimed, glancing aside at his friend, "Now my feet are protected too!"
His smile fell and Justek's rose as little by little, Sarajin's whole body sagged, "Whew...!"
"Still need to deal with the other heat, genius."
"W-Well, that's easy!" Sarajin waved his hand around and before either of them knew it, a breeze was sweeping by, cooling them down to a more manageable level.
Sarajin was then free to hold his head high and enjoy the fresh air, "Aaaah!"
Justek put his arms against his chest and curled his lower lip, letting out a curt and disappointed, "Hmph!"
"What's up?" Sarajin commented.
Justek brushed his hand up and remarked, "Nothing. So what's your plan anyways? You don't even know where we're going."
"I know, isn't that exciting?!" Sarajin cheered, dashing away from his friend to comb the sandy shores for adventure.
He paused briefly to wave at Justek, "Come on! Let's go exploring!"
"Haaaa...Nothing stops him does it?" He murmured while dragging his feet through the sand after him.
Sarajin stepped through the sand and spun around, noticing that his feet were leaving grooves in the sand behind him, "That's really cool! Hey Justek, look at these!"
"Yes yes, very exciting..." Justek groaned, "Good lord who gets excited over footprints?"
A few yards from the start, Sarajin pulled away towards the waters and leaned out with a gasp. Bouncing out from the shining sea were creatures of many shapes and sizes with colorful scales and the water stuck to them making them glisten.
They glistened so brightly that Sarajin had to squint his eyes shut. One of the fish then leaped towards him, falling back down against the water and accidentally splashing him with a few droplets.
The brief encounter felt cool and made Sarajin march closer to the water. The water pushed towards his feet and then withdrew, tickling his toes.
Sarajin stood there and waited for the water to come back, then bent down and scooped some up into his hands. It wiggled around, seeping between his fingers rapidly.
Instinctively he splashed the water against his face and though the sudden introduction of cold rendered him momentarily in shock, he reawakened with a beaming grin and an eagerness to move closer to the water.
He dipped his feet into the water and it pushed back, covering him up to his ankles. He then stared out over the horizon and couldn't see where the water ended.
There were more of those scaly creatures jumping around in groups, moving so quickly that it was impossible to commit their uniqueness to memory.
Sarajin then turned around and saw Justek keeping away from the water a few feet in the distance. Sarajin cheered at him, "I've never seen so much water before! Come on! Join me!"
"Hmph! I don't need to wet my feet, thank you very much." As Justek tried to separate himself from the boy's amusement, he found himself being splashed across the body with water.
Sarajin giggled playfully as he tried to splash him again, only for Justek to step out of the water and frown, "Of all the nerve...!"
"You just going to stand there?!" Sarajin taunted him to come out and play.
Justek let out a "Hmph!" and then took a couple steps forward, bending down and picking up some of the wet sand to shape into a sphere.
"Lets see how you like this then!" He flung the sphere out and Sarajin narrowly moved out of the way of it hitting his face.
He then splashed at Justek again, which he evaded. But as he went to pick up more wet sand his eyes grimaced and he stood there staring blankly into the horizon, "What am I doing?!"
He threw the sand down and forced himself to shiver, reprimanding himself with a slight, "How utterly childish..."
Sarajin tried to splash him one more time and then turned around, dancing around and wiggling his toes between the grains of sand in the water.
He had to keep moving forward, wading deeper and deeper into the water. It began to soak into his pants and left him feeling heavier, but beyond a curious glance downward he didn't stop to think about it.
When he was knee-high in water the waves felt like they were hitting harder than before but he got pressing onward, finding that it was getting harder to move his legs.
Suddenly Justek blurted out "W-What are you doing?!" with a rare display of panic and disbelief.
When Sarajin turned around he found his friend inching closer towards him and shouting, "Moron! Get back here before you're in too deep!"
Sarajin spread his hands out without a care and proclaimed, "It's fine! It's just water!"
He would find the water pushing him at a higher elevation than before, wrapping around his waist and then tugging back. Sarajin's body was pulled further in against his will, during which he froze up in place.
Justek grit his teeth and rushed into the water, grabbing hold of him by the wrist and forcibly dragging him back to the shore, all the while shouting, "Just water my hind quarters!"
His rough way of recalling him left Sarajin being tossed flat onto his stomach, giving him ample time to stand up before Justek crawled his way back to the shore looking utterly flared up expression-wise.
"Were you TRYING to get yourself killed?!" He shouted.
"K-K-Killed?" Sarajin's face went pale and he tensely grit his teeth. Easing into more of an unsettled look, he remarked, "But...it's just water. It's harmless."
"In small doses, yes," Justek pinched his forehead and groaned, "But I sincerely doubt you're able to swim in it."
Before Sarajin could make the obvious comment his tilted expression would suggest, Justek sighed and spoke in a deflated tone, "Your people move through the Wind by flying. While the people of Aquamoria move through the Water by swimming."
"So it's...dangerous to go in the water if I can't swim?" Sarajin said, glancing at the water with sadness.
"Yes, it is," Justek brushed a hand up beside his face and scoffed, "Think before you act for once, good grief..."
Sarajin rubbed the back of his head and remarked, "Sorry...Thanks for pulling me out though."
Justek closed his eyes and muttered all to himself, "There's nothing entertaining about death..."
Sarajin folded his arms under his poncho and took a brief look at the water, huffing a sigh before looking at his friend and asking, "Would you be able to teach me how to swim?"
Justek scoffed and went, "Absolutely NOT."
"But you know about it, right?"
"Knowledge like that can't be applied to physical labor," Justek brandished his hand towards the water and exclaimed, "Besides! I'd rather be buried under the sand than soak myself in that sea!"
Sarajin tilted his head back and remarked, "So my best bet would be asking the people of Aquamoria?"
"Probably. You were planning on visiting them anyways, right?"
Sarajin nodded.
"Well, which way do you think they are?" Sarajin leaned right to peer past Justek. He saw a bunch of tall but thin trees with massive leaves and round brown objects dangling from them, and Tanglefae not far beyond that.
He then turned right around on one foot and gestured towards the horizon, "Maybe that way?"
"I do recall reading that the west side of the area is mostly barren. So I suppose it's as worth a try as any..."
The two began to venture across the sandy shoreline. While the land didn't compare to Tanglefae when it came to sights, it more than made up for it in comfort. The sun was hot but with the Wind at his side Sarajin could focus on how it gave everything a shine.
And the air smelled so nice in a way that he couldn't experience back home, thanks to the water. It was providing a fragrance that was refreshing and clean.
He turned around and put his hands behind his head, looking at Justek with a smile, "I don't ever want to leave this place."
"I could maybe understand that mentality with Tanglefae, but here? Why? So far there's been nothing but coarse sand."
"Sure but the air smells great, and everything's constantly in motion!"
Justek looked at him with a smarmy grin and muttered, "Of course that'd be attractive to you."
"What do you mean?" Sarajin said, raising his brows.
"Oh nothing, nothing." Justek wagged the back of his fingers out and Sarajin pouted.
"Sometimes Justek, I wonder if you like to hear yourself talk."
"What?!" Justek sputtered, "W-Where'd that bluntness come from all of a sudden?"
He then scoffed and told him, "Besides, I wouldn't have to talk so much if you weren't so easily distracted by every shiny new thing!"
Sarajin looked a little peeved and started to turn around, making a comment along the lines of, "I am NOT distracted easily."
However, he was then clobbered under the chin by the skull of another person, causing him to fall back onto his butt at Justek's feet.
Justek hovered overhead, smug and silent. Sarajin rubbed the bottom of his chin and gazed forward, just to find that the person who bonked into him was a kid roughly his age, but just a little shorter.
They were hunched over and shaken from the blow, that was all Sarajin could see cause his vision was blurry for the moment.
"Oi, what a blow...!" Their voice was strange, not in tone, which was perky, but in how it sounded. It was like...different, but he couldn't describe how or why, just that he never heard this type of voice before.
As Sarajin's vision cleared the boy was fully standing, and turns out his voice wasn't the only thing that was different.
First off their skin was some shade of brown and nice and shiny, shinier than the surface of the water. It sort of reminded him of the sap on Ividae's body. And that made their teeth look really, REALLY white in comparison. Their ears were bigger than his, and they had this discolored blue hair that's spiked up a little.
He was wearing a strange necklace with a variety of small, hard-looking objects. Not necessarily scales, but something else entirely. The presence of scales was more present on his sleeveless vest. He wore short white shorts with these dried strips of greenery on the sides and a hook dangling from his right pocket. Finally, the bottom of his feet were protected by these flat shoes made out of some strange white material.
He was holding a bunch of objects similar to what was on his necklace in his arms, pressing them against his chest.
With a tense grin of his pearly whites, the boy remarked, "My bad chum, y'alright?"
As his and Sarajin's eyes met their expressions both became one of shock.
"Eh hol' up..." The boy's eyes widened slowly, "...What's up with your skin?"
Sarajin stood right up and proclaimed, "I was going to ask YOU that! You're so brown!"
"And you're so white!" The boy proclaimed, "How'd ya manage that?"
"Huh? I've always looked like this. What about you?" Sarajin got closer to the boy and despite some momentary hesitation, reached out and touched the skin of their arm.
"Wow, his skin's smooth but his muscles are hard as a rock!" Sarajin had to keep poking some more, even though the boy was staring blankly at him the whole while.
"Uhhh, are you seasick, chum?"
"No he's just a curious idiot," Justek murmured aloud, and as amusing as this was he didn't want to be standing around here all day doing this, "Hey, cut it out. He may be strange looking-"
"You say what, chum?" The boy said partway through.
"-But that's likely because he's a citizen of this Tribe."
Sarajin pulled back and stared at them for a while, "But he looks so different!"
"I'm feelin' uncomfortable here all of a sudden..." The boy murmured.
Sarajin wagged his hands around before his chest and proclaimed, "I-I didn't mean that as a bad thing! I think it's cool that you look different!"
The boy's attitude did a one-eighty as his face lit up with a smile and a slight blush, "Y-You think I look cool?!"
"Yeah, your skin's so shiny and smooth!"
"Aww schucks mate, you're makin' me blush!"
After tensions had been reduced a bit between them, Sarajin extended his hand out and remarked, "My name's Sarajin Stratos! A pleasure to meet you, Aquamoria guy!"
"That ain't my name, chum. It's..." As he nudged his hand, he looked down and then chuckled, "Awww dang, you've snared me with a net on me legs."
He then shrugged and held his head high with a smile, "The name's Brine Aqua, master fisherman of Genestasia's uncharted waters!"
"Wow...!" Sarajin's lit up at the ablomp that Brine introduced himself with, only for his expression to flatline as he muttered, "What's a fisherman?"
Brine recoiled like he had taken physical damage, blurting out in disbelief, "You don't know what fishing is?! What side of the sea are ya from, chum?!"
"He's not from around these waters, tan for brains," Justek remarked, "He's from another Tribe entirely."
"A-Another Tribe?" Brine stared at Sarajin with unwarranted awe, which Sarajin reciprocated by rubbing the back of his head and chuckling.
"Yeah, I'm from Arc Hurricanos."
"No kiddin'!" Brine proclaimed cheerfully.
"...Was it really not obvious given his clothes?" Justek blurted from the corner of his mouth.
Brine squinted at them both and then jolted up to remark, "Now'd you mention it, ya both are dressed kinda funny..."
Justek narrowly glared at the boy and groaned, "Oh goodie, the stupidity in this vicinity is multiplying."
"Well as a son of the sea I ain't about to let a couple of flounders flop about on the shore without knowin' the joys of fishing!" Brine turned aside and nudged his head towards the east, "C'mon chums! I'm gonna take ya back to my village and teach ya all there is to know!"
That'd be great, Brine! Lead the way!" Sarajin proclaimed.
With pleasure, mate! Follow me!" He turned and began to march across the sandy shore with his two guests in tow.
Along the way Brine glanced over his shoulder with a face that suggested he was full of questions, "Can't believe I'm getting' to meet someone from another Tribe! What brought you out 'ere anyways?"
Sarajin comfortably had his hands behind his head, "I wanted to go around the world and explore the other Tribes!"
"And you decided to come to Aquamoria first?"
"Not really, I've been to Tanglefae already."
Brine raised his brows and his expression soured a little, "Those green-thumbed bores that live beside us? Why'd you want to bother with them?"
"I had to help my mother by picking up an herb,"" Sarajin grinned, "And they aren't bores! They're very friendly and helpful people!"
Brine shrugged and muttered, "If ya say so, chum."
After he faced forward Sarajin peeked over his shoulder and wondered, "So what's all that stuff you're holding?"
"Y'mean my shells?"" Brine chimed innocently enough, "Ain't they pretty? I spent half the afternoon scooping them up off the shore for extra currency!"
As Sarajin pulled back he fluttered his eyelashes and remarked, "Currency?"
"Y'know, what you buy stuff with?"" When Brine's response was met with a blank look he exclaimed, "Do ya not buy stuff in your Tribe?!"
Sarajin shook his head and Brine blurted, "Wow. That's strange, mate."
Sarajin pulled away and commented, "Is it?"
"From a certain point of view, yes."" Justek couldn't help but say.
"Well don't fret! You'll learn all about it from yours truly!"" Brine said, pretending to tap his chest.
"He will, but will that knowledge be retained?"" Justek smirked, "Least that's a load off my shoulders for now."
That's true!" Sarajin declared, "Now you can enjoy yourself alongside me!"
"...Great?"" Justek said, raising his brows.
After a little more time walking across the sand, there were finally some new sights in the distance, and with it came new people.
They all were tanned like Brine and had a limited amount of clothes on. Similar styles too, just with different colored scales.
A large group of them were running towards the water with these wooden poles hung over their shoulders, and dangling off the ends were something that reminded Sarajin of the material his pull strings were made of.
They passed them by but Sarajin followed them for a bit, watching as they dipped their toes into the edge of the water and then whipped their poles towards it. The strange strings went into the water and hovered on the surface.
It seemed like a lot of people liked to do this, as there were at least a few dozen of them standing at the edge of the water.
And the reason for that seemed to be because there were even MORE people doing this very same thing on these wooden platforms stretching out far along the water. There had to be hundreds of people at least!
These context clues seemed to actually have an effect on Sarajin and caused him to blurt out spontaneously, "Is this what fishing is?"
Brine turned in the direction he was looking and said, "Yep! Ya got it in one!"
"Here in Aquamoria, fishin' is our way of life! Men and women alike get up in the wee mornin' hours to cast their lines into the sea in hopes of snaggin' the best and freshest fish!"
Sarajin's jaw slacked with a droll groan of "Uhhhh"" to which Justek crossed his arms and remarked, "You broke him."
Brine turned around and flinched, "Aw shoot! I ran my mouth again!" "
He used his right toes to tap Sarajin in the leg and snap him out of it, "Sorry, mate. I ain't used to teachin' skippers. That's my master's duty!"
Sarajin shook his head and smiled, "Don't worry about it! I'll try my best to learn it all!"
"That brain of yers'll be a sponge by the time I'm through with it!"" Brine grinned and then dashed a few steps forward. Ahead of him lies the main village of Aquamoria, which compared to Tanglefae, is a lot more wide-open with its housing.
The houses were all made of wood boards, but seemed to be put together rather shabbily with some of the boards slanted on the outside. And all they had to keep the sun off were the long leaves Sarajin had seen on those trees to the west.
The houses were elevated off the ground and he could see a pane of glass sticking out from the bottom of the ones closer to the water. A slanted plank of wood seemed to be their equivalent of stairs here.
After moving around numerous houses like this, their merry group was stopped by a few Aquamorian kids rushing by holding tiny wooden sticks with pointy rocks tied up at the ends.
"Howdy Brine!"" One of them shouted.
"Oy! Careful not to trip with those, lads!"" Brine said with a chuckle. He then glanced over his shoulder still grinning, "They're practicing to be spear fishers when they get older."
"So what they're holding are called spears?"" Sarajin thought about it for a moment and then looked back at Justek, "Isn't your village fenced in with a bunch of those?""
"No kidding?"" Brine said with interest.
Justek nudged his glasses up and remarked, "Yes but they aren't for fishing. There's not even any water in our area, remember?"
"Oh yeah…"" Sarajin then asked, "So what else can they be used for?"
"Self-defense I'd imagine. Least that's what my ol' pops told me he used them for in his youth,"" Brine faced forward and continued to explain, "You won't be catchin' much fish by tossing spears, but they do help ward off the biters and gut the larger catches."
Sarajin only heard about half of that cause his eyes were wandering around taking a look at all the people just, running around as free as a flock of birds. They didn't care about the sun beating down on their skins or the hot sand at their feet. They went where they wanted to go, and were as happy as could be.
"I bet Uncle Nimus likes this place a lot,"" Sarajin thought with a smile, "Everyone's so...free, and happy."
While the wooden platforms out on the water were still visible Sarajin commented, "So is it normal for that many people to be fishing?"
"Oy, ya think this is a lot, you oughta see the bayou at the crack of dawn!"" Brine stopped to face the sea and then clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, "When the sun peeks juuuuust over the horizon, a tidal wave of fishermen come sweeping across the beach to get their lines in the water!"
"Hahaha!"" He guffawed excitedly, "The poor saps who're too slow get tossed off the side and are forced to swim back to shore with their heads hung in shame!"
"Sounds...hectic."" Sarajin murmured, a little stunned at how that was described.
"But I betcha it's a lot of fun, 'specially if ya win a spot on the docks!""
They kept walking and Sarajin asked him, "You haven't gotten out there yet?"
"Not during peak fishing hours. My mum's forbade me from doing so until I get a little more meat on my bones,"" Brine took a deep breath and sighed, "Yep, this guppy's still got to earn his fins!"
Justek smirked and remarked, "That's strange, I thought you were a 'master fisherman'?"
Brine winced and then laughed heartily aloud, "Ok, you got me there mate! I'm a master fisherman...in training."
He turned around and declared with his head held high, "But my teacher's always saying I got a knack for reeling 'em in! And she would know! She's the best fisher in all of Aquamoria!"
Wow!" Sarajin crossed his arms and blurted out without a second thought, "Maybe I should learn from her!"
Brine widened his eyes and shouted, "Oy, chum! Don't just hang me up to dry like that! I'm a perfectly good teacher! 'Sides, teacher's too busy to take up multiple students!"
"You're right, I'm sorry,"" Sarajin said with a grin, "Thank you for doing this for us, Brine!"
"Not a problem, mate! Fishing's somethin' all people should get to enjoy!"" He then turned around and hollered, "Speakin' of which, we're finally nearin' the market!""
The atmosphere of Aquamoria was elevated to higher heights as they were nearing this so-called "market"". Here there were rows and rows of different looking buildings bunched together leading towards a large circular area at the end.
And the space between these buildings were filled with people moving around in front of them with objects either in their hands or hung over their shoulders.
And when some of these people left, other people took their place. It was a constant stream of activity, so much so that it briefly overwhelmed Sarajin's senses from all the motion and noise.
"W-Wow…"" Was the only utterance from his staggered state of mind.
Brine got ahead of them and had to turn around, cheering his guests on loudly, "C'mon mate, or yer gonna get swept up in the tide!"
"R-Right!"" Sarajin brightened up and chased after Brine, with Justek lagging behind them with a groan.
"Oh, this is going to get stuffy fast...""
Somehow Brine managed to lead them into a vacant gap among the crowd in the middle row of buildings, where they stuck together as best they could.
Though the clamor of the crowd was a lot to sift through, Sarajin was able to focus on what Brine was saying.
"So down here's the fish market! This is where you can trade for a wide variety of sea life for food!""
Sarajin took a whiff and found the smell really inviting half the time, or disgusting the other half. The latter could've been contributed to all the sweat in the air, but...
Either way it got to him and he had to pinch his nose shut to give himself a breather. He then spoke to Brine in a nasally manner, "So how do you 'trade'?"
"Ummm, y'know what? My parents' shop's close by, I'll show ya there!"" Brine had them wade through the crowd a little while longer until eventually, they stopped in front of a building with the words 'The Salty Rind' etched into a red wood sign over it.
The building was pretty open and laid out at the front was a wide row of cold looking rocks with some of those scaly creatures laid down on top of them, composed of many shapes and sizes. But they didn't seem to be moving.
"Pops! Yer son's back from his excursion!"" Brine shouted from deep within.
A taller man poked his head up from behind the fish row and then laid his arm down atop it. He had Brine's hair color and sense of style, but was a little more beefy and had a fine degree of beard hairs. With a snap of his fingers he proclaimed, "And how'd it go? Ye fish up a bunch of pretty shells?"
"You betcha! Found some real sparklin' beauties buried in the sand!"" Brine then nudged back over his shoulder, "And I even wandered upon a couple of folk floundering about on the shore!"
"Hrrrmmm, oh did ya now?"" The man squinted his eyes at his two guests, with Sarajin waving his hand at him.
"Hi sir! Pleased to meet you! Your son's teaching me how to fish!""
The man's eyes perked up and with a jolly good laugh he proclaimed, "That so?! Well ain't nothin' wrong with that!"
"So, startin' off with a tour of the market are ye?""
"Yes sir!"" Sarajin proclaimed.
"Well, ya've come to the right place! We got's some of the finest fish this side of Aquamoria! So go ahead, ask away!"
Sarajin looked at all the sealife and upon realizing just how much variety was there, he decided to start simple, "Ahhh, I was hoping to learn how 'trading' works."
"Ah, that's true. Can't be makin' a fair trade with ya if ya don't know the first thing about it."
Brine's dad grabbed the row of fish by the sides and then turned his head towards the left side, "Our sales are categorized by their value. The wee fish are easy to catch, but don't tend to be worth much. The more average-sized ones can vary since there's so many varieties of them, but on average they're worth more than the shrimps. But if you manage to haul in the big ones...!"
He bent down and pulled out another row, and the fish on it was so big it fit on the entire thing. It was at least six feet long with a sharp nose and HUGE scales.
"WHOA!"" Sarajin shouted with his eyes sparkling.
"You'll be feastin' like a whale, hehe!"" Brine's dad put the massive fish back below the others and Sarajin couldn't stop looking in its general direction.
"How do I get a fish that big?!"" He exclaimed.
"Well ya either trade up to it or catch it yourself!"" Brine's dad crossed his arms and grinned, "Eager as you are though, you're a floppin' guppy, and I ain't seein' much meat on those bones. You'd have to fish a lifetime before you'd be tough enough to haul in one of those meaty fish!"
Sarajin flexed his arm and poked at his flabby bicep, which caused him to pout.
"Ah don't despair, boy! Catch enough of the wee ones and you'd be able to trade for one of the larger ones!""
Sarajin lifted his head and pondered, "How does that work?"
Justek spoke up with a cough, "Allow me to flex my brain a little here."
All eyes were on him as he crossed his arms and explained with a smug grin all the while, "Say you want an average-sized fish, but only caught a bunch of smaller ones. Well you can give the seller the smaller fish in exchange for the larger one. Alternatively, say you're living alone and don't want to keep a giant fish because it'll spoil before you finish eating it. You can give it to a seller who will be able to preserve it and in exchange, receive a bunch of smaller fish that are easier to maintain."
"Is that about right?"" He said, raising his brows at Brine's dad.
"Huh, where'd you hear that from, kid?" He replied.
"Oh, I just committed that all to memory from reading books."" Justek said with a flash of pride in his smile.
"...Don't know what the bloody heck that means,"" Brine's dad murmured, "But yer right on the gold."
He then gestured towards a somewhat frazzled Sarajin and added on to Justek's explanation, "Its a compromise established long ago to ensure that so long as any fisherman worth their salt at least tries, they can still work their way up to the tastier fish in our market."
Sarajin started rubbing his chin, for the first time in his life forced to think about "economics"", and came up with a quick conclusion, "So if I wanted that huge fish you had on display…"
Brine's dad chuckled heartily at his enthusiasm, "You'd have to bring me at least a couple hundred wee fish or fifty average-sized ones."
Sarajin's head sank a little and with a pitying sigh Brine's dad told him, "Sorry kid, but I can't be playin' favorites, not even to my son's new friend. The Sharp Speartrout is one of the hardest to catch fish in the sea!"
"Then...!"" Sarajin pumped his fists before his chest and declared, "I'll just have to work hard to earn it!"
"Heh! I like that gleam in yer eyes kid! Maybe you'll make a fine fisherman after all!"" Brine's dad then cocked a smirk and muttered, "Assumin' this boy of mine doesn't get distracted chasin' fairy tales again."
"Grrr...!"" Brine grumbled.
Sarajin finally remembered Brine was there and that sparked another question, "Oh yeah, so were you planning on using your shells to trade for a fish?""
"Oh not at all, mate! You can't use shells that way."" Brine declared.
"You can't?"" Sarajin tilted his head.
"Course not!"" Brine's dad declared, "They ain't edible."
"They do look like they'd hurt my teeth..."" Sarajin said, feeling some mild discomfort in his gums.
"Oh they do!"" Brine grinned and in doing so, revealed that the bottoms of his back teeth looked beat up, "Trust me!"
Justek sighed and waved his hand up, "Now why did you go and reveal that. I was hoping' he would try and eat a shell in front of us."
"Well that'd be silly. Who'd eat money?"" Brine said.
"Oh you'd be surprised what this one might try and stuff in his mouth."" Justek chuckled.
"Well anyways, follow me! I'll show ya where these shells' be useful at!"" Brine headed off, but not before hollering to his dad, "Later pops! Tell mum I'll be back before dinner!"
The three then pushed their way through the crowd and all the other fish markets along the way. Once they got to the circular part Brine directed their attention towards a MASSIVE pile of wood stacked up in the center of the area, surrounded by a ring of stones.
"That's where we cook the fish to enhance their flavor, though only aroun' dinner time. Just light a fire and 'Fwoosh!', it's a party for the seasons!"" He didn't take very long to swerve a hard right and direct them towards another row of buildings, "Anyways this 'ere is the tool market!"
Sarajin and Justek looked around and found that some of the markets had large versions of the spears the kids were wielding, but they also looked better built to last. There were also some hooks of varying curves and sizes, and containers made of glued together shells that seemed to have squirming creatures inside of them. And finally, there were some of those wooden poles sticking up at the front of the stands on full display.
"Here you can buy everything you need to fish with! Fishing rods, hooks, bait, spears, ya name it, we got it!"" Brine stopped in front of a stand called "Playin' Hookie"" where they sold...hooks, what else?
Here he finally got to lift his arms up and unload his massive supply of shells onto the counter, "Hey there! Hope this'll be enough for the hook I requested!"
The shopkeeper turned around and with a single glance at the pile laid before him he determined, "Perfect! Not a single chip on any of 'em as far as I can see."
They took their arm to the shells and scooped them off into a shameful looking sack. They then patted the counter, which actually had a glass covering with a variety of hooks hidden beneath it.
He then slid the glass off and Brine got on his toes to peek up and take his pick. Sarajin got in closer to view the hooks himself, and while they had different builds they all shared the same type of curve to them.
Brine chose to take the blue one with a white-pink glittery sheen and then hooked it onto his right pocket, "Thanks for the hook!"
"Nah, thanks for the shells! That'll help me build a sturdy set of hooks, mate!"
Brine then pulled away and looked at Sarajin, who was left wondering, "So you trade shells for tools?"
"And fish too! Even traders gotta eat y'know!"
"I think I get it..."" Sarajin crossed his arms.
"Do you?"" Justek couldn't help but prod at him teasingly for a bit, "So you understand the value of each individual shell and fish, and can sort them out from lowest to highest value? And then you can also describe each shell and fish by etymological definition and-"
Sarajin's expression started to look dizzy, causing Brine to cock his head back and say in a huff, "No need to frazzle him, mate!"
"I'm just having fun,"" Justek smirked and poked his glasses up, "In my own way."
Brine turned back around and lightly slapped Sarajin a few times across the face to snap him out of it, "Y'alright mate?"
"S-Sorry, I blacked out for a moment,"" Sarajin then confidently crossed his arms and restated, "I think I get it though."
He then pumped his fists up and proclaimed, "So when do I get to go fishing?!"
"...That's a good question, chum,"" Brine raised his eyes and curled his lower lip, "It just hit me that since you ain't a native of Aquamoria, you don't got a fishing rod to call your own."
"That JUST hit you?"" Justek remarked, "Good lord, you two are a perfect match."
"Well couldn't I just go gather a bunch of shells to trade for a fishing pole?"" Sarajin suggested, which wasn't really a bad idea on paper, but...
"Ya could, but..."" Brine had to rain on his parade, "You'd have to fill a house full of shells to trade for the lowest grade rod."
"That many shells?!"" Sarajin could've fallen on his butt from how hard he gasped.
"Well yeah mate, these things are tough stuff!"" Brine backed up and rattled his knuckles against one of the rods and it actually sounded like the trees in Tanglefae, "The sayin' goes, 'If they ain't made of palm tree wood, they ain't made to last!'"
Justek got closer to Sarajin and looked him in the eyes, "Looks like you got two options: Give up, or get to shell hunting."
"Well I'm not giving up...I really want to go fishing! Everyone's so happy doing it,"" Sarajin leaned his head back with a determined look in his eyes and clenched a fist up to his chest, "So if I have to work hard to get a fishing rod, then that's just what I'll do!"
"...Huh,"" Justek backed off and rolled his shoulders, "Do what you want then."
Brine grinned and pressed his arms against his chest, "Yer really serious about this, ain't ya?"
As Sarajin lowered his head Brine rubbed the back of his own and grit his teeth, muttering under his breath, "Teacher's gonna smack me upside the head for this but…"
He then wagged his hand out and raised his voice, "I'll let ya borrow my fishing rod so you can learn how to fish!"
"R-Really?!"" Sarajin's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Sure! What the heck, right?!"
Justek looked at him and wondered, "So that's the only obstacle left then?"
"Yeah?"" Brine replied, confused.
"The Titan of Aquamoria won't have a problem with someone from another Tribe fishing in their waters?""
"'Course not! Our Titan's the one who protects and nurtures the fish for us to catch! So long as anyone's got a rod and tosses a line, he don't care who's holdin' on to the end!"
"...Hmmm."" Justek nudged his glasses up, a gesture which got Sarajin's attention.
"Anyways, let's make a run to my family's hut! Then we can head out to the dock! Follow me!"" Brine went on ahead of the two through the crowd, as they stuck behind for a moment so Sarajin could address Justek's strange behavior.
"Is something the matter?"
Justek simply glanced aside at him and muttered, "Someday, your luck's going to run out.""
He then moved on ahead through the crowd, leaving Sarajin trailing behind him with a puzzled look on his face.
Next Time: Big Reelin'