Chapter One - Amitt Harvest

"Alex, wake up already! The sun's already risen!" Alex's eyes slowly opened in time to see her mother, Mollie, finishing climbing the latter to her room. "Today is the annual Amitt Harvest, Alex! Your father already left some time ago."

RUbbing her eyes, Alex sat up and pulled on her shoes, then headed down to the kitchen, where he mother was waiting for her.

"Are you ready? Imagine, a fisherman's child, sleeping in on a day like this!" Mollie mumbled. "Hurry over to the harbor and help your father out!"

Alex walked quickly across the room, not wanting to be any later than she was. She almost reached the door when her mother called out.

"Oh, wait a second!" Alex turned back to her mother, who is crossing the room with a sandwich in her hands. "Take this to your father, would you? He never sets off without eating one first. Now, off you go!"

"Bye, Mom!" Alex steps out the door and sprints over to the harbor, where the townsfolk are gathering.

"I wonder if this will turn out to be another long sea voyage," one woman was saying. " Please let my husband and all of his companions return home safely!"

"I should have married a fisherman, too..." an old lady nearby mumbled.

"Well, if it isn't Borkano's kid, Alex," a merchant set up nearby said, catching Alex's attention. Looking at the AmitSnacks and AmitDonuts he was selling reminded Alex that she hadn't eaten yet.

"How much?" Alex asked, picking up a donut.

"I can't very well charge you for something like this. It's yours. Take it." Alex smiled, taking a bite out of the donut. "Say 'hello' to your old man for me!" The merchant called out. Alex waved in response, beelining for the ship. Quickly she walked up the plank. On the deck, she saw her father speaking with Amitt.

"Hmm, you're probably right," Amitt mumbled to himself, fingers tapping his chin lightly, "but I'm not too sure about changing the regular fishing spot."

"But you see, Amitt, it is just this kind of current that gives me confidence!" Borkano replied. "I don't want to sound arrogant, but we fisherman are experts on the mood of the fish."

Alex couldn't help but lightly chuckle at her father's enthusiasm.

"Well, that's true...Hm?" Amitt noticed Alex standing nearby and smiled at her. "Hey, isn't that Alex? You came to help out dad, did you?"

Alex smiled, stepping closer.

"Alex! Where were you?" Borkano asked. Alex bit her lip, crossing over to where her father stood. "Your mother could have given birth to another child and I could have had him bring be the sandwich in the time it took you to get here! You didn't forget it, did you?"

Alex handed over the sandwich, trying not to focus on the way her father had said the word 'him' again. She knew he had wanted a son to carry on with the fishing after him, and though she tried her best to follow in her father's footsteps, it never was quite enough.

"Mmm! Just wonderful!" Borkano said, munching the sandwich. "Fishing can't start until I've eaten one of these!" Alex smiled, and her father noticed her again. "What are you doing, Alex? Don't just stand there staring! Go clean the cabin or something."

"Yes, sir!" She said, heading doen the flight of stair to a room with two empty chests and a bunch of barrels. After making sure they were in order, she walked into the next room, where two sailors were looking over a map on the table.

"It looks like we'll be going further north than usual for this harvest," one of the sailors was saying. Sneaking around them, Alex entered the next room and headed to the stairs that would lead her to the next floor.

"Do you presume to think that you understand my feelings?" the sailor, who'd been almost hidden beside the racks of spears, suddenly spoke out.

"...No..." she responded, slowly backing down the stairs.

"Of course you don't! how could one so young understand the pain of leaving your spouse to go on a dangerous voyage? Nobody can understand how I feel right now!"

When Alex finally made it to the floor below, she let out a sigh of relief. He got like that every year. Honestly, Alex would never understand men...

Looking about the room, Alex spotted a hint of red hidden amonst the barrels nearby. Carefully moving them aside, she found Maribel.

"Mari?" She asked, "What are you doing?"

"Shhh! Quiet down! I can't let anyone find out I'm here!" Maribel said in a voice much louder that Alex's had been. Suddenly the Cook appeared at the door.

"Hmm? Is someone there?" Maribel tried to hide, but was easily spotted amonst the barrels.

"Maribel, you're trying to stow away again, aren't you? I thought you were told not to come on this voyage!"

Maribel turned to face the cook, frustrated.

"Oh, come on! Why can't I come along, huh? Alex gets to!" the cook showed no sign of sympathy, so Maribel tried a different approach. "All I wanted to do was try some of that amazing stew you make."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Maribel," The cook crossed his arms. "Now get off this boat before your father blows his lif...oh good, Alex. Come help me peel some potatoes."

The cook went back through the door, and Maribel huffed.

"Argh! Alex! You moron!" Alex jumped back, giving Maribel her space, just in case she got violent. "Just for that, I'm going to tell everyone about your little secret base!" She kicked over a barrel and it rolled away from her wrath. "It's not fair! You're a girl, too!"

With that, Maribel was off. Alex almost followed, before reassuring herself that Maribel didn't know where the secret base was, so there was no real threat.

Rolling up her sleeves, Alex walked into the kitchen. "Lemmie at those potatoes."

"Ah," the cook said as she walked in. "I'm sorry, Alex. The potatoes are already peeled."

"What?" Alex blinked.

"I guess I was so busy yelling at Maribel that I forgot I had done them already. She's quite a handful, isn't she? Hahaha!"

Alex scratched the back of her head. The cook was an odd man...

"Hahaha...Ya know, I don't know how good a sailor you'd be with that body, Alex," the cook continued, "but if you're any good in the kitchen, you'd still come in handy here. Just devote yourself to what you're talented at and you'll do fine."

"...right..." Alex sighed. Underestimated again...

She headed up the steps, almost running into a sailor on the way.

"Sorry."

"Young people like you have lots of energy," the sailor said, striking an odd pose, "but what you lack is experience."

"Um...okay?"

"You never know what'll happen in the ocean!" He continued. "That's why you have to be cool!"

Alex managed to sneak around him and dart up the steps to the deck. The second she emerged from the cabin,, the confetti started falling, signaling that the ship would be departing very shortly.

"Alex," Borkano said, putting his hand on her shoulder, "I know you're anxious to be able to come with me on a fishing voyage..."

"Yes," she said, nodding, small smile on her face.

"...but you'd just be a hindrance at this point." Her face fell and he sighed. "Continue to work and train hard and someday you may become a master fisherman. After all, you are my child. "He laughed, but it didn't reach Alex. She'd been trying so hard...

"There is something you can do for me, though." Borkano continued. Alex met his gaze. "Please take care of your mother while I'm away."

"Yes, sir," she said without hesitation, and allowed herself to be escorted off the ship by one of the sailors. The plank dropped when she reached the dock.

"Set sail! Raise the anchor!" Amitt yelled from the deck. More confetti fell, and three seagulls took flight as the ship sailed off into the horizon.