Hearless saw another book on the shelf with a very thick volume, at least 8 inches, and pulled it down, titled "Kansen Rigging and Repair." "This will be helpful", she thought as she opened it, the dust coming off it in a small cloud.
Several hours pass as she reads. Soon, the sunlight filtering in from the window becomes too weak to read. She looks out and sees it slowly fading behind the ship. She slides the book into her side bag and exits the small office. Looking around the dry dock, she sees it barren of life once again. "Damn, I must be past quitting time", she thought as she took the trek back to the infirmary.
As she walked, she opened an empty page of her notebook, writing down the names of the ships that she worked on, contemplating whether she should tell them or at least talk to them and get to know them. "Talk, that's ironic", she thought to herself as she wrote a name and crossed it out. "That's a cargo ship, not a warship", she thought. Soon, she accidentally tripped on something. Knowing she should have paid better attention, she moved and looked at what she tripped over, or more exactly, who. Hearless's eyes landed on a girl with white hair who was taller than her. She wore a pink jacket and a set of bunny ears.
The girl looked sleepy, looked at Hearless with a slightly confused look, and stood up to help her up. Her mouth moved, but it wasn't very clear what she was saying. She was mumbling or slurring her words. Hearless brought a hand to her ear and made an x with her arms. The girl stopped, tilted her head, saw the list, and pointed at it. Hearless was a little confused and handed the list to her, who pointed at a name rather than to herself. The name was Laffey. "So one of my kids is very sleepy, huh?" she thought. Laffey handed the list back but stopped and gestured back at it again. Hearless, albeit a little annoyed, relented and handed it back. The girl pulled a pen from her pocket and wrote, "Why the list?", Hearless looked at it and considered what to say.
"Should I, would she believe me, should I wait?", she decides to not say her real reason to say it but to only say half the reason and simply writes on the paper, "These are ships I worked on; I just wanted to keep it right in my head." Laffey reads what she wrote, then looks at Hearless, then writes with a slight smile, "That makes sense." She pauses before writing a final word with a full smile, "mom." Hearless reads this, freezes in surprise, and looks at Laffey in shock. She suddenly started to see the world fade and she passes out.
"Oh,", she said, catching Hearless as they fainted. It's ok, Mom; I guess it is a surprise," she softly said as she hugged Hearless. "My mom is shorter than me", She said this with a slight hitch in her voice; if it was crying or laughing, it was hard to tell.
Laffey carried a hearless bridal style to the infirmary. Vestal saw this and walked out to meet Laffey. "Laffey, can you tell me why this happened?", Laffey lowered her head but brought it back up to meet Vestal's eyes. "I found my mom", Vestal just shook her head. "I see. If you want, you can wait till she wakes back up, but I fear that won't be for a few hours. Laffey simply nodded, carried Hearless in, and set her on a free bed. She sat down nearby, seeming fully awake. Vestal tapped Laffey's shoulder. I would prefer if you worked on your sleep, but I know you're used to nighttime operations, so I won't push it. Laffey calmly nodded at Vestal's advice and decided to lay down next to Hearless, giving her a small hug before letting sleep eventually take hold.
Hearless slowly woke to light entering the room she was in as she slowly opened her eyes. She saw the harbor. She felt something on her back. She slowly looked down and saw a set of hands with a set of arms covered in a pink jacket. She slowly tried to remove them, yet she failed. The arms were like steel, keeping her in place. "Right, she's the manifestation on the ship; she's going to have the strength of one", She also cursed her 4'2 height, swearing to herself that if she were a bit taller, she would be less likely to be in this predicament.
Hearless just laid there, letting herself be used like a teddy bear by her daughter, which up until yesterday she didn't even know existed. "I wonder what the rest will be like?" Hearless thought to herself, watching the harbor slowly come to life with people, some shops opening, a few people going to the beach, and the damage from the attack looking to be nonexistent. Well, "I guess I can just sleep some more." Hearless closed her eyes, failing to fall asleep, but just laid there enjoying the embrace of her daughter.
Vestal entered and saw Laffey hugging Hearless and just smiled, "seems Laffey took my suggestion to heart", she gave a light giggle as she left shutting the door behind herself "Perhaps I'll wake them later", she stopped and went back into the room, "who am I kidding its laffey she would sleep through a train crash in a hurricane", she shook laffey some who made some noises of protest but relented, and opened her eyes, releasing Hearless from her grasp, "morin", vestal gave a nod then shook hearless who moved her arm some but started to get out of the bed, "morning", vestal gave a smile "enjoyed your sleep?", Hearless gave a nod then looked at Laffey with a smile, vestal walked out and brought a tray in for Hearless, "I thought this would be better for you than trying to go down to the mess", Hearless gave a nod of appreciation and started to eat.
YOU ARE READING
soundless exile
Fanfictiona young girl battling with her own struggles finds refuge in a ship but little did she know she was aboard a kansens ship
