Chương 562: Chapter Five Hundred and Forty-Seven - All Friends Forever

Apparently I'd 'captained' too much for one night, so my friends and crew told me to take a day off. It was so hot that I felt like I might melt, but I wasn't one to lounge back and do nothing all day. It was so warm that my ears weren't sticking up straight and kept flopping down in front of my face, like limp noodles. I was obviously not a desert bun, otherwise I'd have ears good for radiating heat. I was more of a winter bun.

I made a circuit of the Beaver, splishing and splashing some Cleaning magic here and there and straightening up some clutter. If there was a sudden change in altitude, or some hard turbulence, then anything not fixed down was liable to go flying. Otherwise, the ship wasn't that dirty. I'd hardly spent much time on other airships, but I had the impression that the normal state for most ships was 'grimey' at best. The Beaver, in comparison, was nearly spotless.

I supposed that I might have been leaking Cleaning magic here and there, and using it all the time, and generally blasting some as practice... ah, well, it wasn't a bad thing. If we ever ran out of plates we could eat off the floor and not be worried one bit. Soon enough, I ran out of stuff to clean and things to inspect, and with everyone else busy and with it being way, way too warm for training, I decided to retreat to the 'captain's quarters' which was the little office space at the back.

Amaryllis had gone around the ship and slapped down some cooling magic here and there along with some spells that made a small gust of constant wind, like a directional fan. The spells didn't last too long, not without being enchanted into an item and being empowered by... magic stuff that I didn't quite understand, but they were still nothing to complain about. The office had a nice desk, and in that desk were papers.

Some of these were the well-sorted records and notes that Amaryllis took, but there was room for a lifetime's worth of forms and paperwork. There was stationery on the desk too. Nice pens and blank pages, even some envelopes for letters. That... was an idea. I hadn't always been a very sociable girl. Oh, I always wanted to be, but young Broccoli wasn't as extroverted as I'd become.

I was a bit shy when I was small, and that, coupled with the way we moved so often when I was young, made it hard to make and keep friends. I'd still managed, though. At one time, because of a few frequent moves, I ended up with a small collection of penpals. They were mostly older ladies from the neighbourhoods we'd lived in for a while. That had been fun, though more time-consuming than I think most people were ready for. I'd enjoyed it, though.

My little shoebox with old letters was one of the few things that I never parted with as we moved. Maybe it was time to get back to that? I had made plenty of friends on Dirt. I sat down at the desk and laid a fresh page in front of me, then I picked up a pen and tested it on a spare page. It was one of Amaryllis' fancy pens, and after fiddling with it for a moment, I figured it out. My handwriting wouldn't exactly be pretty, but it would be perfectly legible. Now... who to write to?

I'd made a lot of friends across Dirt in the few months I'd been here. Some of them were out of the reach of a letter, of course. I couldn't send a letter to Oak the dryad or even those cute bees I'd met a long while back. I didn't think they had addresses. I tapped the back of the pen against my lip for a moment while I thought. The air in the office was cool enough that my ears were finally starting to straighten out, like plants reaching for the sun, which was nice.

"Ah!" I said. Dear Gabrielle, I'd never had too much time to talk to her, but I always thought she was fun and cute, and the thought of plants made her come to mind, she had such a pretty garden that she tended to. Gabrielle was Caprica's little sister, and a princess in her own right. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. I hope this letter finds you in good health and with good company. I'm writing to say a hello from very far away.

I heard that your sister hasn't been writing as much as she should (I got on her case about it, don't worry!) and so I decided to write to you myself. We've been travelling a lot since Caprica joined, it's been one big adventure after another, but I'm sure Caprica will tell you all about that when she gets back home one of these days, or in a letter of her own. If she doesn't send one, let me know. I'm her Captain you know? So I can boss her around (a little). Anyway, how are you? And how's your garden?

Have you made any new friends recently? If you want to add one more to that list, then feel free to reach back to me! Long-distance friends count too! I bobbed my head from side to side as I kept writing about this and that. It wasn't anything too important, but it felt... nice. Like a rather one-sided conversation. I signed the letter at the bottom, then pulled out another page. This one would be trickier to deliver. I was certain that mail made it to Sylphfree.

It was one of the capital cities on the continent, after all. But this one... Dear Carrot, Mom, and all the other Buns! Hi! I don't know if you remember me, but it's Broccoli Bunch. My friends and I visited your little town a while ago, and now we're out on another adventure, but even though I'm very far away, I still sometimes think about your little village of little buns and the fun we had there.

I couldn't come up with anything amazing to write about, so I asked how everyone was doing, and requested advice about being a good bun. They'd certainly know more than I would. My only other example for bun behaviour was Booksie, and she'd run away from home, opened a bookstore on her own, and married a dragon. I didn't think she counted as all that usual as far as buns went. I signed the end of the letter, then set it aside next to the one for Gabrielle.

There weren't lickable envelopes, so instead I'd have to light a candle (or use magic, I suppose) and stamp a bit of wax to close the letter... which sounded really fun, even if it was a bit of a fire hazard. The next letter took me a long time to write. Dear Emanuel, I hope you've made good friends, and that you're a good friend to them. That one sentence wasn't much, and I wasn't sure if I should even send it, but the cervid definitely needed a friendly reminder that he was remembered.

It wasn't always the friendly people that needed friends the most. So I went on a bit of a preachy rant that filled the rest of the page and spilled onto the back. It was Broccoli's Tips and Tricks to Making Lots of Friends. Be the kind of person who celebrates the small wins. Like, did your new friend finally manage to do that one thing they were struggling with for ages? Maybe they got out of bed before noon or something? Then be happy for them and with them. Tell your friends that you're proud. And be present.

Emotionally. Not in a spooky 'I know your schedule' way. More in a 'when you talk, I'm actually listening' way. Sometimes people don't want to be fixed. They just want to be heard. I had to learn that the hard way. Oh! And if that doesn't work, try just being nice. People are weirdly drawn to confident weirdos. It gives them permission to be weird too. And the weirder someone feels, the more likely they are to let their guard down.

You make space for others by being brave enough to take up your own and kind enough to share it. I squeezed in my signature at the very end, then tossed that onto the 'to send' pile. There was a knock at the door just a moment later, then Caprica poked her head in.

"Captain? We've spotted our next stop up ahead. You might want to be on deck for this one."

"Oh! Let me put everything away, and then I'll be right with you!" I said. That had been fun! I'd write a few more later on. Maybe to other friends, maybe to my parents even if... even if sending that one would be hard. Keeping in touch was an important part of being a good friend, after all!