The market

The sea smelt of salt. Theodore liked the smell of the sea, he didn't like the smell of the fish. But today he had to deal with it, this was because he was surrounded by fish. He had just come back from a fishing trip with his dad and was preparing the fish to be sold later at the market. After throwing a handful of fish guts in the bin Theodore's dad walked around the counter in their house holding another tray full of cod. There was rain on his dad's jacket and the tray so when he slammed it down raindrops ended up covering Theodore's face.

"Do these when you have finished them." said his dad, his voice low while he was battling a sore throat. His brown hair, like Theodore's, wet from the rain.

Theodore just nodded. He couldn't wait until the church bells down the road rang signaling the end of the market so he could go on the Harlequin and mend what happened on the waves the day before. Theodore didn't like the smell of the fish in front of him. He like the smell of metal, the feel of grease, the warmth of fire. Theodore wanted to live on the Harlequin and even though his dad bought it for him, he would never approve of his only son living on the 'rust bucket'.

It, no she wasn't a 'rust bucket' to Theodore. The Harlequin was an elegant piece of machinery that Theodore love to fix, she was gold in colour but it was fading because the Harlequin was made even before Theodore was born. His dad had got her for him as a birthday present when Theodore turned 15, she took a year of repairs before they could take her on the water, but it was worth it.

Theodore remembers their first voyage. That ecstatic feeling of nerves and adrenaline kicked in as soon as he had woken up that morning. Telling his dad that he couldn't work at the market, hopping down into the Harlequin and setting sail. He saw a blue whale that day and he hadn't seen once since. Sometimes Theodore would just sit inside the Harlequin and listen to the rain while working on mechanics or just reading. It was relaxing for Theodore, to feel the bob of the waves gently rocking him side to side, to smell the salt of the sea through the metal of the tank.

What wasn't relaxing was the church bells calling him to the start of the market.

He trudged along with his dad and the smelly cod in trays that were nearly slipping out of his hands because of the rain, so he had to keep on pushing the tray to his chest using his knee. His dad walked happily ahead on his way to their stall. Even though Theodore didn't like the market his dad did, the atmosphere of the different people yelling out offers trying to get customers, the different smells and things to buy is what made his dad happy.

They got to their stall and opened it up, rain fell of Theodore's yellow rain coat hood as his dad took a broom and hit the waterproof fabric that was the market stalls roof. Putting the trays down his dad said.

"Cheer up. You're going on the Harlequin later aren't you?"

This put a smile on Theodore's face, "Yes, of course I need to fix her up"

Then they were on with selling the fish at the market. Mrs McDerma, an old woman with a yappy small dog gave Theodore 50 bronze coins and advised him to not spend it all at once, which he could unless he went to the shop and bought sweets. 50 bronze coins were pretty worthless unless you have many, but everyone knew that 100 bronze coins was the equivalent to 1 gold. Theodore and his dad made 110 gold that afternoon at market, including the extra 10 gold that Theodore's dad let him keep. It would last them for the next two days, until the next market.

He didn't wait until his dad let him go, instead Theodore just ran off, towards the dock where she was waiting.

When Theodore ran down to the dock he nearly fell into the water because of the rain that was still present of the wood floor. He had to stop himself by extending his arms out in front of him, he nearly doubled over with the toes of his boots were off the end of the dock. Because of this a fisherman muttered something about how children had too much energy from his boat that was just the left of Theodore, but the boy just smiled and turned left towards the Harlequin.

There was a dent in the right side of the Harlequin from yesterday's incident where Theodore sent her into one of the dock's posts, so he needed to fix that. He climbed the ladder and opened up the hatch then jumped inside.

The inside of the Harlequin was a representation of Theodore's mind, there were the tools that he used, drawings of his designs that he has never got around to creating. There was food and blankets in one corner covering a beanbag, above that hung a bookshelf with books spanning from mechanics to adventures to fictional places. When Theodore jumped down into the main body of the submarine he had shut out the rain but was still able to hear it bouncing off of the steel exterior. This was relaxing.

"You have a dint in your ship. Did you know that?"

Theodore jumped as he heard the voice, he turned around to see a Blond boy around the same age as him sitting in the captain's chair. The boy pronounced every letter as he spoke, showing he wasn't from the village where Theodore lived. He had a waistcoat over a shirt with black trousers to match and a long black coat that went down to his shins. Theodore couldn't see his mouth because the boy was wearing a gold mask.

So naturally Theodore picked up the closest thing to him to defend himself, in this instance it was a spoon from an old bowl of soup.

The boy just laughed at the panic behind Theodore's eyes. "What are you going to do with that thing? Gouge my eyes out?"

"What are you doing here?" Theodore said lowering the spoon.

"I'm hiding, now if you don't mind my tea should be ready any minute now"

As if on cue the rusted kettle on the log burner to the right of the beanbag started to boil. The boy lifted himself from the seat and casually walked over to pour the water into Theodore's favorite mug. Theodore just watched as the boy took the spoon, which was still in Theodore's hand and stirred his mug of tea. The boy then reached up with his free hand and pulled the mask down from his face to take a long sip of the tea. He did this all while remaining eye contact with Theodore. After he had finished his tea the boy sat the mug back down near the kettle and walked over to resume his seat at the other end of the submarine.

"Now, does this thing work? Because I have tried starting the engine but nothing have worked."

Theodore stood there for a second not really knowing what to do. There was this boy that he didn't know in his submarine, using his favorite mug to make tea.

"Well are you going to say something?"

"Who are you and how did you get here?" Theodore said trying not to sound scared.

"My name is Sebastian and you left the hatch open last night. Now do this tin can work or not I need to get somewhere." The boy, or Sebastian said pressing random buttons from the control panel.

"I'm Theodore and no it doesn't it got damaged yesterday, hence the dint, and needs a new battery" Theodore replied walking up to Sebastian who now had his feet up on the controls. Pushing his legs of Theodore said:

"What do you want?"