Canoe Builder

"Here they come!" Daniera shouted to Rain and her daughter.

"I wanna see!" Ilana yelled. She was tall for her age, but not tall enough to see past a city's worth of people gathered on the bank of the Thorall. Hadbat let her sit on her shoulders and she squealed with glee. "I see them! I see them!"

The roar of the crowd grew to a deafening pitch as three canoes, carved from hollowed out trees, approached them. The riders inside them paddled not to move forward, but to keep them from spinning out of control. Even Daniera, who loved the water, wasn't crazy enough to tangle with the Thorall at its height.

But these were excellent canoers. The two in the front let the current carry them to cities farther down the river as everyone waved and cheered them on. The rowers in the third canoe banked a hard right, nosing right into the one area the spectators had kept clear. As soon as the canoe was in reach, several tailor sprites threw sticky silk over the front of it and helped haul it ashore. As soon as they were able to set their feet on dry land, rather than risk being carried away by the current, the rowers jumped out of the boat, and helped pull it the rest of the way. There was an immense round of applause as they laughed and congratulated one another.

Hadbat set Ilana back on the ground as the crowd began to disperse. "Mommy," she said, tugging on Rain's sleeve, "I want to be a canoe builder."

Rain looked down at her daughter and then back to the rushing Thorall River. "I don't mind if you build them. I just don't want you bringing them home."

Canoes are an important part of tailor sprite society because they provide an additional way to get up and down the rivers. Canoes are traditionally built by Jumpers and men are more likely to hold the position, though there is no actual restriction on who can be a canoe builder. Canoe builders leave shortly after The Threading, traveling to the Kivika Mountains in the north. There, they hollow out trees and carve them into canoes, carving branches into paddles. Shortly after the first flood, they ride the new canoes down the rivers to the cities that need them. Canoes going to Kivika Lake are taken almost to the end of the Thorall River and then lifted with fairy silk to the the lake at the top of the plateau.

Mountain Society

"Not all canoe builders bring the boats back," Hadbat said as they followed the throng back to the city. "I didn't."

Daniera turned to look at the stocky man walking behind her. "I didn't know you were a canoe builder."

"Good work for a trapper." As he said this, Daniera saw Rain clutch her daughter's hand tighter. "I only did it one year though. Found out I wasn't any good at it." This time, Rain's grip loosened.

Daniera laughed. "Did they kick you out?"

"No, I just found out I preferred cooking." Hadbat stroked his beard. "See, it's different, up in the mountains. It's not like there's a canoe guild telling everybody who's in and who's out. But everybody's a got a role, and it's not always canoe building. I liked cooking, and I was good at it, so I spent most of my time doing that. I liked it up there, and they'd have had me back. But I wanted to see if I could create a little piece of that in the city. That's why I opened the restaurant."

Type

Transportation

A Question of Prestige

Because canoes are an important part of tailor sprite life and culture, canoe building is considered a high prestige position, attracting many young Jumpers, Fishers, and Trappers. As a result, Weaver parents often discourage their children from pursuing a position as a canoe builder because it has become associated with the lower social classes.

Battle of the Boats

Wooden canoes are likely the oldest form of canoes among tailor sprites, the Diving Belles, having developed a method of watertight weaving, have developed their own canoes. Weaving silk around reeds to give the boats structure, these canoes are lighter and more maneuverable.

Diving Belles have suggested paddling these canoes upriver from the Kikiva Delta during the dry season, or even carrying them overland, as they are so much lighter. Nevertheless, the new boats have been slow to catch on, with tailor sprites of all stripes coming up with flimsy excuses or admonishing the Diving Belles for their disregard of tradition. It is likely that current and prospective canoe builders see the new canoes as a threat to their upgraded position in society.

Diving Bell canoe

Though some canoe builders only hold the job for a season or two, for many others, it becomes a lifetime commitment. For these builders, life in the mountains is often a simpler, easier one than that in the canyon. They form small settlements together, building temporary dwellings and living off the land. Among canoe builders, the social hierarchies between tailor sprites disappear. Though Weavers are the least common group to become canoe builders in the first place, they are the most common group to commit to the role for life. Weavers who do become canoe builders often say they develop more fulfilling relationships, and site the rejection of social roles as the primary cause.

A Job for Professionals

Hadbat stepped closer to Rain and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You got the right idea though. You want to protect Ilana, don't tell her not to be a canoe builder. Just don't teach her to paddle one. Those folks..." He jabbed his thumb back toward the river, "they're the best canoers we got, and they won't send anybody else down the Thorall."

"Rain just doesn't like the water," Daniera told him, "She probably doesn't want Ilana building canoes in the Delta either, and they don't have a river to ride them in."

"No, they have the whole ocean to get lost in," Rain commented wryly.

"Now that's a life I could get behind," Hadbat said, "Just me and a canoe. Between the ocean and the stars."

Though many people feel the lure of an adventure in the mountains and the celebration of bringing the canoes back, the latter part of the job can be incredibly dangerous. Because the rivers are at their height, and the current is at its swiftest, the risk of overturning or drowning is higher. While some of the smaller rivers can be safely navigated by most builders, tailor sprites who specialize in canoeing sometimes go into the mountains after the first flood to bring them down the larger rivers. Builders with more canoeing experience may go with the specialists, but others will get home another way, usually by Ballooning. Only the most expert canoers take boats down the massive Thorall River, but even they are subject to the whims of nature, such as during the Flood of 82, when more rain than usual fell, and several canoers were lost in the Thorall, passengers and all.

all art by Barriesaxxy