On Such A Full Sea

There are about forty people who have settled at Quig’s compound. Most of them have come seeking medical attention for themselves or a loved one, and have stayed on if they have some useful talent or skill to provide. As people stayed, small, connected rooms were added to the outside of the main house, terminating down the hill, so that every room could be passed through on the way up or down.

Fan sees all this when Sewey guides her through the compound, as Fan’s leg is healing quickly. Fan is tough and resilient, and her superior physical fitness contributes to her quick healing. She’s careful to project a childlike image, as she feels it’s safest for her if the people around the compound consider her a child. Sewey also takes her out and about in the countryside, and Fan is shocked to see how dense the trees are. She had been taught in the schools of B-Mor that the outside counties were a desolate wasteland. Sewey confides in Fan that he wants to do more exciting tasks, such as scouting or chasing bandits away from the settlement, instead of just passing out the tickets for the medical services to people. Fan decides to help Sewey, and soon comes up with a new system that’s very efficient and allows people who are in line to separate their process from people who want to bribe their way to quicker service.

Eli, Sewey’s best friend, is immediately entranced by Fan from the moment he meets her. The three of them often hike together, exploring the numerous streams and brooks in the area and following them to their sources. They make boats and float them in the ponds, using them for rock throwing targets, and sometimes Eli makes a special one for Fan and tells Sewey not to aim any of his rocks at them.

One day, they’re sitting on a slab of rock next to the water, and Eli announces that it’s hot and he’s going in. Sewey immediately reminds Eli that the water is poison and dangerous, and too deep to swim in safely, but Eli insists. Before he can be stopped, Eli has removed his shirt and jumped in. Eli begins to sink, causing Sewey to try and save his friend by providing a leg to grab. Fan jumps in to rescue Eli. She dives down and catches up with Eli’s sinking body, only to find that Eli has filled his pockets with rocks while they were hiking, which explains how he’s sinking so fast. She is able to pull him up to the surface and Sewey helps get him on dry land. At this point, Fan uses her first-aid knowledge to resuscitate Eli. The three do not speak of the incident to anyone else, deciding that it’s nobody else’s business.

Later, Fan and Sewey go to Eli’s house for a meal. His family is there, along with two other mothers and their children. They eat food from cans and share stories. Fan realizes that they laugh and connect in ways that she has seen very little in B-Mor, sharing a “sharp appreciation of one another” (101). After dinner, they play word games, and Fan contrasts this with her experience in B-Mor, where people usually just watch vids or play games with their electronic devices. Here, in the outside counties, they only have a few books, passed around from person to person. She sees the appeal of living this way, with a regular supply of food, good company, shelter, safety, and connections with their peers through conversation, instead of just talking about whatever show is popular on the vids, as she experienced back home.

Fan thinks about Quig and how he is the central reason all these people are here. The men provide security, trade, and maintenance, and the women provide cooking, cleaning, organization of the patients and supplies, and sometimes sexual services to Quig. Quig is not the kind of man who demands such services, but it has come about naturally as something offered and sometimes taken. Sewey tells Fan that his mother, Loreen, has not been with Quig in this way in a long time, but will occasionally harangue him into taking her to his chambers. The woman who is most often allowed to stay with Quig is Eli’s mother, Penelope. Sometimes, when Penelope goes to Quig, Fan stays over at Eli’s along with Sewey, Eli’s brother, and his little sister, Star. It is on a night like this where Fan contemplates that she does not miss her family, but does sometimes miss her household. She misses how busy and bustling it was at all times, day or night. Fan finds herself becoming very attached to Sewey, Eli, and also little Star, in addition to the other children who stop by sometimes. She even finds herself warming to Loreen, who has now accepted the idea that Fan is there to stay. Fan begins to trail Penelope on her visits to Quig’s house, wondering about what her true feelings might be.