Fort
The Crow's Song's quartermaster — an enormous, dreadlocked man with gnarled fingers that look as if they were broken many times and badly set. Deaf since well before the Crow's Song, he runs his counter through a flat board that prints out the words spoken around him on its face. STD:Tress:Ch 13
Known facts
- deafHas been deaf for long enough to no longer rely on lip-reading, which the narrator notes is taxing and inaccurate even for experts. He communicates through a small black-faced board that translates the speech around him into printed words on its front.STD:Tress:Ch 13
- trader-firstRefuses to call any of his transactions kindness — he is a trader first, and every favour is part of a deal whose terms he does not always disclose at the time of writing.STD:Tress:Ch 14
- traveled-ten-of-twelve-seasHas, by his own count, sailed ten of the twelve seas in his time — every one of them except the Crimson and the Midnight. Ann, who has been to three, finds this hard to credit on principle.STD:Tress:Ch 22
- meets-deaf-community-ashoreHuck watches from a hiding place on shore as Fort — after a session of formidable haggling over the Song's plainly-stolen bales of cloth — meets up with a community of Deaf islanders and switches from his board to signing with his hands. Huck is left wondering how many such communities exist on islands neither he nor Tress would have thought to look at.STD:Tress:Ch 35
- cooks-shipboard-mealsAfter Weev's death the Crow's Song has rotated through its few candidates for cook; Fort has settled the role on himself because the alternatives are worse — Ann's one attempt left half the crew sick for three days. He cooks for everyone aboard from the same pot of stale, canned, or dried sea rations, sets aside the first servings for Tress and Hoid, and is not in fact saving them the worst scrapings; what Tress has been eating is what the whole crew eats.STD:Tress:Ch 36
- hunter-by-profession-bargaining-is-his-huntPressed by Tress on why he enjoys haggling so much, Fort explains that he is a hunter by profession. Among his people the great hunt is a mark of pride, but a society of hunters does not scale — somebody has to make the shoes — so each person chooses their own form of hunt when they come of age. His is bargaining; his mother's was the same. He keeps a written record of his great catches and sends letters home, where they are hung in the family hall. He intends to brag about the trade he has just made with Tress for three pages.STD:Tress:Ch 39
- saves-tress-from-spikes-during-aether-liftFort is the one holding the rope tied around Tress's chest as the aether tree rises. He braces with one foot against the rail and — thinking quickly enough to haul her up a few feet as the vines grow — keeps the tips of the crimson spikes from doing more than touching her shoes.STD:Tress:Ch 47
- secretly-has-key-to-captains-cabinFort reveals to the conspirators that he has a key to Crow's quarters that she does not know about — the practical mechanism of the planned mutiny, by which they will enter while she sleeps and take her captive before her vines can react.STD:Tress:Ch 48
- receives-replacement-writing-board-from-xisisAs one of Tress's three small boons from Xisis, Fort receives a replacement writing board to take the place of the one Crow snapped under her heel during the failed mutiny. The new board is an improvement on the old: lines of text scroll, with old lines disappearing at the top as new ones appear at the bottom, allowing him to keep typing in real time rather than wiping and restarting, and it supports different fonts.STD:Tress:Ch 52
- proposes-vine-cannonball-against-metal-guardiansFort proposes the plan that solves the metal guardians problem on the Sorceress's island: a variant of Tress's existing verdant-vine cannonball used on a timer to wrap the unkillable guardians in vines and tie them up, so that the landing party can slip past. He draws the schematic with parts labeled "sprouter mumbo-jumbo," since he does not grasp the finer details of sprouter craft, and tells Tress this counts as fair trade for the replacement writing board from Xisis — once she has her friend back, then they will be even.STD:Tress:Ch 53
- tames-midnight-monstersTalked three midnight monsters into a bonded escort by trading them every barrel of water on the Crow's Song for safe passage through the Midnight Sea to the Sorceress's island — exploiting that the autonomous creatures will trade for water and that their distant handler has no attention to spare for them once loosed.STD:Tress:Ch 61
Events
- STD:Tress:Ch 13 Inspects a stray cannonball with Ann in his quartermaster's room and tells her, via his board, that none of the others in the armory share its defect — then frets to her, in plain words on the same board, that the Crow's Song's slide into killing piracy is not what he signed on for. He spins on Tress the moment a board creaks under her foot.
- STD:Tress:Ch 14 Pulls Tress into his counter, gets the truth about the inspector's coat out of her, warns her not to broadcast her unwillingness to be a pirate, and feeds her cold leftover hash browns and watery eggs. He frames the meal — and every later one — as a trade, terms still to be set.
- STD:Tress:Ch 20 Feeds Tress her supper at his counter (insisting via the board that it is only a trade), then shuts her warning about the captain down in block-letter panic and writes — privately — that she could kill every one of them and that he won't say how.
- STD:Tress:Ch 22 Sits up on deck darning socks — a startling sight for Tress, who had thought him a permanent fixture of his office. Insists there are *thirteen* kinds of spores, claims to have sailed ten of the twelve seas, and trades hard for the information that he was perfectly willing to give away in the first place.
- STD:Tress:Ch 31 Sits hunched on his stool behind the office counter in suspenders, holding up his board to politely disagree with Salay's Mask theory, then cracks the rigged cannonball open with chisel and hammer and asks the question the meeting hinges on — *why* would the captain want them branded deadrunners.
- STD:Tress:Ch 36 Knocks at Tress's cabin door at evening with a plate of warm food because she missed mess, accepts her offer to cook in return for what he has been quietly providing, and brings her up on deck to watch the Song cross into the Crimson Sea.
- STD:Tress:Ch 37 Makes room for Tress at the prow to watch the border crossing, observes that she is grinning at the rain ribbon for a King's Mask who is supposedly afraid of spores, and excuses himself to scrub pots when the Song turns south along the border.
- STD:Tress:Ch 39 In the galley with Tress, pestle in his curled fingers, mashing kulunuts and watching closely for sleight of hand; cries on the first bite of her test cake, then haggles fiercely with her over how many days of his sea-rations equate to one of her meals before granting her the flare gun she wants, no questions asked.
- STD:Tress:Ch 44 Has the night's dinner ready for the crew — biscuits with a strong meaty gravy and vegetables to eat with the fingers — which Tress helps plate. After months of meals best described as edible only by the strictest reading of the word, the Dougs cheer her as she leaves with Salay's portion, and a keg Captain Crow has authorised is being opened in the background.
- STD:Tress:Ch 47 Holds the rope tied around Tress's chest as the aether tree erupts beneath the ship; braces foot to rail with his crooked-but-brick-solid hands and hauls her up enough that the crimson spikes only graze her shoes. Lifts her gingerly back onto the deck once it is over.
- STD:Tress:Ch 48 Hosts the conspirators in his quartermaster's office, hands Tress her butterfly cup of his private tea without mention of a trade, then writes through his board: a King's Mask on their side makes them unstoppable. When Tress tries to wave the mutiny off, he rests his hand on hers and reminds her that the crew can no longer use *we didn't know* as an excuse for serving Crow. Reveals he has a secret key to her quarters.
- STD:Tress:Ch 49 Carries the wounded Salay up onto the deck, then lunges first for the three pistols. Crow kicks the table from under them and breaks his nose with her elbow; she later slams a table into him and snaps his writing board in half under her heel. He cries out — the only sound the narrator has ever heard from him besides a laugh — and slumps weeping with bloody face in bloody hands.
- STD:Tress:Ch 52 Slumps dazed against the rail while Dr. Ulaam treats his injuries from Crow's table-strike during the failed mutiny; sits up at once when Tress unwraps a replacement writing board from Xisis, then hugs her without needing to write anything.
- STD:Tress:Ch 53 Welcomes Huck as a hero. Presents his schematic for a vine-bursting cannonball — based on Tress's verdant cannonball design — to wrap the metal guardians of the Sorceress's island, and proposes the tower's raven-window as a way past the locked door. His new board from Xisis scrolls text and supports multiple fonts.
- STD:Tress:Ch 54 The only one in the room without visible fear of Tress's midnight-spore demonstration; asks on his new board how exactly the others would sever her bond if needed. Inadvertently bonded by the tankard-shaped creature when it lurches toward him, until Tress outbids it for him with more water than it could take by force, after which he gratefully drinks from a red ceramic mug she offers.
- STD:Tress:Ch 57 Holds up his board and asks simply *Why?*
- STD:Tress:Ch 61 POV anchor of the scene. Stands at the centre of the deck among water barrels and suspended kegs of midnight spores, proposes the trade, and ends up with three midnight monsters bonded as escorts.
- STD:Tress:Ch 61 First to see Tress on the back of his viewing board; types replies through it; calls Ann and Salay over.
- STD:Tress:Ch 63 Stands behind the narrator with Ann and Salay; has just been carrying him in overhead.
- STD:Tress:Ch 63 Steadies Tress when the Sorceress drops her from the wall; levels a pistol on her with Salay and Ann; on the deck after, breaks out something he has been saving for the occasion.
- STD:Tress:Epilogue His hand-signs are now general crew language on the Two Cups — handy for talking over wind to the rigging or to the helm.
Backreferences
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 13
- factAnn
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 14
- factSalay
- factFort's Board
- factFort's Board
- factThe Sapphire Sea
- factThe Islands of Lobu
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 15
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 16
- factLaggart
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 18
- factThe Crow's Song
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 19
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 20
- factCaptain Crow
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 22
- factThe Sorceress
- factThe Sorceress
- factCaptain Crow
- factAnn
- factThe Twelve Seas
- factBone Spores
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 29
- factSalay
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 30
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 31
- factTress
- factLaggart
- factSalay
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 35
- factEmerald Sea
- factFort
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 36
- factFort
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 37
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 38
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 39
- factTress
- factTress
- factFort
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 40
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 43
- factPakson
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 44
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 45
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 47
- factTress
- factFort
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 48
- factCaptain Crow
- factFort
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 49
- factCaptain Crow
- factLaggart
- factFort's Board
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 52
- factFort
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 53
- factTress
- factCharlie
- factFort
- factFort's Board
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 54
- factTress
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 55
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 57
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 59
- factThe Sorceress
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 61
- summarySTD:Tress:Ch 63
- summarySTD:Tress:Epilogue