Visiting Home

Barnacle's Home

They had finally made it to Alaska. Captain Barnacles was taking Kwazii, Peso, Dashi, and Shellington to his home village to study the behavior of the polar bears. With the sea ice slowly receding more, the crew wanted to check that the polar bears were safely getting to the hunting grounds.

As they stepped out of the Gup C, Kwazii immediately wrapped his arms around himself. Barnacles chuckled to himself as he waved to Tweak, who was taking the Gup back to the Octopod.

Barnacles readjusted his winter coat, an old Inuit coat his mother made for him years ago. He was ready to finally be heading back, even if it was for a work related business. The others would finally be able to meet his niece and nephew, who by this point should be 5 years old.

"Argh, Captain, why is it still so cold? It's spring time already!" Kwazii complained.

"It is early spring Kwazii, we still have some snow storms during this time. And it will only get worse as we head more up north to the village," Barnacles replied.

"How are we going to get to the village Captain?" Dashi asked.

"By the best way possible," Barnacles started out, "by sled dogs."

The group reached the end of the port they landed at, where they saw a man with sleds and dogs. The man looked up at them, before immediately running over and hugging Barnacles.

"Barnacles!" he exclaimed, "it is so good to see you again!"

"Hello Borris!" Barnacles replied, "ready to get going?"

"Yes, I have your sled here as well, I figured you would be able to pair up your crew," Borris replied.

The group split up between the two sleds, Dashi and Shellington going in one, and Peso and Kwazii going in another.

Barnacles helped Borris harness the dogs to the sled, then got onto the foot boards.

"It is quite a trek up to the village. Get ready for a long trip," Borris said before signaling for the dogs to start pulling.

The group made their way to the village. Passing through early winter storms with ease. Dashi snapped some photos with her camera as they went along, staying close to Shellington to keep warm.

Kwazii kept Peso close to him as well, absolutely hating the cold as it pressed against his face. Peso was enjoying the riding, watching in awe as they passed through the snowy landscape.

Before nightfall, they made it to the village. Colorful houses rested against the mountain side, smoke billowing out of chimneys. Barnacles and Borris helped the others out of the sleds, before going to unhook the dogs and get them to their houses.

Dashi was taking pictures of the houses, while Kwazii stayed by her and Peso for warmth. Shellington would have wandered off by now if it wasn't for Peso holding onto the back of his jacket.

"Alright crew," Barnacles started out, "let's head over to where Bianca is living, she has more information on the Polar Bears we will be studying here."

Before Barnacles could even make a step forward, a figure jumped and tackled him to the ground. Kwazii immediately got into an offensive stance, ready to protect Barnacles. But before he could help, Barnacles let out a bellowing laugh.

The group stood there confused, their captain just got attacked and he was laughing. Barnacles sat up, shoving the figure off of him.

"Hello to you too Bianca," Barnacles said, "nice of you to drop in."

Bianca sat up as well, her face finally visible under the hood of her coat.

"Welcome home baby brother!" She exclaimed as she hugged Barnacles.

"Everyone, this is Bianca, my sister," Barnacles said.

"It's nice to meet you."

"Ahoy matey."

"Hello there."

Barnacles and Bianca stood up. Bianca went over and hugged Peso, who immediately was picked up by the hug.

"It's good to see you again Bianca," Peso said.

"It's good to see you as well Peso, the kids have been asking about seeing you and Barnacles again," Bianca responded.

"How about we head into the house and get out of the cold," Barnacles suggested.

The group went into Bianca's house, where Barnacles was immediately hugged and tackled by Ursa and Orson.

Everyone took their jackets and boots off, before sitting down on the couches in the room.

"So when will the polar bears be coming out of hibernation?" Shellington asked.

"Any day now, it has been getting harder and harder to tell, since they wake up with the temperature change," Bianca responded.

"We can never really know when they will wake up," Borris added on.

"So you guys have been having to keep watch all early spring?" Dashi asked.

"Yes, and it's been getting hard to keep track, especially when we can't find their dens," Bianca responded.

"How do you normally find the dens?" Peso asked.

"I'll show you," Borris responded, "Barnacles, can I have your amulet?"

"Sure thing," Barnacles responded, opening the pouch on his belt, pulling out an ivory amulet, carved to resemble a polar bear.

Borris grabbed a spear that was leaning against the wall, and wrapped the amulet around the tip of the spear.

"This is how we find them. We use these amulets to lead us to their dens, after that we will mark down the location on the map and go around every now and then to check on them," Borris said.

Dashi had been taking photos the whole time, while Kwazii stayed as close to the fire as he could. The twins were listening to one of his pirate stories.

As the conversation went on, Barnacles had a slight smile upon his face. He was happy to see his two families mingling with each other.

The following days proved to be productive. The group followed the polar bears they found out to sea, before waving Borris and Bianca off to finish the rest of the journey to the sea ice.

As the group headed back to the Octopod, Dashi was reviewing her photos taken during the time. Having a smile on her face, she pulled up one onto her camera.

"Hey captain, you might wanna have a look at this one," she stated.

"What is it?" Barnacles asked as he looked over.

The picture turned out to be of Bianca tackling him, with his face getting shoved into the snow.

"Uh, I think you skip on sending that one to the magazine," he said as they finally got to the Octopod.

A few weeks later, the magazine came in, with the photo as one of the front page photos.