53 pages • 1 hour read
Fable
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Chapters 28-34Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 28 Summary
West proposes that they use the money they’ve saved up from two years of unlicensed gem trading to replace the sails and make up for their losses in the storm. The crew opposes this because this money was meant to be theirs after they freed themselves of their debt to Saint. Fable says that, if they take her on as a dredger, she has a way to replace the sails and acquire “enough copper to buy [themselves] out from under Saint in one trade” (239). When West adamantly refuses, she reveals that she’s Saint’s daughter and a gem sage. West already knew this, and he argues that her father will kill them all if anything happens to her.
West dismisses his crew so he can speak with Fable in private. He feels a measure of pride and gratitude toward Saint because he gave West another chance at life after his first employer turned out to be a bad person. As a result, he’s reluctant to go behind Saint’s back and make her part of his crew. Even though West doesn’t trust Fable, she trusts him because he helped her survive on Jeval. Eventually, he agrees to let her join his crew but tells her, “I can’t care about anyone else” (247). Fable realizes that he reciprocates her feelings, but acting upon them would go against the laws that govern traders’ lives.
Chapter 29 Summary
The crew boards the Marigold at night, and Fable muses that the ship will become her home. The five unanimously vote to let her join, and she cries when they give her the traditional welcome gift of a copper coin apiece, overwhelmed by the sense of belonging. They need 800 copper coins to repair the sails, and Fable schemes to get the money from Saint in exchange for her mother’s necklace. She knows that this is a risky move since her father is already angry at the Marigold, and part of her worries she might become “the storm that finally sank them” (253).
Chapter 30 Summary
Fable catches Saint off guard by going to the tavern where he has his morning tea. During their conversation, he reveals that Isolde used to be on Zola’s crew and that there’s a feud between the two traders as a result. Saint returned to the Lark’s wreckage to retrieve Isolde’s sea dragon necklace. He had it made for her in Bastian, and it was her most prized possession. Saint is overcome with emotion when Fable reveals that she took the necklace, and he promises her 800 copper coins in exchange. Fable is sickened with herself for using her father’s love for Isolde against him. Saint warns, “You ever try to shake me down using your mother again, and I’ll forget you ever existed” (261).
Chapter 31 Summary
Saint sends a coin master with Fable’s money in the middle of the night, and the crew escorts her to the workplace of Tinny the sailmaker. Paj and Auster stay outside because Tinny dislikes people from the Unnamed Sea. Even though they offer to pay double the usual price, the sailmaker is too afraid to cross Zola. Auster suggests that they see an old acquaintance of his named Leo, but Paj thinks this is a bad idea.
Chapter 32 Summary
Fable, Auster, Paj, and Willa go to the affluent neighborhood of North Fyg and enter the shop of Leo, a wealthy tailor from Bastian. Even though making sails without a license from the Sailmakers Guild could cost him his life, he agrees to help the crew because Paj saved him years ago. Leo used to be Holland’s sailmaker, and Paj smuggled him to Ceros when he fell out of favor with the powerful trader. Fable realizes that Paj and Auster have been together for years, and Auster tells her that only the crew knows of their relationship. Fable muses on the dangers of her world in which love must be kept “hidden to protect the one you loved” (278). She thinks of West and the ways that he’s broken his own rules for her sake even though he made her promise that they wouldn’t pursue a romantic relationship.
Chapter 33 Summary
Two days later, Leo and Willa put the new sails in place under cover of nightfall. Meanwhile, Fable reveals to West and the rest of the crew that the treasure is in Tempest Snare. She shows them the scar that will allow them to navigate the treacherous region and explains that Saint gave her the Lark’s wreckage as her inheritance. West tells her to keep a larger portion of the haul for herself, but she disagrees because she wants “to pay him back tenfold” for his help over the years (285). West tries to argue the point, but he’s interrupted by the arrival of an alarmed Willa.
Chapter 34 Summary
Just as Leo finishes putting the new sails into place, Zola’s crew comes to the docks intending to set the Marigold on fire. Fable pays the tailor, and he hurriedly takes his leave while West’s crew scrambles to sail the ship out of the harbor. Fable unties the ropes fastening the Marigold to the dock and makes a daring leap onto the ladder on the ship’s side. A member of Zola’s crew pursues her, but West kills him. West asks Fable if she’s all right, and she marvels at his seemingly unflappable calm. Fable sees Saint watching the Marigold and realizes that she and her father are on “opposite sides of a line” for the first time (291).
Chapters 28-34 Analysis
In the novel’s fourth section, Young combines romance and action to tell a suspenseful maritime adventure. First-person narration enhances the tension of the chase scene in which the Marigold seeks to escape the harbor before Zola’s crew can set the ship on fire: “I caught the ropes with both hands and hit the hull, my boots dragging in the water, but the glare of a torch was already flying overhead” (289). This action sequence reminds the reader of the ongoing threat Zola poses to the Marigold’s crew. Fable’s slow-burn romance with West provides another source of intrigue. Young’s use of perspective reveals that Fable is no longer trying to hide her attraction from herself: “The stitches snaked over his shoulder, breaking before they picked back up below his shoulder blade. Even like that, he was beautiful” (242). The protagonist also becomes more aware of the depths of West’s feelings for her: “West had said again and again that he didn’t do favors and that he didn’t take chances, he’d done both. Over and over. For me” (278). The helmsman’s policy against taking unnecessary risks fits with this world’s caution against the perils of attachment while his willingness to break his own rules for Fable’s sake speaks to his love for her. In an important development for their love story and the theme of attachment, West tells Fable that he “can’t care about anyone else” when he agrees to let her join his crew (247). These words essentially confirm that he shares her feelings while simultaneously stipulating that they do not act upon them. If they are to resolve the tension between them, Fable and West must weigh the perils of attachment versus their need for belonging.
The Quest for Autonomy draws Fable and West together. Although the helmsman is reluctant to accept Fable into his crew, he eventually goes along with her plan because he yearns to free himself from his debt to Saint. As Fable tells him, “You’ve sold your soul to a man who doesn’t have one. You’ll never buy out the Marigold” (240). The fortune in the Lark’s cargo hold becomes an opportunity for Fable, West, and his crew to gain their freedom, and they must work together to seize this fresh start. However, learning to lean on others is a painful process for the protagonist. For example, the revelation that Saint instructed West to trade exclusively with her on Jeval makes her feel weak and humiliated: “‘All this time, I thought I was making my own way. I thought I’d found a way to survive,’ I whispered. ‘You did.’ ‘No, I didn’t. The only reason I didn’t starve to death on that island is because of you’” (242). West tries to help Fable recognize her own resilience and realize that relying on others doesn’t have to be a weakness. As the once solitary protagonist gradually accepts that she doesn’t have to do everything alone, her understanding of autonomy shifts from independence to interdependence.
Another aspect of Fable’s growth in these chapters involves her search for belonging on the Marigold, connecting to the theme of The Perils of Attachment Versus the Need for Belonging. Saint’s refusal to give her a place among his crew compels her to satisfy her need for connection elsewhere, but his continued influence on Fable makes this a struggle. She remains deeply impacted by the years of isolation she endured because he abandoned her, and she adopts his machinations even though she detests them. For example, West shows Fable that she still has a lot to learn about being part of a crew when he criticizes her proposal: “You manipulated the only people I trust with my life. I depend on them. […] That’s not how a crew works” (245). Despite missteps like this, Fable learns to be more honest and trusting, particularly when she shows West where to find the sunken treasure: “The Lark was the only thing I had in the world. By giving it to West, I was putting my life in his hands” (281). This display of trust is all the more significant because the Lark is a motif of belonging. Originally, the ship filled Fable’s need for belonging because it was her childhood home where she lived happily with her parents. The motif takes on new meaning as a way for West and the rest of Fable’s newfound family to start a new life. When the crew welcomes her as one of them, Fable likens herself to “a weary bird flying out over the most desolate sea” that “finally had a place to land” (251). This simile expresses her profound relief at finding a place where she belongs and people she can trust after surviving years of isolation and betrayal. As the story nears its ending, Fable becomes increasingly willing to brave the perils of attachment for the sake of the found family where she belongs.
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By Adrienne Young
