historium | FIC: Journey to Manhood (original gen/slash)

Title: Journey to Manhood.
Author: Dusk Peterson.
Where to find me: Website, e-mail list, DW, AO3, Patreon, Goodreads.
Setting: Hoopers Island on the Chesapeake Bay, 1910s. Includes a historical note about the island and Chesapeake fishermen.
Categories: Original gen with a slash subplot, alternate universe / alternate history, young adult, Age of Sail, fishermen, shopkeeping, uncle & nephew, employer & apprentice, liege-master & liegeman, master & servant, friendship, ethical issues.
Series: Waterman, an award-winning speculative fiction series in an alternative version of the Chesapeake Bay region during the 1910s and during the future as it was envisioned in the 1960s.
Length: Novelette.
Status: Writing completed; currently serializing.
Feedback: Yes, please.
Rating: T.
Warnings: Boilerplate warning for all my stories + my rating system.
Story summary:

Simmons has been waiting all his life for the day when he would come of age and pledge his service to a liege-master. But at the last minute, all his plans go awry; he is left in the awful position of having to find a liege-master quickly. Desperation may force Simmons to pick the worst of liege-masters.

Working at his uncle's waterfront store on a bay island, Simmons seeks a way out of his dilemma. Then another young man walks through the door, one whose problems may be even worse than Simmons's. . . .

Perhaps, when they spoke next, the other young man could tell Simmons of any masters here who were in need of an apprentice who was perilously close to the age of journeymanship.