Gate of Ivory by Doris Egan

Author:Doris Egan [Egan, Doris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Ran still wasn't back by the time I got to our room, so I went to bed. Nor was he back the next morning. I rose, feeling a vague grudge against Ran, Vale, and all Ath-enan tourists, and tried to deal with a mind and a stomach equally unsettled. By rights I should have gone straight up to Vale's, but some contrary stubbornness kept me in the village. I worked on my notebook, did The River by myself when I thought I could handle it, and talked to Seth about his Annurian stories. I wondered about going back to see the Old Man when the next time came; I'd like to show him how my abilities had improved, but at the same time it didn't seem particularly safe. On the other hand, it would look strange if I didn't show up when I was expected… and there was no law that said the Old Man had to stay on the island if he didn't want to. He was probably good with a short sword anywhere.

I remember that day with special clarity. When evening came I went to the early supper at the village hall, saying hello to the kitchen staff before I sat down. Dana the food-taster was back on the job, and better her than me, I thought. The table I chose was already occupied by five women in fisherman's trousers and jackets, but they made room for me courteously.

They were strangers to Teshin and we stared at each other with mutual curiosity. They drank an enormous amount of wine, and spoke and moved with the wide, free gestures of the lowest-class trading families. One was only fourteen, but the others were in their thirties and forties.

I asked them who they were, and they told me they were boatwomen from the Kiris River (in the west) but they'd brought their barges down the Silver to the bay and thence to Teshin. "And what about you, outworider?" asked the oldest. "Farther from home than we are, I think."

"What makes you think I'm an outworider?"

There were chuckles at that, and I told them a little of my story—the high points, at least, and I changed Ran's name. There were clucks of sympathy in the right places, and a couple of the women made the gesture disassociating themselves from bad luck.

"Now," I said, "What brings five boatwomen from across the mountains to run the Silver River?"

And they told me, amid much mutual promptings; but since it is not part of my story I will not repeat it here. Anyway, bits of their explanation were highly personal, albeit highly interesting, and I suppose you can take the scholar out of Athena but you can't stop her blushing after you've done so.

It was a more successful dinner, socially speaking, than my previous night of Athenan hospitality. The upshot of it was that the boatwomen gave me their trading address in Bentham City and told me to look them up if things got too hot for me in the capital.

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