Ruth Nestvold by Beyond the Waters of the World

Author:Beyond the Waters of the World
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-02-18T19:56:27+00:00

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Kislan didn’t understand how it had happened, since he had not been traveling with Yöndahko long enough for such a radical change in seasons, but while it had been late spring in Edaru when he left, snow had already begun to cover the mountains to the west when he arrived in Belraash. Now, after five exchanges of the moons, the days were growing noticeably longer again and the nights not quite as cold.

While he still felt a stranger here, as a factor experienced with the trading fleets of the Thirteen Cities, he had quickly made a place for himself. Kislan knew many of the captains and the traders of the Mejan well, and knew their trading routes and the goods they often carried. His awkwardness with the language of the Tusalis was not enough to outweigh the advantage of his knowledge of the Mejan language and Mejan ways. Now that he had been in Belraash most of the winter, he was learning the language too.

He was waiting on the docks with two assistants as Yöndahko’s ship came in, fingering the lace encircling his left wrist. Behind and beside them were also a number of the wives of Yöndahko’s men, and even more of the women who haunted the wharf area of the small town, selling their bodies to sailors and pirates. Among the Tusalis, sex spilled out onto the streets, sometimes even taking place on the streets, and a woman sold herself for a ring of gold — or iron if she were particularly talented or pretty.

One of the many things Kislan found so very difficult to get used to.

He felt the fashar beneath his palm, and began to rotate the length of lace like a bracelet in a gesture he had developed since arriving in Belraash. His odd choice of adornment had even given him a name here among the Tusalis — Kislan Lace-Wearer.

The gangplank went down, and the crew began unloading goods to be tallied from Kislan’s former home — probably leather garments from Edaru among them. As much as he tried to wipe it from his heart, those little reminders still made him homesick.

Yöndahko strode over, handing Kislan a length of fashar with a list of the goods they had brought with them on this voyage, according to the records kept aboard ship.

“A successful trip?” Kislan asked.

The crooked-nosed captain slapped him on the back and chuckled. “Very successful. Sometimes it is more than worth the risk to make a winter voyage, when so many other traders stay in port.”

Kislan smiled. He didn’t know what he would have done without Yöndahko. The older man had not only given him work, he had even given him a place in his home for the first few ten-days until Kislan had been able to pay for rooms of his own.

Although living alone was yet another thing Kislan found difficult to get used to. While he had been with Yöndahko, sons and daughters and grandchildren had come and gone in a nearly constant stream, and it was almost like living in a house of the Mejan.

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