Indarra: World Below

Chapter 4

Indarra's feet, bare and now warm from the sun, hesitated at the bridge that led to the town on the water. It was bolted and rooted deep in the riverbed, of course, but the floating buildings were not. From the banks, she saw people just a stone's throw away. They didn't seem to notice her. There was the pounding of mallets in the background as construction added to the town upstream. They said that most people are indifferent to the people of the City. Maybe that is the case here.

    Without further hesitation, she strode forward and left the tree cover behind. The sun was blindingly hot on her bare shoulders and head. A man carrying a beam on his shoulder waved her past as she entered the town, grunting as the weight shifted. "Watch your head." She did so, ducking, and was safely past.

    The place she'd entered was the market sector, a place of bustling traders and rich landowners looking to take a piece of the growing city and resource-rich land. Where there's water, there's usually people. The many colours and sounds and scents were magnetic and intoxicating. In one corner, a seller of wood carvings called out prices. In another, a woman with piles of fish waved and rung a bell. And farther down the little wooden road, above the sound of running water, musicians played.

    There were few children, but then the town was small yet. Most of them peeked out from behind curtains, nibbling flat bread and dried fish, but the older ones walked in the open without fear. Their tunics were stained with mud and green algae.

    "Oi there, young one!" a cracked old voice shouted at Indarra. "Come over here." It was an aged man, weathered and wrinkled like worn leather. His wares seemed miscellaneous, ranging from small bags of honeyed nuts to carvings to colourful liquids in corked glass bottles. Curious, she followed his instruction and stood before the stall. It had been shoddily built of discarded, thin-cut lumber and dirty cloth curtains.

    The man's squinting eyes appraised her. "I've not seen you about before. And you've no money to spend, so you can't be looking to buy." Then he smiled. Teeth, some crooked and some missing, were unsheathed by dry lips. "You've got a head of curls, and you're pretty. My son would like you." He could see her expression of dismay, so he just laughed and slapped the wobbling counter jovially. "I mean nothing by it, missy. I just want to talk."

    "Talk? About what?"

    "Did you see the little wooden ship this morning? It came from up in the sky, where that Hovering City is." He seemed wary at this point, so she thought it best to feign ignorance.

    "Yes, I did. What of it?" He grinned, showing blackened molars at the back of his mouth.

    "You're really not from here, then! You don't know what a ship from up there means?"

    "No, I know." Her eyes dipped down for an instant to the wares, as if she meant to buy. A basket of wooden pendants sat near her hand, and she swallowed hard. Some of them were round like the one she wore. Coincidence. Besides, none of them bear the same design.

    My mother most likely never came here, it's a new town.

    "Well, be on the lookout for the Hovering City people. They're trouble, you know. Goodness knows we've had a decade of that from the one in the woods over there. But you're not any trouble, are you?" She continued to oblige the old man, listening. It was rude to interrupt. "No, you've got a nice manner about you." He sighed and turned a bit to the side. "My son would like you..."

    He didn't move or notice her, so she moved on, more than a little perturbed. None of the elders in the City acted this way. Perhaps life on the ground required less mental acuity.

    The market extended for a few more blocks, so she continued walking. There was too much to see, so she turned as she walked, scanning each little shop and installation. Some were permanent, and likely more successful, while others were shambles of thatch and plywood. She halted as an utterly mouthwatering scent caught and held the attention of her nose. What is that? It's not anything they serve in the simple meals in the City.