A Curious Mask

IX- Water Troupe

Rianna put her hands on her head as Mirtha helped her wrap her chest. Ri hadn't said a word since she awoke, but the raft lady didn't seem to mind. She kindly offered to help Ri look more like a boy, and she nodded thankfully. When the old hag was done, Ri put her shirt back on, fiddling with the hem of it. Mirtha handed her some cold fish and bread, and they ate in comfortable silence under the light of Mirtha's lamp, hanging from a pole in the center of the raft.

Ri finished first and managed to find her voice. "Thank you, Lady."

The old woman cackled at that. "Call me lady, you don't! Mirtha is name! Yours?"

"Ri Varden."

Rianna already had her cover story in her mind, but Mirtha knew she was a girl, so she decided on a half-truth to explain.

"Land you on Mirtha's raft, what did?"

"I'm running from a man."

That seemed to be enough for the raft lady. "Ah! So dress like boy, you do! Understand this, Mirtha does. Find you, he won't, Mirtha promise!"

Ri smiled shyly at her. "Thank you."

"No need, no need! Ho, the troupe!"

Ri looked to the band of twinkling lights ahead of them that Mirtha had just yelled at.

A strong male voice yelled back, "Ho, the raft! There's a port near!"

"Wish to dock, we do!"

"Mirtha! String her in, boys!"

As they came closer, Ri took in the five rafts all tied together with a good population of maybe fifteen mingling about. Lamps affixed to poles marked the borders of each raft, making the troupe a bright spot amid the perpetual gloom of the underground river. Three lean young men dove into the water towards Mirtha's raft and tied their ropes to hoops on her edges, drawing her in snugly into the side of the troupe before coming out of the water. A short, lean man with a grey beard and twinkling grey eyes came and crushed Mirtha in a bear hug.

"It's been too long, old lady! We thought the currents took you months ago!"

"Get me, currents can't!" She declared with a cackle. She gestured to the timid "boy" on her raft. "Ri Varden, this be. Golin Jek, this be."

Ri stood and bowed in deference. Golin laughed a hearty laughed and slapped her on the back, almost sending her sprawling.

"He's a tiny one, ain't he? Where'd you come from, Ri?"

She made sure her voice was a bit lower. "The capital's streets, sir."

"Ah! Don't 'sir' me! Welcome aboard the troupe, streetwalker!"

She smiled tightly at him, his hand still on her back, between her shoulder blades. He moved it to ruffle her hair and then walked back over to another raft. Several people came to talk to Mirtha, and Ri noticed that they never put more than five people on a raft at a time. Some came to meet her, and one even managed to drag her to another raft to play with the kids her "age."

As a boy, she looked to be eleven or so, but her actual age was sixteen. Nonetheless, she eagerly joined the wrestling game taking place over the span of two rafts. She stopped and looked up in horror as two boys fell into the water, but everyone simply laughed and jeered at them as they pulled themselves back up from the warm water. They pounced on those making fun of them and then threw them into the water. One made a move at Ri, but she scurried back, fear evident in her expression. The boy smirked at her.

"You afraid of the water?"

She gulped and nodded jerkily. "Aye."

His grin turned evil as he grabbed her arm. "Then we better fix that!"