Comet's Fall 1: Ostancine

1.3

AsI hurried down the street toward Cathedral square I heard the piercing voice of the town crier I passed regularly on my errands. He was a portly man with long, orange hair and a booming voice that was as much a part of the aural landscape of the city as the great cathedral's bells.

"HEAR YE, HEAR YE! TARN TOWERS SPOTTED ON EASTER FRONT, DARRENPORT DIGNITARY LOST AT SEA!"

I paused and looked at him, half expecting him to give more details. A deep breath made its way into his chest, until his eyes fell on me. Despite myself, I kept staring as I thought about the news.

"Can I help you with something miss?" asked the town crier.

"Yes, it's about the headline," I said, scrambling to collect my thoughts.

"Scary stuff," he said, "we've never seen the wizard towers float so close to the eastern coast. The steward thinks they might be trying to make another land grab. Dark times we live in, dark times."

He went to take another deep breath.

"No," I said disrupting him again. "It's the Darrenport dignitary. Wasit a government or trading house representative?"

"Trading house," he said looking me up and down.

"Hardly news," I said, but he looked at me as if for clarification." Trading houses sometimes get laid over for longer than they intend, especially when brokering big deals."

"You know an awful lot about this sort of thing," he said.

"I'm from Darrenport is all," I said, calming myself a bit by twiddling my fingers over the hem of my shirt sleeve. "My father ran a trading house for a while."

"Isee," he said. "Well let's hope the missing folks are just negotiating and not nabbed by bad wizards."

"Let's hope so," I said. I pulled a nickel from my satchel and put itin his hand for the extra news. A warm smile washed over his face as I did so and the traces of our conversation were lost as he took in adeep breath to keep calling. I pondered the news some more as I sauntered off down the street. Perhaps the missing ship did have something to do with Tarn pushing out with its floating towers. It wouldn't be the first time Darrenport had to worry about the wizards though.

So wrapped up was I in the contemplating current events that I nearly missed the mailbox. Trying not to break stride, I haphazardly tossed the letter at the box and it fell onto the ground. As I clambered for it I realized the seal had broken, and I ran a finger over it as Itried to force the pieces of wax back together on picking it up. The idea of opening and reading it crossed my mind, but as soon as I flicked my fingers to unfold it my hand met with someone else's.

"That letter for you, girl?" said an awkward voice. It's choppy and broken quality made it sound like it came from a mentally challenged person, but when I looked up I was met by a normal looking deliveryman. Feeling foolish for my prejudices I cracked a little smile. It faded as soon as I cast it when I saw his expression though. His eyes read of an odd emotion, rage maybe, but his mouth was twisted into a coy smile.

"It's surprising how many people sneak a look at their neighbors' mail," he said, the voice not quite fitting his face. "Wouldn't want someone to see something that's not meant for them."

I looked him up and down as I re slung my bag on my shoulder.

"You're right," I said, letting him take the letter from my hand. He ground his thumb into the seal and stuffed it into his bag once it left my grip.

"Good," he said, leveling his gaze at me.

    At that moment a peculiar thought crossed my mind. I'd seen this man several times before, but never head on like this. In fact, I guessed that he'd been there to pick up the mail every single time I'd dropped something off, regardless of the time of day or the weather. This was the first time I'd bumped into him though.

For the awkwardness of the encounter my mind swiftly shoved it aside in lieu of the excitement I felt about my next destination. I had almost forgotten that I was heading to the library to start my explorationof the cosmos, and press gang Gill into helping me do so.