Islands in the Sky

3.13

Sema looked at the terribly important man on the dock. She thought about saying something sharp to him. That she didn’t see how it was his business what her business was with Quen Tosal, or did he really considered himself so important he could decide Quen Tosal’s business on Quen Tosal’s behalf. Something like that.

She thought, looking at the man, but then she decided not to bother.

There wasn’t any point.

This man was just a difficult, disagreeable person. Perhaps a little bit self-important by his nature, and perhaps with that made worse by his having some small authority over others. Perhaps. But mostly he just a disagreeable person. The kind of person who made everything more unpleasant for everyone around him. Sema had met that before. Henk, who had run the village tavern before the pirates came, he had been the same way.

Sema looked at the terribly important man in front of her for a moment, and decided she didn’t care enough to bother.

She turned around and walked away instead.

“Hey,” he shouted after her, but she ignored him.

There was no need to make her own life miserable by talking to him any longer. There was no point at all. There were plenty of other people around, hundreds of people around, and she could as easily ask one of them.

She walked up to a woman, who seemed to be doing a similar job at another warehouse, watching as sacks were loaded onto a cart.

“Excuse me?” Sema said.

The woman nodded, but otherwise ignored Sema. She was making a gesture in the air with one hand, and her lips were moving. After a moment, Sema realized she was counting.

Sema stood there, waiting, carefully not interrupting. When the last of the sacks were loaded, the woman said, “Wait.”

Sema nodded, although she wasn’t sure the woman saw. She stayed quiet anyway, because quiet seemed better than saying yes, if the woman was trying to remember a count. Sema stood there, watching, and the woman made several marks on a tally-stick. Then she looked at Sema and said, “Thank you.”

Sema shrugged. “I didn’t want you to lose count.”

“I appreciate it. What can I do for you?”

“I am looking Quen Tosal. I wondered if you knew where I could find him.”

“Oh,” the woman said, and looked surprised.

Sema sighed. She had hoped this woman would be nicer, but perhaps she would not. Perhaps everyone was like this in Anew-Hame. Sema didn’t want to be asked more questions, so she just said, “I have a message.” It seemed simpler than actually explaining, and having to justify herself again.

The woman nodded, and seemed to accept that. She pointed two docks down and said, “Try there.”

“Thank you,” Sema said, and walked off before she could be asked anything else.

She didn’t think she would be. The woman was already watching as more sacks were loaded into the next cart, and seemed to have lost interest in Sema, but Sema walked off quickly anyway, just to be certain.