Islands in the Sky

3.14

Sema walked over to the dock the woman had pointed to, and looked around. This dock was much the same as any of the others nearby. There was the wharf itself, made of stone, and there were warehouses opposite it, to store the cargoes which arrived.

There were two large ships tied up at the wharf as Sema stood there looking, but nothing seemed to be being unloaded right then. The wharf was quiet, and largely empty, although there were still people over at the warehouse. Porters, sitting in the sun, eating stew from bowls, and people who Sema assumed were guards or sentries both at the end of the wharf, and at the warehouse door, looking at everyone who went past. They were not actual guards, not like those Sema had noticed earlier with weapons and coloured uniforms, but rather people in ordinary clothes who still seemed to be standing around quite firmly near the doorway and the dock. They were somehow on watch, Sema thought, despite not having pretty uniforms. They were noticing everyone who went past. They were probably noticing Sema right now. They were presumably there to stop unwanted strangers from going onto the dock, or inside the warehouse.

Sema looked down the wharf, just to make sure it was empty, but she couldn’t see anyone who looked especially important there. There was someone near one of the ships, as if guarding that too, but that was about all. The wharf seemed empty, so she went over to the warehouse and said to one of the apparent guards, “Excuse me?”

The guard looked at her.

It was a woman. It was a woman the same age as Sema’s mother had been when she died, and with her hair arranged the same way, a bun behind her head.

Sema swallowed, and made herself not think about that.

“What is it?” the guard said, and her voice sounded almost as Sema’s mother’s had, which made Sema carefully not think all over again.

“Is this Quen Tosal’s warehouse?” Sema said, uncertainly.

“It is.”

“May I speak with him please?”

The guard looked at her.

“I have business,” Sema said, trying to sound self-assured. “I have been sent here. Now may I speak with him, please?”

“You can go in and ask if you may,” the guard said.

“Oh,” Sema said, almost surprised. Then she remembered to be self-assured.

It was curious, she thought. Unlike the other people she had spoken to here, this guard hadn’t bothered demanding to know why Sema wanted to speak to Quen Tosal, or what about, or who Sema was. Sema thought that was interesting. Perhaps her dock manager had sent her to the right person after all, she thought. To someone who had the sense to wish to just make trades, and not worry about who they were with until the details of the trade were discussed, and who had instructed his staff to assume that when someone inquired, and send them inside.

Sema was glad. She was relieved. She nodded to the guard, suddenly feeling happier. “Where do I go?” she said.

The guard pointed. The warehouse had a large, open doorway at the front. Through the doorway, Sema could see that the interior was full of bales and crates and barrels, some already packed in nets. There was a system of ropes and pullies hanging from the ceiling, on a metal framework, to lift and convey the netted cargoes, Sema assumed. Halfway along the building, where the guard was pointing, there was a separate inner building within the outer building, a smaller, house-sized structure entirely inside the warehouse.

There were several people standing around that inner building.

“Over there,” the guard said. “Just go and wait. Someone will talk to you when they can.”

“Thank you,” Sema said.

The guard shrugged. It was her job, Sema assumed she meant.

Sema almost walked off, but then she stopped. Perhaps because the guard reminded her of her mother. Perhaps not. Perhaps just because this needed saying.

“No,” Sema said. “I thank you. I truly do. You could have been rude about telling me, but you weren’t, and I am grateful.”

The guard looked at Sema for a moment, and then nodded. “Pay it no mind,” she said.

“Thank you,” Sema said again, but guard was already looking out into the street again.

Sema decided to leave the woman alone, to stop being a nuisance just because she suddenly felt lonely. She had more important things to think about. She had business she needed to do.

She walked over to the group of people beside the inner building, and stood there, and waited.