Islands in the Sky

3.16

Sema nodded, and then stood there, waiting. She was unsure exactly how a trading meeting was supposed to go.

Quen Tosal looked at her, and seemed to be thinking.

“So,” he said, after a moment. “I must admit, I’m still not completely sure why you are here. You have a boat. You have a plan. What is my part in this firewood business of yours?”

“Oh,” Sema said, realizing she hadn’t actually explained that. “You know where the islands with wood are, that’s all. Or I think you do. I mean, I was told that you do. And I want to know too. So if you tell me where to go, I’ll pay you.”

Quen Tosal kept looking at Sema.

“Later,” Sema added quickly, wanting that to be clear. “I’ll pay you later on, when I get paid. Then I will pay you. But I will, once I can. I promise you that.”

“I have no doubt,” Quen Tosal said. “You seem honest.”

Sema hesitated, unsure if that needed an answer. It didn’t, she decided. In fact, it might actually make her look dishonest if she insisted too firmly that she was.

“Well,” she said. “Then will you? Tell me where to find wood, as a trade?”

Quen Tosal sat for a moment, thinking and looking at her. He actually seemed to be taking the proposal seriously.

“There is one problem,” he said slowly.

“Oh,” Sema said. “What?”

“If I tell you, I will be taking trade from my own captains. Have you thought of that?”

“The captains of your big ships?” Sema said.

Quen Tosal nodded.

“No you won’t,” Sema said. “Not the same trade. Not the same amounts of wood, being sold to the same people.”

“You think not?”

“I know not,” Sema said firmly.

“Go on,” Quen Tosal said, looking at Sema carefully.

“Your other captains bring in logs,” Sema said. “Whole trees, by the shipload. I’ll bring in sticks, and sell them by the armful. It isn’t the same customers.”

“But then why should I ever bother, for mere sticks? And a few coins?”

Sema looked at him, and thought. She suddenly had the strangest feeling that she was being tested, and she wasn’t quite sure why. She felt that, though, felt it so strongly that she was beginning to suspect this whole conversation wasn’t about firewood at all, and that it was as much about her having sailed here, and thought up a business, and turned up in this room to ask for help. It was almost as if Quen Tosal wasn’t deciding whether or not to help for the coins he would receive for firewood now, but for what she might do next, or the time after that.

That was an interesting idea, Sema thought. It gave her some hope, and perhaps some advantage too, for having realized it.

She stood there, considering. She was suddenly certain she was right about Quen Tosal’s motive. It explained why he was spending so much of his time talking to her. He was trying to decide whether to help her now in order to benefit later.

That meant Sema needed to seem clever. She needed to seem to be good at trade. She needed to answer his last question very carefully. She needed to answer very wisely, or very slyly. One or the other.

She thought. She thought about trade, and the bustle of the city, and its size. She thought about all the people who had waited outside with her, and all the business which Quen Tosal did. Lots of business, with lots of people. A hundred little trades a day adding up to a warehouse full of goods.

“Why not?” Sema said, still thinking. “Why not just trade with me? It costs you nothing. It is something you can tell me freely, and tell someone else again later. Words are not a thing, is what I mean. Does that make sense? Not an actual thing you must give over to me and only give once.”

Quen Tosal smiled. “That is true,” he said. “Go on.”

“And I’m sure I could find my own island full of trees if I truly wished to. So it isn’t that big a secret.”

“I suppose not.”

“And all you need to do is speak a few words. It’s a very small thing to you. A very small effort. But imagine if I do this, and pay you a few coins, and then others see that it’s a good idea, and do it as well, and then they pay you a few coins, too. Surely that is worth bothering about, a hundred people, perhaps, giving you a few coins every day, all for nothing? All for just speaking a few words to me once?”

“It is very much worth bothering about,” Quen Tosal said. “You are entirely right. And I am impressed you can see it. Many others might not.”

“Oh,” Sema said, feeling slightly awkward. “It just seemed… I just realized then. But it seemed obvious.”

Quen Tosal nodded.