Islands in the Sky

4.10

Cassa considered what she was being given.

“It is just the fleet I am to have?” she said, to the overseer. “Not the market stalls, the carts…”

The overseer seemed hesitant, as if he was uncomfortable being asked so directly. “Not the markets, I don’t think, my lady,” he said. “They are your cousin my lady Yuio’s.”

“Of course.”

“But the drying island,” the overseer said. “That is for you.”

“Oh,” Cassa said, surprised.

The drying island was among the cluster of agricultural islands towed behind the city. Hundreds of drying-racks were set up there, allowing the caught bird’s flesh to be wind-dried and then smoked, for storage.

In a way, it was sensibly part of the fishing business, Cassa supposed, a part of the whole. In a way it wasn’t, too. In a way, Cassa would have expected her grandmother to separate the drying of bird meat apart from the catching of it, so that two cousins were perpetually at one another’s throats over profits and supplies and deliveries.

Usually, that was what Cassa’s grandmother would have done. By giving both the fishing and the drying to Cassa, she had been surprisingly generous.

Cassa sat there a moment, thinking, considering what that meant. She had been given a self-sufficient business, a source of wealth and independence. That was surprisingly generous. Cassa could organize fishing, and store what was caught, and sell it to earn, all on her own. She would be free to consolidate or expand, as she wished, without being beholden to another who controlled the other half of her business, either the fishing or the drying. That independence alone was surprisingly useful, and surprisingly full of potential. It was another little advantage that Cassa’s cousins probably wouldn’t notice she had been given over them, which in itself was interesting too.

Cassa thought, then realized the man in front of her was still standing, still waiting, a little nervously, unsure what to do next.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Please sit.”

The overseer just looked at her. He didn’t move.

“What is your name?” Cassa said. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask sooner.”

“Jogan.”

“Well, Jogan, please sit down.”

Jogan stayed where he was.

“Would you like some wine?” Cassa said. “I can have some brought.”

Jogan shook his head.

“Anything?” Cassa said. “Something to eat?”

“I need nothing, my lady.”

“Then please sit,” Cassa said. “Please. I would like you to tell me of the fishing business. To tell me the whole business. Everything about it, everything that is happening, and has happened. What makes for a good year and a bad one, and what you would like to do better. All of it.”

Jogan just stood there looking at her, apparently too confused to answer.

“I want you to tell me everything,” Cassa said. “All of it. But first, please sit down. And take something to eat or drink. You may as well be comfortable while we speak.”

Slowly, Jogan sat, on the chair Cassa had pointed to.

“Tell me,” Cassa said. “Please.”

After a moment, Jogan began to talk. He had talked, and Cassa had listened and asked questions, and listened some more, and after an hour, after two, Cassa thought she had understood enough to run the fishing business without ruining it right away. So that was a start.

The rest, the profits and wealth and expansion, that would come later. For now she knew how not to wreck everything the very day she started, and that was enough for her for the time being. Jogan was looking tired, so she told him to go and eat and have a break from her questions, and then to return later on, when he was rested, so that they could talk some more.