Islands in the Sky

5.3

It took Sema a full day to unload her firewood, because she had to carry it further than she had when loading it, and to stack it more neatly as well. She carried it down the wharf and made piles of sticks beside the dock manager’s house. The dock manager was named Li-am, Sema had found out. Li-am the dock manager had begun selling bundles of sticks even while Sema was unloading them. That was good, Sema thought. It was his part of this arrangement. He sold the bundles, as Sema carried them too and fro, and had sold a lot by the time Sema was done.

She put the last of the sticks down into a pile, and Li-am gave her a handful of coins. A lot of coins. More than Sema had ever seen before.

Sema stood there, looking at the coins in her hand, and didn’t know quite what to do.

She was glad, most of all. She was terribly glad that the idea of selling sticks seemed to be working. She had gone and gathered firewood, and people were actually buying it. They were actually paying Li-am for it, almost to Sema’s amazement.

She was pleased, and exhausted, and almost too surprised and tired to think. She stood there and looked at the coins in her hand, and wondered what to say.

“This is all of it?” she said. “All the coins?”

“Is that not enough? I took what was offered, but the prices seemed fair…”

“No,” Sema said, too tired to think what she was saying clearly. “I mean, did you keep any for yourself?”

Li-am shook his head. “That was not what we agreed.”

Sema nodded. She supposed it was not.

She wondered for a moment how much she could trust him. She had no reason not to, so she decided that she would.

She stood there, and thought about coins, and about how much Li-am had said a boatload of wood was worth. She wondered what proportion of that was in her hand right now. From the stack of firewood next to her, she thought it was a little more than half. She thought about the promises she had made, and what she now owed, and that she needed to pay Li-am a share of these coins, and Quen Tosal too.

She hadn’t talked about exact shares with either Li-am or Quen Tosal yet.

Sema thought about shares, and also about how many coins she needed to live. Not many, she didn’t think, since she could sleep on her boat and eat plainly and because she already had her own firewood. She would need to pay for food and water and perhaps one day an axe, but that was really about all. She had clothes, and shelter. She only needed food and water. And one day she needed to find other people to help her, since Quen Tosal seemed to expect her to have a hundred others working with her one day soon, but that was something she would consider later.

For now, exhausted, she just thought about coins, and debts, and how much she had in her hand right now.

She was too tired to think.

She held out her hand, and said to Li-am, “Take what you think is fair. But remember I need to pay Quen Tosal a share too.”

Li-am looked at her, and then the pile of wood, and then said, “Keep all that. I will take my share from what I sell tomorrow and the next day.”

Sema nodded. She had no idea if that was fair or not, but it made things simpler, and she was tired.

“Will you give Quen Tosal some coins too?” she said.

Li-am thought, and seemed a little reluctant. Perhaps he was reluctant to have his share of coins entangled with Quen Tosal’s, Sema thought, or perhaps he was just being greedy and wanting a larger share.

He thought, and looked at Sema, and then he nodded. “Very well,” he said.

“Thank you,” Sema said, and tied the coins into the hem of her tunic. “I’m exhausted and hungry,” she said. “I need to go and eat.”

Li-am hesitated, then pointed to the wall of his house. “Sit,” he said. “I have pea stew. I’ll being you some.”

“And water?” Sema said, hopefully, still desperately thirsty.

Li-am nodded, and went inside, and came out almost right away with a plastic cup of water.

“Thank you,” Sema said, grateful. “Thank you for everything.”

Li-am shrugged, and seemed almost embarrassed, then went inside to fetch Sema a bowl of his stew.