by C. Litka
01
I stepped off the gangplank on to Tanjenree, the port island of Vennora.
Hissi swam serenely overhead as I slipped through the press of passengers lining up for the monorail that would take them to hotels and transhipment terminals for Tanjenree. Hissi and I would find our customary room & meal cottage in the jungle suburbs, so we headed for the winding, moss paved road that lay beyond the monorail platform. Tanjenree, followed the Donta Island pattern - a semi-enclosed inner harbor with larger freighters and traders anchored at quays along the outward facing facets of the islands, with all sorts of ships and boats tied up in little coves along the intricately irregular shore. It was not unusual to be sitting in a cottage garden with a freighter anchored to a rocky outcropping not far overhead, awaiting its cargo.
We followed the lane's shade and light dappled way until we happened upon an open air cafe under an arching umbrella of flowering vines where we stopped for some tey and a few sweets while I consulted our map of Tanjenree. The S&D Line office was in metro Tanjenree, but with 22 rounds remaining before I actually needed to report, we decided to search for a cottage to rent for our stay on Tanjenree. Tomorrow's round would be soon enough to look in on the office. On these transient islands, there's never a shortage of rooms, be they hotel, boarding houses or room & meals. I've spent my life aboard ship, but I've come to enjoy a bit of peace and solitude as well, so a room in a cottage usually provides just the right balance of company and solitude. Besides, it's fun to wander, semi-lost, through the lush, musical jungle-gardens of these small islands, alive with the songs of birds and the croaking calls of the lizards to hunt down the quaintest cottage R&M available. We spent our first several hours doing just that, stopping once at a small playground in a rocky grotto to give Hissi time to play with the kids.
The children and their parents would stare with amazement at her appearance. But seeing her elegant scarves and broaches, quickly realized that she was not a wild Simla dragon - not that it mattered too much, given their entirely benign reputation in the Saraime - so they'd soon cluster around her. She'd tap someone on their forehead and swim off - and the game of tag was on, the children soaring through the branches calling and laughing as they chased after her or darted about to avoid her. I'd settle on the benches next to the parents and answer their questions about my feathered dragon companion.
We found a nice rambling cottage - floors and ceilings artfully wedged in amongst a rocky outcropping and around a tree. The rambling rooms were divided by panels and screens. We presented ourselves at the front doorway, Hissi standing upright next to me, very proper-like in her scarves, holding her treasure-pouch of cards and her winnings in hand. The woman of the house opened the door, started a bit and then smiled, and when I explained our purpose, she invited us in and showed us the room to let - an upper level room open to the mild air of the Pela, more a tree house than anything else. We signed on for six rounds to start and after a very tasty meal, we continued our ramblings about Tanjenree until the middle of the local first sleep round.
