The Silver Ship and the Sea

by Brenda Cooper

  And last, Joseph. What would be easy? “Go on, go with Liam. You can get my flute and your drum, so we’ll have them at home.”

  There was a barrette waiting for me to claim it before trading stopped completely.

  I walked between the tables this time, not bothering to stop. I did glare at Klauss when I walked by. He looked up briefly and then looked away again, a flick of his eyes that looked, just for a second, like fear. I shivered. Fear of us was worse than anger at us.

  I didn’t see Alicia anywhere.

  May and Klia stood by Sky’s booth, chattering and laughing. When they saw me, May glanced at me, and looked like she was about to say hello, but Klia pulled her away before I got to Sky’s table.

  Sky smiled broadly as I walked up, showing even, white teeth. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a pretty near-elm barrette carved in the long, thin shape of a summer-fish. “I thought this one might look good in your hair.” She handed me a brush and held up a mirror. She glanced around, then lowered her voice. “Alicia ran through here about an hour ago, looking like she’d been crying. Did you find her?”

  I nodded. “She told us Ruth thinks she killed Varay. But she couldn’t have.”

  Sky watched me for a minute, as if appraising whether or not I was trustworthy. Then she smiled and angled the mirror just right. “Of course Alicia didn’t kill Varay. The barrette looks good on you.”

  I clasped it in my hair and cocked my head. The light wood showed well against my dark hair. “All I have is clothes to trade.”

  “Let me see.”

  Sky pursed her lips and tugged at her long braids, watching carefully as I pulled out my old clothes. They’d be adequate trade for the barrette. More than adequate. As Sky held each shirt and extra-long pair of pants up to examine them, I thought about Alicia’s ragged clothes. “Sky? Will you take all of these, and set aside an outfit for Alicia? You can keep the rest. I have one more favor to ask, too.”

  She rubbed her chin contemplatively, eyeing the pile of clothes. It was worth ten barrettes. But she was a roamer, a trader. She’d take it. Sure enough, she nodded, then she turned and picked out two small blue hair clips and handed them to me. “It’s too much. Take these, too.” She smiled broadly. “The blue will set off the gold flecks in your eyes.”

  She set her mirror down on the table and tucked my old clothes into a basket on the ground. “Alicia will appreciate the clothes.” Her smile faded into a puzzled frown. “But what is the favor? I have not yet agreed to grant it, you know.”

  I leaned forward and lowered my voice. “We’re going to meet Akashi and Paloma tonight, just after we get our food. Will you meet with us, too? Tell them what’s going on?”

  “Ruth won’t like it.”

  “But you’ll come? Just for a few minutes—just tell them what you told me. I want them to hear it from you.”

  She hesitated. I couldn’t blame her. She lived in Ruth’s band. She swallowed hard before nodding. “I won’t stay long. Just long enough to tell my story.”

  “Thanks. We’ll find a place on the grass, a little away from people. Hiding in the open.” I tucked the blue barrettes into my pocket. “We won’t keep you long.”

  Her wide-set brown eyes were wary, as if she still didn’t trust me completely. “I will be there. What Ruth is doing to Alicia is wrong. I saw how Alicia looked at Varay. She didn’t kill him; she couldn’t have. I saw her pain when she brought his body back, sat with her on two long nights afterward.”

  “Thank you.” I zipped my nearly empty pack and threw it over my shoulder, walking as quickly as I could to more friendly territory in the West Band circle of wagons.

  The culture guild always started preparing the Trading Day feast just after dawn. Long tables had been dragged from the guild halls to the park and were now being filled with steaming djuri and goat, rows of hot fresh corn, and bowls overflowing with mixed vegetables and fresh-baked bread. The crowd felt festive, happy, sated with conversation and trading. In a way, the feast celebrated the work we’d done, all of Artistos, to harvest in spite of the quake and storm, in spite of our losses and our aching hearts.

  I walked aimlessly through the slowly growing crowd. The dread in the pit of my stomach every time I thought about Alicia, or Ruth, made me uncomfortable, out of step with almost everyone I passed. I declined an offered beer, taking water instead.

  The culture guild served the feast when the sun still had a full hour before it would even kiss the treetops. A slight breeze hung thick with food smells and sweat and conversation. Families and groups of teenagers gathered in knots, eating together on bright blankets spread under the twintrees.

  Joseph and Bryan came up to me, and Joseph handed me my flute. I held it briefly to my chest, embracing it, feeling the smoothness of its surface under my fingers before tucking it into my bag.

  As Joseph and Bryan and I filled our plates, I watched for Alicia. Surely they would let her come to the feast.

  No sign.

  She’d promised to meet us down by the river at dusk. Hopefully, she could keep her word.

  Bryan pointed to a spot outside of the biggest crowds, on a low hill where we could talk without being overheard. Kayleen and Liam joined us a few minutes later, Liam carrying his plate and hers, while Kayleen balanced a stack of old blankets, which she spread out in a patchwork of red, green, and blue.

  Akashi and Paloma walked slowly up the hill, Akashi taller by a head, leaning down to hear something Paloma said. Akashi was dressed more simply than yesterday, in a gold-and-white belted top over black pants. Paloma wore a simple off-white shift. As they sat down, I looked for Sky or Alicia, but didn’t see either of them.

  Akashi drew his brows together and drummed his fingers, as if unsure where to start. “Paloma told me how Joseph and Kayleen were treated today.”

  Liam cleared his throat. “The East Band was rude to Chelo and me, too. Or at least most of them. But the real problem is Alicia’s trouble.”

  I stood up, watching for Sky in the crowd.

  Akashi looked at each of us in turn, as if trying to read a truth in our faces. “And you are convinced she did not kill Varay?”

  Bryan nodded. “Of course she didn’t.”

  Akashi kept his voice low and gentle, and I remembered that he led a band, and must therefore act as judge from time to time. “She has been treated poorly. That might give her reason to be angry, and thus to hurt.” He glanced at Liam. “Is she as strong as you are?”

  Liam shrugged. “Probably. We are all about the same, except Bryan, who is stronger. I doesn’t matter whether or not she could have done it, she didn’t do it. I’m sure.”

  Akashi nodded. “Very well. You are a good judge of character.”

  I spotted Sky by her dark braid and the dark freckles that stood against her light skin, and waved my hand briefly over my head. She started toward us. “Akashi, Paloma, Sky is coming.”

  “I know Sky.” Akashi smiled briefly, looking up at me, his face serious. “The young carver. I trust her. She is bright and brave.”

  I smiled briefly at Akashi’s way of making everything seem to be part of a story. As Sky neared us, she glanced nervously behind her, as if looking for shadows. She folded down into our circle gracefully, sitting with her legs crossed, her plate on her lap. She moved her braids behind her shoulder with a flick of her head, keeping the unruly tips of hair away from her food. We’d all seen each other every Trading Day. But here, she sat with every altered on Fremont except her friend Alicia. It seemed to make her feel more nervous than she had been with just me and Liam, or just me, at her booth. I smiled at her, trying to help her feel comfortable. “Thank you, Sky. We won’t keep you long. Can you tell us what you know about Alicia’s situation?”

  She cleared her throat and took a drink of her beer. “First, let me tell you about Alicia. She is lost there, she is Ruth’s bad dog. She is perhaps unaware of it, but since Varay’s death…” She looked up. “You know about that, and about the a
ccusations?”

  “Yes,” Kayleen said.

  “Since the accusations, the band split. There are some, like me, maybe one in ten, who believe in her, who consider her a friend. And maybe half believe Ruth when she says that all of you are trouble, and you will bring death to us.”

  She paused, perhaps to let us absorb her words.

  “The rest are not sure. Alicia is scared. She avoids most band members, which doesn’t help her. Very few of us know Alicia well. Since Varay’s death, she’s been withdrawn. She cries a lot, and sometimes she talks to herself. She’s grieving, and she has no one to really help her except me and a few other people our age. But she is not guilty.” She paused again, and took another sip of beer. Her plate sat untouched in front of her. “Varay and Alicia were sweet on each other, although I don’t know if they did anything about that or not. They were old enough, but Alicia told me Ruth forbid her to touch him.”

  I filed that thought away for the future. We had talked about it, of course, but we did not know if our alterations would breed true. There would be—implications—of us breeding, depending on what such unions produced. The thousand colonists came here to have a place to stay genetically unchanged, and their descendants mistrusted us because we were changed. The war was, at its core, about that very same thing.

  Sky continued. “Since Ruth hasn’t accused her formally, I don’t think she will. She can’t judge Alicia as band leader, not when she also serves as accuser. Ruth won’t want anyone else to get involved.” Sky folded her hands over her torso. It made her look small. “I watch out for Alicia as closely as I can. I won’t be surprised if one day I wake up and she’s simply not there, or if I wake up and there’s been an accident.”

  Akashi frowned, but once more his voice was gentle. “Do you know what you are saying?”

  Sky nodded, looking miserable.

  Paloma broke in, “But do you have any proof that Alicia didn’t kill Varay? That she couldn’t have?”

  Sky sighed. “Alicia loved him. I know that. But they were together when he died, with no witnesses. Besides, if she killed him, why would she carry his body back, crying the whole way? Why? When no one knew they were together? She could have just walked away.”

  Akashi smiled at her, and put a hand on her shoulder. “Do you know anything else that might help us?”

  She shook her head. “Just that Alicia is a good person, and my friend.”

  Akashi smiled. “She is very lucky to know you. Thank you, and feel free to come visit anytime.” He leaned closer to her. “If you get any information, you can tell any of us.”

  “Okay.” Sky stood, and took her plate, still full, down the hill away from us. I watched her walk, alone, until she was out of my direct line of sight. Alicia was lucky to have such a friend. Sky must be an adult to have her own trading table, but this was probably her first year.

  We had no friends near our age except each other. Sky made me think we should have tried to make some.

  “So what do you think?” I asked, looking from Paloma to Akashi. “Town Council won’t listen to us. Ruth won’t.”

  Paloma turned her hands over and over in her lap, letting a long silence fall before she answered. “Well, we don’t know if Sky’s fears are justified, but I believe her. She is there, after all. What if I do nothing, and Alicia doesn’t come back next spring? We need to bring these accusations into the open.” She glanced at Akashi. “And I don’t think Akashi should do it, since he and Ruth have to work together on so many levels to make the two bands work.”

  Akashi showed no reaction, but Liam nodded. “That’s right.”

  “Will Town Council investigate a direct complaint from the girl?” Akashi asked.

  Paloma frowned. “I think so.”

  Akashi put a hand up, as if it were Story Night and he was asking us to be quiet. “Investigating Ruth? Making her angry may not be a good tactic. An investigation will put Alicia at risk, too. If the story I have heard is right, Alicia has no alibi. If she did not do it, then Ruth has no proof. That makes a standoff, and I do not know who would win a standoff.”

  I broke in. “But if there’s no investigation, and they take Alicia away with them, I’ll be worried all winter that she’ll be killed. We have to force it. This isn’t just about Alicia, it’s about all of us. We want the Council to talk to us, too.”

  Akashi steepled his hands, his dark eyes looking out over the heads of the feasting crowd. “She could die either way. I have only seen one investigation where the penalty was death, and that was years ago, for aiding the enemy during the war. I do not think this colony would kill a child, and Alicia is still legally a child. Yet she is the child of the enemy, and many of us are frightened of you all.”

  I shivered. People died on Fremont. In all of my life, all that I remembered, it was from accidents like the earthquake, or paw-cats, or the bite of a yellow-snake. It hadn’t occurred to me to worry that the people we worked with and ate with could kill us. Might kill us.

  Paloma cleared her throat. “Someone needs to talk to Alicia. We can’t decide any of this for her.”

  Akashi nodded. “Of course. An inquiry could harm her more than mere rumors. In fact, it’s perhaps best if Alicia herself lodges the complaint. Then she can call who she wants for witnesses.”

  I liked that idea, and thought Alicia might like it, too. “We’ll talk to Alicia when we see her later on.” Then I had another thought. “But Nava will be one of the judges, and she doesn’t like us.”

  Paloma glanced at me. “Nava will choose to be fair. Don’t underestimate her.”

  “Well,” Akashi said, “I think that’s up to you to find out, Chelo. Liam said Alicia promised to meet you down by the river soon. Why not ask Alicia how she wants to handle this, and then go by your house and talk to Tom and Nava if Alicia wants to act?”

  The stakes made me dizzy. “All right.” I glanced at Joseph. “Will you help? I might want to have a witness for this conversation.”

  All the color had faded from Joseph’s face. “Of course.”

  Akashi stood. “Now, I’m sorry, but I have to go. I have some business to attend to.” He started walking down the hill. Unlike Sky, he didn’t remain alone. By the time he got partway down the hill, a half-dozen people had converged on him.

  Paloma said, “I always thought you would face new challenges as you got older, and smarter.” She paused. “And stronger.”

  The implications weren’t lost on me, and I knew Paloma was thinking much the same. If Alicia was found guilty with no actual proof, then we all faced the same risks. If we got involved, and Alicia won, we would have the permanent enmity of the leader of the East Band. That was the best of the two outcomes. I didn’t like either.

  Bryan stood and held his hand out for my plate. “It’s almost time to meet Alicia.” We worked together, gathering up plates and blankets, then stood in an awkward circle.

  Paloma swept her steady gaze across us all, her eyes fastening on us one by one, holding us, saving me for last. She sounded pleased and somewhat shaky as she said, “I’m glad you asked for advice. I hope we can help.” Noticing that imperturbable Paloma was shaken by this did nothing for the roiling worries dancing in my gut and head.

  I led the five of us back toward the river, slowly, trying to seem like we were on a casual errand.

  We got to the riverbank before Alicia was supposed to show. Bryan picked up a large, flat rock and skipped it nearly to the other side of the river. We had stopped throwing stones in view of anyone except ourselves years ago, after we saw the looks on the adults’ faces when we outskipped them. We saw no one, so we threw, our stones making whirring noises as they spun in the air, skipping hard and fast over the surface of the water, sometimes going so far we actually didn’t see them finally sink under the water. Instead of competing, we just threw, and threw again, grunting with the slight effort of every toss, watching the stones and the river rings without conversation. Even Kayleen was quiet.

&nbs
p; The sky slowly darkened.

  Eventually, we could only see the first two or three skips of each stone. “What if she can’t come?” Joseph asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I didn’t see her at the feast, not at all. We’ll need to go home, eventually. Although I don’t know what to say to Tom and Nava if I don’t talk to Alicia first.”

  Bryan still held a stone in his right hand. He flung it hard, and we listened to seven tiny splashes. “I’ll stay. No one will really notice if I’m home.”

  “I’ll sit with you,” Liam told him.

  I pulled them both to me, smelling the tangy sharpness of Bryan’s anger on his bare slippery bicep, and the wood shavings embedded in Liam’s shirt. Liam’s braid tickled my nose. “You two are fantastic. Tell us if you find her,” I whispered.

  Kayleen and Joseph and I walked reluctantly home. It worried me that Alicia hadn’t been at the feast or made it to the river to see us. But surely no one would hurt her in Artistos. I couldn’t help but feel like all the hatred we had been slowly pushing underground by doing well, by helping, had somehow been watered and fed this year, and that it was sprouting up for us, and everyone on Fremont, to look at. But how could hatred grow anything but thorns?

  When Joseph and I got home, I wrapped the flute inside a soft cloth that Therese had made me, and set it on the windowsill where Steven’s and Therese’s urns had once rested. It fit perfectly.

  I found Tom seated in the common room, making notes. No sign of Nava, so she was probably still at the feast. I wanted to wait until Bryan could tell me whether Alicia came to the river, but the two-day deadline until the roamers left loomed. I took a deep breath and pulled Joseph after me into the common room. “Tom, can we talk to you?”

  He nodded and set his slate down. “Sure. What do you need?”

  I sat down on the chair closest to Tom, and Joseph sat across the room from us, in near shadow, ready to witness. He’d let me do most of the talking. “If I ask you some questions, can you promise not to talk to Nava unless we say it’s okay?”