Finder's Shore

by Mackenzie, Anna

It makes sense. “His pupils are distended,” I agree, thinking Farra’s argument through. “It could be shock, but if you’re right and it is contagious, it’s better none of us go back to Explorer, and no more of the crew land, Kush included.” Farra regards me, considering. “I’ll go with Jiordo to the farm while the rest of you wait here. Most diseases need close contact to be transferred — and it’s quite possible it’s not contagious at all.”

  Farra concedes with a nod. “All right. Devdan, can you row out and let them know what’s happening without boarding?”

  “Ronan should go,” I say. “Dev’s already been in close contact. Until we know what we’re dealing with, Dev should remain here.”

  A small silence opens around us. To break it, I issue further instructions. “Ronan, you might ask Kush to find my med kit. Get him to toss it to you. And ask Lara to see what food supplies we can spare.”

  “Don’t you think we’re over-reacting a little?” Dev asks.

  I shake my head. “Not until we know. It’s probably nothing to worry about, but Farra’s right: we’re best to find out before we put everyone at risk.” Dev is torn, I can tell. His eyes shift from Jiordo to Farra before he turns to glance toward the harbour where Explorer rests easy at anchor.

  Jiordo is garrulous as we walk to the farm, spitting out stories of his experiences on Ister as if he’s not spoken to a soul in all the years he’s been here. “What brought you into Harlan today?” I ask, as we cross the hill behind the town and the harbour disappears behind us.

  “Foraging,” he says. “There’s things that we need.” He glances at me quickly. “From your accent, I’d guess you didn’t grow up in Vidya.” His statement holds a question, and I give him the answer I think he’s wanting.

  “I didn’t, but I trained there. Tell me about Mika’s symptoms.”

  He puffs out his cheeks. “She’s all swollen up — her legs and her face. Fingers too. Complains of headaches and her colour is bad, all red and splotchy. She used to be a looker, but you’d hardly know her now.”

  “Does she sleep well?”

  He shakes his head. “Wakes a lot.”

  “How long has she been ill?”

  “Weeks now. It’s getting worse. At first she was just tired, more than she should have been, then it was headaches and the swelling. Lately — well. It’s our good luck you arrived when you did.”

  I’m not so sure of that. I consider the symptoms he’s mentioned and run through a range of possibilities.

  “The farm is just past those trees,” he says, walking more swiftly. “It’s a shame Devdan couldn’t come: they’re going to be amazed when I tell them. He and Calder and I grew up together, did you know? When I thought I’d lost them both …” He shrugs and shakes his head.

  “How did Calder die?”

  “He got sick, same as the rest of us: headaches, fever, spitting up phlegm. We were all weak from lack of food. He was weaker than the rest of us, I suppose.” He lapses into silence. I don’t press him further.

  The farm has a scraggly vegetable patch and three scrawny goats behind a makeshift fence. There’s no sign of anyone else. “Neena has gone to the bird cliffs,” Jiordo tells me as he leads me inside. “Yan’ll be with Mika.”

  An air of neglect permeates the house, despite the obvious signs of occupation.

  “You there, Yan?” Jiordo calls.

  A figure appears in the kitchen doorway. He’s short and stringy looking, his beard less ragged than Jiordo’s and his clothes neater. He starts in surprise when he sees me. The hardship they’ve undergone is written on his face, as it is on Jiordo’s, but his eyes are less wild.

  “This is Ness,” Jiordo says, with a flourish. “She’s a medic — and that’s just part of the surprise. There’s a ship from Vidya in the harbour.” He can’t contain his delight. “And as if that isn’t enough, you’ll never guess who I’ve just been talking to in the town.”

  “Why don’t you let me take a look at Mika while you share the news?” I suggest.

  “You’re really a medic?” Yan queries, as he hurries me through the house. “We’ve been so worried. She’s resting, but we weren’t sure what to do — about any of it, to be honest.” He breaks off. “Wait. I’ll tell her you’re here.”

  He leaves me standing in the hall. The paper that covers the walls is faded and stained by time but still I can make out a pattern of leaves trailing across it.

  Yan reappears in the doorway and beckons me within. The room is dark. Even before he pulls back the curtain, my diagnosis is made. The woman in the bed is ill, without question. High blood pressure, chronic oedema — she’s at risk, and she’s not the only one, but there’s no call for Farra to fear that it’s an ailment the rest of us will catch. Even from the doorway, I can see that Mika is pregnant.

  CHAPTER 21

  “Why didn’t he just say so?” Dev demands, slumping into a chair.

  “He probably wasn’t thinking clearly. He’s severely malnourished, and it would have been her illness rather than the pregnancy itself that was uppermost in his mind.”

  As soon as I’d checked Mika and assessed the general health of the two men, I returned to the harbour to let Farra know my findings. He cleared Kush to land, but told the others to stay onboard Explorer meanwhile.

  “She’s a few weeks off term,” I tell them, “but neither she nor the baby can afford to wait much longer. She’s at risk of seizures if we leave her.”

  Kush leans his elbows on the table. “Ness is right,” he confirms. “There’s not enough time to get her back to Vidya. The baby has to be born here, and soon.”

  “And you’re sure the others are all right?” Farra’s frown has etched a deep cleft between his brows.

  “Jiordo’s health worries me, but it’s nothing I can put my finger on,” I tell him. “Yan says they’ve been giving Mika as much protein as they can — to the detriment of the rest of them, I suspect — but she’s painfully thin.”

  “The baby is likely to be small,” Kush adds, “but I’m with Ness on this. The sooner Mika delivers, the safer they’ll both be.”

  There’s a silence as the others take this in. I don’t think they’d quite believed the urgency of my diagnosis.

  Farra is the first to react. “Right then. Gather up anything you’re going to need and get over to the farm. Devdan will go with you, but they won’t want a crowd. If you need anything, he’s your runner. Ronan, you and I will carry on here. I’d like to take a closer look at the damage that seawall has suffered. All right?” His eyes skim the room.

  It’s a sparse plan, but the best we can do. As we walk to the farm, Dev quizzes Kush on the risks to Mika and the baby. I stay silent. Kush avoids telling him the truth: that we could easily lose them both. But it’s in the fast beat of my heart and the aching knot of tension that’s gathered between my shoulder blades, and all I can find to off set it is the certainty that, if we do nothing, the risks are even greater.

  Dawn has broken in a thin line of gold along the eastern horizon when the feeble wail of Mika’s daughter breaks the taut silence of the farmhouse. Cradling her close, I study her squashed and squalling face. Her hands wave, tight clenched as flowerbuds, battering at her new-found freedom. It has taken thirty-three hours for her to make her way into the world. There were times last night when I thought we’d lose both her and her mother.

  “How is she?” Kush asks.

  I tear my eyes from the baby’s puckered face. “She’s perfect.”

  The child mewls like a kitten and Mika’s eyes open. “Where’s Yan?”

  “He’s gone to tell the others. He’ll be back in a minute.”

  Kush inspects the tiny girl, his smile wide as the sunrise. “It never ceases to be miraculous. Exhausting, messy, difficult, but downright miraculous.”

  Yan bursts back through the door. I wonder whether Kush and I look as haggard. I hand him his new daughter and he clutches her awkwardly.

  “We’ll be in the kitchen if you need
us,” Kush says.

  Panic crosses Yan’s face. “But what do I do?”

  “Rest. Sleep. All three of you need it. Don’t worry.”

  In the kitchen Dev slides mugs of hot tea towards us. “They’re both all right?”

  Kush nods. “With rest and a decent diet, there’s no reason they shouldn’t thrive.” I wash my hands. My whole body aches with tiredness. “Ness, you look exhausted.”

  Dev shows me to a room near the back of the house. “Wake me if there’s any problem,” I tell him. I don’t remember what he answers. Perhaps I’m asleep before he does.

  Lara shakes her head slowly. “Can’t be done. We’ll be overloaded. As it is, we’ve scarcely room to store a decent haul. It would be better to make two trips. After three years, I can’t see that another fortnight will make much difference.”

  “It will to Jiordo,” Malik says. “He’s desperate to get home.”

  Kush is at the farm checking on Mika, Dev with him. Farra chose a house for us in Harlan so we’d not intrude on the new family’s privacy. Despite it, Mika and little Cally receive a constant stream of visitors.

  “She’s the first baby born on Ister for years,” Ronan had said, when he held her. A tiny bubble had formed on her protruding lower lip, bursting with a pop when she slurped in her sleep.

  “Mika and the baby are better off here for now,” I say. “A sea voyage is the last thing they need.” For all the relief at her safe delivery, Mika is far from well. The swelling in her fingers and feet has reduced, but she suffers from dizzy spells and her appetite is patchy despite Cally’s demands.

  “Two trips might not be a bad thing,” Farra says. “We could utilise the return run.” His ‘we’ has me wondering.

  Lara looks sceptical. “The governors won’t make a hasty decision on Ister’s future. There are a lot of factors to consider.”

  “It’s a good idea however long they might take to think it over. You said it yourself, Lara: you want a research base that’s closer to the sea-safe zone. You couldn’t ask for better. Ister has buildings, infrastructure, farmland. Facilities for whatever we choose to do. No complications, and just waiting to be used.” Farra looks around the room.

  “What about food?” Malik asks. “It sounds as if Jiordo and the others nearly starved to death.”

  “Aye. Which is where the return trip comes in. On the first run you take Jiordo and Neena, plus a haul of fish for Vidya’s kitchens. When you come back to collect Mika and her family, you bring seeds, livestock, maybe even a few volunteers.” No one has voiced the possibility before now. Farra has everyone’s attention. “The survivors from Nemo nearly starved because they had nothing to start with,” he adds. “But even with nothing, they managed.”

  “Just.”

  “Just,” he concedes. “I’ll stay to keep an eye on Mika and Yan. There’s plenty to occupy me while I’m here.”

  “It might be better if you go back to talk to the governors.” My voice sounds cramped to my ears. “They’re more likely to listen to you.”

  “We can’t leave Mika and the baby on their own,” Farra objects.

  “They won’t be,” I say. “I’ll stay.” The silence that follows my announcement feels deep enough to drown in.

  Farra looks thoughtful but makes no reply. Malik finally picks up the debate and the talk spirals on in circles. Ronan stands, suddenly, and goes outside. I leave it a moment before I follow.

  Morning sun has turned the sea to glass. Across the harbour the buildings that cloak the hill are in shadow, but on this side of the bay the sunlight dances over houses and streets. It’s a pretty town, despite the steepness of its hills and the buildings that lie in ruins at its heart. I try to picture a community here: people working in their gardens; fishing boats moored at the jetty.

  Ronan is leaning against the post of the porch, his eyes on the harbour. I stand beside him. An insect begins clicking in the silence.

  “Farra thinks around half the buildings are still sound,” he says. “That warehouse above the harbour, that’s where they’re thinking the sea-sci research base could be.” I follow the line of his extended finger. “It was a canning factory once. They used it to store food stocks, until they ran out.”

  Which explains why the windows have been boarded up. He turns to me. “Are you sure you’re willing to stay?” His expression is hard to read. “I was hoping you would, but it won’t be easy, Ness. Even if the governors decide to support a settlement, there’s a lot to be done. And we’d be isolated, at least at first. That’s one of the reasons we’d need a medic.”

  I catch my lip between my teeth. I’d made my offer with Mika and Cally in mind, for the weeks till Explorer returns. I’d not yet thought beyond that. “I …” My protest trails into nothing at the enthusiasm in Ronan’s face.

  “Resettling Ister would be good for Dunnett, too. They’ll accept an island community more easily than they’ll accept Vidya. Trade with Ister can be the first step out of their isolation.”

  “I’m going for a walk,” I say.

  “I’ll come with you.”

  I shake my head. “I need to think.”

  Ronan’s face shows his hurt. We’ve had scarcely a moment alone since the evening on Explorer. Something silky shifts in my belly as I recall it. “It’s not … I just —” I don’t know what to tell him. The last few weeks have tumbled and churned me till I don’t know which way is up. I reach my fingertips to his bare forearm. “I’m glad you brought us here. Not because of Mika and the others. Just because.”

  His face is smooth, his eyes asking. I smile and push past, striding fast down the street.

  As I near the end of the lane and turn towards the harbour, footsteps pound behind me. I glance around, expecting Ronan, but it’s Ty who falls into step at my side. The water shines opaque and still as we walk parallel to the harbour. High cloud, gauzy and fine, drifts above the headland.

  “I like Ronan,” my brother says. I don’t answer. “We were working out the detail yesterday: what size of herd we’d need to get started, where to base the first settlement.” I glance at him sidelong. With his newfound enthusiasm, some of the tension that haunts him has eased.

  A row of bollards marks the edge of the road, each one engraved with an anchor. I run my fingers along the chain that’s strung between them. “He said you’re going with him to visit his family’s farm,” Ty adds.

  Ronan asked me on the day that Cally was born. I said yes, but I’m wondering, now, just what it is I’ve agreed to. From where we stand we can hear the tide lapping over the stonework of the old sea wall. The salt smell reminds me of Dunnett.

  “I’m going to stay on Ister,” Ty says, looking at me straight. It makes sense. He’ll be happier here than in Vidya. He blows out a breath as if he was waiting for my approval, and shrugs. “There has to be someone here to keep an eye on you.”

  In the evening when we gather for a meal, the room feels crowded with possibility. Farra’s enthusiasm is catching and sparks around the room. Even Lara seems to glow with it. I sit with Ty on one side and Ronan on the other and keep silent.

  “Accommodation presents no problems. I’ve no experience with the farming side of things, but I could start straight away on the research facility and developing a fish processing plant — we’ve the technology to dry fish at least,” Farra says. I’d forgotten that he worked in Decon before he joined Scouts, salvaging whatever could be saved from the ruins at Vidya. Farra’s skills will be useful, if he’s serious about returning to Ister.

  “I’ve got experience in farming,” Ty says. “Ronan too.” Neither of them has announced till now their intention to stay, but I doubt it comes as a surprise.

  “The wharf is shot,” Malik says, “but we can use the slipway until we get a floating jetty in place.”

  Farra steers the conversation through a proper course: necessities of life, size of population, practicality, isolation, risk. Lara plays devil’s advocate, raising all the objections she c
an think of — but though she raises them, she seems happy enough to have them answered.

  Privately I wonder whether Marn might come to take charge of developing the land, or Truso: he’d certainly benefit from time away from Ebony Hill. Wilum might know someone who could help with boatbuilding. I wonder, as well, about Sophie. When a lull comes, I take it. “Re-colonising Ister will be easier once we develop a relationship with Dunnett. Livestock, for example: it’ll be far easier to ship them from Dunnett than Ebony Hill.”

  “Good point, Ness,” Lara says. “The governors should be looking at building two trading partnerships rather than one, as well as extending our sea-sci research.”

  Farra’s brow puckers in thought. “It’d be worth taking a decent look at that power plant.”

  Less than four days I’ve been on Ister, and my whole world feels transformed, but for once, the change feels a positive thing. Outside, the occasional sharp cry of a seabird provides a counterpoint to the ocean’s steady beat. Lara gathers our plates and there’s a general shifting and relaxing. As the discussion veers onto a new tangent, Ronan moves beside me, his thigh warm against mine. I turn to meet his eyes, and the promise they hold.

  CHAPTER 22

  It takes us two days to walk from Harlan to Ronan’s farm. The spring of the island turf and the ever-present tang of the ocean remind me of Dunnett and tell, as well, of Ister’s differences.

  There are signs of the power battles all across the island: buildings shattered, others that look as if a giant passed by taking bites of roofs and walls. The damage reminds me of the mortar the Paras used against us at Home Farm. Worse still are the overflowing graveyards, and the cache of armaments Malik unearthed in a bunker beyond the town. Farra proposed that we might ship them back to Vidya. If the governors want them, they’re welcome. We’ve no need of weapons in the world we want to build.

  Midday yesterday we crossed the island’s spine, passing close by the ruined power plant. The fences and buildings were tumbled, the huge windmills largely stilled, or turning but unharnessed. “It might be possible to salvage something,” Farra had said. “We could bring a Decon team across — it would be worth a look at least.”