The older man seemed to forget his remark.

Which was fine by me. I was still trying to think of a reason why I’d need to wear the goggles. Bokor healed really well, which meant that you didn’t see one with wounds for very long. Even with an eye injury, bandaging it would allow natural recovery to take over and they’d be healed within a week or two. I’d never seen a Bokor with glasses, so I wasn’t sure what the right answer to that question would be, though I had a feeling that it would come up again at some point.

“After a month of no supplies from our shipping partners, we sent the larger fishing ships to Carthage to try to get some supplies.” The mayor put his elbows on the table and covered his face with his hands. After a few moments, he looked up. “We haven’t heard from them.”

“You had five ships and they disappeared?” Val looked over at Eveth, who shrugged. She glanced at me, but I had to shake my head.

I knew precious little about ships. Other than that they were supposed to be the safest method of travel and Master Bran didn’t like them.

“We were already low on supplies, but now we’re down to only what we can catch in the little boats!” The mayor got down on his knees so fast that he knocked over the chair he’d been sitting in and almost knocked over the table. “I know the island said that this was a Human problem, but please! Will you look into it for us?”

“Don’t touch me.” Val pushed the old man away from her after he crawled across the floor to try to beg at her feet. She looked over at me and raised her eyebrows.

We had a month to get to Port Town. Going by ship would significantly lower our travel time, though we’d be skipping all the towns along the way. Though if the city felt indebted to us, we might be able to get the ship to stop along the way and wait for us while we checked on those towns.

I shrugged and motioned at her. While I may think that she was overplaying the whole Bokor thing, I was thankful that she was taking charge. Like he said, this might just be a Human problem. The ships could have decided there were more profitable routes and changed where they were going, or the ships coils have been stolen. I honestly doubted that this was Zombie related, but now that I knew that there was an organization of Touched, I didn’t know how far their reach went.

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“I’ll have to talk to the other Masters and see if there is enough time to delay our travels.” Val motioned at the door. “You can go if there’s nothing else to report.”

The mayor got up and hurried to the door. Just before he reached it, Val stopped him by clearing her throat.

“It should go without saying, but considering how lazy this town is, I should probably remind you. If I discover that you knew something that I needed to know and didn’t tell us before you walked out that door…” The redhead let the threat hang in the air.

“It’s been a very stress-, I mean busy, night.” The mayor swallowed as he looked over at me.

I was leaning against the wall near the door. I made sure to avoid eye contact. I didn’t want him to think that I’d save him or give him a reason to ask about my goggles again.

He wiped his forehead with his sleeve, then turned back to Val. “Nothing comes to mind right now, but if I remember something, I will be sure to come here right away.”

“See that you do.” Val stood up and pulled her scabbard off of her back, laying the sword and sheath on the table.

“Um…” The mayor bowed. “If I may ask so that I can prepare food for you. How long are you planning on staying here?’

“That depends on if we have enough time to look into your lost ships.” Val waved her hand for the older man to leave. “I need to talk to the other Masters and you…” She glared at him. “Need to talk to your guards.”

“Yes, Master Bokor.” The mayor bowed again, then hurried through the door.

I closed the door. “Well, that was…”

“So cool!” Eveth giggled. “Did you see that? He thought I was a real Bokor!”

The blonde woman moved over and sat at the table with Val. Since that seemed like where we were going to talk, I walked over and sat down as well.

“You are a real Bokor.” Val playfully pushed on the younger woman’s shoulder. “Don’t forget that.” She tapped on her sword in front of her. “You have a sword and magic. You are everything that the Bokor are and more.”

Eveth blushed and looked down at her hands in her lap. “Thank you.”

I was starting to feel awkward and we had things that we needed to discuss. I cleared my throat before I started speaking.

“Do you really want to look for the ships?”