The sky barely reached the state of pre-dawn greyness and Great Utu still didn’t rise above the horizon, but the docks were already bright as a day thanks to the flames of oil lamps carried by the workers and vigile patrols. Dozens of men and women in long, stained work tunics were heading to the warehouses and to the waterside, to carry the merchandise, unload and load boats, clean the docks and perform all other kinds of physical labor that one might encounter in such a place. Overlord’s Mercy lived by the trade, and the sacred river En constituted the most frequented trade route, above the caravans that traversed the Godless Desert. From here, carts were hauled to the marketplace, which opened its stalls slightly after dawn – and the first ones to offer their wares, as Nua knew already, belonged to the fish merchants.
She followed the crowd. It turned out that people knew very well who lord Dhurandhara was, the Vedan merchant being a rather distinctive figure and a person of influence in his circles. More than one worker chose the same direction as she did, and soon enough she stood in front of a large wooden storehouse that directly faced the docks and the boats moored at the quay. A dockside crane operated over one of the larger vessels and Nua watched it in fascination, oblivious to the crowd around her, until she bumped into a fellow laborer.
She stepped aside and scratched her neck with embarrassment. Her skin, still peeling from the bath, was itching.
Yesterday, she had gravely underestimated Hala.
The news about her new job were accepted with tears of enthusiasm. Things escalated from there and before she knew it, Nua was in the bathtub, water heated by Hala on the stove, eyeing a large, scruffy loofah and enormous kitchen scissors. She didn’t even have a chance to protest that she had washed yesterday already. That, apparently, did not even count.
She had enough sense to take the etheric lamp out of her pocket and conceal it behind the amphora. No one saw it. Or at least, she hoped so.
There was a passing question, or two, about the smell of fish that was noticed by everyone, but in the heat of the moment, her quick explanation about a tempting trash bin was accepted as truth. No privacy was granted. Such a ritual was rare, and therefore fun to watch, and so everybody gathered in the kitchen. Even Galene, the third adult in Hala’s care, who was mostly bedridden, stumbled outside of her room with a mild interest in her glassy eyes. There was a brief moment of commotion when Temen stole the loofah, but Auntie, instead of granting him the satisfaction of being the center of attention by giving chase, took another one.
Nua was washed, scrubbed, and given a haircut after a short and unsuccessful try at combing her hair. Then she got to wear new clothes, still stiff after drying. Well, they were not completely new. Both the shirt and the pants belonged to Ursan before her. While he grew out of them, he didn’t have a bad habit of destroying each set of clothing he was given (to be fair, recently he had even bought clothes with his own share of earnings from Hala’s workshop).
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The shirt was a little bit too long, the pants a little bit too tight at the hips, and the fresh linen cloth itchy. But overall, they sufficed. She regretted not having a mirror. She suspected that her new looks would reward her prior suffering.
In her left hand, she was holding a small, linen-wrapped package.
It was a whole baked tuber from Auntie and Nua was having an internal battle on whether she should bolt and eat it right now, or go into the warehouse, where the opportunity will arrive later, at the midday meal break. Anki was hovering nearby, his attention never straying.
“Hold off your animalistic urges.”, he instructed. “Delay the gratification. This is all part of the training.”
“Sometimes I think you’re egging me on, Anki.”
“Who, me? Inconceivable.”
“I’ve never worked before.” Nua looked at people passing her by on the way to the warehouse. “What makes you think this is such a good idea?”
“You’ve never worked ether, either. And yet you’re doing pretty good.”
“Your bar is very low. Like, so low it is already on the ground. They can beat me just for what I am, you know. Even if I do well. Not sure if lord merchant told anyone about me.”
“You’ll be fine. I’ll be around to issue a warning if the situation turns sour. Provided you’ll listen.”
Nua snorted.
“Oy, girl!” She turned her head. A tall, gaunt, elderly Azurian was looking at her. “You’re blocking the way. You comin’ or goin’?”
Nua hurried to the warehouse. The guy laughed, showing gaps in his teeth, then followed. There was no way to turn back right now. She got inside with a group of people in similar clothing as hers, then a heavy hand landed on her arm.
“You there, beast-eyed.” The man’s girth was so wide that at first, she had trouble meeting his eyes. His black beard, spreading from his chin like a hundred-legged octopus, could rival Flavius’, only it was a few grades dirtier. Nua noticed fish scales. “What gives?”
She swallowed. It was hard to get the words out. “L… lord merchant said you have a job for a cleaner.”
“Cleaner, eh. Name?”
“Nua, sir.”
“I am no sir. I’m Aton. Nua, you say.”, he took a wax tablet and scribbled something. “When you finish, come back to me so I can mark you off. Go straight ahead, then to the left, then look for the woman with a red stripe on her tunic. Don’t just stand here. Hurry up, or I cut your pay!”
Nua run, half-convinced of the impending disaster. The warehouse was loud, people were moving crates in cartwheels or without, and they seemed to communicate exclusively by shouting. The pungent smell of fish and vinegar permeated the air, and here and there the floor was stained with slimy, bloodied debris. Following Aton’s directions, she found a group of laborers – all six of them, gathered in some sort of a storage space near the entrance, separated from the main area by a partition wall. They were donning aprons, preparing buckets, rags and mops. Sure enough, a woman with a red stripe on her tunic was there. Large, middle aged and muscled, with her hair shaved off and her hands scarred. She frowned.
“Aton sent me!”, Nua shouted before the fear made her run away.
”Ah, so you’re the new girl, huh?”, the woman eyed her suspiciously. “No meat on these bones. Can you hold the mop?”
“She’s beast-eyed!”, another laborer chipped in.
“Your mom’s beast-eyed, Fabia.”, she said. “This is my crew and I get to tell who’s on it. So, kid. Don’t make me repeat myself. Can you hold the mop?”
“Y…yea.”
“Good answer.” She tossed her the utensil. Nua caught it and held the mop upright like a halberd. “I’m Erish and I’m your boss. Today you scrubbin’ with me.” That said, she faced the rest of the crew. “All righty, boys and girls, let’s get movin’!”