“Do you know a barger here?” Nuliyaa asked as they packed up in the morning. Her stomach still felt queasy, but there was nothing for it. She’d eaten what she could the night before and would do the same this morning.
“No. I have to go to the docks this morning to hire someone.”
“You mean we.”
“I do not need your help in hiring a barger!” Cheeyt snapped. When everyone stopped to stare at her, especially Miyt with her disapproving frown, she braced herself on the wall and took a deep breath. “I have negotiated with bargers many times. You should stay here with our group.”
“Then maybe I should go with you to learn about negotiating with bargers for the future—,” Nuliyaa started. Cheeyt turned and walked out of the room.
“Nuliyaa, come.” Miyt pushed herself off one of the room’s two beds and started for the door. “We will bring breakfast up for everyone.”
When the door was shut between them and the other women, Miyt asked, “What is wrong?”
“Cheeyt and I just need to work out how the company with operate,” Nuliyaa said, trying to dismiss the conversation.
“And you believe this will be done by inserting yourself into every part of the company?”
“I’m not familiar with everything yet.”
“Do you need to be familiar with everything?”
Nuliyaa didn’t answer. Miyt wouldn’t understand. Cheeyt knew so much more. The cultures, the best inns to stay in, the people they would have to hire… Nuliyaa didn’t know anything at all. Had she really thought she was so valuable to Cheeyt’s company? She couldn’t even ride a barge without getting sick.
“You started this company because you each have different strengths,” Miyt continued when she realized Nuliyaa wasn’t going to speak. “You must leave Cheeyt to her duties and focus on your own, or your company will not work.”
What duties did she have? Now that they had left Wumaltsmaas, there was nothing for her to do.
“The clients and the employees are your responsibility,” Miyt said. “While Cheeyt finds a barger, we will go to a market and buy more food as I will not eat what we have survived on since we left home for one more day.”
“There may not be a place to cook, Miyt, and if there’s a cook, they might not let you into the galley.”
“If there is a cook, I will be grateful for what is provided.” Her voice turned to a grumble. “I am not certain the boat was the whole reason you were sick.”
The innkeeper saw them walking up to the bar and pushed a large bowl their way. “That’s for your minotaur,” he said. “The rest is coming.”
“I’ll take this out,” Nuliyaa said, wrapping her arms around the bowl. It looked like cooked oats. She wondered what was in the bowl that was so different from what she would be eating that morning. She’d learned over the past few weeks that minotaurs couldn’t eat meat. That didn’t mean much when you could rarely afford meat.
The dawn was slightly cooler than it had been. Nuliyaa picked her way out the back to the stable. Kachaark was already up and moving, looking over their wagon with his pack and the pad he slept on already stashed back inside.
“Were you the only occupant last night?” she asked. The stable seemed quiet other than the animals moving around inside.
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“So it seems. Kall wa.” He took the bowl and settled onto a sturdy bench. “Are you better?”
“Well enough.”
“Cheeyt was in a mood when she came through.”
“She should have taken you with her. None of us like her going by herself.”
He snorted. “You have to remember she’s been doing this a long time.”
It wasn’t as though she ever had the chance to forget. “She normally has Nuttulch and Saknuu with her.”
He stopped chewing for a moment. “Not as much as you seem to think.”
“What do you mean?”
“They can be troublemakers. Supyuunch keeps them close.” He then focused on completely on his food, she knew he wouldn’t say anymore on the topic.
“Miyt wants to go to the market before Cheeyt returns. Will you come with us?”
He considered. “If the mage doesn’t go with you, I will. But Aapa Mapri is less friendly to my people, so it might be best I stay here. Someone needs to watch the wagon.” He looked up in time to catch whatever expression she made because he chuckled, the sound darker than what she was used to hearing from the amiable minotaur. “You haven’t seen it yet, but Bakfath is across the canal. It doesn’t matter who rules there—it’s not a safe place for non-humans.”
Yet another thing she hadn’t known about the world outside of Wumaltsmaas. “Will you be safe here by yourself?”
“One of the reasons why we like the Pigeon’s Perch.”
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After confirming with the innkeeper how long the wagon could sit in the stable yard without paying for another night and settling Chesfi back in the wagon with Singmij lounging against a crate while she chatted with Kachaark, Nuliyaa led her mother, sister, Sinchach, and Tajak to the closest market.
“It feels so empty here,” Tseetsaa commented. She spun as she walked, looking at the buildings.
She was right. There were plenty of people, but their group didn’t have to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers like they would back in Wumaltsmaas.
“Is Nengmek like this?” Tseetsaa asked Sinchach and Tajak. Nuliyaa didn’t think she’d seen her sister talk directly to the young men before now. From what she had seen on the barge, Tseetsaa was avoiding them.
“No,” Sinchach said distractedly.
Tseetsaa waited a beat. It didn’t seem like Sinchach was going to elaborate. She looked at Tajak. “It depends,” he answered. “The Pooka and Malks don’t make cities. Mommap is the capital, so is much more active than here. We have less trade than Wumaltsmaas. The average Nengmekian city, though—” He shrugged.
“Hm.” She darted off to look at something.
“There,” Miyt said, grabbing Nuliyaa’s arm and pulling her toward a stall piled with foodstuffs. Tajak started to follow, but Sinchach said, “I need supplies,” and went in the opposite direction.
What supplies did the mage need that he hadn’t brought with him? Oh, well, as long as nothing went into the wagon, Nuliyaa supposed it hardly mattered. Who knew why mages did what they did.
“Miyt, you cannot buy so much here,” Nuliyaa finally said, after her mother had filled her bag. She’d lost track of what had gone into the bag by that point. “We can only replace what we have used, remember? We’ll be on a barge again until Tewmisyu.”
The seller’s head lifted and they looked alarmed. “Tewmisyu? You are going to Tewmisyu?”
The person’s accent was different from what Nuliyaa was used to hearing in the lower part of Keeyl, so it took her a moment to put together the words. “Yes? Is there a problem in Tewmisyu?”
Their lips pressed together as they accepted the coins from Nuliyaa. For a moment, she wondered if they were even going to explain before the seller said, “Things have been unsettled in Bakfath again.”
“Isn’t Tewmisyu in Nengmek, though?”
“Sometimes. Sometimes the Bakfathi try to take Tewmisyu.”
Nuliyaa looked to her mother, whose face had paled slightly. “Kall wa for the news.”
Miyt lifted the corner of her littiichangs to flag Tseetsaa back to them. “We have to let Cheeyt and Singmij know as soon as we can,” Nuliyaa said.
“Yes.”
Where had the mage and his bodyguard gone? She looked in the direction they had disappeared to and saw Tajak shoving his way through the crowd back toward them, Sinchach trailing along behind. Was that a mortar and pestle? Why was he crushing something while he walked?
The mage looked up, saw her, and stuffed the pestle back into his pocket before pouring the contents of the mortar into a small drawstring bag. Then he pushed past Tajak, who had to determinedly match his pace, and offered the bag to Nuliyaa. “This should stop your sickness on the boat,” he said. “Are we going back to the inn now?”
“Ah. Yes.” Nuliyaa fumbled with the bag. “Kall wa.”
He only nodded and kept walking. She almost missed Tajak’s sigh.