LITMIR.BIZ

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knew it was almost as wide as the wandering grey flow of the river.

      She had been surprised when Sedric came to join her. She’d scarcely seen him since they left Bingtown. He’d even been taking his meals in his cabin. He had been quiet and withdrawn for most of their journey, more subdued and solemn than she’d ever seen him. Obviously, he was not relishing his duty. For her part, she had been astounded to discover the companion that her husband had arranged for her. It made no sense to her. If he wanted to protect her reputation, why send her off chaperoned by his male secretary? Like many things that Hest arbitrarily decided for her life, he hadn’t deigned to explain it to her.

      ‘I’m putting Sedric at your disposal for your Rain Wilds folly,’ he’d announced abruptly on entering the breakfast room the morning after their confrontation. Standing, he had helped himself to food and tea. ‘Use him however you wish,’ he’d continued. As Sedric entered, Hest hadn’t even glanced at him, and only added, ‘He’s to obey your every command. Protect you. Entertain you. Whatever you wish of him. I’m sure you’ll find him delightful.’ Those last words were uttered with such disdain that she’d flinched.

      And then Hest had left the room. As she’d turned toward Sedric in confusion she’d been shocked to see how dejected he appeared. Her efforts at conversation as he picked at his breakfast had faltered and died.

      Hest hadn’t even waited for her departure date before embarking on another trading jaunt of his own. He’d filled the house with his busyness, and invited two of his younger friends to accompany him. In the days before his departure, he’d kept Sedric dashing about on errands, securing papers for passage, picking up a new wardrobe that Hest had ordered, and procuring a stock of excellent wine and viands to accompany him on his journey. Sedric’s obvious unhappiness with the situation had made her feel sorry for him, and she had done her best to make her own arrangements for travel, to spare him a bit of time for himself. Yet she could not regret her decision finally to make this journey. And strange as it was that Hest had chosen Sedric to accompany her, she could not have been more delighted with the prospect. The idea of having her old friend to herself for a time while on an adventure to see dragons had filled her with cheery anticipation. She had hoped to find him equally enthused.

      But in the weeks before they left, and especially after Hest had departed, Sedric had seemed gloomy, even uncharacteristically snappish with her. He’d obeyed Hest’s directive, arriving promptly at breakfast every day to report travel tasks completed and request his duties for the day. They’d spoken, but not had conversations. A few days before their departure, he’d begged some time to himself, to dine with one of Hest’s Chalcedean trading partners who had arrived unexpectedly in Bingtown. She’d been glad to let him have the evening to himself, in the hopes it would bolster his spirits. But the next morning, when she asked him if his meeting with Begasti Cored had gone well, he had quickly changed the subject to the details of her own journey, and found a dozen tasks for himself to do that day.

      Once they’d boarded the Paragon, she had hoped his spirits would lift. Instead, he’d spent the early days of their journey sequestered in his cabin, pleading seasickness. She’d doubted that excuse; he’d travelled so much with Hest that surely he must have the stomach for it by now. Nonetheless, she’d left him in peace and occupied herself with exploring the liveship and trying to get to know the crew. So she had been cheered when Sedric joined her on deck that day, and pleased that he now spoke to her, even if the question was rueful rather than engaged.

      ‘It was the only ship with room for two passengers that was leaving at the right time,’ she admitted.

      ‘Ah.’ He pondered that for a moment. ‘So when you told Hest you had already booked passage, that was a lie?’

      His words were flat, not really an accusation, but they still stung. She retreated but did not surrender. ‘Not a lie, exactly. I’d made my plans, even if I hadn’t yet purchased my tickets.’ She looked out over the roiled grey water. ‘If I hadn’t said I was going, he’d have ignored me again. Or put me off. I had to do it, Sedric.’ She turned to face him. Despite his glum expression, he looked rather jaunty in a white shirt and blue coat. The sea wind made his uncovered hair dance on his brow. She smiled at him and offered sincerely, ‘I’m sorry that you got caught up in my quarrel with Hest. I know this isn’t a journey you’d choose.’

      ‘No. Nor would I choose a jinxed ship to make it on.’

      ‘Jinxed ship? This one?’

      ‘The Paragon? Don’t look at me like that, Alise. Everyone in Bingtown knows this liveship and his reputation. He rolled and killed his entire crew, what, five times?’ Sedric shook his head at her. ‘And you book us as passengers aboard him for a trip up the Rain Wild River.’

      Alise turned away from him. She was suddenly very aware of the railing under her hands. It was made of wizardwood, as they used to call it, as was a great deal of the ship’s hull, and his entire figurehead. The Paragon was a wakened liveship, that is, he was self-aware and his figurehead interacted with his crew, supercargo and dock crews just as if he were human. She had heard that liveships were conscious of every word spoken aboard them, and certainly the very light thrumming of the wood beneath her hands made him seem alive. So she spoke her words firmly. ‘It happened, but I am certain it was not five times. That was long ago, Sedric. From all I have heard, he is a changed ship now, and a much happier one.’ She shot her companion a look that begged him to either be silent or change the subject. He leaned back from her, raising one well-shaped eyebrow in confusion. She continued quickly, ‘Knowing what we know now about the so-called wizardwood, I cannot blame him for anything he did. Indeed, to me it is a wonder that the liveships recovered so well from finally grasping exactly what they were and how they had been created. What we Traders did was unforgivable. In their place, I doubt if I would be so gracious.’

      ‘I don’t understand. Why should they resent us?’

      Alise was feeling more uncomfortable by the instant. She felt as if she were lecturing Sedric for the Paragon’s benefit. ‘Sedric! The Rain Wilders who found the dormant dragons in their cases, sometimes incorrectly called cocoons, had no idea what they were. They thought they had found immense logs of very well seasoned wood, the only sort of wood that seemed impervious to the acid waters of the Rain Wild River. So they sawed that wood up into planks and built ships from it. And if, in the centre of those “logs” they found something that obviously was not part of a tree, they simply discarded it. The half-formed dragons were dumped from their cases, to perish.’

      ‘But surely they were dead already, having been so long in the chill and the dark.’

      ‘Tintaglia wasn’t. All it required for her to hatch was some sunlight and a bit of warmth.’ She paused and unbidden a lump rose in her throat. Her words were heartfelt as she said, ‘If only we had understood earlier, dragons would have been restored to the world so much sooner! As it was, we denied them their true shapes. Instead, we fastened planks made from their flesh into ships. Exposed to enough sunlight and interacting intimately with familiar minds, there was a sort of metamorphosis. And they awoke, not as dragons, but as sailing ships.’ She fell silent, overcome at what humans, in their ignorance, had done.

      ‘Alise, my old friend, I think you torment yourself needlessly.’ Sedric’s tone was gentle rather than condescending, but she still sensed that he was more puzzled by her reaction than stirred to sympathy for the aborted dragons. She felt surprise at that. He was usually so sensitive that his lack of empathy for either the liveships or the dragons puzzled her.

      ‘Ma’am?’

      The man had come up behind her so quietly that she jumped at his voice. She turned to look at the young deckhand. ‘Hello, Clef. Did you need something?’

      Clef nodded, and then tossed his head to flip sandy, weather-baked hair from his eyes. ‘Yes, ma’am. But not me, not exactly. It’s the ship, Paragon. He’d like a word with you, he says.’

      There was a faint accent to his words that she couldn’t quite place. And in her time aboard the ship, she hadn’t quite decided what Clef’s status was. He’d been introduced to her as

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