The Silver Ship and the Sea (8 page)

Kayleen flicked her gaze from me to Liam. “You seem worried about Alicia. Is there something specific we should find out?”

Liam frowned. “We stopped once with the East Band after the quake, and she didn’t speak to me at all; she stayed in her wagon. I glimpsed her from a distance a few times. She looked sad. I haven’t seen her up close this trip, but she usually
is
out Trading Days. Also, my friend Walter seemed angry at her. I didn’t get to talk to him long, though. We were all too busy setting up.”

Kayleen nodded. “Will you come back in an hour? We might be done by then.”

“Sure.” Liam held out his gift. “For you.”

Kayleen eagerly opened the pouch and lifted the box out. It glowed warmly in the sunlight. A wide grin lightened the sharp angles of her face and brought a glow to her dark eyes. “Did you make it?”

He smiled and his cheeks reddened. “Yes.”

She opened the box lid, and lifted out a little tiny red feather from a dragonbird ruff. Her eyes shone. “Will you take us to see the dragonbirds later?” she asked.

Liam laughed. “If there’s time.”

Kayleen carefully returned the feather and closed the lid. She reached forward and hugged Liam, planting a kiss on his cheek.

Why hadn’t I thought of that when he handed me the flute?

“Come on, Joseph, we’ve got to go.” Kayleen carefully tucked the bag with Liam’s gift under her arm, and hurried back to Paloma, Joseph trailing behind her.

I turned away from watching Kayleen to find Liam watching me appraisingly. “Joseph is so distant. I’m sorry about your parents, but it seems”—Liam looked at the ground—“Joseph seems even worse than he should.”

What to say? I didn’t want his pity, but maybe he could help me with Joseph. “It is harder. Nava doesn’t like us, but I think Tom does. Joseph has been pretending to be normal, not
altered,
and eating himself up from the inside over it. He hardly ever laughs anymore. I worry about him; we all worry about him.” I shrugged, not wanting him to pity us. “Let me know if you have any ideas.”

“I’m sorry.” I thought for a moment he was going to fold me in his arms, but he straightened. “Come on. We should be looking for Alicia.”

As I followed Liam toward the East Band wagons, I watched his broad back, the proud way he carried his head.

We knew which wagon Alicia belonged to, but I also knew from experience that we couldn’t just walk up and talk to her. Her adoptive parents, Michael and Bella, disapproved of us, finding reasons Alicia wasn’t around or wasn’t available. They were dour people, with two children, besides Alicia, who were allowed a few more freedoms, but still well guarded. Michael and Bella kept a big sable and black dog named Lucky who watched over the entrance to their wagon, growling softly at anyone who came too near.

As we walked fully into the circle of wagons, Liam leaned into me and suggested, “Shall we browse the tables? We can watch for her, and see what we overhear.”

I still carried my pack of outgrown clothes. Maybe I could trade for a gift for Liam to thank him for the flute. I pointed to the first
table on the right. An older man stood behind it, looking down and rearranging a display of small handmade mirrors. His mouth began breaking into a welcoming smile. Then he recognized us. A mask fell over his features. The sudden change in his demeanor stopped me, but Liam kept right on walking up to the table. He picked up a round clay wall decoration with a mirror in the center and small polished blue and green stones around the edges. His voice was neutral and even as he greeted the man. “Hello, Klauss, how are you? Did the season treat you well?”

I came up beside Liam. He handed me the mirror and I admired the smooth stones. Klauss’s words were clipped. “A hard year for us.”

His eyes followed the mirror as if he wanted to take it from my hands. Roamers were usually happy to discuss trades. As a test, I slid my pack from my back and started to open it.

Klauss narrowed his eyes. “Trading values are high this year.”

I glanced at his wagon to identify his specialty. A painting of blue water falling through gray rocks adorned the side, and actual pebbles had been fastened to the edges of the roof. A geologist. I took a deep breath, trying not to show the sharp anger rising up in me. No adult in Artistos had treated us so blatantly badly in years. Some ignored us, some watched us, some grew quiet when we approached. But only the kids were rude. I ran my hands along the tiny inset stones by the mirror. “You’ve found some beautiful stones this year.”

He looked me directly in the eye and said, “I found some very pretty ones along the High Road.”

Liam’s hand, suddenly a warm weight in the middle of my back, kept me from lunging forward across the table. I backed up into Liam, smelling the clean salt of his sweat, feeling taut stomach muscles. I zipped my bag, my hands shaking. No roamer had ever been hostile on Trading Day. Ever. But I was here to look for Alicia. That was more important than understanding Klauss.

I swallowed hard and turned, and Liam turned with me, his hand on my shoulder a silent offer of support.

Eric the shoemaker, his daughter Sudie on his hip, laughed and joked with a pair of middle-aged women at the next table, which was heaped with dried herbs separated into bundles and tied with hemp twine. We stood off to the side, waiting to be acknowledged, but after the shoemaker left, the women sat down and talked between themselves instead of looking up and offering us goods. I pulled Liam to the side. “What is going on here? How were you treated last night?”

His brow furrowed with anger, his face reddened. “I don’t know. I mean I don’t know what this is about. I didn’t notice it last night, but my focus was on the dragonbirds and helping Mom and Dad. I didn’t really talk to anyone from this band last night except Walter, and that was just for a moment.”

I looked around, trying to decide where to go next. A young woman with two long dark braids sitting behind a table covered with hand-carved barrettes and buttons motioned us over with a small furtive hand signal. Liam and I drifted toward her, now wary of any East Band member who
wanted
to talk to us.

As we got close she handed me a barrette. Her voice was pitched low. “Look interested in this.” She leaned in to pin the barrette in my hair. “Alicia is down by the river,” she whispered. “Hurry; she will not be able to stay away for long. Her guardians are already looking for her.” She drew back, then leaned in close again. “Alicia is my friend, and asked me to watch for any of you. Go to her.” She unpinned the barrette, shaking her head. “Perhaps you’ll return later? I’ll look for a nice barrette for you then, after you find Alicia.”

So she was a trader at heart. And perhaps a friend. I wanted to ask what drove her band members to such mistrust, but she waved us away. “Go, but go quietly.”

I caught her gaze with mine, holding it briefly. “Thank you,” I mouthed.

I glanced at Liam. He nodded, a small smile playing around his lips. So he had heard her.

We turned and walked back out of the band’s circle. I imagined a sigh of relief as we left. The East Band had always been less
friendly to us than the West, but they had always been at least polite, and some had been openly welcoming.

But Therese had always been by my side before. Now we were alone.

Liam and I edged along the park, following a path that wound just above where the cliffs fell down to the Lace River, walking slowly to avoid drawing attention. The sound of the river became louder until we neared the bridge where the cliffs faded into a low riverbank. We scrambled down the bank, clutching at redberry bushes and nearly losing our footing twice.

Alicia stood on the gravel at the edge of the water, her back to us, her long dark hair hanging in thick waves down her back, obscuring her slender form. Bryan faced her, deep in conversation. His big hands cupped her shoulders, his blue eyes stared at her face, full of concern. Alicia looked up as we neared them, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“What happened?” Liam asked, his face as concerned as Bryan’s.

She sucked in a deep breath, gulping back tears. “Ruth is telling people I murdered Varay.”

Murder? The word set me reeling. There had been no murder on Fremont in my lifetime, as far as I knew. Except for the war. I swayed, momentarily dizzy. Was this why people treated us so badly?

Liam looked hard at her, as if weighing her words. “Alicia, tell me what happened.”

She took another deep trembling breath and wiped at her violet eyes, deeply bruised from her tears, and perhaps lack of sleep. “He died few days before the earthquake. Varay and I were friends. Ruth hated that. He was her nephew, and she struggled to keep him away from me. But we didn’t let her keep us apart. We met whenever we could, making it look like an accident.” She stopped to wipe at her eyes again. “That day, Ruth sent me to search for herbs, and Varay was waiting for me just out of camp. He was apprenticed to Clell the biologist, who sent him to look for a particular small brown bird which nests in cliff sides. Since the herbs Ruth sent me to find grow in the cliffs, too, Varay and I went together.” She
stopped again, staring out over the water, her lips drawn tight.

“He lost his footing halfway up. I was above him, and so there was nothing I could do except watch him fall. He hit his head.” She shuddered and drew her arms tight around her torso. “I climbed down as fast as I could, and carried him back to the band, but by the time we got there, he had died in my arms.”

“That wasn’t murder.” Poor Alicia.

“No. But I was so hurt and lost, and so unhappy we had not thought to rope together, that after I brought Varay’s body back, and told people what happened, I kept to myself.” She swallowed and fresh tears tumbled down her cheeks. “I was so sad.”

I remembered the soap Therese and I were going to make, and how it hurt not to see her or Steven or Gi Lin or the others. “I understand,” I said softly.

“Then the quake came, and we were all busy, but afterward, once we had fixed everything we could and buried Varay and Gene, I just couldn’t stand to talk to anyone, and Ruth glared at me whenever I saw her, so I kept to myself. Only more and more people started avoiding me, people that used to be at least polite.”

She looked down at the ground, as if searching for something. “Most of the older members of the band distrust me, but the kids my age…I thought they were my friends. They stopped talking to me, and I thought it was respect for my grief. Then three days ago, Sky told me Ruth was saying that I killed Varay. That I used my strength to pitch him from the cliff. That since I was so strong and so fast, I could have saved him if I wanted to, so since I didn’t, I murdered him.”

The idea that our strengths could so doom us even when we tried to help made me shiver even in the heat.

She looked pleadingly at me and Liam. “I would have saved him if I could have.”

Bryan answered her. “Of course you would have.” After an awkward moment of silence, he asked, “But she hasn’t accused you formally?”

“She knows that would mean Nava and Tom for judges.”

Of course. Ruth herself would judge events in her own band,
but if she were accused or accuser, then she would have to submit to the leadership of Artistos. And even though Nava didn’t like us, she saw uses for us. Without proof, which Ruth didn’t seem to have, Nava wouldn’t find her guilty.

“It’s not fair to accuse you with rumors. You’ll never get a trial, never get to clear yourself. She has to be stopped.” I had no idea how, but we had to deal with this. Now. While the roamers were in town.

Bryan asked, “How was the death entered in the records?”

Alicia shook her head. “I don’t know. Not as murder. If she’d entered it that way she would have had to accuse me. That’s the rule.”

“Maybe she just wants to ruin your honor,” Liam said. “Let me talk to Akashi about it.”

“And Paloma,” Bryan said.

“Ruth has always hated me,” Alicia said. “The war is never over for her, and I am its symbol. She will hate me until the day she dies. Or I do.” She looked around our small circle. “I hate the war. I hate these people for starting it, and I hate my parents for leaving me here, and I just…” Her shoulders heaved and she sobbed, breaking off her words. I stepped toward her, put a hand on her near shoulder, and she suddenly reached for me and buried her head against my chest, sobbing.

I glanced up at Bryan and Liam. They came in and joined us, so the three of us encircled Alicia, holding her, being there. The things she’d just said lived inside me as small thoughts every day, and it felt like Alicia’s tears touched us all, drew us all together.

After a while, her crying subsided and she stepped away from me. We gave her room, widening our little circle. She looked carefully at each of us, reaching out a hand to stroke my hair, to touch Bryan’s broad shoulder, Liam’s cheek. “I have to go before Bella comes looking for me.”

Liam asked, “Can you meet us later, just before dark? Back here?”

She nodded. “I’ll try. I should be able to get away during the feast. I won’t be able to stay long.”

Bryan folded her in his arms and held her a long time before
letting her go. She came briefly by turns into Liam’s arms and then mine. She smelled like herbs and water and she felt sad and small.

As we watched her scramble up the shallow bank and disappear over the top, I swore not to let her down.

After Alicia scrambled away, the rest of us stood quietly on the riverbank. Murder. She couldn’t have done it, but clearly the East Band believed it. Some of them. My head whirled with implications. We’d worked so hard to earn Artistos’s trust; could we lose it over this? Would Nava stand up for us, for Alicia? Tom? Garmin and a lot of the kids our age teased us, even threw things sometimes, and tried to tempt us into fights. Wei-Wei was a Town Council member, and her eyes always avoided ours even though she was polite. I could name many people who might believe us capable of…something. But murder? If it were some other accuser…but Ruth? Ruth was a Council member, and the leader of her band.

It took a few moments for the cool river breeze to bring me back to the present, back to my friends. I grabbed Bryan’s hand, and Liam’s, and the three of us looked at each other.

Bryan’s eyes were dark and smoky, as if the deep fires of anger that ran under his placid surface licked at his core. I touched his hand, briefly, hoping to soothe him. “We’ll figure it out. Let’s go find Kayleen and Joseph. Maybe they’ve heard something.”

Bryan took off, bolting halfway up the bank before Liam and I gathered ourselves enough to follow him. Bryan stayed ahead of us all along the path, setting a fast pace toward the trading tables. Liam held my hand, supporting me, and still we barely managed to keep up with Bryan. My stiff leg screamed.

If only I knew what to do. Get help. This was too big for us, alone.

We found Kayleen and Joseph still helping Paloma. The line had dwindled away to nearly nothing, as had the piles of hay chits on the table. Paloma noticed us first, and leaned down to Kayleen, whispering in her ear and pointing at us, then scooping Joseph’s and Kayleen’s chits toward herself. Kayleen grabbed her gift pouch, and practically ran toward us, Joseph trailing after. Her eyes flashed anger. “We have to talk,” she said.

I looked around, spotted a quiet place under a tree, and gestured to the others. “Let’s sit here.”

Kayleen started talking before we were even settled. “Some people wouldn’t let us help them. They wanted Mom to count their chits, as if Joseph and I couldn’t count to ten. Mom stood up for us. She said if they wanted help, they could let us help them.” She leaned into us, her voice incredulous. “One guy actually walked away. Like he wasn’t planning on feeding his goats if he had to take his chits from an
altered
.”

Joseph added, “From the East Band. All the rude people were Easters, although not all of
them
were mean. Akashi’s people treated us okay.”

Kayleen glanced at Liam. “What does it mean? Did you find Alicia? We didn’t see her, but I heard people talking about her. It sounds like she’s in trouble. Do you know what happened?”

Liam sat very still, his jaw set, his eyes scanning the crowd. Trading was winding down, most people now sitting like us, in small groups, or walking home. Gianna passed us, waving and smiling. A family I recognized from the East Band made a wide circle to avoid us. Liam watched for at least five minutes before he answered Kayleen. “Ruth,” he said. “Ruth never wanted Alicia in her band. She asked us to take Alicia four summers ago, but Akashi refused, said the decisions about mixing us up in the community were made for good reason, and Ruth should learn to get along with Alicia. Last summer, Akashi told me he was sorry. He’ll want to hear about this murder accusation.”

“Murder?” Kayleen’s eyes widened. “Alicia murdered someone?”

“Of course not,” Bryan said, grimacing. “Alicia didn’t do it. But Ruth is spreading rumors about it, saying she killed him.”

“Who?” Joseph asked.

I repeated Alicia’s own story as best as I could. It seemed to become more real in the telling, and near the end, tears splashed onto my hands and my voice shook. Alicia must feel so alone.

Kayleen and Joseph both grew as quiet as the rest of us. After a while, they looked over at me, and Joseph asked, “What should we do?”

Bryan fidgeted. I glanced at Liam. He knew the roamers better than I did. But he waited for me to answer.

A breeze blew from town, carrying the smells of the Trading Day feast: roasting whole djuri and kid goat, and corn cooking on coals. “We need help.”

Liam nodded. “I know.”

I scanned their faces. Joseph and Kayleen nodded at me. Bryan’s jaw was clenched. “I don’t want help. I want people to leave us alone.”

I ignored him and spoke to Kayleen. “Find Paloma, and ask her to sit with us at the feast. Tell her what’s going on. We’re usually together at group meals, no one will think anything of it. We can ask if she’ll help us with the Town Council. They won’t listen to us.”

Kayleen nodded, and stood, brushing dirt and grass from her pants. She waited to see what else I’d say.

“Bryan, will you go with Kayleen? You were there when Alicia told her story.”

Bryan shrugged. “Sure, I’d be happy to.”

I asked Liam, “Can you see if Akashi will meet us, too? Fill him in?”

And last, Joseph. What would be easy? “Go on, go with Liam. You can get my flute and your drum, so we’ll have them at home.”

There was a barrette waiting for me to claim it before trading stopped completely.

I walked between the tables this time, not bothering to stop. I did glare at Klauss when I walked by. He looked up briefly and then looked away again, a flick of his eyes that looked, just for a
second, like fear. I shivered. Fear of us was worse than anger at us.

I didn’t see Alicia anywhere.

May and Klia stood by Sky’s booth, chattering and laughing. When they saw me, May glanced at me, and looked like she was about to say hello, but Klia pulled her away before I got to Sky’s table.

Sky smiled broadly as I walked up, showing even, white teeth. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a pretty near-elm barrette carved in the long, thin shape of a summer-fish. “I thought this one might look good in your hair.” She handed me a brush and held up a mirror. She glanced around, then lowered her voice. “Alicia ran through here about an hour ago, looking like she’d been crying. Did you find her?”

I nodded. “She told us Ruth thinks she killed Varay. But she couldn’t have.”

Sky watched me for a minute, as if appraising whether or not I was trustworthy. Then she smiled and angled the mirror just right. “Of course Alicia didn’t kill Varay. The barrette looks good on you.”

I clasped it in my hair and cocked my head. The light wood showed well against my dark hair. “All I have is clothes to trade.”

“Let me see.”

Sky pursed her lips and tugged at her long braids, watching carefully as I pulled out my old clothes. They’d be adequate trade for the barrette. More than adequate. As Sky held each shirt and extra-long pair of pants up to examine them, I thought about Alicia’s ragged clothes. “Sky? Will you take all of these, and set aside an outfit for Alicia? You can keep the rest. I have one more favor to ask, too.”

She rubbed her chin contemplatively, eyeing the pile of clothes. It was worth ten barrettes. But she was a roamer, a trader. She’d take it. Sure enough, she nodded, then she turned and picked out two small blue hair clips and handed them to me. “It’s too much. Take these, too.” She smiled broadly. “The blue will set off the gold flecks in your eyes.”

She set her mirror down on the table and tucked my old clothes into a basket on the ground. “Alicia will appreciate the clothes.”
Her smile faded into a puzzled frown. “But what is the favor? I have not yet agreed to grant it, you know.”

I leaned forward and lowered my voice. “We’re going to meet Akashi and Paloma tonight, just after we get our food. Will you meet with us, too? Tell them what’s going on?”

“Ruth won’t like it.”

“But you’ll come? Just for a few minutes—just tell them what you told me. I want them to hear it from you.”

She hesitated. I couldn’t blame her. She lived in Ruth’s band. She swallowed hard before nodding. “I won’t stay long. Just long enough to tell my story.”

“Thanks. We’ll find a place on the grass, a little away from people. Hiding in the open.” I tucked the blue barrettes into my pocket. “We won’t keep you long.”

Her wide-set brown eyes were wary, as if she still didn’t trust me completely. “I will be there. What Ruth is doing to Alicia is wrong. I saw how Alicia looked at Varay. She didn’t kill him; she couldn’t have. I saw her pain when she brought his body back, sat with her on two long nights afterward.”

“Thank you.” I zipped my nearly empty pack and threw it over my shoulder, walking as quickly as I could to more friendly territory in the West Band circle of wagons.

The culture guild always started preparing the Trading Day feast just after dawn. Long tables had been dragged from the guild halls to the park and were now being filled with steaming djuri and goat, rows of hot fresh corn, and bowls overflowing with mixed vegetables and fresh-baked bread. The crowd felt festive, happy, sated with conversation and trading. In a way, the feast celebrated the work we’d done, all of Artistos, to harvest in spite of the quake and storm, in spite of our losses and our aching hearts.

I walked aimlessly through the slowly growing crowd. The dread in the pit of my stomach every time I thought about Alicia, or Ruth, made me uncomfortable, out of step with almost everyone I passed. I declined an offered beer, taking water instead.

The culture guild served the feast when the sun still had a full
hour before it would even kiss the treetops. A slight breeze hung thick with food smells and sweat and conversation. Families and groups of teenagers gathered in knots, eating together on bright blankets spread under the twintrees.

Joseph and Bryan came up to me, and Joseph handed me my flute. I held it briefly to my chest, embracing it, feeling the smoothness of its surface under my fingers before tucking it into my bag.

As Joseph and Bryan and I filled our plates, I watched for Alicia. Surely they would let her come to the feast.

No sign.

She’d promised to meet us down by the river at dusk. Hopefully, she could keep her word.

Bryan pointed to a spot outside of the biggest crowds, on a low hill where we could talk without being overheard. Kayleen and Liam joined us a few minutes later, Liam carrying his plate and hers, while Kayleen balanced a stack of old blankets, which she spread out in a patchwork of red, green, and blue.

Akashi and Paloma walked slowly up the hill, Akashi taller by a head, leaning down to hear something Paloma said. Akashi was dressed more simply than yesterday, in a gold-and-white belted top over black pants. Paloma wore a simple off-white shift. As they sat down, I looked for Sky or Alicia, but didn’t see either of them.

Akashi drew his brows together and drummed his fingers, as if unsure where to start. “Paloma told me how Joseph and Kayleen were treated today.”

Liam cleared his throat. “The East Band was rude to Chelo and me, too. Or at least most of them. But the real problem is Alicia’s trouble.”

I stood up, watching for Sky in the crowd.

Akashi looked at each of us in turn, as if trying to read a truth in our faces. “And you are convinced she did not kill Varay?”

Bryan nodded. “Of course she didn’t.”

Akashi kept his voice low and gentle, and I remembered that he led a band, and must therefore act as judge from time to time. “She has been treated poorly. That might give her reason to be an
gry, and thus to hurt.” He glanced at Liam. “Is she as strong as you are?”

Liam shrugged. “Probably. We are all about the same, except Bryan, who is stronger. I doesn’t matter whether or not she could have done it, she didn’t do it. I’m sure.”

Akashi nodded. “Very well. You are a good judge of character.”

I spotted Sky by her dark braid and the dark freckles that stood against her light skin, and waved my hand briefly over my head. She started toward us. “Akashi, Paloma, Sky is coming.”

“I know Sky.” Akashi smiled briefly, looking up at me, his face serious. “The young carver. I trust her. She is bright and brave.”

I smiled briefly at Akashi’s way of making everything seem to be part of a story. As Sky neared us, she glanced nervously behind her, as if looking for shadows. She folded down into our circle gracefully, sitting with her legs crossed, her plate on her lap. She moved her braids behind her shoulder with a flick of her head, keeping the unruly tips of hair away from her food. We’d all seen each other every Trading Day. But here, she sat with every
altered
on Fremont except her friend Alicia. It seemed to make her feel more nervous than she had been with just me and Liam, or just me, at her booth. I smiled at her, trying to help her feel comfortable. “Thank you, Sky. We won’t keep you long. Can you tell us what you know about Alicia’s situation?”

She cleared her throat and took a drink of her beer. “First, let me tell you about Alicia. She is lost there, she is Ruth’s bad dog. She is perhaps unaware of it, but since Varay’s death…” She looked up. “You know about that, and about the accusations?”

“Yes,” Kayleen said.

“Since the accusations, the band split. There are some, like me, maybe one in ten, who believe in her, who consider her a friend. And maybe half believe Ruth when she says that all of you are trouble, and you will bring death to us.”

She paused, perhaps to let us absorb her words.

“The rest are not sure. Alicia is scared. She avoids most band members, which doesn’t help her. Very few of us know Alicia well. Since Varay’s death, she’s been withdrawn. She cries a lot, and
sometimes she talks to herself. She’s grieving, and she has no one to really help her except me and a few other people our age. But she is not guilty.” She paused again, and took another sip of beer. Her plate sat untouched in front of her. “Varay and Alicia were sweet on each other, although I don’t know if they did anything about that or not. They were old enough, but Alicia told me Ruth forbid her to touch him.”

I filed that thought away for the future. We had talked about it, of course, but we did not know if our
alterations
would breed true. There would be—implications—of us breeding, depending on what such unions produced. The thousand colonists came here to have a place to stay genetically unchanged, and their descendants mistrusted us because we were changed. The war was, at its core, about that very same thing.