The Silver Ship and the Sea (9 page)

Sky continued. “Since Ruth hasn’t accused her formally, I don’t think she will. She can’t judge Alicia as band leader, not when she also serves as accuser. Ruth won’t want anyone else to get involved.” Sky folded her hands over her torso. It made her look small. “I watch out for Alicia as closely as I can. I won’t be surprised if one day I wake up and she’s simply not there, or if I wake up and there’s been an accident.”

Akashi frowned, but once more his voice was gentle. “Do you know what you are saying?”

Sky nodded, looking miserable.

Paloma broke in, “But do you have any proof that Alicia didn’t kill Varay? That she couldn’t have?”

Sky sighed. “Alicia loved him. I know that. But they were together when he died, with no witnesses. Besides, if she killed him, why would she carry his body back, crying the whole way? Why? When no one knew they were together? She could have just walked away.”

Akashi smiled at her, and put a hand on her shoulder. “Do you know anything else that might help us?”

She shook her head. “Just that Alicia is a good person, and my friend.”

Akashi smiled. “She is very lucky to know you. Thank you, and
feel free to come visit anytime.” He leaned closer to her. “If you get any information, you can tell any of us.”

“Okay.” Sky stood, and took her plate, still full, down the hill away from us. I watched her walk, alone, until she was out of my direct line of sight. Alicia was lucky to have such a friend. Sky must be an adult to have her own trading table, but this was probably her first year.

We had no friends near our age except each other. Sky made me think we should have tried to make some.

“So what do you think?” I asked, looking from Paloma to Akashi. “Town Council won’t listen to us. Ruth won’t.”

Paloma turned her hands over and over in her lap, letting a long silence fall before she answered. “Well, we don’t
know
if Sky’s fears are justified, but I believe her. She is there, after all. What if I do nothing, and Alicia doesn’t come back next spring? We need to bring these accusations into the open.” She glanced at Akashi. “And I don’t think Akashi should do it, since he and Ruth have to work together on so many levels to make the two bands work.”

Akashi showed no reaction, but Liam nodded. “That’s right.”

“Will Town Council investigate a direct complaint from the girl?” Akashi asked.

Paloma frowned. “I think so.”

Akashi put a hand up, as if it were Story Night and he was asking us to be quiet. “Investigating Ruth? Making her angry may not be a good tactic. An investigation will put Alicia at risk, too. If the story I have heard is right, Alicia has no alibi. If she did not do it, then Ruth has no proof. That makes a standoff, and I do not know who would win a standoff.”

I broke in. “But if there’s no investigation, and they take Alicia away with them, I’ll be worried all winter that she’ll be killed. We
have
to force it. This isn’t just about Alicia, it’s about all of us. We want the Council to talk to us, too.”

Akashi steepled his hands, his dark eyes looking out over the heads of the feasting crowd. “She could die either way. I have only seen one investigation where the penalty was death, and that was years ago, for aiding the enemy during the war. I do not think this
colony would kill a child, and Alicia is still legally a child. Yet she is the child of the enemy, and many of us are frightened of you all.”

I shivered. People died on Fremont. In all of my life, all that I remembered, it was from accidents like the earthquake, or paw-cats, or the bite of a yellow-snake. It hadn’t occurred to me to worry that the people we worked with and ate with could kill us. Might kill us.

Paloma cleared her throat. “Someone needs to talk to Alicia. We can’t decide any of this for her.”

Akashi nodded. “Of course. An inquiry could harm her more than mere rumors. In fact, it’s perhaps best if Alicia herself lodges the complaint. Then she can call who she wants for witnesses.”

I liked that idea, and thought Alicia might like it, too. “We’ll talk to Alicia when we see her later on.” Then I had another thought. “But Nava will be one of the judges, and she doesn’t like us.”

Paloma glanced at me. “Nava will choose to be fair. Don’t underestimate her.”

“Well,” Akashi said, “I think that’s up to you to find out, Chelo. Liam said Alicia promised to meet you down by the river soon. Why not ask Alicia how she wants to handle this, and then go by your house and talk to Tom and Nava if Alicia wants to act?”

The stakes made me dizzy. “All right.” I glanced at Joseph. “Will you help? I might want to have a witness for this conversation.”

All the color had faded from Joseph’s face. “Of course.”

Akashi stood. “Now, I’m sorry, but I have to go. I have some business to attend to.” He started walking down the hill. Unlike Sky, he didn’t remain alone. By the time he got partway down the hill, a half-dozen people had converged on him.

Paloma said, “I always thought you would face new challenges as you got older, and smarter.” She paused. “And stronger.”

The implications weren’t lost on me, and I knew Paloma was thinking much the same. If Alicia was found guilty with no actual proof, then we all faced the same risks. If we got involved, and Alicia won, we would have the permanent enmity of the leader of the East Band. That was the best of the two outcomes. I didn’t like either.

Bryan stood and held his hand out for my plate. “It’s almost time to meet Alicia.” We worked together, gathering up plates and blankets, then stood in an awkward circle.

Paloma swept her steady gaze across us all, her eyes fastening on us one by one, holding us, saving me for last. She sounded pleased and somewhat shaky as she said, “I’m glad you asked for advice. I hope we can help.” Noticing that imperturbable Paloma was shaken by this did nothing for the roiling worries dancing in my gut and head.

I led the five of us back toward the river, slowly, trying to seem like we were on a casual errand.

We got to the riverbank before Alicia was supposed to show. Bryan picked up a large, flat rock and skipped it nearly to the other side of the river. We had stopped throwing stones in view of anyone except ourselves years ago, after we saw the looks on the adults’ faces when we outskipped them. We saw no one, so we threw, our stones making whirring noises as they spun in the air, skipping hard and fast over the surface of the water, sometimes going so far we actually didn’t see them finally sink under the water. Instead of competing, we just threw, and threw again, grunting with the slight effort of every toss, watching the stones and the river rings without conversation. Even Kayleen was quiet.

The sky slowly darkened.

Eventually, we could only see the first two or three skips of each stone. “What if she can’t come?” Joseph asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I didn’t see her at the feast, not at all. We’ll need to go home, eventually. Although I don’t know what to say to Tom and Nava if I don’t talk to Alicia first.”

Bryan still held a stone in his right hand. He flung it hard, and we listened to seven tiny splashes. “I’ll stay. No one will really notice if I’m home.”

“I’ll sit with you,” Liam told him.

I pulled them both to me, smelling the tangy sharpness of Bryan’s anger on his bare slippery bicep, and the wood shavings embedded in Liam’s shirt. Liam’s braid tickled my nose. “You two are fantastic. Tell us if you find her,” I whispered.

Kayleen and Joseph and I walked reluctantly home. It worried me that Alicia hadn’t been at the feast or made it to the river to see us. But surely no one would hurt her in Artistos. I couldn’t help but feel like all the hatred we had been slowly pushing underground by doing well, by helping, had somehow been watered and fed this year, and that it was sprouting up for us, and everyone on Fremont, to look at. But how could hatred grow anything but thorns?

When Joseph and I got home, I wrapped the flute inside a soft cloth that Therese had made me, and set it on the windowsill where Steven’s and Therese’s urns had once rested. It fit perfectly.

I found Tom seated in the common room, making notes. No sign of Nava, so she was probably still at the feast. I wanted to wait until Bryan could tell me whether Alicia came to the river, but the two-day deadline until the roamers left loomed. I took a deep breath and pulled Joseph after me into the common room. “Tom, can we talk to you?”

He nodded and set his slate down. “Sure. What do you need?”

I sat down on the chair closest to Tom, and Joseph sat across the room from us, in near shadow, ready to witness. He’d let me do most of the talking. “If I ask you some questions, can you promise not to talk to Nava unless we say it’s okay?”

Tom cleared his throat and took a moment to answer. “I’m willing to agree to tell you before I talk to Nava, but not to ask you.”

It was a fair enough answer. “All right.” My hands twisted together like live things in my lap, and I forced them quiet. Destiny’s light came in the window above Joseph, so Tom’s face was lit by two sources: the moon and the lamp on the wooden table between us. “First, this isn’t about us, but what if one of us, of the
altered
, was accused of a crime? Would the same laws apply to us that apply to everyone else?”

Tom leaned forward in his chair, new intensity in his eyes, which he fastened directly on me as he spoke slowly. “What crime?”

“I’m not ready to talk about it yet.”

He leaned back, chewing on his lip, taking a moment to answer. “I can see this will be a serious conversation. I’m going to get a glass of water. Chelo? Joseph?”

Joseph stood up. “I’ll get them.”

“Thank you.”

While we waited for Joseph, I watched Tom carefully, wondering how he would treat this conversation. He looked out the window, tapping his foot silently in the air, chewing his lower lip. He would be involved in the investigation, if there was one, alongside Nava and the rest of the Town Council.

Joseph returned with three glasses balanced carefully, handed us each one, and then sat back down.

Tom took a long drink of water. “I think the same laws would apply to you or me or anyone. The agreements that formed our colony talk about how citizens are treated. I don’t know what got written down about your adoption by the community.” He paused, brows drawn together, lips tight. “I doubt it says citizen.”

“I know,” I said. “Therese told me once. It said ‘prisoner of war.’”

Tom frowned.

Joseph spoke up from his perch across the room. “But we
are
citizens. We live here, we work here, we do things to help the colony. We even go to school.”

“I agree. But there are five Council, seven including me and Nava.”

I pictured Jenna, her seamed face folded around her missing eye. She was certainly not considered a citizen. A problem, a helper, a mystery, but not a member of the community.

Tom continued. “We expect you to take your rightful roles here, and be part of the community. It follows that you should be judged by the community’s standards.” He frowned. “Can you tell me why you’re asking?”

I bit my lip. What could I say safely? “A roamer is accusing Alicia of something she didn’t do. Not formally, but she’s telling people, and it’s making trouble for Alicia.”

“The roamers usually do their own policing. Is there some reason they can’t take care of it?”

“I’m not sure they would be fair.” I swallowed and tamed my hands again. “Ruth seems to be involved.”

“Well, Alicia should start there anyway.”

I wasn’t telling him enough for him to understand, but what else could I say? I hadn’t talked to Alicia yet.

The front door banged open, and I heard Bryan’s voice, and Liam’s, out of breath as if they’d been running. “Chelo, Joseph?”

All three of us stood. Liam held the door open, and Bryan followed him in, carrying Alicia in his arms the way one would carry a small child. Her hair obscured her face. Fresh bruises purpled her arms. Anger and worry warred across Bryan’s face.

“Take her to my room,” I said. “What happened?” Had she been beaten?

We trailed after Bryan, surrounding the bed as he laid Alicia carefully on it. She wore only loose shorts and a hemp top that was too big for her and belted tight with a rope. Her feet were bare. Both arms, one cheek, and one of her knees were bruised and banged up. Pain clouded her violet eyes. She pushed herself up to a sitting position on the bed, her back against the wall, her arms wrapped around her knees.

“What happened?” Tom demanded.

Bryan cleared his throat. “She was supposed to meet us at the river. When she didn’t come, we decided to go look for her. We found her locked in her—her parents’,” he spit the word out, “her guardian’s wagon. She was banging herself up trying to get out, like a bird in a cage, and we were afraid she’d hurt herself. So we tied up the dog and gave her a little help getting out of the locked door.” He raised an eyebrow and grinned a little. “It doesn’t lock anymore. Bella and Michael must have known she talked to us.”

Tom sat down on the edge of the bed, near Alicia, not touching her. “Talked to you about what?”

Alicia raked a lock of hair out of her face, her voice shaking. “Ruth is telling people I killed Varay. But I didn’t. Bella locked me up, but I’m sure Ruth told her to. They told me to stay in the wagon today, earlier, before I saw you guys at the river, but I
sneaked out.” She looked over at us, “I had to tell someone what was going on.”

Tom’s eyes trailed over her, his frown deepening. “Who gave you the bruises?”

Alicia looked down at her arms, as if seeing them for the first time. “I guess…I guess some are from Bella pushing me into the wagon, but I gave myself the others, struggling to get out. I tried to break down the door, even though the dog was there. I just couldn’t quite do it.” She glanced over at Bryan and Liam, suddenly flashing a brief smile. “I was so glad to get out. Thank you.”

I frowned. It wouldn’t do for us to get caught breaking into locked wagons. “Did anyone see you two?”

Liam shrugged. “Probably, but I don’t know who. Bella and Michael weren’t home. We weren’t worried about being seen. We were angry.”