Page 27 of Minor Works of Meda

“Next barge,” he agreed, his voice still a little high. “And you won’t tell anyone about this?”

“I somehow don’t think we know the same people,” I said. He gave me a pleading look. I sighed and lifted my hand. “I promise not to tell anyone that you squeaked and ran away when a shirtless male consort said hello to you.”

“He was very shirtless,” Oraik said quietly.

“Extremely shirtless,” I agreed.

We crossed the gangplank to the next barge. There, we found a group of men playing cards, stacks of argit on the table. On the other side of the cabin was what looked to be a pub. A man in dark clothes served bottles of wine and spirits to customers at a handful of small round tables.

“Drink?” Oraik asked me hopefully.

“Please,” I agreed.

He bought us both little cups of cactus liqueur, which was too syrupy and a touch sweet. Unbidden, the horrible thought came to my mind: would Eudoria be disappointed by me right now, or would she just be relieved I was finally doing something other than obsess over magic?

I finished the drink in one long gulp, wincing. Oraik immediately bought me another. I finished it just as fast.

Don’t think of it. Think of anything but it. Think of anything but home.

“Excuse me,” he said, spinning around in his chair and leaning towards the table next to us. Three women in their forties drank there. They were all well-dressed, with clothes nearly as nice as Oraik’s and jeweled ears. He pointed at the one with dark-rimmed eyes. “What is that? On your eyes?”

“It’s called kohl, darling,” she said, leaning across the table towards him.

“Could you put some on me? Please? I’ll buy you all drinks.”

“Oh, sure.” She laughed and hauled her small bag out from under the table. The woman patted the chair next to her. Oraik looked back at me.

“Do you also want…?” he asked.

“No.” It was bad enough I was here and not hating it. I didn’t have to participate, too.

I tried to make my drink last as she slowly drew thick black lines around his dark eyes. I could hear them happily chatting, Oraik and the whole table. I finally stood up to join them, but as I did Oraik was getting up to leave. He turned and grinned at me.

“Let me just get them a round, and we can see what’s on the next boat.”

The next barge over Oraik bet on fighting scorpions while I drank wine. We could hear the faint sounds of music, and sure enough the next boat after that had dancing and a lemon liqueur so sour it made my mouth pucker. I was feeling unstable on my feet, and glad to leave the noise, by the time we went to the next one, which was again a brothel. Oraik must have been tipsy, too, because he planted a kiss on an androgynous consort’s cheek, flipped them a coin, and sprinted off to the next barge with a laugh. He didn’t even check to see if I was behind him.

I was drunk by the time we made it to the end of the ships and startled to see dark water instead of another lantern-lit barge. By then we’d played a round of cards, gotten into a debate with a pseudo-philosopher who had strong opinions about capital-e Existence, danced again, and cuddled on a divan as I told Oraik about a man named Kalcedon who was just absolutely beautiful. I didn't mention the bit about him being a heartless half-faerie. Oraik nodded sagely and told me to bring him along next time.

My tongue felt thick and unruly. Oraik threw up over the side of one of the barges, then announced he was feeling ‘much better’ and drank half a cup more wine. He also tried the pipe-smoke, but I pulled him away from the dreamfish and told him repeatedly “you have to walk me back, no, you can’t, you’re walking me back,” until he took my face in both his hands and promised me that yes, he was going to do just that, and would I please calm down, because I was far too small to be making such a fuss.

Never mind I was not small in the slightest. I supposed that to tall, broad, plump Oraik, everyone else was a little small.

Now that we’d reached the end, we turned around and backtracked three barges to find the divan again. We had to open the door to each cabin to check where we were because we’d lost track. After we found it, Oraik bought two cups of juice with his never-ending purse. He was wearing all his rings again, though I couldn’t remember when he’d put them on.

A man came around and announced to everyone that the midnight boats would be leaving soon. I patted Oraik’s shoulder and told him it was time to go.

“Not yet,” he said, and curled up on the divan with his head against the wall.

“He said, that man said, it was midnight or morning. Remember?” My voice slurred.

He waved a hand.

“No, I can pay someone.”

“But he said.”

“Calm down.” He patted my head. “I’ll just pay for someone. I don’t want this to end. I don’t want to go back to it.”

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