Page 28 of Minor Works of Meda

“But are you sure?” I thought the room around us was half as full as it had been before, earlier in the night. Oraik nodded.

“Meda? Can I tell you something?”

“Yes, anything.” I leaned up against his chest. He was big and warm and soft, and it felt nice. He hugged me to him.

“I think you’re my first friend. Is that sad?”

“Very sad,” I mumbled. “Mine too. Hello, listen. You should come to Nis-Illous. Alright? You can live with us. Me and Kalcedon. There’s plenty of room now. Tower’s empty.”

“We should see the world together,” he said. “Visit the Thianthi Riddle House, and the Masqued Corridor of Koraica, and swim with the glow fish outside Buis.” Then he giggled. “And then we can all get married.”

“No thank you,” I said.

And then I fell asleep.

I woke up disoriented, with my head at a strange angle, and Oraik snoring. I shook his shoulder.

“I’m going to find a boat,” I told him as he blinked awake. He nodded and lay back down. I pushed myself up, grabbed my bag off the floor, and stumbled outside to the barge’s narrow deck. My mouth tasted like sour grapes and my head throbbed. My neck stung when I tried to hold it straight.

It took me a minute to find a string of smaller boats tied to the barges. A man sat on the deck, his back resting against the cabin.

“Excuse me. I need to get back to the city. Are you the boatman?” I asked.

“Can’t leave until morning,” he said.

“I need to go now.”

“Can’t. The chain’s up.”

“Chain? What chain?”

“Harbor chain. They put it up at midnight. No getting past it, not unless you swim.”

“But I don’t want to spend the night here,” I said as my stomach flipped.

“S’the law. Chancellor didn’t want all the drunks coming back in the small hours.” He shrugged. “You could go ashore on the west hills if you wanted. You can walk from there. It’s an hour to the city limit, though.”

“One hour walk?” I groaned and leaned my head back against the cabin.

“Did you get a boat?” Oraik said behind me. I turned over my shoulder, ready to eviscerate him for making us stay on the barges. His eyes were bloodshot, the kohl smudged.

“There aren’t any boats,” I snapped. “Not until morning.”

“I have to get back,” Oraik said to me. “Just hire a boat. I’ll pay.”

“Do your ears work? There. Aren’t. Boats. The only place we can sail to is an hour walk from the city. There’s a harbor chain. We have to spend the night.”

With each word I said, Oraik looked more awake, and more terrified.

“No. No, no. I can’t stay. Just ask them to take the chain down,” Oraik said. “I can pay whatever it costs.”

The man behind me, the one I’d been talking to, laughed.

“It’s not coming down,” I hissed. “We stay here, or we walk.”

“I’m sorry,” Oraik said. “I have to get back.”

I couldn’t find anyone interested in taking us, but the man leaning against the cabin agreed to sell us his boat for far more than it should have cost. Two argor for a shoddy little tub called Wave Dancer that was one storm from falling apart.

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