In Ink and Wine

Chapter 12 - Welcome

Keridel readily agreed with Clarille's desire to help Brylow. While he couldn't travel to Riode himself, he gave the other barge's skipper instructions to investigate the situation. The other skipper was a middle-aged Teltan who would, as much as Clarille hated to admit it, attract far less attention than Keridel would.

She quickly wrote a letter for him to deliver, addressing it once again to Jeksen. As the barge headed off, Clarille leaned against Keridel's side and he draped an arm over her shoulders.

"Thank you," she said.

"Lady Brylow deserves better than being married off to an old business associate," Keridel said. "If I can help it, I won't let her association with me ruin her life. I'm sorry we need to be so cautious."

"Caution is a good thing," Clarille said. "Besides, maybe Brylow will find a way to save herself in the meantime." That depended on Brylow's reaction to Clarille's letter. Either way, she knew it would be quite a wait before she heard anything, one way or the other. She stood up and laced her fingers with Keridel's. "Shall we take a look at the new records?"

Keridel laughed. "I think you enjoy the record keeping more than I do. Yes, let's look them over before dinner."

***

A few weeks later, the arrival of proper spring meant they could start travelling again. News from Keridel's other barges made them wary of the Adymuss River, so they decided to do some trading around Kitsi Lake for a few months, to see if anything changed along the river.

As well as the large city of Kitsi, which had given the lake its name, many smaller fishing villages dotted the shoreline. They travelled to and fro from the city to the villages, trading various goods. Their barge was one of the largest boats on the lake, and it was easily recognized. Whenever they neared a village, they could see villages gathering around the docks eagerly awaiting their delivery. At first Hessa and Clarille kept out of the way as the men moved cargo around, but it didn't take long for Clarille to become interested in Keridel's role—setting prices and exchanging siyas. She hovered nearby, learning what she could from listening to the conversations Keridel had with everyone from fishermen, farmers and artisans to village priests and even children. Then, when she felt she had a good understanding of how pricing work, she chimed in from time to time.

About a month had passed before Clarille became confident enough to start brokering deals herself. Business sped up quite a bit after that, as Clarille spoke to anyone interested in buying their goods, and Keridel handled everyone looking to sell goods to them.

One evening, while docked in the city of Kitsi, Keridel gave his men the night off. Most of them went off together to look for a tavern. Hessa, after some prompting from Clarille, went off with Jorji. Leaving Clarille and Keridel alone on the barge. She found him looking over his latest records in his office-turned-bedroom.

He looked up, startled at her appearance at the door. "I thought you were going with Miss Hessa?"

Clarille shrugged. "I convinced her that nobody would think it horribly inappropriate if she spent the evening with Jorji."

His eyes darted up before he smiled. "And will anybody find it horribly inappropriate that you spend the evening with me?"

"No," Clarille said. "Well, probably. But I've been doing a lot of inappropriate things lately. Are you working on the cargo lists?" She strolled over and skimmed her eyes over the list in front of him. "I've noticed something." She accepted the chair Keridel had just vacated and offered her. "In these villages, you buy goods at what I imagine is a more standard price. But you sell them much cheaper. Why is that?"