The Hents House

Chapter Five

It had been a full week since Presa had left us, and no Investors had visited since.

I hated to admit it, but we were losing hope that more would come back. Those five coins in the money box had grown, but each day a few girls would go to the market, and pick up small items at a time, the money carefully rationed out for each day.

Though I had seen many of the freighters from that night while in the market, they didnt acknowledge my presence, caught up only in the attention of the local daughters and women, and I couldn't blame them. These were girls who learned to be strong through life, we were only trained to be beautiful and useful in terms of motherhood. While that may work for rich men in the central systems, who wanted nothing more than a decoration of a wife, these men who worked hard needed hard workers.

I knew I didn't fulfill that role, not in the way they needed. I couldn't even be the full reality of a mother either, not with the way I felt presently. But I could help my home now, my sisters, and take care of us in the few ways I knew how.

While the others had been busy teaching th youngers, or preparing meals out of the dwindling ration packs in the kitchen, I had dressed in my practical, loose pants once more and and stole out of the house, the thick soles of my boots picking up mud along their edges as I tried to navigate the still-wet streets.

With no sun or heat to dry up the sudden rainstorm, the oversaturated ground was marred with puddles and standing water, the edges if it freezing as the cold night went on and on. I wrapped the edges of my shawl tighter around me as I ducked through the shadows, regretting my choice not to bring a candle or lantern with me. But someone would be suspicious if one of those went missing. My absence could simply be explained by having fallen asleep in some cranny within the house.

I slipped through an alleyway and stopped to soak in the scene. The dock market sprawled out before me, lit with lanterns and small glowing bulbs of electricity. The shine of light stretched up into the sky, matched by the stars still yawning out forever above us. Voices drifted out into the space between the market the edge of the city where I was standing, waiting, the chatter of shoppers and sellers and workers.

A smile lifted the corners of my lips, and my feet kicked into action, drawing me towards the market, with its bustle of people and stalls, lights and wares and the cluttered sounds wrapping around me. If I could just get through it, I could find my way to the freighter still docked in at the port.

A group had gathered with various musical instruments, the twang of strings following me as I followed the chaotic dance of ebb and flow, weaving through the dizzying rows and the gathered throng. The music faded behind me, and I burst through to the other side, leaving the noise and lights behind me as I pressed on towards the freighter, only known by the outline of blinking red lights that set it apart from the sky.

Taking a deep breath, I approached the open dock of it, where a small fire could be seen casting warm yellow light on shapes gathered round it. They noticed me quickly, and one mane stood up, drawing the rest's attention towards me as well.

I froze, the weight of their stares crushing against my lungs. "H-hello." I gave a tiny, fluttery wave. "Could I speak with you gentlemen?"

One of the men laughed, leaning back in his chair. "Two in one night! I'm thinking Phipps may have been right about these gals."

My face crumpled into confusion. "What?"

These were some of the same men from that night a week ago, but this feeling was not the same. These men were scraping their gazes over me, their eyes hungry. This was not the mood of joviality or light from that night. This was something of desperation, of desire.