Skytrails

2-A Bit Of Rivering

Krii roused himself awake in the morning to see Sharn off. He walked to the front porch of his one room cave hut. "A good day for traveling," he said, simultaneously yawning, stretching, and urinating off the porch.

Sharn sat on a stool on the other side of the porch, tying his moccasins tight around his ankles. "Aye," he said. "Brother Sky smiles on us today. Furrow cloud as far as the eye can see. A good day for you to be out of your cave, too."

"Then it seems Brother Sky is only smiling on you today. I'd rather be sleeping."

Krii's natural rhythms were nocturnal. He would go out in the morning before sunrise to fish or hunt, then sleep through the harsh daytime sunlight, then awaken before sunset for more hunting or fishing. He had been like that with Sharn's people, too. The Lin'n Dralii in Krii kept him out of the sun as much as possible, though on certain days he could be found up and about, skin covered, face hooded, eyes groggy and steps sluggish and clumsy.

"If you want me to be out of my cave," Krii said, "You are going to buy me some sabba. The sooner, the better."

Sharn smiled. "Of course."

Krii's home sat a little above Mn'vaarin, halfway up a hill. He had a fantastic view of the town and the river and a glimpse of the vast plains beyond. Here, where town, river, plains, and foothills came together, Krii found a perfect crossroads of all his mixed heritage and upbringing.

Krii's father had been Do'tang. Sharn still did not know how the coupling had happened. Krii never brought it up, so neither did he. But Sharn knew Krii's Do'tang ancestry had brought him to Mn'vaarin as much as his love of crowds and boats and hills.

The Do'tang were sea people. Their language had more words for the sea than Kualii Edain had words for rain. In the early days, they had mostly settled along the coast of Kaalbriia, but some had ventured further inland and settled here, where the river ran widest. Other Do'tang had continued east and found lakes in the mountains, where they settled and multiplied with vigor.

Mn'vaarin had become a perfect middle place between the mountain and coastal Do'tang. Supplies were ferried down the river and carried up the wide, gently sloping trail beside it. Soon after being settled, the Kualii Edain began trading with the residents of Mn'vaarin. Then, the Co'te down south came up to trade. Then, the Minkaera and Surotna and other children of the west began using Mn'vaarin as a stopover and trading station.

Of course, settling a town on the banks of a river like the Vari'noo had proved dangerous. Kualii Edain would never have settled so close, but these Do'tang knew no better. Mn'vaarin had already been flooded times past counting, but the Do'tang just went to their boats and floated until the river receded. Some of them had given up entirely and now lived on their boats year round.

The two men walked down the winding path to the town, across town to the waterfront, and along the waterfront to Sa Sanana's.

"Sharn!" said Sa when they walked through the door, "So glad to see you again. Krii. Wish I could say the same about you." He laughed a great big boisterous laugh at his own joke.

"Laugh it up, Sa," said Krii. "Laugh it right up."

"You know I can't help myself," Sa said. "Excuse me, gentlefolk, I need to take these to some hungry customers." He had a plate in each hand, piled high with fish steaks, river greens, corn cobs, and flatbread.

Sa Sanana was tall and broad shouldered like most of the Do'tang, balding, with a ponytail and a big, drooping mustache. Though his hair was almost white, his skin was dark, like a native Kaalbriian's. Krii had told Sharn once that Sa's Do'tang father had bought his Co'te mother from her starving, fatherless, exiled family for the price of a few fish.

Sa Sanana returned. "What can we make for you two this morning?"

"Just sabba this morning," said Krii. "Sharn is in a hurry to get back to his wife and son." Sharn nodded agreement.

"Nonsense! I won't allow it. And you know better than to try it. Sit down. I'll bring you the house special. The reason it's special is because no one else will eat it!" He laughed all the way to the kitchen.

Sa brought them two big bowls of river stew, hot and delicious despite his warning, and day old flatbread. When they had convinced him they could eat no more, then, and only then, did he bring them two cups of steaming sabba. They sipped it slow, watching the morning activity on the docks.

"Now that I'm wide awake and warm and full of food, I think I'd like to do a bit of rivering this morning. What do you say? Shall we take the boat downriver a ways before you take to journeying by foot?"

"I wouldn't mind that at all," said Sharn, "As long as you can guarantee I will not end up in the river this time."

"Pfff, that was a surge of the river, as I've told you before. Beyond my control. And it was not last time. Two times ago."

"Surge! Must have been some surge, to overturn a canoe."

"Huge," Krii nodded.

When it came time to pay, Krii told Sa to put it on his tab. Sharn protested. Sa said Krii's tab was so long now, it needed its own room upstairs. Sharn said he would at least pay for the drinks. Sa said the drinks were the only thing they needed to pay for. Before Krii could stop him, Sharn slipped Sa four coins. Sa said, "Good day, gentlefolk!" and they left the tavern and walked along the docks.

Krii kept his dugout canoe on the shore, tied to a post at the west end of one set of docks. He knew everyone in that section—the boat builder, the net mender, the boys who sold bait, and a few people who fished from the docks using poles and string—so Krii did not worry about his boat going missing.

They flipped it right side up and Krii got in the front while Sharn pushed off, wet shoes being the price for getting ferried downriver. Krii kept two paddles in the boat, a few fishing spears, and a couple grass woven baskets. They made quick progress paddling with the gentle current of the river.

After spotting a few big upstream swimmers, Krii had the urge to fish. They brought in the paddles and Krii grabbed one of the spears, pulled it up, realized he had broken it last time he was out, then put it down and grabbed another. He stood up at the front of the canoe, readied the spear to strike, and waited.

In the past, Sharn and Krii had both fished from this very canoe at the same time, one standing at the front and one at the back. More than once, though, both of them had struck at the same time or near enough to throw one of them off balance and send them both into the icy cold Vari'noo. They were older and wiser and less eager now, so they took it in turns to fish while the other kept the boat steady by doing as little as possible.

A splash and a slight roll of the canoe and Krii had a big dancer flopping on the spear. He brought it over the side and into the canoe. He pushed it off with his foot into a basket, closed the basket, and readied himself for another strike.

Krii caught two more good sized fish in quick succession, then nothing for a while. Eventually he put the spear down and they picked up the paddles again.

There was a place on the river called Raftbreak by the Do'tang and Craw'noo, Tight Water, by the Kualii Edain, where it narrowed and the current picked up. They usually stopped and parted ways just before that place when they took the river. From there it would take Krii a good half day to get back to Mn'vaarin fighting the current. Sharn would have cut about a quarter day's journey off his trip back home.

They paddled to the shore, got out, and drug the canoe up. Sharn retrieved his bag from the boat and the two of them embraced.

Sharn reached down and took a smooth black stone from the river bank. "Until the brekka flies over the kelts'n," he said, dropping the stone in his bag.

"Until we meet again," said Krii.