The Disjointed Tales Of Renryre Island

11-1: The Might Of The Watch

Pektyne took his time dressing that morning, just as he always did. He wore his clothes with pride, carrying the uniform through Helen's Bay with his head held high. He was well respected in the city, albeit not quite loved. In fact, mostly loathed. Helen's Bay's reputation wasn't born from its law abiding citizens, but from its bounty of miscreant characters. Luckily, Tailfin kept them in order. Well, he had been keeping them in order, right up until his recent disappearance. Rumour had it the tailsharks had feasted.

Pektyne tightened the straps of his coat, the thick canvas held firmly around his waist. It was bright red, with a badge on the front pocket. A distinct lack of green bands on the shoulderpiece marked him as both the lowest rank in the city watch, as well as the highest. He was, in short, the city watch.

The constable walked out onto the street and gazed around as the local populace nodded their polite greetings. They may have loathed him, but they were ever civil in his presence. The city watch was, after all, the last line of defence between order and chaos.

It would be a difficult day for Pektyne. It was time for him to visit the upstarts that had claimed Tailfin's throne. Madrik was well known to the constable; as thick in the shoulder as in the head, rash, unpredictable, dangerous, and generally a bit of a bastard. Talyreina, he had never heard of. Some girl from the east, apparently, but not to be underestimated.

He marched purposefully down Sevryne Street, stopping in the popular bakery for a light breakfast.

"Good morning, Nelly. How are you today?"

"Pektyne! How lovely to see you."

The bakerwoman had been working there since he was a boy. She was a few years older than him, but he still remembered how she looked back then. He would never forget that night he'd made a fool of himself. He had collected seven flowers and arranged them to match a rainbow, and he had recited a poem, beautiful and loving. She hadn't laughed at him to be nasty, but she had laughed. She'd told him to come back when he was a little older. That was four decades back, and he had never built up enough courage to try again.

On the other hand, he had gained something quite valuable from his efforts that night. He alone had skipped a training session with the city watch in favour of declaring his love for Nelysse. The rest of them had taken a ferry across to the mainland for the night, never to return again. Even while the rumours spread around Helen's Bay that the entire city watch had been lost when the mainland had vanished, Pektyne had been hiding for three days in his room for fear of word getting around about him being a smitten fool.

When he had eventually emerged from his room, Helen's Bay had already plunged skull first into chaos. Almost every shop had been robbed clean, and looters had stood right in front of him with gaping expressions.

No; the city watch still existed, and it was up to Pektyne to restore order. Trouble was, there was never any budget to hire more hands.

"Are you well, Pektyne?"

"Eh..." he said, shaking his head. "Sorry?"

"You have been staring at me unmoving for some time."

"Yes. Sorry, I was just thinking back... about when the mainland vanished."

"Don't you mean the night before that?" she asked with a knowing smile, while he sheepishly ignored the question.

"I'd love something to eat. Whatever is freshest! But I need to take it with me, I have business to attend to today."

Nelysse handed him a warm bun sprinkled with a soft white cheese. It smelled amazing. The first bite confirmed that it was just that. Nelysse was often considered to be the best baker on Renryre Island. At least by those who had ever been to her store.