BF Entry - Week 1
Title: Pending
Verse: Wind Spirits (though not a part of that same story)
Group: Brigit's Flame - August
Prompt: Coast
Characters: Edwin, Elkros, Yfin
Genre: high fantasy
Word Count: 2200 w. approx.
Summary: Accompanying Lady Yfin on her ambassadorial mission to Kotin, Edwin Malkurn gets his first look at the legendary trade city of the Ama, as well as its people.
Nestled amongst the emerald jungles of southern Kathos, the city of Kotin stood a gleaming, jagged scar up the cliff-lined coast. Edwin Malkurn leaned against the prow of the Sun Pearl, the pride and joy of his father's merchant fleet, as he gaped in open wonder at the sight before him.
The natural harbour stretched out two thin, rocky arms in a wide circle into the deep waters off the coastline, with only the briefest of gaps to allow the passage of ships. Each side of this gap had a guard tower erected at it's endpoint, but behind that the arms remained bare. Their jagged edges were defense enough, he guessed with a wary eye at the brilliant, wet edges of slate and shale.
From their place outside the circle, he could see the rock docks which had been carved out of the back half of the circle. There was a ship at each one, and the people swarmed like ants over the the boardwalk. Other ships waited alongside the Sun Pearl, outside the harbours protections. Every so often, a ship on the inside would leave, and the next in line would be signaled in by the left-handed guard station.
"Rather cramped, isn't it?" Captain Elkros ask with a grating chuckle. Edwin returned the slight laugh and nodded as he glanced at the man. Elkros had long since sun-crisped to a golden brown, lines of sun damage bored into his skin as surely as his years had been. But every scar that marred him was sign of a battle won, another shipment successfully delivered across leagues of adversity. The man was as much a warrior as he was a merchant, something that his crew respected him for.
Looking down at the fresh, pink scar across the back of his left hand, Edwin understood why. It was a minor scrape compared the myriad of things which could have happened during their ocean-wide excursion, but still a twinge of regret twisted in his stomach. Pristine hands, save sword or bow calluses, were a sign of the gentry--even if he was not, he'd enjoyed being sometimes mistaken for a lesser noble. That was gone, now, unless he planned to wear gloves at every social event here out.
He flexed his fingers, feeling the slight tug of stiffness that had welled up soon after the pirates had been disposed of.
Elkros must have caught him gesture, for when Edwin looked up the captain turned abruptly to the sea. "Ah," he muttered as his eyes narrowed, "Here they come."
Edwin frowned and looked up to see a skiff, powered by eight dark-skinned rowers, skimming across the water toward them. It must be from the guard tower, he realized as the crew of the Sun Pearl gathered on the deck. Beside Edwin, the first mate--a weedy man of more of sinew and bone than anything else, who was affectionately referred to as "Baiter" for his propensity to pick a fight with someone at every port--spat over the side of the ship. "Lazy bastards always take their sweet time."
"Stuff that," Elkros snapped in a low growl.
"They ain't gonna hear," Baiter spread his hands, grinning a gap-toothed gash across his reedy face. "An' who cares if they do? Ain't gonna turn us away; not with this cargo."
Elkros slapped a heavy hand across the back of Baiter's head, and shoved him toward the stairs. "Get you lot to work," he ordered, "And none of that while they're on board."
Baiter flapped a hand over his shoulder as he trotted down to the main deck and began to bark out orders to the crew. Elkros carded a hand through his hair, giving a shake of his scraggle-bearded head. "If he weren't my son..." he trailed off as he noticed Edwin still standing there, and cleared his throat.
Edwin leaned slightly over the rail to see the skiff as it pulled up along side their craft. Of the eight in the boat, seven were men. Dark as burnt wood, their naked backs gleamed with sweat in the afternoon sunlight, highlighting muscles born of long years of labour. They stowed thier oars with regiment ease as the crew of the Sun Pearl lowered a rope ladder.
"Can they really understand any spoken language, like Harid said?" He whispered to the captain.
As he spoke, the skiff's final crew member looked up at him. The sun's reflection on her skin blocked her features from his view, but he knew beyond any doubt that she'd heard him. Elkros grunted confirmation of the twist in Edwin's gut, and they watched together as all eight swarmed, one by one, up the ladder and onto the ship.
Edwin followed the Captain down to the main deck as the men, guards he thought, arranged themselves around the single woman in their midst. There weren't any visible weapons on them, but from their size alone he thought that they might not have need of them. Each towered a good head over most of the sailors on board, and they were built like blacksmiths. Beside them, the woman seemed a child's toy.
The top of her head barely cleared the men's shoulders, but she carried herself with a straight back and uplifted chin. Her dark, crimped hair had been pulled into a fluffy knot at the back of her head and, like all the men, she had dark circles of what looked like soot lining her cheekbones.
All eight were dressed in pale, unadorned cotton pants that ballooned about their legs and caught at the ankles by coloured bindings--the men in green, the woman in red--but only the woman had a wrap of cloth binding her chest into place. None of them bore shoes, but the red was echoed on cloth wraps the men wore around their heads, and upon a collar fastened about the woman's neck.
Edwin frowned lightly; the reading Harid had sent him about the Ama and their ways hadn't included any of this, but the precision of it felt like a uniform with some sort of ranking system. Obviously, there were things here that not even his half-brother understood. It would be interesting to inform him of that.
The woman stepped forward to meet with Elkros, extending a stiff hand to the captain in a poor imitation of the Hariklign custom. As they shook hands, Edwin eyed the black tattoo marring her left shoulder; a three lines curling into a spiral. It was the only such tattoo on her body, that he could see, and none of the men sported one.
"Welcome to Kotin," the woman said with a thick-voweled accent, dropping the captain's hand in favour of pulling a wax-coated tablet and stylus out of the bag she wore at her side, held in place by a strap around her chest and hooked over one shoulder. "This is the Sun Pearl, yes?"
"It is," Captain Elkros confirmed as she marked something into the wax. "We've got fifteen head on board, including crew and passengers."
"Have there been any changes to the crew?"
"A new cabin boy." A gesture brought the lad--a freckled youth of eight--running up from under the forward stairs. The guards didn't budge, but the woman gave him a glance over as she continued to scribble upon the tablet. When prompted, the boy gave his age and name, then went back into hiding.
"Which member has left?" The woman continued. Elkros grumbled out an answer and Edwin glanced at the rest of the ship's crew. They shifted with unease under the woman's scrutiny; he couldn't blame them, the whole process was rather invasive.
"That leaves you with three passengers, captain."
"The bitch can count," Baiter snickered across the deck. The woman's gaze jumped to him, her dark eyes narrowing by degrees. Edwin shifted from foot to foot as that look shifted over to him in another moment.
"Edwin Malkurn," Captain Elkros continued over his son's outburst. He gestured for Edwin to step closer and brought his grizzled hand down upon the boy's shoulder. "Son of Aldurn Malkrun, merchant."
The woman made a guttural noise and marked something down. "Age?"
"Eighteen," he replied with a frown.
"The others are--" Captain Elkros began when, with perfect timing, the cabin door burst open to reveal yet another glowering woman. Edwin managed not to groan as Lady Yfin marched herself across the deck toward them.
"So," she purred behind a shark's smile, "We're finally about to dock, are we?"
Her words were addressed not to the captain, but the woman with the stylus. Edwin watched as the dark-skinned woman looked Lady Yfin over with a notable lack of hostility. He shouldn't have been surprised, given Harid's notes on the subject, but the sudden change of demeanor bothered Edwin more than the questions had.
"Not yet," the woman replied after a moment, looking back to her tablet. "Your name, please."
Lady Yfin's smile dropped but for a split second before she replied in a sugar-sweet tone, "Lady Gryndalln Tomitari Rebiscala eso Yfin, daughter of Duke Raminfort Tomitari Escaban eso Yfin, brother of his royal highness, King Julius Tomitari Escaban eso Yfin; ambassador. I am here to relieve our current ambassador and deliver news to Her Majesty, Queen Amkali. So you can see that it is very important we are docked as soon as possible."
"Ikebu ga hazukiosu tchazi," one of the guards muttered at another. The closest of his fellows cuffed his arm, though he grinned in turn. They stiffened when they caught Edwin watching them.
Over her guard's antics, the woman with the stylus nodded to Lady Yfin, and replied, "You will be allowed to dock as soon as is possible, Ambassador. Captain, the other passenger?"
"Is asleep," Lady Yfin interjected, "She's been seasick all the way here, the poor thing. Her name is Matyla Ignoan. My escort."
"Your ages?"
Edwin pursed his lips to keep from smirking at the way Lady Yfin's eyebrow twitched. After a moment, she answered between thin lips, "My escort is in her thirties, I believe. I am twenty-three."
For a moment it looked as though the woman were going to object that she needed an actual age. Then, she pursed her lips and continued to write. "Is there any other cargo, captain?"
"Yes, our accountant has the books..." The captain extended one hand toward the door to the cargo hold as the accountant, a funny little man with the worst hair piece Edwin had ever seen, jumped up to follow them down into the ship. Two of the woman's guards broke off from the group to trail after them.
"Well, I never," Lady Yfin huffed when the door had closed behind them. She spared a glance at the guards, who stared through her as though she were just another part of the scenery, then turned to Edwin with a pout upon her lips.
Travel had not done the woman any favours, Edwin thought. Though generally considered to be rather fetching, several months at sea had left the Lady in the same straights as everyone else on board. With lank, unwashed hair piled into something that attempted to resemble the coiffed curls she normally brandished, skin burnt and peeling from too much sun, and her travel dress rumpled beyond redemption, she looked more like a gutter-side whore than a powerful politician.
Not that he dared to say so.
Lady Yfin shot a pointed look at the forward bow and then at him. Rather than risk her temper, he offered her his arm and, when she'd taken it, lead her to the front of the ship, away from the Ama guards. "They'd warned me," she confided to him, "Everyone at court knows how barbaric these 'Ama' are. Just look at them--running about practically naked! It's disturbed."
Edwin dared a glance back at the men and felt a small shiver run down his spine. One of them, the one who had been whispering to his fellows, was watching them. Pursing his lips, Edwin looked back out over the city as the Lady continued on.
"And that woman! I suppose it's hot enough here for that, but to walk around all exposed... Not to mention those questions." She shuddered visibly. "It's enough to make you faint."
"You're holding up remarkably well," he replied.
Lady Yfin smirked slightly. "That was very rude of you, Edwin. But I shall forgive you. You and I are going to need one another in these trying times, I'm sure of it."
Edwin shook his head, "If Harid doesn't understand these people, I'm not sure what help I could be to you, my Lady."
"Your brother is a fine scholar," she replied smoothly, "but he's not a business man. Their... society is not what interests us. Remember that."
He clamped his mouth shut and gave a polite nod instead. Lady Yfin's gaze turned to the city rising above the white-flecked surf and her dark eyes narrowed in thought. They stood together until the Ama inspectors left the ship, having documented her cargo and given instruction on the signal to watch for. When they'd gone, the Lady returned to her cabin, undoubtedly to make herself as presentable as was possible, and he waited with the men for their signal.
When it came, a show of flags from the tower, the crew burst into life and sent the brig sailing her last league toward the city.
Verse: Wind Spirits (though not a part of that same story)
Group: Brigit's Flame - August
Prompt: Coast
Characters: Edwin, Elkros, Yfin
Genre: high fantasy
Word Count: 2200 w. approx.
Summary: Accompanying Lady Yfin on her ambassadorial mission to Kotin, Edwin Malkurn gets his first look at the legendary trade city of the Ama, as well as its people.
Nestled amongst the emerald jungles of southern Kathos, the city of Kotin stood a gleaming, jagged scar up the cliff-lined coast. Edwin Malkurn leaned against the prow of the Sun Pearl, the pride and joy of his father's merchant fleet, as he gaped in open wonder at the sight before him.
The natural harbour stretched out two thin, rocky arms in a wide circle into the deep waters off the coastline, with only the briefest of gaps to allow the passage of ships. Each side of this gap had a guard tower erected at it's endpoint, but behind that the arms remained bare. Their jagged edges were defense enough, he guessed with a wary eye at the brilliant, wet edges of slate and shale.
From their place outside the circle, he could see the rock docks which had been carved out of the back half of the circle. There was a ship at each one, and the people swarmed like ants over the the boardwalk. Other ships waited alongside the Sun Pearl, outside the harbours protections. Every so often, a ship on the inside would leave, and the next in line would be signaled in by the left-handed guard station.
"Rather cramped, isn't it?" Captain Elkros ask with a grating chuckle. Edwin returned the slight laugh and nodded as he glanced at the man. Elkros had long since sun-crisped to a golden brown, lines of sun damage bored into his skin as surely as his years had been. But every scar that marred him was sign of a battle won, another shipment successfully delivered across leagues of adversity. The man was as much a warrior as he was a merchant, something that his crew respected him for.
Looking down at the fresh, pink scar across the back of his left hand, Edwin understood why. It was a minor scrape compared the myriad of things which could have happened during their ocean-wide excursion, but still a twinge of regret twisted in his stomach. Pristine hands, save sword or bow calluses, were a sign of the gentry--even if he was not, he'd enjoyed being sometimes mistaken for a lesser noble. That was gone, now, unless he planned to wear gloves at every social event here out.
He flexed his fingers, feeling the slight tug of stiffness that had welled up soon after the pirates had been disposed of.
Elkros must have caught him gesture, for when Edwin looked up the captain turned abruptly to the sea. "Ah," he muttered as his eyes narrowed, "Here they come."
Edwin frowned and looked up to see a skiff, powered by eight dark-skinned rowers, skimming across the water toward them. It must be from the guard tower, he realized as the crew of the Sun Pearl gathered on the deck. Beside Edwin, the first mate--a weedy man of more of sinew and bone than anything else, who was affectionately referred to as "Baiter" for his propensity to pick a fight with someone at every port--spat over the side of the ship. "Lazy bastards always take their sweet time."
"Stuff that," Elkros snapped in a low growl.
"They ain't gonna hear," Baiter spread his hands, grinning a gap-toothed gash across his reedy face. "An' who cares if they do? Ain't gonna turn us away; not with this cargo."
Elkros slapped a heavy hand across the back of Baiter's head, and shoved him toward the stairs. "Get you lot to work," he ordered, "And none of that while they're on board."
Baiter flapped a hand over his shoulder as he trotted down to the main deck and began to bark out orders to the crew. Elkros carded a hand through his hair, giving a shake of his scraggle-bearded head. "If he weren't my son..." he trailed off as he noticed Edwin still standing there, and cleared his throat.
Edwin leaned slightly over the rail to see the skiff as it pulled up along side their craft. Of the eight in the boat, seven were men. Dark as burnt wood, their naked backs gleamed with sweat in the afternoon sunlight, highlighting muscles born of long years of labour. They stowed thier oars with regiment ease as the crew of the Sun Pearl lowered a rope ladder.
"Can they really understand any spoken language, like Harid said?" He whispered to the captain.
As he spoke, the skiff's final crew member looked up at him. The sun's reflection on her skin blocked her features from his view, but he knew beyond any doubt that she'd heard him. Elkros grunted confirmation of the twist in Edwin's gut, and they watched together as all eight swarmed, one by one, up the ladder and onto the ship.
Edwin followed the Captain down to the main deck as the men, guards he thought, arranged themselves around the single woman in their midst. There weren't any visible weapons on them, but from their size alone he thought that they might not have need of them. Each towered a good head over most of the sailors on board, and they were built like blacksmiths. Beside them, the woman seemed a child's toy.
The top of her head barely cleared the men's shoulders, but she carried herself with a straight back and uplifted chin. Her dark, crimped hair had been pulled into a fluffy knot at the back of her head and, like all the men, she had dark circles of what looked like soot lining her cheekbones.
All eight were dressed in pale, unadorned cotton pants that ballooned about their legs and caught at the ankles by coloured bindings--the men in green, the woman in red--but only the woman had a wrap of cloth binding her chest into place. None of them bore shoes, but the red was echoed on cloth wraps the men wore around their heads, and upon a collar fastened about the woman's neck.
Edwin frowned lightly; the reading Harid had sent him about the Ama and their ways hadn't included any of this, but the precision of it felt like a uniform with some sort of ranking system. Obviously, there were things here that not even his half-brother understood. It would be interesting to inform him of that.
The woman stepped forward to meet with Elkros, extending a stiff hand to the captain in a poor imitation of the Hariklign custom. As they shook hands, Edwin eyed the black tattoo marring her left shoulder; a three lines curling into a spiral. It was the only such tattoo on her body, that he could see, and none of the men sported one.
"Welcome to Kotin," the woman said with a thick-voweled accent, dropping the captain's hand in favour of pulling a wax-coated tablet and stylus out of the bag she wore at her side, held in place by a strap around her chest and hooked over one shoulder. "This is the Sun Pearl, yes?"
"It is," Captain Elkros confirmed as she marked something into the wax. "We've got fifteen head on board, including crew and passengers."
"Have there been any changes to the crew?"
"A new cabin boy." A gesture brought the lad--a freckled youth of eight--running up from under the forward stairs. The guards didn't budge, but the woman gave him a glance over as she continued to scribble upon the tablet. When prompted, the boy gave his age and name, then went back into hiding.
"Which member has left?" The woman continued. Elkros grumbled out an answer and Edwin glanced at the rest of the ship's crew. They shifted with unease under the woman's scrutiny; he couldn't blame them, the whole process was rather invasive.
"That leaves you with three passengers, captain."
"The bitch can count," Baiter snickered across the deck. The woman's gaze jumped to him, her dark eyes narrowing by degrees. Edwin shifted from foot to foot as that look shifted over to him in another moment.
"Edwin Malkurn," Captain Elkros continued over his son's outburst. He gestured for Edwin to step closer and brought his grizzled hand down upon the boy's shoulder. "Son of Aldurn Malkrun, merchant."
The woman made a guttural noise and marked something down. "Age?"
"Eighteen," he replied with a frown.
"The others are--" Captain Elkros began when, with perfect timing, the cabin door burst open to reveal yet another glowering woman. Edwin managed not to groan as Lady Yfin marched herself across the deck toward them.
"So," she purred behind a shark's smile, "We're finally about to dock, are we?"
Her words were addressed not to the captain, but the woman with the stylus. Edwin watched as the dark-skinned woman looked Lady Yfin over with a notable lack of hostility. He shouldn't have been surprised, given Harid's notes on the subject, but the sudden change of demeanor bothered Edwin more than the questions had.
"Not yet," the woman replied after a moment, looking back to her tablet. "Your name, please."
Lady Yfin's smile dropped but for a split second before she replied in a sugar-sweet tone, "Lady Gryndalln Tomitari Rebiscala eso Yfin, daughter of Duke Raminfort Tomitari Escaban eso Yfin, brother of his royal highness, King Julius Tomitari Escaban eso Yfin; ambassador. I am here to relieve our current ambassador and deliver news to Her Majesty, Queen Amkali. So you can see that it is very important we are docked as soon as possible."
"Ikebu ga hazukiosu tchazi," one of the guards muttered at another. The closest of his fellows cuffed his arm, though he grinned in turn. They stiffened when they caught Edwin watching them.
Over her guard's antics, the woman with the stylus nodded to Lady Yfin, and replied, "You will be allowed to dock as soon as is possible, Ambassador. Captain, the other passenger?"
"Is asleep," Lady Yfin interjected, "She's been seasick all the way here, the poor thing. Her name is Matyla Ignoan. My escort."
"Your ages?"
Edwin pursed his lips to keep from smirking at the way Lady Yfin's eyebrow twitched. After a moment, she answered between thin lips, "My escort is in her thirties, I believe. I am twenty-three."
For a moment it looked as though the woman were going to object that she needed an actual age. Then, she pursed her lips and continued to write. "Is there any other cargo, captain?"
"Yes, our accountant has the books..." The captain extended one hand toward the door to the cargo hold as the accountant, a funny little man with the worst hair piece Edwin had ever seen, jumped up to follow them down into the ship. Two of the woman's guards broke off from the group to trail after them.
"Well, I never," Lady Yfin huffed when the door had closed behind them. She spared a glance at the guards, who stared through her as though she were just another part of the scenery, then turned to Edwin with a pout upon her lips.
Travel had not done the woman any favours, Edwin thought. Though generally considered to be rather fetching, several months at sea had left the Lady in the same straights as everyone else on board. With lank, unwashed hair piled into something that attempted to resemble the coiffed curls she normally brandished, skin burnt and peeling from too much sun, and her travel dress rumpled beyond redemption, she looked more like a gutter-side whore than a powerful politician.
Not that he dared to say so.
Lady Yfin shot a pointed look at the forward bow and then at him. Rather than risk her temper, he offered her his arm and, when she'd taken it, lead her to the front of the ship, away from the Ama guards. "They'd warned me," she confided to him, "Everyone at court knows how barbaric these 'Ama' are. Just look at them--running about practically naked! It's disturbed."
Edwin dared a glance back at the men and felt a small shiver run down his spine. One of them, the one who had been whispering to his fellows, was watching them. Pursing his lips, Edwin looked back out over the city as the Lady continued on.
"And that woman! I suppose it's hot enough here for that, but to walk around all exposed... Not to mention those questions." She shuddered visibly. "It's enough to make you faint."
"You're holding up remarkably well," he replied.
Lady Yfin smirked slightly. "That was very rude of you, Edwin. But I shall forgive you. You and I are going to need one another in these trying times, I'm sure of it."
Edwin shook his head, "If Harid doesn't understand these people, I'm not sure what help I could be to you, my Lady."
"Your brother is a fine scholar," she replied smoothly, "but he's not a business man. Their... society is not what interests us. Remember that."
He clamped his mouth shut and gave a polite nod instead. Lady Yfin's gaze turned to the city rising above the white-flecked surf and her dark eyes narrowed in thought. They stood together until the Ama inspectors left the ship, having documented her cargo and given instruction on the signal to watch for. When they'd gone, the Lady returned to her cabin, undoubtedly to make herself as presentable as was possible, and he waited with the men for their signal.
When it came, a show of flags from the tower, the crew burst into life and sent the brig sailing her last league toward the city.