The Captain of the Cloud-trader was a tall white-haired man with skin weathered by the sun and salty wind. He was called Angal of Tav Rock. He shook Aralim’s hand, nodded to Miresh, and greeted the other passenger, a tanner who was moving to Bellasa where his family was. The Captain took the time himself to show them to their quarters where they would stay for their month long journey to the port of Bellasa. After he let them put their packs inside, he asked, “Can I speak to you in the corridor?”
The Cloud-trader was a two-decked ship with a mess hall, six cabins, and a large cargo room. “What is it?” Aralim asked.
Angal lowered his voice. “It don’t matter to me anymore than as a security, but I must ask. Is the girl your daughter?”
“No, she’s a Walker of the Path just as I am,” Aralim said.
“Ah, of course,” Captain Angal returned. As he walked away, Aralim heard him said, “Darn religious nuts…”
Aralim stepped back inside his cabin and Miresh asked, “Can I have the top bunk?”
“Of course, little one,” Aralim said, leaning his lantern staff in the corner. There was no need for it onboard the ship, for they knew his religion.
Aralim had agreed to help out on the ship to pay for his passage, though the tanner did not. After the ship left port, Angal put Aralim to work in the mess hall. The chef put him to work cleaning and later cutting fish for their meal. The crew stuck to themselves, even at dinner, so Aralim, Miresh and the tanner, Jolas, ate together. Jolas explained that he was going to meet his wife Betsa, and their son, both of whom he had paid for passage individually. He was moving to Bellasa because of a lack of business in Lantern Town. He asked how long Aralim and Miresh had been journeying together.
Aralim shrugged. “A few days,” he said.
Jolas nodded. “So you met in Lantern Town?”
Miresh piped up. “I’ve always wanted to go north,” she said.
After they left the mess hall, Aralim collapsed on his bed tired. It had been a long day. Miresh started to climb up to her bunk, but then came back down and said, “I think that they aren’t just traders.” Her voice was quiet and her words calculated.
Aralim sat up. “I’d imagine most aren’t.”
“I found a trap door in the cargo area, and there’s a bunch more boxes behind there,” Miresh said.
“Oh, so they’re smugglers,” Aralim said. “That explains our cheap fare, and the number of passengers.”
“Aren’t you worried?” Miresh asked. “What if they sell us too?”
Aralim shrugged. “It’s best not to worry where my Path may lead,” he told her. “What would be the point of smuggling us, if they have jewels to smuggle?”
Miresh shook her head and went to the door.
“Should I come with you?” Aralim asked. “It could be dangerous.”
“I think I can handle it,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m just going to find out what they’re smuggling.”
“I’d better come along,” Aralim decided. Together, they went down the corridor, without closing their door, in case it made too much noise. Once they were in the cargo hold, they could relax a bit. Mostly, the cargo hold consisted of food, a shelf of tools, and a big pile of timber. Aralim looked in one box that held a large folded canvas, perhaps a sail.
“Back here,” Miresh said. She showed him the trap door, a small section of wall that moved inward on well-oiled hinges.
Inside was a number of big wooden crates with hinges on one side. Aralim checked the first one. “It’s a keg,” he said. Miresh quickly confirmed that the others were too. It was alcohol. “Those heathens… Alcohol isn’t good for one’s mind.”
“What do you mean? We all drink it,” Miresh said.
“You’re eleven!” Aralim exclaimed.
She raised her eyebrows and gave him a childish expression of offence. “Homeless for years, remember?”
“Alcohol can muddle the Path!” he insisted.
Miresh said, “Let’s talk about this when we’re not in a smuggler’s hold.” She led the way back to their cabin, carefully closing all the doors behind them.
They had close to a month’s journey ahead of them, with a cargo hold full of such a substance, and Aralim’s companion knew much more about it than he did. As he dozed off he couldn’t help but wonder where the Path was taking him next.