The road town of Nokire was nestled against the gradual slope of a Yurna foothill. Even more than Rainrest, the village was built amongst the forest, with enormous trees rising from between and sometimes within the wooden buildings, casting shadows upon the makeshift dirt streets. Having seen more of the world than many of them, Vaenuth often marvelled that no matter how many leaves were between her and the sky, the heat was hot enough to burn the water out of her. She drank so much, as they rode, that she found herself eager for the next break to relieve herself.
Some of the others drank less than her, and some drank more. Once they began the real journey, she’d manage their supplies and ration drinks, no matter how harsh that was. In the Expanse, control was the difference between life and death. She smirked. It seemed to be so, even on the rainy side of the Yurna mountains.
She had always marvelled that Tagg could go for a whole day without a single drink, if he wanted to.
When they reached Nokire, they set up their camp on the north side of the town. There were other desert caravans here, competitors and allies alike. Sometimes, tensions in Nokire grew bigger than the town’s inhabitants could manage. The jungles around were spotted with clusters of bones where disputes had been resolved. Once, Banno and she had cut down a pair of rival traders, and won a fair bit of coin that had been betted upon their bout.
The border village employed at least a dozen men and women they called Mediators. For each caravan camped outside, there was a representative of the village to tend to their needs. Nokire’s defining feature was its warehouses—all of the food, water and weaponry that went into the desert was here, plus a fair number of goods for trading. In fact, as far as Vaenuth had seen, no men in Nokire worked as harvesters or craftsmen. Though the Magistrate answered to the Emperor of Numa’nakres—be he immortal or a man in a mask—Nokire and its rulers must have been drowning in gold and iron. In the centre of the town was a massive longhouse where the Magistrate and his family lived.
The Mediator that approached their camp that evening was a small, short woman, who couldn’t have been much older than Vaenuth. She was dark-skinned of course, and had her long braided hair bound behind her head with a white and blue ring of beads. She wore a white robe, with a dark sweatshirt beneath it so it would not stain.
Vaenuth had finished helping Banno and the others set up their tents and invited the Mediator into her own tent to discuss their resource needs.
The woman introduced herself as, “Iloli daughter of Kishsik.” She added, over a cup of cooled pomegranate cider, “I will help you with whatever you need in Nokire. I assume, of course, that your caravan will be entering the Expanse soon?”
“We will,” Vaenuth said. “I am Vaenuth, though I’ve no other names.”
Iloli smiled. “It is so, for many. There is no shame in it. They say that the Eternal Emperor himself once had only one name.”
“Though they don’t say what that name was, do they?”
The cider left the Mediator’s lips. “I’m sorry?”
“No, I am. I didn’t assume you were… devout. I should have,” Vaenuth said. One of her faults, she had always thought, was her bluntness. She didn’t know when to not speak. “I’ve prepared a list of food supplies we’d like to purchase. Where we’re heading, the majority of our trade goods will also be food, so it is a long list.”
“You’ve the capital to afford it, of course,” Iloli said. She was pretty, in her own way, though her small size made her seem childlike. Vaenuth had seen many girls like her before.
“Of course,” the caravan leader said, quietly. She was thoughtful. Two days hence, they would depart for the desert. Once Iloli and she had bartered for the foodstuffs, she went to find Banno and Lurro, who were playing a game of dice. She joined them, and later Elli and Hulean joined as well; those two came together, and Vaenuth gave Elli a wink, when the others couldn’t notice. Elli just stared at her.
Soon, Vaenuth knew, they’d have only sand on all sides, and the dice games, water-drinking, and love-making would all become a lot less frequent. She was curious to see what their new boy would think of the Slithers.