Chapter 37: The estuary

Our two five-seat wakawaka follow a more direct route downriver than the broader sail-boat crewed by the Tribu. The direction of the wind forces them to tack regularly, charting a zigzag course. Even with only three of us paddling in each wakawaka, we can comfortably keep pace with the larger craft.

The river gradually becomes wider as other streams and rivers join it. The low hills around us give way to a flat expanse of marshy land. Vegetation along the riverbank changes from tropical trees and grasses to rushes and mangroves. Evidence of recent flooding is everywhere, and it’s easy to imagine how the whole area around us had been a huge lake not many weeks ago.

Adelita guides us to a suitable place to rest for the night. The large river beasts we encountered on our journey from Atene are few in number and they leave us alone. Nevertheless, we post a guard throughout the night as a precaution.

We resume our journey early the next morning. The wide flat area around us encourages the river to split into numerous channels. Before long it becomes difficult to determine which one is the main channel. The swampy islands and numerous clumps of rushes give the area the appearance of a maze. Fortunately, Adelita knows the route to the settlement we seek. Randomly searching all the channels for the settlement would be an exercise in futility. Further west, where the delta has spread much wider, the swampy islands give way to open stretches of water. We still can’t see the sea, although the water around us has the familiar smell of seawater. Huge vegetation covered sand dunes ahead of us block the river from reaching the sea in all but a few places.

“I don’t know how we would find the settlement if Adelita wasn’t with us,” I muse to Cassandra.

“I agree. I suspect that’s why Adelita agreed to wait for us.”

By the time we get near the sand dunes, the river has spread out into a lagoon, stretching for over a couple of kilometres. Several gaps in the dunes are visible and I presume that’s where the river delta finally reaches the sea. However, Adelita doesn’t guide us towards one of those gaps. Instead, we travel straight towards a large sandy hill. Only when we are closer do I detect the angled gap between two dunes that enable the river to flow between the dunes in a lazy-S shaped channel. As we navigate the reverse curve of the channel we discover that the seaward side is much wider and deeper, forming a natural harbour.

I marvel at the harbour and the two large sailing ships moored against a large jetty. The ships dwarf even the biggest of Thurn’s sea going vessels. Each ship has two masts carrying two or three sails apiece. While Thurnian vessels of old sometimes boasted multiple sails, these days Thurnian ships always have just a single sail. However, the harbour isn’t the only marvel that we can see.

On the south bank of the river stands a settlement made of sandstone blocks. The buildings spread back up the slopes of the dunes. The settlement is on the inland side of a large dune, and set far enough back from the sea so as to be invisible from the seaward side without first entering the harbour. The architecture and weathered appearance of the buildings hint at the settlement’s age.

“Those buildings look as though they are hundreds, if not thousands, of years old,” muses Cassandra.

Despite all our research in Thurn, and at the Atene and Merope Potiora, we are unsure of the time-line of our collective history. The Atene and Merope Potiora both record that our ancient ancestors activated the five Potiora about three thousand years ago, putting their client races into hibernation for an unspecified length of time. There are inconsistencies in determining the date our forebears emerged from hibernation. Our research in Atene suggests that Thurnians emerged from the Atene Potiora and lived with the Atenex and Hrill for an unknown length of time. When the Atenex started becoming the more numerous and dominant race, the three races split up. The Hrill moved south, while Thurnians moved north to found Thurn. Cassandra’s and my own research into Thurnian history, suggests that Thurn City was founded about one thousand years ago. Confusingly, Thurnian mapmakers recorded ‘north’ in the opposite direction to the ‘north’ the Potiora and other races adopt. Consequently, when Thurnians refer to their western cities, those cities actually lie to the east of Thurn City. Fortunately, it hasn’t been a major problem so far, since there is very little interaction between Thurn at its neighbours to the south.

Placing the history of the settlement we see before us into our collective history is going to add more uncertainty about our past. The weathered buildings look to be far too old to have been built by any of the races emerging from a Potiora, but not old enough to have been built by our ancient ancestors.

Our destination is a small jetty that is obviously designed for river craft. A man in a uniform is standing on the jetty as we approach. He has the universal appearance of being the harbour-master. Adelita returns his wave and shouts something in a language I don’t know. A couple of children come onto the jetty to help us secure our three boats. We disembark onto the jetty and I help Cassandra and the pregnant elves onto dry land.

Adelita introduces us to harbour-master and she acts as an interpreter while we answer his questions. To my surprise, he switches to talking in passable Thurnian when he addresses Cassandra and me. Clearly this isn’t the first time he’s encountered Thurnians. The harbour-master instructs one of his assistants to take us to a nearby tavern that can offer us accommodation for the duration of our stay. Meanwhile, Adelita, Elodia, Whina and Emere make arrangements to sell the metals they have transported here.

The tavern-keeper is a woman in her mid-thirties who goes by the name Fleur. In common with many in her profession, Fleur is talkative and provides us with a wealth of information. Like the harbour-master, she speaks a slightly archaic form of Thurnian. Makareta translates our conversation into Atenex for the benefit of those in our party who don’t speak any Thurnian.

I’m not sure that the residents of the settlement are all from the same race. The physical features of those we have encountered so far are widely different from each other.

“The Tribu call us Mariners, which I suppose is what we are at heart,” says Fleur. “Most of us travel the seas in our ships. In a few places, like here, we set up trading posts to buy and sell goods. The Tribu are particularly good customers, providing us with metals we can trade on the other side of the ocean. In exchange we provide them with a variety of manufactured goods from those same far-off markets.”

“From which Potiora did the Mariners emerge?” I ask, trying to place how such a racially diverse group of people fit into our history.

“Ah! That’s a question only someone belonging to a race that emerged from a Potiora would ask,” replies Fleur. “Would it shock you to learn that not everyone on this planet can trace their ancestry back to a Potiora?”

Fleur’s statement attracts Cassandra’s and my immediate attention. Unfortunately, Fleur has other customers demanding drinks and our conversation must be put on hold for the time being.

The next day, Adelita tells us that her group have completed their trading and that they will be leaving us tomorrow. I would have preferred them to stay a few more days to help us with translations, but I know we have no right to delay them. Their help has been invaluable. Fortunately, we’ve met several Mariners who speak some archaic Thurnian.

We still haven’t been able to establish how the Mariners know our language, although logic suggests that they have traded with Thurn in the distant past. However, there’s no record of such encounters in the Thurnian histories that Cassandra and I have studied. Some of the Thurnian words the Mariners use fell out of common usage a hundred or more years ago. Cassandra and I only know such words from our study of Thurnian history.