Chapter 64: The settlement

I arrange for Akamu and Arikiwi to return to the Esme’ and tell Jaro that we’ve been delayed, and not to expect Hinano’s and my return until morning. It further postpones our return to Madiana, but I think our discovery of a settlement here warrants the delay. After all, our mission to Bardos is otherwise a failure as the money we came to claim no longer exists. Furthermore, Gaelan is injured, so an extra day of rest will help his recovery.

My choice to send Akamu rather than Hinano back to the Esme’ with Arikiwi is to circumvent any possible issues over competing offers of a collar. I feel strangely confused about the thought of wearing a collar denoting my attachment to a man. The histories I’ve read imply that wearing a collar, other than as a fashion item, was a symbol of slavery and servitude. Kora tells me that the Tomyris custom has a different meaning, but I begin to wonder whether that’s how the custom originated. I’m not sure that I like the idea of a collar permanently around my neck, but I’m not appalled at the thought either. My mind is playing its usual tricks over the issue, arousing my sexual yearning when it should be doing the opposite.

Reaching the Tomyris settlement is relatively easy. Bardos is the main port and town at the south end of the island bearing the same name. However, it isn’t the only inhabited area on the island. There are farming or fishing communities scattered across Bardos that send their produce to the town for sale or export. The Tomyris settlement is a fishing harbour located on the west side of the island, about six kilometres north of Bardos town. Getting there is easy as the locals have built a ten kilometre long tramway along the western coast road. While the tramway predominantly hauls the bulky produce from the hillside farming settlements, there is a periodic passenger service that covers the distance in around half and hour. Nobody in Thurn has thought to use steam powered engines in this way, and I make notes for my research paper.

The Tomyris call their settlement Aegle Harbour, with the small Aegle river dividing the settlement on its route to the sea. The names are obviously drawn from that of the Tomyris Potiora, although that doesn’t explain how the Tomyris come to be here on Bardos. There are around twenty houses and other buildings scattered either side of the river estuary. A stone bridge that carries the coast road and tramway over the river links the two sides of the settlement.

Kora and Mohi have escorted Hinano and me here. Tayn has remained in Bardos to tend to the trio’s market stall. A few of the locals wave a greeting to Kora and Mohi, but they don’t approach us once they notice Hinano and me.

“I’ll take you to meet my mother,” says Mohi. “If anyone knows about how the Tomyris came to be here then she is the most likely to know.”

Mohi leads us towards one of the houses set back from the river’s edge. The house is made of a combination of stone and timber, and appears to be quite old. A woman in her late thirties or early forties answers the knock at her door. She is introduced to us simply as Ma, which I assume refers to her relationship to Mohi rather than her given name. Ma’s enlarged ears label her as a Tomyris, which means she’s likely to be nearing the age when all members of the Potiora races suffer a catastrophic collapse in their health. So far Ma seems healthy, but I know from others I’ve once known that a Hiber’s health can rapidly go into a terminal decline.