The Sea Wife

Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 20th March 2015

Characters: Taril, Terion
Description: Taril's brother sails into Sunstone Seahold a day late, and the two brothers take a moment to catch up
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 11, day 16 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Humari, Bryvin, Eirock

The Sea Wife sailed into Sunstone Seahold with the morning tide and was quick to unload her cargo of salt, dried fish and bricks of blue dye manufactured from a mussel up the coast. She loomed above the docks, a twin-masted wooden ship with a sleek hull and white sails that stood out starkly against the grey skies. Taril met his brother as the last of the salt casks were being rolled off the Sea Wife's deck and into the waiting wagon.

"You found the harbour after all." Taril squinted into the rain, a grin plastered on his scarred face.

"Taril!" The captain leaped off the deck and climbed down a rope ladder to the dock with an ease that Taril envied. Terion, his youngest brother, immediately swept him into a rib-crushing hug that included a few back-pounds for good measure. "Good to see you! I wasn't sure you'd roll out of bed in time to meet me."

"You know I'm up before you," Taril said as soon as he was able to breathe. He clapped his brother on the back as hard as he was able, and it was like hitting a rock. Terion just grinned.

His youngest brother was also his favourite; a good man with deceptively kind brown eyes and hair bleached blond by the sun. Terion was the tallest of Ralion's three sons, the brawniest, and the one with the most daring. He'd been blessed with a canny sense of wind and tide, and was as able with a sword as he was a dinner knife. It would have made more sense to hate him for his good looks and two fine legs, but he was blood, and blood ran thick around these parts. "How was the weather?" Taril asked.

Terion shrugged. "Wet and storming, but she's raining like she doesn't really have her heart in it. I bet there'll be a big winter storm within the week, but I'm hopeful that we can find a break in the weather to get us to the Seacraft Hall."

"I hope so. It's Humari's first time sailing. Come this way." Taril jerked his head toward the shore, and more importantly his new warehouse. "Any problems dealing with Black Beach or Craigmore Seahold?"

"Old Jequin is as sweet as pickle juice." Terion sighed. "If his salt wasn't so good, I'd cut him out all together. He's mean as a wherry and twice as dumb. He tried to renegotiate again."

Taril snorted. "Of course he did. Claimed he forgot, did he?"

"I set him to rights. This finally done, brother?" Terion stopped in the path with mud squelching around his boots to stare at the warehouse. The building was dark with the rain, but even in the drizzly weather the blue slate on the roof shone through. The sea captain gave a low whistle. "Fine looking building, that is."

"It is, isn't it. I'll show you around."

"Let's get out of the rain first," Terion said. The big man shivered in his oilskin coat. "I wouldn't mind a moment off my feet before refitting the Sea Wife for tomorrow's sailing."

Taril shrugged and led his brother into the office. Terion shed his oilskin coat and hung it next to Taril's by the door. The room was warm, heated by a pot-bellied iron stove that glowed with coals. The room was lit by glows but rather dim overall. Terion slumped into the wooden chair on one side of the desk and rubbed his eyes. "Long night. Winds weren't as good as I hoped, and as much as I love my Wife she can be finicky sailing into storms."

"I'm glad you didn't get hit by lightning," Taril said dryly. "It would have made my trip to the Seacraft Hall somewhat more difficult."

"Wouldn't want to disappoint Lord Bryvin." Terion looked up with a wry smile. "How is it, with Bryvin?"

Taril shrugged and hobbled over to his desk. "Bryvin's the same as he always was, only now with a fancy title. He'll be a good Lord Holder for our purposes if he can hold onto the Hold for the next few turns." He withdrew a silver flask from a drawer and tossed it to Terion, who caught it one-handed. "That maneuver he pulled with the gem mines was a good bit of work, and he's proven that he'll deal with unsavory problems of mine." The merchant frowned. "But he took his time about it."

"You talking about that trouble with your brother-in-law?" Terion raised the flask to his lips and grimaced at the taste. "Too bad I wasn't closer. I would have liked to take him 'round the bay and feed him to the fish. Man like that..." He shook his head. "Mother would have fed him his balls on a rusty skewer. She's right mad, by the way. She also sends her regards and wants to know when you're taking Humari home."

Taril leaned his crutch up against the desk and sat. "Of course she does. It's tempting, but I've built too much here to abandon it now. Red Tide Rocks has a good harbour, but not like here." His name was known up and down the coast, and he was earning more marks for his family here than he would at their own little holding. A little land and trading rights was the least that Sunstone Seahold could provide in return. Besides, it meant that he had two harbours to use instead of just one. The options for trade were doubled.

"Up to you." Terion shrugged and took another swig from the flask, then tossed it back to Taril. "Oh-- I also heard that Trygve's nephew is somehow Steward now?"

"Another mystery." Taril took a swallow from the flask and winced as the whiskey burned its way down. Gut rot, but he liked it. "Trygve's vouching for him, and I think that he'll suit our needs as long as our needs suit his. I don't trust him to have our back, though. Not yet. I'm still trying to figure him out."

"Won't take you long," Terion said. "You read people like hides."

"And some are lengthier than others." Taril leaned forward on his elbows. "As near as I can tell, Eirock just showed up one day with references in hand and Bryvin hired him on the spot. I wonder if they knew each other from before. Neither has hinted at such, but Bryvin is usually more cautious than that when it comes to outsiders."

"And it's not like we know much about Bryvin, either." Terion leaned back in his chair and stretched his long legs out in front of him. "He was brought on by Morin, and Morin might as well have been born from air and fog."

It was a shame that he'd died, but the former Lord Holder _was_ dead and that was the end of it. "Well, as I'd said, Bryvin will be good enough, and although Eirock is curious about my business, I'm not too concerned yet. If he officially finds out about some of our cargo, I'd imagine the worst he'd do is make us pay tithe on it. I'm sure Trygve's already made him aware of what I do here and he hasn't made an issue of it yet."

"Yet." Terion held his hand out for the flask. "Speaking of Trygve, I made that, ah... stop along the way. For those bolts of silk."

Taril handed him the flask. The silk was cargo looted from a slower ship over a turn ago. They'd hidden it in a cave up the coast until the attention had died down, and now that Taril had bought the luxury fabric from Sawtooth that Eirock had told him about, the new goods would provide good cover for the stolen ones. And maybe he'd hold back a bit for Humari, enough for a new dress... "Thanks, brother."

"Clever as always," Terion said, using the flask to salute. "And thus the wealthy get clothed, Red Tide Rocks gets richer, and the Sea Wife earns her keep."

Last updated on the April 8th 2015

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

The Sea Wife