On the decks, she was exposed to his presence as their family boats frequently sailed near each other. She had felt his focused stares and heard the lewd jests he made with his brothers. He had been staring at her a lot recently, a satisfied smile on his face. Just thinking of it stirred anxiety and disgust within her. And her family was willing to hand her over to him in marriage—to a life at his whim.
She didn’t want that life. If nothing else, the rapid approach of her birthday had helped decide her course. She had no choice if she wanted to escape the fate she was sentenced to.
By marrying Erik, she would live with him on the new houseboat being built for them, but it would remain nearly perpetually tethered to that of his family until his parents were of age to spend their remaining years in comfort on the boat of the eldest. She had no doubt that once he had her on his boat, she would never be able to get away from him. She had to flee before that happened.
She just had to get around Erik, his family, and her father to do it.
Nerida knew that her father anticipated that she might take such drastic measures. Recently, whenever they went to the floating cities, she was confined to the boat. She had resented it, mostly because it was unnecessary.
She wasn’t stupid. She had no intention of running off and hiding in a floating city. There were only so many walkways on which to run and only so much space in which to hide. Even if she managed not to be found, the winter fogs would eventually come in and she would be exposed to predators outside of dangerous men and women who called the island home. She would be trapped there, hiding for the rest of her life from one manner of monster or another. If she truly wanted to escape, there was only one real opportunity, but she would need a distraction…
“Neri, up already?”
Nerida leaned against the wall, turning just enough so that she could watch her mother shaking out freshly washed bedding. Thanks to quality water distillation units that separated fresh condensation from saltwater and purifiers that scrubbed recycled water working day and night to keep the water storage units filled, her mother was always able to do the washing in the morning when the seas were calm. She hummed softly as she pinned the cloth on the line, only occasionally interrupting her work to glance over at Nerida.
She gave her mother a strained smile. “I couldn’t sleep.”
“Excited about tonight? The pod is organizing a great feast,” her mother cajoled softly.
Nerida snorted in disgust and felt a pang of regret watching her mother’s face fall.
“I am sorry, Nerida…” she said. “I tried.”
Closing her eyes, Nerida nodded. “I know, Mama.”
Her father had refused to bend in his decision. She knew her father loved her and was afraid for her future and those of her siblings should he terminate her marriage contract with Erik, but his decision still hurt. They could have left the pod, and another would have accepted them willingly. Of course, that meant that as newcomers, her siblings would be secondarily considered for good matches and the chance of a good marriage alliance for Nerida would have potentially been just as poor if non-existent. She understood the matters that he was weighing, and that the uncertainties worried him, but it didn’t make him right. Even her mother saw that. A few months ago she had tentatively suggested to the pod council that perhaps another match would be better suited, but it had caused exactly the sort of outrage that her father had been worried about. Not only had her father and mother been shamed by the council, but they hadn’t been willing to even entertain the possibility of terminating the match between Nerida and Erik. The consensus was that they were both young and strong-headed and would just require time settling into their marriage.
What a bunch of dathli shit.
She knew that was in part due to the fact that Erik’s grandfather was on the council. His decisions held considerable weight due to how many boats and children they added to the pod, increasing the collective wealth for everyone. He would not let his favored grandson go mateless. To her further misfortune, with a surplus of sons born in their generation among pods, she didn’t even have the option of being part of a bride exchange with another pod in the territory.
“Still sulking, is she?” her father murmured wearily as he exited onto the deck from the family quarters.
He shot her an unreadable look as he bent down to hug his wife from behind. Her mother smiled over her shoulder at him, and he brushed her lips with his. Nerida’s throat tightened. Her parents’ relationship had been strained for several days after the meeting with the council, something that Nerida had regretted bitterly, but it was strong. Their loving embrace reminded her that their obvious adoration of each other was something that she would never experience. With her decision, she was saying goodbye to any chance of having a family.
“Not sulking, Papa,” Nerida corrected. “Just thinking. I know that the decision has been made, and I won’t try any more to change your mind.”
And over the last year she had tried at every opportunity, until her father grew impatient with every mention of Erik that came from her mouth, since none of it was good.
Her father’s brow scrunched, and he sighed wearily as he released her mother and walked to her side. Slowly he lowered himself until he was seated beside her. He nudged her gently with her shoulder.
“Do you know that when you were born all I felt when I held you was wonder and worry? Wonder at the perfect little girl I held in my arms and worry that I might not be around to always protect you. For a time, I was concerned that the council would decide to send you to another pod to strengthen our relationship with an ally. Then you would be far away where I would have no chance of protecting you. When you were contracted with Erik, I was relieved because being joined to their family meant that your future was set. He would be able to provide for you and his family was strong enough to keep you safe. Neri, I know you’re not happy with the decision, but it is for the best… for everyone, including you.”
She made a sound of disbelief that made him chuckle.
“Love comes eventually. It does not come overnight. It took your mother and I time to fall in love. What you are feeling is natural, especially considering the age difference between you and how strong-natured you both are. I will tell you a secret, though. We are all a little afraid of the marriages that our families arrange for us but in the end, it works out...and if it doesn’t...then your family will be here. Our laws do protect you, I just think you should give this a chance to see what sort of future you might have outside of what just may be some bad impression between two young people.”
Nerida bit the inside of her cheek. They had laws, but she was quite certain that once Erik had ahold of her that those laws would provide little comfort. He would find a way to make certain that she would never be able to leave him. She had seen that just from the stamp of ownership in his gaze every time he looked at her. But no one, least of all her father who whole-heartedly believed in the function of the society’s laws, would believe that she would be so trapped.
“Yes, Papa. I’m sure you’re right,” she conceded, her own gaze dropping to stare down at the worn boards beneath her feet.
A light touch on her arm startled her into looking up. Her father gave her a small smile. “This will be the start of something good. You’ll see. You have an entire future that will be stretching out in front of you tonight.”
She gave him a weak smile. He had no idea how right he was.
Encouraged, his smile widened, and he wrapped an arm around her to give her a light squeeze. “You will be a beautiful bride, Neri. The entire pod is looking forward to celebrating your union with Erik. I’m sure your mother told you of the feast, but there will be seaweed wine that’s been brewing for the last several months, thanks to the supply of calthali sugar we bartered ten gallons of whip shardon oil for last time we made port at Fathalar City. It will be the finest celebration our pod has seen in a great many years. But do not worry. Plenty of calthali was set aside to make t
he special sweets that I know you love.”
Despite the pang of guilt that she felt over the enthusiasm and effort being put forth by everyone, Nerida latched onto the promise of seaweed wine. Erik, like many of the men in the pod, drank heavily on the rare occasions the wine was available—usually only during the winter holidays when the pods moored themselves to small rocky islands, when the seas were more vulnerable to storms. That was exactly the sort of distraction she needed!
“That sounds like a wonderful treat. I’m honored that the pod is going through so much trouble for us.”
It was certainly more than she could have hoped for.
“Erik’s grandfather insisted,” her father confided. “You will have to thank him personally. So you see, things aren’t as dismal as you feared. They are eager to welcome you into their family.”
Nerida forced an excited smile to her face and nodded in agreement. The last thing she wanted to do was make her father suspicious.
She seriously doubted that anything Erik’s family did was for her benefit. Hearing how he and his family talked about her when they thought she was out of earshot, she had a good idea of what his family thought of her—as a possession to serve his purpose and a vessel to expand their family’s power and influence within the pod. Few of his brothers had been successful in siring many children of their own. They needed the match. Anything they were doing was for his benefit, not hers. Although it was ironic that it would be the very thing that would make her plan likely to succeed.
“It is extremely generous of them,” she agreed happily.
Chapter 2
The sun was just beginning to set when the boats of the pod were tied together deck to deck. A spirit of excitement descended over the community as people hung brightly colored ribbons prepared for the marriage ceremony. Nerida could see them from where she sat in the main room of her family’s living quarters. The larger window had the thick drapes drawn back, and she could see the flicker of lamps as they were lit one by one. Someone nearby picked up an instrument and played a long, sweet note.
Nerida closed her eyes and listened as the quarami sang. A long, narrow five-stringed instrument played with a bow, few wavelanders had the skill to master the quarami. She could hear it from the open entrance. The door would remain open to bring in good fortune to her family until the moment she was taken aboard her new home. It was for that reason she could hear the music and the happy conversation, and she was able to appreciate the wonderful scents of food being prepared for the feast. It was the only small joy to be had, and Nerida allowed herself to be lost in it.
Or as lost as she could be with her older cousin Ioina apparently trying to blind her as she liberally applied pigment around Nerida’s eyes.
“Hold still or you’re going to get this stuff in your eyes or nose,” Ioina hissed as she waved a small brush covered in a thick green shimmering paste made from ground seaweed and the bile from a giant culcras fish.
“I can’t believe I’m letting you put that on my face,” Nerida muttered. “It’s disgusting where that stuff comes from.”
“Hush. It doesn’t hurt to have a few tricks to accentuate our beauty. You think the mainlanders don’t have theirs? I guarantee you that, although it may come in fancier packaging, it’s made from a lot of the same sort of ingredients.” With a final of sweep of the brush, her cousin nodded and set the pot and brush down. “Now hold still while I apply this stain to your lips.”
Nerida cringed. “Not the pulfry…”
Any attempts to evade Ioina were brushed aside as if dealing with a toddler rather than an adult woman. It wasn’t so much that her cousin was stronger, because Nerida was sure she could defeat her in a fair fight, but more that Ioina had experience from corralling her own brood of children. Last Nerida counted, there were six of them running about.
So it was of little surprise that Ioina was able to anticipate her every move to slather on the thick red paste made from the mucus of the gathlida pulfry, a large predatory crustacean that inhabited the shallower waters surrounding the small rocky islands scattered throughout the seas. The nauseating smell of the paste made Nerida’s stomach roll, and she immediately brought her hands up to wipe it off only to be blocked by her cousin.
“Give it five more minutes for the stain to set, and then I’ll carefully remove it.” Nerida glared at her and prepared to tell Ioina exactly what she could do with the pulfry stain, but her cousin grinned and wagged a finger in her direction. “I wouldn’t open your mouth if I were you. It’s pretty foul tasting, from what I’ve been told.”
Nerida sealed her lips shut but continued to glower mutinously at her cackling relative. She was still glaring when her mother came inside, arms laden with ropes of pearls and seashells and a pleased smile on her face.
Each strand was laid out on the table, long ones to go around her neck and shorter ones to wrap around her wrists and ankles. Each shell was small and perfect, varying in color from a vibrant red to a deep purple. Interspaced between them was a pink pearl from a strain of oysters that had been brought from their homeworld. Like the colonists, the shellfish were one of the few things from Earth to successfully thrive on the planet and were a precious reminder of their origins and history as a people. The table with the carefully arranged shells was pushed to her side.
Nerida shook her head and stretched out a hand, stopping the cart. Her mother’s smile fell into a look of confusion. Nerida gave her cousin an impatient look, gesturing to her lips. She needed to explain. Rolling her eyes at her impatience, Ioina carefully wiped off the paste and rinsed her lips. Once she indicated that it was safe to speak, Nerida sighed regretfully. Those pearls could be traded for a considerable amount of goods at any of the floating cities, but she couldn’t take them.
“I can’t, Mama. This is years of your hard work. I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking them. I think you should save them and give them to one of my sisters.”
Ioina huffed as she dragged Nerida’s braids up to bind them with a long red ribbon.
“Take them, Neri. What does it matter if you have them or one of your sisters? You might as well enjoy them and stop being so self-sacrificing as if you wouldn’t enjoy the finer things. Working with the men doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy them,” Ioina scolded.
“She is right,” her mother said firmly. Picking one of the shorter strands with one hand, she gently gripped Nerida’s hand in the other as she began to wind the strand around her wrist. Their eyes met, and her mother’s expression softened. “There will be plenty of time to craft something for your sisters. You are the one beginning a new adventure. You wear these, and when you do, you will be carrying my dreams for your future with you, Neri. And all of the love of your family so that we will be a part of the future you craft for yourself.”
Nerida stiffened. Had her mother guessed what she intended to do that night? Nerida searched her mother’s face for any sign of disappointment or censure, but she kept her face down as she wound the strands around Nerida’s other wrist before moving on to her ankles.
“She won’t have to do much of that with Erik as her spouse,” Ioina scoffed. “From what my husband says, he has everything planned out down to when their first child will be born. Not that it matters much. Nerida will be safe beneath the decks or tending to chores with an escort long before that date—for your safety, he says.” Her cousin met her eyes in the larger mirror anchored to the wall, her expression sympathetic. “Can’t say I envy you that.”
Queasiness hit Nerida, and she swallowed against it. She wasn’t surprised to hear it from her cousin. She had caught parts of conversation that seemed to imply as much. That alone had been a deciding factor for her decision to run away. She couldn’t stand the idea of being confined. She had been free to walk the decks, plunging into the seas ever since she reached the age of allowances. She refused to spend her life locked up below decks.
Her mother sighed as she gathered the three long necklaces and looped them over Nerida�
�s head. Weathered hands straightened the necklaces over her simple green bridal dress. Nerida grimaced at the dress. It terminated just above her ankles in the fashion preferred for wavelanders, but if anyone spotted her in her escape, the color of it alone would betray her. Every bride wore green to bless their union with fertility. Green, as scant as it was on their planet, was the color of life, and the precious dye was reserved only for them and to swaddle newborns so that they might thrive.
She had considered trying to wear her regular clothes under it, but it turned out that the material fit her far too well for her to get away with wearing anything under it at all. Now she would be escaping with bridal jewelry rattling on her too… but she couldn’t pretend to be irritated by that. Not with how much it meant to her. Despite how much wealth it could bring, she swallowed and promised herself to not sell them.
At the caress of her mother’s hands on her cheeks, Nerida lifted her head so that their gazes met once again. A secretive, knowing smile graced her mother’s face, and Nerida felt her breath tighten in her chest so hard with emotion that it hurt.
“I am confident that my daughter will find the right path for her, Ioina,” her mother said. “And that she knows that no matter where the seas take her from this day, that she has her mother’s love and blessings with her always.”
Ioina sighed and leaned down to wrap her arms around Nerida’s shoulders.
“I am going to miss you, Neri,” she whispered in a choked voice. “We won’t be seeing you as often after you marry. They won’t see any reason to keep their family boats near ours anymore. I hate this.”
Sirein: A Dystopian World Alien Romance Page 2