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fixed Phaedra with that wry look of hers.
    Criton knew nothing of the continental Gods, so she told him about Atel the Traveler and about His brother Atun, the Sun God, who sailed across the heavens in a ship of gold. She told him about the friars of Atel who never stayed in any one place for long, and had surely seen the whole world. The fishermen gave the two of them dirty looks for talking so loudly, but Phaedra was too excited to care. Here she was, about to see the world herself for the first time! She was glad to talk to someone her own age about it. Her parents hadn’t wanted her to tell her friends, for fear that it would start rumors of her being a fanatic for a foreign God. They’d just admonished her to come home as soon as she could.
    Phaedra was still chattering happily to Criton when a young man with a crossbow appeared on the dock. “Hey there,” he called out to them, “are you coming or going?”
    â€œWe’re going,” one of the fisherman’s lads called back, “but there’s no room for you.”
    â€œCan’t you make room? I can pay good money.” The fisherman seemed interested at first, but soon the boy was joined on the dock by a ragged girl carrying a heavy bundle.
    â€œI might have room for one more,” the fisherman said, “but not two. Sorry.”
    â€œWhat?” the crossbow-wielder asked. “Oh no, we’re not together. I just want to get on myself.”
    The ragged girl passed him, walked right up to the boat, and without hesitation, tried to climb on.
    â€œHey!” the boat’s captain said, getting belligerent. “This isn’t a passenger ship! Unless you want to sit at our feet among the catch, there’s no room.”
    The girl looked a little confused. “Sit,” she said, awkwardly pointing to the boat around her enormous bundle. The bundle was nearly as large as the girl, a big pile of who-knew-what wrapped up in a blanket. It was obviously heavy, but the girl’s thin arms must have had more muscle than met the eye. Whatever objects were inside, they occasionally shifted, making it hard for her to hold onto the bundle properly.
    â€œWell, I suppose you could,” the fisherman said, “if you had any money. But you don’t look like–”
    â€œIs this good?” the girl asked. She carefully put down her package and untied a pouch from her wrist.
    The fisherman looked inside the pouch and turned red. “Welcome aboard,” he said.
    The girl sat down with her bundle at Kelina’s feet, which Kelina moved back as far as she could. The girl looked filthy. Her hair was a gigantic tangled lump filled with sticks and mud and, Phaedra suspected, a sizable colony of lice. A whole civilization of them, as Father would say.
    â€œHey!” said the nervous young fellow with the crossbow. “You can’t just let her on and leave me behind! I can pay at least as well as she can!”
    â€œWhat is going on today?” Phaedra heard the fisherman mumble under his breath. “I doubt you can, lad,” he said aloud, “but I’d love to see you try.”
    When the young man climbed aboard, he had no money left and no room to sit down. He wedged himself awkwardly between the bench and the little mast, trying not to step on the ragged girl or the reeking pile of fish among which she sat. With the fisherman standing at the tiller in the stern of the boat, his nephews would have to precariously share the prow in order to have room.
    â€œHurry now,” the fisherman said, looking up at the sun.
    On a good day, Atuna was two hours away. They would be lucky if they could make it there before dark. No fisherman in his right mind would sail in the dark, but the financial gain of this particular voyage was enough to make the boat’s owner highly optimistic about his timing.
    â€œUnmoor us,” he said, “and get us out of here before some other lunatic