Elf Maidens Of Thurn Pt 09

Part 9: The Mariners

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Chapter 37: The estuary

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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.

Fleur introduces us to Marianne, a local resident who seems to be a cross between a librarian and a doctor. Marianne is eighteen years old, and she looks far too young to be proficient at either job. However Fleur implies that she is an expert on Mariner history, so I keep an open mind. Marianne's knowledge of midwifery certainly meets with Cassandra's approval.

"What you've learned isn't wrong," says Marianne when I summarise what Cassandra and I have learned from our research. "However, it's not the whole story."

"We are eager to learn more so that we can decide how best to help our races survive the threats we face," says Cassandra.

"You are fortunate that your Potiora has never roused the rest of your race that it has in its care. Had it done so, then you would never have come here asking such questions."

"Fortunate?" I query. "We are under the impression that the failure to awaken our whole race has contributed to our struggle for survival."

"In terms of numbers, that may be so," replies Marianne. "In terms of exercising your own free will, and seeking allies and friends, that is less certain. Those whom each Potiora roused first had been specially trained as hunters, builders and explorers. They had very different traits from those who were to be awoken later. The four Potiora who roused all of their chosen race are now governed by isolationist regimes run by a privileged minority. Without exception, those ruling minorities trace their ancestry back to the chosen elite who were awoken after their race's pioneers had built settlements, and secured sources of food."

I'm not sure the current rulers of Thurn or Atene escape the label of being elitist, but governance of the Merope clearly fits with Marianne's description. Perhaps the Phebes are as well, but we know too little about them to be sure.

"Surely the builders of the Potiora would have considered such a problem when they selected those who entered the hibernation chambers," says Cassandra.

"It's very likely that they did," replies Marianne. "The Potiora project would have been very expensive, and each Potiora took many decades to build and put into operation. Prospective mothers of the new races would have received some form of treatment to create genetically modified babies. It's more than likely that a disproportionate number of them were from influential and wealthy families eager to preserve their lineage."

"But why modify their offspring in the first place?" asks Ikaroa, who has joined Cassandra and me for this discussion.

"We can only guess at the reason," replies Marianne. "Perhaps there were several reasons. Civilisation was falling into chaos. The climate was changing rapidly, destroying crops and bringing devastating storms. Wars were constantly being fought for control of dwindling resources. Maybe your creators thought they were building a better form of human, capable of surviving whatever climate existed upon your awakening. That seems consistent with giving you the overwhelming desire to breed. However, not every modification has been a success. The Phebes have been experimenting for years to provide potions and treatments that overcome the undesirable consequences of some of those modifications."

"Adelita told us the Phebe's provided potions to the Hrill which altered their race into what they now call the Tribu," I add.

"Yes. A new race with a disproportionate number of male babies," says Marianne. "Unfortunately that's an example of insufficient research being undertaken into the side effects of the Phebes' tinkering. I think the Phebes mean well, but they live in a very rigid society. Their leaders won't accept criticism of any kind. As for the Hrill; desperate people do desperate things. The Hrill were plunging towards extinction. The Phebes' potions have slowed that fall, but it's still too early to say whether the Tribu will survive beyond a few more generations."

"How does your own ancestry fit into all this?" I ask.

"Creation of the Potiora wasn't the only grand survival project designed to provide a future for the elite of the human race. Cities under the ocean, orbiting space stations, and domed cities were all built at huge expense. Unfortunately, the technology ultimately broke down over the years, forcing the inhabitants to survive as best they could. It's possible that Mariners are the outpouring of one or more of those failed schemes, but our histories suggest otherwise. Despite their many flaws, the five surviving Potiora represent the only success among our ancestors' grand survival projects. However, not all those alive today welcome that achievement."

"Why?" asks Cassandra and Ikaroa together.

"The grand survival projects were only ever intended to save the powerful elite. No prospect of salvation was ever contemplated for the bulk of the world's population alive at the time. A few lucky ones who won a lottery were allowed to join the numerous wealthy and influential people who populated the artificial habitats. The legions of workers who built the Potiora, underwater cities and space stations were all expendable and abandoned to their fate. Their labours bought by the offer of an entry into a one-in-a-million lottery. That would have been the end of their story had they not refused to simply lie down and die. Of course, most did die before long, but some communities survived the cataclysms and wars that raged on for decades afterwards. Eventually the survivors formed the nucleus of people like the Mariners."

"So everyone here is descended from an original human race," says Cassandra.

"In the case of the Mariners, yes," replies Marianne. "The desire for particular racial traits meant that many of the modified children bred to populate a Potiora were rejected. They became surplus to requirements, and they were also abandoned when the Potiora were commissioned. Many of their races survived for generations, although their inability to breed with unmodified humans limited their population size. A few of their descendants may still survive to this day."

"How have you learned all this history?" asks Cassandra.

"Your Potiora will reveal their knowledge to anyone who seeks their wisdom," replies Marianne. "However, you need to know the right questions to ask, and be aware of the bias in the Potiora's answers."

"Bias?" I query.

"Certainly. The Potiora store vast amounts of knowledge and advice, but what they hold is designed to influence and guide their client race towards the political goals their ancestors desired. In many cases that means overall supremacy of the world you occupy. Your ancient ancestors may have cooperated in building and populating the Potiora, but there was bitter rivalry between each race. It's disappointing, but no great surprise, that each race that has emerged from a Potiora seeks to make itself superior to the others."

"The Tribu don't seek to be overlords of the races around them," I observe.

"That's only because they are more focussed on their own survival. The same could be said for Thurnians and Atenex. However, the Tribu possess considerable knowledge in metallurgy. The metals they trade are not easy to refine from the ores that they mine. Knowledge like that gives them a degree of power. Enough, for example, to persuade the Phebes to provide potions to fix the skeletal problems of the Hrill."

I detect a hint of frustration and anger in Marianne's words. The Mariners must have lived in these parts for many centuries. Now they witness the intrusion of new races who have been taught to regard themselves as rightful owners of all that they see. Are we all in danger of recreating the conflicts of old?

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Chapter 38: More babies

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The next morning we say farewell to Adelita, Elodia, Whina and Emere as they set off upriver to the Tribu settlement. Their craft is laden with a variety of goods that they have traded for the metal they brought here. Ikaroa had spent nearly an hour with Whina and Emere, ensuring they both understand the consequences of their choice to stay with the Tribu. They will effectively become outcasts from the Atenex race, making a return to Atene almost impossible should they change their minds. However they were already banished from their home village, so in practise that transition had already occurred before we left Atene.

Once they have gone Cassandra and I meet with Ikaroa, Ihapera, Makareta and Defina35 to discuss our own situation. Cassandra and Ihapera are due to give birth any day now, and Marianne has already offered her services as midwife when the time comes. We have already agreed that further travel must wait until both Cassandra and Ihapera have given birth and are fit to travel again. What is less certain is whether we wait the extra weeks until after Makareta and Defina35 give birth. So far, the Mariners have been helpful, but whether their hospitality will extend for another two or three months remains to be seen.

Rawiri is now starting to walk, so he is in need of almost constant supervision. Fortunately, Marianne has a younger sister called Coral who has been co-opted as our child minder for the duration of our stay. Coral is ten years old and she has the same wavy brown hair, round face and wide grey eyes as her sister. She knows a few words of Thurnian, but not enough for a lengthy conversation. Fortunately she seems well versed in child-minding and Rawiri responds well to her.

"I still don't understand how so many young Mariners know our language, albeit an outdated version of it," says Cassandra to me.

"Nor do I," I reply. "But if we decide to stay here until after Makareta and Defina35 give birth, then we may get the opportunity to find out more."

The next few days are relatively uneventful. I watch the two ships in the harbour unloading and loading supplies. The harbour-master is patient with my numerous questions. He confirms Marianne's statement that the Mariner settlement was originally built as a port linking sea going trade with the long navigable rivers stretching inland. The volume of trade has varied over the years, particularly once the Potiora races started gaining ascendency, and the previous inhabitants of the region moved elsewhere. These days the settlement earns more as a neutral transshipment point for trade between distant peoples who aren't on the friendliest of terms with each other.

I ask the harbour-master about the source of his knowledge of the Thurnian language. He simply replies that it his duty to be able to speak all of the languages used by sea going peoples. Although no Thurnian vessel has come this far south in decades, the invitation to trade remains open. However, I strongly suspect that there are few Thurnian sea captains with the necessary skills to navigate this far south. Besides, unless you know where the Mariner settlement is located, you could sail past without noticing anything.

Cassandra and Ihapera are under orders from Marianne to rest as much as possible. For once, Cassandra doesn't object. Consequently Ikaroa takes the lead in exploring the settlement. Many of the buildings we could see from the harbour are no longer occupied. The Mariners never bother with a census as their population varies by season. Many sailors spend winter in the settlement while savage storms rage out at sea. Even during spring and summer, arriving ships invariably discharge some of their crew and take on new sailors. Mariner children spend two or more years at sea as part of their education, and some ships are crewed by whole families. Consequently, relatively few Mariners regard the settlement as their permanent home.