The five companions were still sleeping off the previous night's revelry when the girl arrived to cook and clean. Soon after they'd all risen and washed, another knock came at the gate.
It was Hani. Her kohl-lined eyes were puffy and smeared, as if she'd been crying. She wore the same clothing she had when they'd last seen her, almost two days before.
"Can we talk?" she said to Zhura. "I must ask a favor of you and Bayati."
"Of course. We will walk with you."
Before they left the inner yard, Zhura peered upwards, certain that the
sanju
demon would be perched upon the wall or on the thatched roof, camouflaged as it always was around humans. It would stay there until she gave it a new command.
"
Sanju
, guard," she called.
Zhura and Bayati accompanied the Ikanjan woman along the winding, sloped roadways of Gigiri District. Gigiri lay downslope from Gold City, looking east towards the bay. Coral rag stone walled compounds like Kaj and Amina's were crowded on every bit of level ground. The homes were shaded by palms, lush-leaved shrubs, and even a few
kigeli
trees, with their hanging sausage-like fruits that were so familiar. Skilled craftsmen inhabited Gigiri, particularly woodcarvers, who could easily tramp their wares down to the bay to sell to sailors and traders.
The three women shouldered their way through Gigiri Market, a bustling plaza that dwarfed the market Zhura had visited in Mibega, but was only one among many in the city. Tailors and dyers made a brisk trade, crafting clothing from linens and cotton bolts brought in from the sea.
Making their way down towards the beach, they found a palm-shaded bluff that had been recently abandoned by the one of the packs of children who scavenged along the shore. Not far from there, a group of women tended a pot of savory - the popular stew brewed night and day throughout Namu, with spicy chunks of unrecognizable vegetables and unknown meat (probably fish). They sat on the hillock and ate with wooden bowls,
ugali
dough, and much licking of fingers.
"After what I told you in the marsh, I should have known better than to try to go home," Hani said. "But there was nowhere else."
"Where is home?"
"The Secret Orchid," Hani said. She saw the blank looks on the other women's faces. "I am a whore."
Zhura knew that there were those in the city that traded sex for coin, but the idea still puzzled her. In the village, a woman might live comfortably as the mistress of a powerful man, but she could hardly make a living selling sex to strangers.
"The Orchid is a taboo brothel, because our women practice bush magic. Love potions and charms, aphrodisiacs and such. A few of the women know spells and medicines to prevent pregnancy. We look after each other. In other places, it is very different."
"You're like herb-witches," Zhura said brightly.
"Just so. Even though we are in the Hazard, the rich and powerful often come to us. But a gang of thieves has taken over the Orchid, using us to rob and steal. Lu, one of the whores, was killed in revenge for a theft carried out by the thieves.
"After we lost one of our own, I tried to convince the women to resist. We are whores, not thieves. That's how I ended up on the beach. Yesterday, I went to meet a friend from the Orchid. She told me never to come back, or I would surely be killed."
"Do you have family?" Bayati asked. "Someone you can stay with?"
"Not that I trust."
Behind them, a road ran along the beach, busy with porters, tamed buffalo and even elephants carrying goods between ports and boats on the beach. The obelisks of the Gigiri District ancestral stones towered over the trees, like sentinels looking out to sea.
"You can stay with us," Zhura sighed. "But we have our own problems." She told Hani of House San's demand - leaving out mention of the summoning stone.
"All I intended to ask of you was shelter, but... the Orchid is a perfect place to get the information you seek. Whores collect rumors from all over the city. That's why we're in such trouble," Hani said. "Someone there would surely have heard rumors of demons."
"Hani," Bayati said, "what could you hope to do against these thieves? How could you have ever fought back?"
"Every business in the Hazard pays protection money to one gang or another. For the Orchid, it had always been the Shadow Jackals. In addition to their protection, we hired our own guard, an old Gujari marine. But the new gang killed him and fought off the Jackals. I thought if we bargained with the Jackals, they would help us."
"Bandits and thieves," Bayati grimaced. "Neither better than the other."
"There is a proverb here. If you swim in the ocean, you must deal with the sharks. The Shadow Jackals are the lesser sharks."
Down on the beach, the gang of youths who combed the sand for shells and driftwood had brought down a gull with sling and stone. Fishermen hauled their longboats up onto the surf, heavy with nets full of silvery fish.
"Perhaps," Hani said, slowly, "we can help each other. This gang steals from the wealthy. They would have more than the gold you need."
"How many of them are there?" Zhura asked. "Where can we find them?"
"I don't know. There is one who serves as muscle at the Orchid, Maiko. He is there most of the time. He gets information from the whores, and takes it back to the rest of the gang to plan their robberies. He was the one who tricked me into the hands of the slavers. He told me to deliver a love potion to a ship out on the beach."
"Would the other whores help fight the gang?"
"Some would not," Hani said. "Others, maybe."
Zhura frowned. That didn't seem hopeful. But she wanted to do what was right. She glanced at Bayati. The Kichinka woman knew this sort of bullying well.
Bayati nodded.
"Hani, stay with us for a few days," Zhura said. "I will go have a look at the Orchid tonight."
At the very least, it would be interesting to meet women who traded in sex.
*
"The Secret Orchid," Ngo mused in Sung. "Zhura, you make every night entertaining."
The two made their way through the busy streets of Tanga District. Tanga hugged the southern slopes of the hill that was topped by Gold City. Foreign traders milled in the streets, men with skin the hue of burnished copper, and fine black hair. Sailors stumbled from tearoom to wineshop, seeking to quench exotic tastes. Boarding rooms perched atop the drinking establishments, making the narrow streets feel like tunnels. The district had a distinctly outlandish appearance, as if it had been built by people from across the sea.
"Amina questioned our decision to help Hani," Zhura said. "She asked how I could trust a woman who does illegal trade and admits she works with thieves."
"She has a point."
"Amina is a thief herself. Maybe her habit of taking stuff from other people makes her naturally suspicious," Zhura grinned.
She and Amina agreed that Hani would remain at home under Amina's watchful eye, while Zhura and Ngo went to the Orchid. Rather than both of them asking after Hani's friend, the two would stay separate and see how much of Hani's story they could piece together.
