It felt like majority of the town has gathered on the shore. People were cheering, celebrating! They have finally caught a whale! Many came to congratulate, grabbing on the hands, slapping on the shoulders. For a moment the town stopped to witness that their livelihood was not threatened, that there was still hope. Even more so, that their whales did not seem to be afflicted with some sort of supernatural rot.
Emerit was laughing on the side with a small group of men and women, talking about the expedition when Ade approached, firmly taking hold of her shoulder and turning her around. He did not care that she was mid-sentence because there was something he wanted to say.
“Em, you bloody knocker. For a few trills I thoughts you was gonna kill us.” He started, but it was not a stern reprimand. Instead, there was relieved smile wrinkling his face up like a dried plum. “I guess we has grown soft after the few incidents where we lost some good lads… But hey!” The old man slapped her hard across the other shoulder to surely leave a mark. “We has caughts ourselves a whale!” To that, the crowd cheered and Emerit gave one of her most dazzling smiles ever.
This was how it felt to be back home. Not what feckin Tunga and Sonja have been doing. No. This was the warmth of welcome, the appreciation of actions, the acceptance that even if she was about to make a mistake, she would be given a chance.
“Aye, Ade. Just grow a pair again and you mights as well get to my level.” Emerit jested, earning a noogie from the mountain of a man. Moments later, Ade mobilized all of them again, taking a lead to command the crew to start working away on the whale. The crowd also started to thin as everyone had their jobs to attend to and no one could spend the day marvelling at a miracle. But one thing was for sure, everyone would be progressing through their day feeling somewhat lighter.
Emerit herself joined the crew she whaled with. It was time for her to get bloodied, grappling with a specifically modified axe to skin the beast.
Breaks later, having washed the grime off of her forearms, she had a message boy come to tell her that Linca sent for her. She completely forgot about their town’s leader, a family friend to her and her now gone parents. She could have made him wait after she’s cleaned the whale smell off her skin, but then, she wanted that to be the final ritual of the day. So instead of delaying, Emerit made her way to the right yurt.
“Ay Emerit! Look at you, lass.” He exclaimed when she entered, getting up from his chair, throwing his arms wide. Linca was unlike the rest. He spoke more like an educated individual. There was less slang and mispronunciation in his speech and he held himself well. He still had rough hands of a fisher, but rose to his position justly and through equal hard work.
“Linca! So you finally show your face, hey?” She responded, coming to hold his hand at his thumb as they both half embraced to slap each other’s back.
“Well, I have to. I heard Ade’s story on what you did today. The whole town is talkin’! So I decided to stop my town business and bring you here.” He said with a wide, honest smile. Where others might have taken that statement wrong, Emerit took it as an opportunity to poke fun back at the man, disregarding the fact that he was now to be given due respect because of his position.
“Oh, your grace. How honoured I is.” Pulling off the best accent of their region, Emerit executed a wobbly bow. They both laughed. Linca knew Emerit’s father from back when they used to fish together and apparently, he was one of the first to see the twins born. Not that Em would remember, but somehow this created a connection for her and she always enjoyed this man’s company.
“So sit, sit. There is a few things I wanted to say to you as well actually.” Linca encouraged the young Biqaj before descending back into the chair himself.
“So like I said, Ade told me about the expedition on the sea today and I wanted to personally thank you, Em. That rumour,” shaking his head, Linca chuckled, “it was destabilizing Havardr. Not only were people starting to worry and that was affecting the peace in the streets, but other towns were beginning to question me which did not make things easier. Also, I guess our whalers just got afraid. You know, after the past season or two we’ve had a series of nasty accidents, losing a lot of men to the profession. My guess is that it caused extreme caution, especially among the young ones. And who knows, maybe even the whales got smarter and started swimming right on the boundary where they knew our whalers would not dare to cross.” Linca shrugged. There were a lot of possibilities and explanations. Many that he has rehearsed himself during sleepless nights Did any of them matter now? Not much since the case has been cracked and closed.
“I mean, if whales have gone farther out,” Emerit responded, thinking for a moment, “why not build better boats? Sturdier ones with contraptions for harpoon release and hooks on the sides or stuffs. One with proper railings too so that if a whale gets pissy and yanks the boat, our men don’t go flying over like dazed dancers?” It was not a groundbreaking idea. Emerit was not a genius, but this seemed almost too logical for her, something that should have been common sense. Linca knew that too, but perhaps he was too absorbed in keep appearances and other matters going that he has neglected the very core of their town. Or maybe he didn't. Who the feck cared anyways. It wasn't like Emerit would be around long enough to see. She knew eventually, she'd get the itches and leave again. But either way, Linca nodded. He knew that could be a solution. It would open up a wider territory for fishing and whaling, meaning they could hunt more, produce more and strengthen their economy.
“Yea... Yeah, that would work. But what sort of boats?” He looked at her curiously as if she held the answer.
“Well, I don’t know.” Emerit responded, shrugging and throwing her hands to the side. On one hand, she wanted to see her birth town flourish, but on the other hand, it was not her problem. “I’m no boatbuilder, Linca. Hire someone. Pay ‘em with the money you collect. Invest in our whaling. Make sure our men don’t grow soft again! Actually...” At that, she leaned forward and pointed a finger at him, part in a clear recommendation, part in judgement. “Get off your arse here and go fish with your people once in a while. You might learn a thing or two yourself, you know.”
The night was dark with storm clouds obscuring even the brightest of the stars. Not many citizens were walking down the streets as they were all bracing for a potential storm. At the end of the trials, they all lived in simple yurts. Nasty storms could have quite the nasty consequences. But no one would abandon the construction even at the face of a disaster. Oh well...one day, all would be levelled and perhaps then these people would learn of the usefulness of stone.
Emerit’s hair was still wet from the cleansing. Her soul felt lighter. She paid her homage to U’frek, did her ritual prayers and was now on her way back to the sloop, her humble accommodation. Unfortunately, Sonja was strongly against hosting Emerit and that was the last straw in their friendship. From then on, Emerit was set on avoiding the woman.
Then, as the young sailor was drawn into her own thoughts, out of nowhere, she was violently shoved the side, her feet getting knocked up from underneath her. It was so sudden, she could hardly react before she was smacked onto the ground, breath getting stuck in her throat for a moment or two. Pain shot throughout her body, originating in her back and Emerit tried to shout, either in pain or defiance. But she was already muffled by a thick hand, knee weighing down on her chest, knife edge pressed against her throat.
“You be’er not feckin meddle in thin’s, lass.” A growl came into her ear. Her eyes were the purest silver of fear. Despite being gone for so long, daring the fate and getting in more than one sticky situation, it rarely happened to Emerit that someone would attack her out of blue, let alone bring her so close to death threats. But even more than that, what shocked her the most was the person that was committing this act.
“You does any’ing like tis again. I’ll slit yer throat...outsider.” Peeter spat on the ground next to her, punctuating his words with the pressure of the knige rising, digging into her skin and as it was drawn away, slitting it open slightly on the side. It stung, much like what Emerit imagined men felt like when they cut themselves while shaving. She winced in pain, not daring to wiggle even after the bastard pushed himself off and walked away as if nothing has happened. It was hard to tell if it was the fear, the pain from the cut, or the pain from the words that kept her frozen in place.
Just what the heck was he involved in…?
