“Oh, great. Lady Mari.” She sighed heavily as they rushed on toward the pier. “From you I like that, but if everyone is going to be using it as some sort of title I’d almost rather be called the daughter.”
The conversation reminded Alain of something else. “Who is Mara?”
Mari turned a perplexed look on him. “Where did you hear that name?”
“On the Sun Runner. Someone said you might be Mara, whoever that is.”
Mari was looking straight ahead. “I’m not Mara. That’s all you have to know. And don’t you ever, ever call me that. Understand?”
“Yes, but—”
“How did they know that you’re a Mage?”
“I had to reveal that to keep them from charging the Mechanics after you went down the ladder.”
“Lady Mari and her Mage,” Mari sighed. “To think once I was just Master Mechanic Mari. What ship are we looking for again?”
“The White Wing.” They were at the waterfront now and rushing toward a boat where the sailors were already untying the lines holding it to the pier.
“Hold on!” Mari cried, then she and Alain ran the last distance to the boat.
A ship’s officer who wasn’t trying to hide his annoyance looked at their tickets, then waved them aboard before shouting at his crew to get moving.
As Mari and Alain settled in on some seats, an older couple facing them nodded in greeting. “Good thing you made it,” the man commented. “The sailors heard something a little while ago about the Imperials or one of the Great Guilds wanting to shut down this harbor. They wanted to be sure their ship got out before that happened.”
Mari spoke in the puzzled voice of an innocent traveler. “Why would the Imperials or one of the Great Guilds want to close this harbor?”
“Who knows? There has been a lot strangeness going around these days. Rumors, you know.” The older man glanced around for Mechanics or Mages within earshot, then nodded with grim satisfaction. “She has come at last. The masters know their days are numbered.”
His wife smiled in anxious agreement, then bent a concerned look at Mari. “You look a bit like the descriptions we’ve heard of her,” the woman whispered. “Best be careful of any Mages or Mechanics you see. They might mistake you for her.”
Her husband frowned at Mari. “She doesn’t look anything like her.”
“I’m sure you’re right, dear,” his wife said with a conspiratorial wink to Mari.
Mari winked back, then smiled at Alain.
The wife smiled wider. “I know that look. Newlyweds?”
“As of about twenty minutes ago,” Mari replied.
“There, you see?” the husband said. “She couldn’t be the daughter. No one ever said the daughter would be married.”
“No one ever said she wouldn’t be,” the wife rejoined. “Congratulations to you both. Perhaps your children will be free.”
“They will be,” Mari said with a calm certainty that drew looks of surprise from both man and woman.
The wife gazed at her with a sudden suspicion dawning, then smiled again, this time proudly. “I am very glad to have met you.”
The boat had no sooner pulled alongside the White Wing than the passengers were hustled up the accommodation ladder and the boat itself hooked up to its davits and raised into position. Mari and Alain were still walking across the deck when a whistle sounded and sailors raced into the rigging above them to unfurl sails. The White Wing lived up to her name as brilliant expanses of white canvas filled in the breeze, catching the wind and bringing the ship around as the anchor was rapidly hauled in.
Mari brought Alain to the rail, where they watched as the ship bore across the harbor, tacking once to clear the breakwater, and out into the open sea. The sun was setting now, dropping in the west behind the mountains of the largest of the Sharr Isles. In the harbor some other merchant ships were also scrambling to get underway, but Mari pointed past them. “Look at the sailors going up into the rigging on those Imperial warships. They’re getting ready to move. And those people on the breakwater, I bet you that they’re preparing to raise the chain across the harbor mouth.”
“This might have been the last ship to get out of the harbor,” Alain observed.
Mari sighed. “Even though it almost caused us to be stuck here, I don’t regret taking the time to marry you before we left. Do you think we’ll ever be back here?”
“Perhaps not, since these islands are dominated by the Empire. But we can see your family again even if we never return here. They may need to leave for their own safety.”
Her hand tightened on his. “Our family, Alain. Remember? It’s official now that we’re married.”
“I have felt it was so since your mother spoke those words.” Alain looked at her, trying to smile. “This day I have gained a wife and a family.”
“Uh-huh.” Mari’s smile became wicked. “Speaking of which, the sun is setting, Alain. Maybe we should see what our cabin is like. You know, how comfortable it is. What the bed is like. Stuff like that.”
He barely had time to ensure that the door to their cabin was locked behind them before she was in his arms, kissing him and pulling at his clothing.
Chapter Twelve
On the third day out from Caer Lyn, Mari had relaxed sufficiently to suggest that they mingle a little with the other passengers. “If my Guild hasn’t intercepted this ship by now, we should be safe for the rest of the journey. We could try to find some commons our age and see what they’re like. We can’t spend the entire voyage in our cabin.”
“I like being together in our cabin,” Alain replied.
“You like being together in our bed in our cabin! Even on a honeymoon couples are supposed to get out and breathe fresh air every once in a while.”
“Being on a honeymoon gives us the perfect excuse for staying in our cabin where no one can recognize you,” Alain pointed out.
“Alain, I will suffocate if I don’t get out a bit,” Mari said. “As much as I love you and as much I’m enjoying getting physical with my new husband, I cannot endure being locked in a room for days on end. I need freedom.”
He had finally understood, then, and agreed to try to mingle with others. Which was a big concession from someone who had been brought up as a Mage, Mari knew. She thanked him with a kiss, which led to another, which led to other things.
They managed to make it out of their cabin for dinner.
The dining room on the ship was fairly fancy, decked out with shining brass and gleaming woodwork. The dining room ran across the entire width of the ship, and portholes on both sides provided light and could be opened for air in good weather. Mari led Alain toward a table where five men and women about their age were already seated and eating, introducing herself and Alain using the false names on their current set of forged Imperial identification papers.
Two of the men and one of the women were in the Western Alliance military, the other man and woman friends of theirs, the entire group finishing up a trip to the Sharr Isles “while things are sort of quiet,” as one of the soldiers put it.
Mari mostly listened, trying to get a better feel for these people who were like her and yet not like her. She had spent most of her childhood in a Mechanics Guild Hall, learning not only the science and technology of the Mechanic arts but also living within the closed society of the Mechanics Guild. Commons had lived very different lives. They represented diverse cultures, but all had been brought up in the shadow of the Great Guilds, whereas Mari had been taught to be one of their rulers. Never comfortable with that role, Mari had grown increasingly ashamed of what she had once believed to be the proper order of things.