"Sheri S. Tepper - Awakeners 2 - Southshore" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

need laughter."
He assented. "Six, then. Porabji, Dooraz, Borab, and Eenzie. You, Highness. And
me."
"You, Noteen?"
"I will send the troupe back to the steppes. Nunoz can take them."
"I had not thought of you, Noteen."
"You object?" He asked it humbly enough.
She thought of this. He had not bullied her more than he had bullied anyone else.
She could detect no animosity against him in herself. "Why not. And I have a
thought about it, Noteen. You will command our group. So far as they are
concerned, Queen Fibji's message came to you."
He thought on this, overcoming his immediate rejection of the idea as he
confronted her thoughtful face. It might be better, he thought to himself, if no one
knew who Medoor Babji was. "It might be safer for you," he murmured.
"I was not thinking of that," she said. "So much as the comfort of the voyage. We
have done well enough with me as a novice. Why complicate things?"
"Thrasne owner doesn't know?"
"I told him we were ordered to go. I didn't tell him the seeker birds came to me, or
what words they carried."

file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/S...er%20-%20Awakeners%202%20-%20Southshore.htm (13 of 214) [10/31/2004 11:18:19 PM]
 SOUTHSHORE-Awakeners 2


"Do you have enough coin to pay him?"
"Strange though it may seem, Taj Noteen, he isn't doing it for coin, or at least not
primarily for coin, but yes. I have enough." Among the tokens she carried was
one that would open the coffers of money lenders in Thou-ne. The Noor had
accounts in many parts of Northshore.
"We'll need more yet for stores. How long a voyage do we plan?"
"Queen Fibji commands us to provision for a year. A full year. We will need most
of the hold space for stores. Thrasne knows that."
"Well then, I'll get Dooraz and Porabji ready. They're good storesmen, both of
them."
And it began.
Thrasne talked to the crew. He didn't give them his reasons, just told them they'd
be well paid. Several of the men told him they'd go ashore, thanks for everything
but they were not really interested in a voyage that long. Thrasne nodded and let
them go. The others chewed it over for a time.
"You'll want me to replace the ones that left," Obers-rom said at last. "We'll need
full crew, Thrasne owner. I don't suppose those blackfaces will be up to much in
the way of helping on a boat."
"I don't suppose so. And we'd better get in the habit of callin' 'em by their names,
Obers-rom. Or just say 'Noor.' They count that as polite."
Obers-rom agreed. He hadn't meant anything by it. Boatmen weren't bigoted.
They couldn't be. They'd never make a copper if they couldn't deal with all kinds.
And it was Obers-rom who worked with Zyneem Porabji and Fez DoorazтАФthey
were Obbie and Zynie and Fez within the dayтАФto fill the Gift of Potipur's holds.
From the purveyors and suppliers they ordered dried fish and pickled fish and
salted fish, grain in bulk, grain in dry cakes, and grain in flour, dried fruit, jam,