'Ah,' the captain said. 'Your mother—that's different, then. Mothers forgive nearly everything, but when your mother disowns you, there's no going back.'
'Hmph.' The young man shook his head. 'They don't forgive it when you've besmirched their social standing by insulting the most important person they've ever managed to lure to the dinner table, I can tell you that.'
Since Kellen had wanted to do just that, and more than once, his admiration for the young man soared. But the captain was most concerned with the reactions of the man's parents, it seemed.
'So what did they say exactly?' the captain persisted.
'That I was to leave and never return, never use their name, never intimate that I even know them, much less am related to them. It was more than just saying it,' he continued bitterly. 'They made quite a production of it, gathered all the servants and my brother and sister, and threw me out with what I'm carrying.'
All this only made the captain more cheerful. 'Ah, good!' he exclaimed. 'Then there won't be any problem!'
'Problem?' The young man seemed confused.
So was Kellen. The captain, apparently, was in a mood to explain.
'Here, take a seat.' The captain took his own invitation, and perched himself on a nearby piling. 'It's like this—the way things are, here in this City of yours, your Council wants everybody happy with the way things are, so that everything runs smooth as fine sailing. So they go out of their way to keep everybody happy. Now, a lot of times, young fellows like you get itchy feet, get the idea of traveling outside the City walls, maybe even have a bit of a to-do with their parents and decide they'd be better off somewhere else. Well, that may be so, but their parents aren't any too pleased if they find 'em gone, and it could be they've got skills or they're doing a job that needs doing here. So'—the captain shrugged—'when someone like me takes 'em aboard, sometimes there's trouble. Sometimes there's a search before we leave the dock, sometimes before we leave the harbor, and sometimes, if the lad's got an important enough family, those magick barriers that keep the storms out keep us in until we've handed the lad over.'
I knew it! I knew it! Kellen thought. I knew the Mages were keeping people from leaving, somehow —
But there went any hope he had of escaping. Not with Lycaelon as a father. If he went missing, well— Lycaelon would probably keep anything larger than an ant from getting out of the City until Kellen was found and brought back.
'But for you,' the captain continued, looking positively gleeful, 'well, your parents have done it, haven't they? And the Council knows that tryin' to keep their paws on a restless lad like you, cast out of his own family and liable to cause trouble, even if he doesn't mean it, well, that's not going to make for a peaceful City. Bet you've been doin' a bit of tavern brawling, hmm? Been in trouble with the Watch, just a bit?'
The young man flushed. 'And if I have?' he demanded.
'Now, don't come all over toplofty on me!' the captain remonstrated. 'Really, it's all to your good! Council knows they're better off lettin' you go! And you aren't the only one, not by a stretch! There's a steady leak of young fellows like you, and a few older ones too, all heading for the Out Isles like you, or the Selken Holds, or maybe through the gates for the farms, I don't know. Not a lot of you, maybe, but it lets the steam out, so to speak. Council knows they've got to do that, or face trouble, later.'
The young man took a deep breath, then let it out, his anger going with it. 'All right for me, then, I suppose. I shouldn't take it amiss. And I won't.' His expression cleared. 'No, I won't! It's a gift, and I'll take it.' He stood up, and slung his bag over his shoulder. 'Mind if I come aboard, then?'
'Be my guest,' the captain replied genially. 'We sail in an hour— that's half a bell to you—our cargo has already gotten its inspection, and there won't be anyone by to look at it before we leave,' the captain said. 'We'll be under way as soon as we get this lot loaded.'
The two of them went up the gangplank, still oblivious to Kellen. He might not have even been there.
Or had it been the Wild Magic helping him? It could have been, easily enough, even though he hadn't actually done anything with it. The Book of Sun said that it might act on its own, through him or on him, when it wanted something done. It might have wanted him to know that escape was possible. It might also have wanted him to know that he would not be able to get out as easily as the young man he'd just seen.
Suddenly Kellen lost his taste for the docks, and for gazing out at a freedom he could not have.
There was money in his pocket, and a tavern nearby. Not that he was going to get drunk… No, but if he bought a round of drinks, he'd soon find someone willing to tell him tales of their travels in return for more drinks. Perhaps he could steer the conversation in the direction of magick, if he was very careful. He might even learn something more about the Wild Magic that way.
He tossed string and stick into the water, and left his perch, weaving his way carefully among the dock laborers until he came to the door of what passed for a respectable drinking establishment out here. It was dark, reeked of fish, and the furnishings were crude benches and tables. The only food available was battered, fried, and highly salted to encourage thirst. As he entered, the half-dozen sailors perched at the tables eyed him with
