The Riverwardens had heard of us!
Apparently there are bulletins being sent to major transport hubs and settlements telling people to be on the lookout for a group of travellers of dubious character who are wanted in conjunction with seditious rumours and the hinderance of official Skein upgrades.
According to the paperwork I have managed to subvert a respected Aethri Sonorist and have somehow gained enough leverage to force the Aethri Token Bearers to extend protection to me.
I have no idea how I would have done that!
Luckily the Riverwardens here are also part of the unofficial network which is used to communicate the more unofficial river activities. They have been in contact with Lethran and even Bern and are just as concerned about the new restrictions as we are. They say they are already seeing changes in the eel migration and water vole populations. We spent such a long time discussing the flow patterns at river bends that Elyr and Torvan had to remind us that while Sylvara was not actually getting further away, we probably should make some progress towards it before some less sympathetic workers found us!
We didn’t have to wait long, before a trading barge pulled in and the Riverwardens negotiated for us to ride with them along the river until at least the next Riverwarden station. They did not seem keen on us bringing the bear on board however. The bear seemed happy with this, I am not sure that bears naturally belong on boats.
Believe it or not I have never been on a boat either, aside from a tiny rowing boat with school. I have spent time near the river and walking along the river but water travel is quite different to what I expected. I could feel the resonance all around us, flowing in time with the water. It was much more calming than I expected, I could feel Elyr feeling it too, and even Torvan looked a little more peaceful, although he still glanced worriedly at the crew of the boat every now and again!
Leave a Reply