The Sixth Day

The Sixth Day

Drue’s arrival outside Marinth Bay attracted attention despite his efforts to prevent it.
He and Anderix landed after dark in an abandoned quarry several kilometres from the city. Dasher immediately consumed the food they had carried for the final day and demanded more by striking his beak against Drue’s pack.
“You ate this morning,” Drue told him.
Dasher struck the pack again.
“He believes the factual accuracy of your statement is unrelated to his present condition,” Anderix said.
“I understood that.”
They entered the outer market shortly after dawn. Dasher remained in the quarry with instructions Drue knew he would ignore if left for long enough.
Drue approached a fish stall while Anderix stood several paces away without his mechanical eyepiece. Anderix was confident that without his backpack and Augmentation that he would blend in like sand in a rug. Dure still had his doubts and had suggested he wait back until he had mingled with the people and bought what they needed.
The fishmonger looked at Drue’s clothing. “Hello Traveller, you're not from around here are you?”
“No, I am wisiting family her.”
“Oh who are they? I probably know them, I know everyone in the lower quarter of Marinth Bay and they all know me and they love my fish.
“Oh you vouldn’t know dem.”
“Well if they had an accent like yours I certainly would.” What are you Ironroot, Emberwild?”
“Ah, I am from.. .” Drue paused and pondered if he should start making things up which might get him into more trouble or if he should say things close to the truth and have less to cover.
“Ashually I am yust vant to buy dem fish, Thanks you.”
“Who did you say your family was?”
“I am didn’t.”
“Running from someone?”
“Is dere discount if I yam?”
The fishmonger grinned. “What do you need?”
“Fish.”
The stall contained enough fish to make the answer unhelpful.
“What kind?”
“De inexpensive parts.”
“Which parts?”
“Heads. Shpines. Insides. Anysink vits meat left on its.”
The fishmonger’s expression changed. “Animal feed?”
Drue glanced around. “No, what are you say like dis for.” Where I am from ve eat like dis.”
“Where did you say you were from?”
“I didn’t say.”
Anderix could see things were not going as planned and decided that he may be of use.
The fishmonger stared when his friends arrived and just stood there. He asked is he with you?
“Yes, ve are togetzer.”
“Oh I see and you are worried what people will think? Please don’t worry we don’t differentiate between couples here. “Do you eat fish heads?”
“No!” Drue said almost too loudly and a few market shoppers turned to see where the loud interjection had come from. Drue noticed this and then quieter the second time repeated. “No, sank you. Ve are yust friends.”
“Oh course you are,” He winked at Drue and said, “Don’t worry my nephew likes “the inexpensive parts” too. Really it is not a thing here.
Anderix saw this was getting worse so he slipped his hand into Drues and stood closer.
“Just go with it now Drue, sweetie. People are looking and as the nice man said it is really not a thing here.”
Drue had initially reacted to pull his hand away and then as Anderix offered a quick end to the nightmare he acquiesced and held on and locked fingers with Anderix. Drue sighed deeply and said, “Alright. I guess we are a couple then.”
Anderix continued in perfect Thalorian “If you don’t mind, we have a dinner party tonight. Lots of Eurd’s family will be there and we really have to get going. Can we have lots of the parts of the fish that you usually throw away as excess to your needs?
The fishmonger smiled and filled up a straw basket with off cuts and innards and many fish heads. He reached down under the table and said.. “and you can have this one too since you are having a big party. Actually you are doing me a favour as I won’t have to get rid of this tonight. That will be 3 quarter gold pieces.
Drue was relieved that the fish was now within grasp and really felt odd holding Anderix’s hand so he smiled his best smile and dropped the money on the table saying. “Sank you! Mrs. Fishmonjur.”
Drue grabbed one basket and Anderix the other. “He means thank you.”
They walked away very quickly, “What was that?”
“I saw your effort to go unnoticed was not working well so I rescued you.”
“I hardly needed rescue and then I had to pretend that you were my partner.. And you never told me you speak Thalorian. Why didn’t you say you spoke Thalorian?
“You never asked.”
“Alright, we feed Dasher. Make camp for the night and never speak of this again.”
“Oh, Sveetheart don’t be likes dat. It vill break mine heart”
Drue failed to see the humour in the moment but as he stormed away and didn’t look back he realised that was the most aethorian Anderix had ever been and he started laughing until he was heard by Anderix who was walking behind quite proud of his acting ability.

They camped north of Marinth Bay that evening. Conversations included how Anderix had managed to learn Thalorian and how the bones of fish made an excellent soup and of course some laughter as they relived the market scene several times with some new lines. Drue thought perhaps taking off the "augmentation" did something to make Anderix more like him but didn’t want to offend him so kept that to himself.
Dasher slept with his head beneath one wing after consuming both sacks minus a helping for hearty soup. Drue even cooked the fish cheeks with some rice from his pack and made a very edible second course.
Anderix sat beside the fire without his eyepiece. He had been quieter since the market and his surprising solution to the identification crisis.
“You can put it back on,” Drue said.
“It identifies me too easily.”
“So does speaking like a Mechanum, though your Thalorian was excellent.”
“I cannot reasonably discontinue speaking.”
“I had’nt considered suggesting it until now.”
Anderix fitted the leather strap around his head and adjusted the lenses over his eye. Small brass rings shifted into place.
The firelight doubled in the glass.
“May I ask you a personal question?” he said.
“No.”
“Do you retain a romantic claim on Tajan?”
Drue inhaled a piece of fish off a spoon and began coughing.
Anderix waited.
When Drue recovered, he pointed the cooking knife at him. “Never ask anyone that again.”
“Why?”
“Tajan is not a disputed shipping route.”
“I did not suggest she was.”
“You asked whether I owned a claim.”
“Social relationships frequently involve expectations of exclusivity that the participants describe using less precise language.”
“Tajan belongs to Tajan.”
“I understand legal autonomy.”
“I am not talking about law.”
“Neither was I.”
Drue put down the knife. “Do you like her?”
Anderix stared into the fire. “Yes.”
The simplicity of the answer surprised both of them.
“How much?”
“I do not possess a useful unit.”
“Of course you don’t.”
“When she is absent, I anticipate what she would say. When she is present, I become aware that my anticipated version was inaccurate.”
“That sounds like Tajan.”
“She understands my physical sensations before I do. She also looks directly at the eyepiece when speaking to me.”
“Most people try not to?”
“Yes.”
Drue poked the fire.
“I cared about her,” he said. “I still do. We did not work.”
“Why?”
“Because caring about someone and being able to build a life with them are not the same thing.”
“Do you believe she and I could build one?”
Drue thought about their differences in culture, language and manners and then he thought about the warrant, their quest and the dangers that lay ahead.
“Solaryn and Mechanum are not too far apart, your cultures even share some similarities and some foods.” he said. “Prison and living in fear of being set upon is a difficult challenge for a relationship. You are both fixed in a lot of ways but maybe if you love each other you might bend for each other and make it work.
“That is a negative assessment.”
“It is an accurate one.”
“Then you recommend that I discontinue the attachment?”
“I recommend surviving first and courting her afterward.”
Anderix watched the sparks rise.
“But you do not object?”
Drue’s answer took longer than he intended.
“No,” he said. “You do not need my permission, but you have my blessing if that is what you are asking.”
“Thank you.”
“Do not make me regret it.”
“What actions would.....”
“That was not a request for a list.”

The company reunited on the sixth day beneath the wind towers of Marinth Bay.
Drue, Anderix and Dasher waited at the edge of the park by the market square. Dasher spied Blena and the company and ruined any possibility of a discreet reunion by crossing the market square at a run and nearly knocked Blena into a fountain. Drue and Anderix followed.
“Look, it's the foreign couple!” The fishmonger said to the stall next to his. “I knew that wasn’t for a party. Look at the size of that griffon.” Then he waved at Anderix and Drue. “Morning! I have a new catch in and lots of heads and tails”.
Alster said, “What is all that about?”
“Oh nothing. We were trying to keep a low profile and bought from his stall last night.”
“Well, it doesn't seem like you were the slightest bit successful.’
“It doesn’t matter anyway. My father has put some things into place that could make Thalorian Tide a safe haven for us.” Kaelen let them know.
“Now zey tell us!” Anderix said to Drue who slapped him playfully up the back of the head.
“I said never again!” and he gave him a rye smile.
“The fishmonger watching them saw the affectionate slap and said to his friend proudly. “I have a nephew like that.”
Kaelen and Alster looked at each other and then back at them. “What is going on with you two. One too many trips together?”
“You won’t believe this but Anderix has a sense of humour but you can only see it when he is acting!”
“I believe I have a sound sense of humour most of the time but it is inefficient for scientific discourse and research so I default to standard Mechanum communication norms.”
Blena meanwhile was letting Dasher rub his head against her and emerged wet and furious. “I liked you better from a distance!”
Dasher lowered his head and pushed it against her shoulder.
“He is apologizing,” Drue said.
“He is searching me for food.”
Dasher found an apple in her pocket.
“That was mine!”
Tajan embraced Drue, then Anderix. Her hands paused briefly at the sides of Anderix’s face when she saw his smile as he greeted her.
“You seem....happy?”
“It is good to see you.... all.”
Drue watched him process the response and decided not to help.
After a full day in the city, Anderix at the Market with Alster looking for scrap, Drue had refused to go with him. The others were organising accommodation and supplies. Kaelen gathered the company inside an empty sailmaker’s loft at night.
He spread a copied plan of the Navigation Hall across a makeshift table.
“We enter here,” he said, pointing to the eastern research entrance. “Licensed navigators can reserve a charging cradle for experimental work. The cradle allows for only one crystal at a time and they will record it as they are only allowed to recharge within their quota each month.”
“We possess neither a reservation nor permission to add our crystals to their quota,” Alster said.
“Yes.”
“That sounds like two problems.”
“There are more.”
“Excellent,” Blena said. “I worried this might be simple.”
“The authorized cradle accommodates one crystal at a time. But Anderix will help us with some Mechanum technology that will distribute its charge between multiple crystals in 3 alternate chargers at the same time.”Anderix will create the three simple devices and only connect the one crystal to the charger concealing the fact that we are drawing more power. We charge up and get out.
The frames were made from mismatched wire, magnetic stones and fragments of metal taken from damaged equipment in Anderix’s pack.
Drue picked one up. “This looks like something used to trap a particularly small rat.”
“It is a parallel charging cradle.”
“It can be both Sveetie.”
They were all now privy to the market story and everyone of them burst out laughing.
Anderix got back to presenting when the laughter subdued but was really appreciating the way humour diffuses stress. As I was saying “Metal suitable for conduction was difficult to acquire. In Mechanum, I would have access to copper.”
“We can return if you like,” Blena said. “I understand the authorities miss you.”
“I used wire from my field devices instead.”
Kaelen looked at Anderix’s open tool case. Several instruments had been stripped of their internal coils.
“Those devices were important.”
“One detected structural movement. Another created a pulse capable of disabling a mechanical lock. The third regulated the focusing lens and all of them required power crystals so we are probably better off without them.”
“You may need them.”
“Possibly in the future.”
“And you dismantled them anyway?”
Anderix met his gaze. “We require power crystals more immediately.”
No one made another joke about the appearance of the cradles, the market or going back to Mechanum.
The wire was still too short.
Anderix could connect the legal crystal to only one of his frames unless he placed the others directly against the primary charging assembly, where they would be visible to anyone entering the charging laboratory.
“Either we charge them slower or we adapt once inside,” Kaelen said.
“The motto of your Crestrealm is becoming an excuse for insufficient planning,” Anderix replied.
“It has been used for worse.”
Kaelen looked again at the plan of the Navigation Hall.
“Then tomorrow,” he said, “we become authorized researchers.”
Blena examined the forged documents. “And if that fails?”
Anderix placed his crude charging cradles upon the table.
“Then we adapt.”

Thy Quest: How Does Humor Build Trust?
Explain how the fishmonger misunderstanding and the later jokes change Drue and Anderix. Use evidence from the chapter to show what each man learns about the other.