The Ferryman's Ledger

Account of fares paid to the seamen of Port Sarim, kept by the Chronicler for the Realm's auditors. To be countersigned by the squire, who cannot reach a pen from the side of the door he is on.

Fare the first, seven minutes past noon: thirty coins, Karamja. Fare the second, the same minute: thirty coins, Karamja. In between he wrote one line: he could not get back into the mansion. Fares the third and fourth, eight minutes past: sixty coins, Karamja, Karamja. Fare the fifth, nine minutes past: thirty coins, Karamja. He then fell asleep on the road. He woke at eleven minutes past and paid six more fares in the next four minutes, all to Karamja. Eleven crossings. Three hundred and thirty coins. The seamen did not ask why. He believes they have stopped asking.

The Labour had begun well, and briefly. At five past noon he declared at the Heroes' Guild door that he would bring three things: a firebird's feather, a lava eel and a master thief's armband. Within a minute Achietties had named them, and the feather and the eel were entered as done. Three of five before the ink was dry. Ten hours had been set aside. He used twelve minutes of them reaching the conclusion that Scarface Pete's mansion does not want him back.

At a quarter past the Book set the armband aside after six failed tries. Shortly after that the Labour ended where it stood, three of five, unfinished. He does not claim the title Hero of the Guild. He has not been offered it either.

On the far shore the squire stands in Pete's side room, six tiles short of Grip, and has failed to cross that space five times in two minutes. Above them the fishing folk of the Realm, Onyx, Slate, Lazuli and others, complained to the open air about a council that charges rent on the tide. The Chronicler has some sympathy. He has paid rent on the sea eleven times today.