Emilie & the Hollow World - By Martha Wells Page 0,17
him? I mean...” Shut up, Emilie, she thought, realizing belatedly she hadn't been acquainted with Miss Marlende nearly long enough to ask that question.
But Miss Marlende just shook her head, her expression regretful. “He was a good friend, but I wouldn't have married him. I don't intend to marry at all. I'm not sure I ever quite convinced him that I was serious about that.” She continued, “But his death also left us with no way to send assistance to my father and the others, so we had to go to someone for help. I chose Lord Engal to approach.” She gave Kenar a dry look. “I hope I made the right choice.”
He laughed, a soft huffing noise. “It's too late to change your mind now.”
“Well, if I'd chosen Lord Ivers, I'm not sure Lord Engal would have sent men to harass us, shoot at us, and attack the ship before we left.” She leaned back, her mouth set in an ironic line. “At least I don't think so.”
“I don't think so, either,” Emilie offered. “Lord Engal isn't subtle. He seems more the shouting-at-you-in-person type.”
Miss Marlende gave her a quizzical expression. “An astute observation.”
Emilie wasn't sure if she was being teased. She said, a little stiffly, “I'm used to dealing with people who shout.”
“Who shouts at you?” Kenar asked.
“Oh, you know, my uncle.” She made what she hoped was an offhand gesture, sorry she had brought it up.
“Is that why you ran away?” Miss Marlende asked, frowning a little.
“Mostly, yes.” Emilie made the answer abrupt, hoping they wouldn't ask any more. “And my oldest brother Erin ran away to join the merchant navy and he did very well, so I was just following his example. Without the navy.” He had been obsessed with going to sea and exploration, and used to make their other two brothers play his crew. Emilie had always been his second in command. Uncle Yeric had told Erin all his life that he meant him to stay at home and go into business with their cousins who lived in another town, and had never paid much attention to Erin's own aspirations. But in this new world, with all these new people, washed by a cool breeze on the deck of a ship sailing an alien sea, she didn't want to talk about her family. She asked Kenar, “Did our world seem very strange to you?”
“Yes.” He smiled, the points of his teeth showing. “The cold weather was rather unpleasant.”
“I'm afraid the whole thing was very unpleasant,” Miss Marlende said, rubbing her forehead. “Lord Engal didn't trust Kenar's word. I'm not sure why. It's rather a large amount of trouble to go to for an elaborate hoax. And you know, Kenar's not human, and it's rather easy to prove his appearance isn't a sorcerous illusion or trick. We had to be very careful to conceal his appearance when we were in Meneport. You'd think that would have substantiated our story all by itself.”
“It did.” Kenar snorted amusement. “He thinks I'm luring you down here to kill you and take his engine.”
Emilie pointed out, “If you had Dr. Marlende down here already, then you'd have his engine. Why would you need Lord Engal's too?”
“There's that,” Kenar said dryly. “I don't want any engines.”
“Logic didn't seem to enter into it.” Miss Marlende sounded as if she was more than fed up with Lord Engal. “Every time I thought we had convinced him, he seemed to change his mind again.”
Dr. Barshion, Emilie thought. He had been suspicious of Kenar, pressing Lord Engal about it even as the expedition prepared to leave. She debated mentioning it, but she didn't want to be seen as making trouble. And probably they already know Dr. Barshion doesn't trust Kenar. Yes, of course they did. Barshion had as much as said so when they were all waiting in the lounge together.
Miss Marlende was saying, “Lord Engal kept having Kenar locked in his cabin, if you'll believe it.”
“Thank you for letting me out,” Kenar told her.
She shrugged. “It was the least I could do.”
After a time, Kenar and Miss Marlende went back inside, but Emilie spent the next couple of hours sitting in a chair on the glassed-in promenade, just watching the flooded city go by. She tried to stay awake, not wanting to miss anything, but found herself napping occasionally, drifting off in the mild sunlight and fresh air.
The towers and columns had been growing fewer, with more distance between them, for the last hour