Blood Moons Rising

Chapter 13

The boat shook, and Nevada groaned as she was forced awake. She was immediately uncomfortable, her skin burning from its exposure to the sun. Qetzl was shouting and grabbing their things, and she heard other voices, voices shouting at them in other languages from farther away. She forced herself up and blinked her eyes to clarity, realizing they were beached near a harbor. The sight of a city was nearly jarring after so long, and it took her a moment to scramble for her bag.

She and Qetzl disembarked, and the moment her feet touched the ground the ship began to retreat back to the water. The protesting voices grew silent as it pulled back and then sank into the water as it got farther out to sea.

After it was gone, all eyes were on the two of them. She signed, but no one seemed to understand what she was saying. She approached the nearest person who seemed to be in authority, the person the others were turning to. He asked her a question, but she didn't understand the tongue. She put her hands over her ears to show she could not hear, and the man's face changed.

She signed and said a few words, a little too loud, in Anthean, and then he gestured for them to follow him. Nevada tilted her head at Qetzl, telling him to come along. Making their way up the beach was the worst part, the sand feeling like knives on her worn out, dry and cracked feet. She hadn't realized she was so dehydrated, but it should have been expected considering she hadn't had fresh water in days. Once they were on the streets it was easier, the stones nice and cool in the shadows of the structures in the early morning.

The buildings were more modern and better structured than the ones in Anthean. Rather than feeling medieval, it felt more like she had stepped into some weird solarpunk version of the 19th century. There was no soot and pollution, but all the markers of the industrial revolution and the early stages of higher technology were there. They even had clocks. That wasn't a thing she thought she missed, but she had.

People stared at them, mostly because the majority of them weren't used to seeing half-naked people in the street. Not to mention, they both looked pretty rough. The man brought them to a building, and Nevada got excited when she read the sign. It had words in many languages, but one of them was Anthean and read "Port of Pallais Immigration and Refugee Processing Center." She never thought a set of words like that could get her excited, but they did. It was a rectangular building with a decorated dome atop it, a statue of a God Nevada vaguely recognized from her research about Lanatel sitting out front. She thanked the man in her language of signs and hoped it got across, before grabbing Qetzl's hand and leading him inside.

Inside it was rather crowded, busy. They had to wait for hours to be seen, but at least there was water easily available. At some point, one of the other people waiting in line gave her a blanket, and she tied it around herself to function as a more appropriate dress. Once her thirst was slaked after her fifth cup of water, her stomach began to grumble and she began to feel the aching in her muscles and her head. She was still far behind in the line.

Eventually, the office closed, and those that had nowhere else to go were crowded into a room and assigned a cot. If she wasn't trying to put on a ruse she would have complained about the system, maybe made a fuss, but she didn't want to speak too much and give herself away. Besides, she was too tired. Qetzl didn't like being separated from her to be placed in the male section of the room. Nevada was with the women and children, getting a few stares at her cobalt arm. No one, however, seemed to recognize her.

She remembered, from meeting others before, that most did not seem to mention her mottled skin or her various disabilities when telling stories of her. She still didn't know how to feel about it. She lay on the cot, her pack hugged tight against her body. It may be a different world, and usually functioned on different rules, but she wasn't going to take a chance at her things getting stolen.