31. Action, where are you?

 

A good rest. That was what Daniel decided he'd had when he woke up. The talk with Tomlin and his wife, the evening away, it had done him well. The meal had been so copious that he decided to skip breakfast. Instead, he went outside and set off for a long walk. Tomlin had done what he could, getting people together. Now there was nothing to do that waiting for the mystery man to call again, and that would be through the hydger. As long as he had that thing with him, he would be fine.

With a newspaper under his arm, he had picked that up at a small stall, Daniel strolled along the waterline. He kept his back to the harbour. The sight of it was something he did not want to inflict on himself, there were too many memories there that were just waiting to jump him.

Instead, he looked at the water, and occasionally tried to figure out patterns in the cobblestone path he was walking over. A sudden thought made him grin. How old was this path? Would Flish have walked over it? It surprised him how many of his thoughts were revolving around this character.

Daniel reached a bench where he sat down. He opened the newspaper and looked through it. In the first days after his return to Skarak, there had been reports about the Pricosine being captured, and some articles had gone on a wild goose chase about the destiny of its sailors. Now there was nothing. How quickly people forgot and moved on, he thought. Same thing everywhere.

A smile curled his lips when suddenly he thought of Troy. How would he be doing on the planet of shit? Would he still be there? Or would he have found a way to leave that place already? And sergeant O'Shaughnessy? Burt?

Daniel took the hydger and started to fiddle with it, until he had the relay address for messages to the star base. He then frowned. "Don't tell me..." He could not recall Burt's address to receive messages. "Oh, bloody crap." He did remember the address for Rhonda. Slowly he worked on getting the message into the machine.

'Hello Rhonda. How are you? Things here are definitely strange. Got thrown off a pirate ship. I want to write to Burt. Can you send me his address please, I lost it. I am very sorry that you left so quickly after patching me up, I really need to thank you. Again. Love, Daniel.'

He read the message again. He deleted one of the last two words. Then he sent the message. When it was gone he cursed himself for removing that one word.

Daniel put away the device, folded up the newspaper and continued his walk along the water. He tried to think of alternatives to saving the Pricosine crew, ignoring strongly the fact that they might already be dead. He tried to think of former comrades of the military who might be able to help. Because he had to do something.

He ended up in a restaurant he had not seen before. It was a small place, near the outskirts of Skarak. From where he sat, he had a beautiful view over the water. As the restaurant was small, the staff there ran out of free tables quickly.

"Excuse me, sir," a waiter asked Daniel, "would you mind sharing your table?"

Daniel saw a charming lady waiting behind the man. "Oh, not at all. I'd be glad to share."

"Thank you, sir. You are truly a gentleman," the lady said as the waiter sat her down. She wore a simple, light blue dress. Her skin was very pale and a lot of it was visible from her shoulders down. Her dark hair was pinned up except for a few curls that seemed to have escaped the pins.

"I'd feel terrible, knowing that a lady had been kept waiting when there are seats available here," Daniel said.

The lady, sending the waiter on his way with her order, smiled at Daniel, looking at him with big green eyes. "You do not sound like you are from here, if you don't mind me saying so, sir."

"You are correct, my lady. Allow me to introduce myself. Daniel Zacharias."

"Daniel Zacharias... Oh! You are the man who fought a hundred pirates and lives to tell! How exciting!" The lady clasped her hands together for a moment. "My name is Melia Rasha ko Halepoi."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Rasha ko Halepoi," Daniel said, being utmost courteous. "And the truth about the pirates is quite different from what you seem to have heard."

"Miss Rasha ko Halepoi," she said, "and I would be honoured if you would call me Melia."

"Only if you call me Daniel," he smiled.

"I'd be delighted. Daniel."

They chatted as they were eating, Daniel told her a few things about how things with the pirates had really happened.

Melia was surprised and excited and looked very sad too, as she heard how he had managed to survive. "Some people I know, Daniel," she said as she swiftly touched the back of his hand, "speak highly of you as they have heard the wrong truth. The one you saved me from. I am sure that they will think even more highly of you after living through all these ordeals."

Melia was a very nice person, Daniel thought. She didn't strike him as such a stuck up and pampered puppet as some of the women he had met here.

"I would never have thought of meeting you in person, Daniel. I am surprised that you are not out there, rescuing more ships and all these heroic things."

Daniel shrugged. "There are things going on that I cannot influence at the moment. So I am free to spend my time the way I see fit."

"Such a wonderful coincidence," Melia said, "I am all free too this afternoon. A student cancelled her double lesson, and I doubt someone will call upon me on such short notice."

"You are a teacher?"

"Yes," she nodded as she picked up her teacup. "I teach music." Somewhere she had mastered the art of smiling widely while sipping tea.

Daniel had once met someone who played a guitar. "What music do you teach, Melia? I must admit that I am quite the barbarian in that field."

"Oh dear, Daniel." Suddenly her hand rested on his. "I should do something about that then, shouldn't I? I play and teach the horn-violin."

"The... what?"

Melia giggled. "Oh, you. Have you never heard a horn-violin?"

"Until now, dear Melia, I had never even heard of it."

Melia stared at him, her green eyes seemed to become pools of pity. "Now, really, Daniel." She wrapped her hands around one of his and held it. "I'll make sure you get educated. I hope you will like that."

Daniel was glad with the attention of the pretty woman and her interesting occupation. "I would really like to learn more about your music, Melia."

After they had both finished, Daniel insisted on paying for Melia's meal. She seemed completely surprised and not used to that. Before walking out, Daniel hesitantly offered her his arm, which she gladly accepted.

"I am not sure if this is a proper thing to ask, Daniel," Melia said, "I have never been one of the women here that do the proper thing. But would you come with me, so I can show you my instruments? And show you how to play them?"

Daniel was not sure what to answer for a few moments. He had met this woman something like an hour ago and now she proposed this. "I am sure I'd be delighted, Melia."

"Oh, good!" She squeezed his arm for a moment. She told him that she lived not very far from the restaurant, and that it would be a very nice walk as the weather was all kinds of wonderful. "We can cross through the streets with the shops, which is always nice," she chatted, "and from there it is mere minutes."

Arm in arm they strolled through a public garden, where Melia pointed out all kinds of flowers. She proved to be very knowledgeable about them, telling him their names, where they came from, and about the healing powers that was in some of them. "You see that pink one, with the long drooping petals? It is poisonous, but only the small petals that are in the centre. The ones that are so brightly coloured. The rest are safe."

"Why would you have poisonous flowers in a public garden?" Daniel wondered. "That is dangerous."

"Everyone on the planet knows about them," Melia answered.

"And people like me, who don't know about them?" Daniel looked back at the flowers they had passed.

"They should read the sign at the entrance, Daniel, the one that says you should not touch the plants."

"That is so unfair, Melia," Daniel said, wondering where the words suddenly came from, "how can I look at a sign when there is such a pretty woman walking next to me?"

She stopped walking and beamed at his words. "That is so sweet, Daniel. Maybe you feel it is a bit more fair if the woman is pretty enough for you not to notice the flowers?"

Daniel smiled and touched her cheek. "The flowers are no match for you, Melia."

A few people who walked through the garden looked at them, eyebrows were raised, and Daniel couldn't care less.

Melia's face turned red quickly, as a blush spread over her cheeks. "You should not say that, Daniel. You don't know me."

"But I can see you. And the view is very nice from this distance." Melia took his hand down and kept it under control by slipping her arm in his again. In silence they passed through the garden. Melia was rather flustered and forgot to point out more flowers.

They were only a few streets away from the rather busy shopping area. The beautiful weather had lured many people outside, and this made walking along a very slow affair. Melia proved to be no stranger here. She knew every shop and what they sold, the best places for bargains and the names of at least half the people they met in the streets. No one made any remark about Melia and Daniel walking together, they were greeted in the most friendly fashion.

"Oh Daniel, look, here!" Sudden excitement seemed to grab Melia as she almost dragged him to the window of a shop. It looked dark and murky inside, and at first Daniel was not sure what he should make of the few items in the window. He saw something that looked like half a violin, a few pieces that might have belonged to a trumpet or trombone, and strings. He knew strings. Guitars had strings.

"This is what I play most," Melia said, an almost loving look on her face.

"Oh. Really." Daniel stared at the items and wondered how that together might make an instrument. Or perhaps they were all separate instruments.

The woman at his side laughed. "Poor Daniel... you were not joking when you said you are a musical barbarian. Come, let me take you inside. You can meet Master Cloris who makes all the beautiful things."

They entered the shop. It took Daniel's eye a while to get used to the dark innards of the place, but Melia seemed to know her way around. Quickly he was taken to the back of the store where a wrinkled man in an amazing outfit was busy working on a large brass cylinder. The man wore brown pinstriped pants and a shirt that had lost all memory of being white. Over that he wore a thick leather apron. He had a large wrench in his hands with which he was tightening a big lump that was meant to keep a metal pipe in place.

Daniel stared at the man's head, though. On his forehead there was the most extraordinary pair of goggles he had ever seen. They were made of copper or brass, had strange metal spikes protruding from it everywhere, and the whole thing was held in place with strips of leather.

"GRAAAAAAHHHHH", the man, who had to be Master Cloris, groaned as he pulled the wrench with all his might. The wrench did not move. Nor did the cylinder. "Gotcha," the man said. He tried to remove the wrench from the bolt. The wrench again did not move.

"Master Cloris?" Melia spoke gently, as if she was afraid to yank the man from his work.

The man looked. "Oh!! Melia!! How nice to see such a friendly face!" He came over to her and frantically shook her hand. "And who have you brought? Another pupil? Ah, yes, maybe you are interested in this new instrument I am making, wait, let me show you."

The man scurried off without another word. As he was busy somewhere in the bowels of the back room, Melia giggled. "I'm sorry, Daniel, he is often like that."

From unknown places there were sounds of heavy things being moved, light things falling on the ground and some subdued muttering. A loud bang made Melia scream and grab hold of Daniel, who instinctively put an arm around her.