Chapter Text
The sun was already high in the sky when The Chaser finally docked at the harbour after being at sea since first light. The Chaser had a grand name for its size. It was a small fishing dinghy with enough space for three occupants and their daily catch. Siuan jumped the gap towards the dock, not waiting for her father to finish tying the cleat hitch and stood.
The worn wood creaked beneath her bare feet as Siuan looked around. Most of the other fishing boats had already docked, their crews gone. She felt disheartened, by the time they arrived at the market the customers would be few and the best sales long gone.
“Come on, Talia, we haven’t got all day. We are late as it is.” Siuan grumbled, looking up at the
sky with a slight frown.
Talia, her older sister, rolled her eyes and rose from her perch on the bow, turning toward the stern and picking up the worn, stained sack that contained their catch. “Calm down, Siuan. We still have plenty of time,” she said, throwing it into Siuan’s waiting arms.
“Mama will want us to help prepare the fish for the market and I want to see the procession from Cairhien.” Siuan looked up at the sun again and bit her lower lip. “It is almost seven. The king is coming this afternoon and they said that the whole court is too!”
“Well,” Berden intervened to stop an argument between his eldest daughters before it even started, “It is not like we caught a lot of fish today.” He scratched the back of his head, “I am sure you will have time to do both, Siuan.” Gently taking the sack from Siuan’s hands and hauling it across his back, he started towards the cacophony of sounds that indicated that the main road of the Maule, Tear’s port district, was just around the corner.
Siuan and Talia followed, bouncing along barefoot in the mud and moving expertly out of the way of the passer-bys. The road was abuzz with activity. Vendors shouting over each other to sell their products, maids running in and out of inns going about their work, drunk men pestering young women and talking amongst themselves, hardened urchins prowling. A standard week-day morning. Out of the corner of her eye, Siuan noticed a brawl starting in front of one of the inns, two men tussling and shouting about something or other but paid no mind.
They weaved through the crowd coming up to the emptier roads on the outskirts of the southern Maule until they reached a line of small wooden shacks squished together and precariously balanced on stilts over the Erinin. A curly-haired head peaked from one of the windows and pointed excitedly at them before turning around and disappearing inside. A few moments later the door to one of the houses opened with a thud giving way to Nina, the third and youngest of the Sanche sisters.
“You are back! Mama said we could go watch the procession in the Inner City if we finish early.” Nina chattered with a twinkle in her eyes. “Let’s go, you two, quickly!” She dragged Siuan and Talia by the arm towards the door. “Uncle Huan even said he will buy us fudge from mister Perez’s stall if we get everything done in time.”
Siuan and Talia both perked at the mention of fudge, a rare treat in the Sanche household, and scampered along towards the kitchen after cleaning their muddy feet as best as they could, with their father following closely behind. On a pillow on the floor, aunt Nuria sat mending the cuff of an embroidered coat with baby Guillem clutching and tugging her skirts. Aunt Nuria - sister to Siuan’s mother - was a kind and warm woman, even if she did have a bit of a temper.
Nuria, her wife Sara and their adopted son Guillem all lived in the hut alongside Siuan’s nuclear family and her uncle Huan. It was admittedly a bit cramped, and Siuan, her sisters, mother and father slept in one room. Nuria, her wife and their baby in the other, while uncle Huan slept in a hammock in the kitchen.
“Good catch?” Nuria asked the trio, looking up from her work with a smile that quickly melted away on seeing the tired look on Berden’s face. He shook his head.
“There is very little fish in the delta these days.” He sighed and added with a grimace “I think we might need to go further into the Sea of Storms soon.”
“Not to worry, Berden, things are not that desperate yet. Sara and I got a good amount of work with the lords and ladies from the Inner City with all these Cairhienin coming over.” She looked back down to her stitching. “We won’t be going hungry again these next couple of months at least, the Light willing. We even might have a little left over to pay some of Huan’s debt with that deranged moneylender.”
Siuan, Talia and Nina all smiled at each other. It seemed like things were starting to turn around for the family. The past few months had been tough on everyone. It had been a difficult winter, with very little catch to be found and not a lot of sewing work around either. The money coming in was but a trickle and Siuan’s heart still tightened when she remembered seeing her baby sister and cousin cry from hunger. She knew the face of hunger very intimately and she was proud of having endured it and of carrying on living despite it.
“Talking about Cairhienin” Siuan changed the subject. “Let’s get these fish ready for market, Papa.”
And so the dreary daily task of gutting, cleaning and filleting fish started right there in their kitchen with the girls arranging themselves into an assembly line for maximum efficiency and Berden coordinating their efforts while Eva, their mother, and Huan were setting up the stall in the market by the big square.
________________
“Done.” Siuan declared, while putting the last tilapia away. She sniffed her hands and frowned. They absolutely stank of fish guts. “I need a scrub before leaving though…”
“I need to drop the fresh catch off with Mama before heading to the Inner City, so I’ll go now with Nina and you can meet us there.” Talia said, drying her hands with a tea towel and handing it to Nina who picked it up and started drying her hands as well, wincing a little when it rubbed the fresh cuts in her fingers she got from filleting some of the fish. She was 10 years old and still learning the trade. Siuan and Talia were much more practised and hardly ever cut themselves anymore.
“Fine, I’ll meet you by the gate.” Siuan started shrugging off her clothes without a care and heading outside to scrub herself clean and apply some sweet smelling rose oil by the river.
________________
After washing herself thoroughly, making sure the smell of fish had completely left her, Siuan put on her best set of clothes - which is to say the set she didn’t use out at sea - and ran quickly out of the door hoping that the Cairhienin wouldn’t have arrived yet.
Growing up in the Maule, she was familiar with all the best shortcuts and the secret passages that cut between the docks and sagging buildings. She moved through them with as much practice as she hauled in the casting nets, her bare feet sinking into the mud. Every now and then, a familiar voice called her name and she answered with a quick wave. These were folk who’d known her family forever - dockhands, tavern maids, fishwives - people who’d known her and her sisters since they were newborn babes.
Before long, the gates of the Inner City rose ahead, their silhouette sharp against the clear skies. Siuan slowed, catching her breath, the hum of the crowd reaching her ears.
It looked like the whole of the population of Tear had decided to gather there - people from all walks of life seemed to be awaiting the procession eagerly. Highborn and peasants alike. The crowd was as tightly packed as if everyone were squished together in a tin of sardines and the buzz of excitement as people gossiped, pointed and giggled was palpable.
Of course my sisters are nowhere to be found, Siuan thought to herself feeling quite annoyed at them, if they were actually waiting for me by the gate, that would have been a bloody miracle.
The king’s procession was just passing through the gate now, if the trumpets and rolling drums were anything to go by. Since Siuan was not above elbowing her way through a crowd, she did just that.
Ignoring the scowls folk were sending her way, she squeezed past people, edging forward with no small effort until she reached the front where the worn pavement met the road. She stood there, wide-eyed at the opulent sight.
Four bannermen walked along the road in a square formation, marching in time with the steady pulse of the drums coming up just behind them, richly embroidered banners rippling in the breeze. They were soon followed by what looked to be some sort of band of knights, maybe the king’s guard, wearing luxurious, gleaming armour and trotting along on top of well-cared for horses.
Siuan’s uneasy fascination with the obscene display of wealth faltered as the horses drew near. They loomed over her, easily twice her height, and were most definitely looking at her with shifty eyes. She instinctively stepped back, glancing away, as if ignoring them would make her less of a target.
When the last of the horses passed and she dared to look up again, a soft gasp escaped her. A procession of litters followed, each one borne on the shoulders of four men, swaying gently as they also moved to the rhythm of the drums down the road.
Craning her neck to get a better view, she couldn’t tell if any of them were dressed better than the other. Their outfits were all fit for a palace, even if a little too severe. They were all wearing stern, dark clothing with dark lace adorning their collars and cuffs. There were slashes of colour cutting across their chest and bodies.
“Are any of those the king?” Siuan asked one of the women that stood next to her.
“No,” she replied in a conspiratorial way “I’ve heard people saying it is the king’s family. The king himself apparently is in that palanquin.” She pointed towards the ornate palanquin right on the back of the line. It was closed. Siuan’s shoulders dropped in disappointment. The person she really wanted to see was the king. Soon after, however, her attention was caught by a small figure looking every bit as regal as the others, if not more.
A girl about her age rode in one of the litters trailing after another that carried a young man. The girl was very pretty, Siuan thought, as pretty as anything. She was very pale and dark hair framed her face in soft waves. Arched eyebrows and high cheekbones gave her an austere look. Siuan’s eyes catalogued every inch of the girl’s appearance, from the elegant pendant that adorned her forehead to the way she picked at her lacquered nails as if uncomfortable. Casting her eyes back towards the girl’s face, Siuan felt as if lightning had struck her, as the girl’s eyes bored into hers with a curious and appraising manner to them.
“Who was that?” Siuan asked the woman beside her as the girl disappeared from view. “Do you know?”
“I think that was Lady Moiraine. Lady Moiraine Damodred.”