“Huh? What has that got to do with it?” Jakob looked at his fingers. “I don’t know. A while ago. After Ma gave me all those extra chores, I guess.”
“Oh,” said Poppy, and got up. She walked to the gunwale and looked out to sea, thinking of Lut.
“Don’t you want to work on the book any more?” he called, confused by her frostiness.
“No,” she said. “No I don’t. Not with you, anyway.”
* * * *
Minbeorg had a fine natural harbor, which stretched inland for a mile or more, between the arms of a narrow peninsula and the mainland. A wide river, called the Caladrene, emptied into the head of the basin. As the Able Drake approached the outlying islands, Poppy looked through the spyglass at the many houses clustered along the hills and valleys of the mainland. She shook her head, wondering what it
