Bab 141: Suffering

Serenica was a bit annoyed by the fact that she was apparently supposed to stand like a lowly peasant while the captain and his wife sat. She couldn't complain out loud out of fear of offending her hosts, though, and she didn't like to appear like a passenger.

She cleared her throat. This would take her some time and effort.

"I am the healer of our ship. Is there anyone who needs my attention?"

A strange noise was heard, the kind of noise that was produced when a lot of people said "oh" at the same time.

"Well, my father is…" someone said.

"My daughter…"

"My wife suffers from…"

Yet no one managed to say what all these people suffered from. It seemed like the island was living in fear of words and name of diseases, which Serenica found absurd. Contracts had power, mere names had nothing except the ability to do what they were supposed to do – name things.