alex shearer water from him a few times His name was Kaleir or something they all have weird names like you never heard before I think they spend the long empty evenings making them up and he had all the usual arm bracelets and face scars and tattoos and three unnecessary earrings where one would have done But then Cloud Hunters were never ones for understatement You got problems I asked as I watched the sky boat sail in and prepared to throw him a rope Not more than the usual he said I’ve got something for you though And what’s that But he didn’t answer They drifted in and he closed the sails and we tied the boat up at the jetty As well as Kaleir there was a woman on board plus their own two children as well as the other two who were pale as sheets in comparison Last time I’d seen anything so wan-looking it had been living under a boulder So where you headed I asked more for the sake of something to say than out of real interest Wherever the clouds are Peggy Kaleir said Well they’re not around here No not yet but the tracker says they’re coming And he gesticulated with his thumb to a third individual who was sitting on the deck eating a plate of sky-shrimp with fast-moving chopsticks and who had the distinction of being the only fat Cloud Hunter I had ever seen Usually they tend towards slim and athletic but he was the exception to the rule He had 5
sky run the bracelets he had the scars he had the tattoos But he also had about forty pounds too much blubber But maybe eating was his hobby So what can I do for you I said as they started coming down the walkway Tanuk bring the children Kaleir said and the fat one stuck his chopsticks behind his ear along with the toothpick already there and shooed the two pasty-looking kids along helping them gather up their belongings of which there weren’t many Hold on I said Just hold it there I don’t know who gave you the idea that I was in the market for kids but they told you wrong I’m one hundred and twelve years old and bringing kids up is one thing I’m done with for good So thanks but no thanks No option Peggy Kaleir said I’ve been charged with delivering them to you and here they are Then you can put them right back on that cloud-hunting boat of yours and take them away again By this time the two kids were walking up the jetty with the fat tracker waddling behind them They looked a bit lost and apprehensive and I couldn’t blame them If I’d been six years old and I’d suddenly met me I’d be feeling apprehensive as well That’s far enough I said And I stood there blocking the way Well Kaleir said these two are for you Peggy Just told you I said I don’t want them He didn’t listen Cloud Hunters don’t Not when they’re averse to what they’re hearing 6
alex shearer And this is for you also he said This comes with them He handed me a bag a kind of leather satchel I opened it up and inside was some money in notes a lot of money and a letter What’s this You’d better read it Have you read it I can’t read Kaleir said and without the slightest trace of embarrassment too just matter-of-fact the way somebody might have said I can’t swim or I can’t play the piano like it was no big commotion at all I took the letter and opened it up Dear Mrs Mackinley Well I resented that for a start Mackinley died sixty years ago and here people are still calling me by his name I told them around at City Hall that I was reverting to my own name Piercey but they never got the message or didn’t listen Of course the island with City Hall on it is several weeks sailing from here It’s the capital Biggest island largest population Anyway I won’t give you the whole blah-de-blah of the contents of the letter It went on for several pages and there were even further pages of supporting documentation along with a family tree lineage various social security documents copies of marriage birth and death certificates and the news that these two children in front of me had been orphaned by an unfortunate act of piracy on the high skies by persons unknown They had been found drifting on a life raft in the vicinity of 7
sky run the Isles of Night which is a shortcut you don’t want to be taking not unless you’ve got a large harpoon gun or a couple of Cloud Hunters with you for protection Their parents were missing presumed dead Extensive enquiries had been made throughout the islands and no other next of kin had been found So I’m standing there reading this still blocking the jetty which is starting to look a little crowded by now and looking up at me are these two faces which seem like they’re made out of unbaked dough with raisin eyes full of both fear and suspicion and strangely a kind of innocent trust too Kaleir makes a move to walk around me and go on land Hold it right there I say I’m still reading Reading seems to take a long time he says And thinking What’s there to think about Kaleir says You’re kin aren’t you So you take them and you look after them I’ll judge that I tell him To be honest what I’m thinking to myself is that first I don’t know if I believe this story supporting documentation or not and second even if it’s true I’m so removed in lineage from these two kids they might as well be strangers Not only do I not know them I don’t even recognize the names of their parents One of the names of the parents parents I half know But that’s a pretty tenuous connection But then you see that’s City Hall on City 8
