Exploring The City 5

We settle into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, eating and enjoying our food. Eventually Ivy breaks the silence with a question. “What do you all think of everything we’ve found so far?” “Honestly it’s horrifying. We need to try to change it.” I respond. Mia nods in agreement. “Keep it down, we can’t be sure if somebody’s listening.” Skylar points out quietly.

“But I agree. I’m not sure exactly what we can do besides keep training to be the strongest, but we need to try. This place needs change, and it’s horrible to see how people live here. I’m glad you three have finally seen it for yourselves.” She says. “You knew this is how it was the whole time?” I ask, and Skylar nods.

“It’s what my brother was fighting to change. We need to get stronger and be careful, so we don’t end up like him.” She says, staring off into space. I put my hand over hers. She looks at me and I look her in the eyes. “We won’t. We’ll finish what he started.” I promise her. “Thank you. I love you.” She smiles sadly. “I love you too.”

After we finish our lunch, we make the journey to Circular Quay. As before, we stop off periodically to check for barriers and to find out the living situations of the people inhabiting them. Nothing new there, more of the same. We do our best to not let it get to us, knowing that we still have a few major landmarks ahead.

It takes a while but we arrive at Circular Quay. The salty smell of the sea is something that I haven’t smelt in ages, and something that Ivy hasn’t smelt ever. The expression of happiness on her face melts my heart, as she takes in the strange new scent, the beautiful sight of the rolling waves, the massive cruise ships docked at the wharfs and the sounds of seagulls cawing and looking for food. Once she’s had her fill of sightseeing, we raise our hands to enter any barrier that might be here.

We enter a barrier that at first glance, appears much the same as the mundane version of Circular Quay. Docked ships line the wharfs, while restaurants, shops and a hotel or two line the pier. The people milling about the harbour look relatively well dressed, albeit still fantastical in nature. The variety of abyssal species that I’ve seen today is still stunning to me.

Everything seems relatively peaceful, which is surprising, given that Circular Quay is a relatively high profile area. No gangs are around fighting, nor is anybody threatening us for being on their territory. Looking around, we see a few abyssals standing around as guards in a similar fashion to the markets at Darling Harbour.

There’s a bored looking elf standing near one of the wharfs, holding a clipboard. Taking the chance and acting on my hunch, I use observe on him, and find that he’s listed as the harbour master. “That’s the harbour master over there. Want to talk to him and see what he knows about this place?” I ask my guild. With a round of agreements, we stroll over to the elf to ask about the barrier and why nobody seems to be fighting over it.

He looks up at us as we approach, his face brightening slightly into the faux friendliness of somebody who works in customer service. When he speaks, his voice reflects the same attitude. Polite and relatively friendly, but impersonal. “Hi there, what can I do for you?” He asks. I smile at him briefly. “Hey, you’re the harbour master here right?” I ask in return. “I am, yes. How can I help you?”

“We were wondering if you could tell us about the harbour? Why does it seem so peaceful around here?” I ask. “You mean with the myriad of barbaric gangs around here?” The elf asks, a hint of amusement in his voice. I snort and nod in response. “You’re not a fan?”

“No I hate it. Stuff is awful around here, I just got lucky. I got this job, I get to live around here, and my family and I are safe. I thank Gaia every day that I managed to get here. I can’t do a thing to change it, but I can at least keep my family safe.” He says. I give him a sad smile. “I understand that. You said it’s safe here?”

“Yeah it’s pretty safe here. Nobody attacks anybody else here, everybody is mostly civil.” “Why is that?” “It’s all to do with incentives. See all the fancy ships docked around here?” We all look around at the vessels and nod. “They’re all from foreign guilds. Merchants want to trade goods with the people in Sydney, and the most logical place for their ships to land is here in Sydney Harbour.”

“If the gangs around here want to take advantage of the trade opportunities, selling their goods and buying resources they couldn’t get otherwise, then they need a neutral space to be able to make those deals. If they didn’t have a space safe for foreign merchants, no merchants would come here. And where better to have the neutral ground than the very harbour they land in?”

The elf gestures around at the restaurants on the pier. “Pretty much everybody eating there is a gang member working on a business deal with a foreign merchant.” “So what happens if there’s a fight somewhere?” I ask, genuinely interested in how this strange system works. “There are guards all around here. But if something breaks out and the guards can’t handle it?”

He taps the walkie talkie mounted on his belt. “That’s part of my job. I look out for anything big going down and if something happens, I make a quick call on this and backup comes to help. Not that it happens much anyway, nobody wants to get banned from trading here for starting trouble. Foreign merchants bring in valuable stuff.”

“So who are the guards then?” I ask, prodding for as much information as I can. “They come from all different gangs and are pretty happy to work together here. It’s the big trade route to the outside world, so none of the usual infighting happens. It’s pretty amazing if you think about it, they usually treat everybody else awfully but they’re all absolutely capable of being civil and nice if they think it’ll benefit them.”

I nod, storing everything away in the back of my mind. My memory has really been improving since raising my intellect, which is cool. “I think that’s about everything we’re curious about, thank you very much for your time.” I tell him, smiling. He gives me a friendly smile back. “Not a problem, anything to pass the time, this job is super boring.” He jokes.

I chuckle at that. “Stay safe.” “You too.” Raising a hand and bidding him farewell, we turn and walk away, exiting the barrier as we do so. “I’ll be honest, I’m a little curious about who pays him, considering that he never specified whether or not anybody was in control of the barrier.” I confess as we walk to our next destination at the Botanic Gardens. “That’s true. Huh.” Mia says.

As with other landmarks previously, Ivy pleads with us to stop for sightseeing purposes. I don’t think any of us could deny her, and so she gets her wish. Walking around the gardens, stopping to smell every new flower or plant that she comes across, she looks really at peace and at home. She does have the attribute ‘Spirit of Nature’, so it comes as no surprise that she is struck by it’s beauty and feels at home among the green.

Walking around with her, although I’m more focused on her and her reactions to the beautiful scenery than the scenery itself, I do have to admit that it’s stunning. The various differently coloured plants and flowers make for gorgeous displays, even in the cold winter. The neatly trimmed bushes and careful arrangements satisfy the perfectionist in me.

As before, once Ivy has had her fill of sightseeing, we raise our hands to see what awaits us.