Tangle in the Dark - Kassidor

private outdoor balconies than in Crete. There were moreworkshops, Ava could hear their sounds from out here. Theywere in the channel between two of the inner ring of islandsnow. There were busy docks along both shores, fronted bytwo or three stories of workshops. Shiploads of cordwoodwere being burned and shiploads of pottery, textiles, furnitureand metal goods were being loaded.After that, they had to unship the oars of this rowboat tomove any farther. The female equality in this culture workedboth ways because Podata was the captain and had the tiller,leaving Ava and Yellelle to row. This was the first time Avarealized there was technique to rowing, not just strength. Thecoxswains of those quick shells started yelling as they passed.Yellelle gave them the finger, by then Ava figured out enoughof the technique to get them moving. The oar was a lotheavier than she felt it needed to be. Concentrating on thattook her mind off the scenery for the time being. Sheshouldn’t be so impressed, Zhlindu would cover all theseislands twice as high, in tens times as many stories ofhabitation. This was any five mile stretch of any main canalin the Yakhan, twenty miles or more from the center of thecity. Still it made ancient Rome seem primitive and Athens acow-town suburb. Constantinople in its prime might havecome close to the scope and hubbub of this city, but never hadthe levity she saw here.“How many people live here,” Ava grunted as theystrained at the oars.471