Free The Stranger's Woes by Max Frei Page B

into another scrape. Well, I’m off to the Main Archive. I want to find out what kind of serpent I’ve taken to my bosom.”
    “That character you were asking Kurush about? What made you think of him?” Juffin said.
    “That’s just what I’m wondering. I’m going to look in on Lookfi Pence to try to find out. He’s such an absurd fellow, that Anday Pu.”
    “Well, since he’s absurd, go find out about him by all means,” said Juffin. “Then come back and tell me all about it.”
    “I’ll even show him to you, if you like. You’ll get a sea of pleasure from it. See you tonight, Melamori. I’ll pick you up.”
    “Good. Drop by a bit earlier, though, in case I oversleep. And don’t forget the Elixir of Kaxar. It certainly can’t hurt at that hour.”
    “I just happened to leave mine conveniently at home. But there’s always a bottle to be found in the boss’s desk drawer,” I said, grinning.
    Then I turned to Juffin and tapped the end of my nose with the forefinger of my right hand, once, and then again. This gesture is the essence of age-old Kettarian wisdom, meaning, “Two good people can always come to an understanding.” Juffin’s face melted into a smile, and he tapped twice on his own nose, too. Melamori was clearly baffled by this arcane little ritual.
    Then we went our separate ways. I hurried to get to the Main Archive before the last rays of sun disappeared behind the horizon. I don’t know what our buriwoks do after sunset, but I know they don’t work.

     
    “Sir Max, what a surprise! I haven’t seen you in ages.” Lookfi Pence came up to welcome me, his face beaming. On the way he overturned a chair. Actually, we had seen each other just two days before. Maybe our Lookfi has a different sense of time than other people do.
    “Good evening, Lookfi. Good evening, clever ones,” I said, bowing politely to the buriwoks. “I’ve come purely out of selfish motives, as always, I’m embarrassed to admit. But it can’t be helped. Lookfi, will you ask your wise feathered friends whether they’ve heard of one Anday Pu? It seems that long ago he was a satellite at the Royal Court, but he was involved in some kind of scandal and fell from grace, if he’s telling the truth. I just saddled Sir Rogro Jiil with him, and now I’m wondering what kind of mischief I’ve caused. Will Sir Rogro be hunting high and low for me all over Echo so he can punch my lights out?”
    “Goodness gracious, Sir Max! Who would dare pick a fight with you? All the more since Sir Rogro hasn’t fought with anyone for years. He’s very mellow these days,” Lookfi said without a trace of irony. He went up to a buriwok. “Spush, tell Max about Anday Pu. You keep tabs on all the former courtiers, if I’m not mistaken.”
    “You’re never mistaken,” the buriwok said, bobbing his head up and down. “Dossier on Mr. Anday Pu. Born in Echo on the 222nd day of the 3162nd year of the Epoch of Orders.”
    I did some quick calculations. The Epoch of Orders ended in 3188, and now it was the year 116 of the Code Epoch. That means the fellow was just over a hundred forty years old, a little bit older than Melifaro, who was born on the first day of the Code Epoch. Funny, I was used to thinking of Melifaro as slightly younger than I was. But if you consider that natives of the World only outgrow their teenage blemishes at about ninety years of age, Melifaro really was slightly younger than me, however strange it may sound. And Anday Pu was about the same age as I was, though these calculations are enough to drive you mad. He was my age, and as much of a loser as I was at thirty years old in my own World. I shook my head, feeling somewhat chastened.
    The buriwok continued. “His grandfather, Zoxma Pu, and his father, Chorko Pu, arrived in Echo in the year 2990 of the Epoch of Orders from some islands in the Ukumbi Sea. It is not possible to recover any information about their past, but since all adult Ukumbians are pirates,