The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani (story reading .TXT) 📕

snatchers were conveying to pay for the children. Or, failing that, perhaps a boat that was transporting children as part of their cargo.”

“Wouldn’t we have heard about that?”

“You’re right. An error that egregious would have been covered up very quickly. So yes, something smaller than that.”

“Right,” I say, but the current report about a herd of goats wreaking havoc on the docks and butting sailors into the waters makes me wonder if even that is a realistic goal.

An hour later, I’ve found nothing. Kirrana is still working on her file, and sends me to the room to return my papers, bound back up again in order, and pull the reports for two years ago.

Around midnight, I lay my head on the table beside my file. “I had no idea so many things could go wrong at a port.”

Kirrana laughs and turns a page. She’s now five years back, and we’re reaching the end of what’s stored here. Older files get moved to a storage facility somewhere off site, and I don’t think anyone would lend us that key, no questions asked.

“Amraeya.”

“Mmm?” I tilt my head slightly, my cheek still pressed against the tabletop.

“Look at this.”

I straighten and go to her side to see the report she’s holding. It details a shipment that had been processed, and how the port warden stepped into the captain’s room at the end and noticed a slight gap in the planks composing the back wall of the room. Upon investigating, he located a small compartment containing a box with two large gemstones. The captain claimed they were not meant for import, and were being held in trust. The warden confiscated them for processing and filed the report.

“Gemstones,” I whisper. I can hear Kestrin saying quietly, grant him a pair of amulets. Small gems are easily come by, but large gemstones? Those are prized by the Circle. They would give a great deal for a steady supply of amulets, especially given that an amulet, once drained, cannot be reused. Arguably, they need those gemstones in order to maintain their power.

“I get the feeling this makes a lot of sense to you,” Kirrana says. “Something you’re not telling me?”

I nod. “Yes. I can’t tell you everything, but the gemstones would make particularly good sense.”

“All right,” Kirrana says. She whips out a set of wax tablets she had brought with her from her room, opens them up, and carves the date of the report into the wax with her stylus, alongside the captain’s name and the ship’s name. I’ve used wax tablets before as well—they are much more economical—it’s just jarring to see them here, alongside the veritable mountain of papers.

“Now, if you were a snatcher and your payment was intercepted, what would you do?”

I shrug. “Make sure it didn’t happen again?”

“Right. I’m just about at the end of this file. Did you read any reports in the next one with any of these names? The warden, perhaps? Or the captain?”

I shake my head.

Kirrana considers this. “Nothing violent happened on the job, then. Well, let’s pull the wage reports and see how long the warden stayed on.”

We tromp back to the same room and this time, Kirrana hands me another stack of bound papers: monthly reports on wages paid to all the port wardens of Lirelei.

I page quickly through the year, noting the name of the warden in question in each month before moving on to the next month. There he is again, the month of the incident report. But he isn’t listed at all the following month. Instead, there’s a note that a junior warden had been elevated to take his place due to his unexpected passing. I stare at the page for a long moment, but there’s nothing else here. No mention of cause of death, or possible foul play, or anything.

“He’s dead,” I say.

Kirrana nods. “That would suggest that what happened could have been related to the snatchers.”

“It could just be a coincidence,” I argue, not quite believing myself.

“Right. But look here,” she says, and passes me the ledger recording incoming shipments. “The ship had a new captain the next time it came in.”

A shiver runs through me as I stare at the ship name, and beside it, a new name. Beneath that is a seal stamped in black ink, followed by the name of the owners of the ship. “Berenworth Trading Company. Who are they?”

Kirrana looks at me disbelievingly. “You haven’t heard of them? They’re huge in the import/export business.”

“I think our town is too small for them.” All our imports are brought by wagon, and our exports are primarily horses.

She nods. “Makes sense. My father’s a merchant. He doesn’t like to do business with them. Says once folks start, it’s hard to back out. That’s not completely unusual,” she adds, at my look. “But it fits, doesn’t it?”

I rub my hands over my face. “How do we prove anything? Can we prove anything?”

Kirrana sits a long moment, staring at the ledgers set out before us. “In taxes, one coincidence is just that: a coincidence. But when you start noticing a pattern of anomalies, of coincidences, that’s when you know something’s going on. Maybe this particular find of ours doesn’t have anything to do with the snatchers, but something surely happened. Now we have to investigate it.”

“How? If it isn’t a coincidence, and Berenworth is involved with the snatchers, it could be dangerous.”

Kirrana grins. “I’m a paper kind of girl. I won’t be asking anyone any questions. And I think we’ve done enough tonight. I’ll see what more I can learn about Berenworth tomorrow.”

Tomorrow? “But what about your family? Aren’t you supposed to visit them?”

“I will—during the day. I’ll just come back in the evening and see what else I can find.”

That’s right, she has the day off for the wedding. Which I decidedly don’t. “I don’t think I can come then.”

“You do what you have to. I think we’ve found all the big breaks we’re going to. From now, it’s going to be