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As we traveled west on the river, the land beca us prosperous far the riverbanks, and the toe passed were populous and large Fisher nets or fishing with poles Our captain, deter, often bore down on thes to be out of our path The young ladies watching froh with delight as the little boats reached safety For the final two days of our journey there was never a tins of huhts of ho smoke from chimneys feathered up into the sky I felt a sort of wonder as I thought of all those people living so close together, and on its heels followed a tinge of fear: soon Iall those people, day in and day out, with never a respite frolad anticipation di

I recalled the flatboat captain’s warning that Old Thares would smell far worse than the tied his shoulders

"Much coal is burned in Old Thares, and it has been a city for hundreds of generations It is bound to smell like a city Old Captain Rhosher probably hasn’t left the river in twenty years He can’t smell the smells of his own boat and crew, but he’s happy to tell you that the city stinks It’s all in what one is accustomed to, Nevare, and a "

I found s He stood beside lumly across the river toward the rows of sht to the river’s edge Scarcely any natural land remained Stonework lined the banks of the river and the rise and fall of the water marked plainly by the slime At intervals, foul coils of thick water oozed into the river fro their stench into the air and their filth into the river Despite this, ragged hooligan youth fished and fought and wandered dazedly along the reinforced banks of the river Stunted bushes and thick water plants blanketed the e Above and beyond the hunched warehouses and factories was an undulating roof of housetops and sht as any I had ever seen, and more ominous to my eyes than any arid stretch of desert or harsh prairie land

The aromatic smoke fro odors in the air After a time, he knocked the husk of burnt ashes from the bowl "I never went to the Academy You know that"

"I know that it didn’t exist when you were reat deal to do with its creation"

"That’s true, I suppose," he replied modestly as he tamped more tobacco from his pouch into his pipe "I was educated at the Arms Institute I attended at a time when those of us who expressed a desire to join the cavalla were regarded as sohtful dohts Even though those fa our ainst the will of the good god for a young man to want to be what his father had not been before him Yet a soldier is a soldier, and I had persuadedas well on horseback as I could on foot I will admit that I was sorely disappointed when I was ood god hied and I was sent off to the cavalla Well" He put the steave fla puffs to get it going well before he continued "Here in this city, I fear you will live as I did during h space to run,cheek by joith your fellow cadets Soood officer should be, already Others will be brutish louts and you onder why the good god made them soldier sons, let alone destined them to be officers But when your days here are done, I proain, to roam and hunt and breathe the fresh air of the wild spaces Think of that when the city sive you heart"

"Yes, sir," I replied, and tried to find relief in the thought, but it was elusive

We docked in Old Thares late that evening My uncle had sent a e into the bed of the wagon and tethered Sirlofty and Steelshanks to its tail I rode alongside on and tried not to wonder if this was an affront toof damp in the air that promised that winter would soon arrive We left the docks and ruh a commercial district, quiet in the darkness save for occasional watched froentle hills to an enclave of reat house was dark save for one yellow lantern at the ht above us Servants swiftly appeared, including a grooreeted my father and told hi abed, but that my uncle had had word of our imminent arrival and awaited us in his study We followed my uncle’s man into his house and up a richly carpeted staircase while behind us servants struggled with our heavy trunks