Medium Island is freed twice, and the Harbor still counts ships twice
A courier arrived with a familiar notice about missing patrol boats, a stack of liberation chits, and a tally sheet that had been counted twice and still looked unhappy.
The Second Count
The Harbor Board’s week began and ended with the same advice: count your ships this morning, then count them again. The notice remains unattributed, which is sensible, as nobody enjoys signing for bad news that floats.
The quartermaster has complied by requiring a second count on nearly everything that crosses his desk, including victories. This wants attention before long.
Medium Island, freed in duplicate
On the Black Tide front, Medium Island was struck hard and recorded as freed, twice over, by Flowkap and Aye-for-an-Aye. Both parties brought home a blackened idol, now added to the same long-suffering page in the quartermaster’s ledger, which has begun to crease where it is always turned.
The Tide’s other holdings did not fare better on paper. Black Tide Sores, Black Tide Scab, and Black Tide Fleas were each recorded as liberated this week, and in more than one case the space where a liberator’s name should sit was left neatly blank. It is possible the ink ran dry. It is also possible the penman prefers to keep his handwriting to himself. The record reflects this.
roxx audits BigChris by force of oar
While some governors were engaged in the careful work of unmaking the Tide’s harbors, roxx spent the week conducting an audit of BigChris’ outer islands in the old, efficient manner. The raid ledgers show roxx at the head of the week with sixty-four separate runs, and the chits we have in hand record clean returns often enough to make the clerks suspicious.
At SplashFish Nook, roxx also answered a Watchtower False Signal by funding a formal drill review and retraining signal teams. The timing is tidy, considering the Harbor’s standing habit of counting twice until daylight agrees with the ledger. I have noted this without comment.
Miko Misan’s fast week, measured in chits
Miko Misan broke into the realm’s top ten during the week and then behaved like someone determined not to be posted there by accident. Ninety-four attacks were filed under that name in the same seven days, and the couriers have begun to bring the chits in bundles rather than pretending they are separate events.
At RattleHook Port, the Market Weight Scandal was met with confiscations and talk of auction bids, with the remainder of the sentence apparently lost at sea. The merchants have continued to show up regardless, which is the only consistency the Harbor can rely on. This has declined to explain.
Smaller flags, same sea
Luminous Reveller raised SaltedStinger Lagoon to a Colony, and Flowkap raised 4 - Lieserium to a Stronghold, which is the kind of orderly growth we like to see between alarms. Lusty Longboat claimed PeglegKraken Quay and then raided CrabMullet Hollow, as if to prove the new charter can still row.
Peppy Bosun appears in the raid ledgers with seven runs this week, which is modest only by comparison to the current weather. The record reflects this.
We end the week where we began, with a notice to count again, and with Jenkins attempting to count by naming each vessel aloud. The goat ate the list before he reached the second line. I have nothing further to add.
Filed from the Harbor Board, Founders World.