Up on the Roof

She wondered for a moment whether she might be too visible up on the roof, but she was fairly confident (more so than her helpers) that her disguise of dyed, cut and restyled hair [65737] would protect her.

So she responded: "Sure. I am not sure I will be much help, though. What is your name?"

"Sabok, minstrel and Jack of all trades, my lady. Including, at need, tiler."

Good! But Astra's pleasure had not prevented her from noticing something. "'My lady'? You called me 'lusty wench' just now."

"Only to fit the meter, honestly. Besides, now that I have heard you speak, I suspect that you are rather more upper class than the merchant woman that I originally took you to be from your robes."

"My parents are prosperous merchants, as am I. They could afford to send me to a very good school, where I had elocution lessons. As for my name, I am Galilea." For that was the name that she, Copernica and Paula had agreed should go on her papers. It had the advantage of being a very common name in Aqualaria.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Galilea. It's a bit of a tongue twister of a name for a non-Aqualarian, though. Is it all right if I call you Gal?"

"I suppose so." She wondered why he smiled, unaware that, by an unfortunate coincidence, the word "gal" was a slang term in his language for a very attractive woman.

"There's a ladder over there," Sabok said, pointing to one resting against the wall further along. "Do you think that you can manage it in your robes? I wouldn't want you to fall and break your neck."

"Nor would I. But I think that I can manage."

Hitching up her robes with one hand, and holding the ladder with the other, she shinned up remarkably quickly and gracefully. She found herself on an area of the roof that had already been retiled, and it seemed secure enough, so she walked over to Sabok. She was a couple of inches taller than he was.

Sabok boggled at her. "You Aqualarian women are remarkable," he said. "So many of you seem able to combine beauty with great athleticism."

"Thank you...

1. "So what would you like me to do to assist you?" she went on, having decided to not tell Sabok just yet that she had come here expressly to see him. She would try to find out more about him first.
2. "It's a happy chance that you are Sabok, for it was you that I came here to talk to. I imagine that we will be more private here than anywhere in the house below us?"

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