Rumors at the Dockside Cart, and Almost-Spilled Coffee

Airnote  ·  Lysa  ·  Jul 19, 2026

One month in, over morning coffee at the dockside cart — sea-breeze flavor — Yu asked if there were any rumors going around Karimatra lately.

I ran through the usual ones: the ship that makes strange sounds in the harbor, the automaton that bows like a person. Then I said there was one more, a very local one.

"In front of Tide and Gears,
every morning, there's a traveler with bedhead
and what looks like his girlfriend, drinking coffee."

Yu nearly choked. Shoulders jumping, coffee almost gone.
I laughed and rubbed the back — don't spill it, what a waste.

Honestly, I think that's how the neighbors see us by now.
There's that girl from the shop again, at the cart with that traveler.

Better to be the rumor about two people lounging at a dockside cart
than the one about a witch's botched spell.

I thought that, quietly, while watching the profile with the bedhead
and the ring of coffee left on the rim of the cup —
a morning held still in the sea breeze.