[Arry]

Annû was on deck the next day to assist with the barrels. Perhaps I should have stayed below he thought, seeing how others looked away from him, not knowing what to say. For the Elves, it had been a long time since one of their own had died, and in such a brutal manner. And for the Lossoth, it was probably just the fact that they did not feel they knew him well enough to offer their sympathy . . . or perhaps it was simply their custom. He really did not care. Best that all leave him to his own grief.

The barrels were large, too heavy to be picked up and moved. Annû motioned for one of the Lossoth aboard to help him tip them over one at a time and roll each to a place more out of the way of traffic. Most of the barrels had some simple marking on them. In an effort to stack similar goods together, they placed the barrels with similar markings in groups about the deck.

One of the barrels, the first one in fact they'd brough aboard, was unmarked. They rolled it to a nook near the main mast, intending to place any others that were unmarked near it . . .