The Mariner

“Ha!” Beardy was clearly unimpressed, but keen to get away from the ugly beast. “If a single one is spotted on land, you’ll be arrested and your ship confiscated!” He waved a bony finger at the Mariner, using the threat as a final attempt to exert some authority.

The Mariner wearily nodded. “Sure. Now please leave.”

The welcome party disembarked, bodies bumping into each other in haste. They gathered together in a safe clump back on the dock, eyeing the Mariner suspiciously and muttering in dark tones.

The first thing that struck the Mariner, as he passed the rickety wooden platform and ventured between the first of the houses, was how distinct each building was. In the few settlements he’d stumbled upon each shack had been a copy of the last, defining elements established by entropy rather than design. These structures twisted and turned in different directions, stone façades painted a variety of pastel colours. Each different. Each unique. He found himself wondering that if these were works of men, perhaps the identical replications he’d seen previously were the work of a lazy copy-and-paste god?

The high population was instantly confirmed. Figures stood in adjacent doorways, peering from windows. Small, tanned and scrunched up faces, squinting expectantly. But they were not looking at him. They were waiting for something else.

And then he heard it. Music. Brass instruments and drums, their sombre timbre striking up in the residential mess. The sound grew louder so he dodged into the shade of a porch, looking along the cobbled street, waiting for the march to grow near. Others were doing the same and it felt odd to stand in a crowd, to be amongst human beings. It was stuffy and uncomfortable, but the Mariner didn’t flee. His curiosity had been piqued.

An elderly gentleman took off his hat and smoothed down a lock of wispy white hair as a mark of respect. It was then the Mariner realised the nature of the sombre sound; it were a funeral march. Someone had died, and the town had turned out to mourn.