Somewhere in this town, there had to be someone who knew the sea well enough to tell Sonder what waited out there, if anything did.
She took a step forward, then another, leaving the docks for the town proper.
She considered the sailors, but after long voyages they would be exhausted, and dealing with questions, with answer that were very obvious to them, would only make it worse.
When she reached a tavern, or maybe a hostel, as people sat outside it with tables and chairs, drinking and talking.
She listened for a moment, just to make sure that she didn't wander so far in the world that she couldn't speak the language of the locals.
And luckily, she was able to understand them, though what they were talking about wasn't a conversation that should be listened in too, being about wanting to have relations while being in town and not out at sea.
Sonder decided to go in the tavern and try her luck.
Ask first, she told herself. Pay with whatever you can. Don't threaten. Don't break anything.
Her fingers tightened briefly around her staff, and then she went inside.
The tavern smelled like smoke and salt.
It wasn't lively, but it wasn't dead either.
They relaxed as best they could, knowing the sea would call them back soon.
She scanned the room carefully.
There was one table louder than all the others. They were sunburned and arguing about dice they threw.
There was someone wearing enough knives to make her uneasy.
She tried to ignore it.
She searched for someone less tightly wound.
Near the back, she found two.
One was a woman with weathered skin and her hair in a loose braid, feet stretched beneath the table, one foot hooked around the rung of a chair.
The other was a man who didn't stand out at all. He looked like any other sailor would, but now he was drinking from a mug, his other arm lying on the table.
They looked like people who had nowhere urgent to be.
Sonder crossed the tavern, ignoring the brief glances that followed her.
She stopped a polite distance from the table.
"Excuse me," she said.
Both lifted their heads, eyes traveling over Sonder's unusual appearance.
"Yes?" the woman said, but not unkindly.
Sonder inclined her head just a little.
"I'm not from here," she began, choosing her words with care. "And it's been a while since I last saw a map. I was hoping you might know the waters nearby."
That earned her a small, amused snort.
"Nearby waters?" the woman repeated. "That's most of the world, love."