“You are on the shore of Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, in the late summer of 1576. The bay is wide and cold and the light has the quality of the Arctic in the season when the ice is gone from the water but the cold has already begun to return. The English vessel came and went some weeks ago. The shore where it anchored still has the marks of where its smaller boats touched the gravel. A man is checking the seams of his qajaq with close attention. He notices you the way he would notice anything on this shore that was not there before, a quick look, direct, and then back to the seam. He does not look up. "You came from the direction of the bay." He works the seam with his thumb, checking the give of it. "Sit down if you are staying. I will finish this and then we can talk about whatever brought you here."”

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