Osfour's City - Part I

While S. is being rowed ashore in Chapter 6 of the Ship of Theseus we get a description of the city he's going to:

"The city up ahead looks larger than either of the ones S. has visited thus far, sprawling out into the flatlands beyond, with minarets spiking the sky throughout. It is less brightly lit than S. would have imagined, considering the size. The city looks sleepy, tucked in on itself."

Clearly, the author is emphasizing that this is a large(r) city. The reference to minarets (hence mosques) indicates this is an Arabic / Muslim city. The city also has a lit harbor as is indicated on page 222.

As Osfour is waiting for S. to get dressed, he says:

" Vevoda has not needed the browncoats for years. Now he has a network of Agents who can blend in anyplace. You do not know when they are there, when they are not. Your neighbor, whose children play with your children, might be- "

While any battleground is filled with people of various allegiances, the capitalization of "Agents" as well as the insistence of Straka, according to footnote 8, gives me pause. I have done some preliminary digging but nothing has turned up so far.

A little later:

"I'm taking you to the resistance. They'll give you what you need."

Interesting to note that there is a resistance already in place.

Another item of interest is the specification that there are twelve Vevoda factories:

"His tightly guarded factories--twelve of them now, according to Osfour's sources--"

Then things get specific. Sort of.

"Of course," Osfour says. "The invasion of El-H---- is coming. Armies are crossing the desert as we speak."

Let's start with the obvious. "Armies are crossing the desert" means there is a desert to be crossed. This is another strong hint, in conjunction with the clothes being worn by our protagonist, that North Africa is where S. is in Chapter 6.

Now where exactly is El-H----? I'm going to leave that till later as there still might be clues further along in the chapter that help us find the answer.

To be continued...