Bard: Chapter 34

“It occurs to me that there’s probably a better time for this, but I never see you off duty and if you get switched to the night watch like Liam who knows when I’ll see you next, so…”

Travis looked down at Laura with a puzzled and somewhat panicked expression. She hadn’t given much of a preamble–or even a greeting–just walked up and started talking as soon as the other guard he was with had walked away. Perhaps that had been a little too forward, or a little too abrupt. It was too late to take it back, at any rate.

He was so much taller than she was. Laura hadn’t really given it much thought when they’d been trudging through the snow, but now, standing right in front of him, she was starkly aware of how far back she had to lean to look him in the eyes.

She had a moment of panic herself, having never done anything like this. She had never wanted to do anything like this. So far the men she had encountered for any length of time were slimy assholes, old enough to be her father, or Liam. There was likely a much better way to go about it. Girls and women who knew how to flirt and get courted probably knew what that better way was. Laura didn’t, and there was no point in dancing around it, so this would have to do.

“I know you sent the flowers, and the chocolates,” she said bluntly. When she’d played this out in her head, she’d meant for that bit to sound light and flirty, but that was not at all how it came out. “And…well…I like you too, so far, and if you wanted to spend more time together, that would be nice.”

Travis looked stricken, and Laura waited, her heart pounding and her nerves screaming at her to run away after that terrible fumble. After a moment though, Travis began to nod faintly, his lips twitching up into a nervous smile.

“Yeah,” he said quietly, looking around the square. “Uh…there’s fireworks over the bay tonight, if you want to watch together.”

“That sounds nice,” Laura said, nodding back.

“I can–uh–meet you at the library, when you’re off work, if you’d like,” Travis said, rubbing at the back of his neck. “We can walk together.”

“The library’s closed for the festival,” Laura said, quickly adding, “But I can meet outside, or outside the guard house?”

“Outside the library,” Travis said quickly. “Sunset’s alright?”

“Yes,” Laura said. She smiled up at him and he broke into a grin, dropping his gaze bashfully. “I’ll see you this evening.”

“Right,” Travis nodded. He looked so happy it was infectious. Laura couldn’t help grinning, even as she put her back to him and slipped into the crowd. She glanced back, just to check, and he was watching her walk away, also grinning.

Until his partner walked up, then his expression fell into a flat one, something that revealed nothing.

Laura turned away again, making her way towards the amphitheater, where the various bard classes would be performing. The streets were brimming with distractions as the morning wore on and the festival got underway. There were sweets for sale, paper flowers–real flowers woven into crowns and garlands to wear, acrobats and musicians–so many musicians.

It was certainly something to see a festival in a city full of bards. In a regular city, and especially in a smaller town, you would be lucky to have a handful of people who played well enough to enjoy and were willing to perform in front of crowds. Sometimes there would be an old grandfather who liked to put on a puppet show, or a blacksmith who made puzzles for children to try their hand at. Very occasionally you might have a particularly good singer out to share their skills. Perhaps a traveling circus would stop by. In Everly, however, it seemed that everyone had something to offer to the entertainment.

There was some kind of presentation happening on nearly every street corner–singers and dancers, puppet shows and dramas, storytellers holding small crowds of children in rapt attention as they spun a tale or legend for them. Laura paused to listen to one young bard enthusiastically telling the story of the ice dragon in the hills, and the gallant warriors who had slain it, chuckling at every embellishment and outright fabrication.

There were hawkers selling trinkets and gifts, and plenty of games where people could waste their money trying to win a prize. They were all things she’d seen before, mostly rigged or too difficult to win without a stupid amount of luck, like ring tosses. A few feats of strength were scattered around, grip tests and the one where you hit a lever with a mallet hard enough to ring a bell. Laura wondered briefly if Travis might try to win her a prize. She passed a dart game and smirked, wondering if she might try to win him a prize at one of those…

The amphitheater was full of people waiting to see the bards. Laura stood at the top of the stairs and blew out a puff of air. The place was packed, and the only seats she could see were well up near the back, ringing the open edges of the space. Trista would be the size of an ant from up there.

She had time before the performances started, and people were milling about all over, clearing out from previous performances and trying for a better view. Laura wandered downwards, hoping for a lucky break, and got one. Movement right up front caught her eye and she spotted Liam waving her down.

“What?” Laura said under her breath, hurrying down the stairs towards him. He had space right on the aisle, at the very front under the stage. “How long have you been here?” she asked, looking back at the packed seats behind him.

“Since I got off shift,” Liam replied. “All the seats were empty then, but I figured they’d fill up, so…”

“You’ve been here since before dawn,” Laura said incredulously. “There’s a festival on! I saw acrobats on the way here.”

“They’ll be there tomorrow as well,” he said, sliding in as much as he could manage and patting the open space beside him. “Probably.”

Laura squeezed in, raising an eyebrow at him. Liam shrugged.

“She’s nervous,” he said. “It seemed important…I wanted her to know we were here.”

“She’ll know we’re here, regardless of where we’re sitting,” Laura pointed out.

“Right, but now she can see us.” Liam grinned, wiping sleep out of his eyes. Laura rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the stage. It was set up with dozens of chairs and a collection of music stands. Drapery had been added for a decorative effect, though Laura thought a single curtain by itself looked a bit silly.

“I talked to Travis,” she blurted, and Liam gave her a sidelong look.

“And?”

“We’re going to go see the fireworks,” she said, keeping her voice level even if she couldn’t stop herself smiling.

“You seem happy about it.”

“I am,” Laura said.

Liam gave her a sidelong smile, and looked like he might have been about to add something more, but as he turned, a class of bards started filing onto the stage from behind the single, silly curtain. A smattering of cheers and applause started up through the amphitheater, Laura and Liam amongst them. Trista walked up near the end, taking a seat at the front of the assembled students. Her shoulders were up, and she clutched her violin like it could save her from drowning.

As they were seated, her eyes flicked up, finding Laura and Liam without having to wander, and her grip relaxed just the smallest bit.

The performance was exactly what Laura would have expected from a first year music class, except that they were actually pretty good. After they had all played for a bit, most of the students lowered their instruments while a boy near the front went on, playing what looked like a much larger version of Trista’s violin, held upright between his legs, with deep, resonant notes. When his bit was over, the crowd applauded and the others began playing again, the music rising and falling with a sense like swells on the water.

The next time the group lowered their instruments, it was Trista who played on, her movements sweeping and graceful. There was a depth to the sound that hadn’t been there before. The melody filled the air with a sense of spring. It was one of the more strangely marvelous things Laura had seen. She could feel the energy of it, and wondered if Trista wasn’t slipping a bit of magic in.

Then Liam nudged her shoulder, pointing towards the paving stones at the foot of the stage. Here and there, weeds peeked through the gaps in the stones, which was to be expected in an outdoor space. As she watched though, a few of the little green sprouts near the stage grew. They spread their leaves out to the sun and sent up stems that burst open into full, brilliant dandelion blossoms.

Laura glanced down the aisle on each side of them, but no one else seemed to notice the sudden incursion of weeds under the stage. They were all watching the performance.

“She’s got a new trick, I see,” she said quietly

“I wonder if she knows?”

Trista’s solo ended, Liam and Laura erupted into cheers, and that wondrous sense of growth and change faded as the others swept back into the song again.