Back to a Dangerous Land (DragonSong)

[Kingfisher]

Michael glanced over his shoulder briefly, then shifted back to bard, offering her a condescending smile.  "You speak not of combat but battle.  Yes, a mercenary joins a fight for money...but you can't spend silver when you're dead."

"Actual combat comes after that," the warrior explained, pacing a circle around Tara.  "Now matter the why, everyone finds something in the moment protect."  Once more, he came to stand before the mage and paused.  "This-" he said, jabbing at her sternum before rapping her softly on the brow; "-and this. Heart and head.  Every soldier, whether paid or not fights to save his own skin and nothing more."  Turning back to the girl, he continued his lecture.  "Everything else doesn't matter."

Joshua, though slightly engrossed by the mercenary's words, notice a slight shift in the camp and caught sight of soldiers serving themselves.  Even a few casks of ale came out and cups were filled with the sweet beer.  Wolfram caught the direction of the smith's gaze.  "Ah.  Well, it seems supper is ready.  Shall we?"  He gestured for the two ousiders to collect their food first.

[DragonSong]

"Mm."

Tara did not appreciate the way he spoke to her, but she knew better than to snap at a hand offering food. Forcing herself to shrug it off, she replied to her companion breezily, "Sure, right behind you."

[Kingfisher]

The smell of cooking venison, wafted from the nearest fire as a round woman began slicing off cuts of meat for each man who passed with a plate.  Most also took a hunk of bread and a small pile of steamed vegetables before slipping back to their groups as their conversations continued.  Wolfram elected to leave the gamey meat for later, taking two loaves of bread instead and finding a seat and a bowl of thick vegetable chowder.

Joshua let Tara go before him but eventually slipped away, going toward the cookpot serving rabbit stew.  Filling a bowl, he took a mug of beer and found a seat next to the blond mercenary before trying to get Tara's attention.  If she wanted to question the man further, this would be her best chance.

[DragonSong]

The bard followed easily enough, though she gave her own bowl of stew a cautious sniff before she put it anywhere near her mouth.

she was content enough to simply sit and observe, for the moment. "You sure we can trust these people?" she whispered to Joshua out of the corner of her mouth.

[Kingfisher]

This was the second time today Tara had expressed these concerns and once more the smith said, "What would they gain?"  Taking a sip of ale, followed by a bite of the soft bread, Joshua wondered at a way to set the girl's mind at ease.

He need not have bothered; Michael spoke up after downing a mouthful of the sweet tasting alcohol.  "I understand your suspicion, Tara.  But please believed  me when I say that betraying you serves us no purpose.  There is nothing the Church, nor Karrian, could offer us that would justify the hit to our reputation."  Offering the bard a smirk, he added, "Whatever fears you have are groundless.  So please, when you are here, you are safe."

[DragonSong]

"Mm." She still wasn't entirely convinced, but she was at least sure by now that they weren't going to poison her. She tucked into the stew, only just realizing how hungry she really was.

The wound to her side twinged painfully as she curved forward and she winced, but mostly ignored it, watching the people around her carefully.

[Kingfisher]

There was a lull in that conversation as the trio ate.  The other mercenaries continued to talk, though, filling the air with a meddly of voices that spoke of little important.  Joshua spotted the student from earlier.  She sat next to another young man close to her age.  They seemed close and the smith had a twinge of envy.

Before he could ponder it too long, the swordsman spoke up again, interrupting Joshua's thoughts.  "Sorry about mocking you earlier, Tara."  Adjusting his posture, Wolfram rubbed crumbs from his palms, his meal finished rapidly.  "War is my profession and I took your words as an insult to my trade."  The warrior was somber now, watching his men relaxing.  There was a weight upon him but for the life of him, the smith could not guess at what was behind his eyes.

[DragonSong]

Tara shrugged, sitting back slightly and bracing one hand behind her. "Oh, I don't much care. I've learned not to pay too much attention to men's opinions of me," she quipped with a wicked little smile.

She rolled her shoulders, stretching a bit, and her hand bumped against Joshua beside her. She drew it back quickly-- not blushing, it must have been the heat from the fire warming her face-- and cleared her throat.

"'Sides, my trade is music more than anything else. I just know what I need to get through a fight with my life intact." Most of the time.

[Kingfisher]

The smith felt the touch of Tara's hand and glanced over.  He almost swore he saw a touch of scarlet come to her face but could not place the meaning behind it.  "So far..."  Wolfram's words went mostly unheard but pulled his attention back to the conversation, a whisper the Joshua barely made out.  It carried a genuine concern for the bard but the warrior seemed to want to keep his worries to himself.

Joshua intercepted the discussion, turn it away from what could become a heated debate.  "Speaking of music, Tara, you said you were willing to play something for the crowd?"

"Ah, yes," Wolfram added.  He rose from his seat, only half turning back to say, "Feel free to play whatever you like."  The mercenary stepped away from the pair of guests, moving toward his private quarters.

[DragonSong]

"Oh. Uh, yeah, sure." Tara smiled, falling back into a more comfortable persona: the performer.

"What would you all want to hear, then? A ballad, a jig? What's everyone in the mood for?"

[Kingfisher]

There were some calls that came as jargon as the voices fought for dominance.  One though crept to the fore.  "Somethin' cheery," the young student from earlier shouted.  "I wanna dance!"  The latter comment seemed directed equally to her young lover.

Agreement sounded among other women; even some of the warriors smiled in silent assent as finished plates and bowls were set aside.

[DragonSong]

Tara laughed, reaching for her fiddle and swinging it over to settle into the crook of her neck. "Alright, then."

She strummed a few chords, adjusted her instrument, then began to play. A few bars in, she lifted her head and began to sing, eyes falling closed. It was nonsense syllables at first, "la"s and "da"s "dee"s.

Then she smiled, rose gracefully, and began to truly sing. She swayed back and forth to the melody she created. Then in a sudden burst of movement she whirled around the fire, kicking her heels high and leaping and gliding in graceful turns and bounds that carried her back to her original seat.

She jumped up onto a log, still playing and singing, and began keeping time with a a small, rhythmic dance, hitting heels and the balls of her feet against the wood to create a psuedo-drumbeat.

[Kingfisher]

The song was cheerful sounding.  While the lyrics that the crowd understood came off as critical of their subject, the rhythm and melody made the words sound teasing rather than antagonistic.  Many found it easy to ignore the message entirely, rising from their seats as skirts flipped into swift, hectic dancing.  The pair that had called for the song had been first to stand.  Still, the Connlaothian dancing did not seem to trully match the Serenian music.

For his part, Joshua only watched the bard.  She seemed to be genuinely enjoying herself, though given her continuing tension, he wondered if it were just a mask.

A tap at his shoulder drew the smith's attention away.  Wolfram stood there, wooden mugs in hand.  "Mead from my private stash," he explained.  "I need someone to taste it with me."  The mercenary took the drink before looking up at the dancing woman.  He had a faraway expression now.  "She's been through a lot.  I can tell that much..."

Joshua turned back toward Tara at this.  It made some sense and would explain so much of her distrust.  But the smith wondered at the other man's certainty.  Any question he might have asked were interrupted by a call for a private toast.  "To home, wherever it may be found."

[DragonSong]

Once the people dancing around the fire had taken up the tune, Tara laughed softly and twirled her way back to where she'd originally been standing.

Laying her fiddle to the side-- though the air seemed to still hold the shivering notes of the instruments-- she held her hand down to Joshua.

"Dance with me."

[Kingfisher]

Tara's end of the music faded from hearing as the soldiers and the other women began singing.  Joshua had not seen when but one of the group had brought out another instrument.  Most lacked the expertise of the bard but the amateurish take on the song proved enjoyable enough.

The smith did not really focus on this, his mind elsewhere until the Serenian girl danced close.  The swordsman had made an odd comment, and Joshua almost fell into Tara's distrust...

But now Tara wanted her turn to dance.  The sound transitioned as the makeshift band spotted the bard's intent.  Feeling eyes on him, the smith tensed before taking the woman's hand.  "I would love to," he admitted as he rose to join her.  He was sadly unpracticed but would do his best not to humiliate himself as the joined the circle.

[DragonSong]

Tara smiled, then laughed as he stood and she pulled him with her back toward the fire. "Don't be so stiff," she teased lightly, laying one of his hands at her waist as she threading their fingers of their free hands together. "Just follow my lead. I won't make a fool of you, I promise."

[Kingfisher]

Most of the crowd around them would have been classed as commoners and their dancing reflected this.  They moved in a quick, staccato rhythm, mixing quick steps and twirls in an exciting flurry.  Joshua assumed Tara would attempt something similar, and began moving in a manner to emulate his peers.

He forgot for a moment that Tara was Serenian, likely raised with a different school of dance...

[DragonSong]

Tara nearly tripped over her own feet as Joshua began mimicking the dancers around them, then laughed. Serenian dances tended to be smoother, relying more on motions that emulated air and water, but she did her best to adjust.

"Oh!" A particularly excited twirl from a neighboring dancer bumped her into Joshua's chest, and she looked up at him with wide eyes and a quick laugh. "Alright, enough of this."

Rolling her eyes, she took her partner's hands and placed them at her waist, her own resting on his shoulders. "Follow my lead, okay? I'm afraid I've no idea how to do...whatever it is everyone else is doing, so you're stuck with what I do know."

[Kingfisher]

Joshua offered a sheepish smile.  "Alright, alright," the smith conceeded, giving up on his flawed attempt as lead.  Taking a breath to shift his center, he did his best to follow the bard as she began her own take on the dance...

[DragonSong]

Tara was conscious of her partner's caution. "Just hold onto me," she murmured with a small smile, guiding his hand to settle at the small of her back as she began to sway lightly back and forth.