To Rhial

43

Desmond

"Charmed to see you again so soon, boys!" Madam Diona strode through the front door of Good Moaning and into the afternoon streets of the Hallax Quarter. "My, my! Such a new look! How adorable!" Brenden helped her up into the shotgun seat of the wagon and we set off.

"So," Brenden started, "Madam Diona, are we gonna be introduced to these nobles, or just go off of looks? And how should we deal with Lord Amien if we can't get his attention or he doesn't like us?"

"Dear, don't worry about that one little bit. That's why I'm here as your manager. I'll convince him to let you perform, ah, I won't need to because your playing will do all the speaking. But I did bring him. The Lord was going to stay back to fight an illness had I not been at his ear convincing him to tough it out."

Her perfume wafted back to me, a floral scent with undertones I couldn't place, yet oddly familiar. Our venue was north of Vehfirn in a theater hall of the Count, the one who oversaw Hallax and Amien directly. That, and the Duke would be there to watch. The Duke oversaw the Count, and apparently had no business going to the meeting aside from attending our short concert.

Just north of the city, in a small wealthy village beyond farmland, a trio of towers joined together by bridges at varying levels rose high above the surrounding hills. Offshooting branches were rampant and interconnected. The center tower the shortest, and the right highest. The three great ivory pine trees with silver needles stood like an out of place faux Christmas tree display against the fiery autumn hills.

The guards were in similar armor, stark white with sharp silver points and helmets with tall white horns. Past them and inside the walls, the building was bright with whites and blues, but we were not inside long. We loaded our instruments and gear onto a platform with giant ropes tied to each corner. It was a rudimentary elevator raised by pulleys up to near the top of the middle tower.

Brenden and I didn't say anything to each other, but we both caught ourselves leaning on the railing and staring out over the city. The sun was falling in the sky and its orange glow slowly encompassed the horizon.

"Look at that," Brenden said. "Hallax Hall, Amien Manor, the other one. You can see it all from up here. The city itself, too. The Hallax Quarter looks like it's covered in Christmas lights."

"And we say Adam is tacky for keeping that God-awful wreath in his bathroom."

"I've got a good feeling about today for some reason. First time in a long time I've had a good feeling about a show."

"Well don't jinx it. There's only so much luck and good feelings to go around."

Our conversation was brought to an abrupt stop as the lift reached its destination.

"Hi!" A squeaky woman's anxiety-filled voice called to us. "Uh- um- hello Alex and Eddie- um- van- of- um Clan Halen! I am Brina."

We turned around and I patted Brenden's back. At the receiving end of the platform was a short and skinny stark white woman with four arms and four eyes. She had a cat-like nose with small floppy ears on the sides of her head. Her hair was snow-white, short, and tied back loosely to show off her equally white eyes. The extra eyes were on her temples. Her extra arms, though shorter, were protruding from the sides of her ribcage. They emerged from under a curtain-like cloth that fell over her shoulders and chest, just to her mid-stomach, which had short white fur covering it. She couldn't have been more than 4 feet tall, which made it a little awkward to talk and follow her as we were brought into the circular performance hall.

"Not that I should- um... ask... but are- are- are you going to sell tokens of your songs?" She held the door open and stared at the ground as we wheeled the instruments in.