A Bard's Story: Here There Be Dragons

Chapter Fifteen

"... and from that day to the end of their lives, the Moon smiled down on them, and they were happy."

The end of Leyha's story is greeted with a rousing round of applause. Leyha takes the praise graciously.

"Are you sure you're not a poet?" asks a voice from behind Leyha. She turns around and spies Kat standing near the door.

When did she get here? Leyha wonders, since she didn't even hear the door open. Surprisingly, Kehdem knows the answer, and the marks supply it to her: not long after Leyha started her storytelling.

I thought she might like to hear one of your stories, Kehdem adds. So when I noticed you'd started telling one...

"I'm no poet," Leyha says aloud.

"Would you like to be?" Kat asks.

Leyha considers it — or tries to. Away from the influence of the Ildava mountains, it's harder to tell what's her opinion and what's Kehdem's. One of them, at least, is convinced she should be. "I'm not sure," Leyha says.

Kat grins at her. "He said you'd say that. He also said you had a good bit of natural talent, and he was right about that, too."

Leyha blushes a little. "Thank you," she says.

"Are you sure I can't interest you in being a poet? The fame, maybe, if not the strict act of reciting poems."

Leyha laughs. "Fame is the last thing I need more of. Adventure, maybe, but I've had enough of fame."

Kat grins again, even wider than before. "Now that sounds like it has a story behind it," she says. "Are you, by any chance, a bard? No, I'm sure you don't have those in the South, either. Well, regardless, would you like me to teach you some storytelling tricks I learned in my training?"

Leyha considers it for a moment. Supper is coming along nicely, and while Leyha has met plenty of people who like to listen to her stories, it's rarer to find someone who likes telling them as well. "Alright," she says. "But only if you tell me what a bard is."

Kat laughs. "Sure. Come on, let's go outside."

Leyha is more than happy to oblige. The interior of the longhouse is warm, yes, but it's also smokey and dark. When they duck out of it, Leyha is blinded by the sunlight. She doesn't mind in the slightest, and in fact turns her face towards the sun while her eyes adjust. "Ahhh," she says happily.

"You're not much of an indoors person, huh?" Kat asks.

"I just miss the sun," Leyha says truthfully.

"At the end of summer?"

Leyha shrugs. "We've been... indoors, for a while."

"For what, months?"

"Something like that," Leyha says.

Kat gives her a strange look. "Why?"

Kehdem? Leyha thinks, knowing that summoning him is enough for him to know her question.

Who's she going to tell? he answers, a bit distracted. As far as Leyha can tell, he and Ash and Jes are doing something with runecrafting. Plus, what's it really matter if people find out where we've been these months?

"We were kind of... trapped, by some dwarves."

"Oh," Kat says. "So, Ash and Jes..."

"Oh, no, not them," Leyha says. "The yelet from their city. Well, sort of. We asked for their help — Ash and Jes, I mean—"