Chapter 4: A Night To Remember

Nerea follows suit, eager and nervous in equal measure. It has been so long since she left home, so long since her last performance in Reitheillaethor. She is months out of practice yet remembers the act vividly, as though it had happened mere weeks ago instead of close to a year past. Watching as Davil strums his lute and a hush falls over the establishment, Nerea thinks back to the songs she used to sing in Neverwinter under her family's watchful eye. She swallows past the sudden lump in her throat, forcing a smile.

"We have a bit of a song for you, if you'll have us," she announces, with a bow and a sense of grandeur. Turning to Davil, she asks, "Do you know Jonstan the Rover?" When he nods, her smile comes more easily. Bouncing a little on the balls of her feet, she shakes off her nervousness, gazes at the crowd, and jokes, "Don't be afraid to throw things if you'd like me to stop."

Ignoring Avis's pointed smirk, she takes a breath and sings:

"Clippety-cloppety, bold Jonstan the Rover
Rides misty-eyed down to the Dales again
Into forests and fields, rare beauty all over,
Land of his true loves - Aldee, Imthra, and Luthane,
Elda and Myrta, Chalantha and Araine."

If there is the hint of a quaver in her voice through the length of the first line, it passes quickly. Her voice gains strength as she progresses through the stanza, cheer suffusing her until she's clapping to the rhythm of the song, its beat infectious, the crowd following her example.

"Will he find yet another? Or will be welcomed back?
Long lasses aplenty catch his twinkling eye.
Is it kisses he'll taste soon? Or scorn everlasting?
Love and laughter and soon away Jonstan will fly -
Gone again over threshold and under dawn sky.

Far across Faerûn, a rover adventures free
'Til the Dales call his heart home again..."

(Performance roll 16 + 7 ranks + 2 circumstance bonus = 25).

Avis's smirk falls as the musical duo progresses through the song. As she watches them, she is spellbound; though Davil and Nerea had only just met, their sounds seem to mesh almost perfectly. Though Davil's skill with the lute is obvious, what truly surprises her is Nerea's singing; she had claimed to be rusty, yet even Avis cannot deny the beauty of her voice. When Nerea's gaze, slowly panning over the crowd, briefly meets her own, Avis feels warmth at the tips of her ears.

With a frown, she turns away. Damned bards and their bewitching music.

As she looks to the center of the table, she spots Ikkri dancing across the surface. He marches to and fro, bouncing to the rhythm, nodding his head and whistling along. She smiles despite herself.

As she looks to her companions, they all seem in a similar state: fascinated, to varying degrees, by the performance. Yet as she lays eyes on Imarra, the witch still seems uncomfortable, shooting glares at the tiefling.

Releasing a sigh, Avis rises from the table and approaches Imarra. With a crooked smile and a gleam in her eye reserved only for attractive women, she holds out her hand. "Care to dance, Imarra? A lady as lovely as you shouldn't spend the evening sulking in the corner."

The lovely song from Nerea gives Imarra only limited respite, as she keeps glancing to the tiefling. And despite the dancing bird on the table she isn't all smiles.

Only when Avisis approaches her does she look away from the tiefling. With a puzzles expression Imarra glances over to Kardalis before facing her again "M-me?". "Uhm, alright." she says, sitting Nadra on her chair and taking Avis's hand "But I'm not sure I know many local dances.".

"Neither do I," Avis says with a chuckle. "You're trying to learn more about other cultures, though, yes? I'll teach you a Theskian dance."

She feels a faint twinge of nervousness as she feels eyes on her, but she buries it. She'll just have to hope that no other Theskians are there to critique her skill.

She leads Imarra to a somewhat open space between tables, where there is just room enough to dance. Satisfied, she begins to show Imarra the steps, occasionally guiding and correcting her movements with her hands.

Nerea grins at Davil as the song winds down, the thrill of performing heady in her veins. They sing several songs that way, all lighthearted ballads, until finally she excuses herself to become part of the dancing crowd. Stepping up to where Kardalis is seated, she smiles at him, drawing deep breaths to slow her racing heart.

"What did you think?" she asks, as she reaches for an untouched tankard. "All right for a rusty bard?"

Imarra nods to the suggestion of learning a Theskian dance and tries to follow the steps Avis shows her. At first she misses a few, trying to catch a glimpse of what the tiefling is up to, but with each step she finds less and less time to divert her attention away from the dance.

Avis notices Imarra's eyes wander to Malark, but says nothing of it at first. Eventually, however, she manages to hold her attention.

"Good, now you're getting it," says Avis. As the music winds down, so does she, ending their dance with a small bow. "Thank you for dancing with me. I was half expecting you to turn me down." She glances at Malark out of the corner of her eye. "I cast Detect Magic and examined him earlier," she mutters just loud enough for Imarra to hear. "His body art is magical. He told me he scrawled it on himself during a trance. I don't think he's malicious, but...I do wonder what afflicts him to cause such trances. He thinks it may be his fiendish heritage."

"Thay mark themselves like that. Trances or not, I don't trust him at all." Imarra responds in a hushed tone. Catching herself to have forgotten something, she bows in return to Avis and says "But, thank you for dancing with me. I really enjoyed it.".

With a smile on his face, Rhenwald rocks from side to side, tapping the table along with the rhythm. Despite his constant grim looks, it seems as though music and singing truly brought him to life somehow, touching some heart strings that nothing else really could.  It's almost like he gets oblivious for a while, if not cajoled by the magic of song. As Nerea returns, he raises his tankard:

"I'll be damned! If you call that 'rusty', you must be made out of star metal! Fuck me, that was good. Thanks for indulging the old grumpy hunter. Cheers!"
He makes a gesture again and drinks to the bottom.

"As did I. Only a fool would have passed up the opportunity to dance with a pretty girl, and I'm no fool." She gestures to the table surrounded by their comrades. "Shall we return?"

As she returns to the table, she finds Nerea sitting in her spot beside Kardalis, along with the drink she had ordered in her hand. She frowns, though she is too tired to make an issue of it. Resigned, she sits beside Nerea and tries to catch her breath.

As Avis takes the seat beside her, Nerea laughs, hiding her smile behind the rim of her tankard. "No trouble at all, Sir Rhenwald. In fact, thank you for your encouragement. It was just what I needed to secure a halfway decent performance." After downing her drink in one long swig, she sets the mug back on the table, flushed and genuinely happy. "Now--would either of you gentlemen care for a dance? I'm still feeling somewhat energetic and could do with a spin around the room."

The corners of Kardalis' mouth, nearly imperceptibly, draw upwards.
"I've certainly heard worse. With regards to your "rustiness", I might trust a sword in similar condition"
Before answering her question about a dance, he glances toward Rhenwald, giving him to time to answer first. It would be amusing to watch that old bastard dance.

"Dance?" Cyrus frowns, clearly surprised. "Ever seen a bear in a bush, rubbing its back against a tree? Yeah, pretty sure it'll look something like that with me, if not worse. Nah, there used to be a time when I danced with the village girls on evenings like that", he stops for a moment, arresting the thought, as if it brought unpleasant memories, then shakes his head and shrugs. "It's no use anyway for this washed up wolf. Time for the young cubs now".

He pauses for a moment, considering.
"But, well, if you insist, what the hell. If I am to make a complete joke out of myself, might as well go all the way".

"That's the way!" Nerea crows. She stands, beaming. "Anyhail, it's only a bit of fun. Perhaps you can teach me a local dance, if you know any."

Kardalis calls out encouragement as they find space, "I'm sure you'll be at least as graceful as two shagging moose!"

Cyrus smirks in a strange way, his sharp features even more pronounced now.
"Yeah, right. It's been a lifetime." Finally, he takes his hammer out and slams it flat onto the table. "Fuck it," he wheezes, standing up. "Let's dance."

"Oh hey, look who showed up at the stage", a jeering voice comes from one of the tables. "What, feeling young again, Rhenwald?"
"Shut yer yap, Frido," the ranger grins to a bald man in his forties. "Go dance with a mop, I know she won't reject you".
"I thought getting drunk with some planks of wood was your prerogative! Lookie here, Rhenwald got bewitched by an elf bard!"
"What, jealous now?" Cyrus keeps grinning, a playfully smug look on his face. "As if I give a damn".
"Right on, right on", the man laughs, biting the tip of his pipe. Rhenwald meanwhile turns to Nerea."It's nothing fancy, just some easy-going jumps and swings. Just keep your other hand on your hip like you're the king of the world, until we swing and switch, and stomp like there's no tomorrow". He bows, extending his palm, with an obvious spring to his step. One can't be sure if alcohol or the evening's charm have anything to do with it, but the hunter's stance is sure, nary a hint of uncertainty left.

With a small grin, Nerea matches his posture. "I see you're well-liked around these parts," she teases. A practiced dancer, she picks the steps up quickly, following Rhenwald's lead and switching with ease once it's time. "How long have you resided here, Cyrus? As I understand it, you've built quite the reputation."