The King's Players RPG

[Galadriel55]

Thiliel was planning of going upstairs to her room after lunch, when the inn was almost empty. The usual hubbub was strangely subdued at this time of day. Thiliel hop-skipped her way to the staircase, humming to herself, thinking of when she would go to the market to buy a new ribbon.

Halfway up the stairs Thiliel came across Sereth, the lass that she met yesterday. Thiliel noticed that Sereth looked as though she didn't sleep all night.

"Hi! Have they been looking for me?" Sereth asked. Her voice sounded cheerful enough, even if a little tired.

Assuming that "they" meant the rest of the troop, Thiliel didn't hesitate to give all the information that she knew. "No, I don't think they have. Two of them - two men - went away somewhere for the entire morning. I think they just came back - I saw one of them talk to Mistress Celebrindal. And she can walk on crutches now - she came to the common room for the meal! The other actors were somewhere around... I don't know much about what they were doing, but they weren't searching for anybody... Oh, I almost forgot! How silly of me! A perian came in today for breakfast - a rather large one, I should say. She called herself Elanor Gamgee, and she talked with Mistress Celebrindal for over half an hour.

"You've had a restless night, I see," Thiliel added after a pause, "Maybe I can help you with something? You didn't come down for breakfast or nuncheon; you'd like some food, won't you?" the girl smiled and winked.

[Nerwen]

Sereth, Asta noted, glancing up at the two girls chattering on the stairs, was looking distinctly peaky today. Unsurprising– the child seemed determined to spoil her looks and waste good candles by poring over the script at all hours.

Asta had still not quite sorted out how she felt about the events of the previous Day, or about Coldan himself, and so, although she had her own reasons for consulting Brinn, she hung back in the hall when she saw her sister hobbling out of the common room escorted by the prompter.

Fortunately Rollan, who would do just as well, had lingered over his meal.

Asta took a seat opposite her brother-in-law.

"Rollan, if I may ask your advice?"

Rollan's lips quirked, for some reason. "You too?"

Asta wondered what he meant by that, but decided not to ask. Rollan rarely passed up an opportunity to poke fun at her.

"I found this outside Lord Sador's door yesterday." Asta had to check an impulse to glance over her shoulder as she passed Rollan the crumpled scrap of paper. She knew the limping nobleman was gone, having watched him depart the Inn with those two ladies ("the drab one and the overdressed one", as she thought of them), but the situation still made her feel conspiratorial. "What do you make of it?"

[Mnemosyne]

Brinn listened patiently while Coldan explained as much as he cared. She decided that she'd been good not to press the issue last night, as today, at least he was reflecting on what had happened calmly.

"Well," she said, "I trust that you've learned your lesson: don't try to introduce any earth-shattering changes to the Players when the show's a week away. Not," she added, "that I think that is what you were trying to do. Best just to let it lie for now, though. But I don't think Aldarion means you any harm. I don't know what, if anything, is going on between him and Asta, but I assure you that if it is, it's nothing serious. And--lest you accuse him of treating her poorly as a consequence--I assure you that nothing anyone does with my sister happens without her consent."

She sighed. "She probably likes the attention, is all. I wish you luck, if you decide to continue your suit. Just please don't try to push things until the show is over."

[Mnemosyne]

Rollan only briefly felt regret that Asta had not given him the opportunity to play matchmaker again. He squinted at the note she had placed before him. "I--well, I can hardly read it! Is that... 'Aldarion'?"

"Yes," said Asta, "and 'third,' and 'tomorrow.' Whatever could it mean?"

"You said you found it yesterday?"

"Yes."

"Then I expect we can find out from Aldarion when he gets back, if he doesn't feel like being cagey." He nodded. "Lovely night last night, wasn't it? Care to tell me what went on?"

[Nerwen]

Asta had expected Rollan to be more impressed by the scrap, with its evidence of some scheme involving Aldarion, and was quite put out. Also, having keyed herself up for dramatic revelation, it took her a moment to adjust to this new and somewhat embarrassing subject.

True, there was a corner of Asta's mind that found it most gratifying that Coldan and Aldarion had been about to fight a duel over her– well, practically a duel, anyway. But she was not about to let Rollan guess this corner existed, and she knew he would, if she had to describe the fight in any detail. For all his easy-going ways, the comedian never missed much.

"Last night? Ah... you must mean what happened in the Common Room? I'm not sure. It seems Coldan and Aldarion had words... but you see it was all over by the time I got there. Of course," she added, as the manner of her own entrance was another thing she preferred to forget, "I don't know what other people may have been telling you. People do exaggerate so, don't they?"

[the phantom]

Aldarion was quite surprised to see the lady that emerged from the droshky. Sador was nowhere to be seen, and this lady was obviously no servant, and Aldarion certainly did not know her. Why of all people did Sador choose this particular lady to fetch me? What's his angle?

Aldarion had spent the previous few hours in talks with Bregolas, and as a result was much more wary of Sador than he had been initially. Aldarion had already received a letter from his good friend Amlach warning him to be on guard, and Bregolas confirmed this, adding to it that he had gotten a peek at some of the communications Sador was sending and that they had been less than complimentary about the King's Players. There was mischief afoot! But what precisely, Aldarion did not know.

"I believe," asked the lady, "that you must be Galador's son, sir, late of the Swan Players? If you are he, then my younger brother has desired me to guide you. I am Aerwen, Lady of Burlach."

So, Sador sent his sister. Perhaps it was an honest choice then, as a member of the host family had as good a claim to fetch guests as anyone.

Aldarion thought it unwise to show any open suspicion, and so, actor born and raised as he was, he kept his thoughts securely locked in the back of his mind. Aldarion looked Aerwen straight in the eyes, smiled slightly, and inclined his head. "Well met, Lady of Burlach. I am indeed Aldarion, son of Galador." Now walking forward, he continued. "I would say 'at your service' or something similar, but I am afraid my services are entirely overstretched at the moment, as you may have heard from your brother. It is most kind that your family has allowed me an opportunity to forget my cares for a little while and be your guest."

[Anguirel]

Aerwen nodded when the player pronounced his first name; she had left it unspoken initially quite on purpose, partly as a test, partly because the fellow was rather celebrated, and she didn't want to let any obvious realisation of this compromise her dignity. She approved of his response, though it might seem weary and strictly speaking not even very courteous. The man seemed as straightly forged as the sword at his belt, and that, too, was more reassuring, than what part of her mind had pictured; a fluent youth with a quip and a glance everything, perhaps, a handsomer version of her brother Sador; instead of which, the resemblance to her brother-in-law, Amlach, was particularly decided.

Without further conversation, she mounted the little jig again, beckoning Aldarion to come up with her. The small solidity of this carriage left a strange architectural effect, as if they were hiding in the stone alcove of some great hall in the citadel; and yet every ring and jolt of the droshsky bouncing on the cobbles reminded them of quite the reverse.

"I know something more of you," Aerwen began again with hesitant decision, "than you might expect, Master Aldarion, though I have never seen you play; I have purchased every script of the Swan Players' productions for a number of years, to read in my hours of leisure. Assuredly, alas, such scripts are pirated, partial, gravely defective, but they have always given me great satisfaction; especially 'The Golden King'. It is a shame our much-loved Amlach had to be away rehearsing, but I cannot deny that 'Tar-Ancalime' much excites me in prospect..."

Her speech trailed off into a note of tentative questioning, as they left the Third Circle and entered the main traffic of the Fourth.