Before the departure of the Kynes Tear
The sky whorled into a blur of agony. Raelyn could almost see her regret. It looked like the cup next to her. Then the other one. And the other one after that. She smelled like beer and sweat. In the night's events it seemed she had lost her boots. She later found one in a tree. The other she had to buy back from a fish peddler, who claimed she had sold her boots for one fish which she freed by throwing it into the ocean.
The aftermath of the duel hadn't left Tsleeixth exactly happy. Even though he had wished for the Redguard to pay for his crimes against the Company his death had left him with a weird feeling of sadness and had volunteered to help bury their former comrade and afterwards had left to wander the town, needing some time to think for himself. By the time he had returned to the inn it was already afternoon but, when he entered the building, he was greeted by the sight of the bard that had helped him previously, lying down on a table with several cups on the table next to her.
Approaching the woman he shook her gently before sitting next to her "Hey, what happened to you?" He asked her, his brows furrowing as he looked at the cups strewn on the table "Wait here, I'll get you something to eat and some water." He said, making his way to the innkeep and buying Raelyn some food along with a cup of water. Settling down both the food and the cup on the table, the Argonian sat himself on a chair next to Raelyn as he waited for the Imperial bard to provide him the answers to his previous question.
Raelyn groaned, raising her head, "I think I invested, in a large stock, of the Inns mead supply." she looked at the water, took it, and chugged half of it down. "It disappeared mysteriously in the dead of night, who'd have thought?" she held a hand to her temple. She took a piece of bread, ate it, gagging it down with every ounce of reluctance in her throat. She wriggled her toes, "...I think I gave one of my boots to a fish peddler. Not sure where the other one is. Do
you have my boot?"
"Ah, I see, that would explain the large amount of cups next to you" Said Tsleeixth when Raelyn explained that she had 'invested' in a large stock of the Inns mead supply "Hope it was a wise investment" He said with a hint of humor in his voice as the Imperial bard downed half on the water he had brought her in one gulp. He laughed when she mentioned that the mead had seemingly disappeared in the middle of the night "Hmm, truly, a mystery for the ages." He said as his laughter died down, a chuckle or two emanating from him before he turned serious as he saw Raelyn gagging as she ate the bread he had brought.
"Easy there, have some more water." He said as he sympathetically, and gently, patted Raelyn's shoulder, rolling his eyes a little when she asked him if he had one of her boots "No, I do not, in fact you have your boots on the ground nearby, unless I am mistaken." He explained to her, waiting for her to process what he had said before talking again "Now, care to explain to me what led you to 'invest' so much in the Inns supply of mead?"
She looked down at the boot, "Oh that? Don't think that's mine." she squinted, "Is that Brittles?" She shrugged, "After we saw the duel I had some feelings on the nature of mortality, which lead me to writing a song about it. That song was very upsetting, though I can't remember why because then I started drinking. That felt pretty great, then Gordo challenged me to a bard-off and I'm not going to let some Dwemer musician ruin Cordellos Fantastic Flight while I'm mostly conscious!" she paused, "I should note that a bard-off traditionally involves drinking. Whoever starts playing poorly loses, because any bard worth their stringed instrument of choice should be able to play well even while dead." She sipped some water, "Do you know who won?" she said into the cup.
Tsleeixth shrugged a little when Raelyn said that those boots weren't hers "Sorry, look the same to me as any other boot." He said bluntly "And who is Brittles? Never heard of him" Asked the Argonian, more out of idle curiosity than any true desire -or need for that matter- of knowing who this 'Brittle' character was. He listened as the bard explained to him the series of events that had let her to get into a competition between bards and how that, in turn, led her to get completely drunk "Alas, no, I wasn't here when the lash between you bards took place" He said, a hint of humor in his voice as he spoke once again. After a short while had passed a question popped into his mind "Hmmm, now that I think of it, I haven't asked you why you were here." He said to Raelyn "Are you here to join the company?" He asked curiously, wondering what the bard was doing in Dawnstar.
"Damn." she said to the bard-off comment. "I thought someone could explain all the broken glass." She asked curiously, "Do you have to join to play music with the company?" She gestured everywhere below her neck, "I don't exactly have the fighting figure of a nordic shieldbearer. I was originally just going to hop along and figured no one would say no to a bard traveling along. I thought at worst they'd assume I was a traveling courtesan."
"Could probably try asking the innkeep, I am pretty sure that he could fill in the blanks of what happened last night. EIther by how he reacts or what he tells you." Said Tsleeixth, shrugging a little when Raelyn asked him if she needed to join the Company to play music with them "I don't think so but if you are gonna stick around with us you'd better ask Ashav to give you a contract, that way you'll be getting payed for whatever trouble we get you in and I am sure that he'd find a use for you within the company proper." He said as he scratched his chin, thinking a little "I could put in a good word for you if you so desire, been with the company for a long time so, hopefully, Ashav would take my word into consideration." He added as well, waiting for the answer of the bard to his offer.
"No to the inkeeper, never know if you owe septims for damages. "That'd probably work. Maybe I can charm him with my resplendent personality!" she vomited a little onto the counter, "Well, or I could impress him with my impression of "A Nords Axe Has a Knob on the End" she gagged, "Or I could, I don't know, just smile and nod."
"Alright, alright, your call" Said Tsleeixth when Raelyn protested over his suggestion of going over to ask the innkeeper what had happened the previous night. He chuckled a little when she said that she could charm Ashav with her resplendent personality albeit his demeanor turned serious when she vomited a little onto the counter "Alright, take it easy" He said as he patted her shoulder gently, his worries only increasing as she gagged once more "Perhaps we should just first make sure that you are up to your one hundred percent before we go see Ashav." He told Raelyn.
Waiting for a little while more, once he was sure that Raelyn was feeling well enough he went out with the bard and guided her to where Ashav was. "Ashav, sir, this bard wants to join our Company and I'd like to give my recommendation for her induction into our ranks." He said once they were in the presence of the Redguard commander.
"Bard?" Ashav gazed towards the duo in confusion. It was fairly late and he was preparing to sleep after a long day. This sounds like a joke, and Ashav’s not one for joking around, especially not around bed time. "We don't have room for a musician on the ship, not with Madura being the free loader." The Redguard said, but pondering for a second, a better idea came to mind. "Recommendation you say?" Ashav took a step forward and looked the bard in the eyes. "How do you like cleaning chamber pots? I need someone else to dump the dumps when Dough-Boy isn't around."
Turning to Tsleeixth again, Ashav said. "Your bard friend doesn't look like much of a fight. What you really recommend for her is latrine duty, eh?"
"Tell you what, I'm feeling generous right now." Ashav went back to Raelyn. "I'll contract you for two-thirds of regular pay, for sanitation services." He took out a pre-written contract and made a few modifications to it. "Take it or leave it." He extended the quill to the newcomer.
Raelyns eyes darted back and forth between (R)Ashav and Tsleeixth. She didn't much like the sound of that work at all. Namely, she had kept free of disease by staying far away from randy looking men with boils at Inns and keeping the business of latrines at her back-end.
Raelyns face, for just a moment, creased towards the lines of pure indignancy usually reserved for when someone asked she played for free as Ashav handed her the quill, but settled on a plastered smile, "Sounds agreeable!" she signed briskly in handwriting suggesting that she either often wrote or was used to signing documents.
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