Chapter Fifty

“Delve you! You scrawny ass chicken!”

That plan was supposed to work. Create a thick layer of mist, quiet all the sounds and drift in with it. That's being stealthy, right?

The thunder roc had disagreed that the creeping area of mist was stealthy enough. The blast of wind from its wings stripped the crafted fog away, toppling Harmony in the process.

“Graup?”

Wishing the floor guardian would back down was pointless. “Fine. Let's head back.”

[Manipulate Dead] Collected the Feathers scattered across the floor to sell. Fashion, bedding, pens, and crafting components. Who to sell to was for someone with a mercantile profession to decide.

With a bit of magic, Harmony pulled a feather to her hand, letting the way it floated through the air do the hard work of having it drift to her. That let her imagination play with the idea of crafting a bunch of bone arrows and slinging them at that damn bird. Too bad other groups had tried a similar tactic and it didn't work. The wing gusts knocked un-empowered arrows out of the sky. No, if this would work, the battle needed to be up close. As she descended the stairs, she played with the different colors she could change the feather.

Ambrosia waited at the exit in a yellow dress with a wide-brimmed hat next to the That was Tess on duty today, a second smaller spider joined the first, small and silver, riding on the other's back, adjusting the bowtie when it seemed out of place. Hyacinth bailed to rest, taking most of the feathers but leaving Harmony with a bundle.

“You ready to put on a show?” Ambrosia asked giddily.

This would be Lady White’s first reveal as a dancer for Songstress and The Flows in Naewauld. It had taken that long to build up a reputation and book a venue Ambrosia considered worthy enough of such an introduction. Ambrosia had less leveraged their friendship and more gently prodded to get her to agree to go.

“You don’t want only those with access to Ma Bell's table to be the ones who get to know you. This lets the public put a face to my songs.”

Harmony’s biggest concern had been the bodyguards objecting, but they'd worked out plans with Ambrosia’s concert security. “Ready as I’ll ever be. And I’ve brought props.” She lifted the tightly packed bundle of shimmery multi-colored feathers.

Five Flowers Colosseum was the second largest one in Naewauld and was primarily used for pet battles. How Ambrosia had booked it for the concert was still a mystery, as they hadn’t been in the capital that long, even with all the hustling her friend did. The banners outside displaying artistic renderings of Harmony hanging larger than life outside the venue did away with most of that mystery.

The Songstress should pick up more fans if the crowd consists of those interested in the Ascendant Games and its challenger over the headliner. For someone whose profession didn’t rely on them advancing their singing and performing, Ambrosia was mighty cutthroat.

As with everything in Naewauld, the Colosseum was covered in vines that strangled stonework as they could build it. That went into the planned designs and the pillars looked like trees with glow stones hanging out like fruit, sure to look spectacular once it gets dark. Ma Bell had canceled tonight's dinner in exchange for a bunch of tickets.

The group traveled through the staff entrance. There were still hours of set-up before the event, choreography to practice, plans to be made, and security to be checked. The stage was already a bustle of activity.

“Hi, Harm!” Stiriling greeted, her hands re-stringing her instrument with golden threads that hummed with power.

“Our biggest concert ever!” Jimmy said with a woot as he passed by with a wave.

“Graaaaaaaaaaaaacccccck.” The croak was long and blissed out.

“Hyacinth, I thought you went back to the stables?” Harmony asked as she rounded the corner.

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The giant shadow toad lay on his back, with Milo climbing and scrubbing him with a soft-bristled brush to his pleasure. The last time Harmony had seen that little helper the girl had been way off in Hazeldown.

The glance at Ambrosia brought a shrug. “Her family felt her development would continue better if she was with me. Came with a bunch of the Hazeldown stage crew.”

So Ms. Rockfoot had managed to show up. She’d left the girl with a letter to get her in before heading to her room after dinner. The girl was sitting on a bench surrounded by pillows staring wide-eyed at everything. Harmony gave her a little wave.

The girl's eyes widened, then flickered to Ambrosia, the Songstress, who gave a little waive. That caused the lady’s eyes to widen even further, her to vibrate in her stool, and poof, she collapsed, falling into the circle of pillows around her stool.

“This is the fourth time she’s done that. Did you know she showed up before anyone else with that fancy letter of hers?” Growled a crew member.

“I hope she can stay awake for the show. “ Harmony murmured as they walked past.

Now Harmony had to plan out exactly how she was going to perform. Back in Hazeldown, the concerts had become a desperate attempt to use the pressure and way authority built to train skills, practicing new synergies and combinations [Recall] could let her pick and choose from memories where she got the best reactions from the crowd. That felt incomplete.

“Looking a little lost there.” That familiar foreign accent didn’t trigger [Recall] as Harmony had already tapped that skill completely.

“Silas!” Her savior was here. The foreign dance master had drifted away to other students after she’d become a Lady White.

“I couldn’t miss your introduction to a new audience. Now let me help you work on transitions. Ambrosia also mentioned something about feathers?”

So crowded was Five Flowers that the general noise was already an understated roar. Two openers had played before the main performance. Harmony’s anxiety showed up in bits of frost as she bent her rules to dip into it to chill some of her nerves. The Songstress and the Flows were about to introduce her.

The steady thrum of Jimmy's guitar started to rise. It set the scene. “Welcome Naewauld I'm proud to introduce the sparkling jewel of the Ascendant Games, Lady Harmony White!”

That was Harmony’s cue. What she used was not a stride or a strut, but something Silas called “the walk” the way you could sway, twist, turn, and slowly move your head to acknowledge all viewers. Surreal because no one could look away because it looked amazing, scary, unnatural, and beautiful. After practicing it for an hour she’d dubbed it the “horrible accident in motion” because it bloody hurt to do and the pain lingered. He promised her it was worth it.

None of this would have worked if they didn’t project her doing it for all the crowd to see. Finally taller than everyone. Every step moved to the beat of one of Ambrosia's new songs. On her mark, she started to swing her hips and let her fingers run down her hair, transforming her shorter more practical cut into long locks that would sway with her as the Songstress started to sing.

“Welcome to the greatest time.

As we climb.

Stepping up to fight.

With Lady White.

With Lady White.

The future is fine. “

In the first ten sets. Hyacinth made two appearances, his gravelly rumble adding a unique undertone to the songs he joined in on. They stuck glow stones to his black exterior to have him mimic the bioluminescence of Night swaying on the stage.

The props were everywhere. Three times as many birds as Ambrosia had bonded to her carrying streamers around the Colosseum, help recruited from local beast tamers. Harmony got to play with her multi-colored feathers letting the crowd keep them as souvenirs. Some songs sang of her rise, healing the prince from his state, the ascendant games, and surviving the assassination attempt. [Cold Touch] kept the sweat off. [Renew Spirit] let her look refreshed even as her muscles burned. Physical skills weaved together for the dances. Silas helped direct her movements to tell a story nearly as much as Ambrosia’s songs did.

Authority flowed in and the recent levels gained let Harmony handle it.

“Har..” Ambrosia sang.

“Mony.” The crowd yelled back.

“Har.”

“Mony.”

No dungeon spirits appeared. No secret assassins. No judges with their powers stepped in. Everything was working out.

“Har.”

“Mony!”

An exhausted twirling bow allowed her to slip away. The personal cheers and bows from the backstage staff as the band closed out the show touched her. The show was good. A few breaths to relax.

Tess handed her a glass of cold water.

It never reached Harmony’s mouth as her hand spasmed around it with such force the glass shattered, leaving shards embedded in her palm. Inside her soul ripping twisting pain reached in from outside. Already reacting on that battlefield, chronostasis kicked in with that still lingering reflection of how good the concert had been. What now?