1 Soul Bound
1.1 Finding her Feet
1.1.6 An Innocent Profaned
1.1.6.9 So heinous a crime
The other arrived in dribs and drabs, and took their now usual table on Columbina’s balcony.
Kafana: {Hi Guys, I’ll send a server up to you. The gelato’s a success I think. I’m a little busy serving it, though, so I can’t come up to you, and you’re not dressed to come down here.}
Bungo: {Ashamed of us?}
Kafana: {I’m afraid you don’t meet the dress code. Wait until you see the costume Columbina’s stuck me in. But I can listen in, so tell me about your mornings.}
Tomsk growled: {“Stuck you in”? She’s not looking after you?}
Kafana: {Steady there, no she’s been very nice to me. Just a little dramatic, which it is impossible for her not to be I think. You’ll see.}
She looked around. There were a group of Vecci dancing to violin music in the arena, bright in their ribbons. The playing was good, people were tapping their toes. She hoped she’d get to visit them this evening. That would be fun.
Columbina brought another pair of socialites up to be introduced to her, with a twinkle in her eye and much formality. The staff had been outrageous, dancing attendance upon her, giving her a private cordoned off area against the wall on a raised platform almost like a stage. During the half hour she’d been out here, she’d been seeing regular *ding* messages as her reputation with individual nobles crept up.
“Why, I do believe it is Madame Kafana” said Lady Sienna Landi.
Kafana was nearly jolted out of her role by the surprise, but pulled through and managed to nod graciously and say in return “Lady Sienna”.
Sienna: “I was just telling Lady Trinci about your visit to my Villa and your wonderful voice. She is avid about music, and made me promise to invite her next time you came to visit us. And now, here you are!”
Pia: “A pleasure to meet you, please call me Pia. We are informed this ‘strawberry gelato’ is your invention? If you are half as good at singing as you are at cooking, then Sienna has not been boasting.”
[Quest completed “Great Gelato” - you have succeeded in making the greatest gelato in the world.]
[You have gained a level. You are now level 28.]
*ding* [Your reputation with cooks has increased by 50.]
[Skill “Cook” has increased...
She blanked out, flinching, as several announcements arrived at once. But after a moment she realised she was fine. The limiter she’d had Minion set was protecting her. She relaxed.
Kafana: “I cannot possibly allow my friend to remain accused of so heinous a crime.” she put a bit of a smile into her voice. “But it would be immodest to defend myself. So perhaps, if you will permit, I will sing a short tune and let you judge for yourself? I will just go inside a minute to prepare.”
Kafana: {You wanted to see my costume? I’ll give you a chance. Lady Sienna Landi is here, and I think I’m going to have to put on a performance. Putting you on mute.}
She told a server where she’d like a stage set up, then retired inside to tune her violin and buff herself. Skill, luck, and harmony of course. A prayer to the deities. And then a buff focused upon dexterity and coordination. She was going to try her party trick of accompanying herself on the violin, and didn’t want to slip up. She considered altering her voice to make it better, purer, but that felt like cheating. Instead she settled for a bit of calm, confidence and courage by mixing a couple of her previous buffs. She nodded to herself, firmly. She was ready.
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The nobles escorting the two grande dames hastily cleared a path for Kafana as she walked over to where the stage was now set up, opposite the balcony instead of underneath it, where full sunlight would shine down upon her, making the crown sparkle. Just a little bit of magic, she decided. Something to set the atmosphere and make her seem ethereal, untouchable, a spirit visiting from another world. Something similar to the imaginative feel from a really good fantasy book cover by someone like Boris Vallejo or Julie Bell. She set runes, visualisations and limiters in the overlay, and then began, first on the violin, and joining in with voice. The solo from Purcell’s The Fairy Queen “See, even Night herself is here.”
This wasn’t about volume, nor even emotional intensity. She strove for technical perfection and making her tone fit the mood and imagery. She wanted them to see her as a visiting spirit, more than just a physical body, more than just a musician, royalty from another dimension, not quite at home here, endlessly tragic, beyond their reach, beyond their grasp.
She felt drained but light as she finished, almost as though she could float away. It must be the dexterity boost she’d given herself. She leaped high into the air, an impossibly graceful jump, violin in one hand, glittering jewels leaving a rainbow behind her in the sunlight. At the top of the arc they could believe, just for a moment, that she would continue up to return to the stars, but then she started down and hastily stowed her violin in her inventory box. She landed like Bungo had, on three limbs, but then instead of doing a heroic pose she raised her arm imploringly as though to a heaven she’d been cast out of, tears in her face, before slumping down as though in defeat.
She switched chat back on: {Well guys, how was it? Think I impressed her?}
Alderney said, in a small voice: {You’ve improved since university. Were you aware of that?}
Kafana: {You sound surprised. What, did you think I wouldn’t get better after years of practice? You heard me sing last night.}
Alderney: {Um, yeah, you sounded nice last night. But you weren’t performing with a capital “P”, you weren’t going all out.}
Tomsk: {Stand up, Kafana. Look around you.}
She was feeling rather annoyed. They might at least have said it was nice. She got to her feet, slowly, and looked up to see the first lady of Torello, Pia of House Trinci, wife of Lord Ugolino Trinci, head of the council, looking at her like a 1960s teenager looking at John Lennon.
*ding* [Your reputation with Lady Pia Trinci has increased by 500.]
She smiled. Oh well, at least she had one fan. Pia gave her a hand up, and people started to clap. Quite a lot of people, actually.
*ding* [Your reputation with the Vecci has increased by 50.]
*ding* [Your reputation with Musicians has increased by 50.]
*ding* [Your reputation with people in Centrale has increased by 50.]
*ding* [Your reputation with the staff at the Speckled Dove has increased by 50.]
The notifications carried on, listing 20 or so different groups and Houses. *ding* *ding* *ding*
Bulgaria: {While you have their attention, announce there will be a performance of a different kind at 4 bells of the Afternoon watch, this coming Covday wax, in the amphitheatre.}
Wellington: {I’ve cast sound amplification for you, on the table you were standing on.}
Kafana: “Thank you, Lady Pia. There will be a social event in 3 days time. Shall I come join you at your table and tell you and Lady Sienna all about it? But first, I should make a quick announcement and thank people while I have their attention.”
She didn’t wait for a reply, but hopped lightly back onto the table and sang a single note, to regain people’s attention. She let the note drift higher and higher, before fading it away.
Kafana: “Thank you Torello, for your kind reception of Questing Spirits such as myself. I’d like to announce that, as a small repayment for your kindness, some of us shall be putting on a performance this coming Covday wax, here in the Plaza of the Public. It starts at 4 bells of the afternoon watch, so I hope you can come. Tell your friends.”
She stepped down, and went over to sit with the high society ladies.
Kafana: {Well, that’s us committed. Let’s hope nothing crops up to ruin it. We won’t get a second chance.}