Day two is going to be a play, which is more annoying to set up because we have to get the stage ready. It's all in different segments, each of which is on wheels and has the set pieces stored in the hollow center. They have to be linked together, and the set pieces have to be put together on top of them.
They're quite high. Not a big fan of that.
I'm working with Portia and Suzanne on stage left. Luckily, they've agreed to let me stay on the ground and hand things up while they assemble the set, on the condition that I help Suzanne practice her lines for tonight. I watch as Portia clambers up on top of some rickety-looking scaffolding completely unfazed. I theorize that it's because she's already lower to the ground, so the same heights don't seem as high to her.
I hold up a copy of the script and read a line from the scene that Suzanne has asked me to go over.
"Who amongst us has not taken some liberties in the retellings of our own tales?" I recite.
Suzanne is in the zone even though she is also concentrating on hammering in pegs to connect two sides of a small staircase.
"Some bending of the truth may be permitted in the pursuit of a good story, but you have twisted it so much as to be unrecognizable!" she says with great gusto. "And to what end? Has it made you more desirable in the eyes of your lover? No, it has done nothing but poison your character in her eyes! You've built a house of cards with your lies; why should you be surprised that it is crumbling around you?"
"What do you know of truth and lies?" I read. "Of me? We've only just met. Who are you to judge me?"
"Who am I? Who am I? I am the one who…" she pauses to think. "Line?"
I read the line she's supposed to say next from the script with significantly less dramatic inflection than she started it with.
"I am Truth itself. I am the one who sees all that is, as it is -- past, present, and future. I am not the one who judges, but I can see the fated path to your judgement clear as your laughably transparent deceptions."
"Damn," she curses. "I always get those first two 'I am' statements switched. Do you think they should be switched? I kind of feel like they would sound better if I just switched them."
"I mean, I doubt anyone in the audience would notice," I reason. "I don't think the plays we put on are as well-known in Veilsung. They certainly have enough of their own stories and oral traditions that I'd never heard of at all before we crossed the border."
"That's true. Remember that storyteller in the tavern back in Byrkhani?"
"Yeah, I didn't hear him tell a single tale that I already knew. That creation myth he told about the caves in Veilsung? I didn't even know Veilsung had a huge network of caves before that."
"Right? There must be so many stories the rest of the world is missing out on!" she gushes, spacing out while she, I'm assuming, imagines the breadth of Veilsung's unknown literature. "We should try to recruit while we're here. I would love to help write some new plays based on Sungian mythology."
"I wouldn't mind a lizard or two on the team," Portia breaks in while climbing down the scaffolding. "That thing they do with their tongues is kinda hot."
Suzanne snorts. "I didn't know you had a thing for snake people, Portia."
"Not specifically or anything, but I wouldn't turn one down. Do you know they have two penises?"
"You're joking," Suzanne scoffs, but she's shooting Portia a look like she's not sure whether or not to believe her.
"Nope," Portia insists. "Just like a regular snake. Two."
Suzanne puts down her hammer to address Portia's claim more directly. "Okay first off, there's no way that's true, and secondly what do you know about how many penises regular snakes have?"
"I read things sometimes."
"Things about snake penises. Really."
"Why is that so surprising?"
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I listen to them bicker while handing up pieces of the backdrop, but before they can really get into it, I hear Jean's voice call out from behind me.
"Hey Cat! Eliza was asking for you, I think she has something important to talk to you about."
I wrack my brain for what it could possibly be about, but I'm coming up blank.
"Thanks for letting me know, Jean. I'll head right over."
I tell Suzanne and Portia that I'll be back in a second, then make my way to Eliza's caravan.
It's hot and stuffy inside when I get there, and it's impossibly cluttered. The total amount of clothing, books, knick-knacks, and other personal effects she has managed to accumulate seems to stay the same each time I come in here, yet the landscape is different every time. She's sitting behind her small, bolted-down desk looking over some parchments when I walk in, and she looks up at me when I step in and make the whole caravan shift and creak. Her expression is unusually grave.
"Uh oh," I say jokingly, "what kind of trouble am I in now?"
She meets my eyes and says nothing, nor does her expression change. My face falls. Eliza is normally an overly cheery and expressive person, quick to engage and fire back at the most lackluster joke. Whatever this is about, it must be bad.
"Please, have a seat," she says, gesturing at the small empty chair before me. Another bad sign. She cleaned off the chair in anticipation of this conversation. I plunk down in it and wait for her to go on.
"Cat, I'm going to be honest with you here. The king of Veilsung has just made us an extremely generous offer. He wants us to spend the next two years exclusively touring around Veilsung, and he will be bankrolling all our operations on top of what we already make from each town we visit."
"Well that's an exciting prospect," I say, perking up in my seat. "I heard he was going to make an appearance last night. He must have really liked what he heard."
"Yes, well." Eliza still looks uncomfortable. "On top of that, after those two years are up, we get a large stipend to support us even after we move on from the country."
"So I'm guessing there's a downside of some kind?"
I'm getting a little worried about why she called me in to talk about this, when I've never so much as touched anything related to our finances.
"It's not a downside per se. Just… a stipulation. A very specific request." She takes a deep breath. "How would you feel about staying here in Dimos, working in the castle as a court minstrel?"
I blink. "Staying here… for how long?"
"The contract here is very specific on this." Eliza picks up the parchment on the desk to check it. "We are required to return to Dimos every six months over the course of two years, and at any of those points, you can choose to leave and rejoin us, but once you do, the troupe will no longer receive any additional financial support. We aren't required to pay back anything we have already been granted if and when you rejoin."
I cock my head and consider the prospect. I would miss traveling with the whole group, but even a little extra money would really take us a long way. We've had plenty of lean years in the past, and being able to bank some in anticipation of that is always huge. Even if I only agree to be stuck here for six months, it would have a significant impact. I'm honestly struggling to see a downside, but there is one question that I'd like to know before I agree.
"Who else got picked to stay?"
Eliza takes a deep breath. "It's just you, Cat."
I scoff. That doesn't make a lot of sense. To a discerning ear, I can definitely be singled out as a very talented player, a cornerstone of our ensemble. But most people notice the soloists and the ones who carry the primary melody. I simply don't stand out enough to have been the only one picked.
"It's a good choice," Eliza goes on when I don't respond besides pulling a face. "You definitely have the most range out of all of us. I don't know why you're so surprised that someone noticed you're good at what you do."
My disbelieving look intensifies.
She frowns and looks at the contract again. "It's a little odd how much he's offered us in return for letting you go. It's not like we could stop you from going if you wanted to."
"That is odd. It's like he anticipated that I wouldn't agree to stay here without an incentive."
Eliza heaves a pensive sigh. "Well? Thoughts? Ready to leave the nest and start your solo career?"
I chew on my lip. So I'd be completely alone, surrounded by strangers, without a single person I know even remotely nearby. Not to mention I'd be at the whims of a monarch I know nothing about. Being a court minstrel would be entirely different from being on the road with the Warblers, in a way I don't have the first clue about.
"What's the king like?" I ask. "What do we know about him?"
"I've never met him. He sent a representative over with the contract, and the Sungian people aren't very keen to share information on their nation's politics to outsiders. I don't even know his name. You'd be going in blind."
I hold my hand out and gesture for her to hand me the contract. When she does, I glance over it quickly, looking for the numbers. My eyes widen and my breath catches in my throat. That's a lot of money. Way more than I'm worth, if I'm being honest, and I like to think I have a realistic estimation of my own talent.
Then there's no question about it, is there? If I can ensure that my family is safe and well fed for the next decade… There is no possible future where I choose to avoid the mere potential of unhappiness rather than take care of the people I love.
"Okay," I say, resolute in my decision. "Where do I sign?"