Kassandra vi Arandall, first princess of the royal family, did not take after her father. This made her nearly useless to me, but most people found her hard to dislike. Her reaction to seeing Aisha for the first time was to clap her hands together and declare, “A Giordanan! From the south, that’s wonderful. We shall have to have you perform with Friedrich from the north. And then with the two of you, we shall procure another from the far east, Aillesterra maybe? And then we shall have all the compass directions covered!”

Felicia Raymi, Lord Raymi’s daughter, may as well have been tied at the hip to Kassandra, such was her position at court. She was the one to drolly say, “There are four, or eight directions on a compass, Kassie. That would only be three bards.”

The blond princess spun to face Felicia. “Then we shall bring out one of the court jesters, and he shall be our western bard. We are the kingdom of the west, are we not?”

“We’re the kingdom of the sea. We just happen to be in the west,” Felicia responded, picking up one of the chocolate laden cookies that adorn their garden table.

“Of the western sea then. There’s no one further west so what does it matter? We shall bring the four of them together and have them perform! It will be a grand thing, don’t you think?”

Aisha cleared her throat. “If I may, princess? Such an event would require a composer, familiar with all four styles of music.”

Kassie spun back to her. “Well, that sounds like a perfect job for someone from the central kingdoms!”

Felicia groaned. “And now you’ve gone and fabricated three other people we need for this event. How are you going to get these people? Are you going to demand that Miss Canta stay here for that long?”

“Why would I have to demand? Nobody turns down royal hospitality. My father will certainly approve of it.”

“Princess,” Aisha said, tentatively trying to get a word in.

“Oh, where are my manners, have a seat!” Kassie said, patting the chair beside her. Aisha mumbled a thanks and sat down, only to be interrupted once more. “Oh, and do help yourself to the treats. It wouldn’t be ladylike for me to eat them all myself, but I’d eat a hundred if I could.”

Felicia rolled her eyes. “We’ve done that experiment, Kassie. You gave up at twenty-two.”

The princess shrugged. “Twenty-two? A hundred? What’s the difference?”

“Seventy-eight,” Felicia answered. “And probably a ripped corset.”

By this time, Aisha had picked up one of the cookies. She stared at it for a moment, surprised to find it drizzled in chocolate, complimenting some sort of fruit preserve in the middle. She had eaten half of the sugary treat by the time their attention circled back around to her. “Princess, uhm, your cookies are delicious,” she said, covering her mouth as she swallowed. “But, what I wanted to say is that my stay here is predicated on Lucius.”

Kassie turned to her bodyguard, a woman who might have been half-troll and strong enough to remove an interloper's head by pinching her fingers together, and she asked, “Who’s Lucius?”

“Lucius von Solhart, son of the Solhart family. Arrived this morning with news for the king,” the half-troll grunted back.

Kassie tilted her head. “The Solharts are poor though. They’re not important.”

Felicia snorted and hid her face until she suppressed her laugh. “Still noble, though. Kassie, it’s improper to steal retinue from your subordinates, you know?”

The princess pouted and planted her hands on her hips. “Well, then I just have to request it of him directly! Then it won’t be stealing.”

Aisha was in no position to explain why leaving Lucius’ protection would be dangerous for her health. She tried, “Would you perhaps like to hear some of the music of Tavina? I would need to borrow someone’s instrument however.”

The princess clapped her hands together. “That would be lovely. Helda, would you have someone fetch Friedrich? We need his instruments, not him, but he’s welcome too.” The overgrown bodyguard nodded and turned her back on the trio to fetch a maid. The two noblewomen turned to Aisha in earnest after that, assaulting her with questions. They pried into all manner of things, private and historical, without ever even approaching the events that had brought her north. They quizzed her on foods from Giordana, and the local authors and poets, the performing troupes that sometimes left Aillesterra as well as the practices of temple hymn singing.

They had just gotten to the subject of courting, and all the pertinent differences between Vassermark and Giordana, when Friedrich at last arrived. He swaggered into the garden, not from brazen audacity but from a lingering hangover. After so many weeks in the royal palace, he had determined that no one in the royal family cared what he looked like in the morning, and they by far preferred his ability to stay up gambling into the night. The man provided excellent cover for some of the more clandestine encounters that royalty might be required to make, and he wholeheartedly indulged the drinking. “Princess,” he said with a smile, brushing his shaggy gray hair back. “How may I be of service?” His bag thumped and trilled when he dropped it on the grass. Taut strings vibrating within.

Aisha rose. “You must be Friedrich, a pleasure. I’ve come all the way from Tavina in the south and have been deprived of my instruments. I have nothing but my voice, which is a bit poor for the princess.”

The old bard nodded, rubbed his congested nose, and said, “Do you use four-string or eight-string guitars down south? I’ve never been.”

She winced. “Six, normally…”

Friedrich tugged open his bag and pulled out the many varieties of lyre he had. Like breeds of dog, they were all shapes, sizes, colors, and temperaments. “Perhaps I should assist briefly. Some of these can be finicky, even to veteran players.”

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Kassie leapt up. “Please! If I can’t have all the compass directions, I shall at least have the two opposite ends of the world.”

Friedrich sat cross legged upon the ground and checked the tuning on a long necked guitar, double stringed into a rich blend. “You might yet. I was the hard one to get. You’re not exactly on good terms with Skaldheim, now are you?”

The princess let all her breath out, deflating back into her seat. “As long as you’re our spy and not theirs, we’ll keep you happily.”

Friedrich laughed. “Of course, your highness. Now, you, redhead. Who taught you? Travelers or temples?”

“The temples mostly. I’ve picked up other songs, but nothing–”

“Nothing you learned from sailors, please. Her brother will have my head if we start singing about the ladies o’ the sea.”

Aisha coughed and hid the blush in her cheeks. “Please, my brother would have had my skin if I ever sang something like that.”

Ever the innocent, Kassie cocked her head to one side. “Ladies of the sea?”

Friedrich grimaced. “Nothing fit for a garden, nor a true lady. You won’t catch me talking about the dreamt up succubi of sailors.”

“Succubi?” Kassie asked.

Aisha clapped her hands together. “We should perform the old songs, yes? Those have been around. Everyone knows them. How about The Dance of Featherheft?”

Friedrich frowned. “This one?” he asked, strumming a melody. “Or this one?” he asked, plucking another.

Aisha frowned and picked up another of his instruments. She gave it a few test plucks then played out a slightly out of tune melody. “Does this sound familiar?”

The northerner laughed. “Oh, that song. In Skaldheim we call that The Death of Feathervain. You must have a more upbeat set of verse for it. Come on, come on then, I know that song,” he said, taking the four stringed guitar from her. I can only describe what then preceded as a musical argument, which went entirely over the princesses head. TThey each had entirely different perspectives on the tone of the song, as they hailed from opposite sides of the almost forgotten war, and thus had opposite feelings about the proper winner of the mythical hero. Regardless, chords and rhythm exist on a more primal level than the contextual meaning of words.

Ultimately, it hardly mattered beyond that it entertained Kassandra while her father arranged a feast for Lucius’ arrival. Their play in the garden did not come to an end with something responsible occurring, but with the arrival of yet another visitor.

Acheliah descended from the sky, angelic wings spread wide as she dumped air and alighted upon one of the garden statues. The sight, the reality shifting presence of magic, stopped Aisha in the middle of a sentence. Friedrich trailed off, letting his instrument hum as he stared up at her. The angel’s attention skipped over the two of them. “Kassie!” she cried out with a beaming smile. She waved and leapt down, gliding gently to the table. “How are you?” she demanded, throwing her arms around the princess and spinning her about.

“Ashley, what brings you here?” Kassie asked.

The angel reluctantly let go and said, “Your stupid father is what. Did you know he sent me a form letter? Can you believe that? I had one of my servants come and demand that he take action on various crimes against the monasteries, and he sent them away with a note saying that he would get to it in due time. In due time! Can you believe that?”

Felicia rose and bowed to the angel. “Acheliah, the king will be holding a court session momentarily. The council has been summoned to hear the report from–”

“Wonderful. I shall head there at once. I won’t need to wait to get all the important people together.”

Unflappable, Felicia said, “The king’s resources are preoccupied with war on the borders. I’m sure he meant no offense, but unless the crimes are very serious–”

Acheliah swiped her hand through the air. “The king will prioritize whatever I tell him to. It is by my grace that he has the right to rule. And speaking of that, why does he allow blasphemers in the courtyard?”

“Ashley, no good!” Kassia said, thumping the irate angel on the arm. “The last time you took justice into your own hands, you almost caused a riot! And you haven’t even put your wings away.”

“Sorry, sorry.” At a thought, her pillowy wings of feathers, like marble walls behind her, shrank into her body, vanishing into the toned muscles of her back as nothing more than tattoo markings, akin to stigmata. “I said I wouldn’t go killing people again, and I’ll keep that promise, really. So, smile again?” she pleaded, holding the princess’s hands together.

Kassia sighed and grinned. “It’s not me you need to promise to, but father.”

“I know, I know… now then,” she said, her tone becoming hard as she glared Aisha up and down. “Who are you?” Before Kassia could introduce her, Acheliah shoved past and grabbed hold of Aisha. Her hand nearly took a fistful of hair, but hesitated and cupped her chin instead. “I recognize that scent on you, human. You’re from that damn bird’s territory, aren’t you? What did you do that he left his mark upon you?”

Aisha hesitated, but she knew that if she faltered, while Lucius was able to throw himself against godlings, armies, and sea monsters, she had to be strong too. “I made a promise, that’s all. My name is Aisha Canta, and I traveled here with Lucius von Solhart. I’m a bard, didn’t you hear my singing as you flew here?”

The angel was as bad at detecting lies as she was at cleanly putting down dissent. Thus, she was in the habit of offloading that mental work to people like Kassia and Felicia, both of whom nodded agreement. So she let go and glanced at Friedrich, who had yet to even stand up. “Well, I suppose I did hear a pleasant voice. I thought perhaps I finally was hearing Felicia’s music, but I was mistaken. Better than your gravelly croaks, northman.”

“I only choke up because of your beauty,” he said.

“Don’t be disgusting,” she said, half turning away from him. “Now, you,” she said, pressing a finger to Aisha’s chest. “Under no circumstances are you to sing vulgar songs to my little Kassie. Got that?”

Aisha’s shoulders slumped. “Why do people keep accusing me of that?”

“Because you look like you sing in bars, for pirates,” the angel said, frowning. That wounded Aisha even more, stabbing as deep as it was truthful. “But, if you met Golden, I’m sure you’ve done plenty to prove piety to… the death goddess, yes?”

“Yes, I pay worship to Shepherd,” Aisha mumbled.

“Better than yet another sun worshiper. At least you southerners know your place and don’t try to lump all things good to Lumius. And you’re suitably pretty, so you have that going for you.”

“Thank you?”

At last, the angel took her finger off Aisha and turned back to the noblewomen. “Well then, how do I get to your father quickly?” she asked, taking for herself the last of the cookies.

Kassie sighed and shrugged. “I suppose the music is over for now.”

“Give us some time,” Friedrich said. “Let me and the lass come to agreement and you’ll be doubly impressed.”

Acheliah grinned over her shoulder at him. “Sorry, but I’ll be taking her with me. I want to meet this Lucius that brought her here.”

“I thought you wanted the king,” Aisha said.

“I want them both, and I’ll get them both. Come, show me the way,” the angel said, nudging Kassie forward, but it was Felicia who rose and took the lead.

Aisha deflated. “I’ve never met someone more cursed to find trouble…”