Off Center (The Lament) (14 page)

She
picked at her food a bit and didn't finish it all. They weren't required to on the
ship, and she explained about the drugs as she turned her plate in, so that the
cook wouldn't feel insulted. It was good, she just wasn't hungry. That was all.

That
meant that she and Ben went to his room and though it was kind of awkward, he had
her strip nearly bare and started to apply her make-up for her. She didn't have
time to do it herself. That would take having a good mirror as well as more time.
Then he pulled out a yellow top for her to wear, and a tan skirt. They sort of matched,
and even if the old skirt was well worn and had patches on it, she got the idea.
Those bits of material were all done in red, with green thread trimmings, like half
her face. It was nearly clever looking, rather than simply poor.

"Ah!
I get it." She was stating the obvious, but sounded pleased enough that Ben
laid his hand on her back. Her bare back. It was a Bard thing, being naked around
people before, and sometimes after, shows. Touching them, other than to help with
make-up, that was just him, she thought. He didn't hold it forever and it felt a
bit deliberate. Not unwelcome, just strange.

Then
he carefully helped her get dressed. It meant touching her more, but only in the
places actually needed to keep make-up off the top. When they were ready, they had
to scurry a bit, and found almost everyone else out front, with not one, but two
loaded flat sledges, which were low to the ground and had flat bottoms on them.
They had to be walked in, but were pulled by horses. The old gray and the tan mare,
to be exact, since that was what they had. Pran got to ride, because of how she
was dressed, and so did Judge Claire, but everyone else walked, with Roy and Zeke,
the new man, each handling a horse.

That
got them there about half an hour later, but at least there would be more than six
people at the show, she realized, since they'd brought more than that with them.

It
turned out to be a good thing too, since Ben hadn't been wrong really. Sam and Mildred
were there, with Lyse, but Kevin and Hadis weren't, since the little girl had fallen
asleep already. That seemed odd to Pran, but she figured it was just a polite way
to keep the girl at home. There were a handful of others from the town, including
a rather incredulous looking young man. He stared at her, and if it wasn't for his
silly mustache, she might not have remembered him at all. Even if he was sort of
cute. Things had been busy after all.

Ben
smirked, but turned it into a very professional look almost instantly.

"Shall
you take the lead this time? It was your deal, after all."

That
made sense, so she did it, keeping her smile wide and her eyes happy the whole time.
She played the first three songs, keeping them light and happy, then let Ben step
in for the next two. They did a duet, then several instrumentals, and since everyone
was happy enough, played their encore songs without being asked. Sam Milner and
his wife both bounced politely, and Lyse bobbed her head. It was a shame that the
little girl wasn't there, but the others seemed happy enough.

When
they finished they bowed out, but there was really no place to go, so they just
packed up their instruments right there in front of everyone.

Sam
clapped as he walked up.

"That
was
excellent
. I'll have to tell everyone what they missed. It's the excitement
of the last few days here, I think, rather than anyone avoiding you. Eric, will
you help load up the wood that we talked about earlier?" This got addressed
to the young man, who was still staring, off and on.

Pran
got that she looked odd. That was the point. No one else seemed all that worried
about it, but Eric actually glanced over his shoulder at her on his way to the door.
He smiled at least, which was a good sign it wasn't something negative. Or at least
that he was a good actor. It wasn't lost on her that anyone in the town might actually
be with the techno-cult. Something that Zeke had said came to mind as he followed
Eric and Roy out the door.

Conversion.

She
knew what the word meant, in general, but what it would mean to someone like Zeke,
she didn't know at all. That was something to find out. Clark moved along with them,
since he was big, strong and could keep an eye on the new man, by working with him.
At least she assumed that the goal wasn't to alert Zeke instantly, by being too
obvious. He might also just need to answer a call of nature. That wasn't very likely
however. Not when there was work to be done.

For
her part she chatted with a man from the village and his wife, who were both very
pleased they'd braved the chill air to see the Bards and made that very, very clear.
The woman even took time to make eyes at Ben, who flirted back a little, if with
more control. The husband didn't seem to notice, and didn't try making a move on
her, but did watch Judge Claire very carefully the whole time. He wasn't one of
the people to be on trial for having beaten a man either. True, Claire was pretty,
but also holding herself aloof from the others, watching them all. It was strange,
seeing her do it, after nearly losing her sight like she had. The inside of the
meeting place had lamps and they could see, but it wasn't a bright place at all.
She was using the side of her vision to do it, which was a thing that Pran hadn't
really thought about before.

Looking
a bit away from the white clad lady, she tried it herself, without making a huge
deal of it. She could tell where she was, of course, but when she focused, after
a bit of practice, she could get more. It wasn't enough for a judge to do her work,
was it? Not unless Claire was a lot better at it than she was. Since that seemed
pretty likely, Pran let it go and made a point of talking to everyone, patting the
women on the hands and arms and when Eric came back in smiling at him, and waving,
so he knew that she was open to talking to him. He didn't come over however, but
still looked.

"He's
a bit shy." Roy spoke to her from the right, with the older new fellow, Zeke,
by his side. "You got a lot more wood than I thought you would. I hope you
and Claire are up to walking back?" There was a happiness to the words, but
then he dragged her and Ben out, to much laughter, since they had to get back soon.

His
take on things weren't wrong at all, so she got to trudge along on foot with the
others. The snow wasn't too deep, especially in the tracks made by the now heavy
sledges, so it wasn't that bad. They had more than enough wood for her instruments.
That and a small shed with a tight roof on it. There was no material for strings,
but in a large and heavy glazed pot there was wood glue. She'd have to heat it before
use, but it would work pretty well, she thought. It would take a while to work the
wood down properly, but she had the Captain to hand to ask about using the wood
shop on the ship, and got a surprised glance from her when she did.

"I
didn't know you worked in wood. I thought it was all singing for you. Playing too.
Do you do carvings? I thought you needed whole pieces of wood for that?" She
sounded interested, which was probably a mistake on her part, but Pran liked to
hear it.

Most
people didn't think about carving that much.

"You
can rough cut wood plank into the right shapes and glue those together, then carve
the finished product. Large pieces of wood can be used for that too, but it's not
the only way to do it. With stone it is, and that's mainly what I like to work in,
but wood isn't too bad. It just doesn't last as long. I want to make some instruments
though. The ones I have are borrowed." She waited, but it didn't take long
for the woman to get to the business side of things. It was why Pran had to ask
in the first place, since the whole ship and everything on it, was this woman's
job.

"You
know tools though? You can sharpen them, clean and oil them, that sort of thing?"

"Yes.
It's needed for the work. Especially with wood like this. It's a bit younger than
I like. I wish I had a drying kiln."

It
was clear that Captain Mina wasn't the only one listening, since Bill, the Second
Mate called out from a ways back that she should try setting the planks under the
engine vents.

"Some
of them, I mean. Just the ones you want to dry fast. Might take a week, if we aren't
running hot, of course." He wasn't drunk, but seemed to be more mellow somehow,
which probably meant he'd been sipping at something or another in town.

"Did
you find who sells the hard cider then?" Pran realized that it was probably
a bad question to ask the man, but no one yelled at her. In fact the man himself
just smiled and moved up alongside her easily.

"I
did at that! The pretty, but slow girl has a side business. Wanted to know if I
could trade for some, without it strictly being run by the tax man. Said I'd run
the idea past the Captain. It isn't bad quality. Good enough it would need to be
in the locked-room, if you don't want half the crew down with a big and aching head
each morning. She adds spices to it. Clove and mulling spices. A bit strong that
way, but still mellow. I think there was a hint of lemon moss too." It was
clear that the man was going to go on for a bit that way, but Mina eyed the Judge,
who had to have heard them, and nodded.

"See
to that, but keep it low key. You'll need Paul with you, or Clark. I don't want
you coming back drunk either."

Bill
snorted, but didn't say she was wrong, Pran noticed.

"I'll
take the young Bard here, and she can protect me from myself." He seemed serious,
but Pran shook her head and spun away carefully, laughing a bit as he reached out
for her backside.

"Oh!
But who'd protect you from me?" She tried to make it saucy sounding and made
a grab for his behind in return, which he avoided out of reflex. People did after
all.

That
got people talking and she nearly forgot her request, until the Captain patted her
arm a bit to get her attention.

"Get
with Paul and go over what you want to do. If he thinks it sounds reasonable, then
you have permission to use the tools. Replace what you break, but most of the things
are decently sound, so they won't go if you don't get unlucky, as long as you use
care."

That
seemed both scary and reasonable at the same time. She didn't really have any coin
after all.

When
she mentioned this, Mina shrugged.

"We
have some light woodworking you can do, if you have time. A few weeks is long enough.
If I like the work, I'll pay for it. At least enough to cover light breakage at
any rate. I'll have Paul run over that as well, in the morning though. You've been
up for a while, haven't you?"

"A
day and a half." This came from next to her, which made her jump, since Mara
hadn't been there before. She just appeared in place it seemed, which Pran was starting
to get used to. It was still a bit shocking when she wasn't ready for it, so she
jumped this time, having been distracted.

Mina
winced.

"Maybe
in the afternoon then. Unless you already have other plans? I know you like to keep
busy. Far be it for me to tell you otherwise. Maybe some of that laundry, if it
isn't going to rain?"

That
seemed like a likely enough plan, so she started to say she'd do it, just to have
Zeke call out from in front of them.

"Um,
ma'am? I said that I'd help with that, if I'm not needed for other duties?"

That
got Mara to clap a few times. She
really
hated doing laundry. Her words seemed
a bit forced, which made sense, given she knew that Zeke wasn't just a new ship's
hand.

"If
you do laundry, I'll marry you. The man of my dreams it seems." She let her
eyes light, but Zeke bowed his head, looking away.

"Um,
that sounds fine ma'am. It's part of the job, so I don't know if it's needed."
He mumbled, like Pran had told him to, and that made him seem shy, rather than strangely
accented. It was still in his voice that he wasn't perfectly local, but no one said
anything about it.

Not
even Mara.

"Even
better then. Still, maybe I should think about settling down?" Then she was
gone, which was done when no one else was looking. Pran saw it this time, since
it was just physical movement and not really magic, but it was still too fast and
silent for the snow. If she'd tried it, there would have been a sprained knee or
ankle involved, no doubt. Clark wasn't around at all, as far as she could determine.

That
could mean anything, from him having gone back to town, to him being right behind
her. The horses made enough noise, along with the chattering from the others, that
it was impossible to tell, unless she laid eyes on him. That didn't happen, even
after she ran in and changed back into regular clothing, and wiped most of the greasepaint
off. She jogged back, so that she could help stow the wood at the back of the ship,
in the hold. She'd never been back that far, but it was larger than she'd thought,
with all the levels being wide and opened, except for the second one, which was
where Roy had them take the wood. It meant going slow, but he showed them the spaces
under the vents that Bill had mentioned. They weren't high, but the things were
metal boxes, and two boards would fit under each, width wise, and using some stones
that Roy provided, they were able to set up air gaps, and stack them six high. That
covered twenty four of the boards.