It hadn't taken Almandar long to find her. If you asked
those who liked their music, and knew the local entertainers, she was
distinctive enough that it really took very little effort indeed to learn where
she was performing tonight. He was lucky that she had been in the city at all,
of course, because she often travelled elsewhere, as bards were wont to, but
once he knew that she was, it had been easy enough to find the right tavern.
He heard her even before he entered the room, her clear
voice floating out onto the street. The patrons were quiet, enraptured; there
was no hubbub of conversation while she performed. And there she was, as he
walked in to stand at the back, near the bar. A flicker of recognition, of
surprise, crossed her face, but it was momentary, and her performance did not
halter for a second. It was unlikely anyone else would even have noticed, such
was her professionalism.
He hadn't seen her for years, for all that they had so much
in common. In a way, perhaps, he had more in common with Yarai than anyone else
in the city, yet he had been avoiding her. He wasn't sure how she would react
to seeing him now, after all this time, and the brief flicker across her face
as he had walked in was not enough to give him a clue. Perhaps she would be the
one who would avoid him. He hoped not, because that would make things awkward…
well, more awkward than they were going to be anyway.
He should have sought her out before, really. But instead,
he had taken the obvious course, looking for records in the College library,
trying to find some explanation for what had happened in the distant past, and
for why it might be happening again now. Yarai knew all the old legends; she
would have made an excellent source. But he had pushed the possibility to the
back of his mind, putting off the inevitable encounter.
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