Chapter 8: The Renaissance Festival
Dave
It was half past eight o'clock by the time I heard the doorbell ring, but I had been finished with my preparations for the day long before then. A sleepless night was nothing I wasn't used to already, but more so than not those sleepless nights before had been because of my revenge. Recently they had been because plans for trying to keep Octo Corp afloat, and my Brine persona intact.
Never had I gone without sleep to prepare for something like this. Well, I take that back… I had done all-nighters like this to practice my performances when I used to live at the Central Park Zoo…
But that's beside the point!
This day was a different kind of day. Today I would be departing on a new adventure with my dearest, to none other than what the humans called a Renaissance Festival. I could only imagine what I would see: people dressed up, good food, a nice atmosphere… what more was there to ask? I had been at a human parade the day before, full of colors and music; this was simply a shift over to something slightly different, but wonderful all in the same.
"How do I look?" I asked my two henchmen, Penny and Kenny, who had faithfully stayed up all night helping me put together the human bard costume and helped get started learning this stringed instrument called a lute.
The two simply nodded, enthusiastic in their own ways as I struck a pose.
"Thank goodness you managed to find all that material to make this stuff. Kailey had some things but I don't think it would've been enough to cover me well enough, you know?" I lifted my hands to where I could see them, looking at the brown leather gloves that for now would replace my usual green rubber gloves I'd normally wear as Octavius Brine. "It all came together quite nicely."
A knock at the door caught my attention. Out of caution I merely had to nod at my henchmen, who then began to quietly make their way back out the cracked window, and disappear outside. It was probably best that they stayed out of the house anyway when I wasn't here, considering Kailey's parents weren't coming with us and would be at home all day. Not to mention I felt better with someone watching the jet we had flown in with, currently parked at a nearby regional airport.
"Umm, Octavius, are you ready or not?" Kailey asked from behind the door. I couldn't help but let off a soft sigh hearing it was her.
I walked over and opened the door then, being greeted by my dearest all ready to go as usual, but instead in her costume. She was wearing the elf ears she had mentioned the night earlier, along with a golden circlet around her head. She was wearing a red dress, around her neck a matching red scaled dragon prop, like a necklace.
For a moment I couldn't help but admire her, though once I caught myself staring for too long I cleared my throat, and said, "Are we going for a villain, dearest?" I couldn't help but smile. Kailey did say before that she wasn't the villainous type, but despite her protests otherwise she took the look and nailed it without even trying.
"Errr… well, not exactly," she said, her eyes scanning me over then, seemingly diverting from herself and to me. "How the hell did you put all that together? Also where did the lute come from?"
"I had help from Penny and Kenny," I replied, looking down both sides of the hallway as I said this to make sure nobody happened to be in earshot. "Maybe I'll play a song for you later."
"No freaking way." Kailey's eyes widened. "Can't say I'm surprised, though. You're always pulling off weird tricks and shit."
"Not a trick, dearest!" I cooed. "Just persistence and preparation."
"Greeeaaaat," Kailey said, smiling with her teeth. "You'll fit right in with the rest of us."
"Exactly!" I straightened myself up, adjusting my glasses. "Although you don't think I should take off these, do you? My glasses, I mean. I don't think folks in these times wore them."
"Who cares," Kailey huffed. "Anyway, we should get going. Leah, Steven, Dannen and his girlfriend are already waiting downstairs—"
"I didn't realize we were already ready to leave!" I couldn't help but perk up then; not like I wasn't already happy for the day to start, though.
I put my arm around her, both as a way to escort her along with me, and a way to feel close to her as we walked down the hall and down the stairs together, immediately greeted by the group I would be attending the festival with.
All dressed in their costumes as well, the bunch of them stared up at us as we made our way down. I heard Steven gasp out loud first, commenting, "You two look so adorable together!" which only added to my excitement.
"Yes, don't we?" I melted at the attention I was getting, especially in a way that complemented Kailey at my side.
Leah pulled out a cellphone from her big dress skirt, looking at the time. "We should get going now if we want to make it at opening. Are we all ready to go?"
"Yeah," Kailey replied. She looked up at me, her face neutral and calm as she spoke to me next. "Octavius," she began, "are you ready for this?"
Kailey said it like she was being cautionary, but for the life of me I couldn't understand it. I told her I had seen strange enough stuff in my life, and knew the different ways humans acted and what they did, so it wasn't like this festival was going to do anything else to change my mind.
"I am," I stated firmly, keeping up my grin as I attempted to channel my confidence back at her. "You know I always am."
She shrugged, and loosened up slightly from under my arm. All she said was, "If you say so."
"I'm going immediately to the turkey leg booth; do you guys want to join me?" Steven's suggestion suddenly interrupted the conversation.
"It's like… early, dude," Kailey's brother replied.
"But it's festival turkey legs," Steven cooed.
"To be fair, I'm more looking forward to cheesecake on a stick," Kailey mentioned then, though her statement caught my attention more than Steven's did.
"Cheesecake? On a stick?" I inquired.
"And dipped in chocolate." I watched as Kailey couldn't help but smile.
"Okay, you've got me there," I admitted, picturing it my mind. Humans ate with sticks, cooked with sticks, built things with sticks, now there was food on sticks? Not just any food, but cake? Amazing.
Oh, what an interesting day this was going to be!
. . . . . . .
The drive out took a bit longer than expected due to traffic, but once we got there—oh wow. Wowie. I couldn't believe how festive it was! Of course I knew it was a festival, but this was different. It was a themed festival, so everyone was all dressed up.
As we walked through the entry gates to exchange our tickets, I could hear people talking. They were all starting to sound more like how Kailey's friend Steven talked, but more regal, I guess. It took the people slightly more time to notice me as being who I was—Dr. Octavius Brine—but when they did I began to hear their mutters, joyful explanations and whispers of my arrival adding on top of the chatter of the mass gathering of people.
"Look who it is!"
"No way, he's here?"
"He's with his fiancée, how precious!"
Ah yes, I absorbed it all. The attention—the admiration. Even in this costume people knew me. Kailey always seemed to make fun of my red wig and all, but it really brought my persona together. I didn't even need my lab coat for people to know me as their renowned doctor.
Deeper through the entryway, I finally stood before the festival. It was a playground in a sense that there was so much to see: shops of clothing and shiny things, foods, colors, and decorations. Some decorations already were emphasizing the Christmas holiday, and were strewn around the festival, high and low. Because we were in Texas, late autumn's bitter cold and usual welcoming of winter was absent, and unlike New York, there was but a pleasant breeze, reminding me of the type of cool air that I often felt when I had stood atop my submarine surfaced above the open oceans.
A still, new morning light filtered over everything like another spotlight waiting for me to step into.
"Okay, Octavius, this is it," Kailey said, looking up to face me again. "You absolutely have to stay close to me. I know there is a lot of stuff going on here, but you can't get lost. Obviously people recognize you already. That means they'll want pictures, and that's just one thing that's going to drag you down, I swear."
"You act like you know how it is to get bombarded by pictures," I commented.
"I do, but like… that's your fault." Kailey grumbled. "Whatever though, quit making me forget what I was going to tell you." She paused for a second; recollecting herself as her eyebrows furrowed, finally said, "Just stay by me, okay?"
"I will." I rolled my eyes playfully.
Looking ahead, I could see the group already proceeding forward, beginning to creep into the crowd of festival goers walking past to and fro. Kailey had grabbed my arm by then and started escorting me behind them, taking me further and further into the festival so that the gathering, slowly as we progressed, grew on me like the turning of pages of a story.
There were dancers towards the left on a stage, men in leather clothes like me, preparing a band of some kind. To the right were shops—shops galore! People calling out, "Hear Ye! Thanksgiving sale! Get everything marked down!" as people passed.
My attention was torn when I heard Kailey's brother laughing, his voice a boom amongst the commotion around us. I immediately heard a smack to my side—Kailey had facepalmed herself.
"Don't look," she said. "Just… look at the flowers." Her arm that had been holding onto my arm let me go so she could point to the side at a small garden. But despite her warnings I instead looked over to where the commotion was coming from, and what her brother was laughing at.
"Get a picture with the centaur, Steven!" Kailey's brother laughed out loud. Beside them was a very large shirtless man… that was half a horse. Further inspection revealed it was a costume, but I found myself baffled, nonetheless.
"A half horse man?" I inquired aloud. "Seems plausible but—"
"What do you mean, 'seems plausible'?" Kailey erupted then, taking her hand from her face to look forward at the group.
"No, I'll pass," Steven begun to say, but before we all knew it the large centaur man had put his arm around him.
More bursts of laughter.
I had to refocus so I could answer Kailey's question. "My Medusa Serum mixes different genetic codes to create… well you know, chimeras of the sort." I pondered for a moment longer to myself, my mind wrapping around both the mythological aspects of the creature in human history, but also how there and then, they were laughing with it, celebrating with it.
Humans were confusing.
"Oh shit, go to your left," Kailey warned me again. She began forcefully pushing me to the side, trying to get me to walk.
"Why, dearest? What's the matter?"
"The fairy guy is coming, hurry!" She sounded desperate to get away.
"FAIRY DUST!" The sound of whoever this fairy guy must've been was somewhere behind us. I felt like my stance was too anchored, absorbing everything, that I didn't even have time to move. Kailey had even taken it upon herself to dive under me and scurry away before I suddenly turned my head in the direction of the voice, without warning another human dressed in a pink tutu with plastic bug wings having thrown sparkly sand at me.
"FAIRY DUST!" he hollered again, but this time I was blinded by whatever had gotten in my eyes to see him walk away. I knew he was gone by the sound of his catchphrase fading with every moment that went by.
"I warned you! What are you, dense!?" Kailey huffed then. I felt her return to my side, but was unable to open my eyes just yet. "Good lord, you look like..." it sounded like she was choking for a second, but resumed talking despite this. "You—you look like…"
"Look like what?" I huffed. I wiped my hand over my face, trying to get the stuff out of my eyes, and then managed to peek at my glove. The sparkly sand was everywhere.
"You're covered in glitter, you look like an idiot," she finally said. "You and your sticky self… it's just glued on you now."
"It can't be that bad…" I chuckled mildly; nervously.
"Hey mom, look a vampire!" a kid pointed out. Kailey and I looked over to see a small boy and his mother pass, the two staring at us with wide eyes.
"Vampires don't sparkle in the sun, sweetie, they die," the mother replied.
"Kailey!" I gasped. I turned to look at her, suddenly my hearts racing like crazy. "Am I going to die!?"
"God, no!" Kailey fussed. I rushed to the right without being further prompted, desperately looking for a mirror or something to look at myself with. I managed to find a fountain, and looked in to try and get a look at what was going on with myself. When I saw my reflection I was appalled by how correct Kailey was. I was glittery.
I dove my head into the fountain, unable to contain the urge to get this stuff off of me.
"OCTAVIUS, WHAT THE HELL!?" I heard Kailey yell again, but I ignored her for a time. I managed to slosh my face around in the water for as long as I thought was humanly possible to not seem suspicious that I could be drowning myself, and then pulled out of the water. My eyes were glued to my reflection in the water, waiting for it to settle so I could see myself properly.
As my image came to, so did Kailey's from behind me. She stood there, frowning angrily at me, her red dress evident against the green marbled stone of the fountain itself.
"Ahem." Kailey cleared her throat, spoke to me more gently, but repeated, "Octavius… what the hell?"
I stood up then, straightened myself out as best as I could, and struck another grin her way. I was dripping wet but I managed to negate this by my poise. "The glitter is gone though, right?"
"Not exactly." Her head turned as she looked behind her, catching sight of the group walking away then. "Anyway, please, we need to keep up."
She started walking away as I looked back into the fountain to double check her statement, realizing that while my plummet into the fountain had taken off a lot of the glitter, it didn't really get rid of all of it. My skin was too sticky to clean myself properly, so I had to settle with the idea that I was just going to be a shiny bard the rest of the day.
"Ummm, excuse me, Dr. Octavius Brine, right?" I heard someone say. So much had already occurred, but the sound of Brine being called—me being called by a stranger, made it too good to be true, so I obliged.
Turning around, a group of people were standing there, with their cameras out. They seemed happy to see me, despite how Kailey would eloquently put it: me looking like a mess.
"Yes, can I help you?" I asked.
"Can we get a picture with you? I can't believe you're here! And in costume! How fun!"
Ah, yes… more solicitation. More pictures meant more exposure to online formats, and that meant more people seeing me living life normally among them. Their beloved Octavius Brine, world renowned geneticists, mingling with the common folk at the Renaissance Festival.
"I'd love to oblige," I replied.
I extended my arms outward, a welcoming act as one person after another took pictures with me. Selfies, photographs… whatever, out in the wild of the internet to be eaten up by my fans. That meant more money for me and my plans. More funds to prepare in defense of another North Wind attack.
But the longer I took pictures, the more people lined up. Before I knew it the meager group that had been there before had grown into a fair sized crowd, again, each and every one of them wanting a picture. I had lost track of time attempting to catch up with the demand, and before I knew it the morning light had drifted, and had settled firmly in the middle of the sky by the time I had taken the last few final photographs, and bid farewell to my fans.
"Thank you for the picture," a small man in a cloak said; my last and final fan that had waited for a picture with me. He sat his camera in a bag, and turned his attention fully to me afterward. "It's not every day that an average person such as myself gets a photo of you this close."
"Yeah, I'm sure," I replied, still smiling—still full of the elation of being appreciated.
"Interesting how long you kept your head in that water," the guy commented again.
"Yeah, I guess," I replied. That was quite a while ago now, huh?
"And even more interesting how you manage to put your entire body in that human costume."
Okay, that was weird, but I kept nodding my head in agreement. "Anyway, good sir, I must be off to go find my lovely fiancée."
"That will not happen, you liar."
"What?" I was so confused. Wasn't I just literally having a good time? No red flags? "What are you talking about?"
The man tore the hood from his head, revealing himself. I didn't immediately recognize him, but the longer I stared, and the more he talked, things were coming back to me.
"I know you are an octopus, you fool! You absolute wretch! You ruined my restaurant! You made me lose customers! You made me have to pay for expensive hospital bill!"
"WHAT!?" I repeated, louder this time, prior confidence falling into shock. The tiny man. This tiny, horrible little man… he was….
"I AM CHEF HIROTO!"
"WHATTTTT?!"
Chef Hiroto. The sushi chef from Alaska was here—suddenly, without warning, like a horrible little venomous spider springing from the shadows and in front of my face. I had to blink a few times to try and comprehend that a person that I had run into months ago during that breakfast incident was right here in front of me, accusing me of being me: an octopus.
I felt stunned. I could only stand there, my smile having since faded, staring agape as the little man reached into his cloak and took out a knife. His teeth grit together as he angrily contemplated my presence in front of him.
"Reveal yourself, or I'll stab you, octopus!"
"Ayyy there, man! What do you think you are doing to this Lord Bard?" Another voice boomed from one of the little shops among us. This person had walked up from behind me; he was incredibly buff and hairy that for a moment I wasn't registering that he was wearing a wolf pelt over himself. "Sheathe your blade, or I shall report the to thy king!"
"What king? You are an idiot!" Hiroto hollered. "I am here because this liar is inhuman! He is an octopus! If he won't expose himself for the creature he is I will make him. I did not travel all this way to be told what to do!"
"How did you even find me?" I asked. If I could sweat I swear I would have then. I actually didn't believe this kind of thing would ever happen to me. I had even convinced Kailey that my secret would never be revealed, and yet…
"Word spreads fast where you are online," Hiroto replied. "I saw you in a selfie with some guy, who posted it Twitter. You were at a Thanksgiving dinner, and this user, WheatleyisKawaii27, said you were going with them to the Texas Renaissance Festival. So now I am here!" He waved his hand that was clutching the knife, making the large man in the wolf pelt next to me reach to his side, putting his palm against an actual sword.
"Sheathe your blade!" the man in the wolf pelt repeated. Suddenly the sound of iron scraping against leather screeched next to me. The next thing I knew the strangers sword was actually pointing at Hiroto. "Hear what I say, you vile thing!"
"What in God's good name is going on this time?" The sound of an older woman's voice joined the incident I was in the middle of.
"Lady Patricia, there is a criminal in our midst! Call thy king and his guards!"
I blinked. Within that second, the incident would shift, but in a way I did not expect. Hiroto actually charged at me. He actually jumped forward with intent to stab me. I couldn't believe my eyes as my world fell into slow motion, the high pitch cries of Chef Hiroto piercing my hearing much like the knife that was about to do the same to my squishy body. Would I survive this? Could I even defend myself? Sure, I could probably knock this guy out cold in one punch, but was I really willing to do that? In front of all these people? Their precious Dr. Octavius? Donor to NPR pledge drives?!
Before I even had to make that snap decision, the guy with the sword had stepped in front of me, tripped Hiroto, and as he fell, stomped his foot on the hand that clutched the knife. With Hiroto down, he reinforced himself by pointing his sword on the back of his head.
It felt like a long time standing there, staring at these two, but quickly I realized that security guards had them surrounded, and a fat man dressed like a king stood among them. I could only watch, agape, as they took Hiroto, cuffed him, and carried him off screaming.
"Ay, Lord Bard!" the man in the wolf's pelt cried, attempting to get my attention. "Art thou doing well?"
I continued to stare off at the human security guards and Hiroto until they disappeared through the entry gate, completely shaken by the series of events that just happened to me. I didn't understand how this could have happened! I mean, I guess I knew why it happened, but I would never think that out of all the human beings I'd accidentally let see my true form would actually peruse me so intently.
"Yes, I'm fine," I finally replied to the man. I slowly attempted to adjust myself, patting my head, adjusting my glasses—anything I could do, or felt like I could do to make sure that I was put together. "Thank you for helping me with that...errr, what is your name anyway?"
"You may call me Lord Ulfric Stormcloak," he replied proudly, sheathing his sword.
The woman from the back of the shop that had yelled at us earlier could be heard again, saying, "I thought you were Lord Gandalf Grey this year?"
"No, that was last year, ya old hag!" It looked like Ulfric was a little disheveled for a moment from the lady's outburst, but he soon picked himself back up, returning his attention to me. "I should be helping Lady Patricia with our shop, but I see that you are in need. Tell me, is there anything else I can help you with after that criminal attack?"
I looked around. It suddenly clicked that Kailey had not been here in a really long time. I had become so enamored by all the photographs and attention that I must've lost her in the process.
"I am looking for my fiancée," I finally said, trying to hide my distress.
"Ah, Lord Bard has a Lady!" The man smiled, chuckled to himself. "Can you tell me what she looks like? What she's wearing? Maybe I can help you find her."
"Umm… she's in a red dress. Long brown hair, elf ears… She's wearing a golden circlet…"
"Ah, forgive me Lord Bard!" the man's eyes widened. "I did not realize that your lady was a princess—an elven princess no less." He chuckled again, hitting my back harshly with his palm, which made me lose my breath for a moment from the impact practically shooting the air out of me. "I could not possibly allow you—a magnificent, regarded, talent bard—to be separated from your princess for any longer! Royalty needs their poets and singers, yes? The halls of a castle grow pale and dark without the light of epic tales and love songs."
"Well, yes," I replied, but I felt like I couldn't get out another peep still. The man smacked my back again, getting me to move along. It seemed I would be escorted by Ulfric the rest of the day, but due to my circumstances of getting, you know, lost and all I guess this was for the best. I often wondered if I should have a body guard anyway while I went out as Brine. It wasn't something I thought about before but after that… well, maybe I should up my defenses, and not just against North Wind.
"I wonder why that petty scoundrel would have done this to you," Ulfric commented then. "You are a man of fine regard. How could that man think such a way as he had?"
I shrugged, trying to play it off casually. It seemed like despite Hiroto yelling that I was an octopus, this idea was lunacy to everyone else. Which was a good thing, of course! But still, I was on my 'toes'.
"I am unsure," I frowned softly for effect. "I don't understand, though. I give so much to this world and yet to find that someone would say such things…"
"Ay, man, I know how thou feels," Ulfric sighed. "For my profession I build the finest blades in fire, and yet in the outside world I cannot make much of myself."
"So you're a blacksmith?" I inquired.
"Ay! That I am," Ulfric said. "I am a man of the forage."
"Okay… but I'm sure there are things you can do in the outside world that can utilize your expertise."
"Nay! My skill is only for the sword. Weapons are my specialty, and nothing else..." He paused, sighed again. "Unfortunately, the world beyond is a world of guillotines and gnashing of teeth. You either become what they want and lose yourself in the process, or are an outcast—a failure."
I diverted my eyes for a moment, for some reason discomfort overwhelming me as I tried to wrap my mind around what he was saying. Eventually, I found that my discomfort became displaced with something of defense—justification. I imagined the outside world… the humans, cheering me on, adoring me. As Brine, they loved me. As Dave the octopus… well, not so much. In one way I was seen and heard… loved. In the other I was forgotten and alone… hated. In my case, change was necessary. Not only necessary, but required.
"But changing is a good thing, right?" I asked, my eyes finally managing to quit its diversions and avoidance of the presence of this strange human, and to instead add to the conversation. "You change to better your life. Isn't that what everyone wants? Is a better life?"
"If it means giving up who I am? Nay," Ulfric replied. "What the outside world can do to a man… it's a maker of beasts, it is."
Again, my eyes diverted. I kept thinking, what is this guy on? And yet, despite my ways of internalizing these thoughts in ways that blamed him, I couldn't help but also think that maybe he was onto something.
No! That doesn't matter. He happened to be born a blacksmith in an era that no longer required swords and shields, and no longer wanted to learn new skills, transform himself. That was his own fault. Right? Right.
. . . . . . .
We passed horses with men in armor riding them with spears. We passed booths of sweet and savory smells, shops of garments and shiny things. There were hundreds—thousands of characters, people in costume, but not one of them so far had been that of my dearest.
It had gotten to the point where we had made the entire circle of the festival grounds, back to where we started beside Ulfric's shop, and next to the fountain and the band to our left. They had just finished an old hymn, something I had never heard before, and were shuffling in silence as onlookers continued to gaze their direction.
My foot tapped the dirt and leaves as I again grew aware of how uncomfortable I was.
Where was she? Where was Kailey?
I should have stayed with her before. I shouldn't have let her out of my sight. She had warned me after all… she always warned me, but for some reason I never listened.
In a way to avoid my fear in the moment, I grabbed hold of the lute I had been carrying at my side, and strummed the strings. I casually started to pick at it, loosely playing the notes of a song that I had learned with Penny the night before. It helped keep my dread at bay, at least, and reminded me why I learned it to begin with. I wanted to play it for Kailey, but it looked like that would have to wait a while longer.
"Ah, is that the bards of Metallica?" Ulfric noted aloud in response to my strumming.
"What?" I asked, stopping my strumming.
"Metallica, the song you're playing. That is who singeth the melody."
I had no idea what Ulfric was talking about to be completely honest, but he must've recognized where the song I learned came from. I honestly just let Penny teach me whatever song she wanted for the lute the night prior, and this one happened to be it.
Ulfric's eyes opened wide, seemingly sparking with an idea as a smile swept across his expression. "Wait, why don't thee play on the stage with the band there? Maybe your Princess will hear you and come. Summon her from afar with your song."
"Ummm…" I murmured, but he had already grabbed my arm and started pulling me along. I watched as the crowd that once had their eyes looking solely at the preparing group on the stage look at me, soon I arriving at the stage with those preparing.
"You know who this is," Ulfric began. His bold introduction was loud to the other performers, adding to their already heightened awareness that I had just walked up to them. From the looks of their expressions, they knew exactly who I was, but continued to play along in their roles.
"Yeah we do," one of the men said. "He's Dr. Brine."
"You fool! Here he is a Lord Bard! Mind your manners!"
"Oh, we did not mean to offend," the same man replied, chuckling. "What is it we can do for him? Does he want a song request?"
"Of the sorts," Ulfric said. "He hath prepared a song in honor of his Princess. He is looking for her, but perhaps she will comes if she hears him sing."
The groups eyes widened like Ulfric's had done before, some gasping softly.
"What a beautiful idea!" the singer said. "We'd love to help."
Ulfric slapped my back again. "It's all you then, Bard. Play thy lute and sing, and the band will back you up."
I could only blink as Ulfric left the stage and stationed himself towards the back next to his shop, arms crossed as he watched the stage. Likewise, everyone in the crowd had their eyes on me too, and for a moment it enticed me to start playing. But as I thought of this gesture longer, the more that weird feeling of dread returned. It wasn't like I couldn't do this, or even that I didn't want to. I loved to perform, but this time it felt odd. Strange, especially after what Ulfric had told me.
From the back Ulfric gave me a thumbs up. That seemed to be a steering point of my train of thought, and instead of thinking I was to play for solely this crowd here, I reminded myself that the idea was to play for Kailey. She was out there, somewhere.
I strummed the lute again, settling myself in the gist of things, then slowly started to play.
At first, the song of my lute was alone. Silence seemed to overtake the crowd as they listened; even the busy beyond seemingly quieting down as the realization that it was me up on the stage playing.
I joined the lute with my voice, the soft shimmering sound of one of the performers with a tambourine gently vibrating the instrument behind me.
"So close, no matter how far.
Couldn't be much more from the heart;
Forever trusting who we are,
And nothing else matters."
Another performer with a drum in his hands started tapping it with his palm, adding again to the song.
"Never opened myself this way;
Life is ours, we live it our way.
All these words I don't just say.
And nothing else matters."
As I sung I kept my eyes peered beyond the crowd. Searching, wondering. Guilt didn't seem to leave me even then as I looked.
How could I have been so careless? Things had always gone so well that I hadn't thought of anything quite like this happening before. How could it? I was Dave! I was always prepared. And yet, it did. It did happen. I suppose years of revenge and planning for my evil deeds finally in one way or another came to backstab me. Almost literally. But even now that things had calmed down, I was still going through my prior actions consequences.
The further into the song I went, the more I tried to send my voice outward. I never particularly thought of myself as the best of singers, but I suppose it was good enough to then cause the crowd to start cheering as they listened. The rest of the performers behind me had all collectively began to add their own instruments and voices into the song with me, making us a spectacle that I felt was very much needed at this time.
Again, I continued to look outward, hoping that at any second I would see her coming up towards me. And yet, for a while longer, time continued to pass without her presence.
But it was only for a while, I suppose…
I saw her slowly come from beyond the crowd, finally. She had managed to come up to the front of the stage, looking up at me with that mixture of concern and irritation that she always seemed to carry, but through it I could see that same relief I was feeling, too.
Without being promoted, I stepped off the stage, continuing to play even as I left that spotlight with the other performers, meeting her on the ground, not helping then to sing directly to her, from that point ignoring everyone else that watched and listened.
Kailey's face changed in all sorts of different ways, but I didn't care. Angry, happy, sad… it was all her in the end.
I had plucked the last chord on the lute when the song ended, sending the crowd into another loud uproar of cheers. Some of their cameras were flashing, but this time it didn't seemed to faze me.
"So you're telling me you learned to play the lute in a single night?" Kailey asked.
"Yes," I replied, smiling for her. It was amusing watching her face change around again; processing everything I suppose.
"Don't leave me again, okay?" she said softly. "I was worried you had run off... or got into trouble."
"Oh, I did, not gonna lie there," I responded.
"What?"
"Well, you see, I was taking a lot of pictures with my fans, and it took a bit longer than I thought. Eventually I posed for a picture with this one guy, who happened to be Chef Hiroto, and he tried to stab me and all."
"What!?"
"But it's okay! I had some help form a hairy man that wears the skin of my enemies, so all is well!" I shivered for a brief moment, thinking about the dead wolf skin he wore. Ewww.
"You almost got stabbed!?"
"Almost, dearest!" I put a hand on her shoulder, attempting to console her. "Everything took care of itself. We will never, ever hear from Hiroto again, I'll have you know. I watched him get taken away by the king and some security guards!"
She stared at me, her mouth agape. I don't think what I had to say was really helping her, but I figured over time she'd understand that everything was fine now. I was just so glad she was here again!
I promised myself that I would try harder though. Some things were more important, after all, than fans and plans.
Yes, Dave sung Metallica, ren fest style. Penny is a metalhead.
For my readers reference, the song is called "Nothing Else Matters"