The fiddler abruptly looked like he'd bitten into a lemon. Tommy Johnston and he had a long-standing feud, older than Laurie himself. Old enough that Laurie didn't even know the source of it, only that the two old men despised each other and took every opportunity to cut each other down or get in a fight. Laurie honestly didn't think Pete would deliberately betray Tommy if hewasa shifter, but people made mistakes in the heat of the moment, and he saw sullen recognition of that wash over Pete's face.
"I wouldn't out somebody on purpose," Pete muttered, but the point had been made.
Laurie sighed. "I know you wouldn't, Pete. I really do. It's just…it's just how we do things. I'm really sorry. And for what it's worth, I'm relieved you know now. The whole family will be pleased."
"IsJohnston a…what do you call yourselves?" Pete eyed him.
"No! Shifters," Laurie added, then repeated, "but no, he's not."
Pete muttered again, but nodded. "Still think your timing stinks."
"You're right, it does. But if you think you can give me an inch, I might earn a mile of forgiveness. I've just talked to Ashley, and we'd like to offer the brewpub's beer garden to host a scaled-down Faire for the rest of the summer."
For about half a minute, Pete just stared at him. Finally he said, "You Torbens are all bears?"
Laurie nodded, unsure what that had to do with anything, and a light glittered in the old man's eyes. "So we're gonna have the Faire at abeargarden?"
Briana said, "Oh my God," and balled up a piece of paper to throw at the old fiddler. "That wasterrible."
Pete gave her a broad grin in response. "Offer accepted."
Chapter 25
By Friday morning, Briana was too tired to think, but the bear-garden Faire was ready to go. Enormous numbers of crated goods had been saved from the old fairgrounds, far more than anyone had hoped might have survived. The vendors were sharing tables beneath the beer garden's extensive, heavy-duty plastic corrugated-roof patios. Walkways at least six feet wide were being maintained between the tables, with retractable divider belts splitting the aisles in half. Foot traffic would only be allowed to go one way, and the numbers would be ferociously attended at the front gates so people had time to browse, chat, and buy without crowding each other.
Beyond the makeshift booths, though, the brewpub grounds were filled with tents, gaming spots, and performance spaces so the activities of the Faire could be enjoyed, too. Chickenwire fencing had been put up along the riverfront to keep it safer for small children, and there were security guards stationed literally every five feet along its frontage in order to ensure safety. There would be no jousting or fighting this year, obviously, but even Alis, Jon's fiancée and the notorious Black Knight ofRenaissance Faire fame, clearly didn't mind. Like the rest of the family, she'd spent the week working all-out to get things ready.
The entire brewpub staff was in Thunder Bear Tavern tunics with the bear emblem, and had thrown themselves into being a part of the Faire, no matter how unusual the circumstances. Everyone had been up late all week, trying to make sure everything was as perfect as it could be. The result was absolute exhaustion, but as the makeshift fairgrounds began to welcome visitors whose voices and faces were filled with emotion, Briana was certain it had all been worth it.
There were quieter spaces set aside within the temporary fairgrounds, too. There were separate memorials for each of the accident victims, and a simple shaded spot with light curtained 'walls' that allowed some privacy for mourners. Almost everyone Briana saw stopped at at least one of the memorials, and it was clear the quiet tent was in regular use.
Dahlia and Damien were taking turns manning the smithy booth, since they hadn't been able to set up an actual forge on the brewpub grounds. Briana stopped in to help as often as seemed necessary, and was there when the ‘strong nerd energy’ guy who had bought a sword the week before showed up with a concerned expression. Damien gave Briana a knowing look when the guy said, "I've been thinking about the rapier I bought last week, and how much money I spent on it."
Damien sighed. "I expected you might be."
The guy nodded. "So I decided I'd better come back and get the matching main gauche, too."
"The thing is, with the disaster, the smithy is really desper…what?" Damien stopped his uncomfortable, grim explanation to stare at the customer, who started to grin.
"I thought I'd better buy the main gauche, too. I'm not returning the rapier. It's beautiful. I just need the shorter blade to go with it. I fence," he added, his grin growing out of control."Stage fighting and performance work. That rapier practically got me hired by itself at an audition earlier this week. So I need the matching blade? Unless it got destroyed in the landslide, in which case, I'd like to commission one."
Damien was jaw-flapping speechless, so Briana stepped up, her own grin as big as the customer's. "You're in luck. It survived, and I can wrap that up for you now. And hey, if anybody you know is in the market for custom-made weapons, the Snowcat Smithy has got your back. Or custom instruments, for that matter. Or unique lawn sculptures, Damien's a sculptor too."
"I'd really love to come to your—do you have a studio?" The guy was smiling directly at Damien now, although Damien didn't seem to have regained his powers of speech yet.
"Here's our business card," Briana said, handing one over. "Call or email to set up an appointment. Let me get this ready for you, now."
A few minutes later she sent the customer on his way without Damien ever having said more than a somewhat-baffled, "Thanks?" and then, once the guy was gone, "I don't understand what just happened there," to Briana.
"Somebody liked your work and bought more," she said happily. "See, not everything goes the worst possible way. I bet you get commissions, too. Doll," she caroled as her friend came up to the table with drinks for everybody. "Deal with your brother, he can't cope with things going well. I'm going to go find Laurie for a minute."
Dahlia blew her an air-kiss and waved a mug of root beer in farewell, and Briana left them with Doll asking Damien what gift horse he was looking in the mouthnow.
Ironically, now that Brianawantedto see Laurie, she'd barely had time over the past week. He had been constantly busy, on the phone with vendors and fundraisers, discussingways to make the interim Faire work, and planning for the future. The other council members for the Faire all looked a bit shell-shocked: Laurie was a sudden injection of enthusiasm and passion in a council accustomed to getting by with the least amount of community help feasible.
It was clear Laurie's family also didn't know quite what to do with his sudden…focus.On one hand, Briana, who had spent years avoiding him precisely because of his easy bro lifestyle, understood where they were coming from. On the other, Ashley wasn't the only one Briana butted heads with, although her goat was incredibly disappointed that none of it came to literal head-butting. Briana was maybe alittledisappointed, herself. It wasn't that she thought she could take on a grizzly bear, exactly.
On the other hand, she didn't exactly think shecouldn't, either. And the best part was, the entire Torben family, grizzly shifters all,alsoclearly thought she could hold her own in a one-on-one. Just after the makeshift Faire closed that evening, she saw one of the many,manycousins open his mouth to say something snarky to Laurie. She sent what was probably the third or fourth non-verbal, glare-delivered defense of her mate at the cousin, who snapped his mouth shut and decided he had somewhere else to be.
