Page 28 of Badmouths & Bards

Their bodyguard lifted the ring with the quill. A look of exhaustion immediately flooded Seira’s face as her fingers came up to pinch the bridge of her nose.

“Oh, gods, not another marriage proposal! Boys!”

“I didn’t do anything,” Ameriden raised his hands. “I was asleep.”

“No—” Casimine shot him a look before addressing their manager. “It’s not what you think, Seira. I swear we haven’t left our room since we arrived.”

“I also didn’t see anybody I recognized outside of some of the staff,” Taldesa replied. “I’m bad with names but not with faces.”

Before Ameriden could make a smart remark, Casimine was already pinching his bicep.

“We traveled with teleportation magic—who in all of Ordia saw us?!” Seira exclaimed, her stout frame growing more and more frustrated.

“Maybe someone saw us when we traveled,” Casimine said.

“How? You were both magically disguised!” Seira retorted.

“I mean, I can think of a few ways,” Taldesa said as she placed the ring back onto the table.

“Well, tell us, bodyguard,” Ameriden grinned.

Another glare, before she ignored him.

“Well, him for starters,” Taldesa lazily pointed toward—

Ameriden’s eyes widened, “You are not blaming Dumpling!”

“Dude, exotic pets are a huge clue that someone has money,” Taldesa retorted. “Walking around with that pot sticker is a giant red flag. You’re practically screaming ‘come stalk me’.”

He wanted to argue, but damn it if she wasn’t right. But how was Ameriden going to explain that Dumpling wasn’t just some ‘exotic pet’? He had found the little stingray washed up on the shore of the Fire Isles a year ago, drying up under the hot sun. Ameriden had dug a hole as fast as his large hands could before using his ancestral magic to pull the moisture from the air. He stayed next to the little stingray’s makeshift pool for an hour until the little thing had started twirling again. By the time Casimine found him, Ameriden couldn’t be parted with him.

I’m responsible for him and he’s my emotional support exotic pet, thank you very much.

“Moving forward, we’ll disguise Dumpling’s enclosure,” Casimine interjected. “A simple illusion and people will see an ordinary birdcage.”

“More like a boring birdcage,” Ameriden grumbled.

“Secondly, if y’all are as famous as you say you are, there’s a good chance you have some fans who also recognize your manager,” Taldesa explained, hooking a thumb in Seira’s direction.

Seira blinked.

“Shit,” she swore.

Unfortunately, their bodyguard was right. In hindsight, it felt foolish to think they could move the same way they did before. After the volcano performance, their reputation had only grown larger. And despite how much Ameriden liked to pretend he wasn’t well known, the truth was that if he were to walk the street the way he looked right then, he’d most likely get mobbed by a sea of fans.

“Look, I’m not here to rub your nose in this,” Taldesa said—though Ameriden was certain she got the tiniest bit of pleasure out of making them look clueless. “But if my job is to protect you two, you need to be a little more proactive in all this. Yeah, the ring could be just a ring, but it could also be charmed with a love spell, for all we know. And the last thing I wanna do is hogtie you to a chair until the magic wears off. Caution is better than mind fuckery, right?”

“Of course,” Casimine agreed. “Just tell us what you need from us, and Ameriden and I will do it.”

She could tell us to bark, and I bet we’d yap before she could finish the sentence, Ameriden thought.

“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do.” Taldesa hopped onto the table. “Seira, I want you to take this into town. There’s a jeweler in the merchant district, old guy. Smells like incense and cabbage, but he knows his shit. As for you two, you’re gonna tell me everything you know about your daydreamers… after I scarf down another muffin.”

Chapter 13

Taldesa

The jeweler was swamped.