Page 66 of Badmouths & Bards

Truthfully, there wasn’t anything that Tala couldn’t fix with the woman’s handkerchief and some charcoal. She’d worked with less when she would sneak out of the Moon Maidens, but something told her this woman didn’t need that right now.

“Even if I gave a shit about looking proper, I still wouldn’t think that,” Tala said as she dropped the curtain behind her.

“Really?”

“Really.”

The woman pushed off the marbled stone—which appeared to be some sort of lounge that Tala would bet money on was uncomfortable as fuck to sit on. Yet, when the woman motioned for Tala to sit beside her, she did it anyway.

Yup, just like sitting on a rock, except this one probably cost more gold than I’ll ever see in my life.

“I hadn’t planned on making a spectacle of myself,” the woman confessed. “At least, not this early in the evening.”

“Why were you crying?” Tala asked, gaze flicking over the railing of the veranda.

The garden was dark, but Tala could hear the soft clink of armor as guards walked along the carved paths. Tala wasn’t sure how big the garden was, but it was apparently large enough to warrant guards walking through it as opposed to remaining stationary against the stone wall.

“I—” the woman frowned down at her hands. “No, that’s not—I just… well, let’s just say the night didn’t go how I thought it would.”

“Yeah?” Tala dropped her elbows to her knees, slouching in her seat as she turned her gaze toward the woman. “Someone piss you off?”

It was appropriate language for the space they were in, but the woman only blinked owlishly at the question. No snide comments about language, no judgmental looks, only genuine surprise.

“More like… well, more like I… um… pissed myself off,” she replied.

Definitely not a person who hangs out with sailors.

“What’d you do?” Tala asked.

The woman bit her lip, eyes darting around. Maybe her experience had been embarrassing, not necessarily how she appeared just now.

“Tonight’s a big deal,” the woman began softly. “It’s a huge event for Eshorion. A lot of nobles and merchants and esteemed guests are in there and…”

Tala waited, the hum of conversations just beyond the fluttering curtain at their back. Not a single one alerted her to any danger and for the moment, Tala hoped it would hold long enough for this stranger to share her story. Why she wanted that, Tala wasn’t sure. Perhaps it was just nice to talk to someone who wasn’t at the forefront of her mind. Or, maybe, it was a good excuse to distract her from her own shame. It was kind of embarrassing to have a civilian catch Tala in the biggest secret of her life given how much the Valiant Circle relied on stealth and discretion.

“Did you know this wasn’t supposed to be a gala? Originally, it was supposed to be a dinner,” the woman sighed. “A nice, quiet, intimate dinner. Just a few guests around a long table. Simple dinner conversation, breaking bread with honored guests…but now? All of this? It’s so much.”

Tala did know that but now she questioned how the stranger beside her did. Other than Casimine, Ameriden, and their manager, the original dinner invitation hadn’t included merchants or nobility outside of the court. That would mean the young woman at her side had prior knowledge of that initial dinner, but—

“Fuck me, I’m dense,” Tala chuckled under her breath. “You’re Princess Osonia.”

The princess in question shrank, shoulders falling at Tala’s recognition. Why, she wasn’t sure, given a princess shouldn’t give a damn what someone like Tala thought of them.

“Please don’t tell my father I’ve ran away from my lady-in-waiting. He’ll likely punish her, and Abigail has only ever done what I ask of her,” Princess Osonia begged.

“I promise I won’t tell your father if you tell me why you’re out here crying.”

“I—” Princess Osonia swallowed hard, then pushed back her shoulders. “I’m crying because I wanted to meet Cashmere Fantasy in our family’s dining hall. Not in the grand dining hall, not as a spectacle for the other nobles to turn into some joke. Everyone knows the reason why they’re here, even though I specifically asked my father to wait. And because everyone knows the princess of Eshorion wanted two of the most famous bards to come to her birthday party, I’m even more childish than I was before.”

“Wait, who said you were childish?”

“The people out there!” Princess Osonia exclaimed. “In the eyes of the elven people, I am a child because of my age, but to the denizens of Eshorion? I’m a hundred and nineteen! That’s an adult in human years! Which means half of the people at this gala think me a child because to them I am while the other half think I’m childish because my father invited a pair of bards to play at his daughter’s birthday party. No matter what I do, they’ve already decided who I am and it’s awful!”

While Tala couldn’t relate to being a princess, she could at least understand the struggle of having parents that refused to respect her autonomy. It was bad enough having to hear the other monks whisper about Tala’s background—especially when she first arrived—but the idea of doing it front of the elite masses was way worse.

“You’re right, that does suck,” Tala straightened from her slouched position. “But you kind of already said it.”

Princess Osonia paused, handkerchief inches from her tear stained cheek.