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"Indeed I do." Wesley spoke in a deep, melodic voice that had undoubtedly soothed even the most rowdy bars. It would probably put me to sleep.
The man leaned down and pulled a small stringed instrument from his bag. He plucked at a couple of strings. The instrument made a soft, pleasant sound, like a harp. Wesley's long fingers strummed a short, but jaunty tune before he lay the instrument on his lap and sipped his wine.
"What is that?" Kerina asked, "I've never seen the like before."
"It's a lyaer," Wesley replied. "Peculiar to the northern parts of the Vault. It's similar to a lyre, but smaller, and more pure of tone." He talked about the instrument like it was a lover.
Kerina nodded with interest and asked several questions I didn't hear.
I listened to their conversation with only half an ear until I found myself interrupting.
"Have you seen anything odd around here?"
Wesley stopped mid-sentence, his mouth open, but his eyes showed no hint of surprise. For some reason, he expected the question.
I would bet a gold coin he had come to our table in the hope we would ask. Now I had, he didn't seem in a hurry to respond.
Wesley steepled his fingers and pressed them against his lips. "Odd," he drawled. "I have seen a few strange happenings in my day." He spoke like he was an old man, but he wasn't much older than me. Perhaps mid-thirties at the most.
"What about here?" Kerina asked. Her curiosity about the lyaer had apparently been forgotten, her eyes focused instead on the bard.
"At this particular tavern," Wesley nodded, "and in the lower town in general, I have. Strange comings and goings. Talk of people seeing a collection of things which are there in one moment and gone in the next."
"What kind of things?" I struggled to keep my impatience from showing, but the bard's manner started to irritate me.
Wesley looked thoughtful. "People, animals."
"Children?" Kerina asked, without a glance toward me. "Strange music?"
Wesley smiled and plucked a chord or two. "Perhaps. Most folk who talk of these things find themselves the object of ridicule. They talk of peculiar sightings, but then they're laughed out the door."
"What did you see?" I stated.
"You are a very direct man," Wesley said in approval. "Yes, I saw something. A woman. Tall and slender, with dark hair that fell down her back. She stared at me with eyes of vivid blue. I went to say something. I must confess she had me quite tongue-tied, but then she was gone before I got out more than a murmur." His pale skin turned slightly pink.
I shared a glance with Kerina, who furrowed her brow. I did the same. The woman Wesley described sounded a lot like Viva, but so did a metric butt ton of other women.
If it was her, what did it mean? Was she dead? She might be a pale one, lost between worlds, searching for peace.
My stomach clenched at the idea, but I dismissed it. I shot Kerina a glance and she nodded. Wesley told the truth, at least as he saw it.
I could have figured that out myself; I sensed no deceit in the man's thoughts or feelings. At least where the sighting was involved. In fact, he seemed more than a little scared.
"You were worried you would be ridiculed?" I guessed.
Wesley looked down into his glass, and nodded. "Perhaps not ridiculed so much as not believed. Travelling musicians, bards if you will, tell tales of fancy as a matter of course. If I told this tale, they would expect it was just that."
"Why tell us then?" I asked.
"Perhaps he could tell, just by looking, that you're the kind of man who doesn't laugh," Kerina suggested, a twinkle of humour in her eyes.
"I knew you for honest folk," Wesley said. "Folk who would listen. Folk, perhaps, who have seen odd things yourselves."
I hesitated before I told the bard about seeing the kid. I didn't say anything about Kerina hearing music. I wasn't sure why, but I felt we should keep that to ourselves, for now.
"I thought so." Wesley nodded. "A child, you say. I've not heard tell of one of those. It's usually men and women. Perhaps it's a portent for the future." He looked from me to Kerina and quirked a brow.
Kerina snorted. "Not with me it's not." She propped an elbow on the table. "You may have a point though, maybe it's Hades showing us glimpses of our future."
