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return then... and we will follow.... as soon as we've broken camp.... tam waits until he is certain she is gone and not around to hear... then he sits down with a thud...

i accepted, because this is something you need to learn about, nothing more old friend... up to now, i've pretty much sheltered you from this fact of life... and have taken ye only to those places where they have had at least a minimum contact with magicals... at kerobian questioning look, tam smiles grimly... that is what we are called, kero... magicals... we have magic running in our veins... they do not....

he sighs and runs a hand through his hair... they cannot see the things we see... taste the things we taste... feel the things we feel... and most of all they cannot do the things we can do... i suspect it is the latter that frightens them most... the doing part... not all humans are so lacking... nor are they all so single minded against us.... but as there are far more of them than us... and as they... like us... tend to gather in like-minded communities... they even outcast their own when they are found to be extremely unusual or odd... different... and before ye start cursing them to perdition.... your people and mine are no different in that regard... d. miners ae notoriously anti-social... if i attempted to walk through their realm right now... i'd be cat food... hands down...

and worse... they often times hae good reason to fear us... rogue magicals have a nasty knack for going into the human community and makng them their play toys... killing indiscriminately... enslaving them... seducing them... and lording their uniqueness to such an extent, it becomes a point of focus... not the individual as it should be... but that which makes that individual so different from they...

so how do we deal with this... we walk cloaked and armored against detection... and we play games... mind games of a sort with their perception... not cruel games but deflection ones.... and most of all we do not let on what we are... at any time... understood... so tonight my friend, you will be the cat... not the musician.. and you will immerse yourself in the part... but as ye do study them... see what makes them different, learn what makes them laugh... what makes them cry,,, and tomorrow... when we have returned to this place.. we will talk on what ye have observed... consider it a challenge... can ye do it... can ye hold yer tongue no matter what they say or do to ye? granted.. i'll give ye this much leeway... if our lives are endangered and there is no physical means of escape, magic will be allowed... oh... and wear those claw tips i made ye... the ones that look like the real thing but which keep ye from slicing to the bone... ok?

tam chuckles and gives him a wink... well i usually wear motley when i'm in human territories... it's a good distraction... leads the eye away from small hard to hide details... so we could tie some ribbons to yer tail... he laughs at kero's frown and ruffles his ears...

and no... ye don't look like a house cat... but some tribes from the southern lands have hunting cats and we could probably pass ye off as one of them... t'would make sense in a way... as i travel alone... would that work better for ye... would ye like that role instead... then ye'd not be required to do anything except lie there at me feet and look a touch bit intimidating yet tamed....

thought so... says tam with a grin... now shall we... mustn't keep the public waiting ye know... and cheer up... i'll do me best to make sure no one pulls yer tail... though in truth any idiot who pulls a hunting cat's tail deserves to lose an eye or two.... as they're already too blind to see the truth before their faces.... just look attentive and extremely alert and ye should be able to pull that off easily... do ye remember that hound the lord had by his side at the last hold we stopped at... the one he had fed from his plate.. yep that one... emulate him and ye got it made.... aim for suppressed power... ok?

good... says tam leading the way back to town... and don't worry about those sheathes.... i made them extra hard... so that they mimic real cat's claws... yer not entirely defenseless.. ye scratch with those and they are going to feel it... seriously... and ye still have yer tail... just don't draw attention to it and we should be able to pull this off easily... sit on it iffin ye have to... just don't crush it... i'm still rather suspicious of all this and i don't want ye losing whatever edge we do have... got it?

they return to the inn and report to the innkeeper, who shows them a small ground floor room at the end of the main hall, not far from the kitchen.. at one time it may have been a store room, though now it is probably reserved for traveling minstrels... as it contains a small press a cot and chair... little more... it doesn't even have a keyed lock, though it does have a hasp and bar on the outside of the door... tam smiles grimly as he sees this and after putting their belongings in side, he pulls out a small worn lock, which he attaches to the door... to keep their things safe....

(so they think to lock us in at night..). he sends in a tight mental burst.... (we'll just see about that...)

tam smiles weakly... and follows the in keeper out to the main room where he is shown the customary spot near the fire... as it is still a tad bit early, a cold meal has been laid out for them... customary for minstrels who need to play through the dining hours when the main meal of the day has yet to be finished...

tam feeds kero his meat pie and nibbles on a piece of bread, downing it with a flagon of cider... and finds himself being grilled by the inn keeper... as to what towns he's played in of late and who he may have seen on the road coming their way....

tam shrugs... i left cloverton seven days past... played there at lord avarion's wedding.... then came straight across through the wood... a ranger who had attended the wedding had advised me to avoid the overland route... said that since i had kero here, i'd be safe enough along the river... why?

tam is lying, though in a rather convincing way... as the two of them had indeed played at the wedding.... but he is worried since they were tossed out of their last inn and fears word of it may have gotten this far...

*show off* whispers tam, rubbing his ears in an absent minded way... he pulls off his harp and begins to tune it... oddly enough to kero's surprise... he keeps it just a hair sharp and not quite true to key...

(to keep them off guard...) sends tam worriedly.... (no average true bardic mage would do this as they are usually too damn proud to think of it... but then i've had to live rough many a time and although it hurts me ears a bit, it is a damn good disguise, iffin they knew that a true bard was coming.... i can still entertain and it really doesn't sound all that bad, just a tad off... )

tam places a hand on kerobian's head and nods to the man... good day sirra... can i help ye with something? he asks carelessly, though he is as tense as a board.....