Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tam winks at him and continues to play until the light reaches the center glass, a small circle of optical grade glass formed into a convex lens, which focuses the rays into a thin beam of light that pin points a simple golden bowl filled with incense on the main altar. Within seconds the incense begins to burn and Tam lowers his pipe.

He hands the pipe back to the elderly priest and smiles at Kerobian. "The second piece is played a little later in the service, when they finish chanting their morning lauds. Brother Lawrence here can tell you when to do that. I'm going down stairs to sit with Dawnlord Mica. It's a rather simple piece and ye only need to play it through twice, so I'm certain you could handle it. Want to give it a try?"

About twenty minutes later, following a beautiful series of chants, the brother nods for Kerobian to play. He offers the crystal flute to him, but as Kero has his own, he doesn't seem desperate that he use it. Rather he is giving him the honor of using it if he wants.

Brother Lawrence smiles at him and nods his thanks. A short time later the service ends and he motions the cub ahead of him down the stairs to where Talesian and Mica are waiting.

Mica is grinning widely at him. "Very well done, young cub." he remarks giving the cat a bow. "Though I could have sworn I said you did not have to begin until Mondes Day."

Tam laughs merrily and picks the cub up. "I can see we are going to have to work on accepting praise where it is due, Taro. He is right, you know... you did rather well..." And he would have said more but a loud rumbling from Kerobian's stomach silences him and sets Mica into a fit of merry chuckles.

"And we need to keep our little song bird well fed or he won't be playing at all. Come, both of you. Normally, Kero, I will tell you to go eat in the refectory with the others, but this morning I've arranged for the two of you to dine with me."

Talesian laughs wisely and follows the priest out into his private garden, carrying the cub, because he knows if he puts him down he'll probably run away in embarrassment.

There is a grand feast waiting for them, mostly finger foods that could be left unattended while the priests attended their service, but there are hot foods as well, kept warm inside am insulated wicker basket. Mica pulls out a bowl of sausages and some fresh warm bread from the basket to add to the fruit and miscellaneous items that are set on the table. He offers to pour the cub some milk.

Mica serves them himself, setting plates before them and a large bowl of milk for the cub. He cuts chunks off the fresh bread and slips huge sausages within them, then gives each of the minstrels one before serivng himself. There are cheeses and fruit to go with it, as well as cider to wash it down.

"Kero, you look uneasy. Is something wrong?" he asks leaning back into his chair.

Talesian smiles at him. "Ack... Kero... ye'lll never be a bard at this rate. Ye need to roll with the flow of things, kiddo. Enjoy the good life when it's here, endure the harsh one when it comes. A bard needs to be flexible as our income and livelihood is so variable. An artist paints a picture and people flock to buy it... a writer pens a book and his name is there in print forever... but music.. well, let's just say, music is a bit more tenuous than that... ye can write a tune one week and find dozens of others singing something so similar to it the next ye know they've stolen all if not part of it... and there isn't a thing ye can do about it... Ye just strive to be the best, so people know it was you who got stolen from and not the other way around and ye need to learn how to accept praise gracefully."

Instead he decides not to let the cub get the upper hand in this and pours himself a mug of cider while laughing it off. He had only spoke the truth of things. Being a bard did mean one had to go with the flow. One season you were some lord's favorite, the next you were running for your life from that very same lord. All it took was one song and you didn't even have to be the one who wrote it. If it sounded like your work, you were labeled a traitor. It had happened to him a time or two in his long and colorful career and to others he had known along the way.

"So, Master Talesian... you seem to be a man of the world. What made you decide to settle down here in our fair village anyway?" asks Mica in an effort to change the subject.

Tam smiles and shrugs. The road gets tiring over time and Kerobian deserves better, far more than I can offer him in that form of life. I'm not rich by any means, but I can live comfortably on what we've earned over the years so far. Fame doesn't line the pocketbook... in fact sometimes it has a way of emptying it when you least expect it. So at times I've found it better not to let on who I am in my travels. People may know me here, but it is a distant knowledge. And in truth, they don't seem to match up the Talesian of the tales they hear with that bumbling bumpkin they see plucking the strings at the local inn. And besides all that, to sweeten the pot, this is a pretty town, not too rural... not too urban... and the fishing has been great."