Peppermint, a bard most eloquacious and skilled, dances about the center of a packed tavern twirling and playing her fiddle as she sings the Hunter and the Hair, a stealthily bawdy song, backed by her partners in rhyme Ulrecht and Himmel. As the song comes to its dramatic close with the hunter sticking his knife in the hare the crowd breaks out in applause. After an encore Peppermint leans against a pillar nursing and ale and chatting with a serving boy who loves the song but hates that it ends sadly with the hare dying.
Peppermint explains to the boy that death is a necessary part of life that mortals should not fear and then, in a conspiratorial whisper, lets him know that the song is not about a hunter chasing a small furry animal, that the knife he plunges into the hare is not a knife, adding a lewd hand gesture to hammer the point home. As the boy stares in shock she gives him a little advice: good men don't have to chase women to find love, and tells him to work hard because hard work makes good men.
As Himmel plays his drum and sings Peppermint and Ulrecht work the crowd, gathering information through amiable chat and friendly flirting before leaving for the night where Peppermint, worked up by both the performance and a sack full of silver coins, dances and prances and makes eloquent proclamations before Ulrecht and Himmel tell her to drop the silly minstrel act. Shows over and it's time to be serious.
A little more fiddling around with #covenantofdust introducing Peppermint the wandering minstrel. I LOVE writing her - I get to be as ridiculous and stupid with her dialogue as I want. Need to break out the thesaurus to turn it up to 11.
#writesky #writingcommunity