With my new grasp on written language, the morning’s Bardic lessons were a lot easier for me. I could actually read the scrolls with the various song lyrics, lessons on music composition, and musical theory easily and I had to wonder if Arinade had some knowledge of music as well because I seemed to be understanding the notes on the music sheets a little easier as well. My writing was a little sloppy still since my hand needed to catch up with the new knowledge in my head, but I seemed to improve as the morning went on.

It was just like how Kalara was having trouble forming words even though she too had the proper knowledge in her head. Her mouth and tongue just were not used to forming words yet, but I could see her trying to copy the rest of us as she sat on her cot and watched Korine, Vesha, and me go through our morning lesson. Still, she was able to understand us and was making strides toward speaking properly.

While we were all playing our preferred instruments to the sheet music that Master Nirlyn had provided, the Master herself sat down to talk with my prospective daughter to see if she could remember anything. That ended up consisting mostly of her asking simple questions to which Kalara could reply with a nod or shake of her head. Unfortunately, she did not learn much.

Kalara was two years old at the most so her long-term memory was probably not great, and she could not seem to remember ever not being in a cage or wearing that cursed collar until we found and released her. When Master Nirlyn pointed to me and asked if she could remember anyone with wings like mine, the young Elf scrunched up her face uncertainly as if trying to recall a distant memory but whatever that memory was it seemed to be out of reach. Master Nirlyn did not press her. That was probably for the best since even if we did learn anything from her it likely would not have changed the current situation.

After that Master Nirlyn took out the wooden box of Vesha’s old toys once again and Kalara was soon distracted by playing while our lessons continued. It was shortly before midday when Master Nirlyn and Daivin concluded our morning lessons so that we could go into the city to busk for coin. We may have had a little nest egg due to the gold and silver we had gotten from the menagerie, but some of us would be cutting into our shares of that during our stay in Hindra and there were uncertain times ahead of us.

Soon, Selice and my fellow Bards were headed back into the city to find a good spot for performing, with Vesha carrying my fiddle and the harp that I favored as well as her lute. I had promised to find and join them near Market Square after I had finished my other business in the city since I would first be going to Knight’s Row along with Shava, Uncle Bryden, Mara, and Hagen. As for Kalara, Zenna and Aunt Sivelle had offered to watch her and Cylia along with most of the other children while most of the remainder of the troupe was in the city making preparations for the night’s celebrations and getting things that the two new members of our troupe might need during our journey.

Kalara was not happy about me leaving her there so I took the time to sit down and explain things to her before leaving, “Kalara, I will be back later, and you should get to know the other children of the troupe now that you can communicate with us. Nobody here will harm you; our troupe are not like the humans who have hurt and caged you your whole life. They are Fae, like you and me.”

“But Maera…” she protested as she glanced uncertainly to where Zenna was already starting a game with Jaya and Torin and Aunt Sivelle was telling Kirla, Kegan, and Cylia a story.

“You are family now, little one. We will be making that official tonight, and family is important to us Voyagers. I know that Zenna and Aunt Sivelle would protect you and the other children with their lives if anything happened, but nothing will because you will be safe in our camp with them. You have seen Aunt Sivelle’s ears, right?” I pressed as I gestured toward my aunt. “Well, her father was an Elf like you, so she and Shava are both part Elf, and she can probably tell you all kinds of things about being an Elf that I do not know.”

She still did not seem entirely convinced so I wrapped her in a hug, kissed her on the forehead, and then smiled at her as I promised. “After tonight you will be my daughter, Kalara. I will always come back to you, even if I have to carve a bloody path with Neva’kul to do it.”

Sharai had told me once that vows are binding to Fae for as long as we live, it was why we never make promises that we do not intend to keep, and why my oath to Neva’kul was so binding. It was better to make promises so that how they were carried out was not too specific and somewhat open to interpretation, as I had just done. Anything that I could conceive of, up to what I had specified as the upper limit of the promise, could be used to carry it out, even something as simple as just walking or flying home. I could sense the vow that I had just made settling upon me like the added weight of a blanket, not heavy and suffocating, but I was now bound to those words.

The promise, and the determination with which I had made it, seemed to convince her that I wasn’t going to just leave her. She allowed me to lead her toward the trio of children with Aunt Sivelle and sat shyly with the rest of the group. I kissed her one last time, told her to be good and listen, and left to join Shava and the others as I considered getting her a treat while I was in the city.

Knight’s Row was a collection of workshops along the western edge of the city where the noise, smoke, and scents wouldn’t bother those living in the city proper. The scents of smoke, scorched metal, and curing hides were thick in the air, accompanied by the din of hammers on metal, Masters yelling instructions to their apprentices, and criers from various workshops shouting out their wares to those who could not read the signage. Happily, I was no longer one of those unfortunate few as Shava and I followed the others to the shops that Mara and Hagen thought might suit our needs.

I was currently wearing a glamour to avoid any undesired attention from being Fae. I looked much like the other Voyagers, if a bit taller, and probably could have passed as Shava’s much older sister with how similar most Changelings were with their dusky skin, black hair, and brown eyes. I hadn’t bothered hiding Neva’kul with the glamour since we came here looking for weapons and Shava had to carry Fal’hevar openly as well.

We were passing one of the many open workshops when a man’s voice called out, “Girls! You, the young Voyagers with the swords!”

Both Shava and I turned as one, certain that he could only be referring to us, and whoever had called out had the attention of our companions as well. I was a little surprised to see a Dwarven man gesturing us over to one of the workshops. He was a bit shorter than my cousin but bulky, bulging with muscles, and had bright red hair, a matching beard, eyes like silvery steel, and skin deeply tanned from working a forge.

We approached, wondering what he might be trying to sell us, and once we had gotten close enough for conversation, he grinned at us. “Relgar’s my name and I think you lasses might be interested in my wares. It’s a dangerous world out there, and you girls are wise to take up the sword. You want to keep your troupe safe, aye?”

We both nodded, but mostly in confusion since he had not even mentioned what he was trying to sell us yet. Still, it would have been rude not to introduce ourselves when he had already done the same. “I am Kaelyn Darkbane of Sparrowsong Troupe, and this is my cousin and… apprentice, Shava.” I hesitated to call her my apprentice but decided it would do no harm since Sharai and Shava herself were already referring to her as such.

Relgar raised an eyebrow and gave me an appraising look. “Aye, you have a certain grace about you. Those blades look to be of Fae make; did you learn from them?”

“Aye,” I agreed but did not elaborate further.

The Dwarf nodded, accepting my simple answer. “It makes sense, I met a lot of Voyager clans and even a few Fae during my traveling days. You hold similar values; it makes sense that one of them would be willing to train you. I’ll get right to business then, lasses. Learning to use a blade is well and good to protect your troupe, but you need to keep yourselves safe too. I sell the best and only Squire’s Armor in the capital and if I don’t have something for adults that will fit a lanky lass like yourself, I can forge whatever you need.”

“Squire’s Armor?” Uncle Bryden asked as he and the others stepped up to join us.

“Aye, I designed it a few years ago and it’s called that because it’s what most of the knights’ squires hereabout use now so they don’t need a new set of armor every time they hit a growth spurt. Young Shava here could probably keep using it until she’s fully grown since you Voyagers usually don’t grow quite as tall as other humans, well most of you anyway.” He added the last with a grin at me before offering, “why don’t you fine folk pop into my workshop and I can show you what I’m talking about.”

Mostly out of curiosity, we followed the Dwarf into the large stone building that served as his workshop. Racks of finished armor, spears, swords, axes, maces, and cudgels adorned the area near the entrance showing off his wares. He even had a couple of bows, at least they looked like bows, but these were made mostly of dwarf-forged steel like his other wares and were equipped with various wheels and pulleys.

I looked over some of the weapons as we passed and Sharai commented, -These weapons are well made, but I would not expect less from a Dwarven smith. I used a dwarf-forged sword before I bonded with Neva’kul. The others should buy their swords here, any weapon here would serve them well.-

I kept that in mind as Relgar led us to the back, where no less than eight apprentices of various races ran back and forth completing tasks, worked at large tables, or manned the forge. The latter was unlike any other forge I had ever seen, there were metal pipes with steam coming from them and various switches and levers that I could not discern the purposes of. We followed him to one of the worktables where something that looked like plate armor for an adult human sat. “I just finished this set this morning,” he said as he took the chest piece and held it out for us.

It looked far too big for Shava and was made from slightly overlapping steel plates as thick as my pinky finger, even the pauldrons. There were these small holes in various places, almost like tiny keyholes. I spotted one on each pauldron, one in the center of the chest plates, and one lower on the belly. He unbuckled the side straps and held it out to my cousin, as he instructed, “Arms out while I slip this over your head, lass, and we’ll see if we can get this to fit you more comfortably. You’ll want to wear proper gambeson or padding underneath for comfort though.”

Once he had it on her, the Dwarf got what looked like a small key from the table and inserted it into the hole in the chest plate. As he turned the key the plates shifted inward to overlap more causing the chest piece to tighten. He repeated the same with the lower keyhole and the ones on the pauldrons until the armor seemed to be much thicker and a much better fit for my cousin and then fastened the straps. During the whole process, he told Shava how it worked and how to make the adjustments herself with her key for when she got some gambeson to wear underneath or hit a growth spurt.

Besides the chest piece, there was also a pair of bracers, greaves, and a throat guard that fastened on like a choker, all of which could be adjusted similarly. He had Shava do that herself to get familiar with the process and then, once she was done, he had her take it off and showed her how to properly oil and maintain it. Uncle Bryden had decided to buy the armor before Shava had even finished adjusting the greaves. He wanted his daughter kept safe and felt that this armor would keep her that way if we encountered Demons for a long time to come.

Shava wasn’t sure if she needed it with her gift, and Alara’s glyph on Fal’hevar, and thought it was a little heavy, but her father insisted, and the Dwarf assured her that it was made from a lighter steel alloy than he used for heavier armor and that she would get used to the weight by wearing and training in it. She still did not seem certain though until I added my insistence to her father’s and told her that there might be times when she could not react quickly enough to use her gift.

Shava’s armor was not the only purchase we made from the friendly Dwarf. Uncle Bryden, Mara, and Hagen all bought broadswords from him, and we also got a pair of the wheel bows that I had seen earlier. The bows were bigger and heavier than a long bow, not something that we would likely use often, and he needed to show us how to repair and maintain them, but Relgar assured us they were accurate and boasted a much bigger punch and longer range than any regular bow could provide. After the encounter with that massive Tainted in the menagerie caravan, we wanted to be more prepared in the future.

The wheel bows fired steel-banded shafts almost half again as long and thick as any arrow I had ever seen before with vicious-looking broad heads. Relgar claimed that the army sometimes used the weapons alongside ballistae for fighting Leviathans who grew brave or hungry enough to attack the city or other coastal towns. We bought four dozen of the shafts as well as some practice shafts and the Dwarf assured us that other Dwarven smiths would be able to provide us with more, or even make repairs to the bows if needed during our travels.

Our next stop was to get some leather armor for Mara and Hagen, and gambeson that could be adjusted to fit Shava. Thankfully, that did not take as long as I feared since none of us had eaten since breakfast and I was starting to get hungry. Then it was on to a bowyer to get some proper bows, where Mara and Hagen chose well-made longbows similar to what they were already using. For me and Shava, I decided on recurve bows. They were a little different than the longbows I had grown up with, but after we had tried them out, they felt comfortable, and I thought that they would be a lot more versatile for us and quicker to draw.

With that done, Uncle Bryden hired a cartman to take our new purchases, as well as him and the others, back to our camp outside of the city. As for me, I accompanied them back to some of the streets that I had become familiar with yesterday and then parted ways to buy a mug of mulled wine and some pastries stuffed with sausage, some kind of tangy sauce, and spicy diced pahra bulbs to help stave off my hunger. Then, once I had finished my quick meal, I headed toward my next destination along the Avenue of Mystic Delights.