The storm kept us indoors for that evening and most of the next morning before finally breaking not long before midday. Despite the rain and mud outside, Sharai still had me and Shava go through our morning training since she wanted us to get used to training and fighting in less-than-perfect conditions. During the last big storm, she had let us off easy because I was feeling the effects of a long night of celebrating and drinking, but now she didn’t want to baby us.

-There will be times when you will have to fight in rain and mud, snow and ice, and other unfavorable conditions which might cause you to slip or misstep. It is for the best that you both get used to training and sparring in such conditions so that when that time comes, you will be used to it and able to quickly correct yourselves,- the spirit told me when we started our training that morning.

Training was hard and miserable, especially for Shava, who was still getting used to the weight of her armor. Fortunately, the site that we had set up our camp at was one of those that had a small bathhouse with privies and a covered area where meals could be cooked and eaten in weather like this. After we were done training for the morning, we both gladly went to the shelter to eat some piping hot oatmeal and then got back inside our wagons so we could get out of our armor, dry off, and change into some warm clothes.

We still had our other lessons that morning as well. My cousin had magic lessons with our grandmother while Korine, Vesha, and I had our bardic lessons and practice with our instruments and voices. Kalara seemed disappointed that she could not play with the other kids outside and, while it was nice to see her starting to settle in and becoming more comfortable with the other members of our troupe, she was a distraction from our lessons. After a while, Daivin and Selice took her to their wagon so the Journeyman Bard could give my daughter a lesson on her tambourine and his wife could show her how to dance to deal with her excess energy.

After we had our midday meal, the other Bards went into the city to busk again now that the weather had cleared up, leaving me and Selice behind to rest a while before spending all evening entertaining at Duke Sal-Grethan’s garden party. I played with Kalara for a while to spend some quality time with her and later used faerie fires to heat some water in the small bathhouse to bathe Kalara. Selice and I both took one as well, while Selice was my twin, taking the opportunity to get clean and looking and smelling pretty with help from the soaps, creams, lotions, hair cleansers, and perfume I had gotten from Ulvar’s Apothecary and Alchemy in Loden. Selice had resupplied her own stock of such items from a shop in the Avenue of Mystic Delights while I was playing with Kalara earlier.

“Why are we doing this again?” I asked as Selice held a small mirror for me and coached me on putting on my eye and lip tints in her wagon. I had already left Kalara with my grandparents and Xulyin, who had offered to look after her after her bath until Vesha returned to camp and could take over.

“We’re the entertainment tonight, people are going to be watching us and interacting with us, so we will want to look and smell nice and have soft and gleaming skin and hair. It’s the same idea that you’ll want to keep in mind when you start using your Tien’jin in performances, you need to capture all the audience’s senses,” she told me candidly.

“Are you certain this has nothing to do with the fact that we are going to be practically naked, and you want to show off and mess with people?” I pressed after finishing painting one eyelid and before going on to the next.

“Maybe a little,” she agreed with a grin before wrinkling her nose in distaste. “I don’t doubt that the only time most of them see this much bare skin is when they’re bathing, and you have a very eye-catching appearance. Humans are so prudish about their bodies, always keeping them covered up. Did you know that alchemists and apothecaries sell things to remove body hair of all things? I mean, I knew Human men have hair in odd places since my own husband does, but I heard a pair of Human women ask the lady alchemist in the apothecary earlier about a cream to remove hair from their underarms and legs. It’s no wonder they cover themselves up all the time.”

I looked at her in confusion. I had never heard of such a thing, though I would have had to be blind not to know that Human men had hair like that since I had seen many of them with beards and hair on their arms and chests, my father included. I must have taken after my Changeling mother more than I thought, since I couldn’t remember ever growing hair in odd places before I was changed when claiming Neva’kul. Fae do not grow hair anywhere but on our heads and our men don’t grow facial hair like Human men either, from what I had learned since joining the troupe. I had always assumed that Human women were the same.

I finished what I was doing and then painted my lips with something that tasted like berries and had a purple tint to it that looked nice with my coloring. When that was done, I blotted my lips with a handkerchief to remove the excess and let my lips dry for a moment before changing into my ‘dancing finery’ and sandals. Then we carefully braided one another’s hair and placed black owl feathers with white tips in them to serve as ornaments. The goal was to look identical, but we also wanted a feather handy in case Selice needed to change her shape to leave the party fast, and there was nowhere else that she could hide one with what we were wearing.

I would not be wearing my Tien’jin tonight since I did not want to have to explain what the strange-looking jewelry was or have any requests to play something on it once I did. I was still a long way from mastering the dancer’s chorus. With our preparations complete, I took a harp and my fiddle, both stored securely in their cases, from the instrument cupboard and we left camp for the city.

The party was due to start at sixth bell in the evening and Selice and I wanted to get there early so we could get set up and see the look of horror on the duke’s face. Selice was definitely a bad influence on me. On our way through the city streets, we encountered Master Nirlyn and the others heading back to camp from their day of busking.

It was nice having Vesha kiss me and tell me how beautiful I looked as soon as we were within range, but still a little awkward when Daivin kissed his wife while she was wearing my form. It was something that I was starting to get used to during those times when she was playing at being my twin though. Daivin and Selice obviously loved one another deeply and it did not matter to him what form she wore.

The group had made some decent coin, but not as much as they had the past few days when Selice and I were with them. At least they would only have to split it four ways rather than six, after giving a share to the troupe as well. Selice and I had decided to contribute a gold piece each from tonight’s endeavors to the troupe, leaving us with six apiece, which would give us a nice nest egg for future expenses and leaner times. The two gold pieces would also be a nice addition to the troupe’s communal savings.

As we parted ways, both Daivin and Master Nirlyn warned us to be careful and keep one another safe. I could not blame them since there was something about the duke that set me on edge. Or perhaps I was just nervous, a feeling that was becoming harder to ignore as Selice and I traipsed through the capital while wearing practically nothing. People were visibly staring at us as we passed them by, looking as if they were unsure whether they should be scandalized or in awe and curious about the pair of identical Faeries in their midst.

We managed to find the duke’s city residence without issue. It was easily one of the largest and most ostentatious homes in the city, aside from the palace itself, and the gates to the grounds were made of expensive steel and guarded by a pair of men in armor who bore swords at their hips. We were met with a pair of uncertain looks as we approached those gates bearing the missive that bore our names.

“L-l-lady Fae. Are you here for the p-party?” one of the men inquired, appearing as though he very much hoped that we were not, at least not dressed as we were. The other was openly leering, but I tried to give no outward indication that his unnerving ogling of us was making my skin crawl.

“Indeed,” my ‘twin sister’ replied with a smile. “I am Selice, and this is my sister, Kaelyn. We are the entertainment for tonight’s festivities, as you can probably tell from my sister’s instruments. Did your master not tell you about us? Here is the missive from your master, bearing our names and contracting our services for the evening.”

“Y-yes, of course. He… ahh… mentioned that a pair of Faerie twins would be entertaining tonight.” It would seem that even though he was uncertain about us, he did not dare question the judgment of his employer, so after looking over the missive he allowed us in, instructing us to follow the garden path that branched off to the left of the main cobblestone path that led to the house itself.

Not that we needed the instructions since it was fairly obvious where the gardens were. We followed the main path to the house, formed completely from gleaming white cobblestones, through the open and carefully trimmed grass until a smaller path of the same white stones branched off to the left, leading to what only a blind person could not see was the garden. Immaculately trimmed hedges formed an archway over the path and enclosed a truly massive and ostentatious garden in what felt like a massive circle.

Just inside the hedges was an expanse of flower gardens in full bloom, providing a dazzling array of colors and scents to tease the senses. Roughly thirty paces further in, the path split into three, with one path continuing straight onward and the other two branching out left and right in a curve that mirrored that of the hedges and likely forming a complete circle through the fields of flowers to either side around the center of the entire affair. That center was a circular white stone courtyard of sorts, framed by a circle of carefully spaced ornate white stone statues, bronze lampposts bearing expensive oil lamps for when the sun set, and small, leafy trees trimmed into the shapes of animals, all of which allowed brief glimpses between them of the flower gardens beyond.

The courtyard was filled with tables and chairs for the party, the chairs beautifully carved from ash wood and the tables covered in bright scarlet tablecloths with gold embroidery at the hems. There were enough tables and chairs to seat at least a hundred guests. At the center, there was a raised dais where I assumed we were to be performing so all his guests could see us. Everything looked extravagant and expensive, it was no wonder he barely flinched at paying us fourteen gold pieces for a night of entertainment.

We had been standing around, watching the many servants rushing back and forth on various tasks for several minutes when Duke Sal-Grethan spotted us and hurried toward us with a look of horror upon his face. He was dressed in black suede knee-high boots, above which navy breeches of navy-blue crushed velvet ballooned outward. A jacket with long tails, made of that very same velvet, was laced at the front with a pristine white tunic worn beneath.

“W-what in the names of the Gods are you wearing!?” The duke sputtered, his eyes bulging as he attempted to both look and not look at the same time.

Selice calmly tilted her head slightly to the side, as if confused by the question. “We are wearing our dancing finery, as we agreed, Your Grace.”

“You can’t wear that, it’s indecent! What will my guests have to say?!” he hissed as his face continued to become ever redder by the moment and he shielded his eyes from our exposed skin.

“It will most likely make for interesting dinner conversation,” I agreed, as I attempted to keep up a façade of calm. “We did tell you that we could not perform properly in your Human finery, even if we could have gotten something made in time.”

“And as I promised, I doubt that any of your guests have seen anyone dressed as we are before unless you would like us to perform as we usually do among our people. What little I know of humans, and your reaction just now, leads me to believe that you would be most uncomfortable watching us perform skyclad,” Selice quickly added.

“Skyclad?” the flummoxed nobleman asked cautiously.

“In the nude, Your Grace,” she replied with a smile as he squirmed at the n-word. “Did you not know that we Fae only wear clothing when circumstances require it? It is why we are wearing these now because we are among humans. We were thinking of your comfort and are wearing these for your sake.”

Duke Sal-Grethan did not appear comforted in the slightest. In fact, he looked extremely uncomfortable, especially since guests were starting to arrive. He looked even more uncomfortable when a voice called out, “Farun!”

I turned around to see the source of the voice and could see Arinade approaching with a woman and man who appeared to be in their mid to late thirties. The woman was slightly tanned with gray eyes and brown hair that was styled in an elaborate braided updo and wore a forest green and gold embroidered gown and corset over a white chemise with long and voluminous sleeves. The man looked like a slightly older version of the duke and wore a black velvet tunic with similarly black suede boots, dark green hosiery, and a black cape with a gold-hued inner layer.

“B-brother?” the duke stammered as his eyes darted between us and the King of Kalidar.

“Allow me to introduce you to Ambassador Arinelle of the Fae,” he said, gesturing to the Faerie enchanter who was without her glamour and dressed in a simple jade-green silk dress and slippers. “And these must be the talented Faerie ladies that you were raving about.” He did not seem bothered by our outfits at all and might have been fighting not to smirk from the look of it.

Arinade had mentioned the night of Kalara’s adoption that that was just the name she used for her human guise, but it was a little strange hearing a Human call her by her real name. Since the duke seemed to be tongue-tied at the moment, she smiled and said, “Your Majesty, this is Selice and Kaelyn, good friends of mine from home, fellow ambassadors, and very talented performers. I assure you that if they are performing tonight, you are in for a rare treat. My friends, may I introduce their Royal Majesties, King Vergun Sal-Kalidar, and Queen Isante Sal-Kalidar.”

““It is our pleasure,”” Selice and I said in unison with the sweeping bows that we had practiced last night.

That had Arinelle stifling a giggle and both the King and Queen cracking a smile as the latter asked, “Where did you get such interesting clothing?”

“A weaver from our troupe made the outfits for us some time ago,” Selice answered honestly. “Since we were going to be performing for humans in such an intimate setting on such short notice and had no other finery to wear, we thought it best to wear these. I know that your people get uncomfortable with nudity, so we felt it best if we covered ourselves, for your sake.”

“We appreciate your diplomacy on the matter,” the king offered, looking like he was having trouble keeping a straight face. “Welcome to Kalidar, I hope that we can speak more later and that you can educate us on more of your traditions. How forward thinking of my brother to employ you tonight, so our two peoples can learn to understand one another better.”

Meanwhile, the king’s brother had realized that he could not argue our fashion choices any further with both of the royals being so accepting of it. Especially after the king had just complimented him. If he tried to back out now, he would look more like a fool. He did not look happy about it but did not object when Selice and I excused ourselves to begin performing and provide some suitable music and displays of dance to entertain the guests until dinner was served.

The royals and Arinelle started to mingle as more guests began to arrive and Selice and I got many very entertaining looks from the guests as we performed. Guests were arriving in droves as the appointed time for dinner drew ever closer and I almost lost focus on my playing and reflexively tightened my grip on my harp as I felt a sickening presence via my magic sense that threatened to turn my stomach. It was coming from the direction of the estate’s gates and approaching closer by the moment.

It seemed that Arinelle’s magic sense was as strong as mine because as I continued to play and attempted to look like there was nothing wrong, I glimpsed her looking in the same direction. Her head snapped toward me with an inquiring look, and I grimly nodded in reply. There was a Demon coming to dinner.