The day after the show at King's Lake, the members of the acting troupe were in high spirits. Take, Shandor, Bear and Smiles sat around the bakery stall at the marketplace along the castle wall, congratulating one another on the success of their last production. They ate pastries fresh from the outdoor oven while they waited for the remainder of their acting troupe to join them.
"What'd King Geoffrey have ta say bout our play?" Bear asked. "I seen ya talking' to 'im."
Take savored a bite of pastry. "Said it made his job harder. I expect he's afraid if the Taz workers start bringing in their families, he'll never get rid of them."
Shandor looked surprised. "Did he actually say that?"
Take waved the question away. "No, not to me, but he did say to me it makes his job harder and I know what job he's talking about—the job of keeping outsiders out. It's no secret. Everybody knows the King doesn't like foreigners moving in." Take looked at Shandor and laughed. "I suppose you know that first hand."
"What do you mean by that?" Shandor scowled as he looked at Take.
"What do you think I mean?" Take asked with a curious expression. "Didn't he ask the whole of your Traveler caravan to move on?"
"Oh, that. Yes." Shandor looked up at the castle with a sigh. "I suppose I should be moving on myself to join them."
Smiles held up his hand. "Hold up there. Yer a part a our troupe now. You don't need to be movin' on. Ain't that right?" He looked at his friend, Bear, to back him up.
Bear shrugged. "A lotta people be upset ta see that there fiddle leave Fernland." Bear pointed to the fiddle resting on the bakery counter.
"An what about findin' yer daughter?" Smiles asked. "Ya can't do that if yer not here."
"I found her. She wants no part of me." Shandor looked away.
No one knew what to say. The hurt on Shandor's face was obvious.
Laughter and shouts drew the men's attention away from Shandor. Peaches, Trixie, Angie and Tom ran up to join them.
"Why the glum faces?" Angie asked. "We did ourselves proud last night didn't we?"
"I'll bet them blokes from Taz is already a cuttin an' a measurin' fer our new stage." Tom mimed a man with a saw.
"Yeah. We really stumped 'em." Trixie laughed. "You shoulda heard 'em tryin' ta figger how that big genie came outta that little box." Trixie beamed at Smiles and the huge man smiled back.
Smiles had allowed himself to be buried in the sand in his genie costume, breathing through a piece of rolled parchment pushed just a little above the parchment colored sand, until the treasure chest with a false bottom was unearthed by the actors. When the lid was opened, he lunged through the box, to the delight of all.
"An how we all come slidin' up outta the water," Peaches added. "I tole 'em we was all magicians an' it was magic." Peaches fumbled around in her little cloth bag. "An' we got another surprise for ya all. Show 'em what you done, Tom, while I find my little clothes."
Tom smiled sheepishly and pulled some little wooden figures out of his pocket. "I whittled some little sea creatures ta sell at the bakery stand ta them what liked our show." He scattered the little wooden figures along the counter.
"An us girls made some little bitty costumes ta put on 'em, ta show they's little actors." Peaches brought out the colorful scraps of cloth and yarn they had fashioned into costumes for the wooden sea creatures.
The men all looked at Bear, fearing he would insult the girls by calling their work silly or worse, as Angie pulled a little crocheted garment over the squid's arms. It appeared to be one arm short of the full eight.
Bear surprised everyone by beaming a proud smile at Peaches. "I can't hardly believe none a one's ever thought of sellin' such little wooden actors afore this."
Take looked at Bear, then at Peaches, first suspiciously, then with a knowing grin. "I've no doubt people will stand in line to buy them. This will keep some money coming in even if we don't get any work for a while.
"Why wouldn't we be gettin' any work?" Tom asked.
Take shrugged his shoulders. "With Prince Avor and Princess Electra gone for a time, and no visitors scheduled, there's not much to celebrate. The king and queen already had their welcome party for Dagon. I just don't see any work at the castle in the near future."
"Queen Delphinia'll find somethin' ta celebrate. She don't need much reason," Peaches said.
The others all laughed at the truth of that statement and cheers of "Long live the Queen" rang out.
"We still got our bakery stand. We won't go hungry." Smiles looked concerned in spite of his words.
"Then why do ya all look like ya jest come from a funeral?" Angie asked.
Smiles frowned. "Shandor here is fixin' ta move on."
Angie looked from Smiles to Shandor. "Why? We'll be gettin' more work afore long."
"King Geoffrey ordered us all to move on. I'll likely be arrested when they find out I didn't leave with the caravan."
Angie shook her head emphatically. "That was afore the king and queen heard ya play yer fiddle. They'd let ya stay now, I bet. We could ask 'em."
"No!" Shandor's tone was vehement. "I don't want to take the chance. I'll see how things go up in Henge. Maybe I'll come back after the king's had time to forget about me."
"And maybe I'll just tag along with you to Henge," Take said.
"What!?" Exclamations rang out as all looked at Take with open mouths. "Why would ya be doin' such a thing?" Tom asked.
Take held out his hands, palms out, in a calming gesture. "I never told any of you, but my mother was a Traveler lass. While the Gypsy caravan was here I found out from an old Traveler woman that my mother, Drina, left the life and took up a job at some rich man's house in Henge. Then she came up expecting me and moved down to Fernland. She never told me about why she moved or who my father was. But every month a soldier rode up and gave my mother a gold coin. After she died, the soldier came, found out she was dead, said he was sorry to hear it, and left. That's when I moved out and began making my own way." Take laughed at the serious faces of his friends. "Things didn't turn out so bad. Cheer up." They all managed weak smiles. "But just out of curiosity I'd kind of like to find out the source of those gold coins. So far, the only clue I've had is from that old Traveler woman who's now moved on with the others to Henge. Maybe she has more she could tell me."
"That there's some story," Tom said. "I should go along with ya, case ya find out somethin' takes two ta sort out."
Take smiled. "I need a friend here more. You can send me word if we get a big commission." Take looked at Shandor. "What do you say? Could you do with some company on your way to Henge?'
Shandor shrugged. "Bring your flute and your own drink. We'll make it a good ramble."
Take went back to his shack to pack a few things while his friends bustled around packing more food and supplies than two men could possible carry.