Bards, 2008-10-23
From Tourmaline
Blaze asks Kallas to write her a song, and asks him about songs dealing with the foundation of the shrine to Vytarus Scave. He recommends some other bards she could talk to.
Blaze then visits Morgan's Grove, where she chats with Morgan and with Milene Danzelle. (Milene suggests that Blaze hire her for a private concert; Blaze isn't sure she can afford it, but says she'll get back to her on that.) Drake is also present, listening to the musical performances. Milene performs, as does Elenwe, whose performance reduces many of the patrons to sentimentality. Elenwe joins Drake at his table when she's finished singing. Blaze hangs about, people-watching, until Drake approaches her.
They adjourn to a seedy dive for private conversation, which veers off the rails almost immediately, due to each of them thinking the other is the one with the agenda. Blaze prods Drake into remembering that Elenwe must have decided their conversation was over and made him take his leave, so she could keep the table they were sitting at. After that, the conversation gets onto less confusing ground, such as Blaze's thoughts on Drake's job, and speculation about how to keep the assassins' guild from a) killing someone Blaze doesn't want killed and b) going berzerk from frustration and doing something mad if they can't find this person. They agree that the Parade Master taking out contracts on people who interfere with the slave trade is Bad and Something Should Be Done. Drake says he'll send someone to infiltrate the Parade Master, while Blaze looks for interesting info about him by less extreme methods. They part on better terms than they did last time they met.
Later, Blaze looks up Pycer Grand (another bard), and chats with him about the history around the founding of the Shrine. He says there are lots of amusing stories, but not a lot in the way of clear facts. He suggests looking in the Grand Library or perhaps in other cities, where Scave would have had a less heavy hand in destroying bits of the historical record.
