An audience was nothing to alarm the bard, though his usual sleek facade was worn thin by illness and he was not sure where he stood with some of those present in it. A long-forgotten trickle of tension crawled between his spine as he looked out at those who had come for the show, and he drew in the calming breaths he had learned long seasons past to relax his muscles and put a smile on his face for them.
Those who stood behind the screens with him caused no less concern, though each in different ways. Melita, as sick and suffering as he, his worry for the daughter of summer sunshine a palpable lump in his throat. Kiada, a friend he had shoved away, who deserved far better from him than she had gotten. Amalia... the brightest light, and the hardest to face because of it, but no less loved, no less family, for the rocks he had steered their ship among.
His hands might have trembled, but at least it did his role no harm as he lifted the control bars that held the net of lanterns Melita had made, and bade them dance around Kiada's Ludo-puppet, bobbing happily about like the souls he had seen at Ludo's side the day the god had made his own lantern. As Kiada controlled her puppet to reach out to the lanterns, Jigano shifted to bring some closer, while making the others seem to swirl around behind and around the masked god's representation. His movements were not as deft as they would have been a season earlier, but he took care to keep his strings from tangling with Kiada's, even if that meant restricting his movements a little.
When Ludo scampered off to the other side of the stage to visit the luxere, the bard eased the lanterns to stillness - as much as he was able. They shook and trembled a little along with his hands, but not, he hoped, so much as to distract from the main portion of the tale now happening over on Melita 's end of the beautifully-crafted stage.
Those who stood behind the screens with him caused no less concern, though each in different ways. Melita, as sick and suffering as he, his worry for the daughter of summer sunshine a palpable lump in his throat. Kiada, a friend he had shoved away, who deserved far better from him than she had gotten. Amalia... the brightest light, and the hardest to face because of it, but no less loved, no less family, for the rocks he had steered their ship among.
His hands might have trembled, but at least it did his role no harm as he lifted the control bars that held the net of lanterns Melita had made, and bade them dance around Kiada's Ludo-puppet, bobbing happily about like the souls he had seen at Ludo's side the day the god had made his own lantern. As Kiada controlled her puppet to reach out to the lanterns, Jigano shifted to bring some closer, while making the others seem to swirl around behind and around the masked god's representation. His movements were not as deft as they would have been a season earlier, but he took care to keep his strings from tangling with Kiada's, even if that meant restricting his movements a little.
When Ludo scampered off to the other side of the stage to visit the luxere, the bard eased the lanterns to stillness - as much as he was able. They shook and trembled a little along with his hands, but not, he hoped, so much as to distract from the main portion of the tale now happening over on Melita 's end of the beautifully-crafted stage.
