The King's Players RPG

[Anguirel]

Sador had used the opportunity of the struggle to crawl several tables away, planning to get up again only when he was sure no spying eyes would impair the dignity of his position. As he went about this way of escape, he happened to be directly below the retreating Aldarion's irritable whisper to Asta...

"My only concern this day is preparing for our production, but Coldan insists on unfairly insulting my writing and demanding that I declare you my 'true love' or 'some strumpet from ze city'. I will make sure Brinn knows you shoulder no blame in this matter."

Sador's view on this snippet was twofold. It was, evidently, the case that this justly well regarded player was an artist first and a lover a long way second. At the same time, he couldn't help noticing, being no novice in sweetened remarks to the ladies himself, that Aldarion had carefully avoided committing himself - and not only to Sador, a relative stranger, but to Coldan and Asta, the love object, and the rival, themselves. Sador now suspected this supposedly dedicated actor was acting a little too neatly here, and trying to have things both ways, retaining credit with his prettiest colleague while at heart still hoping to win the Lady Gloredhel's affection.

By now Sador had wormed away to another corner, some yards behind where Coldan and Asta stood framed by the threshold (and rather a pleasing tableau they made too, in their way, he thought). While they lingered, thus distracted, he got back up, brushed the dust off his tunic, hobbled a couple of paces forward and coughed lightly, until both had turned round.

He now nodded politely, and turned to the Wainriding character in particular.

"Master Coldan, I believe? I have already met Asta, but I fear you and I have not been properly introduced. I am Sador of Burlach - for do let us dispense with that cumbersome 'my lord' you were courteous enough to employ earlier. In my view the honour of a player stands as high as many a prince."

Sador bowed his fair head lightly and continued.

"I have the good of this play on my conscience, all the more so because of some of my father's unnecessarily harsh speeches and measures. I would entreat you to set your mind at more ease, for the sake of your peace as well as the play's success, about Aldarion. The truth is, I know him a little by repute - why, we are almost relatives by marriage, after a fashion - and the name of Aldarion is already often spoken of in connection with a lady of Dol Amroth."

Now he turned quickly to Asta.

"I am sure, taking that fact into account, Mistress Asta, none of his actions towards you have been impertinent or remiss? The fellow is a man of honour..."

Unlike me, Sador thought, keeping his ironical smile tucked behind his concerned frown. You may think to have them both, Aldarion, but I shall leave you yet with neither...

[Nerwen]

"Remiss? Oh no– believe me, this has all been a... a misunderstanding..." said Asta, but she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. So Aldarion had been just stringing her along all this time! So he did think of her as a plaything! She almost wished she had skewered him.

She turned to the prompter, staring at a point immediately over his head. "Coldan? Coldan– I– may have said– um, one or two things earlier that I didn't really mean. I'm..." If there was one thing Asta hated, it was admitting she had been wrong, and she had to swallow several times before she could go on. "I'm sorry. Now," she added, before Coldan could speak– there was no telling what he would say, and the last thing they needed was another scene with Lord Sador as witness, "Thilien?"

"Thiliel," corrected, Master Ingold's officious little neice, who was still waiting around for an answer.

"Thiliel, please tell Brinn– er, the Lady Celebrindal– I'm coming."

The girl bobbed a quick curtsey and bustled away, full of the importance of her errand. Asta had found her annoying before, but now she was almost inclined to envy the childisheagerness that made even the drudgery of a maid's work new and exciting. She sighed. It would not last, of course.

Turning back to the two men, she noticed Lord Sador looking at her once again with that odd, private smile of his. She was sure he had noticed her slip with the name– but was it only that?

[Galadriel55]

Thiliel skipped over to the kitchen before going outside, and quickly wrapped some cookies in a clean white cloth. Mistress Celebrindal wouldn't mind some, I reckon. She then hurried to deliver the message to the woman.

Before she entered, she heard two people speaking. The conversation ceased when she knocked and tentatively stepped inside. The dark-haired man talking to Celebrindal was the very one that left the common room after Thiliel reported Celebrindal's request. She noticed that he was still wearing his blade.

"I am sorry to interrupt," she begun a bit shyly: that man was making her feel ill at ease, "Mistress Asta - that is her name, I believe - said that she is coming soon. Her and Master Coldan and some other man were talking. They aren't fighting anymore. Oh, and I brought you these." Thiliel handed the cookies to Mistress Celebrindal. "May I take your tray, if you are finished your supper?"

[Pitchwife]

Coldan wasn't sure whether to trust his ears. Had Asta really just apologized to him? He couldn't recall her ever doing that before, not on one of those occasions when she had sent him on some laborious errand which had turned out to have been completely futile on his return because she had had the thing she'd sent him to bring to her within reach all along; and it was rather obvious that it cost her no little effort to swallow her pride that much.

He cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortably self-conscious. "Vell, Asta, I - I may hev spoken a few rash vords myself." He hesitated to say more in front of Lord Sador - somehow, he didn't trust that fellow as far as he could throw him, in spite of all his honeyed words and ingratiating manners - , and besides, he didn't really know what to say in the first place. Asta's tell-tale blush when the sweet-tongued nobleman had mentioned Aldarion's 'connection with a lady of Dol Amroth', whatever that was supposed to imply, had not escaped him; and what could Sador have meant by 'almost relatives by marriage'? All that hinting and circumlocution made his head swim, especially as the wine was beginning to get the better of him. He needed some quiet to sober up and sort it all out.

"It's been a long day, and I vould like to take some rest", he said to both of them. "I've got to zink some zings over. Please tell Br - Mistress Celebrindal to send ze girl for me ven she vants me, Asta; I'll be in my room. If you'll excuse me now", he concluded, nodding to Sador, and made a point of adding, "my lord."

On his way to the door he passed Harrenon, who had seated himself in a safe distance from the quarrel earlier, and bowed to whisper to him: "Harry my friend, if you vould do me a favour, keep an eye on Asta and zat limping fellow for me, vill you? Zat man is up to somezing, and if it's any good, I'm a Variag." He squeezed Harrenon's shoulder thankfully. "And if you ever fall in love viz a voman, tek an advice from me and - vell, just better don't."

[the phantom]

"So, Aldarion- I heard tell of an altercation in the common room involving you and Coldan," began Brinn. For a split second Aldarion wondered how Brinn had found out so quickly, but then he remembered Branor's departure. He probably came straight to Brinn. Can't say I blame him either.

"I want to hear from you exactly what happened," continued Brinn, "The full story- anything you believe to be relevant."

Aldarion smiled slightly. "If you ask Coldan the same thing, you will doubtless hear something a bit different, as he and I clearly disagree on what precisely is relevant given the current predicament of this troop."

Brinn nodded. "Everyone sees things in a different light. But please- right now I just need your version. It's getting late."

"All right," said Aldarion. "The incident was entirely a result of Coldan needlessly speaking ill of me in my absence. When I went to the common room upon my return I was informed by Branor that Coldan had essentially blamed the entire plight of the troop on me. Doing such a thing is entirely unfair and serves no positive purpose even if it were true! We already have more than enough on our hands without useless backbiting!"

Aldarion took a deep breath and made a point of quieting his voice. "When I asked him about it, all Coldan wanted to do was discuss Asta, and demanded that I either declare my undying love for her or label her as some sort of harlot. I mean really- is this the time to be starting a battle between troop members? We have the opportunity of a lifetime here, and I really don't need Coldan making things any more difficult."

[Mnemosyne]

"It is an opportunity of a lifetime," said Brinn, "and I have no doubt that you will rise to the occasion. Provided," she added with a wry smile, "that everyone else does as well. I don't want this to weigh you down, Aldarion, even if your role in this is not as reasonable as you make it out to be. I will speak with Coldan, learn his side of the tale, and, at the very least, try my best to keep this from distracting us from the work that we all need to be doing." She stifled a yawn. It really was getting late. Surely, if Coldan was as temperamental as Branor and Aldarion had made him out to be, it would be best to wait till morning when he had cooled off?

"Now," she said, "we had better start discussing the changes that we plan on making--tomorrow evening, perhaps? If the inn hasn't burnt to the ground by then, that is. I'll try to get everyone else to keep asking questions and gather information tomorrow. I'm hoping that someone can learn how the official festivities are usually run." She yawned again. "Thank you for coming and speaking with me, Aldarion. If you could find my husband on the way out, I shall need his help for me to retire for the night."

A few minutes later, Rollan came in. As he assisted Brinn he explained to her how he'd followed Asta to the common room and seen her dramatics, but Brinn couldn't keep the information in her head for long. "I don't understand it," said Rollan. "One moment Coldan's ready to declare his love for her, the next--"

"Rollan, love," said Brinn, "kindly stop talking before you implicate yourself in this matter and force me to get violent."

Rollan wrinkled his nose. Why, his wife hadn't a violent bone in her body, and he couldn't even recall her yelling, except on stage. Maybe that was why his advice on Asta had gone sour?

Women could be so very strange at times.

[Mnemosyne]

The next morning saw a smartly dressed child making her way down to the First Circle. She looked far too small to be wandering off on her own, so she must have slipped her parents. Only the streets were so deserted...

The child made her way into the common room of Ingold's inn, and patiently waited to be noticed.