"So the magic influences the mood of your listeners?"
"I can't actually control someone's mood- and it wouldn't be right to do it even if I could. But I can enhance a good mood, and encourage a better mood if someone's in a bad one." She grinned. "It works best if the listeners don't think about it. Once you know, you can choose not to be affected. Most people never realize it. They just know they really liked the music, and they're more generous with the coins in my hat to show it!"
Carroway laughed. "Can you believe someone with her gift was playing in the street? I brought her to the queen as soon as I found her."
"Carroway was my patron. I'll always be grateful for that." Kiara noticed that Carroway looked away at Macaria's words, and a shadow seemed to cross his expression. Something else is going on there. Something keeping them apart. But what?
"You're not eating, my dear." Lady Eadoin looked pointedly at the food Kiara had pushed from one side of her plate to another.
Kiara sighed. "I haven't been feeling well."
"That's to be expected. It will pass." She reached into the small, elaborately beaded bag at her belt and withdrew a velvet pouch. "A gift, if it pleases my queen."
Kiara opened the pouch. A polished agate disk was bound in a shield knot to a thin leather strap.
"An amulet, my lady, for safe childbirth," Eadoin said. "The child you bear will draw notice in this realm and the next. A king's heir-and the heir of power to a Summoner. You must be careful. The agate is a warding against a difficult birth. Knotted so, it's a charm against the attention of dark spirits." Cerise gently took the necklace from her' and tied the charm around her neck.
"Your mother told me that she believed it was the amulet she wore that made it possible for her to deliver you safely," Eadoin said. "I would be a poor friend to her memory not to look after you."
"Thank you. From both of us."
"I've heard it said that a bowl of salted water, laid at the foot and head of the bed, will protect the babe from spirits," Alle said.
"I've already put that in place."
"Poor Carroway!" Alle laughed. "He'll think he's dining with a gaggle of midwives!"
Carroway grinned. "You've no idea how many times I've been called to play for one of the court ladies in labor. But I've always been glad for the curtain between us when I hear their cries!"
Make yawned and glanced at Kiara. "If it please the queen, I'd like to head back to the
room and lay out clothing for tomorrow. This late feasting is not for an old lady like me."