"Need a fresh ear for that?" Macaria tossed her dark fringe out of her eyes as she slipped the lyre from over her shoulder and threw her cloak onto a chair.
"I'd love it."
Macaria took the lute. She hummed and plucked at the strings, concentrating. The tuning knobs began to turn, ever-so-slightly, on their own, until the pitch of the vibrating string matched Macaria's voice. With a grin, she handed it back.
"No matter how many times I see you do that, I never get over being jealous."
"Well, it's not much to be jealous of," Macaria cheeks reddened.'"It's the only magic I have."
Carroway smiled and met her eyes. "I wouldn't say that."
"As usual, apologies for being late," said Helki. His blond hair, mussed by the Fall winds, fell in a tangle around his face. He dropped his burdens in a pile: a heavy cloak, a pouch of music, a wineskin, and the cases for his flute and dulcimer. With a grin, he reached into the kitchen and availed himself of a biscuit from the nearby counter, deftly missing a good-natured swat by the cook. His mouth stuffed with biscuit, he plunked down in a chair and unwrapped his dulcimer from the layers of cloth that protected it from the cold.
Macaria rolled her eyes and reached over to take the dulcimer. "Give me that. You'll break a string." The instrument glowed a bright blue for a moment, and then she handed the instrument back to Helki.
"Thanks. I never tune well when I'm in a hurry."
"What's the rush?" Carroway set his lute aside as he rummaged through his pack.
"Couldn't help it. I was making fairly good time, actually, until I stopped to pick up a meat pie on the way here. I caught a snatch of a conversation, and it's got me worried."
Helki had an excellent sense for intrigue, as good perhaps.even as Carroway's own. "So… what did you hear?"
"I didn't know either of the two by name, although I've seen them at court. One of the men was dark-featured, like he might be from the border near Nargi. Had an outlands accent, too. The other one had red hair and looked like a Borderlander. Anyhow, the dark man wasn't comfortable at all with the vayash moru who've been at court lately."
Carroway frowned. "There've always been vayash moru in Margolan's court. That's not new."
"But there are more now. They come often. And they don't just stay toward the back anymore. Used some pretty ugly language. Blood-suckers, child-eaters, that kind of thing."
"We get the picture," Carroway said with distaste.
"Well, his companion, the redhead, said that it was just more of the other strange goings on since we got a mage for a king. The redhead seemed even more steamed up about getting a queen from Isencroft. Said we didn't need the burden of taking on Isencroft's troubles when we were hard-pressed to feed our own people."