BARDING
The lute was old.
From the looks of it, it had probably been beaten over a wandering minstrel's head for an unsatisfactory performance.
BARDED ALREADY IN THE CURRENT CHAPTER
Owyn strummed the lute.
"Before you get started, I think you should know we've tapped out our entertainment fund," the tavern keeper said quietly. "If you play here, it'll only be for your own amusement."
GET THROWN OUT
Owyn struggled with the lute.
As soon as he had begun to play, he felt he was not so much playing a song as he was wrestling a beast a hundred times his size. Numerous times the song eluded him, slipped out of his reach only to fall into an obscure pit of noise.
"Out, out, out," the tavern keeper urged, yanking the lute from Owyn's hands. "Be glad this crowd isn't in a worse mood. Give them time to calm down and then you can come back, but only if you're coming back for food."
BARD SUCCESSFULLY
INTERESTING NICE BEAUTIFUL
Fortune smiled.
Despite the fact he was stumbling through the chords of This Kingdom Mine, Owyn's lack of musical mastery was masked by the raucous noise of the tavern's drunken patrons thumping their mugs to the rhythm of the music.
"That was interesting," the tavern keeper said. "I don't think I've heard that song tortured so much in one evening. You're lucky the patrons are drunk tonight. Against my better judgement they're demanding I pay you. Here."
Withdrawing [X] pieces from a pouch, the tavern keeper passed them over to Owyn.
Owyn played.
Losing himself in the flow of the music, he occasionally mangled a note or two, but on the whole did justice to This Kingdom Mine, the only tune he knew by heart.
"That was nice," the tavern keeper said with a smile, handing Owyn [X]. "You'll have to play for us again sometime."
Owyn played.
His fingers slid easily over the lute's finger board as he moved between chords of This Kingdom Mine, the notes filling him up as well as guiding him forward. Quietly, he began to sing the refrain.
This kingdom mine,
with my blood I've paid,
to guard against all who oppose her.
When at last he had finished with the tune, he found his audience was sitting in stunned silence, their gazes all fixed on him.
"That was beautiful," the tavernkeeper said. Reaching into his pouch, he removed [X] and placed them in Owyn's hand.