The Lark and the Wren - Chapter Five

[kalinara]

So last time, Rune fiddled for a ghost, got paid for it, and realized that it's time to get the fuck out of her crappy home life. But what will she do now?



So we rejoin Rune as she stands on a hill just outside the city of Nolton. Rune, if you recall, is from Westhaven, a tiny podunk village with one road and one inn that provides the closest thing anyone has to entertainment. Nolton, on the other hand, is huge and overwhelming. It's also very loud and very crowded. It makes Rune understandably nervous.

We're told a little bit about how Rune got here from Westhaven. She's been traveling by foot, we don't know for how long, and she's been making her way by offering her fiddling service to the inns along the way. It was intimidating at first, but Rune did play for a homicidal ghost, which actually LIKED her, so she was able to muster up the courage.

It helps that Rune has a pretty good idea of where her talent lies. She avoided the big inns and middle sized inns that had wealthier custom, and focused only on the very common, simple inns that the peasants used. Since she grew up in one such inn, she already knew what they'd like and even if there was another musician there, they were often willing to share profits.

So far, her playing has been well received, and she's got another reason to keep her ambitions modest: she doesn't want to risk offending any Guild Minstrels before she gets admitted. Fair enough.

By working at the inns, Rune got a spot at the hearth to sleep, a very simple dinner and breakfast, and the occasional penny from the other travelers. When she couldn't manage to find an inn, she'd sleep in barns and haystacks, and eat whatever she could save or scrounge. Sometimes she would, begrudgingly, dip into the money that the ghost gave her when she needed, but she's trying to be as thrifty as possible.

Notably, a few times, when she couldn't find an inn, Rune stayed at a traveler's shelter run by the Church. For the "price of a half loaf", she got to stay in a dormitory with other women, a bath, and two meals - pease porridge and oat bread for dinner, and toasted oat bread and honey for breakfast. There were better accommodations for more money, but Rune is cheap.

The downside is that she has to attend church services and listen to preaching at both meals. Ugh. I feel you, Rune. She's lucky though, the more prosperous looking women got special attention: urged to consider the novitiate if single, or to make substantial donations if married.

Rune finds this interesting, because having worked in an inn, she knows how much things cost. The oat bread is very cheap and pease porridge too. Even Jeoff's inn wouldn't serve them unless it was the dead of winter, with no customers and only the staff to feed. The labor at the church hostels come free from novitiates. And while the church probably wasn't making a huge profit on their initial fee, they did get a lot of donations from the wealthier people. Rune wonders where that money is actually going.

Anyway, Rune's come to Nolton because it's the nearest city that would have enough musicians to give her a choice in teachers, and has dozens of inns and taverns. Apparently a musician can make a good living there, and there are even instrument makers with their own section of the market. It's in the opposite direction of the Midsummer Faire, where the Bard auditions are, but Rune knows she'll need at least a year or two before she'll be ready for the trials anyway.

So now, Rune's at the city and getting a bit of cold feet, as she acknowledges that being a good musician in a tiny village, and being passable on the road in country inn, is not necessarily the same as being good in the city. She even considers abandoning the whole idea and just continuing to make her living on the road. She thinks that's what Stara would advise: stick with the sure thing.

Is living hand to mouth on the road a sure thing?

But anyway, Rune doesn't want to take her mom's advice and settle for what she knows she can do. Besides, while it's fine right now, it won't be practical during the wintertime. Especially since many inns will close outright. So Nolton is still the best plan.

So Rune goes to a checkpoint, where she's asked name and occupation. She identifies herself as a free musician (once she figures out what he's asking), and is given a chit that allows her to busk in the street for three days before she gets an official permit. Since she's not Guild, she can work in a common inn or a "pleasure-house", but can't go to the "gentry inns" or take "gentry jobs" without Guild permission. She's warned that if she doesn't get her permit, she can get fined or even imprisoned.

Once inside, Rune wanders about to look for an inn. We get a bit of a tour, when Rune decides to follow a peddler loaded with cloth. She gets the hang of walking through the crowd and looks around.

One thing that especially gets her attention are the street cleaners. She sees a little old man scooping up horse droppings with apparent enthusiasm, while another fellow follows with a barrel that leaks water in every direction: washing away the remainder. The idea that someone could make a living simply keeping the streets clean is pretty amazing to Rune, and it makes me wonder how Westhaven smells.

Anyway, Rune finds this all very overwhelming, but she catches sight, or rather, she catches sound of a street musician playing a jig. She notes that he has a bright piece of paper pinned to his hat: his permit. She wants to ask where he'd gotten it, but the crowd carries her away. She does note that his hat had a fair bit of coin, which reassures her that country music apparently does have some appeal here in the city.

So we get more meandering through the city. Someone tries to pick Rune's pocket, but happily, her money is tucked away inside a cloth belt. This was apparently advice from her old teacher, Raven. He'd apparently given her a lot of advice that she barely paid attention to, since it wasn't about the music itself, but is coming back to her now. It's all fairly common sense stuff that translates to "don't be an obvious clueless yokel, and don't go into isolated areas or you might get robbed."

Finally, Rune catches a break. She spots a familiar hat, which belonged to a traveler that had also been heading to Nolton and had been at the inn she played at the night before. He seems to know where he's going, and Rune decides to follow, figuring that if he does go to an inn, then it's likely to be the kind of inn that would welcome her playing.

Finally she makes it to the "Crowned Corn Public House", and goes inside. It smells like her old inn, but is packed full. Soon a serving girl catches sight of her, recognizes her as a musician (while mistaking her for a boy) and leads her into the kitchen. Rune notices that there clearly isn't a prohibition against fondling the help, because the girl is getting a lot of pats and pinches.

The girl brings her to a man named Mathe. Mathe also seems to mistake Rune for a boy. Mathe's usually got a musician, but the man is playing for a wedding, so they've got an opening for the night. He asks her a few questions (what she plays, is she guild) and then has her play something for him. She passes and they haggle over her price: she gets a meal now, one in the morning, and keeps half of whatever tips she gets for playing. We learn that this is not actually an inn, but he can let her stay there for the night because she has a chit.

There's a note I like about how he talks very fast, and Rune has to concentrate to keep up. I like dialects.

The only rule he gives her is not to touch the girls unless they invite it, or the barkeep will break Rune's hand. She also gets free cider while she plays. Mathe doesn't let his musickers "get dry".

It's an interesting contrast to Jeoff and Rose. Jeoff and Rose didn't allow anyone to take liberties with the staff, but also didn't appear to be tolerant of, ahem, extra curricular activities. Mathe on the other hand seems more permissive, but also emphasize the girls' consent. I wonder if the same rules apply to the customers, I'd like to think so.

So, Rune goes to earn her keep. The waitress flirts a bit, but doesn't seem bothered that Rune fails to reciprocate. Rune wonders if it was genuine flirting or just different manners. She's also warned that if a fight happens, she should hide behind the bar and let the bouncer, Boony, take care of things.

Boony, by the way, is not human. Instead, he's a Mintak: someone with a body of a huge human, and the head of something like a horse or a dog.

Oh, we actually do see if the rules apply to customers! At one point, the waitress, whose name is Beth, squeals when a customer's pinch gets a little fresher than she likes. She slaps his hand away, and when the customer seems like he's going to take it further, Boony steps in.

And Boony stepped forward into the light. Now Rune saw him clearly; he wore a pair of breeches and a vest, and nothing else. He carried a cudgel, and he was a uniform dark brown all over, like a horse, and he had the shaggy hair of a horse on his face and what could be seen of his body. His eyes seemed small for his head; he had pointed ears on the top of his head, peeking up through longer, darker hair than was on his face, and that hair continued down the back of his neck like a mane. He looked straight at the offending customer, who immediately sat down again.

Well, that answers that! I'm glad to see it. I hope that Beth, and the other servers, aren't pressured to accept touches and pinches beyond what they're comfortable with. But it's good to see that when the customer does cross a line, the servers have protection.

By closing time, Rune has made 19 coppers. Nice! Mathe takes nine of them and leaves her ten. Aw. He has also decided that she's done enough to merit a third meal, and serves her some fresh stew and bread with cheese.

Rune notes the economic difference: nineteen coppers would have been a month's take during faire season back home. Mathe says it's good for night that's not a feast or faire day.

Mathe gives her a crash course in what's required to live in the city. Namely, she has to pay a tax and tithe on what she made, before Mathe took his share. This is serious business, and if Rune gets caught cheating, she could end up fined, imprisoned, or indentured.

Rune doesn't know what indentured means, so Mathe, and Boony, explain. It's a type of servitude to pay off a debt, and unfortunately, it doesn't even have the legal protections that slavery does. (There are apparently laws about feeding, sheltering and not beating slaves.) Boony, the Mintak, feels very strongly about the institution because he had been indentured himself.

Basically, when indentured, a servant works for a wage that goes right back to the master to pay off the debt. The master can take everything but one penny a day. Boony had been bought by someone who took all of his money, but had gotten subtle revenge by playing very stupid and clumsy, and breaking things. He'd use his size to intimidate the overseer who would beat him. Eventually he cost his master far too much money. Mathe bought him out, having had some experience with Mintaks before, and after Boony paid off his debt, he stuck around. Mathe even adopted him, so he can live with the family. He'll be running the place for Mathe's wife, when Mathe is dead.

Aw. Both Boony and Mathe admit though that Mathe is a rare exception as a master of indentured. And apparently once someone is indentured, they have to do ANYTHING the bondholder says. If the bondholder runs a brothel for example...

Oh, that's dark. I like that they're giving Rune this warning even though they think she's a boy.

So Mathe gives her advice on what to do for the day:

"Not 'less ye got a silver penny on ye; that's th' cost 'f a street-buskin' permit. No, ye go straight t' Church-box on t'end 'a this street, an ye pay yer tithe an' tax from today. Church clerk'll put down yer name, an' that goes in at end 'f day t' Church Priest-house w' th' rest on the records. Then ye busk on street, outside Church-box. By end'a day, ye'll have th' silver penny, ye' get the permit. Go get that fr'm same place; Church-box. Then ye busk where the pleasure-houses be, thas on Flower Street, 'till ye can't stay awake no more. That'd be dawn, an' ye'll have 'nough for tithe an' tax from t'day."

I'm really just excerpting this bit so you can see what I meant about the phonetic dialect when I complained a few chapters ago. This one isn't as bad as some. It's readable. But I feel like it's largely unnecessary.

Rune gets a bit braver and tells Mathe what she really wants: lessons, to join the Guild. Boony is satisfied because apparently he'd had a bet with Mathe that Rune had goals beyond being a simple busker. Hee, I like that.

Mathe promises to make Rune a map that will show her where to get secondhand instruments and lessons. He also recommends that she look for one of the places lookin' fer musickers". Basically, there are businesses who want an in house musician, and if she can get hired there, she'll have a place to sleep and she wouldn't need a permit, OR she could get a permit and do both, earning double.

Rune is appreciative, and Mathe credits Beth and Boony for realizing that she a) knew her way around an inn (Beth), and b) needed a crash course in city survival (Boony).

The chapter ends with Rune settling comfortably by the fire to sleep.

It occurs to me, reading this, that there's a subtle morality lesson here. One that will be more explicit in a chapter or two. In the earliest chapters, Rune was quite prudish and judgmental, especially of her mother. Here, though, Rune is having some of her expectations gently overturned. The pious Church, for example, is taking money and offering the barest minimum in return, with a whole lot of sermons and sanctimony.

I mentioned the contrast between Jeoff and Mathe earlier. Basically, the atmosphere of the public house is far more permissive. Mathe is not as "protective" of the girls at first glance. But for all of Jeoff's frowning, I remember that Rune had some genuine concern that if she was attacked at the inn, she wouldn't be protected. Some of that fear probably comes from the trauma of her attack earlier, admittedly. But we also saw how Jeoff and Stara seemed perfectly willing to accept Kaylen's version of events when Rune wasn't present. In contrast, Mathe may be willing to allow folks certain liberty, we also see him warn Rune away from touching the girls without permission, and we see that Boony is willing and able to step in on a girl's behalf if something does happen.

It's not a perfect set up, but honestly, I know which place I'd rather work. And I think Rune does too.