“Then outward I spied, as I turned my eye,
And I looked with a feeling rare…”

Keto’s face was already starting to hurt so large was her smile. Her father circled her once, hands a blur along the strings of his lute as he tapped his shoulder against hers in greeting, his own smile matching hers. When he turned to face her travelling companion, when he finally looked at who he was, Keto could see the pause. No one else would’ve noticed, not a note was missed, but there was just the flare of his eyes as her father realized he was standing face to face with the Last Landian. He turned about though, the moment passing as he faced his daughter once more.

“So says I to Farmer Cai
’Is that a maid with fire red hair?’
With her smile bright, I spoke to the night,
’It the gem of Raglan’s Road.’”

Returning to the top of the porch, her father gestured with his head before spinning on his heal and heading into the tavern. Keto looked to Quartes with a smile and a laugh. The landian answered with a raised eyebrow but followed as Keto entered what had been her childhood home. Raglan’s Road was a small town, one set up on the path towards Koric and its markets. Traveller’s Rest was therefore no grand tavern, it didn’t hold to the wood polished to shine like gold, nor the dark ambiance that catered to feel of some adventurers. Ribbons of various colors, some faded with dust and age, some shining with their newness. They and the white plastered walls gave the place a lightness and quaintness. A feeling that overwhelmed Keto as she took a breath and felt the last of her trepidation fade.

She realized her father had launched back into the more traditional lyrics of the song and as she looked to the little raised stage she found him nodding at her. A moment later her pack shifted, Quartes freeing it from her shoulders with one hand and holding out her lyre with the other. She gave him a silent thank you and then turned towards the stage. She picked up with her father, casting a smiling glance about at the patrons, the names of more than a few coming to mind, as she stepped up onto the stage.

Her father cut out as they finished, back up with a bow and leaving the last of the song to Keto.

“From Burken’s Bay to Reznor’s Quay,
From Hendarks High to Migin’s spi’e,
No maid I’ve seen like the brown colleen,
That I met in Koric’s Town.”

The applause came, though the loudest of it came from her father. Keto beamed at the small crowd, giving a shrug with her eyes as her sweeping gaze passed over Quartes. The landian gave a tilt of her head as he continued his own clapping.

“My daughter Keto,” her father announced to the crowd, “the adventuring minstrel.” Keto didn’t notice the announcement. Her sweep of the crowd had finished and found a figure coming out from the tavern’s backrooms. Leaving the stage, she met the brown haired woman halfway, mother and daughter embracing in hug. “Which will help you understand why I’ll be taking a little break,” her father finished as Keto had melted into her mother’s hug, it was firm and encompassing, and her sigh matched that of her mother’s. When it did break, her mother held her at arm’s length, blue eyes looking her over. Searching for any sigh of harm whether physical, emotional, or just from too few meals.

That assessment complete, mother pulled daughter into another hug, one which father soon joined. “Alright, come on we’re making a scene,” mother announced as they finally all released one another. The matron of the tavern quickly cleared an empty table, stacking the dirty plates and mugs on one end, before the family took a seat. “First time you’ve shown without a whole party with you. Either, you’re groups struggling or you’re gonna tell me you’ve found someone to settle in with.” When father and daughter didn’t laugh, when husband’ gave a stricken face and Keto looked like she might laugh, the mother’s face grew serious. “Don’t tell me…” her gaze had turned to Quartes. The landian had hovered back from the reuniting family but his pale gaze met that of Keto’s mother. She saw the same thing that her husband had, her reaction more noticeable as mouth fell a gape.

Keto turned to look at Quartes, waving him over. Quartes approached but did not sit. Keto looked back to her parents, leaning forward to better keep her voice a whisper. “So, Mom, Dad, this is Quartes.” The bard turned back to face the landian, “Quartes these are my parents, Kiyo and Tairn.”

“Well met,” Quartes offered. Kiyo continued to look at the landian, turned to look at her husband and then her daughter. Tairn managed better, finding his feet after a moment and offering a hand to Quartes.

“Welcome, certainly nice to know that our daughter is keeping good company.“ They shook hands and Tairn gestured to the table where both he waited for Quartes to finally sit before doing the same. The conversation faltered there for a moment and it was Tairn who eventually saved it with a look towards his daughter. “You look good.”

“You look a little thin,” Kiyo added, beginning to stand.

“Well, somebody has enjoyed making me walk a lot more than I usually would.” That got a laugh from her mother, who continued to head into the back.

“I imagine that…is protecting the land how you would describe it?” Tairn asked looking to Quartes.

The landian managed a small smile, “More the people than the land. Not all places are safe harbors like here.” Tairn continued to look at the landian, the older minstrel’s jaw slightly cocked. Keto silently smiled, knowing that look as one that marked her father saving some line or tale for the future.

“How have you and Mom been?” Keto interjected before the silence could once again settle.

Tairn’s mouth shut and he smiled at his daughter. “Oh well enough, there were some issues with the rice harvest this year. Nobody should starve but I think a few more folk deciding that they were better off camping in their carts then splurging on a room on their way to Koric.” He gestured to the smattering of filled seats, “We’ve got the regulars, and it hasn’t been as bad as some years we’ve seen.”

“Rice prices are going to be their own murder this year though,” Kiyo added as she returned, a tray balanced on her shoulder. Bowls of rice, greens, and orange eggs were laid out. Keto began to scoop into a bowl. The older woman headed back to the bar for a moment.

“Where’s Uncle Kun?” Keto asked, eyes glancing to check the smattering of familiar but not familial patrons.

Her father gave a short laugh, “If you can believe it he’s out adventuring.” Keto lowered her utensils and stared back at her father.

“How did Mom allow that?”

“I didn’t, but he’s a grown man, even if he’s just a grown fool,” Kiyo answered for herself as she returned yet again, putting a carafe and a quartet of mugs on the table. She began to pour out the red wine.

“He should be nearby,” Tairn began to explain. “A group came through hunting a bounty on a scattered group of dragonkin, said they were down one and saw Kun’s sword and shield.”

“I’m sure a few days out in the wild will reminded him why he prefers to be back home,” Kiyo add over a sip of wine, Keto rolled her eyes. Quartes suppressed a smile. The conversation found its stride there, parents relaying the changes of home to the returning child and child repaying with stories that ignored the dangerous and instead focused on tales of interesting moments. A tower seen, a relic uncovered, shows that brought applause in places they all knew of but only Keto had visited.

A few comments came Quartes’ way. How did the sights compare to those in his life, had he known the relic when it was something mundane, did he know a tavern when it was first built. Quartes relayed that he recalled the trip through Raglan’s Road where he first saw the sign for Traveller’s Rest. Both Kiyo and Tairn had smiled at that.

Eventually patrons needed new drinks or tables needed cleaning. Tairn rose to play a few more songs and Keto left to assist her mother. Quartes sat alone at the table, slow to finish his wine. When by intent or chance, Tairn turned to the song of the Four Heroes, Quartes silently piled up the plates, bowls, and mugs before making his way back out the door to linger on the tavern’s porch. The songs inside muffled by the distance and the door.

~ 𓏢 ~

Keto assisted her mother and later in the night would join her father on the stage for several songs. She noticed Quartes slip back in for that, the landian remaining even through her rendition of the Hero of Aus Heron. Eventually the evening deepened, she cleaned dishes as her mother tended to what remained of the pot of stew and her father cleaned up the tables. Drying her hands on a towel, Keto found him waiting for her at the only table without its chairs up. He held up a bottle and waved it at her.

Keto smiled, “Must be happy to see me indeed if you’re opening a bottle of the ice wine.” She joined him, pulling out a seat and plopping down into the chair with an exaggerated sigh.

“Certainly isn’t easy finding traders willing to get me a bottle these days. I’ve thought of hiring adventurers for it even.” When she was young, the four of them, including her uncle, had made the trek to get the wine. Her father had heard about a village up in the foothills of the Hendarks that harvested white berries that only ripened with the first frost of the year. Her father had sold it to his wife as an opportunity to pick up a few more songs and something interesting to keep people coming back to the tavern. Looking back, Keto was pretty sure it was because they all just wanted a vacation.

The drink was clear but with a light blue tint. Keto marveled at it, nose lowering to take in its sweet smell. “I’ll see if I can convince Quartes to take a trip there, come back with a few bottles. It’s fun to take him to see something he’s never encountered before.” Her father swallowed and looked at her, really sat and watched her. Keto gave him a smile back. “You can ask it Dad, I’m kinda waiting for it.”

“I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity if I had it,” he started, raising his glass to his lips and then pausing with it part way to his lips. He looked over it at her, blue eyes twinkling, “Though I’m not sure I’d be daring enough to take it.”

“I think you underestimate how easy it was for me to get Quartes to agree to let me tag along, I basically just followed him,” Keto explained as her father took a sip. The older minstrel lowered his glass, sighed in contentment and then looked back to his daughter.

“You look happy,” he noted, a joy in his tone even as there was concern in his eyes. “You must be enjoying it.”

Keto has taken a sip of the wine, sat back with the mouthful as she inhaled through her nose, enjoying the way that the acidity balanced the sweetness. She took her time to think, reflecting over what the preceding months had brought. Finally she swallowed, “It’s like finding a whole verse to a song we’d only had part of. An opportunity to see the whole of the tale. He knows so much, has seen so much, and he doesn’t forget which is just unfair.” They both laughed and as they settled Keto continued, her voice almost a whisper. “You know those ruins two or three days north of her. He was there when it was whole, knew it as a way station for caravans coming down from something called the Silver Empire. It’s like living through history Dad.” Keto spoke faster, her excitement adding wings to her words, “I think he’s going to fight the Dragon at Kol Tailen soon. Can you imagine? The last Dragon in the Provinces gone, the difference in people’s lives that would make?”

Keto leaned back, eyes looking up over her father, past the ribbons or anything in the familiar tavern. “I get to write and sing about that, even now I can see it when I perform. The wonder and hope, so much more than with the old songs.” She looked back down at her father, eyes shining by the thoughts of that better world. “It’s watching the world become a better place.”

Keto’s father smiled back at her. It was a genuine smile. There was nothing that abated the worry, the understanding of the danger that being so close to greatness could incur. However within his eyes that worry shared a pride. A pride of a parent who was seeing their child go out and not only make their way in the world but to make the world better for it.