<div class="floatleft">(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/50/d7/1a/50d71a11f48e22255fd9d592f763aa35.jpg)<br/><div align="center"><strong>Niamh Deasún</strong></div></div>When Adan grinned at her Niamh's own smile deepened, dimples flashing even as her heart skipped a beat to see the warmth in the mages eyes. His quip prompted a laugh to spill from her lips that harmonized with his own chuckle, "Well of course they did, but a way with animals is higher up on the scale. Somehow I highly doubt you have issues pleasing ladies." The bard didn't miss a beat as she teasingly flirted with the young man before his attention turned back to the trail he led them on. That studious focus was something she had become use to around her mother and some of the other students, having learned not to take offense when the mind of a scholar type wandered away regardless of what provocation she gave.<br/><br/>Bruxley was likely a small town, for it's name meant nothing to her though the option of finding a more friendly inn and perhaps a hot bath was tempting. Thankfully her recent stop in Laeryn, a sea port, meant she still had plenty of coin even after paying for her room at the tavern they had so abruptly departed. The mention of marauders had her wondering at the story of that particular area's ill luck of having several bands of the scoundrels. If they did run into trouble she likely could easily make coin out of it, telling the tale or spinning it into a song; in the back of her mind she was already teasing out lines to capture the fight Adan and Corbin had joined in to save her after she had tried to defend them.<br/><br/>Adan distracted her though, with confirmation to their destination that made her eyes light up with delight. "Oh....you shan't be rid of me before then, that I can assure you." While she was not the scholar her mother was she still found such places fascinating and the ability to explore such vaunted locals was part of why she had started traveling in the first place. "Bayside has actually been on my list of places to see for years now." Granted, when first she had set her mind to seeing it one day Niamh had thought her parents would be with her. She pushed the sorrow at the memory of her father's loss away, tucked back in a deep part of her heart and instead widened her eyes appropriately when Adan smirked and teased her about the demon in their midst exploding into flames. She was not gullible enough to believe that wholesale.<br/><br/>Corbin's reply almost had her laughing again, mirth shinning in her bright blue eyes. "Well, if you do manage that I can push you into a horse trough to douse the flame? Just to help, of course." Not at all to see the way his clothing might cling to the muscle form that was hinted at beneath his clothing. Her smile was not one bit innocent, before a comfortable silence fell over the three of them as the road became slightly inclined and talking faded.<br/><br/>Eventually Corbin did explain the shadows though, his voice drawing her eyes to him as she contemplated what he revealed. "So what calms you then? Just to know in case it's needed of course." His own query had Niamh smiling, thrilled at the idea of helping. "I do! Though mostly people want songs to rouse them to high spirits. Let me think a moment for a song that might suit." An old one she had known since childhood came to her then, wistful, full of longing it was gentle and perhaps suited to the dreary evening as the rain clouds still coiled overhead. Decided the bard reached for the lute still strung across her back, her fingers teasing over the strings to summon forth the first notes of the song. Deeply she inhaled, expanding her lungs to draw fresh air into them before controlling the exhale with a performers skill; the young woman's lips parted then, her husky voice spinning out the words into the night.<br/><br/>"<em>Sleep, my tarnished silver, Let me dull you once again, And let our battle end, Sleep, my snowless winter, Let me warm you once before I go, And I'll pretend to know and understand...<br/><br/>Sleep, my fallen cedar, Let me have your weakened pride to hold, And join my barren soil, Sleep, my aimless river, Let your torrent rest against my shore, And leave me what was washed away before<br/><br/>Time's been kind to you, my love, As the world had never been, Kinder than to me, Strange, the things that we regret, You wanted me to leave, I found enough to give you that<br/><br/>Sleep, my darkened chapel, Let me kneel before you now, as then, Unworthy as I am, Sleep, my flameless shadow, Let me cool the lingering fires of old, And carry only ashes in my soul<br/><br/>Sleep, my tarnished silver...</em>" Her voice faded off on the last note, her fingers still moving on the lute until she had played out the end of the song. While singing she had sunk into the song, giving it life with all of herself, now though as she settled her lute again Niamh glanced at the two males, wondering what they thought but not wishing to break the silence. Instead she smiled when Snowdrop nudged her, turning toward the horse to pet his proud neck for what she took as a compliment. The stallion did seem to like when she played music, it was one of his most endearing qualities.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 6pt;">**Song <em>Tarnished Silver</em> by Heather Dale</span>