Miyuki's familiarity with a similar object served her well as her fingers tuned the instrument, plucking lightly, adjusting the handles, retesting, and after a few short minutes was satisfied that the foreign instrument was now carrying the proper tune.  Likewise the similarity of this dulcimer to the gu zheng wasn't very close, but she could play them alike.  Although in her opinion the object in her lap was a far simpler object.  Only four strings as opposed to a gu zheng's sixteen plus.  But even that had to be accounted for, as it meant that her fingering had to be much more precise to coax out the proper note.  But eventually she felt confident enough to try her best.<br/><br/>This was a real challenge, in a way completely different then yesterday's battle with the golem.  While there was less at stake here obviously, this was a true test of her skills as a trained bard.  While the steward's face betrayed little sense of what he thought of her, she was after all trained in reading people.  She had to admit that she thought she was doing well.  But she knew that the true test would be when she had to preform blindfolded and deafened.  Her foot tapped tempo and her fingers moved on memory.  The sounds came through the earplugs, muddled and muffled, but she ignored it, not letting the sound throw off her memory.   She knew she was making one or two mistakes, but music wasn't about perfection, it was about performance, so she didn't let any small mistakes fluster her.<br/><br/>However what she wasn't expecting was halfway through the piece when suddenly she felt a sharp stinging slap on her upper arm.  The music faltered for only half a second and she could hear the muffled voice of the steward, his mouth close to her head as she said loudly enough to penetrate the earplugs,<strong>"Don't stop!"</strong><br/><br/>She continued, trying to pick up the thread of where she had been, when only a few moments later she felt a quick tug at one of her locks of hair.  Nothing hard, but for a moment slightly painful.  Still she soldiered on, and found that the steward was trying to distract her.  That's what the little slaps, hair pulls, and pinches were about.  He was trying to distract her, break her rythm.  Once she realized what he was doing it was a little easier to ignore.  Still the finger pokes, pinches, and the like did affect her performance slightly.  Finally she finished, not entirely happy, but also pleased that she had made her way through the trial.<br/><br/>She removed the blindfold and earplug and found him, well not smiling exactly, but his lips were curled slightly upwards at the corners.<strong>"I hope I didn't hurt you miss  Konayama,"</strong>he said genuinely,<strong>"But the final test was also one to see how you could preform with distractions."</strong><br/><br/>In truth all of the little jabs and injuries she'd suffered no longer even hurt any more.  He had actually been quite gentle in trying to distract her, and she said so.<br/><br/><strong>"Good,"</strong>he again reached for the bag of coins and dipped fingers into it, setting out two more precise stacks of coins.<strong>"I would like to hire you for a job as a musician for an upcoming event that House Saari is throwing.  These ten coins can be added to the first on one condition provided you're willing to do one thing.  The nobles of Saari, and our guests, value their privacy greatly.  You may see or hear something, and wish to share it.  But I'll have you sign a contract swearing that afterwards you will not speak to anyone about the job, or even what we discussed about the job.  Do so and we will take you before the Laelith council and have you ejected from the city.  These ten coins buy your silence about the job.  If you're willing to agree to silence about the job, and what goes on in this house, and sign papers to that effect, I'd like to offer you a job that will pay much more than this amount... per hour."</strong><br/><br/>He opened a folder on his desk and withdrew a very official document that bore a large number of long and complicated sounding words.  But Miyuki was quick enough to get the gist of what it was, a legal document buying her silence.