Blessed tilted her head once more.  Dark strands of hair slipped down her face while those wide eyes peered through them so intently.  The display of her fellow Lunar seemed to spark something behind those eyes.  That smile became darker then and her finger pressed a little tighter against her palm.  The words of the sorceress played in her thoughts of stories not giving people truth.  At that her smile returned and she stood.  Those long limbs moved beneath her so that now she stood within the confines of her chair.  A slight waiver flowed about her figure so that the silver lines slipped under the tanned flesh.<br/><br/>“I want to play.”  The words were spoken as if from a child’s lips.  Neither asking permission nor demanding, merely was stating a fact.  Bare feet propelled her from the chair and onto the deck of the ship.  “Yes, yes time to play because play is what is needed.”  There was a touch of laughter to her voice while she moved up the steps.<br/><br/>Those swaying hips and twisting body soon found their way to the top deck.  Within her grasp was an instrument foreign to her island but dear to her heart.  An instrument of graceful wood, polished to pristine perfection beneath the light.  Slithers of moon silver were hidden among the folds and twisted into the cords to give them unnatural strength.  Images of players and audience were etched on the surface and the careful observer would note runes mixed into the images.  Within her thin arms this instrument was cradled like a child.  Lips moving to whisper against the neck while its wide bottom rested against her stomach.<br/><br/>That position remained while she twisted in mid step.  Her rump set firmly against a craft, legs folding up so that the instrument rested comfortably there.  Lithe digits left the instrument then, leaving it to settle there while she delicately began to pinch at the fingertips.  A wince of pain given at each harsh prick against her flesh, a willing sacrifice made to the performance at hand.  Then quickly she shook out her hands to regain feeling in her fingers and then rolled her shoulders.<br/><br/>Exhale….Inhale…eyes began to drift close and her fingers suddenly set to the string.  A solemn echo was heard throughout the ship.  So out of place perhaps but then so was she.  Eyes then opened and she called out aboard those to the ship.<br/><br/>“Once in my village we had a fisherman’s boy.  He was a proud sort and didn’t like that he was not the best on the island.  So he set his sights upon the Master Fisherman, the one who brought in all the food for our village.  Every morning the boy would set out earlier than the Master and come back later.  Yet always did the old fisherman have the most catch.  He fished in those same spots, at the same time and with the same nets.  Nothing worked and so the boy decided to spy on the old man.”<br/><br/>Fingers moved quickly against the strings then.  A sequence of notes drawing in her small audience to a climatic decision, yet the tone of her voice was kept light.  Let them focus on the sight of her delicate fingers on the cords while her voice worked into their minds, a whisper behind a curtain of sweet notes.<br/><br/>“That boy crept each night to the old man’s camp to see how he prepared the nets.  He saw a box of crickets one night and said to himself, ‘Ha! I have found his trick.’  So he went off to search for these little creatures.  For five days he hunted them and did not fish.  For five days he stalked in the dirt like a woman would until he fished them up.  He tied them to his nets but they got loose so that he could not fish.  So he returned bitten and sore from fighting with them all day.  Their noise kept away the fish so he went hungry and had no food for his family.”<br/><br/>Laughter touched her voice then while her fingers slowed on the string.  Her head swayed from side to side, yet her fingers never strayed in their task.  “So he went back to spy upon him.  The crickets were still there but the man also kept a lizard at his side.  The boy knew not why the lizard was there but was determined that this must appease the water spirits.  Once more he hunted such a lizard, wanting a grand creature that would turn the water spirits to his favor.  Five days again he spent crawling in the dirt and instead was bitten by one.”<br/><br/>“Oh this is where the tale becomes sorrow for his body was soon sick from the bite.  His father went hungry from his foolishness and his mother was forced to feed them both.  So he went then to the old man’s camp that morning.  He went determined to know the secret of the fish.  He found the man preparing his nets with bits of yesterday’s catch while the lizard snacked upon crickets.  Saw the man’s son readying to launch as well while the old man oiled the nets.”<br/><br/>“The boy knew that what he had done.  It never matters what you have at camp, only what you set out to sea with that helps you catch the fish.”<br/><br/><br/>----------------<br/><br/>Hide the Cunning Hunter activated.<br/>http://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php (http://elliquiy.com/forums/dicebot.php)  (Charisma+Performance)<br/><br/>There was a 10 there so I count 3 successes.