Keliek't nodded approvingly, pointing at Ilene with his sword. "We have a reader among us! Very good, close enough. Adepts are also very rare, so finding a potential one is fortunate indeed. I came here looking for an apprentice, hoping against reason that this time there might be some truth to the rumors. Seems I got more than I bargained for." He grinned at them, a mischievous sparkle in his eye.<br/><br/>Gara made her way towards the river, she was so close now that she could smell it. And now she heard more than just the song. That was the sound of the mighty paddle wheels of a T'Skrang river boat, no mistake about it. You could not grow up by the serpent and not know that sound. Now she could see it through the trees too. It didn't look like any river boat she'd ever seen. A show boat, it had to be! As colorfull and richly decorated as it was, even for a T'Skrang vessel, it could be nothing else!<br/>One day, or so the story went, a T'Skrang river boat had passed a small, unremarkable river village. The village was not big enough for them to make a stop, but when the villagers heard the T'Skrang crew men sing, as they often did to pass time on their voyages, they shouted out to the boat and asked them to come ashore and sing for them. When the T'Skrang politely refused, they were offered money if they would come ashore and entertain the isolated villagers.<br/>Surprised by the offer, the crew did so, and when they finally left the gratefull villagers behind them, they were baffled over how much silver they had earned! The captain, a shrewd old T'Skrang, pondered on this strange event for the rest of the trip, and when they finally returned to their village he told the Women's Council what he had learned. The next season the boat set out with no cargo in it's holds, instead bringing the best entertainers the village had to offer, and soon the boat was one of the most income bringing on the Serpent. These days several show boats toured the Serpent, but none had made it this far north, at least in Gara's life time.<br/>The boat would surely not try to brave the rapids, half of the decorations would break off and fall into the water as the boat was tossed around. That only left Whitewater, the last port before the rapids! A Troubadour was great news, but a show boat was bound to have more than one, and all sorts of other wonders!