Crownless Consort-Chapter 50 - : Redansia Troupe

Coriel and her mother rode on the back edge of a carriage, staring out at the road behind them, at the distant hills were they could likely see their home, shrouded in an endless morning mist.

They had met traveling entertainers as they limped out of the forest, and they had been taken in graciously. Coriel had told some sort of lie, something around being robbed and left to die, although that wasn't particularly true. She had done more harming than she had been harmed herself, but it was for her mother she worried, so she didn't mind gilding her tongue in silver.

One of those entertainers, a young woman named Caramine, had begun to tend her mothers wounds. At first, she had tried to help Coriel, who had sustained the most injury in her unconscious fight, but she had insisted her mother be helped first, and so there was no further argument.

She had taken spare clothes from the camp of the attackers, and while they didn't fit as well as her old ones, she was certainly happy she could no longer be questioned as to why she had an entire human's worth of blood on her.

Once she had finished tending to Coriel's mother, the genial Caramine stood up. She had a head full of strawberry-red hair, and a face pocked with freckles that spread across her pale cheeks.

"I'll be right back, I'll need to grab more bandages for you..." Caramine spoke in a pleasant, soothing tone.

Coriel nodded her head, smiling warily. When she was sure that Caramine was out of earshot, she turned to her mother.

"We should return home, shouldn't we?" Coriel's mother crooned. "It's getting late..."

"There were more tents than people, mother." Coriel assured her, speaking in a hushed voice. "There must have been a hunting party out. What do you think will happen when they return to see their dead comrades? They will obviously assume it was the work of someone particularly involved in their recent endeavours. Wasn't that us and Janes? So, they would go to our home, and if they happened to find us there, we would be killed. That is why we cannot return, we have to go to the Capital, to father..."

Coriel let out a sigh, muttering.

"If there's really danger in the Capital, we have to find father."

"There's more danger in the Capital?" Her mother's face swelled with worry.

Coriel shook her head. "No, don't worry about it mother. I was just being cautious. Father will be fine."

When the red-haired woman had returned, Coriel was sure to question her. She now had to be wary. She was no longer in the safety of the village, she needed to protect this simple life of hers...

"What do you do here, Caramine? Are you their physician?"

She looked surprised. "Me? A physician? Graham would get a laugh out of that, Thomas might call you a fool... no, I'm a fortune teller. I read and measure the fortunes of anyone who wishes to pay for it."

"Their fortunes? You can accurately tell such a thing?"

Upon hearing this, Coriel suddenly felt on edge. She retained a knife in her coat, wrapping her hand around its hilt. She didn't want to use such a thing, she didn't want to harm others... but something like this was another matter entirely. It was an age-old matter, something that had caused her to reincarnate in the first place...

Is she affiliated with that... God of Yellow...?

"Well, to be honest, I moreso speak to people's inner biases. What I say will automatically seem important to those who think much about their own lives. They are really paying for a reinforcement of the things they already believed, but I weave it into a nice story."

Coriel relaxed the grip on her knife, chiding herself internally.

"So it's... a lie?"

Caramine shrugged. "Well, whether you call it a lie or not is your own perspective. I'm sure when methods of divination were invented, there were some truth to them, some skill I lack. But it's the same for Graham's magic, Morrent's puppets, even Meline's dances. People don't come to see our shows because they want to turn their lives around with fancy magical methods, they just want to feel better for a night. The world is already so hard, why wouldn't you want someone to tell you it's going to be better? As long as you feel happy, can't you change your future yourself? Everyone already knows this is the case, I am often just a step towards their joy blossoming..."

She looked a bit sad, now. Her gaze had filled with a sense of mellowness that Coriel hadn't expected to arise from such a happy woman. Had she... caused this?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you by saying such a thing..."

Caramine shook her head. "No, it's alright. Perhaps me phrasing it in such a way is just me trying to give it purpose. Sometimes, I do feel guilty for telling people these 'lies'.

"I would like my fortune read." Coriel's mother spoke happily.

Caramine's eyes brightened up immensely, filling with enthusiasm. She nodded her head adamantly, procuring a deck of cards from her pocket. Coriel recognised these cards, they were the same as they were on the surface.

The people of the Blackbaast use Tarot Cards for divination as well? How odd... the more I think about it, the Blackbaast is far too similar to the surface world. What exactly is going on here? How did a world like this end up underneath the surface anyway?

As Caramine began to lay out the cards, five in total, she turned towards Coriel.

"What about you, Ms. Coriel?"

Coriel shook her head. "No, I would rather not know such things."

Caramine let out a hearty laugh, filled with the joy that a field of spring flowers might bring. Coriel wondered for a moment if this woman was an angel. Not the sort that would harm others, like the servant of an Entity that might descend to bring happiness to others.

"That makes you a smarter woman than most. Sometimes, knowing what will befall you will only make you unhappier in the present, and knowing of future fortune might leave you more prone to mess it up."

Wasn't that something Master Sannis always said?

Caramine's eyes suddenly widened. "Ah, not to demean you, Ms. Marien! I only meant to say-"

"No, it's alright. I understand what you mean." Coriel's mother chuckled.

Coriel liked seeing her mother like this. She liked seeing the lines on her cheeks when she laughed, her bare smile. It was like sunshine, although there was certainly none of that on the Blackbaast.

"Ah, I forgot to ask, but we're headed to the Capital, right?" Coriel suddenly felt foolish. While she had taken advantage of their kindness, she wasn't even sure they were heading in the same direction...

"We've been invited to perform for his Grace, the Witch-King August Lunastre, and his Crowned Consort." A figure suddenly spoke from the shadows of the carriage. Coriel's gaze flitted towards this figure, quite unaware as to when he had appeared. Seeing her confusion, Caramine spoke out.

"Ah, this is Meister Redansia. He's the leader of our little troupe." Caramine spoke in a genial, respectful tone.

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The man stepped forward, raising his hands. "So, yes. To answer your question, dear traveler, we are headed to the Capital."

He then looked down at Caramine.

"We'll be stopping in Eastchapel shortly. We're only about five days away from Henem. We can take time to renew our spirits." Redansia spoke in a shrewd, not unnecessarily unpleasant tone. He spoke as if he were performing, as if by speaking to another person, they were merely spectators to his words.

Father couldn't be much farther ahead! Will we meet him in Eastchapel, or did he rush on ahead? He tends to forget himself when he travels, doesn't he? He will leave a healthy man, and return as shriveled as tomatoes in summer... Coriel's eyebrows furrowed as she lost herself in thought.

Caramine nodded her head. "Good, good. You should send Graham on the supply run."

"Because no one wants to watch the magician?" Redansia chuckled wryly. "You're too mean to him, Caramine. He's going to grow resentful or depressed. Then what will you do? You cannot bandage the heart."

"You mentioned the magician before. Are there many others in your troupe? I haven't seen them..." Coriel cut in suddenly, directing her question towards the troupe leader, Redansia.

He nodded his head.

"Our troupe has many performers, but they all stay up front. We travel with three carriages. This one at the end is used to carry our travel supplies. They're all in the front carriage currently."

"Ah, I see..."

"You'll surely meet them when we stop at Eastchapel. Although I don't know what predicament you're in, you're welcome to keep traveling with us. But if you just want somewhere to stay, it might be better that you remain in Eastchapel. It's a good place with good people. If you do a bit of work, I'm sure someone will be happy enough to give you a horse for travel so that you might return home. If you're scared of bandits, you can even hire a guard to accompany you. Most of the men in Eastchapel aren't used to fighting, but anyone can stick another person with the pointy end of a blade."

Coriel shook her head. "We intend to travel to the Capital. If it's alright with you, I'd like to accompany you."

Surprisingly, the troupe master's lips curled up into a devious smile.

"If that's the case, then I have a proposition for you..."