"My, how you've traveled! And you've been through Kingsford! Oh, I wish I could see it some day," Mother Tolley said, brightly. "I hear the Kingsford Faire is something to behold!"
"It is, indeed," Robin replied, nodding. "I have been there as a performer every year since I was a child of ten."
"Truly?" Mother Tolley's eyes widened. "What is it like? Is it as great as they say?"
Robin spread her hands wide. "Absolutely hundreds of people attend the Faire, from Dukes to Guild Masters to every manner of peddler you can imagine. If there is anything in the world that can be sold, you'll find it at Kingsford Faire. All the best performers in the world come there, and the Holy Services at noon on Midsummer Day are beyond description."
"All the world comes to Kingsford Faire." Mother Tolley repeated the old cliche as solemnly as if she had made it up on the spot. "Well, say, since you are so well-traveled, and a musician and all _" she hesitated a moment, then, with a sly glance at the other women, continued on "_ there was someone I knew once who had a hankering to go to the Kingsford Faire. It was a local child, with so many dreams_well, there aren't too many folk who believe in dreams, especially not here. I don't suppose you've ever heard tell of a fiddler girl named Rune?"
By now, Kestrel would have had to be a blind man not to notice how all the women, even those who were feigning indifference or displaying open hostility, were stretching their ears to hear Robin's reply to that question. And by the look in her eyes and the set of her jaw, Robin was about to give them more than they bargained for.
"Rune? Lady Lark?" she said brightly. "Why, of course I have! Everyone in all of Rayden and Birnam knows all about Free Bard Rune! Why, she's the most famous Free Bard in two kingdoms except for Master Wren!"
Mother Tolley blinked. Apparently that was not precisely the response she had expected. Kestrel figured she had hoped to hear something good about Rune, but not this. "Rune! Famous!" she said, blankly. "Why, fancy that _"
But Robin wasn't finished, not by half. "Oh, of course!" she continued, raising her voice just a little, to make certain everyone in the market got a good chance to hear. "First there was her song about how she bested the Skull Hill Ghost_I don't think there's a musician in Rayden that hasn't learned it by now."
"She_actually _" Mother Tolley was still trying to cope with the notion that Rune was famous.
"Oh, indeed! And she still has the Ghost's ancient gold coins to prove it!" Now Robin was getting beyond the truth and embroidering... and that made Kestrel nervous.
"Gold? The Ghost has gold?" That was one of the other women, her voice sharp with agitation.
"He did, but he gave it all to Rune, for her fiddling," Robin said brightly. "But that was just the beginning. Then she became an ally of the High King of the Elves for getting the better of one of the Elven Sires."
"Elves?" said another, in a choked voice. "She _"
Robin ran right over the top of her words. "But of course, what really made her famous was that she won the hand of Master Bard Talaysen himself with her talent and her musical skill_in fact, she was the one who saved him from that Elven Sire she bested. He wedded her, and now the two of them are the Laurel Bards to the King of Birnam, King Rolend, not just Laurel Bards but his personal advisors _"
Mother Tolley's face had gone so completely blank from astonishment that Kestrel couldn't tell what her feelings were. He guessed she would have been pleased to learn that Rune was doing well_but that this was something she wasn't prepared to cope with.
"I was at the ceremony, myself," Robin rattled on, in a confidential tone, as if she was a name-dropping scatterbrain. "As one of Lady Lark_that's what we call her, Lady Lark_one of Lady Lark's personal friends, of course. My! Even a Duke's daughter would envy her! She has twelve servants, all her very own_three of them just to tend to her wardrobe!"
Kestrel elbowed her sharply; she'd already gone too far three lies ago. She ignored him.
"The King himself gave her so much gold and gems that she couldn't possibly spend it all, and the weight of her jewelry would drown her if she ever fell into a river wearing it!" Robin gave him a warning look when he moved to elbow her again. "She wears silk every day, and she has three carriages to ride, and she bathes in wine, they say _" Robin simpered. Kestrel did his best not to laugh at her expression, despite his unease. He hadn't known she could simper. She was a better actress than he'd thought. "Our wagon and the horses and all_that was her present to me. You know, she gave wagons and horses to all her Gypsy friends who came to the ceremony. So sweet of her, don't you think?"
Mother Tolley had gone beyond astonished. "Yes," she said faintly. "Yes, very sweet. Of course."
Calling Rune one of King Rolend's Laurel Bards and a personal advisor was not exactly the truth_and the picture Robin had painted of Rune and Talaysen wallowing in luxury and wealth was not even close to being true. But Kestrel watched the faces of those who had been so eager to hear some terrible scandal about their prodigal runaway, and their puckered expressions told him that some of the good citizens of Westhaven were less than thrilled to hear that she was doing well. And the more sour those expressions became, the more Robin embroidered on her deceptions. He didn't think he had ever seen her look quite so smug before.
But while this was all very amusing to her, he was beginning to worry more than a little that she might be digging a hole they both were about to fall into.
"W-we must g-go," he said, firmly and loudly, before she could make up any more stories, this time out of whole cloth_either about Rune or about their supposed importance to her. Or worse yet, told the whole truth about him! He didn't know what was worse_to have these women believe Robin's tales, or to have them think her a liar.
"Ah," Robin said blankly as he completely threw her off her course for a moment with his interruption; then she regained her mental balance, and blinked, as if she had suddenly figured out that she might have gone a little too far. "Of course, you're right! We have a long way to go before we stop tonight."
She tucked her purchases carefully in her basket and allowed Kestrel to hurry her off.
"What w-were you th-thinking of?" he hissed, as they followed the sausage-woman's stammered directions to the mill.
"I'm not sure," she said weakly. "I got kind of carried away."
He refrained from stating the obvious.
"It was just_those sanctimonious prigs! You saw how they wanted to hear that I had never heard of Rune, that she was a nothing and a failure! I wanted to smack their self-satisfied faces!"
"Y-you d-did that all r-right," he replied, a little grimly, as they arrived at the mill.
The miller himself was busy, but one of his apprentices handled their purchase of grain for the horses. It took a while; the boy was determined that he was going to give them exact measure. By the time they returned to the wagon, the stalls were deserted, and the women gone from the marketplace.