Tad smiled as he summoned a light to float above them while he and Jack talked. "There is a lot I don't understand myself. I'll answer any questions, but first, I need to know if you can help me stop the Goddess and others from pushing me around my soulspace. They seem to be able to send me into it and out of it. I didn't know that was possible. "

Jack was quiet, but he was moving in a way that Tad knew was thinking. "Tad, Samphire asked me not to show you how to keep a being like him out. He wanted to be certain you didn't regress into some murderous demon worshiper or something. He never did come out and say it. I am just telling you what I thought he was implying when I talked to him about you. You know he had a keen interest in you. Well, for Samphire anyway. He asked about you more than once, which is more than he has ever asked me about anyone. He also asked me not to tell you this, but I think that time is past. He sent me a message, and I think I know where he might be. He sounded stressed or weak. He only said a few words before we were cut off. There are few places where Samphire would have trouble as the God of the Life foci domain. The one that comes to mind is the Void foci plane. "

"What is he there for? Is he trapped? " Tad was thinking back to the time he had been captured, and his magic had been contained in the cells of the Demon Fortress. It had been horrible, and he still had nightmares.

"It might be. I do not know. All he said was 'Find Me' it was feeble and very far away," said Jack.

Tad thought about the Portal of the Stars. Gweleth had been able to view scenes in it. Perhaps they could find Samphire with it.

"Jack, we have Samphire's Portal of the Stars working. Gweleth took it as the artifact of her divinity, and she can control it," said Tad.

Jack's equine head nodded slowly, "That might work. We will have to try that if we can. First, though let me show you how to block others that are more powerful than you from reading thoughts and pushing you around your soulspace. I don't think letting every powerful being in the universe know that the domain foci God of Life is missing will be a good thing. "

Then a massive flood of information, formula, images, and energia paths filled Tad's mind. And he knew how to upgrade his soulmancy space, well, not upgrade more like rebuild it better and more completely. A few seconds later, his soulmancy tent changed to the form of the Cathedral as it stood now empty with its high ceilings and stained glass windows. Except the walls were made of the familiar gemlike facets, and they were grey now like the granite of the Cathedral.

Jack nodded again, "Good, this should work. We will practice defending it later. I don't think we have much time, and I think your party is going to be more important to you than you think. " said Jack.

"I figured as much. The Goddess's words gave me that impression," said Tad, thinking. Tad had been watching the tube with the blood pod in it slowly open as they talked.

"Well, I should be able to talk to others now. Hopefully, without being overheard or pushed around then. Thank you, Jack. Let's get out of here and over to the party. " said Tad as he willed his soulspace closed.

"Kettle, can you show Jack the vampires? I'd like to see what is going on with Aea, " said Tad.

"Certainly," came Kettle's voice out of one of the open Cabinets.

The tube that contained Aea on the end turned opaque grey. Tad could see the vampire's desiccated body floating in the blood of the mushroom pods. But the body no longer looked dried up. There were veins and muscles starting to grow from the scraps of dried flesh that had clung to the bones. Her skull had started to take on flesh also. She had no eyes yet, but Tad saw that she was absorbing the blood from the magical mushroom. Her dark dress made the whole scene look macabre as Tad watched the blood level in the tube slowly go down. The vampire was absorbing it all.

Jack projected, "You don't see that every day. What is it? "

"That is the desiccated body of an unblooded vampire named Aea. She had been the last remaining follower of the Goddess, and now she is absorbing the blood from the mushroom pod that the Goddess created to keep her from having to feed on a sentient creature. I believe she still has a soul, unlike the ones in the other tubes. She isn't a full vampire yet until she kills and feeds. It is an interesting magical state that the Goddess used to fool the pantheon of gods that defeated her here in this valley, " said Tad. He reached into the smaller side tube, lifted the now drained blood pod over his shoulder, and picked up the other one under the other arm. They felt like wet sacks.

"Kettle, make the tube dark again, then let us out, please. I need to get these to a cook. Gweleth said we could eat them. She seemed excited about this, so I want to find out why, " said Tad. She hadn't sounded excited precisely, but if your Goddess took an interest in something. You can also bet it is worth your time to take an interest in that thing.

The tube darkened, and the door popped open as Jack backed out of the opening quickly.

Tad followed and continued over to the cook fire, where two of the carnival guard's wife and Terri stood watching flatbread cook.

Tad smiled at Terri. "Hello again. I come bearing fruit, well, kind of fruit. This is a mushroom pod, and I thought perhaps you could cut it open and see if you can cook what's inside. We could try it at the party. "

***

Tad was in Jack's wagon now. The inside of the wagon had been divided with a sheet of cloth on a rope at the roof. Tad's cot was on the one side right next to Jack's stall.

Tad was helping Nico with his new outfit. He waited to hold Nico's new spiral silk jacket that looked much like Tad's with the blue and gold embroidery, "Jack, what is the curtain for?"

"Terri and her two friends are claiming that side of the wagon, " replied Jack.

"What is up with you and her, Jack? I thought you said there wasn't' anything between you two," said Tad.

Jack projected a frustrated feeling back, "Kid, there is still nothing between us. When you all left, Scekan and I found ourselves standing there with five hundred automatrons bursting through the front gate. After we explained to them, you were gone, and we didn't know where. We needed help. So I asked the only person I knew in the Bazaar. She understands I'm not interested. I think she is over that now. Well, I hope she is, and the other two elvin ladies are her friends. They are all city elves. They didn't have anywhere else to go. They have spent their entire lives in or around the Bazaar. So when the notice came, they packed up their stuff and decided to come along with me after reading your message. "

Nico came out from behind the stall's wall dressed in loose-fitting pants made of the thick spiral silk fabric. It was the same type of clothes Tad had on.

"Tad, I don't think this is a good idea. You know her father doesn't like me. No pride lion fathers like other feline beastkin like me. I don't care what Gweleth said or showed me. I think you should be the one that does this. " said Nico.

Tad smiled as he tried to hold in the laughter. For the last several minutes, he had listened to Nico complain about his upcoming dance with the Gweleth's new follower Lidilia. She was the young woman Nico was looking at when Tad saw him earlier. Gweleth had agreed to Tad's compromise that Nico dance with her instead of him.

"I already told you I can't, Nico. Besides, you like her. I saw you looking at her earlier. With that, 'Nico wishes she would pay attention to him' look. I've seen it before. Why do you think her parents don't like you anyway?" asked Tad smiling while shaking the new jacket for Nico to come over and put on.

"All pride lions think beastkin like me are rogues, scoundrels, and musicians," replied Nico, putting one arm through the jacket Tad held.

"And? You are all those things, " said Tad laughing.

"I know. I told you Lidilia's father wouldn't like me!" said Nico, stomping heavily over to the lady's mirror on the table. It was a wooden framed mirror that rotated on a spindle up and down so Nico could see his reflection.

Nico used his finger to brush his eyebrows into place. He had trimmed his beard also. It was now a close-fitting short dark beard that came to a rounded point at his chin. It didn't look too bad. He looked older with it, thought Tad.

" You don't even know if you really like her yet, Nico. Have you talked to her? I'll tell you what. Find out something that will make them happier with you, and I'll help you do that. " asked Tad.

"Yes, briefly when Gweleth pulled us into some magical space to explain what Niucrealath wanted. Then she told me it was this or some duel to the death. I actually considered that for a few moments, " said Nico as he was trying to get a view of the back of his jacket in the mirror.

"Nico, you are always asking girls to dance. This will be fun. Also, your father and mother will be playing the music with me. You do not want your father to think you can not do this, do you? " asked Tad.

"Fine!" was all Nico said as he pulled the lapels of his jacket down hard, standing there looking at Tad.

Nico had almost the exact same outfit Tad had on. The big difference was the gold embroidery. Nico's jacket had swirling lynx and lions mixed with trees and the moon on the front.

"Nico, I think Gweleth outdid herself on that jacket. That embroidery looks much nicer than mine," said Tad appreciatively.

"Yes, it does look sharp, doesn't it," remarked Nico looking down at his jacket, running his finger long the lynx embroidered there.

Tad smiled then the two of them left for the party. Jack stayed in his wagon, saying he didn't want to interrupt the celebration. He had this thing where he didn't like all the women coming around bugging him too much.

The crowd of people was milling around, and many already had drink mugs and food. Most of the people were sitting on the stairs, looking down on the area below in front of the Fey Tree. There were two magical lights floating over the flagstone area, and beyond that were two benches for the musicians.

Tad and Nico ate quickly, then each took a drink and their citterns and went to sit down by the tree roots. Nico's parents came over and sat down as Nico and Tad started the first songs of their old show set. Stephan sat with his drum, and Ioannea had a small lyre. The Nico's family and Tad used to play music at the carnival food area every night, and these were the songs they played before Tad had been trapped in the demon fortress.

Tad could sense the crowd was feeling the music and the ale as the sun descended over the lip of the valley wall.

Gweleth appeared standing behind the musicians on the roots of the Fey Tree. She glowed softly in the remaining light of the day. Tad turned to look at her. She smiled and nodded to him. Then she was gone, replaced by Niucrealath, Goddess of the Moon, as the last of the sun disappeared.

Tad turned back and looked at Nico while they played. Nico's attention seemed to be across the flagstone courtyard where Lidilia Forrester was coming down the stairs one step at a time. She looked twenty, with a lythe build, long dark brown hair, tanned bronze-colored skin, and wearing a knee-length dress made of spiral silk. It was deep blue splashed with gold embroidery around the top and puffy shouldered sleeves, which came down to her wrists. There was a stylized lion-themed embroidery in thin golden silk at the wrists.

She was wearing flat-heeled sandals laced up with gold silk. The dress came down to her calves and flared out and had a ruffled edge in the back.

The song came to a close, and Tad didn't start the next one, "I think you are up, Nico. "

Niucrealath smiled at the crowd. Her hair no longer looked like snakes. It looked like normal hair. It was a deep burgundy color and fell over her right shoulder. She smiled at the crowd and then disappeared.

Lidilia stepped forward into the middle putting on foot out, holding her hand out, ready for the music to start. Then she stopped. She looked sad or angry as she said loudly, "I will not dance or continue while my people are murdered." Then she turned and walked back up the stairs into the cathedral.

Nico looked at Tad, then back a the retreating Lidilia. He made his way across the flagstones and up the stairs after the retreating figure of the young lady.

Tad looked at the crowd and then back at where Nico was disappearing up the stairs following Lidilia.

Tad smiled weakly, "We will resolve that issue in the morning. It's been a long day, let us continue." He turned and went back to his seat.

Tad started playing again. This time he was pushing energia into the cittern. He had the new song, and he was going to play it even if the dance was on hold. The tune started out slow and built up as the strums became more complicated. He kept the energia pumping into the instrument, and he could feel the waves of emotion pouring out of it. He thought about his fight with Samathe in the lower temple. How he felt when Zanna fell, then he thought about the battle in front of the dead god's bridge and how they overcame the undead horde with the aid of the automatrons of Bismuth. The music continued and crescendoed as the final portion of the battle took place, where he slew the crazy-haired naga lady. Then the piece was done. The crowd was silent watching him, a few whispered to those nearby.

Tad looked up and smiled. He could feel the music had affected the people before him. Then he started another song that Stephan and Ioannea joined.

Nico made his way back a few songs later, and Tad left as Stephan and Ioannea continued to play. The people were eating now and joking back to talking among themselves as they sat listening.

Nico sounded frustrated, "Tad, Lidilia, and her father are furious at me for some reason. He thinks I'm the one that put her up to this, and she is mad because he wasn't listening to her when she said it had nothing to do with me. This was a terrible idea. "

Tad chuckled, "Yea, I think we should find the person that came up with it and tell him. "

Nico looked at his friend, his eyes getting wider, "You did this? I thought the goddess wanted it? "

Tad smiled and suddenly found something at the top of the cathedral to look at while he spoke, "Well, I might have had something to do with it. I didn't think about what they were going through. " He took a deep breath. "How do you feel about hunting Hyenas in the morning? "

"Seriously, you were the whole reason this all happened? " Nico looked at Tad and took a deep breath, "It would help the Foresters and the others if they knew what was going on back in their village. "

Tad nodded to him, "Then we can do it tomorrow. We can use the gate and see what is happening there, and we can decide from there what to do. "

Kettle chimed in, "You have a new quest, Rescue the Pride its blue. Oh and Gweleth gave you Clear the River valley earlier near the mushroom, this one is gold. "

Tad was suddenly tired and dizzy. "Oh whoa, I forgot Nico. I have to get some sleep. That spell Gweleth used earlier. " He closed his cittern back to an amulet and steadied himself against Nico's arm.

"Hey, can you help me back to the wagon? I think I--, " Then Tad fell, collapsing to the floor.

***