Twenty minutes later, Rolf and Aey were sitting opposite each other at the tavern table while Yam stood above them, quietly gulping down her beer. Bread had gone wandering around, at Yam’s request, to find tavern-goers who would pay a few coins to hear some music.

“Another drink, anyone?” Aey hiccupped as she swallowed  the final mouthful of her seventh glass of wine. Yam glanced at the Tiefling with distaste.

“Haven’t you had enough to drink?”

“Love, don’t be ridiculous-” Aey paused to hiccup again, “-I ain’t had that much.”

Rolf eyed the six empty glasses next to the Warlock’s arm. Two or three overturned as she slammed the seventh down. The Gnome quietly sipped her own drink, a glass of cloudy apple juice.

Yam opened her mouth to retort when Bread sauntered up to her, chittering excitedly. “What’s that?”

The fox-crow yipped a little more and Yam nodded, seemingly understanding what the fox-crow was saying. “You’re sure there’s enough potential customers?” The chimaera nodded fervently and Yam got to her feet, setting down her second glass of beer and petting her companion.

“What’s going on?” Aey whispered loudly, out of the corner of her mouth, to Rolf. The Gnome’s eyes lit up as Yam pulled a long, thin wooden cylinder from seemingly out of nowhere. There were several holes spaced evenly along the length of the tube and a thinner beige cylinder was sticking out the top, a thin red ribbon tied at the very end.

Yam quickly slid into the middle of the tavern, carefully dodging past Tieflings, an Aarakocra or two, a majestic Dragonborn and a couple of Genasi, shielding her wooden stick from any potential harm. Once she reached the centre of the small, badly-lit room, she leaped up onto a table and let out the loudest, strangest half-yowl, half-snarl noise. As awkward as the call was, it worked to make everyone quiet down. Aey and Rolf looked at Yam in confusion and surprise.

“Everyone! Everyone!” Yam yowled loudly, waving a paw in the air. Bread leapt up and wove around her legs, staring suspiciously at the surrounding people. “I’ve got a nice little song to play for all of you. Are we ready? Okay, let’s go!”

Yam raised the beige cylinder to her mouth and blew gently, using her fingers to cover a few of the holes. A sweet little note flew out of the end of the darker brown tube. After a short pause, during which there was complete silence, Yam lifted her head again and smiled. “I’ll be playing an old Bard song called The Girl At The Tavern- this is for all you Rogues out there!”

There was a loud chorus of cheering- around an eighth of all the gathered people clapped and yelled.

“YEAHHH A SONG JUST FOR MEEEEE-” Rolf screamed through the cheers.

Yam put her instrument to her mouth again and began to play a sweet, slow melody, interjected occasionally with a sharp note or two. She spun around a few times on the spot, still playing, barely breathing, and after a while, hopped off the table and began twirling among the crowd, happily blowing into her instrument. The music filled the silent air and Bread began leaping around joyfully, spinning in a blaze of bright orange fur and night-black feathers.

Three minutes later, the song ended on a dramatic crescendo, followed by the softest of soft notes, just a small little hop off the final beat. Yam had found herself back on the table, and when she finished, she took a bow and turned in a circle to the applause.

A few people handed her a copper coin or two, and one generous Air Genasi dropped a silver piece into her outstretched paw.

“Thank you sir, thank you very much,” Yam chirped as she made her way through the crowd. She made her way over to a group of Elves and Halflings, who hadn’t clapped or given coins, only watched with a mild disinterest,

“What do you say? Won’t you give a poor, travelling troubadour some money?” Yam held out a paw to one of the Elves, a pale-skinned, white-haired Winter Eladrin, who hesitated for a minute before reaching into his money bag and extracting two copper pieces. The other Elves and two Halflings shook their heads disapprovingly at the Eladrin, who looked away, seemingly embarrassed.

Yam sauntered her way back to Aey and Rolf, the former of which was downing another glass of wine. She hovered over them, still, apparently, not wanting to sit down.

“Pretty good haul,” Yam mused, pulling out her leather money-pouch and dropping the copper and silver into the bag; they fell in with satisfying tinkles. Right before she tucked her bag back into her pocket she froze, then reopened it and pulled out two copper coins. She rolled them across the table at Aey, who, even though she was still gulping down wine, caught them with two fingers.

“That’s for the cream,” Yam reasoned. Aey nodded, even though she barely seemed to be listening. The cream in question was sitting half-eaten in a dish that was half-filled with cream and half-filled with custard. Bread leaped up onto the table and began to lick at the plate, devouring the food.

Rolf looked offended.

“Where’s my compensation?!” demanded the Gnome.

“For?” Yam was already pulling the drawstring tight.

“Oh I don’t know, literally slamming me into a wall just a few hours ago?!” Rolf pouted, glaring up at Yam. The Tabaxi looked at her blankly and flicked a tall, tufted ear.

“I’m low on money right now,” Yam answered, recovering swiftly, dropping her money-bag into her coat pocket. “Maybe when I get more.”

Rolf slumped back into her chair huffily and continued to sip at her apple juice. Bread looked at her inquisitively, head slightly tilted, and Rolf held out her cup for the fox-crow chimaera to try. He stared at the cloudy liquid suspiciously before lapping at it tentatively.

“...SO. CUTE. LOOK AT THIS LITTLE FLUFFBALL WAWEYIUAUwaEUI” Rolf cooed over the Bread’s wariness of the drink, throwing quick glances at Aey and Yam, whose eyes were also glued on Bread. 

“Yam, yam yam yammmm, yam yammm, is Bread allergic to anything??? Can he drink apple juice??? Can I give him apple juice???”

 Yam moved her sight from Bread towards Rolf with a hint of distrust and mockery. 

“Of course, he’ll take anything from strangers,” she hissed, narrowing her eyes and leaning forward slightly. Her claws began to slide out of her paws, the sharp tips glinting under her fur. “And besides, why would you ask that after you gave him some? If you’d poisoned him, oh, rest assured, I would have sliced off all your hair. Luckily for you, he’s ok with juice.” She ended her rant with a snarl, baring her pointy white fangs.

“Love, I would recommend quieting down. Our kitty here is getting quite upset,” Aey drawled, lifting her wine-glass to take another drag.

Yam scoffed, practically snatched Bread from the table and dropped him into her inner coat pocket in one swift movement. “Yeah? I would recommend thinking twice before you call me a kitty,” she snorted, getting to her feet, giving Bread a quick pat as she did. “I’ll catch you later. Or not. Preferably not.”

The Tabaxi headed for the door, pushing past the crowd filling the tavern. Bread’s long orange tail trailed out behind her and she tucked it back into her pocket, sweeping out of the tavern in a mere matter of seconds.

Aey and Rolf looked at each other.

“Did you hear that??” Rolf wailed, clutching at the scarf around her neck in distress. “She didn’t answer the question!”

Aey set down her wine-glass and hiccupped. “Sweetheart, she was obviously unhappy.”

Rolf’s eyes widened and her face lit up. “Unhappy? Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no, I made her sad! I’ve gotta go say sorry.”

The Gnome leapt to the ground and raced out of the tavern, her scarf flying out behind her. Aey quietly took a sip of her wine.