As I grab Zora's arm and yank her away from the people outside the lady's dressmaker, the voices in my head scream for me to turn around and start a fight. "Valor, stop! You are hurting me." I brought myself to a halt and let go of Zora. "My apologies... I just... we needed to get away from them." Zora started to complain about those people. In her ramble, she changed the topic. “And if they were not bad enough, the seamstress couldn't give back on my coins, so she gave me a stupid bread voucher. I hate when they do that. I have to throw it away. If the maids find it, Father will know we sneaked out.”

I put my hands to my head. There is a throbbing pain from the voices that keep on screaming. ”Why don't you give it to some of the beggars?” I suggest. Zora looked at me disgusted, “How can you even suggest for me to go anywhere near them?” 

Zora stops for a moment, she must have noticed that something is wrong, because she asks if the voices are plaguing me. I responded by nodding. What I would give for a moment of silence. The voices make it hard for me to hear anything other than their evil commands. When Zora speaks, I nearly don't hear her say "There must be a street musician somewhere." But we don't see or hear anything that resembles a street performer.

We walk around, in search of some music. At some point, we pass a woman begging for coins “Give her the bread voucher.” I sneer. Zora rolls her eyes. Looking at the woman with a disgusted face. “Fine. Let me do it,” I say, taking the voucher from her. As I hand it to the woman, she says may god bless your heart, young man. But it gets tuned out by the voices telling me to push her to the ground and beat her up. I wonder if it would just be easier to give in to the voices.

No! What am I thinking? They are telling me to hurt innocent people. Music, where is there some bloody music, I need it now! The voices need to shut up. I can't handle this. Then I hear it, a singing tone. This rose is railed on a rys. The words of a familiar song. As I hear the words from the singer my mind becomes silent and calm. "Thank God, I was worried we were gonna walk around all day in search of some music," Zora says.

Since this curse started I have listened to many opera singers, sopranos, masters of singing. But no one has had this pull on me. The singer is no master, her singing tune frequently fails to strike the appropriate notes, yet her voice is mesmerising. Zora interrupts my entrancement with a rude remark, "Who should think such a rude girl can sing." First now, I look at who the singer is. Standing by a well, a short distance from the town square. Is the woman who we encountered outside the lady's dressmaker.

Taking in her appearance, she is wearing a brown skirt. With an off-white tunic under it and a brown bodice. Her skin is very pale, it almost melts into the colour of her tunic. Her face has a red blush. Her hair is the same colour as a wolf's fur and cut short just above her shoulders.

When she stops singing, I hold my breath, preparing for the voices to return. But before the whisper enters my ear, she starts to sing I Have a Yong Suster. I'm not familiar with the song, but her voice makes it sound like it's the most beautiful song ever written. Small shards of metal fly towards the singer. Coins, people are tossing coins at her. Reaching for my pouch, wanting to throw her a coin as well.

But I mostly have crown coins, would that be too much? The knuckle silver might be sufficient, but she deserves much more. Holding a silver coin in my hand, it's decorated with the royal crest, every coin in our kingdom has my family crest on it. Just as I am about to throw it, she stops singing. The fear of the voice returning makes me forget about the coins. In my mind, I pray for her to sing one more song. My prayer is answered as she begins singing a song I do recognise. God Speed the Plow.

As the last chorus finishes, she bows for the people. Applause starts to grow from the crowd, and I too start to clap my hands a bit too eagerly. With this much applause, she must do an encore. However, it won't be so. The applause fades and the crowd dissolve. Being the last one to stop clapping, my hands burn after being hit against each other for so long. When I stopped the applause, all I can hear is the crowd walking down the street and people happily talking. That's all that I can hear...Nothing but the sound of the market. My mind is silent.

How is it even possible? Sure, she's a fine vocalist, but she wasn't as impressive as others I've heard. Zora breaks my thoughts by asking, "Do you feel better now?" A smile creeps onto my face. No voices, no speak of evil doings, no threats of harm. 

"They are gone," I say in a whisper. 

"What did you say?" Zora asks. 

Excitedly, I exclaim, "Zora, they are gone! The voices they are gone!" 

Zora looks at me skeptically "What do you mean?"

"They're gone, her singing made the voices disappear, I need to go talk to her." Eagerly, I turn to go find the woman who can be the solution to all my problems. But when I look towards the well, no one is there, frantically I look around for her. The street is crowded with people, and the street singer is nowhere in sight 

"Where is she?"