Every morning since it started, the first thing my conscious mind hears is the whisper. Even though I am still not fully awake, hints of self-harm begin. This morning, it encourages me to hit my head against the wall. Honestly, it's a tempting offer. 

I can not keep living like this. That street singer, I must find her. I'm sure it'll be noticed that I've ventured out two days in a row, but finding her is too important to wait. Whatever she did to me, I need to find out what it was and how she did it. No matter the cost. 

The sound of the door opening takes me away from my thoughts about the girl. Because of the voices, I hadn't heard the knock. The young maid stepped over to me and placed a platter with my breakfast on the table next to my bed. "Good morning, Your Royal Highness," she says, followed by a curtsy. The voice has already begun to tell me to harm her. "It is morning, well, get on with it." I say as I turn over, not looking at her. 

She starts the usual morning routine. First opening the balcony door, letting the fresh sea breeze in she does that even if it's the middle of winter. If it were cold, she would make sure the firepit was lit, but it's summer, so she leave it. After she is supposed to go out with the nightpot and then return to help me get ready for the day. But I don't have time for that, I need to get to the market.

"Una. I do not need assistance this morning, I would like you to be left alone." She looked surprised at the command, but she couldn't argue or even state her opinion. "Are you unwell? Shall I fetch a healer?"  

"I am perfectly well, I just do not wish for any help today." 

"As you wish, Your Royal Highness." She curtsies once more, before leaving. 

After collecting the clothes from yesterday, I started getting dressed. Usually, I have at least one servant help me get dressed. Having to do it alone does create some difficulty for me, but I manage. When I tie the last knot on the boots, I'm facing an energy slump. Starving from not having dinner, I sit down to eat my breakfast.

But before I get to take a bite, there is a knock at the door. "I said I did not want assistance this morning." The door gets thrown open, and the sound of the thick wood hitting the walls echoes through the room. "I am not a servant," Zora yells. 

She steps into the room, her arms crossed. She is wearing a white dress embroidered with yellow flowers. "As I suspected, you are going out, I am coming with you," she demands. 

"Not dressed like that," I reply. 

"Obviously, I am going to change, wait for me," she says. Then she turns around and leaves. "You can come, if you finish before I am done eating," I yell after her.

The morning sun is waking the city up. The street is filled with the sound of people talking. Kids are laughing or crying as they follow their parents around, helping them do the day's chores. Some carry water, others are setting up their shop for the day. The smell of freshly baked bread mixes with the sour smell of Ammonia. Near the pups, a couple of guards are waking up drunks who have slept in the street. As we walk by them, I pull my cape closer around my face.

Hours pass as we walk throughout the streets of Mavahofn. When we reach midday, the dread that we won't find her starts to settle. "Valor I am tired and I wanna go home," Zora complains. "Then leave, but I am not giving up yet." We have come to a halt in the middle of the street. The street we are standing on is in a less fortunate part of town. A few people are looking at us, we are dressed too nicely for here.

"What do you intend to do? Search up and down the streets of the city, every day until you find her?" Zora says while crossing her arms. 

"If it is what it takes, then yes." I whisper. 

"That is ridiculous. We should return home and inform Father. So that he can send guards to search for her. Instead of us wasting our time out here."

She is right, the guards would be able to find her faster. But I am not ready to give up yet. Maybe I can convince her to continue the search after a break. 

"Let us go into that inn and get something to eat," I say while pointing to the sign saying The Way Inn. Reluctantly, she follows me over to it. I stand by the door ready to go in, but Zora has stopped to look in through the small window.

"What a horrid place, we should not go in there. Do you know what kind of people frequent that kind of establishment?-" A gasp escapes Zora's lips "It's her! It's the singer she is in there."

It's hard to see in through the small dirty window, as the place is dimly lit. But only a few people are occupying the place, so it dosent take long to spot her. She is standing by the bar with the two Easterners. "It is her, let's go." I grab the handle and walk in. Zora is very displeased, but she still follows me through the door.

The place has a stench of stale ale mixed with smoke from tobacco and burned wood. A couple of men sit in a corner playing some card game, but besides them, the place is empty. At the bar, the woman is leaning over it, letting her fingers go through a candle's flame. "Stop that before you get burned again." Grumbled the young man by her side. "Getting burned is the least of our problems."

I'm heading right towards them while my mind flies through a thousand thoughts. That is, until Zora pulls my arm. "Valor, we need to be wary. I do not think we should tell them who we are. After all, they could be criminals for all we know." Zora is right, we know nothing about them, telling them who we are could put us in danger. But the curse, "I need to tell her about the curse." 

 "Just be careful, brother. Maybe say it is a friend who is cursed."

“Good idea, I will do that.”

As I get near the bar, I hear her say. "After we have eaten, I wanna scout the area around Mens Blissful Menders, before we meet your friend tonight." Men's blissful menders? That could be a good place to start, I could say I know the place. No, that is stupid, I don't know what it even is.

"Sorry about the wait.-" A boy not much older than Keisha says, as he walks behind the bar. "What are you interested in?"

"What is available?"

The boy started to tell them the different food options "We have meat, bread, tarts, and some stew."

The male interrupted him to say "Stew sounds nice, what kind?"

"Mostly veggies, carrots, onion, parsnips."

They don't seem to have noticed my sister and me waiting beside them, or they might just be ignoring us. "We will have three of those then," he says.

It's now or never, I think, while opening my mouth. "Make it five, and how much will I pay?" I spoke fast, wanting to be sure not to get interrupted. "You are the people from yesterday." The male sneered. 

The street singer spun around, her short hair swirling around her face from the movement. She stared at me with wide eyes, as if awaiting an explanation. "Five stews, that will be five and twenty Ears.." Ears, the lowest form of payment. "I hope you do not mind us joining," I say while fumbling to find the small copper coins.

"We do mind, what is it you want?" The male snarls. "We need to talk, can you spare a moment to listen?" I ask while looking at the street singer. She has a sore around her eye, I am certain she didn't have that yesterday. "No, go away," she says.

"He paid for the food, so you can at least listen." Zora snapped. 

"Fine, we can listen while we eat. But whatever it is you want, the answer is no."

We sit done on some weathered benches in the furthest corner of the inn. The small windows that let the sunlight in, don't reach over here. But there is a fire pit, which illuminates the corner in a red glow. The stew I bought is very salty. Zora had only taken one bite, made a disgusted face, to then drink the glass of water she had gotten with it. "Are the food not to your liking?" The black-haired man asked. "It's... different than what we are used to," I reply.

"I assumed as much. People dressed like you two would not frequent these kinds of establishments," he says. The remark makes me aware of how much I don't belong here. Even though this is my least flaunting clothes, it's good material and is decorated. Most people wouldn't be able to afford such a luxury. "You are right, I have never been to an inn before, but I needed to talk to her," I say, gesturing to the street singer.

"Me? What do you want from me?" 

Oh God, how do I even start to explain? Maybe I should start with a simple question. "Where did you learn to sing?" 

She gives me a sideways glance and says, "Nowhere." 

Zora replies a bit too loudly and with a tone of doubt "What! Are you saying you never had any lessons?" 

The girl's eyes furrowed. "Do I look like someone who can afford something so useless as music lessons?"

"Pardon my sister. But it is hard to believe that your voice is just talent. It's almost as if there is something magical about it. Are you a spellcaster perhaps?" My question may have been too forward, but it's better to get straight to the point instead of dragging this out. 

"I am, but I have never enchanted my voice, " she says. 

"People sometimes inherit magic gifts. Are you related to a siren or something similar in nature?" When I ask this, she looks down at the table. I wish I knew her name, but asking for it, I would have to give her mine. And I can't do that, at least not yet. 

"I wouldn't normally tell this to strangers, but I wouldn't know if I do, as I have never known my parents." I feel my heart sinking. This woman doesn't know why her singing is magical. But it does not matter, I don't need anyone else, she is enough. After all, she is a peasant, I am sure that for the right price, I can get her to sing for me. No matter how much she asks, I can pay it. "I am sorry to hear that."

"Can you just say what it is you want!" she snapped at me. Putting my hands up in defence, I stutter a reply "I..! hav..ve bee...n cursed." I feel a jolt of pain in my arm, as Zora knocks her elbow into it. I had forgotten about our plan. Well, it's too late now.

"What kind of curse?" The eastern male asked. The woman who looked much like him, hadn't spoken a word in the time we had been here. 

"I hear these voices, they tell me to do things, horrible things," I explain. 

"And? Isn't that just thoughts?" The street singer says. If that is her normal thoughts, she might not be as innocent as she looks.

"I wish it were just that. But these voices are not my thoughts, it is as if somebody continually urges me to do awful things, terrible things, as if I have a person standing beside me whispering in my ear, but this person only I can hear, and no one can see." I breathe out. It is so uncomfortable speaking about the voices, the looks they give me are a mixture of pity and disbelief. I wish I could hide from that glare. 

 "What kind of things does this voice tell you to do?" The male asks. Picking up the spoon, I point it at him. "At this moment, to gouge out your eyes with this spoon," I casually said.

They all have a moment of shock on their face. "What did you do to get cursed?" The male asks, he is tapping his fingers on the table.

 "It was not my fault, my father he angered a witch, and in anger she cursed me." 

The black-haired male snorts, "Your father must have done something horrible to get this curse put on you." Having her executed would count as being something horrible, but I can't tell them that.

"As tragic as your curse is, I do not understand what it has to do with us," the street singer says. 

"My curse, it has a way to stop the voices temporarily. When music is played, it stops, but the moment the music stops, the voices return.-" I take a breath before continuing. "That is, until yesterday when I heard you sing. When you sang the voices disappeared and stayed gone for hours after."

"My singing did that?" Her mouth is slackening. She seems surprised, did she not know she had a magical voice? 

"It was properly just a coincidence." Sneered the male. 

"Then test it, sing something," Zora demanded. 

The singer sends Zora an angry glare. "Oh my lord." She says with a tired voice and an eye roll. Then she starts singing a few tunes. By the first note, the voices leave my ear. And when she stops, nothing.

"They are gone, your voice is truly magical, it is incredible." I couldn't help but smile. This could be my salvation. Dear God, let her be willing to take care of me.

 "We have money, and my brother here will be happy to pay you highly if you are willing to work for him," Zora says. "You sound desperate," The singer replies. 

"I am desperate. And I am ready to pay anything to keep the voices at bay, just name your price." It does not matter what she wants, I know I can afford it. 

"As tempting as your offer is, I can not accept. We will be leaving this city as soon as possible." Leave? They are not from here? Thinking about it, I do hear a bit of an accent from the singer, but the male doesn't seem to have one. 

"You have my compassion, this curse must be horrid. You will not believe how much I wish I had any information about who I am, and where this power originates from. But I am unable to help you." Her attempt to comfort me falls on deaf ears, all my mind think of is how to convince her to stay. But as I try to think, the three rise. 

I see them head for the door. Besides me, Zora mutters, "What a waste of time." My hands are clenched and my body tense and heated. The moment of silence I had didn't last as long this time, the voices had already returned to whisper. Go to her grab her, hit her, push her head into the wall so she bleeds, do it, DO IT!

"I do not care if I have to order her, but I am not letting this one chance walk away from me," I shouted at Zora. As I get up to follow them, she yells after me. "Valor wait. You can not do that."

It had only been a few minutes, they couldn't have gone far. But gripping the door handle to the outside, three things meet my eyes when opening it. The blinding sun, the gravel ground, and splattered blood.