As Lapis descended back into the dining area of Angel Haus, she winced seeing that a handful of patrons from her earlier audience were still finishing their meals. They locked eyes with her for a moment, but seeing that she didn't have her lyre with her, seemed to let out a breath of relief. Lapis sighed. Despite Agatha's enthusiasm, the responses from her audience told her exactly how they felt about her shows.

She did her best to ignore them as she busied herself cleaning tables. Angel Haus wasn't a large eatery, by any means, but it still kept work to keep the place tidy. There were about a dozen tables—the ones against the wall were taller, with cushioned booth seating, while the ones in the center of the room were arranged dwarvish style: Low tables designed for sitting on the floor, with shallow pits beneath for patron's feet.

Off to one side was a large window leading to the kitchen, where Agatha busied herself cooking. She gave Lapis a quick smile and a nod before returning to her work. Sitting on the bar counter below the window was Dave—a clean white skull with unusual pointed fangs. He sat motionless, not acknowledging Lapis or any of the patrons. Most customers thought Dave was just a bizarre decoration, but in reality, Agatha let him have "downstairs time" as long as he stayed quiet and didn't scare their customers.

Lapis moved through the tavern as quickly and quietly as she could, gathering empty cups and plates and moving them to the washing area before returning to clean the tables and prepare them for their next round of customers. It was a mindless process, and a repetitive one, but Lapis preferred it to actually interacting with patrons. However, she couldn't avoid that part forever—she noticed with a small wince that her "biggest fan" needed a refill on his tea.

The man had introduced himself to Lapis at some point in the past, but unfortunately she had forgotten his name immediately and started mentally calling him Scruffy Man. He wasn't unkept or dirty, by any means, but he had an overly casual style some folks found distasteful. He somehow seemed to have the same amount of scratchy stubble every time Lapis saw him, and his wild hair was split between warm, pale blonde at the top and dark brown where it fell to his shoulders. Lapis always wondered which was his natural color. Perhaps they both were.

Scruffy Man was seated at his usual booth in the back corner of the tavern. The early afternoon light streamed through the window and danced across his table, catching on his pen as he scribbled in a small notebook. As he sipped his tea, the steam fogged up the tiny, round glasses he wore perched on his slightly crooked nose. His skin was a warm brown, his pointed ears were pierced, and his nicely tailored button-up shirt had several buttons undone, the sleeves rolled up around his elbows.

He wasn't unattractive, Lapis supposed, but such things were usually lost on her. She hadn't even considered it until a few weeks back, when Agatha had made a passing remark about how handsome he was, saying she'd try flirting with him if she were a hundred years younger. She had then gone off on a tangent about her ex husband, how he never bought her flowers, how Scruffy Man looked like he'd buy his lover flowers, and all of her usual fare.

Lapis quietly hoped she'd be able to refill his teacup without getting roped into a conversation, but she knew it was inevitable. As she approached his table, he set down his pen and smiled at her, showing slightly pointed teeth.

"Ah, good afternoon, Lapis!"

"Afternoon," she replied quietly, pouring more tea into his cup.

"How have you been enjoying the weather? Nice that it's finally cooling down some, isn't it? Oh, and I love your bow, by the way."

Lapis reflexively reached up to touch the bow at the back of her head—she had forgotten to take it off after her performance. "Oh... thank you. It was Agatha's idea."

"She's full of 'em, isn't she? Well, it looks nice! The color suits you. Wonderful job with your performance earlier, by the way. Even better than the last one."

"Thank you," Lapis replied stiffly. She always had a hard time talking to Scruffy Man. She suspected he must have very strange taste in music, or maybe cotton stuffed in his ears. He made a point to compliment her after every performance, no matter how awful it had been. While other customers would sometimes give her placating and awkward compliments after her shows, always looking away or hesitating or stumbling over their words as they tried to force out niceties, Scruffy Man always seemed genuine, and praised her without a trace of insincerity. It was the sort of thing she'd be grateful for, if it didn't clash so harshly with her own perceptions. She never felt as though she deserved his praise, and as a result, his compliments often made her feel even worse.

"Do you know when your next show will be? I want to make sure I don't miss it," he said, smiling his pointed but charming smile.

"Oh, um..." Lapis stammered. She hadn't even gotten over her embarrassment from today's show, and he was already asking about the next one? Did he want to watch her suffer? Maybe seeing her fail so miserably over and over made him feel some kind of bizarre satisfaction... but no. She never got that sort of feeling from him. He seemed too kind for that. "Same time next week, probably."

"Well, I'll do my best to be there!" he said, taking a sip from his freshly-filled teacup.

Lapis gave him the best smile she could manage as she turned to continue cleaning, but Scruffy Man stopped her.

"Lapis?" he said, suddenly seeming more hesitant than usual. "I, well... I mean it. You are doing a good job. It takes guts to get up in front of people and do something that scares you over and over again. Try not to be so hard on yourself, yeah?"

He smiled at her again, and Lapis felt warmth spread across her cheeks.

"Oh, um.... Thank you," she stammered before turning away and quickly returning to her work. She wanted to take his kind words for what they were, but she almost couldn't help but resent him a bit. Where did his unearned confidence in her come from?

And why couldn't she feel the same way?

The rest of the afternoon thankfully passed without incident, Lapis taking orders and cleaning tables while Agatha busied herself in the kitchen. Between conversations, Lapis's mind wandered back to her botched "concert", the judgmental stares of her audience watching as she stumbled pathetically over a song she could usually play without thinking. She thought back to the day she had discovered her musical abilities, not long after Agatha had taken her in off the streets. She remembered how overjoyed she had felt to finally have some kind of solid clue to her identity, after spending weeks searching and coming up with nothing but dead ends. When Agatha had encouraged her to perform, Lapis had hoped that playing in front of an audience, even a small one, might draw out some missing memories. Heart full of nerves but excited anticipation, she had stepped out onto the stage... and froze, unable to play a single note.

She thought back to her past self—whoever she must have been before her memories were stolen away from her, however it had happened. Did she have stage fright too? Had she somehow gotten incredibly skilled at the lyre without a single other person ever hearing her play? Or had her confidence been stolen away along with her memories?

Whatever the case was, Lapis now found herself without a single memory of her past, with nothing but her musical talent and a few belongings, and every attempt to rediscover anything about her past eluding her. She was confident she must have been a bard—it felt like the only thing that made sense. So surely, if she could perform, stand on stages and play her music for as many people as possible, someday, someone would recognize her, and help her figure out who she was.

That had been her goal for some time now. The idea had seemed so simple and straightforward when she had first come up with it, but in the several months she'd been trying to perform on Angel Haus's tiny stage, she hadn't been able to get through a single song from start to finish. A recurring thought constantly plagued her mind: Maybe she should just stop trying.

In the middle of that thought, however, a reprieve arrived in the form of a delivery courier, a small box tucked under his arm, the bell above the tavern's door announcing his entrance.

"Delivery for Agatha Dawnborough?" he called out.

"I'll take it," Lapis said, walking to the door and scribbling her name on the delivery slip. She took the box from the man and set it down on the bar counter, pulling off the lid as Agatha made her way over. Inside, cradled in a bed of shredded hay, was a delicate stained glass sculpture, crafted to look like a sunflower. The yellow glass petals were inscribed with intricate magic symbols.

"Ah, good! I was wondering when that darn thing would be done with repairs," Agatha said with a hearty sigh of relief. "Now we can finally get the lightorbs upstairs working again. Lapis, would you mind—"

"I'll take care of it," Lapis replied.

The glass flower was one of several of its kind affixed to the roof of Angel Haus, just like every other building in the village had. They were made from a special type of glass, able to absorb magic from light and wind and use the energy to power various spells inside the buildings they were attached to. This particular flower had been knocked off its rooftop mount during a bad storm a few nights before, and several of the glass petals had shattered. Thankfully, craftsmen from a repair caravan had been able to fix it in only a few days.

Agatha usually tackled repairs around the tavern with gusto, but her bad back and fear of heights had always kept her from trying to handle this particular task. Lapis didn't struggle with either burden, and was happy to help her employer in any way she could.

Taking the flower with her, Lapis made her way back up to the attic. While the tavern had no proper rooftop access, the window of her attic was set into the sloping incline of the roof. Taking off her boots, Lapis opened the arched window and carefully climbed onto the roof, the tiled shingles underfoot warmed by the late afternoon sun. Taking care not to slip, she made her way up to the top of the roof, where the rest of the glass flower sculptures were arranged in a row, glittering in the sunlight.

The magic devices came in all sorts of styles, but designs based on flowers and plants were the most common. While some opted to have all their flowers be the same design, Agatha had chosen a colorful bouquet of them, all in different shapes and sizes. Each powered a different spell inside the tavern; The cluster of glass daisies kept the woodless oven in the tavern's kitchen burning at the perfect temperature, the orblike hydrangea was the energy source for their underground water filtration system, and the sunflower, which Lapis slid back into position with a click, provided energy for all the lightorbs suspended from the ceilings of the rooms on the second floor. Now Agatha won't have to stumble around in the dark at night, Lapis thought. She had been worried the poor woman would accidentally take a tumble down the stairs.

Having reaffixed the glass sunflower into its spot on the roof, Lapis carefully sat down and took a moment to look out over the village. All around her, other rooftops sparkled with rows of their own glass flowers. Beyond the sea of gently slanted rooftops, the rolling Viridian Hills surrounded the village on all sides, like a tree-covered cushion keeping them safe from the outside world. Lapis knew she must have come from beyond those hills, but she had no memories of what lay outside the village.

I'll have to leave at some point, if I can't find answers here, she thought. Though she was desperate for answers regarding her past, the prospect of leaving the village still frightened her. There were too many unknowns, too many risks. Besides, she'd need money to travel, and Agatha was only able to provide her with room and board in exchange for working at the tavern. Maybe once I get past my stage fright I can try doing street performances? That would get more eyes on me than performing in the tavern, and I could save up a little money that way...

A ripple of anxiety washed over her, and she felt her stomach turn. Don't get ahead of yourself, Lapis, you'll only get disappointed.

She sighed. A brisk wind blew across the roof, gently tossing her hair back, long black waves catching the evening sunlight. She knew she'd need to return to work before too long, but a few more moments up here wouldn't hurt, right?

She closed her eyes, listening to the wind through the trees and the chatter of villagers perusing the shops on the street below. The smells of freshly cooked meats, roasted vegetables, and sugary desserts filled the air, making Lapis's stomach rumble. She allowed herself to take in the pleasant atmosphere for a few more moments, before finally standing and making her way back to the attic window. She carefully descended the sloped roof, holding onto the window frame for support, but just when she was about to re-enter the tavern, something caught her attention.

Light.

She stopped, curious. Was it a reflection from one of the rooftop flowers? No, the light had been lower—whatever caused it must have been down on the street. She stood still, scanning the scattered crowd of villagers, seeing nothing unusual, until—

There!

Letting go of the window frame and cautiously stepping to the edge of the roof, Lapis scanned the street below. Angel Haus sat along a small side road that connected to the main market street, and at the end of their offshoot, she saw the source of the light.

Someone was glowing.