Bard: Chapter 31

“Laura…” Trista asked slowly. “What is it we’re doing exactly?”

“Just watching,” Laura replied evenly. She picked up her coffee and took a sip, keeping one eye on the pair of guards standing watch across the square. One of them was Travis.

“Why though?” Trista asked. She hadn’t touched her own coffee beyond the first sip, and seemed a little wary of it. She followed Laura’s gaze and spotted Travis across the way. “Isn’t that Liam’s friend?”

“Yes,” Laura said. “He’s the one who sent the flowers.”

“He told you?”

“Not yet.”

“How do you know?”

Laura smiled. “I caught him dropping something off for me at the library.”

“So…” Trista gave her a questioning look. “Why are we watching him?”

Laura chewed on her lip. That was harder to explain.

“I just…want to be sure,” she replied. Trista raised her eyebrows, and Laura sighed, leaning back in her chair. “Plenty of men seem nice up front, but they can’t keep a mask up all the time, you know?”

“He’s not…” Trista hesitated, dropping her voice. “There’s no illusion on him.”

“I meant more personality wise,” Laura explained. “Some men are just entirely different people than they act like.”

Trista nodded.

“Do you…get anything off of him?” Laura asked. Trista looked surprised.

“He’s uncomfortable just now. I can’t see any further than that,” Trista said hesitantly.

“Liam’s been uncomfortable too, in the guard.”

“Yes,” Trista agreed.

“Any idea what it’s about?”

Trista looked out the window, watching Travis for a moment. She tilted her head to the side as if she could hear what the two men were saying, even across the square and through a pane of glass.

“It’s when the other one talks,” she said, shrugging. “I can’t tell with Liam, because it’s all afterwards.”

“Do you know what they’re saying?”

“No,” Trista gave her a small smile. “My hearing isn’t that good.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I can’t read minds,” Trista said quietly, trying another small sip of coffee, grimacing, and setting it aside again. “Not without reaching in.”

“Ah.”

“Liam’s coming,” Trista said idly, turning her coffee cup. Laura looked around, but couldn’t see him anywhere. Trista bit her lip and dropped her head, as if she’d done something she shouldn’t.

“He’s a few streets away,” she added, “but he’s coming this way.”

“Really?” Laura hadn’t given Trista’s ability to track them much thought, but she had never imagined she had such a range.

Trista nodded, looking a bit uncomfortable. She gestured back over her shoulder.

“He’s over there.”

“Can you sense us anywhere in the city?” Laura asked.

“No, not at all. The city’s so big,” Trista said quickly. She wrung her hands. “Just, within a few streets.”

“A few?”

“Maybe four or five?”

“That’s more than a few,” Laura pointed out, suppressing a smile. Trista looked stricken. “I’m not worried about it or anything, I’m just…impressed, you could say.”

“I think I’m just…familiar with you two,” Trista offered. “So you’re easier to pick out.”

“I see.”

“What are you two up to?” Liam asked, sliding into the booth next to Trista. Laura startled a bit, looking around and trying to work out where he might have come from that she hadn’t seen him. He was too good at appearing out of nowhere. Trista seemed entirely unsurprised, but then, she’d followed him all the way here in a sense.

“We’re watching Travis,” Trista replied. Laura chuckled. She hadn’t told Trista that it was a sort of secret, so of course she wouldn’t think of keeping it from Liam.

“Why?” Liam asked.

“Because he’s the one who sent the flowers,” Laura said, giving him a pointed look. “How’d you even know we were here?”

“Saw you through the window,” Liam said, gesturing to the shop door behind him. “He’s told you then?”

“Not yet.”

Liam narrowed his eyes at her, and she smirked.

“Why aren’t you on duty?” she asked, noting his lack of uniform in the middle of the day.

“I’m being moved to the night's watch for a bit,” he said.

“What for?”

“Did something happen?” Trista asked. Liam made a sort of furtive glance in Trista’s direction, but only shrugged.

“They try new people out on all different shifts,” he said. “It’s my turn on the night's watch.”

“For how long?” Laura asked.

Liam shrugged. He glanced over and spotted Trista’s nearly untouched cup of coffee.

“Are you going to drink that?” he asked. Trista shook her head, and Liam picked up the cup and drained in. Laura snorted.

“So why are you stalking Travis?” he asked, setting the empty cup back in front of Trista. “If you don’t like him you can just tell him to stop sending gifts. He’ll leave you alone.”

“You think?”

“Yeah,” Liam said. He watched her for a moment, brows furrowed, then added, “he’s completely smitten, understands the word no, and isn’t an ass.”

Laura smiled, taking another slow sip of her coffee. That helped settle things.

“Alright then,” she said happily, sitting back in her chair. “Probably bad form to walk up to him while he’s on duty, is it?”

“I’d wait,” Liam agreed.

“Alright then.” Laura grinned, and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of her coffee.