Chapter 9

Putting a few things in her pack Laurel prepared for the gathering, glancing into the book room she finally ventured in and sat down at the desk, for weeks she had been so busy she had not had a chance to even look at any of the books, her eyes took in all the books and she smiled to herself. Rubbing her paws over the old scarred desk she whispered "thank you whoever you were for leaving this for a hungry soul to find" Laurel blinked hearing a gruff voice reply "it is all yours for your heart is good, it makes up for all the misery I caused in my lifetime, be well I can now depart in peace." Laurel whispered thank you as she blew out the lantern, leaving the book room she went into the bedchamber planning on trying to get a good nights sleep before she left for the gathering. Stubbing her toe talons on the platform Laurel swore hopping around rubbing her paw, almost falling down she watched in amazement as the bed started to move, slowly it slid off the platform, quickly lighting a couple torches Laurel cautiously moved closer to the bed, peering down she started to laugh almost hysterically, the old dragon had a hoard hidden under his bed, she stared down at chests overflowing with jewels, chests filled with coins, golden candelabra's, gold and silver plates and large serving platters, going down on her knee's Laurel dipped her paws into the chest of coins letting them cascade through her talons, oh my she thought I can't let anyone know this is here, taking a handful of coins she got up and walked around to the other side of the bed with a push she sent the bed sliding closed over the opening.

Laurel lay on the bed laughing and giggling to herself, of course every selfrespecting dragon had to have a hoard. Laurel fell asleep the coins still clutched in her paw. Laurel woke late the next morning, looking at the coins in her paw she grinned, adding them to her small collection in her coin purse, hmmmmming to herself she opened the bed platform again, reaching in she took out a small pawful of loose jewels just in case the things she wanted at the gathering were more expensive then she anticipated but if she didn't have to she had no intentions of spending any of the jewels and as few of her coins as possible. Laurel the singer was poor everyone knew that, she wasn't going to do anything to change anyone's opinion about that, if she suddenly started buying or spending lavishly that would be asking for trouble.

Laurel took a long soothing bath in the bubbling pool, had lunch then went to make sure that the stone cottage was securely closed. Back in her lair Laurel smiled at Izzie "if any of you need me while at the gathering just call my name and I will hear you and reply, would you like me to bring you anything back? I'm not sure exactly what will be at the gathering although I do remember a lot of booths set up" Laurel laughed "come on Izzie, I can see you want me to look for something, what is it?" Izzie chuckled "your right, if in your travels you come across some material for clothes and it's not too costly I would appreciate it if you would get some for us, we all need new clothes." Laurel nodded "I will see what I can find, if not at the gathering then in some town, I'll send it back here for you so if I haven't returned yet you will have it, I'm going to leave the lair open for you so if you could keep an eye on things I would appreciate it" Izzie nodded with a smile she thought to herself, good hopefully I've gotten her to notice how bad her clothes look, she maybe poor but there is no reason to look it with a few stitches in cloth. It had already been decided by the lady elves that they needed to improve Laurel's human's appearance, since she seemed to prefer to stay in her human form most of the time.

Laurel secured her lute to her pack, then with a wave to Izzie she was gone. Laurel knew she was arriving a little early for the gathering but she wanted to find a place to setup her fire pit showing that spot had already been chosen, if it was as crowded as the last gathering she had attended she wanted her spot picked out ahead of time. Laurel found a small secluded spot, she setup her fire pit, laid out her bedroll then went to wander around. Frowning Laurel didn't see any booths with material, in her wanderings, although she was told that there would be more sellers coming later that night, she asked around and found out where the nearest human town was. Laurel quietly walked into the store whose sign said they sold fabric, she smiled at the woman behind the counter who asked if she could help, Laurel explained she wanted serviceable material. Laurel frowned at the price of the fabric she was shown, Laurel haggled over the price trying to get the woman to come down as much as possible finally settling on a fair price Laurel paid the woman then had her wrap it up. Leaving the town Laurel sent the package back to her lair then returned to the gathering.

Laurel stood looking at a booth selling books, she knew books were very hard to come by and would be priced high but she wanted to see if they had any books on herbs and herbal remedies because she had noticed in her travels many people were interested in such things, she figured if she started carrying around a small supply of herbs in her pack she could probably sell them at a good price.

Turning to reach for a book Laurel almost stepped on the elf standing next to her "hello Trink" she said with a smile, picking up the book she turned the pages frowning, she could barely make out the words with a sigh she put it back, nibbling her lower lip she asked the little man if he had any books for beginning readers, the little man smiled kindly going through his books he set three in front of Laurel. Laurel smiled going through the books they were basic reading and numbers primers, with these Laurel thought she could continue to teach herself from the things Lady Joan had already shown her. Laurel almost let out a howl of rage when the little man named a price for the three books, Laurel took out her coin purse, opening it she peered inside silently counting her coins, looking at the little man she named a different price.

Trink stood watching Laurel and the book seller bargaining back and forth, frowning to himself he looked Laurel over, her clothes were thread bare, her boots shoddy and worn, comparing her to the last time he had seen her, she had lost a lot of weight, her face looked older more mature. Laurel and the little man finally agreed on a price, Laurel giving the little man a frown she pulled the coins out of her coin purse and paid for the books, putting them in her pack she thanked the man and once again almost stepped on Trink. Laurel who was very pleased with herself for getting the price down so low, she had learned well from Jacob, it was never wise to let a seller think you had a lot of coin to spend, chuckled at Trink "if you didn't stand so close, I wouldn't be stepping all over your toes Trink." Trink laughed "wellll girly if yea looked down now and then yea would be seein me big ol feet stickin out."

Laurel chatted with Trink as she went from booth to booth, Trink noticed that Laurel's stomach rumbled each time they passed a place selling food but she never stopped. Sitting down on a log Laurel took an apple out of her pack, she smiled at the group sitting around talking about this and that, she half listened as she ate her apple, she would get herself something filling and hot later after she had seen the rest of the booths. "Here yea go girly, I don't like eaten alone, so eat up" Laurel looked in surprise at the meat pie Trink was offering her, just the smell made her still hungry stomach rumble, not wanting to be rude Laurel thanked Trink and took the meat pie.

Laurel smiled and said hello to the young man and the two fairies that came over saying hello to Trink with much laughter and hugs. "I see yea youngins survived them foreign countries, glad yea all made it back for the gathering, yea can tell ol Trink all about them foreign girlies later." Christopher grinned a wicked grin "we will leave that up to Revanche when he gets here, he was rather tied up with an Italian dragoness when we left, he's the one who has been sampling every girly and dragoness from one end of the continent to the other" Thamara and Trevor laughed "I think he did a lot more then sample" said Trevor grinning as his sister blushed. Trink tried to change the subject but the three were bound and determined to discuss Revanche's sexual escapades across Europe.

Laurel finished her meat pie, keeping a smile on her face she stood up "I need to go find a few more things, it was nice seeing you again Trink, thank you for the food, stay well all of you." Christopher who had been staring at Laurel the whole time, let out a sigh "who was that beauty Trink, she about gave me a heart attack with that first smile hello" Trevor grinned "heart attack is that all? I thought my eyes were going to fall out when I first saw her." "That be Laurel the songstress" Trink replied as he watched Laurel walk away.

Laurel told herself it didn't matter to her what Revanche did, he was a grown man, he had urges just like she did, just that she had only given in to them once, she saw Alex's dark eye's in her mind quickly pushing the image of Alex away Laurel angrily shook her head. Blinking back tears she knew she was lying to herself, it did matter what Re did, it did hurt knowing he had been with other women and dragoness's, it had been a mistake coming to the gathering she didn't belong here anymore.

Mar, Virlane and Kat sat down next to Trink "frowning in your ale is bad for you Trink, you're supposed to be drinking it you know" Mar said grinning. Frowning at Mar Trink said he thought Mar and Marti'en had been keeping an eye on the Laurel girly, he thought they had taken her under their wing. Mar frowned at Trink "Laurel stopped responding to our calls months and months ago, she was bouncing all over the country and we lost track of her where abouts, why do you ask? Is she here?" Trink took a long drink of his ale "aye she be's here, all thread bare with holes in her boots, don't think she has enough coin to feed herself, got herself some apples in that pack of hers, that soft gentle glow she had about her be's gone." Mar stood up "lets go talk to Marti'en" he said to the three, then turned going in search of Marti'en.

Laurel stood back listening to the man in the booth, he had all sorts of musical instruments, beautiful, wonderful things, the woman with him was demonstrating a flute, Laurel felt her whole body leaning forward at the sound. Laurel watched the woman pick up another piece she had never seen before, she listened to the man saying it was a harp, a small lap harp, the woman ran her fingers over the strings and Laurel closed her eyes listening to the sound, it was so lovely. Laurel heard a fairy ask what the cost of the harp was, she almost moaned hearing the price that was named. She was so tempted, she could pay with the jewels she had secreted in her coin pouch, Laurel blinked listening to the man start bragging on his wife's musical abilities, when he said there was no finer voice in the land then his wife's, Laurel smiled, edging through the crowd she looked at the man "if I can out sing your wife, would you sell me the harp and flute at half price?" The man laughed at Laurel "no one can out sing my wife, if you think you can and we'll let those standing here decide, I will give you them to you free" the man all but rubbed his hands together in glee, this would bring customers to his booth, it would quickly be known his wife was the best singer and they would want to buy from the very best, he was going to make a lot of money off this foolish young woman who thought she could out sing his wife.

Laurel heard all those standing around whispering to themselves as she took off her pack and unstrapped her lute, word quickly spread of the contest, Laurel smiled at the man beaming at his wife, who was all puffed up at having all these people around to hear her sing, she knew she was a good singer, her husband told her so all the time. "Please won't you go first it is after all your husband's booth so you should have the first song" Laurel said to the woman with a hesitant smile giving the man and woman the idea that she was now worried about if she could out sing the woman or not.