As soon as Ed had given him the instruction to become visible Rennish was almost positively giddy. His first chance to interact with the world again. A few millennia as a spirit interacting with the human world but not being human was hard on a spirit whose desires are all about music and creation and the beauty of the world. Being a spirit takes some of that beauty away when you are not a part of it anymore.
Rennish rushed off to the road and stood at the bottom of a ravine where he was mostly out of sight of anyone who may be walking by before snapping himself back into existence. The act took more power than he imagined or he was using his divine powers without realizing it some other way.
That first rush of the air on his skin and sudden warm feeling of the sun stopped him dead in his tracks. Alive, this was that feeling again. And with his first breath, his human emotions ran back to him. He wasn't a spirit in human form. He WAS human ever so briefly. Golliad and Ysennia had explained this would be different than before. He was neither human nor divine but both now and would need to be careful. The divine should not die as a human as it has no soul to bring back.
Rennish didn't even care about that right now. He was basking in the glory of breathing and sweating and the emotions and feelings he had forgotten. He had made a promise and his divine compulsion was still in place. He MUST inform Oscar and Plim of Ed's plans and wait for him. But what he did while he waited... now that was his choice alone.
Feeling the need to stretch out a bit Rennish ran nearly the whole mile back into town. He was walking on things instead of through them now and it took a while for his body to regain a center of gravity. He was sure he looked like a drunk who thought he was being chased by wild animals but he didn't care. He came through town and stopped outside the merchant's store. When he went inside he could smell the wood and leather. The musty old smell of boxes of cedar and Cyprus that hadn't moved in ages. It was all the reasons he had started making music like a human.
"Excuse me! I am Rennish, Erust hired me as his helper. He wanted me to check on the status and make sure all was still well." The man behind the counter nodded and shuffled through a stack of orders.
"Yes, you can let your master know we have all but a few small things like trade goods that are out of season or severely back-ordered. We might have them tomorrow morning. Otherwise the pack animals, cart, and provisions are prepared and will be ready at sunrise tomorrow when we open." said the thin haggard man behind the corner. He wasn't Plim but had been working for Plim for ages it seemed. He was as old the building itself.
Rennish nodded and thanked the man before excusing himself. He strolled up the street more leisurely this time on his way to the Inn. The town had all different smells than the farmlands. Horses, people, cooking, washing up, it could all be smelled on the air. At times it was detestable and others it was pleasant like the smell of lilac oil in the rinse water of the professional cleaning office.
Oscar and Lily were pleased to know that something horrible had not happened to Erust. His plan of not returning was a bit worrying since he seemed so excited for dinner. Rennish smiled sheepishly and looked a little too hard at the couple. "Hadn't they been older earlier?" he thought to himself before shaking the notion from his head. It's only a fabrication in his head he thought. He is seeing things differently when he is human instead of divine.
"I will need a key to my Master's room please," Rennish said with a small bow. "I must prepare for his return."
"Oh yes that's fine, Erust is a fine young man, you be sure to serve him well!" Oscar said while holding the key out for Rennish.
"Yes, I completely agree. He is bound for great things!" Rennish thanked them both and turned towards the door. "I am going to go out and get a few things prepared for him. I will return later tonight. Please pass him this note when you see him?" He handed over the note and then waved as he exited the front door of the establishment.
And now that he had followed his master's orders he was free to wait for him. Ed had not specified exactly where to wait for him or when he was returning. Magic required stipulations, it was prone to loopholes and Rennish planned to exploit that. He would feel the divine magic pulling on him if he failed in his duties or was about too.
And in his head Rennish was drooling almost at the thought of every tavern, bar, and eatery he could find. A bard's favorite thing was people. Music without an audience is just practice no matter how good. And his music was great! Millenia to sit and practice without being heard? Oh no tonight he would play and drink and socialize. Stories of heroes for the men and soft sweet words for the ladies!
And Rennish did just that. There were a few bars and restaurants in town and most of them welcomed the idea of a passing musician stopping for a meal. Entertainment becomes stale when only the same few people play it. And play he did.
Rennish carried his instruments with him everywhere in a bag labeled simply as "instruments" and any instrument he could think of could be pulled from this bag. How long the item stayed in existence and its quality depended on the magic of the puller and the quality of that person's soul. Rennish as a copy of a copy. His powers were the 3rd level. Most deities that were recruited were 5th and up level copies where their souls could hold more power. Rennish knew Ed was higher than him but had no idea that he was a first-gen copy written by the Lord himself. He would discover that fact later. Ed's powers were on tier with Golliad, Ysennnia, and the other major divines.
Rennish played in a bar for a few hours. At first, it was still daylight when he played and regaled the townsfolk with stories that were so old they had become new again. Stories of heroes and stories from other worlds and planes they hadn't been. The stories of Vikings, the stories of those so far technologically advanced it seemed like magic! And stories of people who wouldn't resemble anyone living in this world remotely. Rennish jazzed them up to be more enjoyable for his audience and he was loving all the attention.
His next bar was daylight when he went in and definitely dark when he left. He played an item called a harmonica which amazed everyone as the 'mouth organ' was an amazing invention to them. Rennish told stories of love and triumph and ate and drank with the villagers. He soaked in the stories of the miracles in the town. Whole fields of vegetables and fruit coming to bear early and the prospect of a good haul this year being able to charge a premium for things you normally couldn't get in this time of the year like melons and root vegetables.
The next bar he made up a new song about the Age of Miracles in this town. The townsfolk sang and drank. Men swayed back and forth with tankards of beverages frothing over the edges and sang with him. The women either danced with the men or sat together staring at the dashing Rennish and his voice. He was playing the guitar this time. The sounds of the strings stuck the souls of the people in the tavern and excited them all. As he played they became more excited and when all was done after four of five songs he was passed his first bottle of wine from the region. Partying commenced with Rennish talking to the ladies at the bar and toasting with the men.
And this pattern continued for two more bars. The moon made his path across the sky until he reached his zenith and by the time he made it to his last bar the heavy party-goers were home. They had headed back alone or had found a friend for the evening. No matter the time or the age the sentiment was the same. The town comes together at night to celebrate a hard day's work and hopefully go homeless lonely then they came in. Rennish kissed the hands of the ladies and nustled up into their neck and hair. Smelling the fresh scents of oils and flowers used in their hair. Smells were amazing to him. If only he could write songs about the smells. They would be sung for ages.
By that last bar, he was very inebriated and his songs were the old classic ones that his body knew so well he didn't have to focus on doing them correctly. The crowd this late in the night and early in the morning was rowdier, more raucous, and just a bit more unscrupulous. Rennish sang them songs and walked through the crowd at the last place to stay open. It was in the shipping and receiving district where warehouse workers and those who weren't welcome elsewhere came to drink.
A beast of a woman, tall and muscled with amazing black hair and a tiny man with skinny limbs and gray hair ran the joint. Ersa and Ezra were their names. The woman said 'Ersa' like it was a name not to be forgotten while staring down at you with steel gray eyes. Ezra just shrugged when called to avoiding eye contact that showed his light complexion and one yellow and one red eye. Rennish was certain that you could have called him anything and he would have come. He probably was as the night went on and the drink got long in the cup. And from the sight of his two-color eyes he was sure he had been called by another name in a previous life.
Rennish stopped singing about the time the crickets quit chirping and just played music slowly on a lap lute. He was playing lazily with one hand and drinking the last of a cup that kept refilling as if by magic. The bar was keeping it full for him as payment.
"You seen that scrawny kid coming in the other day from the church?" said a man with a scar over one eye and body built like a barrel.
"Yeah I saw him, but he's bad news boss. We need to avoid him. My blessed knee aches when I look at him. And you know my knee. It only glows around religious stuff and we need to avoid robbing the church." a frightened bald straggly looking man in clothing that was far too large for his frame.
"He spent a lot of money at Plim's yesterday according to the counterman." the first man pressed on ignoring his plea.
"Oh ho! So he has cash and a weird feel about him. Look T, let's find someone easier to knock off." the skinny man said nibbling on a bone that had previously held meat.
"We will see. We've been paid to make his life hell when he gets out of town. And I dont plan to not at least try. We've already got the gold, we could walk away but I was told he spent nearly a gold coin in the shop yesterday. Dropped it like it was nothing!" he hiccuped and wiped his mouth before resuming. "Either way we get paid and we end up with something worth selling or we just take the money and call it a night."
And as Rennish listened to this he thought, he must tell Ed immediately. But the rivers of booze lazily pushed that thought from his head before he could sober himself up enough to call out to him in his mind. He was drunk and he forgot he was divine. He played and played until he fell asleep at the table. Ersa lifted him like a small bag of potatoes and laid him out back in the stables. He was pungent before and would smell even worse when he woke up.
When he did wake up it was to Ed looking at him, scowling like something was very wrong. He was wet, had he pee'd himself? No, divines don't do that anymore. Had the horse pissed all over him? No, if a horse could smile this one was definitely smiling. Ed stood over him like a shadow in the light with a bucket. And at this moment he remembered what he must tell him. But you know how the story goes from here.