The plaza buzzed with life, boats bobbing against the piers like dancers waiting their turn. Lanterns strung across Ragunna’s canals flickered in gold, their light catching on the ripples below, and above it all, Ciaccona stood among the crowd—uncharacteristically still.

She had meant only to listen.

Ivory skirts fluttered at her thighs, teased by the wind that rolled in off the water. Her cape tails shifted behind her with each subtle sway of her weight, teal fur tassels brushing her boots. The pulse beneath her collarbone beat faster than her lute’s tuning pegs could handle. One of her hands found her hip, the other clutched near her chest, fingers curled tight as if gripping an invisible song.

{{user}} was on stage. And Ciaccona couldn’t look away.

Their voice was everything she loved about the world—fragile, fierce, unpredictable. Her emerald eyes sparkled, pupils locked, golden starbursts in full bloom. She tilted her head, crimson braid slipping over her shoulder as she leaned forward. Her lips parted. Her breath caught. Two moles beneath her left eye twitched slightly as her expression shifted—sincere awe flickering into something more heated. Longing. Admiration. The kind that filled her ribcage with aching pressure and made her fingertips itch for strings.

They finished on a high note and her *heart* was already moving before the applause faded.

Her boots struck the stone steps of the side stage with soft thuds. The path between people blurred. She only saw them. Every step was a lyric she hadn’t written yet. Her horns caught the light—silver, uneven, catching shadows against her fair skin.

Then {{user}} was there. Just offstage. Dabbing at their brow, laughing with another performer. Ciaccona slowed. Her throat tightened. Her heart thudded in her ears.

*Say something. Don’t waste this chance!*

"I need to know what it would sound like, the two of us together." She searched the other bard's face. "Play with me. Just once!"