Going on hiatus. I'm not feeling this story right now and felt pushing out chapters just to put them out would only lower the quality of the story so I'm taking a break until I know what I want to do. Thanks to all those who have read so far.

Nal stood in front of a room filled with lesser nobles, wealthy merchants, and bar owners. If it weren't for the rabbit mask she wore, she would have never gotten the courage to be here.

"What's this!? We did not come to see a child play rabbit!" A voice said from the small crowd.

"Where is the person in charge!" Another voice yelled.

Nal's legs shook from embarrassment and fear. There was no way she could do this. Davanvia should be the one standing here.

"Nal!" came Syl's voice from behind the curtain they used to hide the TV, "It's okay! We practiced this!"

Nal looked at the faces in the crowd. Most seemed disinterested and others looked irritated.

It took all of her willpower to not run away. There was no way...

Something Davanvia told her before they separated earlier that day came to her mind, "I believe in you. Your only enemy is yourself. Sylvain is there to help you and if anything goes wrong, we can try again."

Nal clenched her fists and spoke in a slightly huskier voice than usual, “H… h… hello!”

Everyone that wasn’t already looking at her, turned to her, and the room quieted.

Nal’s heart already raced in her chest, but now her breathing quickened to match, “Th… thank you! For comminthg! We are EDIN.”

Nal wanted to die from embarrassment as men laughed at the slip of her tongue and sent jeers her way.

She could do this! She even knew some of them, “To… today! I… we… have given you the chance to be the first to buy a new, world changing product!”

Nal pulled the curtain open, revealing a dog masked Sly standing next to the TV.

“The tele… televishoun… Tele…”

Syl whispered just loud enough for only Nal to hear, “Television.”

“Television!”

The men laughed again at Nal’s slip up.

“Is this a comedy act?”

“Did they grab a random urchin from the street to save money?”

Nal heard Syl growl at the jeers, but she instead inserted the storage crystal into the TV.

When the TV turned on the room quieted to a whisper.

Displayed on the TV sat a rabbit masked Davanvia with a harp and several girls standing in a row.

Syl spoke into the communication crystal she kept partially hidden in her sleeve, and Davanvia turned her attention to the camera.

In a singsong voice Davanvia spoke, “Thank you for coming!”

Several men whispered, but Nal was more focused on the relief of not having the attention on her anymore to notice.

Davanvia motioned to herself and the other girls with a flourish, “Before we talk business we would like to give a performance by singing ‘Man from Ulloor’!”

Davanvia sat to the side and readied her harp.

‘Man from Ulloor’ was a song popular among the nobility lately. The group chose this song because it had a good range of tonal shifts that needed talented musicians to pull off effectively. This was so that potential customers could see that they were serious about their entertainment and if they bought the TV, they could see high quality performances without having to leave their homes or hire musicians to come to their homes.

The nobles in the audience moved closer to the TV to get a better look.

Syl moved between the group and the TV, “Please do not touch the Television or we will end the presentation right now.”

The nobles looked irritated a servant gave them orders, but they stopped anyway.

Davanvia and the choir finished the song and Davanvia moved closer to the camera, “We plan on inviting many more musicians and will have plays and other forms of entertainment!”

Nal’s heart began beating fast again. It was her turn to speak again.

Nal took a deep breath, “N…  Ne… Next! We have! Some news to show you!”

Everyone looked at her, most irritated she distracted them from the TV.

She waited for the chatter and insults about her horrible delivery to die down, “We have a… reporter… in Flaern covering the latest development of the Siege of Fort Soli.”

Syl spoke into her communication crystal again and the image of Davanvia switched to a man wearing a hawk mask holding a spyglass in his left hand.

The man stood to the side of the screen so the camera could take in the scene behind him.

A valley took up most of the view. In the center an imposing fortress stood, surrounded by the invading Toa Mirr army. Clouds of smoke rose from within the fortress and from the camps outside, while siege weapons hurled stones at mighty granite walls.

The camera zoomed in on the fortress, revealing a makeshift bridge crossing the moat on the east side of the fortress that lay next to a break in the wall.

“Only a few hours ago, Toa Mirran siege weapons breached the fortress walls. Flaern soldiers held off the besiegers’ attempts at laying a bridge across the moat until Toa Mirran mages created a barrier that allowed their engineers to place the bridge. For the last hour Flaern soldiers have bravely held the tide of soldiers from entering the fortress, but with their enemy having ten times the numbers, they are faltering.”

The camera panned to the north wall, revealing a crumbling section.

“With the breaching of the east wall, Toa Mirr moved their siege weapons to the north and are on the verge of creating another breach.”

The camera panned down, showing another bridge waiting for use.

“As you can see, more Toa Mirran troops are waiting to cross as soon as the wall crumbles.”

The camera panned back to the east wall, showing several specks bound over it. 

The reported held his spyglass up, “It looks like several Flaern mages are attacking the bridge! The Toa Mirran mages are retaliating. Oh! It is hard to tell from this distance, but several flaming jars just flew over from the fortress and hit the bridge. The last time Flaern tried this, the Toa Mirran mages stopped them. Oh! It’s on fire! I can see dozens of soldiers jumping off to escape the flames and the Toa Mirran mages are too busy with the Flaern mages to stop it!”

The reported stopped talking, and the camera focused on the bridge and the two groups of mages fighting near it.

“It looks like they did it! Toa Mirr will need to replace the bridge. Flaern has bought themselves some time, though at the cost of several mages.” The camera zoomed out from the siege and back to the reporter, “Things are looking bad for Flaern. Will they be able to survive the siege until reinforcements come? Or is it a matter of time before Fort Soli falls into the hands of Toa Mirr? This is Hawk, for EDIN news.”

The TV turned blank.

No one spoke. Fort Soli falling was bad not only for Flaern, but for Amirr. If Flaern lost the war, they might likely be next.

A noble pulled a communication crystal from his pouch, “Contact our agent in Fort Soli!”

“I heard from mine earlier about this.”

“This is big!”

Everyone turned to Syl.

“How much for one of these!”

“I want one for my bar!”

“Tell me how to make one of these! I’ll pay a fortune!”

Syl said nothing and turned to Nal.

Everyone turned to Nal.

Nal about fainted. If her legs hadn’t locked up, she’d have run right then, “Um… Ah!”

Her mind went blank.

Syl sighed, “We have enough televisions to sell to everyone we invited and, because you are the first to buy them, we will lower the price from one thousand gold to nine hundred gold, or rent one for a one hundred gold deposit and fifty gold a monthly fee until you pay the full price.”

A noble near the TV didn’t look convinced, “Why should I get one of these over a communication crystal? I can hire someone for a pittance to do the same.”

Nal recognized him as Count Shino.

Some merchants shouted their agreements.

Syl’s face showed no reaction to their comments, “The television makes it possible for groups to watch and listen to the same thing without having to crowd around a crystal. We also plan to provide entertainment and news throughout the day at no extra cost.”

Count Shino didn’t look convinced, “And how will you pay for this?”

“Between events we plan to allow merchants and others to buy time to promote their wares. We can link multiple televisions to a single communication crystal so these messages will reach many people at once.”

Some merchants seemed interested.

Count Shino still didn’t look convinced, “This television seems interesting, but how can I trust you when your representative cannot even speak properly?”

Nal nearly slumped to the ground. She knew she probably made a terrible impression.

Syl didn’t look at Nal, “We understand we have little of a reputation yet, but if you do not take a chance now, you will need to pay the full price of one thousand gold.”

Count Shino shook his head, “I will not take a risk when I have my own means for entertainment.”

Several nobles and merchants voiced their agreement.

The noble and several others left the room.

“I’ll rent one. It’ll be great for my bar,” a less wealthy merchant said as he inspected the TV.

Several other merchants expressed interest too.

The nobles that hadn’t left yet still seemed unconvinced.

“I do not think you will be successful, but this will go nicely in my collection,” One noble said.

“It is cheaper to hire performers,” another added, “but I am curious to see how you do.”

Several minutes passed, and Syl took orders from the remaining nobles and merchants.

Nal collapsed when the door closed behind the last man and started crying, “I ruined…” sniff, “it. If it was not for you, Syl, everyone would have left.”

Syl walked up behind Nal and massaged her shoulders, “You did great for you first try. Everyone gets nervous at first.”

Nal lowered her head, “Davanvia should have been the one doing it. She is the best out of everyone with this.”

“You know Davanvia is busy with the performance. Besides, I think you’ll be great once you get the hang of it.”

Nal didn’t believe her, “I do not think I will ever get used to it.”

The door in the back opened, and Iysinfyr entered the room.

Iysinfyr walked next to Nal and put her hand on her head, “Next time just look over their heads or picture them as fruit.”

Nal looked up, “I am sorry. If I was better, we would have gotten more people to buy.”

Iysinfyr shook her head, “I do not think so. He is right. Most nobles can hire people for cheaper than buying a TV.”

Nal stood up and wiped some tears off her face, “Than what are we to do?”

Iysinfyr thought for a moment, “Hmm, either something cheaper or more convenient.”

Nal thought too, “Can you make them cheaper?”

Iysinfyr shook her head, “I tried using cheaper glass, but it is too hard to see anything.”

Nal pursed her lips, “Mmm. What about selling the communication crystal without the TV? My father spends a lot of his time using them when he is travelling. Having something to watch in a carriage would be nice.”

Iysinfyr brightened, “Good thinking. If we do that, we only need to charge the cost of the communication crystal plus maybe a little extra. Maybe I should make a design that lets you remove the crystal from the TV so you can do both. You could change crystals too.”

Nal smiled, happy she contributed something, “We should get back together with El and Davanvia and tell them how things went. Well… except for me messing up, maybe?”

Nal poked her index fingers together and looked at Syl and Iysinfyr hopefully.

Iysinfyr smiled, “I will let you explain everything to them, then.”

Nal scowled, crossed her arms, “Humph!”

Syl took out the communication crystal and handed it to Nal.

Nal hesitated, gave Iysinfyr another angry look, then turned it on.

El’s face appeared, “Nal! How’d everything go?”

Nal told her how many TVs they sold and rented.

“That’s good for the first try,” El smiled.

Someone’s hand grabbed El’s wrist and moved the view.

Davanvia appeared, and she looked thrilled, “Things turned out perfectly with the performance and news. How did your speech go?”

Nal frowned and glanced at Iysinfyr, “I… Syl had to take over.”

Davanvia nodded in understanding and gave Nal a gentle smile, “Just trying was an enormous step. You will get better.”

Nal shook her head, “I think you should do it over the TV. You do not need me.”

Davanvia sighed, “Nal, we agreed to do this together. You can do this! We practiced it many times. You just need to get used to being in front of an audience.”

Nal shook her head vigorously, “I can’t. I can’t. I was so scared. I knew some of them. Some rumors… If they find out who I am…” 

Iysinfyr put her hand on Nal’s shoulder, though she had to stand on her toes to reach, “Syl, Deko, and I are here. No one will hurt you.”

Nal looked to Iysinfyr, “But…  how can we stop nobles? We are just a small group.”

Iysinfyr gave Nal a smile that scared her, “Deko and I have our ways.”

Nal watched Iysinfyr for a moment, “Oh… okay…”

Nal turned back to the communication crystal and saw an uncomfortable El squished next to Davanvia, “You’re braver than I am, Nal. I would have fainted.”

Nal remembered something, “Oh! I thought of a wonderful idea! Some nobles didn’t want the TV because they could hire performers, but…” 

Nal explained what she and Iysinfyr discussed earlier.

***

Syl watched Nal talk over the communication crystal.

To be honest, she hadn’t expected Nal to say anything at all, and stiffen up as soon as the attention focused on her. It made her proud and she couldn’t wait to see her try again. This was a marvelous opportunity for Nal to gain confidence in herself.

A part of her didn’t want to improve. That stuttering of hers when she tried to speak was adorable and some squeaks she let out double more so. If only there was some way to record things. Like Nal’s sleeping face. Nal’s embarrassed face. Nal’s smiling face… Maybe something with Nal, El, and Iysinfyr peacefully sleeping together…

***

A masked Deko stood over a man she just knocked to the ground, “Who sent you to spy on us?”

She caught him to break into the room they claimed to keep the TVs in.

The man turned his head and said nothing.

Deko sniffed him and recognized the smell. She was glad she took the time to memorize the smells of all the nobles and wealthy merchants in the city. Count Shino.

Deko stepped back from the man, “Tell Shino he will have to send more than a novice if he wants to steal from us.”

Deko stepped to the side.

The man stood up and sprinted away.

Deko smiled. She had hoped someone would try their luck. She hoped they would try again.