After a time that felt like months, everyone in the crowd had finally turned around - and they were all looking at me. Hundreds of pairs of eyes, looking at me, staring, searching, surely finding, finding all of me, inspecting, seeing, wanting, yanking, tearing me apa-
"Hey, are you alright? You're turning pretty pale."
I still haven't grown completely used to having his voice resund directly in my mind, without any feeling of traceable origin. It still felt somewhat uncomfortable.
"Yeah, yeah... yeah, I'm fine."
I raised a hand to wipe the sweat of my brow that must have certainly formed on our way here... right. I tried to continue my fingers on their path and run them through my hair to enforce some order in what must have looked more like an abandoned shrubbery, but on entry, my efforts resembled the futile ploughing of farmland during a harsh winter more than anything else.
After getting cought in several knots, I gave up and awkwardly pulled out.
"You are most certainly not and I'm getting an idea as to why. However, we will touch on that issue at a later point. For now, you must act tough. Since stealth failed before it began, confidence and gravitas are of import now."
"Sure. That will most definitely work.", I muttered, not wanting my voice and apparent monologue to carry over to the mob.
Despite my rising uneasiness, some snide must have snuk into my voice, probably because this guy was falling back into his high and mighty formality. I was somewhat impressed by my ability to be uncomfortable and pissed off at the same time.
"... Listen. This situation could go a couple ways I know of and maybe some more I don't. All of them require careful handling and control. Do not worry, I will tell you what to say, just say it in the most convincing way you can manage right now."
There he went, coming down from his high horse to patronize me. This situation was awful and I felt like I could sink into the ground, never to return, but I would not let this go his way!
"I am perfectly able to do this my wa-"
"No. You aren't. I will dictate. You will say to them what I tell you to. In both of our best interests, let me show you my experience that you have seemingly been so underwhelmed by before. This is not an option, at least if you want this to go our way."
I sighed.
Perhaps I would let it go his way. But only this once, I would show him how to treat a scholar, just he wait.
"And with haste now, they're getting to it."
I refocused my eyes that have slowly been spacing out and noticed the crowd splitting to the sides of the podium as if to invite me in. This happened at the not so subtle behest of the man sitting in the middle, who was making movements with his hands that seemed torn between parting the crowd and trying to swim.
"Just follow my lead and we'll be fine. Especially if the mayor knows what he's doing and has been instructed correctly.", he said, his voice resonating with even more pride than usual.
However, probably more to himself than to me, possibly not even consciously, he added little louder than a whisper: "As long as my ways are not already the ways of old."
---
When my people were finally done with making some space for the first civilised conversation of the night, the newcomer made his way past the rows of them and came to a halt a few feet before our haphazard podium.
From this distance, he looked even more ragged than before and quite pale as well, although I assumed that was rather normal for mages, who probably spent all day indoors doing weird stuff with even weirder items.
He techically had not made clear that he was a mage yet, but that was easy to deduce. Our belltower of all things suddenly has an inexplicable problem that we could never solve in any satisfying way, only for some tattered, lost looking guy showing up... yeah right.
This hasn't happened to me before, but there are enough tales about situations like this and my predecessor made the procedures very clear. Apparently, back in the day it happened so often, that a somewhat standard ritus came forth and went on to become tradition.
'Okay, you got this, you learned this, you know how to do this, everythig will go smooth - and if it does, you will secure a fixed belltower, a quiet night and the people's votes for the next election. Let's do this!'
I slowly exhaled to calm down and block out the still ringing bells. I looked down at the guy. I felt a little flustered, that he came straight to me, instantly assuming I was the one in charge. I was sitting in the middle of us five, but still. Feels good.
The mage was also about ready, but still looked a bit confused, almost annoyed, for some reason. He exhaled, surely to calm himself like I did, but it almost felt like a sigh of resignation as well, although that wouldn't make sense. And he was ready.
'Here it comes!'
"Greetings, oh lofty leagues of this lascivious locality, I cometh not with conflict nor strife, but with a humble request for your most dearest assistance and an offer for my exquisite services. But fear not! For in your view lies a humble vaudevillian veteran cast vicariously as both victim and villian by the vicissitudes of fate. This valorous visitation of familiar vexation stands virtuous and vows to vanquish your voracity for offer of verdict to issues most volatile.
Therefore, venal and virulent vermin van guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition: Vanish! Be you vigilant and vivified, for this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honour to meet you and you may call me Karl."
'Now for my part!'
"Greetings, traveler of unkown origin and object, be welcome amongst our midst, as we hold neither suspicion nor anger nor doubt, but ye be warned, for is your price to great or our peril to grim, you shall perish this day and never be spoken of again or deliver us all to his arms most holy. For your words may shine, but so do our blades."
'Perfect, I remembered it all!'
"My gratitude and gracious goings, I shall stay my welcome and not a second beyond, so we may all go apart and never lay eyes upon the other again."
---
With all the people looking and staring at me, it was all but impossible to find my calm and prepare for this. However, the specific nature of the lines my newfound partner had just told me, gave me that feeling of annoyance back, which was probably for the better.
With the disdain for what I was about to say as an anchor, I got it done, speaking after him and doing my best to immitate his vivid and overly theatrical inscenation.
When we were done, the man I shared this play with seemed very pleased and quite happy with himself, but most other people seemed really confused and were whispering, probably trying to figure out if anyone knew what in the name of the gods was going on.
And I would've liked to know that as well, but the time for explanation had to wait.