Mae took her bows gracefully, keeping an eye out on the crowd for Larine, then nodded at Aurana once everyone settled down again, walking back off the stage and heading back to her seat, giving Aurana a gentle hug and soft thank you before sitting down again, hopefully near Larine once more.

The purple-skinned tiefling applauds the performance, getting up to give Aurora the bouquet of black dahlias his room mate had helped him with and giving her a warm hug before offering her a seat at the table. "That was wonderful, well done you two." He says excitedly with a wide smile, looking between the two performers.

Guardok joins in the general applause, and gives Mae two thumbs up as she returns to her seat.

Larine is still standing at the table where she had earlier been sitting with Mae.  As the crowd applauds, she is joining them, her attention focus on the aasimar.   As the pair return from the stage, she stays back as Malvyn offers Aurora the bouqet of flowers.  

Mae strolls right past Mal and walks back up to Larine and smiles, whispering to her for a moment then turning to everyone else. "I hope you all enjoyed that," she says to the group.

Larine laughs, smiling wide as Mae whispers to her. "Really?"  As she turns to the others she adds, "I did enjoy that. You sing very nicely!" 

“Was great Mae!” Knap chirps with delight and drums a little rhythm on the table, which after the previous performance sounds naively clumsy but earnest. 

Mei is caught looking curiously between Larine and Mae when the Aasimar addresses the group, though she quickly catches herself staring and stutters out, "I-It was! You two really make an amazing duo--I can't believe you put that together so quickly!" Mei grabs a glass of water off the table and offers it to Mae. Though the tone is teasing, her expression is sincere as she adds, "It just needs a line in it about you, too." Mae was every bit the hero they were. Certainly to Mei herself. 

Mae thanked Mei politely with a small smile. "Thank you, Aurora was a big help. She's done a lot for us." She paused, looking at the glass of water curiously. "Oh, I don't know. I was barely there really. You all had things well in hand." She looked down and turned away a bit, looking unsure what to do.

Mei starts to reach out to Mae, to reassure her that she was very much not barely there and that her healing still to this day means so much to her, but stops. She's not sure the aasimar even considers her a friend anymore--and it might only make her more uncomfortable. She didn't want to ruin the time she does get with her.

So she pivots instead to the glass of water. "O-Oh, s-sorry, you don't have to drink it," Mei hurries with a blush. "I just always feel so parched after singing up there! B-But you're a professional so... one song probably isn't--for you doesn't--well, um... Amateurs, am I right?" she says pointing herself. Then, hearing her own words, grimaces with a little laugh.

"Um... do you two have plans now?" she asks, looking between Mae and Larine. "O-Or maybe we could talk you and Aurora into an encore?" she grins a little at Mae, only half teasing as she'd be glad to hear her voice again.

Mae watched Mei again with another bout of genuine curiosity at her behavior, looking at the glass again and shrugging once. "Not really professional, but it is a good idea for anyone to stay hydrated I think." She took the glass lightly and took a sip and handed it back. 

At the next question Mae looked back at Larine and then at Mei. "Us? Oh...I mean...I don't know...I don't think we...umm...uh...we hadn't talked about..." she blushed a bit and then shook her head. "I-I don't think Aurora is up for it anyway, I am pretty sure she has plans now. Maybe another time. I think the tavern is closing soon anyway, right?"

Aurora gives the tiefling a bit of a curious look as he hands her the flowers.  She is clearly surprised. "Why Mal, this is very thoughtful of you. Thank you." She takes the bouquet, admiring it closely. 

Overhearing the comments about an encore and closing, Aurora looks back at Mae and Mei. "Well, it looks like there's a last group heading up to play a couple of songs. But I do think after that they'll be closing.  We've got a little time left, but not to perform tonight." She gives Mae a glance. "I'm not sure what your thoughts are, but I would love playing something with you again sometime. We'll have to think of something to put together." 

Larine looks surprised at the inquiry. "Plans? Uh... no. It's late. Probably time to go really soon for me."  She blushes slightly, trying to catch a quick glance at Mae's reaction but seeming to not really want to look directly at the aasimar. 

Mei takes a sip of water, distracting her lips from the smile they wish to make at the two.

As everyone mentions how late it is, the wizard looks up at the blanket of night above them. "Oh! It has gotten late, hasn't it? I guess I should probably head back too." Still staring up at the sky, she adds dreamily, "I need to moon-cleanse my cards," as though that were a perfectly common thing to do. 

The purple-skinned tiefling gives the aasimar a brief concerned glance as she merely passes him but then he shrugs it off. "Yes, well it was admittedly Mei's idea and Knap's botanist skills behind it but I hope you like them of course." He says a bit awkwardly, nervously scratching his neck. Once seated he then looks between the others, trying to figure out what wasn't said out loud, not sure what to make of Larine, maybe she and Mae was a couple now, maybe they would even leave together, maybe the aasimar had not been interested in the raven-haired dhampir after all. He decided that was one thing he would not inquire about though, he was awkward enough as it was, sitting back to enjoy his drink and leave the social game to others seemed like his best course of action. As Mei mentions moon-cleansing her cards the tiefling glances over at Cadoras with a small smile and wonders if the cheerful elf would offer to help out with the moon-cleansing.

Guardok spots a little tension flying around and drains his drink.

"Well, it's been a blast, but time for me to leave as well", he says as he jumps down from his chair, swaying a little as he lands. Possibly not the best idea to drain his drink.

He looks back to the others, "Anyone else heading back to Dresar?".

We will then walk with anyone heading back, or go by himself if everyone else have other plans.

Mae hadn't noticed if there were flowers for her, so she looked rather confused and flustered. She looked at Larine and then at the others, "Oh, um, well I think we're all going back there Guardok. I suppose it would be okay if we walked together. Ready, Larine?" She turned back to the green haired girl and blushed a little. "Oh, yeah Aurora, I'm sure we can come up with something again. Could be fun, maybe a proper duet next time." She smiled a bit at the dark haired lady and turned away again.

Mei says her goodbyes, congratulating Aurora and Mae once more on a beautiful performance, and heads back with Guardok, chattering along about ideas for incorporating magic into his sword dancing and the benefits of moon bathing, usually with very little segue from one topic to the other. 

Larine looked a little worried as she notices Mae looking around. She whispers quietly to her, "I'd not thought to bring flowers for you. I really should have after such a nice performance."  Lesviel comes up about that time, trying not to interrupt. "Mae, that was very nice. You have such a wonderful voice!" 

When Mei mentions leaving, Cadoras gives her a startled look. "You're not going to leave without me!"  He then pauses, looking a little more serious. "I mean, you of course will allow me to walk back with you, right?  I'm not sure I know anything about moon-cleansing. Probably don't want me messing that up!" 

Rubina comes over to Mae as others seem to be preparing to leave. "That was a wonderfully fun song. I'm glad I got to hear you perform."  Greta still seems to be partying with her group a short distance away.  Mina Lee and Drazhomir both come to bid a good evening to Malvyn.  Zanther as well says goodbye to Guardok and the others. 

Quentillius comes over to Mae, giving her a slight nod of his head as he approaches. "I just wanted to congratulate you on your performance.  You are truly a presence on the stage. Of course, acting is a whole other artform, but I think you would be dazzling in whatever you chose to do. I would love to work with you if you ever had the inclination." 

Suddenly, a loud voice cuts through the murmurs of the crowd.  It is the panicked shouting of Chef Curtie, the female dwarf in charge of all the food at the Bow's End.  She erupts from the kitchen, her braided hair flapping wildly, as she emerges shouting and waving her arms.  “The steam! It’s too spicy!” she cries. “It’s trying to kill us! Someone, please help!”

With some patrons watching the last group of singers and others preparing to leave, many do not immediately notice Curtie.  Tulk Tusktooth, the orc manager, does notice, but he’s momentarily overwhelmed by students in the overflow seating who have noticed—and who are trying to get away from the kitchen as fast as they can. You all have a clear path to where Javenish is standing near the servers' station and bar.  He sees you all there. "Hey! Curtie really needs some help! You've got to come!"  

Map (You are all somewhere around E1.  Javenish is near E3.  The kitchen is E6)

Immediately realizing it is most likely Mei's dream coming true, the purple-skinned tiefling gives the others a brief desperate glance and gets up to quickly makes his way towards the kitchen.