She turned her head at the word 'mute', but to her surprise the bard was speaking to someone else. She looked away, least anyone notice her response, and cleaned an empty table that was splattered with a red sauce. 

As she passed by the group of men, she eavesdropped on their conversation with the bard. She smiled inwardly as jabs and jests were exchanged between them. She went to the kitchen to rid herself of the dirty-red-cloth she had used to clean the table. 

When she returned the bard was singing of [i]The Beast[/i]. His voice was lovely, but had a haunting quality that seemed to crawl down her spine.

She tried to imagine [i]The Beast[/i]. What did he look like up close? Could he talk? What if he wasn't as scary as the stories made him out to be, perhaps he was [i]cute[/i]. 

She set down a few pints in front of the men, and scuttled off before they took further notice of her. The young one was particularly was lost in his cups, but that didn't discourage the men from ordering another full round. 

She turned to the bard as he finished his song, her eyes wide with curiosity. She wanted to hear more about the beast. She clapped her hands, encouraging him to continue his song. Then darted off into the kitchen. After a few moments she would emerge, and bring the woman-who-was-looking-for-the-red-haired-man her food.