Ming raised a finger to correct Chung Po. She was interrupted by his shout and exhaled. Shouldn't leave the good people hungry, she supposed. Pulling out a darkwood wand from her haversack, she zapped her stomach over and again with streaks of dark purple magic, each one turning her limp towards the noodle chef slowly back into a healthy walk. She still let out an "ow" with every step along the way.

>Used 13 charges from Wand of Inflict Light Wounds to heal the nonlethal damage fully
>Spent 5 pp to buy 100 serves of noodles

With the transaction done, Ming replaced her wand and turned around. She scanned up and about until smiling at an empty section of balustrade above. She was already humming a tune under the din of conversation on her way up the stairs.

A moment later, Ming swung her legs over the balcony to sit in view of the entire noodle house. In one hand were two oddly-shaped straight bows, one with a tiny drum at one end. In her other hand was the flask Chung Po had gifted her. She cupped the flask hand around her mouth. "Hey! Hey Kyoumi! Catch!"

She lobbed the flask down to her draconic friend.

With the potion secured, Ming set about quickly tuning her erhu. A swish of bright silk alerted her to Natsumi taking a seat on the balcony as well. Ming eyed the guzheng on his lap and grinned. This'll be a good one, she could feel it.

A small prayer under Ming's breath was whispered. She closed her eyes. "Let's capture him, Natsumi," Ming said.

And then she drew the first note. Her instrument favoured long, far-reaching notes, but the first pluck from Natsumi's guzheng caught them in a way that made the noodle house fade to quiet. They played a mostly improvised tune, it was clear. Although, they harmonised as if finishing each other's sentences. The song started slow, beautiful, and balanced. It grew into something anticipatory, going just a little faster and gaining just a little more energy.

Whether or not the crowd envisioned it the same way, Ming let the top of the crescendo stop at a dead silence, just as abruptly as she was grabbed by the arm by Chung Po. Half a bar later, she let all the built-up energy in her and Natsumi's performance be released into a melody that grabbed the listener by the heart and twisted ten degrees. The guzheng lent the final bars a power otherwise lost in the subtlety of the erhu.

Ming played until she had counted to the highest power of two she felt necessary. At the last note, she held out her bow, slowly brought it back, and played a quiet bar heard from the start, lingering at the last note.

She opened her eyes to the noodle house.

>Perform (String) check, aided with channel focus and Natsumi: (7)+18+6+2 = 33