Four Winds' Return
an excerpt

As the crowd wandered off, the fiddler leaned down and picked up the fiddle case at his feet. Then, he walked over to join her, fiddle balanced on one arm with his hands holding the jingling fiddle case. Setting the fiddle case on her lap, he grabbed a small box out of it and sat down to begin caring for his fiddle. The dancer, meanwhile began shifting what was in in the fiddle case, mostly coins, but also a few bent pins, a marble, a ribbon, a small cloth bag of candy, a shiny rock, and a scrap of cloth. She chuckled at what must be children’s ideas of proper payment and slid the coins gently into the space between the wood of the fiddle case and the cloth lining its inside, leaving some out on the floor of the case. This was an old trick of hers and if she spaced them out, no one would ever know they were there. After all, it was easier to get people to put money in the case if they thought she and the fiddler had received less than they actually had that day. It also made them a less favorable target for thieves. Though they were not the only ones who did this, people had remarked on her in particular for this, and rumor had it that she hid coins in the hem of her dress. She chuckled at that though. Putting coins in the hem of her dress would weigh her down too much to dance.