Harper Jam

Writers: Halyonix, Heather
Date Posted: 10th November 2024

Characters: B'nell, Chorvis
Description: B'nell and Chorvis catch up.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 20 of Turn 12

"B'nell! How the shell are you?" Chorvis threw his arms around the
brownrider and thumped him on the back heartily. The harper's gitar
case was abandoned by their feet.

"You're here! When did you get here? Why didn't you ask me to come get
you? We would have come to get you," B'nell replied in quick
succession as he threw his arms around Chorvis too. His mind tried to
remember the last time Chorvis had come to the Weyr. Had it already
been eight months? No, it had to be longer.

"I know you would have, but I wanted to surprise you." The harper
swept his bangs out of his eyes with a toss of his head. "So? Are you
sufficiently surprised?"

"Definitely! How long are here for? Don't you dare tell me just for
the night. We've got songs to trade!" B'nell said excitedly.

"I'm here for the sevenday, if that doesn't cramp your style." Chorvis
smiled. "I brought an entire folder of new songs from the Hall."

"You had better! I'm running out of new songs to play and I haven't
had a chance to compose anything really good," B'nell complained. "I
mean, I have a new song. Kind of. But it needs polishing. I'm stuck on
the bridge part. But we can work on that later. Let me grab my gitar
and we can play!" Duties tossed aside for the hour, B'nell let Chorvis
get set up in the main dining area while he went to grab his
instruments.

Chorvis propped his gitar, polished to a shine, on one knee while he
tuned the instruments. Other harpers might need a tuning fork, but
Chorvis's acute hearing could detect perfect pitch from memory. A
handy skill for a musician.

"Okay, this is the latest dance beat. You'll be hearing this song at
all the upcoming functions." Chorvis tapped the rhythm on the body of
his guitar for a measure before launching in. B'nell did the same,
thumping softly until he figured out the key, then joining in. He
watched Chorvis's hands the whole time so that he didn't miss the next
chording. About midway through the song, B'nell's feet were tapping as
well, a clear sign that he was enjoying it.

"It's got a lively beat for sure," he remarked once they finished.
"Where did you hear that one from?"

"Old Metharule wrote it, if you can believe it. It takes the man an
hour to get from his room to the music hall, but here he is writing a
song that's one hundred and seventy-eight bpm." Chorvis flexed his
fingers to stretch them out a bit.

"He's still _alive_?! He has to be like four hundred Turns old by
now!" B'nell was also flexing his fingers after that. "I thought he
didn't know how to write anything faster than forty nowadays," he
muttered, impressed.

"Can you imagine all the drunks at the feasts dancing to this?"
Chorvis was laughing even as he said it.

The bespectacled brownrider groaned. "Call the Healers now. There's
going to be sprained ankles everywhere at the next Gather. Speaking
of, have you heard any word on one? Inklings of one?" Gathers were a
rare thing during a Pass but if one was being set up, it was always
the talk of Pern for the months surrounding.

A gleam came into Chorvis's eyes. "I have, in fact, heard of a gather
set to take place in the next month courtesy of Lord Davreux, who's
throwing it in honor of his daughter's sixteenth birthingday."

"Next month! Are you going? You're performing, right? Vorath and I can
take you!"

"Of _course_ I'm performing. Why don't you sit in on a duet with me?"
Chorvis suggested. That made B'nell's day.

"Yes!" his friend said. "Definitely! What should we sing? The Girl
From North Valley? The Seashores of Old Tillek? Something new?"

"The Seashores of Old Tillek for sure, everyone loves a good sea
shanty. Maybe we could even throw in The Final Voyage of the Silver
Sails." Chorvis put his guitar back in its case. "Food break?"

"Food break and then you teach me more songs you've heard. I hope you
have them written down. I'm going to need the sheets," B'nell agreed.
"Where are they quartering you?" Suddenly, B'nell hoped that they
would stay up late into the night, jamming out songs like they did
back at Harper Hall.

Which is exactly what they did.

Last updated on the November 18th 2024

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Harper Jam