Some new music

Writers: Emma, Yvonne
Date Posted: 6th October 2007

Characters: Carlan, Thalia
Description: Carlan & Thalia try some new music from the Harper Hall
Location: Garnet Valley Hold
Date: month 6, day 5 of Turn 4

The Harper raised his hand to knock on the door of the rooms used by the former Lady Holder. In his other hand, he held a music case, which contained some copies of new music he'd recently been sent from the Harper Hall.

Gently, he tapped on the door.

There was a rustle and then the Lady pulled the door open. Her face fell slightly when she saw that it wasn't Kiomo, but Carlan was certainly a welcome sight. "Harper Carlan! This is a surprise. What brings you to my door?"

"I thought you might like to see these," explained the Harper holding his music. "The hall sent some new music, and there's some suitable for gitar, and some that can be adapted."

"Really?" Thalia's face lit up at the prospect of new music. "That would be delightful! Perhaps I could meet you in... oh, the solar, in a few minutes?" It wasn't really appropriate for her to be meeting with men in her rooms, unchaperoned, even if Carlan was married.

"Of course, that would give me time to fetch my gitar," he agreed.

"Oh! How wonderful!" Thalia watched as Carlan wandered back down the hall before retreiving her own instrument. She beat him to the solar and was more than pleased to see that it was empty. Perhaps not appropriate either, but at least the solar was a public place. She grinned and stood when the Harper entered with his gitar case.

"Are you ready to look at this music now?" Carlan said as he laid his gitar case down and unfastened it.

"Please." Wasn't it obvious? "I was only reading a novel when you knocked, and a novel I can set aside for a while. What sort of music did you recieve?"

"There's a new duet, and some dance tunes with gitar parts," he explained as he lifted his gitar and began to gently tune it.

"An instrumental duet, or a vocal duet?"

"Both, although the vocal part is not for me, it's written for a tenor," explained the Harper. His voice was no longer as it had been, and while pleasant enough to teach children their ballads, he was by no means a performer.

"Oh. Well, that's all right. I'm much better at playing, rather than playing and attempting to sing at the same time."

"It is far easier to learn one part first, before attempting to combine the activities," advised the Harper.

"That, and I've never had a particularly strong voice." Thalia shrugged and ran her thumb over her gitar strings. She tipped her head to listen and was satisfied with the sound. "Which would you prefer, Carlan? A duet or a dance?"

"Let's try the dance piece," suggested the Harper. "It's simple, but deceptively catchy."

"All right." Carlan played the first few bars so that Thalia could hear the pacing, and then she tried it herself. It was a little slower, but by the third runthrough she seemed to have mastered it.
"It's been a while since we've had a proper Gather here, don't you think?" Thalia sighed, her attention straying. "With dancing, I mean."

"It has been a long time," he agreed. "I think Nikanna would like it.
A chance to get out and have fun."

"How is she, anyway?" Thalia and Nikanna had never spent much time together - when they'd first met, Nikanna had been on the run from her family, and then later, they hadn't found much time for each other. "Does she speak with her family at all?"

"She writes, but her father isn't really interested. She gets the occasional response from her Aunt, but it's always very cool." It was simple, her father didn't approve of him, and the manner in which he had married Nikanna. The fact that their child had arrived more than a respectable interval after their marriage had proved that they had not needed to marry in haste, even so, he doubted that Lord Nikeves would ever accept him, unless her were to be made Hallmaster tomorrow.

Thalia smiled, a little uncomfortably, and reached out to give the Harper's hand a quick squeeze. "Perhaps, given time..."

"Who knows, we've given then time." He shrugged, "Perhaps one day we'll be able to visit."

"I'm sure that you will. No one stays angry forever."

"Only in the tales my fellow Harpers tell," said Carlan, trying to make it into a joke.

The Lady smiled and turned back to the music. "Shall we do a proper run-through, then?"

"Of course. Shall I count us in?"

Last updated on the October 6th 2007

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Some new music