Solo Music on the Wind

[Lacerta]

510 AV, Summer 82nd

Lacerta eyed the harbor of Syliras with a nervous eye, not wanting to hit anything. It was crowded with boats, big and small, as expected of a city as massive as this. Sails stood up like a sea of branchless trees, of all widths and heights. There were one or two trade ships, their hulls dwarfing all other sailboats, including her own. However, there were some casinors around the size of Starry Sea, and she could see a tiny boat- a day boat- sitting innocently in the docks. If she had to guess… it was probably 20 feet long, compared to her 30.

Luckily, her spot on the docks was one of the furthest out. Sure, it meant a long walk to the city, but it also meant that docking was much easier than if it was closer to the shore. She spotted her rented place immediately, it was at the end of one of the long wooden piers, where she could easily slide the boat in… or not so easily. Luck was on her side as the tide was going in, meaning that she could nearly douse the sails and still keep moving at a good (but slow) pace towards the dock. Moving too quickly meant certain disaster. At the moment, the boat was facing the pier straight on, and moving at a crawling pace: barely 2 knots. However, this meant more control, and it would be easier to stop when needed. One of her sails were down, in order to minimize the speed, but the other was full of air from the slow breeze.

Once she was close enough, the Eth spun the wheel to the left, causing the ship to turn sharply in the other direction. The sail flapped wildly, and she had to grab and pull a rope to tack the sail and stop it turning them back in the original direction. Her other hand stayed firmly on the wheel, to make sure it wasn’t going to keep spinning. It was a complicated dance of ropes and wheel, one she had yet to honestly master, but it worked well enough…

The wooden construction slid through the water slowly, approaching the pier. Quickly, and hoping the boat didn’t turn, Lacerta dashed to tie the fenders to the rail, letting them hang over the left side. It would stop the collision injuring the boat, as wood-on-wood would cause paint to flake and planks to scratch… and she hated any damage to her ship. Her luck was working well, as the boat stayed horizontal to the pier, and still floating slowly when she returned to the wheel. All it took was a little patient waiting, and soon enough they floated against the dock, bumping slightly. The Ethaefal let out a sigh of relief, before tying the boat up against the pier.

[Lacerta]

Now that her ship was steady and secure, Lacerta took the moment to move her music things on deck, and absorb the sunlight. It was a warm Summer day, after all, and she wanted to enjoy Syna’s light as long as she could. Sighing quietly, she watched the sun for a moment, noting that it was only bells away from going below the horizon. Already, her light was dimming slightly, and cast dark shadows across the boat.

Picking up her flute, the Eth flipped to a page in her music book that she’d been working on earlier that day. Her skills were improving, however slow, and it was satisfying to be able to play a song smoothly when she at first could only play halting notes. Smiling to herself, she brought the instrument to her lips and blew a few experimental notes. It sounded nice, at least, and the high pitched notes were soothing if played right. She tried playing a scale, starting at the bottom of her range and playing up, passing two octaves. When she finished the second, she kept trying to go, keeping her fingers in the right position and blowing gently. No sound came out. Scowling, the sailor tilted the instrument slightly to adjust the position of her mouth, and blew again, this time harder. Again, no sound. She blew even harder, and was rewarded with a shrill squeak that drew the eyes of some onlookers.

Sighing, she gave up on that note, leaving working it out for another day. Instead, she focused on the music at hand, playing the first few bars with ease. They were slow and simple, and she’d spent most of the day mastering the set of 12 beats. Annoyingly, the rest of the music held a myriad of eighth and quarter notes, but at least there weren’t too many rests mixed in… those complicated things. She tried the next bar, playing the combination of eighth, eighth, quarter, eighth, two slured eighths (basically a quarter note) and another eight note. It was kind of complicated, but if she kept the beat right… she managed to stay with a consistent tempo. The notes were annoyingly varied, forcing her to switch fingerings quickly and awkwardly, often meaning that the note change and her tonguing were off.

Glaring at the page, she repeated the bar over and over again, until it was ingrained in her memory. Despite all that practice, she still couldn’t fix the quick fingering problem, and began to grow annoyed with her failure. The composer must have been an idiot to have written a note with all fingers right after a note with only one! After cursing the unidentifiable person, she sighed, realizing her own stupidity. She was the composer… it had sounded nice in her brain, to be honest, but she often forgot the fingerings she was giving herself when writing it. It was an annoying combination, but… no matter what, she’d manage to play this song if it was the last thing she did….

[Lacerta]

She decided to move onto the next few bars, which were a little easier for her skills. They went quickly, and after a few play throughs, she got the hang of them. After that, she started from the beginning again, and attempted to sight-read all of the other parts. The first 8 or so bars were fine, since she’d practiced them, but the rest… there were a lot of squeaks and hesitations, and once she had to stop and attempt to remember how to play a certain note. Scowling at the lack of success, she tried again, this time with fewer problems. Sighing, she set the flute down and flipped to another page, planning on playing a song she knew well. Lacerta quickly found it, in one of the earlier pages, and began that song.

It was light and happy, but surprisingly not that complicated. The piece was called ‘Dolphin’, and, in her mind, replicated the leaping of a playing dolphin. She’d seen the animals numerous times during her travels, and still found them marvelous creatures. They seemed to enjoy the simple pleasure of playing together, an incredibly human trait. Laviku did pamper his creatures. Loving their ‘dancing’ as she called it so much, she’d written a song about them a few years back. It had taken her a bit to master the piece, but since it was quite literally sets of scales, it was easy enough. She played it now, drifting through the song easily, though not as fast as she’d originally intended.

Pausing after the first playthrough, she gave herself another tempo, this one faster than before. Using this beat, she played the song again, fingers moving up and down on the metal flute. It worked decently, though she made more than a few mistakes. She’d completely forgotten the dynamics several times as well, being so focused on playing fast enough that she’d practically ignored them. Still… the tempo was nice, and at the right speed in her mind. The Eth went through it a few more times, growing more and more accustomed to the new tempo. The last time, she only made two mistakes, and those were on complicated parts where she had to switch fingerings quickly.

Feeling slightly pleased with herself, the musician returned to the original song, and tried the fourth bar once more. Now that she was more relaxed, and had warmed up, it came a little easier… but not by much. She still stumbled a few times, more than enough for a single bar, but nothing as major as before. She once again played through the piece, feeling a little better about it, and making fewer errors. When she slowed the tempo to half time, she made none at all! However, that was much too slow to be actually playing the song, meaning that being able to play it at that speed meant nothing. Still… it was satisfying. She took a moment to grin, then paused, feeling a little dizzy. She’d played too long, and the lack of air made her feel woozy. Sighing, the Eth packed up her things, and lay down on the deck to relax and await Leth’s arrival.

[Perplexity]

Riddled with Rewards!

Lacerta

Sailing	+2 XP
Musical Instrument: Flute	+3 XP
Reading	+1 XP

Lores :

• Sailing: Maneuvering In the Syliran Harbor
  
• Music Theory: Playing Through The Octaves Of A Flute
  
• Music Theory: Notes, Beats, Rhythm
  
• Music Theory: Proper Tempo With A Flute
  
• Flute: Dolphin Melody
  
• Music Theory: Continuous Breath

Notes :

Yay! Music! If you’ve comments, questions or concerns PM me at your earliest convenience.