Bittersweet symphony (Satu)

[Dhanya]

Timestamp: 46th Autumn
Tagged: Satu

The Sea was less of a playground for Dhanya, now that she was restricted from changing. The thought of exploring the grass once more was a seductive one. The blades were soft against her legs, shifting with the wind. Her feet did not shift on the stable, damp ground. She remembered all that she had seen and tasted while exploring. Grass did not taste good at all when she was human, which was a pity.

She walked away from the caravan she was travelling with, wanting to be away from the people for a while but not so distant as to make herself unsafe. She didn't want to be alone but she needed some space to think and pray. Once she might have danced, though that was somewhat out of the question, given that she couldn't even see her own feet.

Dhanya missed her feet.

The Kelvic sat down upon a log, possibly left seasons before, in what looked like an old, makeshift amphitheatre. It was just a dip in the earth but she could see remains of seating and grooves in the earth. The young woman rested her hands on her belly, drummed them to a long remembered beat.

"I made it this far, Ionu. I'm sorry for not doing more. I've been a bit swollen and immobile. I've been practicing though, I think people will like it." She did not mention her other small attempts at harnessing that skill he had bestowed upon her, such as turning people various colours. She assumed he knew.

It would be useful in the future, she was sure.

Dhanya closed her eyes, drifting back through her memory, pushing what she wished to ignore aside. She thought back to the first symphony she had ever gone to see, one of only few. Jenon had thought it would be beneficial to her education, which had been his way of rationalising choices that would make her happy. She touched her gnosis, running her fingers over the lines that had been scratched with the beak of a crow.

The music flowed forward, all of it, even the sounds of the violins being tuned and the sheet music being turned. It filled the small depression in the earth, the opening notes, the vibrant crescendo. The music did not falter until the very end, when Dhanya realised she had missed the last handful of notes to pre-emptive applause. The halt was abrupt.

Yet, she had listened to that composition more than once. Her singing teacher had played it on the piano, admittedly a less complex version. She knew what the string section would have done, could guess for the woodwinds. The music began once more, as she slowly tried out the notes that she could remember.

She tried once again, seeing if she could bring the symphony forth without stretching to the beginning of the memory. It was difficult, as if her mind wanted to keep all of it and feared losing the fine details if she didn't ponder it all at once.

Dhanya realised that she could remember this music but not the sound of her mother's voice.

It had been too chaotic. A voice too beautiful to remember. More complex than notes she could not write down.

[Satu]

Satu stormed off into the grass, angry at the delay. It appeared once a caravan crossed paths with another, that it was common to stop and exchange news among the Drykas. The Konti fumed, it was too much! The thread called her! Could they not see! Furious Satu stomped into the grass alone to attempt to comprehend all the ways in which the world conspired against her. Movement was what she needed! The long stalks brushed her thighs as she stretched her long legs. One of the Drykas motioned for her not to stray far, but Satu turned her white head away, as if she had not heard. But there was no denying the sounds that came over the rise, tuning instruments mingled into a jumble of sounds. Crouching low, Satu stopped as her hands dropped to the weapons at her sides, and her mind worked to understand this strange happening. Stealthily the suvai fighter skirted around the rise, to approach it from the opposite side and found herself at the base of an amphitheatre. The Konti blinked, as her blue eyes narrowed looking up into what had once been a seating area. What kind of a trick was this? No one was there! No musicians, nothing! Only a pregnant woman, with a large belly... The HeartSeer focused upon her Heart, but no threat registered in the girl’s emotions. Abruptly the music stopped. Satu hesitated, unsure and frozen in the now deathly silence. But the music began again and Satu was immediately transported back to the sounds of her youth, and away from the disappointments and trials of this future. The song was unknown to her, but the Konti was familiar with others, similar to it. The sweet and melancholy sounds flowed within her, and though she had needed movement before, now it became imperative as the beckoning strains coursed through her blood. With a furtive glance up at the girl, Satu stepped onto the earthen stage lightly. Exposed but uncaring, the music washed over her, and she forgot herself. For a time, and to all appearances, Satu became the innocent girl that she appeared to be. The tempo was slow, so very slow and her eyes almost closed. The Konti allowed her body to feel the instruments as they played. And she swayed where she stood, one hand upon her Heart, fingers splayed, and the other out to the side, stretching away from her. Small, delicate steps of her pretty feet suddenly took her across the stage where she circled back to centre. In slow motion, she moved and danced, as if she ran from within some tragic dream world, from terrors only she could see. Never had she learned to dance to this music or song, but her body responded to the notes she heard with a girl’s emotions, in its movements and feelings. She was alone and lost and so very heavy did Satu’s Heart become, that her eyes filled with tears that dripped silently down her cheeks. She bent to the side, at the waist, twisting her torso and arms upward in supplication, then rotated her body around perpendicular to the ground, with one arm leading the other direction. The Konti’s shock of white hair flew behind her, stark against the backdrop of unending grass. The sole spectator was all but forgotten as Satu, overcome by the beautiful sounds all around her, turned spinning to try to locate the cause of it. Long and graceful were her movements as Satu’s arms reached out before her, as if to touch this hidden grace within the world. Unable to connect with the mysterious thing, her arms rose to the skies in supplication, they begged for… something, she did not know what. And when they lowered, in her small dance, they appeared to fall in sadness and regret. But the Konti moved still, all around the little stage her feet pattered on the cold ground in small steps. Her mind said: Satu was not in the Sea of Grass! Bad things had not happened to her! She was safe. She was just a girl. Only a girl that danced! But those were lies, lies that Satu wished were true. And as she tried to believe it, she attempted a leap into the air. Her legs stretched, and her sad eyes were blurred with tears. Too late she felt the stone under foot upon the landing. Misjudging, she was off balance, and the resulting trip brought her skidding to a knee. Slowly, Satu pushed against the ground with her hands, and as she did, the Konti looked up to notice the seated woman at the top of the seats. Holding her within her blue gaze, Satu rose to standing.

[Dhanya]

Remembering from so long ago was more strenuous than she had expected. Even her thoughts could not seem to do justice to the music, what little flourishes or delicate pauses there had been, she could not be sure if her remembrance was wooden. Her eyes stayed closed, her hands resting on her stomach, as she brought forth each note. She wished she could go see it again. Just to watch the pianist and hold her breath for every pause.

The last chords were slower than they should have been, though she was surer now that they were right.

She heard the rocks shift under Satu's feet and her eyes snapped open. Dhanya gasped, disoriented and dazed. She hadn't realised she was not alone.

"Who are you?" She asked. "What are you..."

What had the woman been doing? Even in the little light that was left, it was obvious she was Konti. Her scales were shining, just like Kamalia's had, long ago.

"Are you crying?" Dhanya added, wondering just what had happened while she had been absorbed in her own illusion.

[Satu]

Satu stood on the floor of the amphitheatre stage, arms hanging loose at her sides and hair whisping into her eyes. Music reverberated through her thoughts and bones, seemingly unwilling to dissipate into the approaching night. How strangely removed from this place the Konti was; yet she felt oddly stilled and at peace for the first time in a great while. Was this magic? The pregnant woman’s magic? Satu did not trust her. And it made no sense that the woman was startled by Satu’s presence like she was, but Satu could not deny the accuracy of her HeartSense, the girl was surprised to see her. “Satu. Satu…,” she said twice. “I…” But her ears strained again to hear the remembered sounds of music, the notes so distant now. Their voices broke the memory of it and the Konti looked to the sky, it would be dark soon. Always was it so dark around her? She had been gone so long! Her body turned to go, and Satu mumbled, “It is past time...” “I am not,” Satu answered haughtily as she turned back to face the woman. Crying? What was this stranger asking? But as the Konti’s hand lifted to touch her cheek in confirmation, it fell away suddenly and Satu stared at her fingers. They were dotted with tearful moisture! Stunned, Satu looked up once more and held out her hand to the woman, as if offering the tears to her. The woman had known! Unable to leave now that the woman owned a part of her tears, Satu spoke strongly, “Did you…? Did you hear it? It filled my soul… and then-” She looked around as if she would be able to spot the elusive music. “It was here!” she said again, throwing an arm out wide to encompass the whole of the amphitheatre.

[Dhanya]

The space between the two women did feel bare, with only the sound of crickets and cicadas between them. Dhanya felt less herself with Satu there, as if she had walked out of reality to share a moment with her. The Kelvic had never fed a soul before, and she could feel the jealousy that grew from the fact that her own music could not do what remembered, stolen music could. Dhanya also felt regret at having giving Satu something meaningful, only to take it away.

She wondered if this was history repeating.

"You are." Dhanya replied, feeling the worse for having caused it. "I heard it. I made it. It's music from when I was a kid."

What had happened to the woman before her? She had met Konti before and they were a bit eccentric but this one seemed out of step. Touched, though that was a cruel thing to say.

Well, so was the world. Dhanya didn't have to like everybody, or make everybody like her. She just wanted everybody to like her, to make them do so.

The quiet stretched out again. "Would you like to hear it once more?"

She could offer once. That was reasonable. Not needy.

[Satu]

Jealousy. Satu felt it. Regret. The Konti saw that too, and stood tall in the other's emotions. No longer was she willing to return to the caravan just yet. What did the woman regret? Was it the dance, or the showing of the music? There was no threat in it… But then, Magic! Was the HeartSeer bewitched by the music maker? It did not feel as if it were so. And if she was, did she really care? A laugh trilled from her throat, the sound musical in itself. Remembered strains played in her memory, and tugged at her senses. “How?” She asked, “How do you do it? You are only one woman. Are there other songs within you?” Stepping closer to the edge of the earthen stage, Satu wanted to climb up to the top of the amphitheatre, to ask her questions, to more closely feel the emotions of the pregnant woman. But she waited to see if there would indeed be music once more. So she could dance again… to feel that abandon, that purity from another time, though she would not know to call it that. “I would hear your music again… It is truly a gift!” she called to the woman above her, voice winded from her exertions, and her muscles overjoyed with movement and purpose. Alive!

[Baku]

Thou has written, and thou has completed, so I award thee the following.... Dhanya: +3 Observation, +2 Singing, +2 Rhetoric, Lore: How a Casual Walk Can be Sentimental, Missing the Finer Things, Missing Feet, Music Giving Direction, The Complexity of Symphony, Memories Lost, Doing the Best With What You Have, Bringing the Symphony to a Close, The Pros and Cons of Music, The Variety of Konti, Offering to Play Once More Satu: +3 Observation, +1 Dancing, +2 Rhetoric, Lore: Anger Over Normal People Not Being Sensitive to Your Time Table, It’s Not Paranoia if the Whole World IS Conspiring Against You, How Music Can Take you Somewhere, Emotion in Music and Dance, Sorrow Over the Music’s Passing, Craving the Music Once More, Wishing to Become Satu: Queen of the Dance Additional Notes: Certainly a thread in development, and one that was starting well. A shame it had to end prematurely. If Dhanya returns and the thread is picked up once more, resubmit for further XP.