Solo Hey, I Can Touch My Toes!

[Silarial]

Timestamp: 20th day of Winter, 512 AV It was supposed to be an eventful morning for Silarial. It was one of those days when you are filled with an overwhelming urge to go out and enjoy fine, not-so-cold mornings. She just wanted to play out on the snow. But really, Silarial didn’t expect the sky to dump that much snow. Now she couldn’t even open her window because heaps of snow would blow inside. She tried earlier, and now her room was a wet mess. Areeyah lectured her about going outside in such bad weather and then proceeded to tell Silarial off for mucking up her room. She later had to spend a whole bell or so cleaning up all the slush. And so at about the tenth bell of the day, Silarial left her room in a sullen mood (for the floor or her room was still too damp for dance practice), and went downstairs towards the soundproofed rooms of the Hall of Aural Creations. No, she was in no way capable of producing decent-sounding notes on any instrument available to her Hold. However, she’d rather dance in a smaller room with no furnitures littered about. Silarial passed by the rooms and their closed doors, teeth chewing anxiously at her lower lips. It seemed every room had already been occupied, but she didn’t want to go back to her room and waste a day without doing any practice. Finally, at the very end of the hall was a door left slightly ajar. The dancer’s spirit caught up with her once more, and she entered the room with a light gait. There was an unspoken rule in the Hall to never open a closed door. It would be extremely rude to the person practicing behind the doors, and so it was highly frowned upon to do so. However, an open door would mean that the room was ‘unoccupied’ and, therefore, free for use. But to her bafflement, there was a little girl seated on the wooden floor, humming to herself as she played with her hair. The girl looked up at Silarial with a pair of large curious eyes. After a few heartbeats, Silarial finally found her voice and apologized, “Sorry, I didn’t realize the room was occupied! I’ll, uhh, I’ll be leaving now.” She bowed her head down and with a heavy sigh, turned her back to the girl. She was already in the act of closing the door when the girl stood up and stopped her. “It’s okay big sister! I’m just here to watch people play. I won’t cause any trouble, promise!” She raised her right hand and grinned widely. Silarial stared at the girl for a few moments, and at last, her lips quirked into a smile. The older Snowsong stepped back into the room and, with a soft creak, closed the door behind her. Now that she was inside, she could faintly smell the sweet scent of fresh hay. ‘Perfect,’ she thought cheerfully. More often than not, the rooms she would come into use already smell of decaying animal feed. It was a blessing of Morwen that the girl let her use the room even if she had already occupied it. She wondered about why the girl was using the room and left the door ajar. Silarial ran her eyes around the room, but she didn’t see any instruments lying around or even on the young girl’s person. It didn’t seem that she was there to practice anything then. The girl looked familiar though. She was quite sure the girl was Bora’s younger sister, but she can’t quite put a name to the girl’s face. “What’s your name?” Silarial asked as she sat in the middle of the small room, changing her shoes for her dancing ones. “Neena! I know your name too! You’re Sia… Siala… Sialiral!” Neena giggled. “Nice to meet you Neena! It’s actually Silarial.” The dancer corrected gently. Neena smiled and pronounced her name right the second time. Though she must say she was quite surprised that the young girl knew her. It reminded her of the first time she met Sera, and the memories of the day made a lighthearted laugh escape from her lips.