Music For The Dead (Rynda Please/Invite)

[Nya Winters]

NoteI see your back playing Ryndra! Shall we continue?


Nya nodded. "Yes, a bondmate. He is Benshira. He plays music very well, so that is why I am trying to learn... to please and surprise him. But away from him so he cannot hear my mistakes." She said softly, looking concerned. So, Ryndra was from Syliras. It made sense. Most of the Knights she'd met were also from Syliras. Nya suspected it was because in such a wild region, in the presence of the city childhood survival was better, people grew up, and then they become what they believed in and defended it to their death.

Unfortunately, most of them did die... young. Nya looked at Ryndra and wondered if that was going to be her fate as well. "I haven't been to see the farmlands yet. But I hear that the people that keep the crops growing to the south are very fierce. Most people live inside Syliras' gates... and those that do not have to be tough to survive. Your family must be very strong." Nya suggested, looking thoughtful.

"I was born in Lormar Tower, its north of here up by the boarder of Taldera. My mother is a scholar there, and my father was her bloodbane horse. He was kelvic. I was.. an accident." She said, smiling slightly. "I came here looking for a bondmate. My mother said I was too old to stay home, so on my second birthday she turned me out. I came straight here. It didn't take me long to find Shai, but I think we were getting some help from the Gods." She said, picking up her flute now and placing it at her lips.

She blew through the opening, creating a soft sad tone. Native flutes were wooden, lengthened, and sounded like rich mournful ballads. Nya had picked the instrument out because of its voice. She thought it would go well paired with the Oud, but so far she knew very little on how to play it. Her song was simple... a mimicked shepherds tune, but she smiled nonetheless as she played, letting her lips curve around the mouthpiece as she knocked out the six tone tune.

It was awkward, obviously produced by a new musician, but there was a certain sweetness to it, like a lovely child taking a few tentative first steps with the audience knowing the child would tumble any moment. Nya certainly did, a harsh ill-covered note blowing out a squeak ruining her tune.

The kelvic smiled, laughed a little at herself, and then apologized to Ryndra. "I'm sorry, I'm just learning the flute and drum." She said, wanting to ask the woman some questions, but not sure how open she was to personal talk.

"So why are you a knight?" She asked suddenly, wondering truthfully why they often gave their lives and died so commonly young. "Isn't it just about the most dangerous profession ever?" She asked.

[Ryndra]

Trying to learn an instrument away from those you care about to impress them when they first hear you. It was admirable but it was maybe not the best way. The Stormwulf smiled softly, “I think there would be a better way. If you would allow me to speak it?” Ryndra gave Nya a moment to object before continuing, she did not want to appear as though speaking out of turn. “I’m sure your bondmate would enjoy hearing you play no matter how bad or good. But maybe, if you showed him, you could learn to play together?” As Nya continued, Ryndra smiled broadly. “Fierce we are indeed. It is not just the wildlife of Syliras that we must protect our crops from. The Sylirans have enemies in the Ravok folk but we also suffer attacks from Zith parties and other manners of things. One such instance led to me becoming a Knight but it is not something I am proud of.” But Taldera was a harsher land than Syliras if one were to believe the stories. “I would imagine that those living around Taldera do not have things easy either. Are the beasts not larger than they would normally be?” Ryndra listened to the fledgling tune. The sweet tune made her eyes sparkle, almost like a mother watching her child. She flinched at Nya’s mistake, not because of the harsh note but because she was unsure how the Kelvic would take such a thing. But the laugh was all Ryn needed to calm those thoughts. One could not jump into the thick of things and hope to produce a masterpiece. Nya’s final question was about her decision to become a Knight. The young squire let out a long breath and placed the bow to her instrument and began to play a slow tune. It did not provoke entirely the emotion she wanted but one could get a feeling of the honour that she wanted to portray. She spoke slowly as she played focusing more on the music than words. “The Knights protect those who cannot protect themselves. They are very honourable. Tyeth sees that they are,” she said and stopped playing abruptly. “The danger was never a thought that crossed my mind. There is a danger in all things, we are never truly safe. If we worried about dangers, we would get nothing done and this mighty city would not stand today.” “I am not gifted with any political ability. I am no scholar. But I have been able to swing my blade since I was a child. I believed that I should use my skills for the better of my people,” Ryndra took the instrument from her shoulder. “I did not wish to die. But I cannot stand by if others are in danger.”

[Nya Winters]

She was certainly willing to listen to advice. Nya didn't always know the best way to go about things, especially when it came to Abashai. She made a great many mistakes and misunderstood his needs a lot of the time. And as Ryndra spoke, the forest cat put down the flute and picked up the drum so she could keep a beat lightly to the knights words, almost adding drama to them. Smiling playfully, she did listen intently.

"I've met men from Ravok. They were not kind nor had any good intentions, so I know what you mean. I've also met a Zith named Atrophus and we fought. He was no match alone, but with his party he would have easily killed me. It is good the knights are here." Nya replied, then went on to answer Ryndra's question, still lightly stroking the drum to produce a background sound. "The creatures in Taldera are enormous. I was almost killed as a child by a Talderian bull elk. It was a fearsome creature, far larger than its counterparts here. I won't soon forget it." Nya assured Ryndra, acknowledging the truth the knight spoke of in her words.

Nya was actually better with the drum than she was with the flute for the missed notes hurt her ears and drove her to often feel pressure or pain in her forehead after too many missed ones. But a drum was easy, though it did take skill to play... lots of skill. And it was a slow process learning, but one she was suited to for the forest cat had patience.

Ryndra was wise in regards to not giving power to danger by acknowledging it. And she said so abruptly. "To think about fear, to dwell on it, is to give it some sort of power that we cannot afford to give away. Forest cats now this, but so too should the knights and any man or woman for that matter." Nya said abruptly, switching beats on the drum and actual tones by moving her hands into a new position and thumping it a different way. She was slowly discovering the drum had a voice all its own, with tones and inflections she could coax out of it. It was almost intriguing to her, so much so that she almost missed Ryndra's next comment.

The forest cat nodded. "I feel the same way about my bondmate. I am protective but not stupid. I used to not care about people much. They were talking food, that was all. But he's shown me that people each have a purpose and a way about them that is really important. I know humans grow up knowing this, but it is different for us kevlics. We see the world based on our experiences. If I had met someone else and bonded another way, my life might be very different than it is now. I am happy with it now, the way it goes, but sometimes I wonder what if and worry that it could have been really bad - and hard for me. Your life, seems hard, but good for you because it does something to feed something inside you. Your honor." Nya said, laying the drum aside and picking up the flute. It became obvious to Ryndra if she could figure out a way to play both at once she would.