A I D E N.
Musical code?
“Your name is Aiden?” she asked. The bard nodded emphatically, squirming with excitement on the edge of the stool. He slowly plucked another discordant set of notes.
I cannot speak.
The coded language came to her with surprising speed and she raised her eyebrows.
“You can’t speak?” she asked, still unsure with this new skill.
He nodded again.
Aiden stood up and approached her. As slight as he looked, she hadn’t expected him to be so tall. She backed away a step and he stopped when he saw he had made her nervous.
He played the next notes faster and her eyes filled with recognition even through the wariness.
I saw you at a street show. You wore a blue hat.
The notes were actually rougher, the actual words being ‘u at street show, wore blue hat’ but the tones refined it into proper speech in her head.
So long ago… How would he remember that? She looked more like a little boy then. She thought back, trying to remember, only recalling one bard…
What were the odds this was a different man in the same purple velvet hat?
“I don’t look the same as then.”
She hadn’t meant it to sound like an accusation, but he didn’t seem to take offense.
Your eyes are the same. So is the defiance behind them.
Her own ability to speak had left her so she resorted to nodding. Said like that, it didn’t surprise her. Her father had always remembered faces. As a God, he had gained back a lot of what he lost as a human, but his stubborn secrecy hadn’t budged one bit.
He still wouldn’t tell her why he kept the scars…
She opened her mouth to say more, but the door creaked open and the face of her instructor appeared around the door.
“Ah, there you are. Both of you. The other students are waiting for you.”
Had that much time really passed? She supposed it was possible. Dancing always stole away time and the strange meeting with a bard hadn’t had her checking its passage either.
Talia shot a look at Aiden, then back at her instructor.
“Him too?”
The instructor laughed.
“Yes, him too. We’ve hired him to play the music at the Festival.”
Talia had hurried out of the room, not even sparing a glance at Aiden again as she sped to the courtyard. The other dancers cooed their welcomes to her. She smiled past the odd lump in her throat and took her place, feeling blocking and rigid.
She couldn’t seem to get the timing right that day and she could tell the other girls were becoming immensely frustrated with her clumsiness. She didn’t dare look at Aiden. Class had gone on longer than usual and by the end of it, the instructor gave in and let them leave.
She stood there in the courtyard even after the others had filed out to change back into their street clothes, looking down at the wand in her hand.
Aiden hadn’t left. She could sense he was there but didn’t acknowledge him. He started to pluck out some notes once more, but the sight of Vandr sailing in had made her buoyant.
She rushed across the space, launching herself into Vandr’s arms, hearing his pleased laugh rumble in his chest.
“What’s gotten into you? Can’t say I hate it, but it’s not like you.”
He was right about that. They had barely gone beyond holding hands and that one chaste but powerful kiss on the lips before he asked her to be his girlfriend.
“I did terrible today.”
Not in the practice room.
She blushed at Aiden’s musical interjection, especially since Vandr had twisted his head towards the noise.
“Does he always tune his lute out here?”
Talia laughed and shook her head, stepping back but grabbing Vandr’s hand.
Aiden’s ‘words’ had somehow melted away the sort of stress that usually made it impossible to sleep that night.
As she pulled Vandr towards the exit, she looked over her shoulder and mouthed a ‘thank you.’
Aiden winked and shook his head.
If she had still been feeling bad about herself, it might have been a terrible day to introduce Vandr to her father. It was the reason Vandr had agreed to pick her up after fire dancing, so she was glad she didn’t have to cancel it.
There was a place not far up the shallow hills leading to the mountain by her home that her father had always been fond of. The old water filtering unit, a colossal metal box that gasped steam as its gears whirred that hadn’t been used in years, stood there, the thick pipes leading down the mountain before branching out for different uses.
Rathbern had long since developed an aqueduct system, taking away government control on the water supply and giving it back to the people. It had made a great deal of her father’s parents’ pipeline obsolete, but he had been oddly adamant about keeping it even as it stood unused.
Vandr looked at the machine with an odd frown on his face. “What is this used for? It looks old,” he asked.
Vandr’s family had come from Melikai. A lot of desert there,
so their water supply was never managed the same. This far north, there needed to be a heating system to keep the water from freezing in the pipes. She always found it endearing how much he complained about the cold. It wasn’t that she liked being cold, it just had fonder memories for her.
“He wants to meet us here? To hide my body?” Vandr rushed on nervously, not even bothering to wait for her to answer the first question. Despite his usual jocular tone, there was an edge of real anxiety there.
“You should be honored. This’s one of his favorite places to go in the Realm of Men,” she said, wishing she hadn’t phrased it like that.
It wasn’t any secret who her father was, but she felt like it set her too far apart from the rest of humanity when she was too honest. She could have said ‘hey, you must be special because my father likes you enough to allow you to see one of his favorite places’ but no…. She just had to add words like ‘honor’ and ‘Realm of Men’.
He was too absorbed in his own thoughts to pay much mind to that, rubbing his hands together before smiling over at her.
Her father didn’t make matters better, a glowing Gate appearing to herald his entrance. Vandr’s face warred with awe and feigned disinterest as her father stepped through.
Talia sighed with disapproval. Her father really went all out on this one. He wore a fur lined silk robe, both the fur and the silk the same stark black as his wild hair. Even the usually silver scars seemed pink and fresher than they really were. The entirety of his eyes were black as well, but he had at least blinked them into a more human look.
She wished her mother were here too. There was never any way that both of them could visit her together and leave the Gate unguarded. Miria, whom her father still affectionately called Cherry, was dead so her earthly visits were more like hauntings to anyone who wasn’t expecting her. Still, she would have been able to scold Dad for his theatrics.
It wasn’t like she couldn’t go to see them together, but Dad hated for her to cross the Realms. She hadn’t felt any different, but he assured her that dancing with death left its mark and rarely ever acquiesced to her visiting both of them there.
Talia could see Vandr made valiant effort to hold his ground but his face said he wanted to flee. She linked her arm through his and he jolted with fear before he blushed and cleared his throat.
‘The Rain God’s grand entrance’ was drawing out far too long for her tastes. He hadn’t even looked at her, the full intensity of his gaze directed at the new man competing for his daughter’s love.
“Hi, Dad. Talia here, in case you haven’t noticed.”
His eyes flicked over to her, the hard look softening just a bit, his mouth screwing up in an attempt to lift at the corners. He still sucked at smiling.
“You wanted me to meet someone.”
Talia snorted at the cold words. He knew exactly who he was mee
ting and ‘someone’ was meant to be a stab. Judging from Vandr’s rigid posture, it was working rather splendidly.
“Vandr, Dad. My boyfriend,” she cut in, knowing it was abrupt and cruel.
“Right.”
He swept his eyes over Vandr with all the distaste of inspecting spoiled meat. He took leisurely steps forward towards Vandr, each step sending minute muscle spasms under the skin where Talia was linked to Vandr.
“You’re… not going to kill me, are you? If it’s any consolation, exams next week will probably do the work for you,” Vandr joked, funnier for the serious monotone behind it.
She heard her father harrumph in response, but saw that the joke had worked in lightening the mood. She admired Vandr for being able to speak at all.
“He’s being humble, Dad. He’s been picked salutatorian of our class,” Talia bragged. Valedictorian had gone to her, but her father already knew that.
“Your father is the ambassador of the Melakian province of Urduen,” the Rain God said.
She should have guessed that her father would have done his own research.
“Yes, we’re working to improve trade routes between the capitals,” Vandr said, clearly glad to be talking about something he was versed in.
The Rain God waved it off with a rude gesture. Of course he already knew that. He had his thumb on the Anders territory and consulted with the Flame God, Fajja, concerning Melikai.
“You say ‘we’… You are falling in your father’s footsteps then,” he said, smacking his lips with distaste.
“I am. It’s a noble profession.”
“It’s politics,” the Rain God hissed, his displeasure clear.
“Sir, I—“
“You can call him Wa’akai,” Talia interrupted, glaring at her father.
The Rain God sneered at that. It was something she had learned in school; the name given to the Rain God by the ancient people. Her father had never liked the name, even though like ‘Fajja’ it was more a title. It was only one of her father’s old stubborn habits that made him so adamant not to use it.
His own birth name was a mystery. She knew he had been adopted from Melikai, a nameless squalling infant. The manor house he grew up in still bore the name Hycroft Manor and his family name was on record as Edrenal. Since his family had been disgraced, only his parents’ given names were recorded despite the Triumvirate’s best efforts to wipe out any mention. Since he had no deeds to his name, any evidence had been wiped out. She had done her homework as well, but her own father’s first name had been lost.
No matter how much she argued with him, he would never tell her and her mother had never gotten it out of him either. It was ‘another life’ after all. It wasn’t as if she would ever call her father by his first name anyway. Still, it was a missing piece that always created some distance between them.
“You cannot call me that. ‘Sir’ is adequate.”
His careful booming voice had taken on an edge of annoyance that made Talia grin with triumph.
Me, 1. Dad, 0.
“Ah, yes, well, sir…” Vandr began again, glad to not be under the Rain God’s gaze but his eyes shifting between the tension of father and daughter wary nonetheless. “It’s demanding work, but Talia had expressed a desire in traveling as well…”
“To Melikai?” the Rain God said, clearly hearing that for the first time. Vandr cringed, hating that it earned him the cold black focus of the Rain God’s eyes once more.
“Yes, to Melikai. They have the world’s best fire dancers, after all.”
“Fire dancing isn’t a profession.”
She had no intention of arguing that it was. It would only sprout the same circular debates that led nowhere.
So maybe she didn’t really intend to be a fire dancer forever, but she wasn’t just giving it up after graduation. She had gotten offers to be a scholar, a surgeon, any number of respectable professions, but none had resonated with her. It was the burden of choice, one of the things resulting from the birth of a prosperous world, and it left her dizzy with indecision.
“Neither is Rain God.”
Vandr winced, squeezing her arm to signal her not to provoke him further. He could already see the electric sparks of lightning brewing in the angry god’s eyes.
Talia sighed, taking the hint.
“Dad, can we at least sit like civilized people and drink tea? It’s freezing out here.”
To emphasize the suggestion, she rubbed her hands up and down her arms through the thick coat.
“Civilized people can have their tea. I don’t come to the Realm of Men for anything less than ale,” he grunted. “Which I plan on drinking alone in the shittiest bar in Rathbern. I tire of this. I won’t stop you from seeing each other, but death is the last thing you should fear if you hurt my daughter. I can lead you there slowly and painfully and shut the gates against you until you lose everything that makes you human.”
On that note, her father simply vanished. She could feel Vandr deflate as they were left there alone, his breath coming out in a whoosh of relief.
“Well, that went a lot better than expected. It’s not every day you get threatened by a Rain God and live to tell,” Vandr said, his usual carefree attitude back in place.
“I’m sorry. I had hoped for better.”
Vandr leaned over and planted a kiss on her cheek. She would have blushed if the cold hadn’t already beat her to it.
“It’s fine. We’re fine. Are you up for some studying?”
This was going to be a long day. The former Rain Maidens, plus, husband, were definitely not as problematic as her father, but unlike him, they would hound them for details. She nodded, but she didn’t see a lot of productivity ahead.
Why could she just sneak around and make out like normal girls her age?
That week had been busy, but the next even more so as they were cloistered into quiet lecture halls for exams. She had gone through all of it mechanically: the usual rush to not be late, the struggle to stay sharp, the extracurriculars. She didn’t miss a beat but it left her no time at all for Vandr and very little time for sleep.
After the stress of studying and testing, the gates on those demands had slammed shut. She was suddenly left untethered with more time on her hands than she knew what to do with. She hadn’t been able to contact Vandr on her first real day of her school break so she found herself returning to the one place that was still in session: the studio in Algar Square.
There was no class there that day but the instructor had always welcomed her students to use the practice rooms whenever they liked. She hadn’t been there much outside of scheduled classes, always embarrassed that her skills as of lately seemed to be deteriorating to the point where she began earning the ire of her fellow classmates.
She didn’t know what was wrong with her. Fire dancing was everything to her, the one thing that was always her choice and her passion.
Talia made her way to the locker room, taking her time to dress in a plain powder blue bodysuit, leaving her feet bare. In class, they always wore slippers, but she had always loved to feel the floor slipping under the skin of her feet.
Making her way to one of the practice rooms, she found the wrong one to enter. She saw one of the girls from her class making out with a young man. She might have left right then, but she saw with mute shock that the young man was Vandr.
She didn’t know what to feel. Sad? Angry? She couldn’t say she was surprised. Their study sessions had always been interrupted by well-meaning Maidens and she had told him it was a lost cause. He had agreed that they could pick things up again after exams.
Did that mean they had taken a break from their brand new relationship? She didn’t know. She could admit that she hadn’t been attentive.
In any other case, she would have stormed in and caused a scene. Today, she backed out without a word and headed down the hall to another room, trying to forget the image that burned in her eyes.
Talia found her way to the center of the
room, the usual ritual of clearing her mind that usually came so naturally was failing her today. She closed her eyes, feeling hot wet tears slide down her cheeks. She held her fire wand, but her mind was jagged with the raw edges of emotion. She stood there in mute frustration.
Relax your shoulders. You’re blocking your flow.
She spun to see the bard, no, Aiden sitting there, a serious look on his face as he studied her. She swiped at the sticky, drying trails of tears on her cheeks, tilting her head to try to hide it.
He tilted his hat a bit to say hello, then spoke with the strings once more.
A song, then. To help you focus.
He didn’t wait for her to approve and the notes started their crawl over her skin. The tears came again but this time she didn’t stop them. The melancholy pull of the song wouldn’t have made it possible unless she shut her ears against them.
Gentle sobs tore through her, but she only held back so she could hear the song behind them. In the same strange way the song pulled the sadness from her, it seemed to lift an enormous weight from her core that she hadn’t realized she had been carrying.
She hadn’t realized she had been physically drawn towards him bit by bit. When the last note hung on the air, her fingers reached forward, stopping the vibration of the string herself.
The muted vibration seemed to break away the last of her burden. She shot him an innocent smile at the revelation, her hand brushing his as she pulled it away from the lute.
“I think I’m ready. I need something… different than that song. I can’t explain it.”
She fumbled to find the words but he nodded, waving towards the dance floor.
Talia righted herself, the clarity of her mind coming with more ease than ever before as her wand flared. With her eyes closed, she hadn’t known but the fire was blue, hotter than even kiln fires could burn.
Aiden was attuned to her and the notes began to play the moment she started her sway. She frowned a little, feeling her body move in ways she had never learned before to exotic music that somehow felt familiar.
It wasn’t long before she had left her body altogether, becoming little else but flame and movement, what fire dancers spent their whole lives seeking. Time ceased to exist. She hadn’t even known when the dance had truly ended, when the last note played. Her eyes fluttered open once she realized the utter silence and she was nearly nose to nose with Aidan, only the lute keeping her from standing any closer. She tilted her head up, her nose barely tickling the smooth skin of his chin.
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