Favorite Piece of Music

Writers: Estelle, Francesca
Date Posted: 8th March 2019

Characters: Arrilon, R'fal
Description: Arrilon helps R'fal with an assignment.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 8, day 12 of Turn 9

Arrilon finished his evening meal, relieved there were no rehearsals
that evening and he had already completed his assignments for the next
day. He was looking forward to a quiet evening. As he walked towards the
dining cavern exit, he noticed R'fal hunched over some work and decided
to check on him. They had met briefly previously, and Journeywoman Rhela
had mentioned how hard the young man was working on his studies, even
with his already full schedule as a dragonrider. "Hi R'fal," he said.
"How is everything going?"

"Oh - hi, Arrilon." R'fal looked up from the worn piece of hide he'd
been puzzling over, with a rueful look on his face. "Not too bad, but I
can't exactly say it's going well. This assignment is a tough one.
Either that or I've not been practising enough lately."

"What kind of assignment is it?" the apprentice asked, taking a seat next to
the brownrider. "And, from what I've heard, you've been practicing plenty."

"That's the trouble with practice. As soon as you improve, the teachers
make the work harder," R'fal sighed. "Journeywoman Rhela told me to
choose my favourite piece of music and write about why I like it.
Choosing was easy..." He showed Arrilon a hide scribed with the lyrics
of the song. It was a popular ballad about the return of Thread, nine
Turns previously. "But as to why I like it, I don't think 'because it's
exciting, and has dragons in it' is going to be enough for her."

Arrilon nodded, not surprised that a young dragonrider would choose
that particular ballad. "Well, how do you feel when listening to it?" he
probed.

R'fal thought about that. "Not proud, exactly, because it wasn't as if I
was there, fighting in the first Fall. Or happy, with that part at the
end about the ones who don't come back. I suppose I feel..." He tried to
find the right word. "Thrilled, maybe. Back home I used to imagine I was
one of those riders, seeing Thread for the first time in hundreds of
Turns, and burning it to dust. And now I feel a bit anxious, as well,
because I've got to live up to them somehow."

"Thrilled. Anxious," Arrilon echoed, nodding encouragingly. "Can you
talk more about how your feelings changed after Impression?"

"I remember talking to some riders at the Hatching celebration," R'fal
said. "I hadn't before then, really. I was just a Candidate and I didn't
dare. But at the feast everyone was mixing together and I was so excited
about Impressing Marlath that it didn't matter. They had fought in the
Fall that this ballad is about." He looked down at the words again.
"They were heroes! And I was actually sitting with them and talking to
them."

"You used to dream about being a dragonrider fighting Thread, and now
you are one. It has to be a strange feeling to suddenly be someone
ballads might be written about." He firmly pushed away any bitterness
and jealousy he knew he would feel if he thought too much about the
situation R'fal found himself in.

"Yes! I thought that one day, I'd wake up and suddenly be like them.
Fearless. Bold. Maybe it would happen after Marlath and I flew for the
first time, or went /between/, or at Blooding. But I kept on making
mistakes just the same as before." R'fal thought back over all of the
scrapes he'd got into over the course of weyrling training, and winced.
"Then, one day, I talked to one of those riders, and he told me he'd
done things he regretted, too. Maybe everyone does. Even the
Weyrleaders." He sighed. "They don't sing about that in this ballad. But
maybe that's not what it's for."

"I'm not sure a ballad of the Weyrleader's mistakes would be very
popular," Arrilon said, keeping his tone light. Then, gesturing
towards the hide with the lyrics, "But it sounds like you have a lot
to say about this ballad."

"I might even have enough to complete my assignment," R'fal said,
surprising himself. "Thank you, Arrilon!" He smiled. "So...what's your
favourite piece of music?"

A few Turns ago, he might have had an answer to that question, but now
he had heard and played so many songs, it was hard to choose. One that
came to mind had a dramatic flute solo, another was a haunting ballad
on the gitar, and yet another was a fast-paced a cappella piece.
After a few second he admitted, "That's a hard question. But, our
conversation reminded me of a short song I once learned about a kitten
stalking a trundlebug." He hummed a few notes of the chorus. "It's not
about anything heroic, and I don't think I'd write an essay on it, but
it's fun and has a catchy tune."

The young brownrider laughed. "Oh, I don't know - I'm sure you could
write a very learned essay on the deeper meaning of that one."

"I probably could come up with something pretty convincing if I had
to. And there are some interesting chords in a few places...." He had
to stop himself from actually beginning to analyze the piece.
"Luckily, I can just enjoy singing it to myself." Then, changing the
subject, "How is everything else going? Your brown must be about full
grown now?"

"Yes, the Weyrlingmaster said he's not likely to grow much bigger. Which
is a relief, since there won't be any more of him to scrub clean after
drills," R'fal said fondly. Marlath wasn't the biggest brown, but he was
- of course - perfect in his rider's eyes. "It's all getting a lot more
serious now, with Blooding coming up. I just hope I'll be ready. I have
to get my writing up to standard if I want to graduate to the Wings with
the rest of the class."

"Well, keep up the hard work and you'll get there," Arrilon said with an
encouraging tone. He didn't want to over promise anything, especially
since he hadn't seen R'fal's writing to judge for himself. "I should
probably leave you to get back to you work," he added, standing.

"Yes," R'fal sighed as he looked down at the blank hide. He ought to get
started, but at least now he had some ideas about what to write. He
looked up at the apprentice harper with a smile. "Thank you again,
Arrilon. You'd be a good teacher."

As he returned the smile, Arrilon hoped his tan hid his blush. "It helps
to have such a good student."

Last updated on the March 11th 2019

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Favorite Piece of Music