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Felix watched intently as Inis worked the strings. With ease, she coaxed a pleasant melody from the instrument. Not wanting to be outdone, Marcia joined in after just a few moments, adding a melody of her own. Though it seemed like the two girls were competing, their melodies were complementing each other, rather than interfering with the other.
The boy listened with bated breath as the two winged girls played off one another, slowly raising the tempo. His heart beat hard and fast in his chest and he breathed in deeply as the song finally reached its crescendo.
Inis and Marcia remained still for a moment as they let the final notes ring out. Then Inis asked. “What did you think?”
“It was good,” Felix said.
“Only good?” Marcia demanded with a grin. “Come on, don’t you have something more to say?”
The boy shrugged his shoulders. “I liked it,” then turned his head away, not keen on saying any more than that.
“Do you want to try?” Inis coaxed.
“I can show you,” Marcia cooed.
The boy looked over to his own instrument. He’d received it as a gift only two weeks ago, the one-year anniversary of his arrival in this strange place. He’d been enthusiastic at first, but his excitement had quickly mellowed. All he ever managed to coax out of the thing sounded wrong and ugly and his left hand hurt from trying to form the right chords.
Undeterred by his less than enthusiastic expression, Marcia closed in, with Inis close on her heels. “Let your big sister show you,” Marcia said as she wrapped him in her wings.
“I’m the big sister here,” Inis protested, coming up to his other side and doing her best to wrap him up as well.
The two girls quickly switched from trying to wrap him up in their wings, to trying to drag him out of the other’s grasp. He was uncomfortable with their forcefulness and tried to disentangle himself from the two, but they were both stronger than he was.
“Now, girls. What did I tell you?” Elsbeth’s voice suddenly said in a stern tone. Inis and Marcia let go of Felix. Both looked flustered, but did not answer the older gandharva’s question. “Why don’t you two go outside to continue your practice?” The older woman asked. She made it sound like a suggestion, but Felix could sense that she would not tolerate any back talking on this occasion. Inis and Marcia quickly looped the straps of their instruments over their shoulders and left the room with hung heads.
“Now then, Felix. What’s the matter?” Elsbeth finally prodded, coming closer before sitting down in the comfortable wingback chair. The boy remained quiet, but that did not deter the older woman. “Come over here,” she bade him. “And fetch me my lute. It’s almost time for you to sleep.”
The boy looked over to the box that held the woman’s priced instrument. He heaved a sigh and quickly retrieved the instrument, bringing it over to the older woman. She stroked across her thighs with her wing and, taking the invitation, Felix shimmied up to sit in her lap. As always when she was this close to him, he became keenly aware of her scent, so calming and soothing.
“Now, tell me. What’s wrong, my child?” Elsbeth coaxed. “Were Inis and Marcia being too forceful?”
He shrugged. “They’ve just been acting strange lately.”
She chuckled. “I suppose they are getting to be that age. It makes a mother feel a bit wistful.”
“What age?” He demanded.
That prompted yet another chuckle. “We’ll talk about that in a few years, dear. I think you’re a bit young for that yet.”
“I’m not a little kid,” he protested. “You can tell me.”
“In a few year’s time,” the gandharva repeated fondly, stroking his head with her wing.
“My real mother would tell me,” Felix claimed. Elsbeth ceased her ministrations and Felix immediately regretted his words. “Sorry,” he said, feeling guilty.
“Don’t be,” the woman said, continuing to stroke his head. “I could never ask you to forget about your real mother. I just hope you will one day come to see us as your family as well.”
The boy was just about to say something more. To try and convey that he appreciated everything Elsbeth had done for him. Taking him in. Giving him a new home. Treating him as if he was her own child. Yet before he could voice any of those thoughts, she shushed him and laid her lute across his chest, gingerly plucking at the strings.
While Inis and Marcia showed a great deal of skill in playing their own instruments, their songs were a far cry from their mother’s. As Elsbeth began weaving an intricate web of sounds, Felix felt himself being freed from his conflicting thoughts and melancholia. He felt himself lifted from his body to soar through the sky. Passing through refreshing clouds and looking down at the lands below. Small people craned their heads and smiled up at him as he soared nearer to the sun shining brightly above. Ever higher did he fly, first over towns,then over mountains and seas. The sun slowly sank towards the distant horizon. Dusk was followed by a moonlight lit world as he slowly began to tire from his journey. Then, from the sky, he circled down slowly. A simple wooden house at the edge of a small village came closer and closer. Through the door he flew and into a cosy bed. In the blink of an eye, warm sheets covered him and the soothing smell of home filled his nose. Soft humming suffused the air around him as his eyelids grew ever heavier.
“Sleep well, my child,” a kindly voice whispered from nowhere as he drifted off.