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A couple discordant twangs rang out into the forest. I tugged on one of the knobs on the head of the lute, struggling to turn it tighter. I plucked at the strings again.
"Closer, but still not there," I thought absently.
It felt nice, having a lute in my hands again. Normal. Like I could forget the terror of my recent days, if only for a few moments. Slowly, but surely I managed to get the tuning of the taut strings up to a reasonable standard.
The instrument was well worn, but I had been gifted it by an actual bard for helping her finish her song. Her story had brought tears to my eyes, but I accepted her old mentor's instrument with reverence.
As expected of a true bard instrument, it resonated pleasantly, despite the wear and tear. I vowed silently to maintain it as carefully as I could.
Satisfied with the harmonies, I wracked my mind for the details of the song I had helped write.
After we had set up camp I had snuck away from the others, aiming to get a rare moment to myself, to breathe again. Between the tadpole in my brain, the constant bloodshed and angry faces, and my terrifying gang of misfits, having any sort of peace in my mind was a vanishingly small occurrence. Especially after she'd joined us.
My face heated up as my mind flooded with thoughts of her, and I fumbled the opening chord of the song. I sighed, and restarted. It took some warmup to get the rhythm properly, and I couldn't play it as fast as the bard had, but I got into the calming trance of simply playing the chords in order.
"What had the lyrics been again?" I pondered idly as the chord progression circled back to the start.
"Dance upon the stars tonight..." I begun, hesitantly.
My voice was shaky and unconfident, and I had to pause to remember the next line, but there was an undeniable feeling of the peace of habit falling over me. It was like meditating.
"Smile and pain will fade away."
Slowly I was knocking the rust off my voice, and I continued the lyrics with a little more confidence.
"Words of mine will turn to ash, when you call the last light down."
I paused, catching up to the next verse.
"Moon reminds me of your grace, all the love I can't repay. Rest and know that I will pray. Farewell my dear old friend."
My voice broke at that last line. Alfira had composed a truly beautiful poem for her old mentor, with only superficial sparring from my end. I I cleared my throat, and decided to play something a little more light hearted.
This tune was simpler, a raunchy bard song that had been popular back at the academy, at least in my circles. I strummed more confidently now, and the song had a slightly higher tempo.
"When you make love, make love with intent, pull down her dress and tell her "get bent"." I rasped, trying to imitate the slight growl the song demanded.
Memories of my academy times flooded through me, and I smiled to myself in fond remembrance.
"Show her your rod and if all goes right, your sweetheart will swallow your hot load tonight." I growled.
"She doesn't like it too hot. She doesn't like it too cold. Room temperature! Roooom temperature!" I wailed the chorus.
I dropped the raunchy song with a little giggle. Then I strummed the slower pattern to a lesser known ballad I remembered crying to when I first heard it. This one was played by a supremely talented troupe of bards, so I had had to simplify it, but the intention still came through, at least in my humble opinion.
"I believe, nothing ever comes to light, chasing shadows in the night, in a starless sky. And I wonder why." Began the lyrics. I struggled to keep time, but felt my heart soar at still being able to follow the song serviceably.
"O, I believe, we will never find a way, that darkness lights the day. We never question why. Still I wonder why?"
This next part had always given me chills, and I got completely lost in my playing.
"I close my eyes lost in the memory. Just like a candle in the wind. What could have been, with just one kiss goodbye!" I sung, stressing the "kiss".
"You spread your wings to fly, far away. Somehow, someday you will understand. I hope you'll understand, someday."
I still longed for someone to understand. Even with the few people I had managed to hang on to after my less savory social circle shattered, or more accurately since I crashed out of it, I had felt lonely. Some times it had felt like I was the only person in the world, surrounded by strange creatures, no mutual understanding at all.
I sighed, lost in thought, then tumbled off the tree stump at the sound of loud clapping behind me.
"EEK!" I yelped, and only barely managed to not land bodily on the valuable instrument.
"Oh! Sorry sorry," Karlach said, stepping forward. "Startled you huh? Didn't mean to!" She apologized with a sheepish grin.
I scrambled to my feet, face flushing.
"Uh... How much did you hear?" I said, a little mortified that someone had born witness to my amateurish musicking.
"Second one was definitely my favorite," She grinned a toothy grin.
Her teeth, other than the front teeth, were pointy, and they gleamed dangerously in the late afternoon light filtering through the trees. The glow from her eyes pulsated slowly with the glowing hell engine embedded deep in her chest. Odd, to be able to see someone else's ribs so clearly.
I realized belatedly that I was just gawking at her, mouth slightly open, brain running in circles. I cleared my throat, embarrassed that someone had overheard my self-indulgent playing.
"Oh. Uh. Thanks. I'm no bard." I muttered, trying to distract myself from the feelings staring at the tall tiefling forced upon me.
"Oh trust me, I've heard much worse from people calling themselves bards. Don't sell yourself short." She chuckled down at me.
"Get it together," I chastised myself mentally.
My history was a long story full of sighs. As a young naive almost-still-kid I had done something bad, to someone I thought I had been in love with, and I had never really allowed myself to move past that. When I had met Him, I thought that maybe I had finally healed enough to open up again, but that had ended destructively. Frankly I thought I was done for, when it came to relationships.
But her presence sent my stomach into free fall, rudely ignoring my rational brain, my trauma, my scars. Something about her made all that not matter any more. I had to remind myself that we had barely known each other for a tenday, and surely she had other things to think about than some nobody half-elf wizard from some nothing village to the north.
"Why'd you slink off to play by yourself though?" She asked with a frown. "Nerves?"
"Well... Like I said I'm no bard. I learned a little lute because I thought it would make me popular. Turns out, the music is the least important aspect of bard prowess." I said with a snort.
"Heh, true. Still. Would be nice with a little music in camp, y'know? That last one you played was beautiful." Karlach said.
The way the word "beautiful" fell from her lips did strange things to my heart. "Oh to be on the receiving end of that word from her mouth," My brain pondered, and I fought down that thought with frustration.
"It's... A bit of an obscure one, I admit. I learned some of the popular songs, and to be honest most of those are pretty easy, but my favorite music was always the weirder, more experimental stuff. Darker, more intense odes and ballads, the stuff that's impossible to learn without being a professional bard," I said, chuckling.
"Ohh, I see! Well I liked it." She said with a fiery smile, a little spark actually jumping from the corner of her mouth.
"Thanks!" I said, a little too excitedly.
"So... Popular songs eh? Might be a little old but do you know "Sabre and Torch"?" She asked.
I did. It was a little further out from my memory, but I managed a passable interpretation of the epic poem with significant simplification, and a few pauses to remember the different parts. She sat down on the ground, leaning on her hands behind her back, and bounced to the rhythm of the song, tail swaying.
"Eheyyy! Awesome!" She cheered with more applause.
I felt myself once more blushing. I plucked a few random notes awkwardly.
"Uh thank you."
"What next? Hmm ohh what about Improper Dancing?" Karlach said, her eyes sparkling.
I was somewhat fascinated by her simple, sincere joy at listening to these simplified versions of outdated bard tunes played by an amateur, but I couldn't deny her mood was infectious. I strummed the opening chord with a little flourish of my hand and she laughed.
"Look at you go!" She said, jumping to her feet and dancing a little shuffling gig to the more dance-friendly tempo of the upbeat folksy tune.
I almost flubbed the song, seeing her dance in front of me. It was fascinating. Under her torn leather straps, I could see muscles flex intriguingly, and her hips swayed, tail swishing. She made an incredible figure, especially to this upbeat tune.
"Improper dancing! In the, uh... Middle of the street! Those people must have demons living in their feet!" I managed to save it, still not taking my eyes off her.
She looked up and this time I did actually lose track of the song, our eyes meeting for an intense moment that seemed to stretch. I look to the side.
"Gods I missed dancing." She said, not appearing to notice the moment. "Did you ever go dancing? Used to go to the Blushing Mermaid with me mates for cheap ale and raunchy bards."
"Uh... Yeah. We were generally expected to study at all waking hours, but just as generally nobody I knew did that. Sneaking past the dorm guards was an ancient tradition, to my understanding. We didn't go by the docks though, but there were some decent smaller places in the upper city."
She eyed me with a raised eyebrow.
"Upper city huh. I keep forgetting you lived in those districts. Well, you'll have to show me when we get there!" She said with a smug smile and a huff.
"I..." I said hesitantly, treated to flashes of Karlach, dancing with me in the cramped interior of the Bitten Dog's small stage. I bit my lip, trying to drag my mind back. It kicked and screamed at the idea of abandoning such a pleasant vision.
"Yeah! Could be fun," I allowed, my hesitation earning curious look from the tall warrior.
"Could be! Anyway, I get it if you don't wanna play for the whole camp. Still, I'm happy you wanted to play a little for me. I like you, Raven. You're good people!" She said with a warm smile. All her smiles were warm.
The compliments flustered me, but I smiled, grasping my lute. I wasn't sure what to do with my hands.
"Thanks, Karlach," I managed to reply.
"Wouldn't mind being serenaded by such a pretty bird some other time, eh?" She said with a little smolder to her husky voice.
I froze, looking at her trying to read her face. I couldn't accept that she had just come on to me, and wracked my brain to try and come up with any other meaning she could have had. "Maybe it's just a lower city expression," I tried to rationalize.
"Oh, erm... Well yeah maybe?" I said, still meeting her glowing ember eyes. I could look at them for days and not get tired of it.
"I liked your dancing," I said, trying to return the compliment.
"Oh? Heh well I can definitely dance for you again!" She said with a wry grin, throwing her arms up and doing a slow little wriggle that sent pleasant shivers down my spine.
The curve of her back, and the elegance of her movements would certainly haunt my late night fantasies.