Serenade Snippet

Serenade Snippet

Before me stood a young man about my age, with golden brown hair that reminded me of the drawings of lions in some of the texts at the Academy library. The way the sunlight caught its highlights created a bit of a halo effect around his face, which was tan from much sunlight, just like his arms and probably the rest of his skin. He was holding a long sword, so my eyes shot to that for a long moment before I reminded myself to look him in the eye and explain.

Old habits do die hard. I opened my mouth and, of course, no words came out.

"You have no business here," he said. He must have thought I was some strange legend hunter, come to gape at the property of the legendary Muse. I probably looked the part.

I held my free hand up and hoped he would understand it as a request for him to wait so that I could explain myself.

"You're mute," he guessed. He lowered his sword slightly.

I nodded a bit, fumbling for the letter Andante had sent with me.

"Don't bother trying to buy your way in," the young man stated. "Muse isn't won over by shiny coins and never will be. Go to the village down the way. There's a process. They can explain it to you..."

Oh, how I wished I had the voice to interrupt him! Instead, I had to make due by stomping my foot. The impact made no sound, but at least the motion caught his attention. By then, I'd pulled out the letter, sealed with the Songstress's clef. I gestured to the clef on the letter and then the clef on the right side of my traveling dress.

"A songstress," the young man finally realized. He sheathed his sword then, reaching for the letter. I gladly passed it to him. "That's a bit of a different matter. My mother taught me the cant, if you need to say something. Just let me..."

He hummed the short melody that every songstress knew to prove that a Songstress Seal was actually an official one and not an imitation. The wax seal went from red to blue, then back to its original red. I smiled a bit. His mother had to be a wise songstress to be able to teach a boy how to do any sort of magic. Even my venerable master Andante couldn't do more than the smallest tricks. For whatever reason, though music could be emotionally powerful beyond explanation when played or sung by a man, its deep magic only worked for the female persuasion. (I wasn't complaining.) He nearly smiled when he looked back at me.

"You wouldn't believe how many forgeries we get," the young man said. He held out a hand to shake in actual greeting then. "I'm Mel."

I shook, then pulled my hand back to sign my name.

"Serenade," he deciphered. I nodded in confirmation. He'd read the name properly, too. Very impressive! "Well, Serenade, the main house is straight down this road. I'd take you the rest of the way, but someone has to make sure that this property remains private."

He held out the letter for me to take back. I did, then I curtsied. He seemed a pleasant young man, when he wasn't pointing a sword at your nose. The dusty path went straight on, an open expanse with grazing sheep to my left and a field of tall stalks to my right. The scenery soothed my nerves such that by the time I'd reached a building I felt confident of myself again. I tied the horse's reigns properly to the post in front of the house, then went up to the door to knock.

Unfortunately, when I made the motion of knocking, even though I could feel my hand hit the wood soundly, that knocking sound didn't come. I screamed inwardly, unable to scream in frustration outwardly. How would I get anyone's attention if I couldn't make a single sound? I tried futilely to knock a few more times, then I went back to the horse and stroked its neck gently, hoping the gesture would calm me down again. It neighed quietly, too quietly to attract any attention. I wondered for a moment if I could get it to kick gently at the door, but thought better of it. That would probably cause some damage, and I didn't want to damage Muse's home.

Before I could develop any other ingenious plan to create some noise, the door suddenly opened. A tall, beautiful woman with long, silky black hair, not unlike my own, stepped through carrying a laundry basket. She was wearing a very simple robe made of some off-white fabric. It seemed to suit her somehow, though I'd never seen the style before. She stopped suddenly and nearly dropped the basket when her eyes lighted upon me.

"Oh, dear," she said. "Who are you? How did you get past my son?"

Her questions actually made me smile. Mel had said that his mother had taught him the hand cant, and the woman was asking about her son. That made her Mel's mother, which meant that she would understand my sign language. I lifted my hands.

"My name is Serenade," I signed. "I come with a letter from my venerable master to Muse and a humble request for help from Muse."

"Let's see the letter, then, shall we?" she asked, wary but still polite. She set the laundry basket down and walked towards me.

I took out the letter and offered it to her. She immediately broke the seal, without even testing it, and began to read. I found that a bit rude. After all, the letter was meant specifically for Muse.

"Oh, I see," she said softly as she finished. "You poor, poor child. Come inside. Let's get you settled in. You've probably hardly stopped since leaving the Academy."

"When will I be able to see Muse?" I signed, wanting to just get to the point and get better.

The woman laughed. "You currently are, dear. I am Muse."