[The Hollow Sea] Solitude Standing

[Vega]

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=7163[/img]

22nd Ashan, 718

Viden was in sight, on the horizon in the late afternoon light and Vega could see it out of the window of their cabin. That meant that she could also see the Waking Dreamer, once her father's ship and now belonging to her cousins and their wives. They were all headed to Viden and there was some issue with the Dreamer, so all of them had gone over. That was fine, Vega was much better than she had been. She'd stood, holding her own weight, for the first time in twenty three trials on the nineteenth, so three whole trials ago. She was delighted, truly delighted and she'd worked enormously over the last three trials, pushing herself hard. With a smile she considered that she'd pushed herself as hard as he'd let her, because Arlo had been there with her. From standing to taking her first, painful, agonising and truly wonderful step. She was still damaged, still broken, her left knee was in a brace and her right leg was splinted. But she could stand and she could walk. For a long time, or what felt like it to her, Vega had been unsure whether she'd walk again.

"So, here's the thing, Xiur, an' I'm sorry, cos it seems like I 'assle you a whole lot jus' lately, but I need to get a few things straight," she said, watching as Arlo climbed the rigging of the Dreamer. Her eyes fixed on him, swirling colours like waves crashing against the shore as she watched him. "It's been a storm for us, an' I don't mean a squall. I mean a full on, destroy the ship sort of storm. An' I'm tired. In my bones an' my muscles, but more than that, I'm tired in my heart an' my soul." Her words were incongruous with her face as she watched him, fixing something to do with the mizzen, her eyes shining with pride. "An' if it weren't for him, and us together, I might 'ave given up. I might. But as dusk fell an' I saw the silver in my blood, it reminded me of you. An' thanks for that. Bein' up on deck an' seein' the stars has helped too." With a glance over to the man who had once been a boy in a tree, Vega smiled. "An' any love you hold for me, use it to look after 'im, would you?"

She reached out and grabbed hold of the fiddle. She and Fi had started practising just a few trials ago. She'd spent some time working on it and now, she had an opportunity. Vega was well aware that, at first, she'd made a bad noise here, with this fiddle but now she was starting to improve. So, she lifted it to her, feeling it nestle comfortable against her chin and she considered that, had she not had to stop, because of the breaks in her legs, she'd never have picked this instrument up and she was discovering a love for it, for music which she simply didn't know she had. So, she considered, every dark sky had a star shining in it, and this was that for her. Using her ability granted to her by XIur, Night Torch and the fiddle lit in her hands, glowing like a star as she played. Vega closed her eyes and let the music happen.

564 words
Nalos Ability: Night Torch: Can keep going indefinitely as long as it's the only one.

[Vega]

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=7163[/img]

The first thing that happened, as she lifted the bow to the strings was that the fiddle let out a squeaking noise and Vega rolled her eyes at herself. Forgetting the basics, rushing ahead and not attending to what she should. It was typical of her but she smiled and reached for the piece of rosin. It was a hard sort of sap thing and she had to put it on the bow to help the hairs, strung carefully and tightly in the bow to glide across the strings. Vega could adjust the strings in the bow as needed, there was a little screw under the frog, the area where her thumb sat when she was playing. As she gently rubbed the rosin up and down the bow, watching the dust coming from it, Vega's mind went back to the conversation with Fi,

As far as Vega was concerned, Fi had designs on Joq'an, Vega's father. When Vega's cousins, Shon and Reese had got married, their wives had joined the clan as had the wives sister, Fi. Vega couldn't deny that Fi was drop dead gorgeous and was a couple of arcs older than her, so the had been somewhat surprised to find out that Fi was single. She watched the woman on the Dreamer and she frowned slightly. Vega didn't like that she'd told Fi no to something, that the woman was in love with Joq'an - but all of her personal feelings aside, which were many and varied and all entirely negative at the thought of Fi and her father together, Vega knew that Joq'an would not, under any circumstances, be taking up with a woman. Any woman. He hadn't been on a date since her mother died giving birth to her and Vega wished that he might, sometimes.

With someone much, much closer to his own age than Fi, she thought with a shudder. But she wished that her father wasn't lonely like she knew he was. Vega sighed slightly and considered what she should do. Should she discuss this with him? Speak to her father and tell him that she knew of a woman interested in him, but that she was a lot younger? Joq'an might work out it was Fi, of course, and Vega was aware that Fi was always very formal, very respectful of Joq'an. It was a tricky situation, she considered, and not one that was really in her skill set.

"See, there's a reason why I don't do relationships. They're messy an' complicated," she said to Bert, the stuffed bear she had from her childhood. "An' I'm only prepared to put up with it with 'im cos it's totally worth it but other people's? Oh, that's jus' borin', that is." But of course, this was her father and his potential happiness. Vega sighed and lifted the violin, as she knew that the other thing she was supposed to do before she started playing was to check that the fiddle was in tune.

She did that by plucking each string and then tuning it gently. It was well in tune at the moment, which she was pleased about and it needed only very small adjustments, which Vega did via the small screws at the base of the strings, not the tuning pegs at the head of the fiddle. Then, to check that she had the pitch right, she used the string of a lower pitch naturally and placed her finger where it should be the same as the higher string she was tuning. That gave her the fine details she needed and, finally, Vega was happy that she could play.

607 words
Musical Instrument: Fiddle: Put rosin on the bow
Musical Instrument: Fiddle: Always check that it is in tune before you start.

[Vega]

[img]/gallery/image ... ge_id=7163[/img]

So, finally, the thing was in turn and she was able to play it. At the moment, although she had the skill to do more, she didn't have the skill to do a lot more and Vega was practising scales. These were good because they allowed her to develop the strength and agility in her fingers and also to learn the placement, keep the hand holding the neck of the violin in the right place and all sorts of other things. Agility in her fingers was very necessary for the kind of music she wanted to play, and for that she needed to be able to play fast jigs and slow, haunting melodies. So, she lifted the fiddle and put it in the hollow of her shoulder, making sure that her grip in the neck was correct and then she lifted the bow, putting her thumb on the frog, keeping her fingers relaxed and not letting her palm close on the bow.

Then, with the fiddle which glowed like starlight, because Xiur had granted her the ability to do that, Vega began to play. Slowly, at first, she started with the open strings, each of them one at a time, focusing on long bow-strokes and an even sound, then short, staccato strokes and yet maintaining that sound.

As she played, her focus was on the instrument in her hand and the bow in the other. Unusually, these trials, it was no on her legs or the pain she was trying not to show she was in. With her eyes closed, Vega realised that this was as calm and relaxed as she'd felt on her own since she'd woken up in that warehouse, chained to the floor with a collar around her neck. She stopped playing as the memory fell in on her and she let it. The judgement she had undergone was a small part of it, for her. She didn't want to live there, didn't want to and didn't need to but every now and then she remembered it. The feeling of dying. The way it had happened for her, having been burned, she knew that it had left her with scars.

But that was alright. That was more than alright.

Because there would be something dreadfully, dreadfully wrong if it had not. She genuinely had not considered that but, had she experienced death. And not just that, but violent and painful, terrifying death. There was no quick fix for it and she knew that. She knew it. So, she would sit and wait while her body healed, doing what she had to do in order to make it stronger, fitter and more able to heal at it's fastest, optimum rate. And she would do the same with her mind, her spirit and will. In the cabin she shared with Arlo, Vega smiled to herself, although the smile was somewhat melancholy as she put the fiddle back in its case. She was going to have bad dreams, bad trials, times when she felt nervous even, maybe. And in the way that they had dealt with the physical breaking of her bones, they would deal with symptoms of what had happened on her psychologically.

"The diff'rence bein', my stuffed an' inanimate chum," she said to Bert, "is that, unlike my bones, I'm not broken. Battered, yeah. Bruised to all ends of Idalos. But not broken." She grinned at him, the small stuffed toy who had been her companion as long as she could remember. "So, that's right 'andy, innit?"

589 words
Musical Instrument: Fiddle: Don't let your palm close on the bow when holding it.
Musical Instrument: Fiddle: Double check your hand position against the neck, especially while learning.
Musical Instrument: Fiddle: Playing open strings still requires practice.

[Alistair]

Vega

Knowledge
Nalos Ability: Night Torch: Can keep going indefinitely as long as it's the only one.
Musical Instrument: Fiddle: Put rosin on the bow
Musical Instrument: Fiddle: Always check that it is in tune before you start.
Musical Instrument: Fiddle: Don't let your palm close on the bow when holding it.
Musical Instrument: Fiddle: Double check your hand position against the neck, especially while learning.
Musical Instrument: Fiddle: Playing open strings still requires practice.

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Renown: N/A
Devotion: N/A

Points: 10

Comments: Hey! So, this thread ticked "yes" for collaboration on the request but I don't see anyone else there... so I'm giving you solo points!

Also, Nalos is so cool, I need it in my life! Good musical writing; jealous of your ability to put that into words.