One evening when Maude felt particularly inspired she played her fiddle with unusual energy and feeling. It was in a tavern and she caught the attention of the patrons. She played for the sheer happiness of playing. The music carried her away and a feeling of otherworldly ecstasy filled her. She was still barely competent in her parents’ opinion, but that evening it felt like there was no limit for how good she would become at playing. People began to call for more. Even if it was only for a short time, Maude managed to mesmerize her audience. The evening’s earnings were unusually good.
At this point, she would ordinarily have stopped playing and gone home. But, before she had time to leave, a man who had been sitting in the audience, looking like an ordinary guest, came to his feet, holding a fiddle and bow in his hands. He wanted to play together, he said. The people around them cheered, eager for more entertainment. Maude had been tired, but there was something with the stranger’s gaze that lit her enthusiasm for playing again and the man emanated a charisma that re-energized her.
Before, she hadn’t noticed him. Now, she couldn’t believe that she had failed to notice such a handsome man. Attractive was only the first name and as he also wanted to play music he really had everything. Maude grinned at him. The man grinned back. She tossed her head to get her blazing red hair out of the way and the man did the same with his jet black mane. Locking eyes with him, Maude put the fiddle in place on her left shoulder and holding the bow at ready in her right hand she saluted the other fiddler. Her gesture that could only be called arrogant ad bold, but it was made in jest. The man laughed and did the same, understanding her mood without words. Maude felt that they were going to burn this tavern up and tear it down, figuratively, with a performance people would speak about for trials afterwards.
Maude moved her right hand with the bow close to the fiddle, but she didn’t play. She only plucked a string in a teasing and playful manner. The sound of that only tone vibrated in the air. Maude always used to do that. It was a trick her parents had taught her. To give an audience one single tone would make them feel that a show was about to begin. Once that feeling had been awakened in them they would begin to wait for what she had in store. People who were bad at waiting would then begin to shout. The atmosphere would rise and warm them up. It would make them more prone to appreciate her when she played for them. The audience in the tavern this evening was no exception. The shouting began and it spread in the crowd like when a flame jumps from object to object and spread a fire.
Her co-fiddler seemed to know the tricks of the trade because he seemed amused and plucked a string too. His tone was way more powerful. It reverberated in the room and dominated every corner of it. The audience went wild. As the two fiddlers began to play people screamed, rose from the chairs and began to dance. The next trial those who had been there would describe it as an evening of “never-ending greatness” and some would describe the music as “explosive”. They had no idea how right they were. The stranger with the fiddle was indeed one of the hated “morties” the Etzori loved to hate. It was Zanik himself who played in that tavern that evening. In the fiery and volatile red-haired Maude Coaley he found an avid follower and worshipper who well worth a blessing. Maude treasured the memory. But knowing the Etzori attitudes to immortals she made it her deepest secret. She never mentions his name, not even to herself. But whenever she plays the fiddle it’s a prayer to the honour of the greatest musician of them all, the immortal Zanik.
