Completed A Busker in The Almond Blossom (Job)

[Chandray]

Chandray Evereene Location: The Northwind Suites Timestamp: Day 50 of Winter 514 AV Chandray didn’t have a permanent job in Riverfall but had permission to work as a busker and play when and where she could find work. This was why she was going to The Almond Blossom. She had heard that this was a very good restaurant, one of the best in Riverfall. And she had been told that there was place for many guests and they were often there to celebrate something or to spend a whole evening eating without rush. In short it sounded like a place where people could like to listen to music while they socialized and ate at low pace. She had never been there, so she started by looking at the map. The Almond Blossom wasn’t far from Northwind Suites where she had her apartment. She would just need to walk across the street, then go down the stairs until she came to the restaurant. An easy and relatively short walk. Good. It wasn’t like she had lots of clothes to choose among. Her winter clothes were of decent quality though, and now she was extra happy she had spent money on them. The brown pants and the soft pale red shirt were both of lama wool, and the knee high dark brown leather boots and the red leather belt matched the outfit well. She had a brush in her backpack and she took it out and brushed her long hazelnut-brown hair until it was perfect and shiny. She imagined she would have better chance to get a job if she was decently dressed, clean and neat. After donning the dark brown cloak and the widebrimmed black hat she was wearing to protect herself against the winter cold, she took the wool gloves and her fiddle and fiddlebow and went out. As it would only be a short way to walk and she was going to visit a tavern with a reputation for warm and calm atmosphere she left the rapier at home. It was bitingly cold outdoors. She walked across the street and from the other side she found a stair leading down the hillside. It was dusk. People had begun to light the lanterns that illuminated the city in evenings, but it was only half dark and she could still see much of the city below as well as the lights. As she had time, she stopped for a while just to admire the view. She liked the city and it’s atmosphere, though there were still so many things there that weren’t known to her yet.

[Chandray]

Location: The Almond Blosson When she reached The Almond Blossom she opened the door, stepped in and looked around. The air in there was warm and smelled deliciously of spices and fresh bread. She saw that it was a quite big restaurant with lots of seating and though it wasn’t overly full, there were guests everywhere and still room for more. Rich, warm Earth tones dominated the space. The waiters and waitresses moved soundlessly over the thick Ekytol rugs, slowly and calmly like they had all the time in the world and no impatient customers were waiting for them. The furniture looked heavy, consisting of big wooden pieces. Chandray noticed that the chairs were stuffed and covered with brocade fabric and on the tables there were decorations in a similar style. There were also potted plants. In total, it was cosy, warm and inviting. Just the kind of place where it would be lovely to spend the evening while earning money to make a living. A pale, blond woman approached her, walking in a relaxed way, smiling. When she was closer, Chandray could see the scales on the blonde’s skin: a konti. The woman was dressed in a long dark skirt, with a longsleeved sand colored shirt over it, reaching down over the hips just like the shirt Chandray had on. The other woman’s shirt was held together at the waist too, in her case by a beautiful medium grey cloth belt with rich embroideries in copper and black. “I’m Korana” the Konti said in a welcoming voice. “Would you like a table? Do you have company or are you here alone?” When Chandray introduced herself and said she was a fiddler hoping to find work for the evening, the blonde’s smile faded a bit. “I’m afraid we strive for a very calm and soft atmosphere here” she said. “If we have music it’s very soft in order to not disturb the guests in their conversations. Harp and gitter music and other discrete and soft music that adds to the relaxed feeling is what we offer here.” “I can play soft music on the fiddle” Chandray said. “There’s many calm and soft tunes for fiddle, it’s not just wild loud jigs and other dance music.” “Violin…or fiddle…is very nice to listen to, but it’s a very emotional sound too, and I don’t want our guests to feel disturbed. It’s a pity you don’t play something more silent. We have a harp of the bigger model, by the way." Korana looked at Chandray : "Can you play harp?”

[Chandray]

Chandray had never played harp in her whole life. But it very clear to her that she wouldn’t get work playing the fiddle, but there might be a job playing the harp. She could take her fiddle and leave, to walk around in the evening cold and go from place to place and look for work for a busker, which didn’t feel fun. She loved to play her fiddle, but at the moment she loved warmth, comfort and money more. She could try to get to stay in this pleasant and lovely restaurant and play harp instead of fiddle, earn money and then have only a short walk home. The drawback was that she didn’t know how to play harp and would need to improvise. But as the hostess Korana had said, harp was a very soft and silent instrument and Chandray, optimistic as she always tended to be, though that she might be able to make it if she started very carefully. Perhaps it would be enough to play in a very simple style ? Korana had after all said that they wanted very silent music. She decided to give it a try. “I can play harp too ” she said. “And I’m sure I can contribute to the atmosphere here by playing a bit, just silently, in the background. If you give me work here for the evening I’ll not disappoint you, I promise.” She had taken off the hat while she spoke and now the light in the tavern made her well brushed hair shine. In order to show that she was decently dressed and clean she had pushed the cloak back over her shoulders. Korana gave Chandray a once over and her smile went brighter again. “I’ll give you work here for the evening, playing harp. You get the usual musician pay, with a few breaks when needed, and as we are a restaurant we use to offer our musicians something to eat too. We use to pay 4 gold per evening. How does that sound?” Chandray said it sounded good and agreed to all the parts of the deal, including the payment. Korana guided her to a corner where they had a harp. It was a somewhat bigger harp and though it looked like it was possible to carry it around, the way some musicians carried their harps. This one seemed a bit too heavy to be practical. It was standing on the floor, certainly not small, but not huge either, more like medium size. There was a low stool beside it, in the same style as the other furniture in the restaurant, stuffed and covered with the same kind of brocade fabric as the chairs. Korana said she could start to play. “I’ll be back later.”

[Chandray]

Chandray took off her cloak folded it carefully and put in to the side, the fiddle and fiddlebow on top of it. The black had and the gloves went on top of the fiddle. Then she sat on the low stool and put her hands on the harp. It was made of polished brown wood and felt smooth to touch. Now she had a job for an evening, as a musician like she had applied for permission to be, but she was going to play an instrument that was unknown to her and try to not disturb the guests. It had been utterly tempting to take this task on, and the promise of food in a restaurant like this made it even more tempting. The only trouble was that now when she sat there with the harp she started to feel unsure. She just sat and held her hands on the instrument for chime after chime, trying to think of how to go on. How do you do to learn a brand new instrument when there’s no teacher ? She pondered this question. It seemed logical to start by just learning to know the instrument and try to do this as discretely as possible. She would need to understand which string made which sound, which way and so on. This didn’t look so easy to figure out. But to her help she had the knowledge of the fiddle, which was a string instrument too, and required the player to listen very attentively and be very sensitive in order to put the fingers in the exactly right position. It wasn’t the same instrument, but she had experience in music, it wasn’t like she had never played any instrument at all. She touched a string very carefully and heard a faint soft sound. Then she touched string after string on the harp the same way and listened to the sounds they made, making sure to let one sound fade out before she took next string. The sound of the instrument was beautiful, but definitely very calm, far from the passionate sound of the fiddle. It was true as the hostess had said, she thought. The fiddle was an emotional instrument, there was something with the sound that made it be that way.

[Chandray]

When she had tried all the strings she decided to “play” in a very simple way. She touched a string and waited for the sound of it to fade, but before it was silent she touched the next string. That way she made the sounds of the two strings blend for a short time, and softly move from deeper to lighter sound. She did this very silently and carefully. It was definitely one of the simplest melodies she had ever played, but it worked. Slowly enough for it to not be obvious she repeated this over and over and over again, going from deeper to lighter sound and then back from lighter to deeper again. As music is was totally repetitive and if it hadn’t been for the good atmosphere and the instruments nice sound she would have felt too bored to go on. But she went on. And after a while it had a calming effect on her, like the simple repetition of the sounds affected her in ways she didn’t know or fully understand. It made her feel like she was half dreaming and like she could go on forever and just repeat, repeat and repeat. Oddly, she liked it. Time passed by this way. She didn’t know how long time. Later, a small boy had left the table where he had been sitting with his family members. The grown up people were sitting there, enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and the slow eating, but the child had tired of sitting still and doing what he felt was “nothing”. He strolled over the soft carpets in the restaurant on the outlook for something more entertaining to do than just listed to the boring conversations of adults who just wanted to sit there and chat, chat, chat. “What’s your name?” The sudden question and the child voice made Chandray jump a bit where she sat on the stool. She hadn’t seen the boy coming. She looked at him and smiled. “Chandray” she said cheerily. “You surprised me there. Didn’t see you coming.”

[Chandray]

“I stealthed.” He seemed satisfied with his success. “I’m Novalak.” Chandray was still smiling. The akalaks were so tall and big and muscular, but this one was still quite small and thin. He was also full of energy and seemed to move his feet a little bit all the time. She suspected he would have preferred to run around. The restaurant and it’s concept was perfect for grown up people who wanted a calm evening with interesting conversations. It wasn’t really a good place for children, she thought. The boy was as out of place as Chandray’s fiddle was. “Are you here with your parents?” she asked, they way people ask questions just to socialize. “Yes. And my brothers.” He didn’t say anything more about his family members. Instead he turned his attention to the harp. He pointed at it: “A harp. Can I play ?” Chandray sympathized with the boy and understood that he needed something to do. It was the instrument that had drawn him there, she thought, not the chance at more conversation with a grown up person. She was tempted to say yes and let him try. But she was also worried that the would damage the harp, or make noise with it and get her fired. Looking at the childishly open, small dark blue face and the enthusiastically glittering pale golden eyes of the boy she found it very hard to say no to him though. “Can you play harp?” she said in order to stall for time. “No. But I want to try.” Chandray had thought that way many times herself. As late as this evening she had thought the same thing about playing the harp, even. She didn’t really know how to play it, but she had wanted to try and she found if fun to experiment with the instrument. So how could she not feel like she had met a kindred spirit? He wanted to try and he sounded optimistic. In order to stall for more time she offered him one of the fruit pieces on her plate. He took it at once and ate it quickly. “Please? Can I play?” She gave in to the pleading tone in the small voice, the eagerness in his face and the way he looked at her. “You can try but only if you are very careful and do exactly as I tell you” she said. “It’s not my harp and I don’t want anything bad to happen to it. Can you promise to be careful?” Novalak nodded. He was looking as trustworthy as a child comes ...

[Chandray]

“Come.” Chandray patted on her lap. “You need to sit with me, in order to be all enough for it. And I will help you hold it too. It’s heavy.” The boy promptly told her he was five years and very strong and besides he was going to be as tall as his father and brothers. But then he did like she had said and obediently sat on her lap. The small warm body radiated warmth and energetic life. “Touch one string at the time and very carefully” she said. “And listen to the sounds.” Chandray took the harp and held it so he could try, and the boy did like she had told him. For a while he seemed to find it very fun to carefully pluck at one string at the time and listen to the sounds they made. Everything went just fine, and Chandray relaxed and didn’t pay attention…until the child all of a sudden decided it was time for a braver and more energetic move. Before she knew it, his small hands were moving back and forth over all the strings at high speed. The result was a sound that she hadn’t known a harp could make. But it could, and heads were turning their way, while Chandray tried to hold the strings and stop the sound, the boy still playing on his own way without paying any heed to her when she told him to stop it. Feeling how everything was getting out of hand she saw an akalak leave his place at a table on the other side of the room. He walked soundlessly over the carpets on the floor, heading towards them. He arrived, grabbed the boy and lifted him up. At first the child seemed to want to protest but he stopped at once when the akalak put him up to sit on his shoulders and told him to behave. "I apologize for the inconvenience" the akalak said in a calm low voice. Chandray looked around, worried that she would be thrown out and not payed. But the blond hostess was speaking with guests and people had stopped looking at her. The peace and quiet in the restaurant had returned like it had never been disturbed.

[Chandray]

“Now you too apologize to the lady Novalak”. The akalak’s voice was deep and clear. Though he spoke calmly Chandray thought she could hear a streak of suppressed amusement in it. She shook her head and told him she had let the boy try to play, so he didn’t need to apologize to her. “It was my fault. I ought to have said no, but your son was so interested …” “He’s my brother” the child promptly informed from his position high above her. “Unfortunately.” The akalak sounded stern but there was a hint of a smile in his pale eyes. Chandray looked at the two and found it hard to think of them as brothers, though she they were, as they both said so. The child was so small, and the man seemed way older than him, definitely more like a father than a brother. He was so darkly midnight blue he was nearly black, but only nearly. The blue hue was there, like a sheen on his skin. His pale eyes gleamed out of the darkness, looking cold as ice. She looked at him and wondered : had she seen him before? All the akalaks were blue, sometimes she felt they all olliked the same...she wasn't sure. While the child moved on his shoulders and laughed, the akalak looked back at Chandray for a few ticks, nodded, turned and walked back to his table. After this unexpected little drama it was hard to start over playing the way she had done before. She felt she ought to play something, but was reluctant to take the risk to disturb the atmosphere again. After a few half-hearted tries, she took a break and just sat. Korana seemed to have kept an eye on her, because she turned up to pay Chandray and give her a plate full with an assortment of food. “Most of the guests seems to just have found the childs antics fun” she said. “And you can play here again, another evening. It was very calm and silent music. Very relaxing, though at first I was wondering…I must admit it seemed very simple.” She handed Chandray the gold mizas they had agreed on as payment for the evening. Chanday nodded. Simple was the least you could say about her harp music, she thought. She wasn’t even sure she would call it music, but as Korana said so, Chandray didn’t object. She thanked the hostess for this evening and for the offer to come back and play again, and then she put on her outdoors clothes, took the fiddle and walked out to see if she could get more work, as it was still early in the evening.

[Chandray]

So where would she go for a couple of hours more work and a few more mizas ? As the Almond Blossom had turned out to be a quiet place where ther fiddle had been considered too lively, she decided to go somewhere completely different, because now she was in the mood for playing fiddle. The Blue Bull. That was where she was going. She hadn't played there before, but now seemed to be a good evening for the first time. After walking for a while she arrived there. The stone building with a sweeping curve up to a large blue door rested just inside the gates on the corner of the first intersection headed north. Chanday steeped in from the cold winter evening. Warmthm the smell of food met her... there were lots of people and many guests seemed well into their wine. A very tall,big, and muscucar avalak approadhed her. It was the proprietor, Bull and Kevlar. It turned out he was happy to pay her for playing fiddle this evening. So Chandray went to the place in the tavern she was showed, took her fiddle and started to play. Se pressed her fingers down on the strings quickly and competently, while she moved the fiddlestick with all the carefree happiness that suited the simple and cheery dance music she played. And it pleased her to see the guests dance. Oh, Laviku wasn't it fun to see other people dance to your tunes, and move around in the room ! She played more and faster,wilder louder, while she watched them swirl around, laugh and flirt, obviously having fun.

[Chandray]

When the first tune ended she played an even wilder, faster one, and while she played she laughed and a rush of passion filled her as she played on. Some people were clapping and some were just listeing, others were dancing and some laughed out loud. Chandrays fingertips danced over the strings when she pressed them down to make the tunes, and the fiddlestick flew back and fort so fast that she nearly lost control of it all, but only nearly. Chandray had stopped thinking. The music was all and she was one with it, the way it used to be when she was playing at the top of her ability. She played on like this for a long time, and when she finally ended she was spent but happy. She loved to play, just loved it. Now she took a short break and learnt to know the bartender Ann, a very friendly person. The two of them talked a great deal to each othrer while Ann carefully crafted her drinks, never shorting her clients and never leaving them unsatisfied. Ann had an endless lot of interesting gossip and rumors to tell, and Chandray made a mental not to come back to the Blue Bull if she ever needed information about what was going on in the city. After the short break she was asked to play again, and she went on the same way as before. It was a wonderful evening and after the experience with the harp it was fantastic to the to play fiddle to her hearts content. But the atmosphere had became a bit aggressive later in the evening and when Chandray saw the signs of an upcoming taver brawl start to show she went to speak with Kevlar and Bull. He told her it was safe for women there... but Chandray didn't want to stay and see if that was true. So he paid her for the evenings work and told her to come back again, and Chandray said that she would. But for now she was in a hurry to leave. And she had hardly time to close the door behind her before she heard a crash, loud shouts, screams, and all the other sound sounds of a brawl. The two places she had worked in this evening had been so different. The contrast was extreme, between the calm and soothing atmosphere in The Almond Blossom and the loud and boisterous bells in the Blue Bull. teh thought made her smile where she walked. She smiled to herself al the way back to Northwind Suits.