Completed Sad, Sweet and Warm

[Kuvarakh]

72nd Day of Fall, 514

Kuvarakh had finished another run of slightly increased flexibility into a wagonload of metal, and was relaxing for the next bell to regain his focus. He had a tune stuck in his head, and thought about going to an inn to listen to some musicians after he closed the shop for the night. He himself could stay awake and work all night if he chose, mental fog not withstanding.

But though he did not require sleep, being a Nuit, he DID require diversion as much as any mortal citizen of Alvadas. He had been happy to see Wanda decide to take a few days off. After the events earlier this season, he knew she could use it. But even before the confrontation with the criminals, she had seemed depressingly introspective about her place in the shop. And it was making him introspective about his own, as a result.

He knew that he had more "potency" to his transmutative ability, while doing alchemical activations, than she did. But there was far more to alchemy than simply getting a job done faster, and maybe even having longer lasting results. She seemed on the verge of stepping down to a lesser role in the shop. Kuvarakh hated to see that happen. He knew from his human experiences that this was the first step in a slow decline. When she stopped keeping herself busy, age would advance more quickly.

The old dilemma would raise its head then. Should he press, once again, for her to consider becoming a Nuit? He no longer was certain that he could just end himself if she died, in some radically long-shot hope that the gods would favor them with a rebirth together. Not only was it hopeless to presume upon the gods' designs for the denizens of Mizahar, it was becoming something he thought of as an inexcusable waste for him to throw away all he'd learned.

If Wanda would take the Daek-nuit transformation, it would forestall this decision indefinitely. But he knew she was disturbed by the very thought, regardless of her affection for him. All he could do for now was to hope she returned to a bright, new, refreshed attitude. In the meantime though, the tune in his head took on a more melancholy aspect...

No...This was an actual sound, not just a mentally ingrained melody. Even as he realized this, the evidence of his conclusion entered the shop. A young lady entered the shop, her style of clothes not overbearingly ornate, the fragrance of her perfume pleasant and ingratiatingly subdued. Her bearing poised and confident. She looked familiar, and by her expression, she knew it. She had enough familiarity with the workings of the business of the shop to take it upon herself to lead the impending conversation to the end of the counter where the ledger, work papers and contract documents were.

"Hello again, Mr. Kuvarakh. I see you've acquired a new 'suit".She smiled deviously, but not maliciously. He could not help but return the gesture.

"You...have clearly been here before." He tapped his finger in the air, as if he'd selected her from an assortment on women on parade. "I suspect you have a very detailed idea of what you want done. Shall I await your pleasure, or would you like me to ask first?"

[Kuvarakh]

The woman's smile softened slightly, "I'll just say it right out. I have a business proposition for you. I have been here before, and the success we had with that last venture gives me hope for this one as well. Perhaps this rings a bell?" she lifted an empty oil lamp that was nonetheless glowing a bright red.

Kuvarakh rocked back slightly, nodding. "Ohhh...Okay, I remember you now. You had a supplier run short of oil for your lamps, and we came to terms on doing a bit of alchemy on the wicks...or no...it was the glass itself." He gave her a friendly questioning look. "Yeah, I thought those were a great idea. In fact, I had half expected you to return after ten or twelve days to have more made. I guess we made just enough the first time."

She shrugged with a bit of a frown, "Well, no in fact, I could have probably sold twice that many, but the glassblowers were all booked up. I couldn't get any more lamp bells." She paused, giving new consideration to that idea. "Actually, I think they have slowed down now. I could probably add a follow-up contract for more of those, in addition to the one I came here to propose tonight."

He waved the vague secondary proposal off. "So just what WAS it you wanted to propose?" Again, he noticed a slight hint of music. Now, however, he could tell it was coming from the woman, since it became even more defined as she opened the bag she was carrying. "I assume it has something to do with that melody I'm hearing?" Her smile widened, and he added, "It IS lovely, What tune IS that, anyway?"

"I haven't the foggiest." she confessed. "I heard it cutting through an alley just last night on the way home. It was so beautiful though, I couldn't just walk away until I knew where it was coming from. I mean, obviously, there was no singer or musicians in the alley, nor any inn with a hired entertainer off that alley."

Kuvarakh was intrigued. It sounded like one of the more kindly tricks Ionu would play on the city, and he wanted to hear more. He waited, his eyebrows raised, his wrist slowly rolling, urging her to continue, which she did. "I tracked it down to a hole in the base of a stone wall serving as an outer border to one of the walled properties. It was odd how it was loud enough for me to hear it a couple of blocks away, but was no louder when I found it. It seems to want you to find it, but then is very subtle. Here."

She had been rummaging through her bag as she spoke, eventually bringing out a shell which shimmered with a vibration that gave it a somewhat translucent look. He took it from her, surprised to feel no vibration whatsoever. He held it up to his ear and listened, his face relaxing as his focus wafted away on a sublime cloud...

Secret :

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh was not aware of the woman's smile as he listened to the lovely tones cascading from the odd, pearlescent shell. Her voice, though, broke past his rapture to add further interest. "I have two others, as well. And then, I have one more that rings with the same music you're listening to right now."

"Well this is truly enchanting...But...I...don't really see what you need me for. Were it not for the fact that we are the only alchemy shop in town, I would guess these are already a finished product. There may not be any guild sigil to prevent a right of copy upon these, but I hesitate to put my name on someone else' idea." He was disappointed to have to say it, but it was policy not to copy something so directly. "Inspiration", on the other hand, was a completely different thing.

And it appeared that "inspiration' was what this enterprising young lady had in mind as well. "Oh, I quite understand. There's no pride to be garnered from simply duplicating someone else' creativity. But there is both pride and profit to be had from taking something clever a step further, and making it both, ingenious and useful, don't you think?"

Kuvarakh was hooked and they both knew it. His eyes narrowed with interest as he cupped his elbow in one hand and his chin in the other. "Go on..."

Her smile intensified, becoming infused with the somewhat predatory look of an entrepreneur embarking on a promising new venture. "Well, if what I came to understand, from the last time we worked together, is correct, you can use these shells to...transfer?...infuse?...imbue?...this quality into material for use on a larger project." She was unsure of the proper term, but Kuvarakh waved the semantics off dismissively.

"Well, with Winter just around the corner, people will once again be pulling out their ear-warming mufflers. Oh, my ears positively sting when they get cold." Kuvarakh rolled his wrist to encourage her to stay on the topic, but said nothing.

"So, I know the man that makes these mufflers, and there is a small, flat, round wood core beneath the padding. It gives something for the fur to be connected to, as well as the crown piece. So I was thinking, if the wood used for the core was to be...umm...imbued..." before she was done choosing between her three terms, to finish stating her idea, Kuvarakh's eyes widened with understanding.

"Imbued with this music!...Then the people of Alvadas will have a choice this Winter. A very easy choice; between normal, silent ear warmers, and ear warmers that not only keep them warm, but fill them with beautiful music as they go about their daily errands in the cold. I like it! Simple, quick to complete, and innovative! It will be this Winter's "must-have" fashion."

The young woman laughed merrily, "To be honest, my friend will probably not bother making any regular ear warmers this year. Why be in competition with yourself? Especially when you know you'll lose. Okay, so HE will have to get a cut, of course, as well as you and I. I will task some people I know to get hold of as many of these shells as they can, and I will bring them to you. Apparently, these things have been popping up all over town. There are quite a few other melodies out there by now."

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh could hardly deny his eagerness to hear more. The last shell had nearly bound him with its spell, the voice, the flute, the gea'tar, all combining into an exquisite melancholia. He felt both like cheering and crying as a soulful emptiness was created and filled simultaneously. So simple, but so able to exclude the complications of the day. He hated to even surrender the shell back to the woman, so caught up was he in the aura of emotion.

But as beautiful as the background gea'tar had been in the first offering, the next stole his breath away. There was no voice this time, nor flute, but the background sounded as if a chorus of violins wept in harmony instead. Again, the sadness of the piece was a joy of heartbreak. 'Is this the gods' way of telling mortals that even tragedy has beauty?'

Secret :

The woman was wiping her own eyes in empathy for the Nuit before her, swaying and sighing with the flow of swelling emotion. As Kuvarakh slowly set the shell down, a glorious grief cascading from his face, the woman handed him the last shell she currently had. "Here is one more for you, and I hope you like piano."

They shared an anticipatory laugh as Kuvarakh went and got himself a drink of water, stating that he might need to rehydrate his tears if this was anywhere near as beautiful as the other two. "My...my daughter played the piano...before she was killed." he explained, sighs punctuating his words.

The woman bit her lip and bunched a cloth in preparation as Kuvarakh took a deep sighing breath and brought the third shell to his ears.

Secret :

She handed him the cloth halfway through the short piece. "Oh Linika, Linika..." he was whispering in his sightly broken voice. "Raellen would have been so proud of you..."

The woman smiled sadly, "Those are beautiful names. I assume Linika is your daughter. Raellen is lovely too. Mine is Serena. I hope you had some happy years with them. How long ago was it? I mean I know you're a Nuit, so..." she left the logic unfinished as Kuvarakh took a deep, trembling breath and waved it away.

"It's been an hundred years since Linika died. She was nineteen. Raellen died giving birth." He'd said it so many times now it didn't break him up like it once did. But there was still a hitch in his voice, as he added. "...still seems like yesterday..."

[Kuvarakh]

Serena was silent for a moment, as Kuvarakh placed the shell back in her hand. She expressed her sympathy sincerely and Kuvarakh thanked her. He gave a deep, purging sigh and then asked her if she had any leads on how many other pieces might be floating around out there. It was time to get down to business.

She told him she had some friends looking around, making deals with other citizens who had found them, offering a number of finished items, or a small percentage of profit in exchange, but did not have any numbers to verify yet. The more people were involved, the more they would have to charge for the musical ear warmers, to give all parties some compensation.

"Well I can begin with the one you presently have two of. You understand that the shell will be consumed in the process, right? Also I'll need the actual wood that your...ear warmer...maker...uses to make the cores for the ear pieces." Kuvarakh expected this would cause some delay, but Serena smiled mischievously and held up a finger in a manner suggesting that he wait a moment.

She nodded and stepped outside as Kuvarakh began scribbling down his charger array for the project. Serena returned with four small boards of hard wood, each two feet by four. "This is all he would give me for your initial... alchemy... thing... whatever you call it." Kuvarakh filled in the blank with the word 'transmutation'. She then explained that her friend was understandably hesitant to invest a major amount of material until he knew it would work.

Kuvarakh was nodding before she finished. It was a sensible precaution. He knew there would be some trial and error involved. Not that the actual equation was elaborate. In fact, his projected formula was quite simple:

wc = wood for core,
ms = musical shell,
ps = plain shell,
mw = musical wood.

wc + ms - ps = mw.

Every other characteristic of shells would be filtered back out except the presence of the musical vibration, leaving the wood unchanged beyond that. But he knew that the simplicity of the concept neither implied nor imparted success.

"This is something quite new to me," he said to Serena. "I've never been after the actual quality of sound before, as best as I can remember anyway. You are free to stay and watch if you want. I'm not sure what complications may be unforeseen. On the surface this looks very simple, but how often does that really happen?"

"Rarely," Serena agreed, "But I actually have a few possibilities of other shells to check on. I should be back in a bell or two. Do you think you'll be finished with this one...uhh...transmu...tion...by then?" She suspected, by Kuvarakh's chuckle, that she had not gotten the word right. But neither of them felt the need for correction.

"If everything goes as it should, I'll be done well before that." Kuvarakh responded.

[Kuvarakh]

It was an uncomplicated concept, to simply transfer a single quality. Especially when both the fount and the filter were identical materials in all other regards. There were no other characteristic of shells that he wanted from this activation.

He ground the two shells, being sure to keep them separate, and placed the appropriate grindings in the fount and filter slots. Then he arrayed the small sheets of wood in the center. It seemed almost too easy. But he dismissed this concern. Even though it was an unusual property he was after, one that only arose from the whims of Ionu, it was still only a single property transfer. 'It should be easy!' he told himself.

He did as he always did, piercing his finger to let a drip of his Nuit ichor bead on his fingertip. He slid it along the ring, setting his mind to the feel of movement beneath his finger. It was his routine, and he'd gotten quite used to it. As soon as his finger reached the keystone, he willed this feeling, empowered by his experienced affinity to djed flow within the ring, to begin the actual movement of djed in the ring.

It progressed quickly, to the point where he changed his meditative perception to a visual contact with the accelerating flow of djed. It took on the look, feel, and sound of a whirlpool. But there was a difference this time. Normally the vision of the maelstrom was quite clear, but with a sort of 'debris" element floating with the spin of the water. He'd always had the sense that these represented the qualities in flux, based on the chargers used.

It had always been borne out by the number, and characteristics, of these floating items. They always matched what he'd placed in the charger slots. And his sign, to release his activation, was when all these elements sort of "melded" into the water, and it became smooth. To his meditative mind, it represented the full integration of all the pertinent elements, as well as the removal of those filtered out. Once he observed a consistent flow of his metaphorical whirlpool, with nothing standing out at odds with its consistency, he would release the djed stream.

The problem was that this time there was already no break in the water's consistency. It was true that he'd been unsure what sort of para-visual manifestation he'd lock into to represent the presence of sound vibrations. But this time there was nothing, nothing at all. It was as if the transmutation was over before it began. He let the stream maintain its acceleration for a few more chimes, but soon realized it was pointless. There was no effect.

He released the djed to await Serena's return. He tried to put the puzzle together. He could still hear the music playing, albeit very softly. But as he turned, he realized the music was coming from the other musical shell, not from the remaining grindings of the first one.

'That must be it.' he reasoned, grabbing for any explanation as to why he would fail at such a simple process. 'Grinding up the shell must have ruined its musical capability.' He cursed his lack of attention for not noticing it before he'd started. He'd made no change to the wood at all. Every single added property had likewise been filtered out right from the start. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

[Kuvarakh]

Serena returned before he was finished washing down the ring. It didn't matter that no effect had been transmuted, there was still the residual djed to be dealt with. "I got them!" She announced, holding up two shells. "Oh wait, are you okay?" she looked suddenly alarmed.

Kuvarakh admitted his error in grinding up the shell, explaining that this was a routine step under normal circumstances. "It should have occurred to me that there would me departures from standard procedure with something so radical." He assured her that if he used the shell in its natural form, it should still work.

She showed some momentary disappointment, but took him at his word."Well these are additional shells with the other two melodies, so maybe you should use one of them this time. then if it still doesn't work, at least we still have a source of the first melody."

Kuvarakh appreciated her foresight, and took one of the shells from her. It was still too big to fit in the fount slot. It slipped from his hand as he tried to force it and fell to the floor, breaking into several pieces. He was relieved, and intrigued, to find that the pieces that were still a half inch square or bigger, still played the melody.

Serena, in the meantime, was listening to one of the others. "Well that is simply beautiful. But it unfortunately fits the mood of the news I have for you. I'm afraid the Entertainer's Guild is demanding a share of the profits from this venture."

Kuvarakh simply stared for a moment, raising his eyebrows in a question. She could fill in the blank easily enough. "They apparently believe that making such an item available to the citizenry is going to decrease the call for their talents. They fear that people will not go to the inns and parks to hear them play. I...guess I can see their point." her expression exemplified a defeated sympathy.

Wanda suddenly spoke up from the storage room. Kuvarakh jumped, startled. He had not even known she had come back. He was thrilled to hear the strength in her voice. "That's ridiculous! I don't believe for a moment that they are that ignorant of human nature. This will only make people want to see them all the more. Maybe not right away, but ultimately, the people will get used to having music around them all the time. And they're not going to go on wearing ear warmers come Spring, are they? They will get tired of the same single melody on whichever item they bought and they will want variety!"

Kuvarakh turned to Serena and their smiles mirrored each other. "Besides..." Wanda continued, "As...genuinely sweet as these melodies are, they are all so damn sad. The people are going to want something upbeat for a change after a full season of blowing their noses." She came around the corner and Kuvarakh had to laugh, Serena joining him a moment later. Wanda had one of the shells in one hand and a crumpled tissue in the other. Her eyes were red with tears.

"Oh, stop it..." she chided them with a sniffling grin.

Serena held up one of the newly acquired shells "Well, you probably won't want to hear...this one then. It's a piano piece with a string section behind it." She handed it to Kuvarakh who put it his ear.

Secret :

She handed the second one to Wanda, "But this one's got a happier overall feel to it. Piano, gea'tar, flute and bass viol."

Secret :

They traded after a listen. As Kuvarakh heard the second piece, he was reminded of something some University friend had told his daughter a century ago. He'd claimed that there was some priest of Rhaus that had a mage-crafted gea'tar, with a strangely "energized" sound to it. The result of the mage-crafting, no doubt. Figuring that these shells were a gift from Ionu, Kuvarakh wondered if their patron deity had blessed them with a sample of that unique instrument here. The talent of single-note plucking on the bass viol was something he'd heard before, though rarely. He decided it fit perfectly here.

[Kuvarakh]

Ultimately though, the "happier feel" of the last piece was too little to offset Kuvarakh's frustrating inability to make the transmutation work. He spent several days trying various shells and fragments, with or without filtering shells. He even tried using a normal shell as a receiver, figuring that had to work. It was the only difference between fount and receiver. How could it not transfer?

The only noteworthy detail was that he perceived an image of note tablature, with random seeming treble and bass clefs, sharps, flats and notes spinning along with his mental image of the whirlpool. He'd never seen such a graphically academic and artificial type of visual within his meditative image before. He did not actually read music, so he could not verify if they were a transcript of the music playing in the shells he was trying to use, but it seemed pretty logical.

Eventually, he took it to mean that Ionu did not intend for this to be something that could be transmuted. The patron deity was confirming the illusory nature of the music itself, by placing an illusory representation of it within Kuvarakh's own para-visual image. It was still possible to use the larger fragments by simply inlaying them into the wood, like the decorative displays in the fretboard of a fashionably expensive gea'tar or lute. But this was not work for an alchemist.

Serena continued to locate shells, wheeling and dealing for practical trades. Of course, there were several folks that simply did not want to trade their shells. There was little Serena could offer these people. It was a little frustrating, but she understood, as did Kuvarakh. In truth, the shells were a novelty he found quite appealing. He had no resentment towards these people. He'd given it his best shot, and Serena agreed that he deserved a share of any profit for his accidental discovery of how fragments still retained this unique quality.

But he waved off any expectation of profit sharing. He did not see this endeavor being very lucrative now. He heard later that Serena had managed to break even. He was glad of that. The items mostly were a status symbol due to their basic rarity. The Musician's Guild withdrew their objection, in the face of the financial failure of the whole project, as did the tavern owners and music shops.

Wanda was actually relieved by this development. She had not been looking forward to the negotiations and demands for compensation based on exaggerated allegations of financial hardship resulting from an alternate source of music for the citizens of Alvadas. She still felt it was a load of shyke, but it would have been a bitter ordeal nonetheless.

For his part, Kuvarakh felt surprisingly good about the whole endeavor. He was somewhat saddened that he'd been unable to get the sound to transfer. But it was a learning experience, and one could never get enough of those. And he'd come away from it all with a truly delightful reward. Just a single shell, but it was one of the few truly glad-sounding tunes they'd come across.

He did not know the language, suspecting it was some ancient dialect of some Alahean bloc nation of old. Nor did he know what the people were singing about. but the chorale counterpoint and harmonies were brilliantly executed, the instruments both soaring in light arpeggios and occasionally pounding one's spine in hammering power. He was happy to come away from this whole thing with no more profit than this one single shell.

Secret :

[Fable]

Kuvarkh

Skills:

Alchemy +1
Observation +4
Philosophy +1
Rhetoric +2
Philosophy +1
Socialization +5
Storytelling +1
Planning +1
Research +1

Lores:

Philosophy: The Value of Knowledge
Research: Trial and Error
Alchemy: Immunity of Ionu
Serena: Enterprising Businesswoman

Loot:

one Musical Shell

Notes :

Much better! Thank you for the formula, and I enjoyed Kuv's struggle with why it wasn't working. Clever integration of Ionu's power in his visualization, I liked that a lot. Good work!