Open A Song in The Sanctum

[Lance Windhelm]

9th of Fall, 523

Lance took a few deep breaths as he entered the gated community and rested against a building. Leaning his head back and forcefully closing his eyes. His lungs were burning and sweat was starting to speckle his forehead. Rest and calm alluded him, his thoughts keen on the moments past. Shouting, commotion, death and dead lying prostrate in the street. He wasn't sure what had happened. It was a calm mid day, then it wasn't. Someone ran from a shop, carrying a small sewn bag, it looked oblong and awkward. He was quickly cut down, if it was the store keeper or a guard, Lance didn't linger long enough to know. As the crowd began to run, so did he. Only looking back once, he saw two bodies in the street, one attempting to crawl, the other he assumed dead. Lance didn't stop running till he made it to the relative safety of the gated community.

"Ugh, and in broad daylight." Lance thought.

It took a few minutes but Lance calmed himself and started to walk to The Scarlet Sanctum. His first job as a performer. He was glad to have been accepted but wasnt sure what to expect on his first day. Nervousness knocked at the door of his stomach and layered his palms with sweat but he persisted. The Sanctum seemed like a safe place, armed guards walking around, keeping the girls safe. It settled his fear just a hair. Fear was a staple in the city, one Lance had yet to get used to. Part of him wondered if he ever would. Though, he remembered stories his father would tell him, about early towns, sometimes after being raided so much, it just became a part of normal life. He waited for the numbness of acceptance.

It was almost dusk now. Lance entered The Sanctum and quickly realized he was underdressed. His common clothes were, well, just that. It put him in stark contrast to the beautiful men and ladies that strutted about in silks and leather, scandalously clad and exposed. Music was already in the air and the bar was in full swing.

At the last note of the guitar, the performance befor his own, Lance made his way to the stage. Pulled his flute out of its case and set it behind him. Taking a seat and letting his gaze fall on the crowd. Most payed him no mind, some sat there waiting, for him or a girl he was unsure. But he began in a somber tone.

~Red and silver,
golden sun.
Dusk and darkness,
the fun has begun.~ Lance tried to carry the tune, but he was letting thoughts of earlier cloud his voice. He gently put the flute to his mouth and blew into it. The tones were deep and slow at first, then, after a moment picked up its pace.

He couldn't let the city ruin his music. He refused to let it take everything he loved. Lance's fingers danced as well as they could across the instrument, moving into memories of dancing as a young man with a beautiful, mystery of a woman. Red silk flowing through the air. Smiles on their face and love between them. He tired his best to put the feelings in the tones and beats of his flute, but somehow he felt he was failing.

Lance stopped. Smiled to the somewhat absent crowd. He tried to catch eyes where he could, some at the bar, others being pulled to private rooms. Some were ladies that looked at him with questions on their faces.

~the dress, full of silk and rum. Her chest out... the night is young.~ He stumbled with the verse.

The memory flowed now, but he began to worry his voice wasnt the best as it went out into the audience. The music was fun and up beat, not a song for a bar, but one that was meant to intrige, and get the blood flowing in all the right places. The missing notes here and there Lance didn't mind, and he doubted the audience could tell. He let his mind drift into the ocean of thoughts from home, almost forgetting about earlier.

WC: 702

[Lance Windhelm]

His foot drummed the stage as the flute peddled its tones to the listing ears. His eyes closed, Lance wasn't there at The Sanctum anymore, he was at home, celebrating. The silk of his lover in his hands. Her lips on his own. His music floated past them both and back into the Sanctum as best he could, conveying the very thoughts to anyone willing to hear.

His fingers moved across the metal body of the flute with almost perfect precision. Some notes he landed on sounded fine, others may have threw off the image he was trying to create. He did his best to pick it back up and keep the lively music flowing.

When Lance opened his eyes the ladies and gentlemen in The Sanctum where still going about their business, not paying him much mind. It didn't make him happy, but it was still a job and he was enjoying himself. He let out a flourish of tones and pulled the instrument from his mouth.

~bear naked on the floor, her knees weak, begging for more.~ He continued singing.

The tones that followed were weaved into a mysterious web of notes and then went back into the beat. Lance's foot began to drum against the stage once more.

His thoughts hadn't drifted since he started. The incident from earlier only a distant thought, from a distance place, a place he was again ignorant of. The only thoughts that occupied his head had to do with his music and memories of home. His lover crawling towards him with a sweet smile that asked him for more. Her name forgotten to time, but her beauty forever remembered in his music.

A glass bottle shattered across something and brought him back to reality instantly. The memories of Sunberth halting the music in a sharp and sudden tone as a man began to yell drunkenly across the room. He point a wry finger at a woman and said something that only came out as a shouted cacophony. Two guards pulled him out into the street.

Lance's startled gaze fell onto Ruby who sat at the bar, begging him with a wheeling hand to continue his music. He quickly started to play a song, a completely different song, but something that filled the room. It was a kin to waiting music in a shop. He grasped for anything in the rushed moment and pulled in an old folk song he learned as a boy. He didn't remember the words but the music was lively enough for the environment.

His hands were shaking, he tried to make it through the song. Tried to think of home again, but he was starting to be afraid to close his eyes. Thoughts of someone throwing something worried him, he'd hate to get injured on the first day of work. As the song came to an end Lance collected his instrument case and walked off stage, making room for the next performer. He'd go back on in a few minutes but for right now a strong drink called his name.

WC: 514

[Lance Windhelm]

Lance took a shot of something strong and swallowed it quickly. The liquid burned on it's way down and into his stomach. He tried not to slam the cup on the bar. His face scrunched up. He wasn't used to this stuff, he was more of an ale person. Hops and wheat all in one, he missed the taste, especially in comparison to the shot of liquor. Lance remembered home, they had the best ale around.

Lance looked up at the stage. The performer was playing a violin. It was beautiful and smooth, the kind of music that could be relaxing and tense all at the right moments. The ladies danced to its rhythm, and when the music was finished Lance went back up to the stage and took his seat.

He put the flute to his mouth and started something slow. A kind of music that could be used to either dance to or simply talk over. It was something that let him linger in the background. The glass was being swept up as he played, servants moving around quickly and quietly. They were just as much of the background as Lance was.

The background music went on in its ups and downs. It was exciting at times, then smoothed back out into a relaxing tones. Lance would send a bit of relaxation throughout the room, it was in waves, for a second, then a minute might pass where he did it again. Then he would switch back to the arousing tones as before. He did his best to make the atmosphere what Ruby wanted, but was also very careful to not draw too much attention to himself.

He only had an hour or so left. Trying to think about what song he was going to play next caused his finger to slip to the wrong note. No one seemed to notice and he just continued on playing, tapping his foot, and watching the people around him. Using the resonance ability Lance tuned into the vibrations of the people around him, he could feel them, and with his eyes closed he could all but see them. The tones of his flute passes on love and compassion, with a hint of lustful desire.

The room picked up in activity. Ladies danced just that much more sexy, pulling out all the stops, the men though most didn't show an outward sign right away, looked a bit more aggressively at the women. Lance only did it for a moment, maybe a hearts beat at a time. Not enough for anyone to get too excited or to notice.

Some of the ladies would look at him now and again. He wasn't sure if that was his sex appeal or the music. Either way, when they did he he wouldn't use any of his bardic abilities. He would just end a wink their way and gauge their reaction. Who knows maybe he'd find himself in one of those beds for free once the night was over. The thought made him smile, sending an awkward tone through the room.

WC: 514

[Lance Windhelm]

He had stopped the resonance at the end of the last song. He was starting to get nervous using it in the city. It was so dangerous sometimes, if anyone was starting to catch on he could be done for, but the room would probably start into an uproar before they put him on a hit list. Lance just continued his music at a steady pace, nothing too fancy apart from the needed ups and downs for the dancers.

The beating of his feet, the calm nod of some of the patrons heads as he played, the smooth movement of the female figure, they were all good indicators that he was doing his job well. It was a plus that no one seemed to be looking his way. He had to try and refrain from singing into it, but the fact that it would mess up the rhythm of the song kept him at bay.

When the song was finished he thanked the crowd and ended the night by a light bow as he left the stage. No one was looking, no one cared, he was ok with that for now. The men and ladies here were all absorbed into each other. Everyone looking for some kind of connection, physical or emotional. They would find it here, for a price.

Lance said goodby to the bar keep and headed home. It was practically dawn now. The people of Sunberth were still setting up stalls and opening shops, the gangs and thieves didn't seem to be out, but they were a lively and unpredictable bunch, he would keep his ears open for anything suspicious around him. The only sign of morally reprehensible activity was the the blood marks from the incident he had passed by later the night before.

He made it to the Drunken Fish easily enough. Stowed his things away in the chest he kept in the closet and took a seat at the small desk in his room. He began to write down the song lyrics, at least the ones he could remember from earlier. But then he decided to flip to the back of his journal and write in a type of code. At the top of the second to last page he wrote the alphabet backwards, and then again forwards underneath it. This was to remember how to decipher what he was writing. If someone were to find his journal, it may take them a long while to find out what it said. Though nothing was damning to him, it was private and he wanted to keep it that way if he could.

He wrote about his encounter with Rhaus for the first time. Then a few prayers to him, asking for a muse for the next night he had to play at the sanctum. It took him a long time to write it, having to jump back and forth to the key. He had made up fake codes when he was kid, passing notes to his friends, it took him this long back then too.

WC: 510