Don’t Stop Believing

(25 Charlatos 5115, The Landing)

A single stanza sat in her music notebook for over 3 months. It was good, and the bardess knew it. But it was a hook, and nothing else. Every time she picked up her book and thumbed through it, she would read the stanza again, and smile. Then turn the page.

Lately, her confidence was sagging, her spirits were even worse. Truth be told, she was a wreck. The Cittern had not helped the situation at all.

This day, she woke up humming the entire song that went with that scrap in her notebook. As she transcribed the music, the words flowed, too. Suddenly it went from one sad little stanza to an entire finished song. Somehow she also managed to make a hopeful ending. Hopeful! That was a surprise to her, she did not know there was any hope left to her.

She went to sit and prepare her performance, but was side-tracked. The song monopolized her attention through everything she did, even her hunting partner noticed it. Nobody was hurt on the glacier, but they could have been with how her mind was wandering. She realized she just needed to go somewhere quiet and get it all arranged and memorized.

Settling into one of the quiet public spaces of Silvergate, she spontaneously promised that she would sing the song when it was ready that night. As she finished it up, she realized she had not rehearsed it, she was about to essentially rehearse in front of someone. The only person who had ever heard her rehearse was her Mother, before she left home.

But she had kind of promised, and just now there were rituals and habits she was clinging to. Keeping her word seem like the best idea, whether she was ready or not.

And so they were the first to hear it, even though it was a first run-through. There were so many things that could have gone wrong. But nothing much went wrong at all. She was concerned the topic of the song was a bit moody and it just might not be well received by people at large.

She ended the song, rose to her feet, and there was a long, terrifying moment of silence. She was close to tears, the song touched her heart so. She brushed at her left eye; it was threatening to spill over, and she looked up.

“That was incredible,” he told her. “That was really, really good!”

“Thank you,” she smiled in relief.

It seems her instincts were still working because the song seemed to resonate with her small “test” audience. She stood a little taller, pleased with the song’s unveiling. Then, the very last thing she expected to occur, happened.

“Would you be able to write down the lyrics you made today for me?” he asked her.

He wanted a copy of what she had written! Her new song, “May Have Been” was good enough for someone to want their own copy. She was amazed; that had never happened before…

Author: GSBardess

A young bardess named Luxelle is currently learning her trade and hoping to one day make a name for her songs in GemStone IV. Follow along with her adventures in life and song.

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