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"Brats?"

The hairs stood on the back of Inaere's neck as her eyes fell onto the speaker of the word. She'd been enjoying herself quite well up until that point, just waiting to learn who in the name of all things infernal was taking harpists and stringers anywhere. But then...

Oh, that was last thing you wanted to say, she thought to herself. That was the very last damned thing you wanted to say.

"So, Danny's a brat, eh?" she asked in a pleasant way. In fact, her tone could be described as too pleasant. It was a vast change from the venom that had been in her voice only seconds ago. "I'll keep tha' in mind." Shrugging, the swordswoman ruffled Dan's hair before lifting her metal flask to take another swig. She gulped it, licking Trisani liquor off her mouth.

Oh, you'd best keep a lock on your door, you pig-skinned, red-headed harlot, Inaere thought to herself. A month, at most, and then you're dead.

Inaere started to chuckle quietly to herself for seemingly no reason at all. Danny, standing below her, cringed.

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Leony grinned wickedly as she inched closer to the girl who'd proven herself twice with just a few words in the last minutes. While she hadn't exactly been thrilled to be called a "brat," she'd heard much worse things in her lifetime, what with her father's absence and her own blindness. Ariane had always told her words couldn't hurt without the victim's license. It was something Lee had heard a thousand times as a child just after losing her sight when other children teased her for her odd, opaque eyes and tendency to trip over things she couldn't see.

Since then, she'd learned to disregard hurtful things as half-whispers. Not lessons and not music, so no important to her.

She knew the girl would be in the strings house with her. She didn't know how, but she knew. Much like the knew the girl wouldn't be playing an instrument. As such she sidled up to the girl and said, "I don't think she's in our house, anyway. Though I haven't heard anyone speak up for strings yet, have you?"

Leony Markman! You've lost your sight, girl, not your manners! Don't you shame me into coming down there to remind you!

Ariane's voice was clear in Leony's head, and Lee grinned.

"Oops, I'm Lee, by the way. You sound about my age. Shall we be friends?"

That was Lee. Blunt, honest and to the point. She saw it as fairly futile to make casual small talk. It didn't further a relationship so much as make it awkward and stiff.

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There was a sort of awed silence on Inaere's part as she regarded the person who approached her -- this 'Lee'. Several things crossed her mind at once, and she decided to tackle the biggest questions first. Of course, her ability to comprehend was not helped in the least by the fact that the alcohol had just begun to creep into her senses, though not so much yet. She hadn't drunk much. It was enough, though.

"... Firs'ly, it's mine and Danny's house, not yours," she said flatly, as if the other person was dumb. "We never said we were sharin' with nobody. An' if we was, you wouldn' have the bed, no. That's Danny's. You'd get the floor." Suddenly thinking of something, Inaere lifted her flask and peered inside, scowling.

"Hellfire, nearly empty," she muttered. Then, she removed a cork from her belt and shoved it into the hole, twisting it a bit. "Y'can't have any, by th'way. Hardly enough for me." With that, she shoved the flask into a pouch on her belt and snapped its hood over the beverage.

"Now, a few quick questions. Answer 'em and I'll deem fit t'answer that one you asked. Firs', what the Hell kind of a girl's name is Lee? Two, are we goin' to cook the dog? Three, why in Skorn's name are you botherin' me?"

In her own way, Inaere was blunt, honest and to the point. In fact, she could be instinctively so. "By th'way -- have you tried the ale here, yet? It tastes like donkey snot, but, by the gods, you'll start seein' bloody pink bears!" Inaere started to snicker, shaking her head. "Strongest dirty water I've tasted since last month."

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FACT:

Raina was all smiles as she stood waiting behind the Headmaster’s door. Deep within the depths of the room she heard all manner of clambering and frantic tapping; papers which she knew sat unattended scattered to the wind as the Maestro hurried to make himself look presentable for her. What she saw without eyes was a typical man doing typical man things – working in close to no light, which she constantly chastised him for; far from getting anything done whatsoever, and probably up to his devious trickery, as always.

The waiting only made her smile widen – knowing full well her focus had to be on her cheeks, repressing the soft flush that she knew would flourish as the door opened to her. To no avail, for despite any of her efforts to conceal it, when that door finally opened proceeding several hurried footsteps, her face lit up like a flame, and her girlish smile matched Caltrin’s own boyish glee. And then, as always, it started. Even before he gestured her in, although she did bow her head modestly at his offer, Raina’s mouth began moving, spouting out words at racing speeds.

“Thank the heavens it’s finally over. Hours of sitting there – you missed a candle - listening to a full grown man leap up and down in his shodden old shoes expecting to be taught how to use magic! I mean – look at your desk! - there were some spectacular students, a lot of potential – there was this one girl…”

Raina paused only to plop down on the elegant sofa she so often graced with her behind. Next to her Caltrin settled down into his favorite nest, looking gloriously handsome as he gave her his rapt attention. She had always wondered, in the beginning, how such a young man could be the head of such a powerful organization, for magic no less. Yet now, in the aftermath of many successful years together, Raina never doubted the power this man weilded, despite his age.

Raina, however, had her own power over him. Wherever he went, it was her he needed as his voice – her he needed to console in. Even now, his scrutinous eyes were hers alone, unmoving from her womanly countenance. Looking down as she lay across the furniture like a queen was all she could do to hide the faintest of reds that blossomed in her cheeks at the thoughts that arose. Those heavenly sapphires which she knew bore down upon her, however, did not keep her from rambling on into the rest of her announcement.

“…but Demitrius is such a prude. We argued forever about the one pianist – and after we’d gone past tooth and nail I finally got him to give in and let her through. Of course, he was adamant about keeping the young harpist boy…I’m just worried about how young the lad is. He was superb, don’t get me wrong. You’d think we’d have an age limit set for those auditions…”

And on and on she went. Her voice flowed smoothly, like a waterfall of words, sweet and nectarous. Raina was completely comfortable with pouring her heart and soul out to Caltrin – even though some compared him to an animated wall. He spoke to her – though perhaps not with outwards words. As she sat there, legs crossed in a swath of satin silk and tussled ebony hair dangling off the end of the sofa arm, he continually watched her, giving her all the response she needed.

“We lost over half of the group, but it was a good turnout. Just the right group of individuals – all talented, though weird… - anyhow, they’re being led on a tour now, and then they’ll be free to finish up the day. Just think! Two more days and we’ll be teaching our first bunch of outsiders. There was this one guitarist I’m going to have to snatch... You know how I love jamming with those boys.” Raina added with a joyous laugh, which even in this small space wrung out just as if she had sung it, its sweet melody wafting out the windows into the afternoon air. When she paused to look at Caltrin, to gauge his reaction, their eyes met again. Her sweetest of smiles rose, full of life, as was appropriate. The smile itself seemed to glow with light, Raina’s complete adoration of Caltrin blatantly obvious.

“Enough about me! How was your day Cal?” Raina’s laugh peeled out once more as she flipped over onto her stomach, resting her elbows on the arm rest and her face on her hands. An appropriate wiggle of the butt and she was all ears.

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Gale couldn’t say he wasn’t surprised. Although he’d been the first applicant, and perhaps more than a little successful, he was more than expecting not to get in. The dress code seemed so severe – and the look on the one judge’s face seemed laughably like an instant one hit K.O. Yet, here he was, breathing that final sigh of relief as Raina Trelavé, the Conductor of Life, announced his name with a little smile hidden in her words. A brief second and he was grinning as wide as his face would allow, sharing the glee of many other young applicants all around him. In celebration the guitarist gave a friendly pat to the neck of the guitar now nestled up against his back. It went where he went – although in this environment that wasn’t as strange as it was completely normal. Somehow, the familiarity was odd. He’d have to settle in first.

At the announced instructions Gale raked a hand through his untamable mane of feathery hair, which despite his attempts to pat it down flat only had it objecting twice as hard. Eventually he dropped his arm in surrender. His violet eyes observed the crowd of unusual characters as he waited for the herd to start moving – not that he wasn’t included amongst them. All strange – yet all normal amongst one another. Except the one woman who’s breath reeked of liquor and obviously didn’t give two shits about anyone else but the boy at her feet. He himself was silent, trailing after the group, fingering the lips of his slack pockets as he went.

As time went on he found himself standing, looking rather ruggish and tired, amongst a group dominated by females. All of them string users - waiting and watching for the absent senior who would lead them through River’s End.

God save me from the sea of destructive estrogen.

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Lee paused for a long moment, thinking. She could smell the scent of strong liquor permeating outwards from the other girl like oil on water. The was something of a...well, Ariane called them 'open' drunks, because they said what they thought, how they thought it. There was no hiding, pausing, or polite hesitation with them.

But Lee didn't mind. Ariane, on the few occasions she'd had spirits in the house, was much the same way. Lee had found it absolutely hilarious in her younger years, and still found it amusing now that she was older. The way her mother could fuss on and on about dry soil for what seemed like hours at a time was truly remarkable. But Ariane was harmless, if a tad off-putting, and Lee considered this girl to be much the same. After all, it was her forward way of talking that Lee had been drawn to in the first place. She'd always secretly admired those kinds of people. Lee depended quite a bit on a person's speech and voice to know them, since she couldn't see them and read body language. As such, she admired a person who said exactly what they were thinking and let emotion percolate cleanly through their words. It was the closest Lee could get to reading a book for the time being.

And she hadn't missed the split second's pause before the other girl had started in on her pseudo-rant.

"True enough," she said plainly. "I'd presume you have your own quarters, or at least your own room. In any case, I'm sure you'll both have beds, as will I. So, that problem is solved.

"And my birth name is Leony, like the flowers, you know, peonies. But my mother thought that sounded to fragile and whatnot, so she changed it to Leony. And then I thought Leony was a bit of a mouthful, and when there's so much to be said, you can't waste time on extras when Lee will do just fine. In any case, it set me apart from the other girls in school. I do get tired of boring names, don't you?

"We're not going to cook Roe, though, he's done nothing wrong, and they have plenty to eat here without him. And you'll not try to harm him, either." She didn't finish the threat, but the warning was clear in her voice.

She moved on to the other girl's next question seamlessly, however, as if her tone had been bright and amiable the whole time. "And I didn't mean to be a bother, I just though I ought to introduce myself to the others around here." A pause. "You're not here to play, though, are you? You're a friend, or sibling or something with another strings player. Oh! Are you with the harpist? He was spectacular, that song he played reminded me of the time Mother and I went to the coast and I saw...er...felt the ocean for the first time. It was wonderful."

She stopped realizing she was babbling, and that Ariane would have stopped her. "Anyway," she continued. "I came because I heard your voice and I decided I'd like to meet you. So here I am. If you don't like Lee, well, I'm sorry, but it's what I prefer," she finished stubbornly. Leony appreciated someone with a personality like the other girl's but it did not mean she would bend over for it.

"Oh, and thank you for the offer, but I've always found the stuff a bit strong, or at least it messes with how I see things. Two sips of that, and I'll walk into a wall, you'll see." She grinned wickedly at the girl's final comment. "See pink bears?" she said wryly. "No...I'm afraid I won't."

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It didn't look as though there was going to be any students that studied woodwind magic.This didn't bother her so much as the fact of not having more students to share the wondrous spells and creativity of the wind. It was a shame that others would not be sharing their talent and letting it flow in a stream of notes that would stay within the academy for years to come. This place and everything that went on inside it were more precious than diamonds, gold, and silver combined, but most people didn't see it that way. With thoughts so focused on this, her eyes watching as the students went with the other two senors, Sunset almost didn't notice a smaller group of new faces that seemed a little lost. By the instruments that they held, some carrying them in cases, the were woodwind students.

Waving a hand to get there attention, she waited patiently on the staircase, watching as they came up to her, voices holding excitement. She smiled kindly at them and turned, going up the rest of the stairs. "This way to the Hollow" she said softly, her voice as light as the wind itself. They follow, chatting like birds in the early hours of the morning, their vocals being just or almost as light as hers. "Um, excuse me, miss. What are we going to see after we go to the Hollow?" said a handsome looking boy, his eyes slanted upward slightly, the color of hazel. His hair fell into them a little bit, but he didn't really seem to mind or just didn't care. "Well, after Aeolus Hollow, we'll be going to the gardens and the roof tops. That is where most of the woodwind classes are held."

He nodded and smiled at her, turning back to a girl with long amber hair, and putting his arm around her. Sunset turned and escorted them to the Hollow, this involving going up several flights of stairs in the school, these stairwells finally coming to the end of a hall near the east wing tower. "Now, you'll need to know how to get into the Hollow" She took out her white silver flute and walked up to door where funnel shaped, bronze tubes were designed around the surface of the door. Blowing into the flute softly, the notes calling to the breeze just outside the windows. It flowed straight into the hollow tubes of the door, the sound of locks being heard as they released. "Welcome, freshman, to your new home. This is Aeolus Hollow"

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When Iyria heard her voice, pronounced right this time, escaped the lips of the woman reading off the names, it was one of the most beautiful sounds she had ever heard. Even in her own joy of hearing her name called, she still couldn’t help but notice that over half of those who were in the room were now crying or had looks of shock and disbelief plastered on their faces, and a few had looks that suggested they were too smug to accept that they hadn’t gotten what they wanted. While she pitied the ones who hadn’t gotten lucky, she was still experiencing a high from being accepted into the school.

As the crowd slowly started to disperse, blue eyes scanned the remaining new students, trying to find where she was supposed to go, when she noticed a man waiving her over. She smiled sheepishly as she walked over; he was very good looking in her opinion. She recognized a few of the others that were gravitating towards the man, his voice rising above the soft roar of the confused new students. Iyria stopped in front of the man and waited for the others, curious to see what her new home looked like.

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Emerald eyes scanned over the mass of bodies that were giving off a plethora of emotions, from pure undulated joy to heart wrenching sorrow; their emotions pulsating in waves over the crowd as it slowly dispersed, until only those who had the talent and Arete to be teachable were left. She watched as Phillipe waved to two of the new students in his House; it was simply obscene how fast he started to flirt with the new students.

Clicking her teeth, Verda strolled over to the blond haired man, a look of disapproval plain on her face.

“Flirting already? I don’t see why you bother, as no sane woman… or man for that matter, would ever fall for you.” She shook her head as she spoke, strands of her auburn hair falling onto her face from the movement.

“Anyways… if I could have all String House students come over here, we’ll be able to begin your tour of your new home.” She smiled as she turned her attention towards the junior students, their faces a mixture of eagerness and bit of fear on others as they gathered around her, which was understandable to her. Now it seemed like ages ago, but Verda could still remember when she had been asked to come to River’s End, a new school opened for musicians who had a special gift with music; for those who could literally make magic with their music. She remembered the fear she had felt, a new place and the discovery of a special skill inside of her. After the initial fear had worn off, she had felt an intense excitement and love of this place, a feeling she had never lost, and was glad for that.

As she scanned their faces, she instantly recognized the young man, Gale, who had his chosen instrument as a guitar. Inwardly, she smiled; there would be a good amount of time to get to know him, if Ms. Raina had anything to say about his love of guitars.

When all of the new students had made their way to her, she motioned for them to follow her out of the auditorium, and onto the campus grounds, as she headed first for the garden.

“First off we have the garden. Students are allowed here at any time, and, as you can see, we do grow a good amount of the fresh fruits and vegetables that you’ll be eating, as well as the wide variety of flowers that we grow. As well as the obvious uses for this area, a lot of students and teachers like to come here and unwind between classes. It is such a beautiful place, and it really does wonders for the nerves… though I would stay away from the area that Mallick tends to hang around… unless you enjoy being hit on by older men.” Verda tsked and shook her head before speaking again.

“These gardens are tended by the students and faculty, so please be respective of the hard work that gets put into maintaining the beauty and your food.” Verda smiled softly as she motioned for the students to follow her again.

“Here, we have the field we use for extracurricular activities. That means, if you think you’re going to play some game or do god knows what, come back here and do it. We don’t want to have to make you pay for breaking things, but if you do… well, let’s just say it won’t end well for you if said breaking could have been avoided by coming back here.”

As they continued walking, Verda mentioned in passing of the many different classrooms and their purposes, from the large, studio-like classrooms, to the more conventional ones, as well as the many auditoriums and stages set up around campus, as well as a brief walk though the trophy room. Eventually, she stopped at a large field sectioned off from the other areas of the school, that looked like the weather had decided to explode in a battlefield.

“This is the Discordance Studio. Once you being to learn how to control your talents, you’ll be able to use this room as a way to experiment safely with your skills. The Earth students and the Conductor of Earth fix up this room once a month, so it’s doesn’t end up looking like we actually are doing battle back here.” Emerald eyes looked at the young faces, some of them obviously eager to use this room in pursuit of their skills, or just the desire to cause wanton destruction and not be yelled at.

As they walked back through the school, Verda pointed out the formal concert hall, as well at the instrument inventory room. “We keep spare parts as well as full instruments in there, and nothings gotten too severely broken yet, and let’s try to keep it that way shall we?”

Finally, she pointed out where the dorms for the students were, and ended her tour in possibly the favorite place of anyone, the cafeteria.

“Well, this is about it. As you can see, your dorms are not far from the mess hall, and I figured I’d end my tour here because I know I’m hungry, and I’m sure the rest of you are as well. So grab a tray, eat, and if you still have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me. I know it can be scary here while you’re still getting used to it, and I’d be more than glad to help you if you need it.”

With that, Verda watched as the students wandered off to either eat or explore some more, and smiled at them, before grabbing a tray of her own and getting in line to get her own lunch.

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Never doubt me, for you may find it to be the last mistake you ever make.

Looking first at the guide for percussion, then at the one for strings, Raleigh wasn't quite sure of which he would fall under. The piano caused sound by small hammers driving against strings, so truly, he though, it could be either. After a bit of standing around he walked over to the lady who requested that the "sparkers" join her. If he was incorrect in his assumptions he could always be sent to the other woman. At least, that's what he hoped.

"Well," Inaere began to say as they followed the so-far nameless woman leading the students, "jus' be lucky about the bears part. It's rathe' ridiculous."

Dan was listening intently to the woman leading them and to the various conversations afoot. It was a benefit of being silent: You learned a lot, didn't get paid much attention, and generally knew more than anyone else. He even watched expressions, noting an odd sort of expression on the senior student's face as she noted the presence of the young man with the guitar. He wasn't sure what it meant, but he felt that was somewhat significant -- though he'd been wrong about such things before. And then, of course, he paid some small attention to Inaere and this other girl, 'Lee'.

He wasn't sure at first, but he had a strange feeling that Inaere thought something was funny.

Inaere was, in fact, enjoying the conversation a little. It wasn't often that people actually stood up to her, and when they did, she generally didn't like them. This person, however, this Lee, was doing so while still managing to be polite. A grin crept up Inaere's face as she began to chuckle lightly, squinting a bit from the act. "If you're sure y'don't want to cook that dog'a yours, fine. But, I mus' say, roast bitch -- well, he's male, isn't he? -- is a fine cuisine where I come from." At this, Inaere lifted her flask to take another long swig.

"... Oh. Righ'. It's empty. Damn." Inaere let go of the flask, letting it swing back down. She shrugged, continuing, "About Dan, he's a sweet enough little bastard of a kid. Doesn' listen well, though. Gets his own ideas, goes with 'em. Don' tell him, but I think he's always tryin' to be a step ahead'a everyone, y'know?"

Dan paused mid-step a moment. He had to think about himself to decide if this was true.

The girl at the front was still blabbering on about the gardens and the effort flushed into them, so forth, boring Inaere a bit. The woman-warrior shoved a little black hair from before of her eyes, then glanced up at the sky. "Wish it'd've rained. Hellfire, I love the rain. Tends to keep everyone else indoors, the dumb bastards. Great time to actually get somethin' done..." Inaere grunted her distaste, spitting on the ground, then glanced behind her at her new companion. "Well, Lee, I hope you're enjoyin' the babble about roses and pansies and pumpkins, because I'm not. An' my name is Inaere -- Inaere Highrealm of Northwind. Cold as hell, you'd hate it, mountains and all." She chuckled again, reaching for her flask before remembering its lack of contents -- and cursing.

"... Righ'," she said, watching Danny a moment. He was in front of them now, listening to other conversations. "Truth be told, you're right. I'm no musician, and I don't give a damn about music. I'm only here because of that devil tyke. He loves his harp so much..." Inaere gave a genuine smile at the boy, though he was turned away. "And Skorn knows he pulls my strings. We're siblings, y'know?"

Inaere now listened as the lead girl was describing something else -- something called 'The Discordance Studio'. Quite frankly, it was the only room that sounded mildly interesting to Inaere, and even then...

"As if you can blow anythin' up with music," she muttered. "Lyre-lovin', fiddle-fingerin', piano-pushin', horn-huggin', trumpet-blowin' pansies. What, they gonna make someone's head explode with a serenade?" A snicker escaped her lips as she remarked all of this to Lee.

The rest of the tour was dull, very dull, and Inaere took the chance to think. She took some time listening, too, but less so than she was to her own thoughts.

Danny, during this time, was still being very attentive to everything around him. He took a particular interest in the concert hall, staring at the stage as if imagining himself upon it, and at the room full of instruments. He decided, however, that his harp would never end up in that room -- ever. The boy-child gave a small hug to the beautiful stringed instrument.

Finally, the group reached the cafeteria -- not that Inaere was too excited about it. She had, originally, been quite excited by the idea of it, but then she realized that the food would probably consist of fruits and vegetables... Sorry stuff if the main course. No, Inaere wanted some roast pork, bacon, beef... With some fruits and vegetables, yes, that was true.

Still, that wasn't important to her at the moment. She asked Lee quite suddenly, "What sort of jobs would you say they have, 'ere? Methinks I'll be bored of just sittin' around, and that they'll not want me stayin' without playin' or payin' dues."

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Lee raised an eyebrow as she walked, half listening to the tour, half to Inaere. Not that the tour of the grounds wasn't awe inspiring, moving and all that...but the grounds were vast and much of it was inside. She thought it better to listen to the descriptions of the places, both spoken and unspoken, the echoes of heels on the floor and the sound of wind over grass, then focus to 'see' her new school.

Besides, this Inaere girl was much more fascinating, for the moment, anyway. There was something in her voice Lee couldn't quite place, but it was admirable. The laid-back strength, with no hidden pretension...It was powerful, forthright and honest. Lee appreciated this, since she got to know people through their voices and people who lied were that much more difficult to read.

With a wry grin, she shook her head. "Roe's so dirty, you'd be better off digging a turnip out of the ground with your teeth. Trust me, your dog-to-earth measurements are hardly worthwhile. And as for making someone....er...blow up with a song...Well, my piano from home is pretty big as far as I know. I'll bet with the right angle and a hard enough push..." She trailed off with a shrug.

Now she 'looked' at Dan. It seemed unfortunate he hadn't spoken yet, but from his music he sounded sincere, passionate, and precocious. Lee shrugged. "With music like that, maybe being a step ahead isn't such a bad way to go.

"The gardens sound nice," she said, smelling the flowers, vegetables and spices on the air, "but I prefer rain, too. I could live in the rain. I think people get things done much faster, I don't know why it's considered such an abomination. Without water, we would be nothing.

"And hello, Inaere of Northwind. I'm still just Lee, and I've never been to the mountains, though I grew up in the hills, and I've always quite liked those." Lee listened to Inaere talk about the harpist boy--Danny--a bit longer and smiled to herself, hearing the smile in the other girl's voice. Lee herself had no siblings, but she'd always wondered what it would be like to have one. A little part of you to follow you around, that you were responsible. You would teach him or her the basics of life, little tips and tricks to get over the obstacles and exacerbate the treats.

Lee paused a moment as the senior student introduced them to the cafeteria, then shrugged and continued. Entering new buildings when she couldn't see was always difficult. As usual, there was a distant walls, some vague shapes she took to be tables and chairs, and a person or two, but she couldn't see much. She smelled the food, though, and realized she was hungry.

"I'd imagine they have some shops and vendors out on the street," she said. "You could start there. And those people would know available jobs better than anyone here." She paused, feeling Roe at her feet, his tail wagging at the prospect of food. "Though I bet you could get some play time in with an instrument, if you wanted. Even if you didn't take classes or anything, it's something to do. I could show you, if you wanted.

"Anyway, what looks good today?"

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