Bejide and Teum both knew the way to the bowl, it’s located a few miles from their farm, midway to the small town of Liama on the other side of the forest. The bowl itself is a crater made thousands of years earlier by an unknown explosion or impact. It’s a near perfectly round circle cut into the topsoil and bedrock spanning 200 yards in diameter with a depth of 40 yards. Dozens of stairways have been carved into its sides making it possible for thousands of people to gather here without much trouble. This place has been used for ceremonies dedicated to the Free’er, civil observances, festivals, concerts, and camping for hundreds of years. The trampled flat floor is bare of growths, anything that manages to sprout gets eaten or used as firewood; leaving the floor clear except for the thousands of rocks large enough to be used as seats. A carefully made pile in the center defines a 12-yard square stage or pulpit, depending on the occasion.
When the pair of siblings arrive, there’s nobody there except for the five musicians, their road crew, and a handful of followers. Teum is only mildly surprised to learn that the performance or concert as they call it won’t start until late that night.
The band calls themselves Dead Dragon, a jab at the Dragon Priests who claim to be followers of the Free’er Dragon, who was left behind to guard mankind from the Return. Nobody knows what the Return is, except that it’s supposed to be bad, and needs a dragon to defeat it. There’s zero proof other than the word of the Free’er as taught by the Dragon Priest’s that a dragon exists at all. The five band mates go by the names Lynx, Crow, Flavia, Altair, and Roach. Bejide introduces each of them to Teum before turning completely fangirl and almost forgets her own name.
The band leader and vocalist, Lynx is used to this from girls her age and plays along and flirts with her until she is completely speechless, he then turns to Teum, “So, you’re the little brother sis-Bejide told us about?”
Teum is a little taken aback by the sudden focus on himself, “yeah, what about it?”
“She told us you could replace our Amp and we could pull off this gig after all.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m only here on a dare and I’m not a lamp.”
“Bejide darling, you didn’t tell him? You naughty girl. I should kick you out of the after party for that.”
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Bejide’s brain suddenly starts working again, “No, no, it’s not like that. I couldn’t tell him outright, he’d never come. He thinks we’d just be using him.”
“Darling Bejide, that’s exactly what we want to do, use him as our Amp.”
“Yes, but you said he’d get paid, that’s different. You’re not using him, you’re employing him. That’s different, right?”
Lynx barely looks at her while continuing condescendingly, “Coin or no coin makes no difference, we need someone to make us loud and scary. That is called using them. We are using him as an Amp.”
Nobody speaks, all the while Lynx and the other band members stare at Teum as if waiting for him to speak.
Teum feels like this is an important moment for himself and his sister, so he chooses his words carefully, “What…. is… an… Amp?”
The drummer Flavia, exasperated, butts in, “For freaks sake, this is never going to work. We should move on; there’s no way tonight is happening.”
Lynx looks pleased at the question and practically shouts in answer, while gesturing wildly with both arms, “That my dear boy is an excellent question. An Amp is an individual of extraordinary skill and power. They must be capable of gathering the sounds and voices of the entire band, and then blast it out at deafening levels of audio splendor. An Amp can take our already exceptional voices and instruments and amplify them for thousands to hear. A good Amp can modulate the sounds of our instruments to make them echo, reverb, distort, and fuzz. A master Amp can do all that while putting on a show of their own with blazing lights and explosions of fire!”
By the end of his little oration, Lynx is down on one knee with his arms held up in the air in front of Bejide and Teum.
Bejide squeals and claps her hands, “That could be you Teum! Will you do it please? Please, please, I’m begging you please. Please, be Dead Dragon’s Amp!”
Teum watched Lynx as he gesticulated excitedly and spoke of fuzzy-balls and echo-verbs, not understanding most of it. But in spite of Bejide’s constant attempts to murder him he likes his sister, and this seems important to her.
His decision is made, “I’ll be your Amp. How do I do it?”
Teum’s declaration is met with silence.
After an awkward number of seconds, Flavia speaks up again, “That there is another excellent question. Our old Amp quit on us; on account she met a man she liked better than touring. We can tell you everything she did, but we have no idea how she did it.”
Flavia’s comments are met with an even longer and more awkward silence.
Bejide breaks the silence this time, “No trouble, Teum is great at puzzles and solving problems. I’ll help him, after all; I know what all your songs are supposed to sound like. Trust me, the show will go on.”
Bejide’s attempt at a rousing speech is met with yet another awkward silence, but at least it was shorter than Flavia’s. The band members shuffle off, mumbling that they should start rehearsing, leaving the siblings alone to figure thing out.