Two days after her great mission in [Lady] Serafia’s home, Isse woke up to the sound of Albert’s gentle knocking on her door.
“Time to get up Isse,” his voice came through the wood, the various webs and the sleep fog.
Slowly, groggily, Isse lifted her body from the very comfortable cushion that still whispered her name. Maybe reading until three in the morning hadn’t been a good idea after all, but the book had been so gripping. She looked both askance and longingly at the red, leather, cover with the words ‘The Firebound [Necromancer]’ embossed in gold. Alas, her day was about to begin and her schedule was quite full.
With agile legs and a contraction of her surprisingly powerful kegels she rolled onto her legs and skittered (without looking) down from her hammock and onto the floor, the inordinate amount of webs all over her room touching her softly as she passed but not attaching themselves. Anyone else (other than Albert apparently) would’ve found themselves tangled up and trapped in a manner of seconds.
Opening her door she peered out, eyes half lidded, vision still foggy, and she saw a smiling Albert standing right there, being irritating by being so energetic this early in the morning. Gods she missed coffee.
“Good morning,” he said.
She glared at him, a very simple action considering her eyes were already in the right position.
“You’re too cheerful this morning.”
“And you shouldn’t stay up at ungodly hours just to read.”
“You’re one to talk, you do the same thing.”
Albert frowned: “How could you tell? I never heard you leave your room.”
She smirked at that, her eyes slowly focusing to their full extent, and answered: “A magician never reveals her tricks.”
It was all thanks to Siidi: after she’d Leveled up, her new favorite Skill, [I Saw Through Eyes of My Own] had received a range upgrade apparently, to the point where she could even move her eyes up to what she thought were two human steps away from Isse. That was how they’d found out that Albert slept in the room next to theirs and how he stayed up reading late as well. The problem with that being, he didn’t feel tired in the morning when it was time to wake up.
Now that they thought about it, why had they never even thought about where he slept?
“Well, whatever, even Skills can sometimes fail in the face of ignorance. Anyway, I must remind you that the teacher I found to give you lessons on that violin is coming today after breakfast.”
“Yes, yes, I remember.”
Albert at least had the decency of not making her notice that, if she’d known, she shouldn’t have stayed up so late. He knew all too well what it was like to be young, have something you liked to do and have little time to practice it. During his training days… decades prior, he’d spent many sleepless nights just to get some time for himself. Master may have been a relatively good teacher when it came to spying, but he had already become tired and bitter by the time Albert had become his apprentice, which meant he often forgot that people had hobbies other than getting blackout drunk before going to bed.
They ate their breakfast and walked down into the workshop, where at exactly nine o’clock, precisely at the ninth strike of the grandfather clock put up for sale in the main room, someone walked in.
He was a small man with a clean shaven face and bright yellow eyes, a big nose like that of the seven dwarves in the old Snow-White cartoon, big lips that were basically just a shade darker than the rest of his pale skin and, to top it all off, a rather elegant suit in, of all colors, bright yellow.
This dude’s got a theme going, said Siidi with a small chuckle.
And he’s supposed to be a [Violinist]? wondered Isse as she tilted her head to look at him. He looks more like a clown dressing up as a businessman for a bit.
They both chuckled internally, which only showed on Isse’s face as a smile.
“Ah, Virgo, pleasure to see you again,” said Albert as he stepped forward with an outstretched hand.
The small man grunted and shook it back: “Don’t play coy you damn dealmaker, you saw me three days ago.”
The [Clockmaker] put a hand to his heart in fake hurt: “Me? A dealmaker? You hurt me, old friend. I just work in the business of favors, they’re much kinder.”
They kept shaking hands as Virgo shot back: “We’re anything but old friends, Albert. And as for your ‘favors’ being kinder than a [Dealmaker]’s deals, I wouldn’t be so certain. So, confirm it again, this time in front of a witness: if I teach this girl to play the violin, my favor towards you will be considered repaid. Retroactively. As in, not when she’ll be done learning, but the moment I begin.”
Albert’s smile was a tad strained as he confirmed: “Yes Virgo, the moment you begin teaching her the favor will be considered repaid. But that does not mean that you’ll only do one lesson. You must go the whole way through, understood?”
The small man grunted and, finally, let go: “Who do you take me for Albert?”
The [Clockmaker] shook his hand slightly to get the stiffness out: “I take you the same way I take anyone else, Virgo. Seriously. And, as I said previously, [A Deal’s a Deal].”
For a moment there Isse activated her Mana Sight and watched the threads of the world unfold around her. Since she’d gotten an upgrade to her Skill from [Comprehend Soul: Minor] to [Comprehend Soul] the process of distinguishing the background noises of the world’s souls and the things she wanted to see had become much faster and a lot less straining on her mind. The moment she looked she managed to get a glimpse of a thread binding Albert and Virgo, a thread yellow as the man’s suit and thick as a finger break. Now the two were only connected by a thin thread, just like most people around her: a symbol that they were connected only by acquaintance and nothing else.
For a moment she wondered if she could’ve reached out to that thread before and simply… broken it. What would’ve happened? Would the connection have been lost? Would the favor Virgo owed Albert simply be forgotten? She didn’t know, but her Class whispered in the back of her mind, saying that it was something she could’ve tested. Maybe it would’ve even been enough to get her a Level.
“Very well,” said Virgo, interrupting her thoughts and snapping her back to reality, “Shall we begin then kid? I’m eager to see how undeserving of the instrument you probably bought on a whim you are and how much work I’ll have to put in.”
Hey, that was rude, said Siidi.
Isse thought exactly the same thing, but instead of saying it she just frowned and looked at the man with venom.
“Ah, right, Virgo, a tip, if you will: try to be a little less… you, with her. It won’t work. Actually, it’ll probably work against you.”
Virgo smiled: “Oh, good, I do like a challenge.”
And that was when Isse understood these lessons probably were not going to be pleasant.
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Ten minutes later Isse and Virgo were sitting in an unused room in the back of the shop. Up until that morning it had probably been an oversized broom closet, but they didn’t need much space anyway. Well, ok, the bulk of Isse’s spider half occupied a good chunk of the room, her dress’ mind-bending effects (as she’d started calling them) causing Virgo to just stay put in a corner of the room on his chair, his fingers impatiently beating a small tune on his leg.
“So, show me the instrument,” he said, making grabby motions with his free hand.
After a short moment of hesitation she put a hand in her bag of holding and took out the Violin’s case. She put it on the floor beside her and opened the locks, taking out the worn instrument that had probably seen an elf generation be born and die.
She handed it gently to Virgo who, just as gently, took it in his free hand, his fingers careful not to touch the strings.
For a minute he examined the Relic, nodding appreciatively: “It’s clearly used, but it was kept in good condition. Rare, these days. Noblemen have a bad tendency to just throw their instruments away when they start looking worn.”
Stolen novel; please report.
Isse froze in place, fear blooming in her heart. Did he know?
“How do you know it came from a nobleman?”
The man raised a brow at her and chuckled: “The strings. These are made with sheep intestines instead of steel. Truth be told there’s no difference in what materials are used for them, the instrument plays equally well, but noblemen always must have things made from the highest quality materials. So, who did you lift this off of?”
Isse winced at the unfortunate choice of words but managed to somewhat hide it into an expression of confusion.
Virgo looked up from his examination and raised a brow: “What? Don’t want to reveal your ‘dealer’,” he smiled a somewhat evil smirk, “Well, don’t worry, I don’t really care. You have this and that’s what matters.”
He elegantly and assuredly placed the violin on his shoulder, his chin resting on the… Isse didn’t know how it was called.
“Now, look very carefully, this is the correct way to hold a violin. If you can’t do this don’t even bother trying to play this little beauty. Ah, right, while I’m at it, pass me the bow, we have to test if it’s still tuned. If it’s not I’ll teach you how to do that.”
Isse gingerly fished inside the… no, her case, because it was hers now. She’d bound herself to the Violin.
A pleasant tingling went down her spine and made the hair of her spider half stand slightly on end. Yes, the Violin was hers and would only answer to her.
Anyways, she pulled out the bow that had been in the case together with the violin. The wood of it looked worn the same way as the instrument it was used to play, but the string of… she thought those were horse hair, she’d read that somewhere, looked shiny and new.
Virgo took it gently, although she was certain that, hadn’t it been for his extreme care when handling his instruments, he would’ve gone for a grab. Clearly he didn’t want to be here. Then he put the violin on his knees, beginning to rummage inside a bag of holding at his waist, taking out after a few seconds a small paper package. He opened it, revealing it contained something that had once probably been a cube of… red stuff.
“This is what we in the business of music call rosin. It’s basically solid tree sap that you must apply every now and then to your bow. Before you ask, yes, it will make the bow sticky, that’s necessary to actually make the music, otherwise the bow’ll just slide over the strings and do nothing. On that front, never, ever, handle the bow’s string with your hands, you’ll grease the string and you’ll have to buy yourself a new one.”
He finished carefully applying the rosin on the bow and, after wrapping it back up and putting it in his bag of holding, he faced her, showing it to her.
“Now, you see this screw at the base?” he asked. She nodded, noticing indeed there was a screw there.
“Good. That’s used to tighten the string of the bow. Always remember to loosen it up when you finish practicing and playing: leaving it tensed up will ruin it in the long run. Now, as for how tense you want it to be, look at the middle of the bow. “
She did and saw that, naturally, there was a space. Virgo then put his finger behind the space between the string and the wood: “Now see this? You should tighten it up just enough for the distance between wood and string to be around the width of your pinky. You could do more, but that will make the bow difficult to control for when you want to play long notes, and for now we’ll just be doing the basics.”
That done, he took the violin back in hand and gently put it on his shoulder, chin on that black thing at the base, and took the bow in his right hand, his big fingers delicately holding it, making sure to never touch the string.
“Let’s see how well your previous proprietor treated you,” he whispered to the instrument.
He placed the bow on the strings and moved it, his fingers holding some of them down.
Yet… no sound was produced.
Virgo batted his eyes a few times, clearly extremely confused, before trying that again.
When no sound was made again he slung off the instrument and squinted at it in suspicion.
Then: “Please tell me you weren’t handed a mimic by accident.”
Isse’s eyebrows shot into her hairline and she couldn’t suppress a snort in time before it outright turned into laughter: “Oh, the great musician doesn’t know how to play. No, that’s definitely not a mimic.”
Instead of taking the bait Virgo gave the instrument a look of utter perplexity and plucked at a string. Again, no sound came.
Frowning, he handed Isse the violin: “You saw how I held this… instrument. Now do the same thing. I don’t care if it feels more comfortable one way or another, you must hold it the way I showed or you won’t be able to actually play it.”
Isse started doing as ordered, but the moment her hands touched the instrument her mind was filled with a strange emotion that clearly wasn’t hers or Siidi’s.
For the first time in… months, probably, one of the first Skills she’d gotten activated… involuntarily. As if to remind her that it was there: [Sense Emotion]. And right now, with her concentration of the Violin, she could sense one thing: outrage.
Then the feeling she’d gotten became deeper, her understanding greater, for since the day she’d obtained that Skill she’d gained many Levels and, with them, the capacity to understand things better. That was how she knew why the Violin seemed so outraged: it was because someone that wasn’t his chosen had attempted to use him. That was unacceptable.
Slowly, though, as she held, nearly cradled, the… grumpy, yes, her Violin was grumpy, instrument, the outrage began to fade and, in its place, rose calm and happiness.
A single note played, the string vibrating in her grip but producing no sound, even though she clearly heard it.
That’s… wow. Just wow, said Siidi.
Then Isse put the Violin on her shoulder, her left hand circling around the neck, her fingers touching the fingerboard and hovering over the strings, her head gently laid on the chinrest (she didn’t know how but she now knew instinctively how that part was called) to balance it all.
“Good. At least you’re a fast enough learner. Now, take the bow in your hand and place it on the strings.”
She did as ordered, trying to imitate the way he’d been holding the bow.
He shook his head, bending her pinky finger slightly closer to her hand, giving it more of a curve, moving her thumb closer to the hollow of the frog (how did she know how all those parts were called?) and, in general, making small adjustments. In the end, the position of her hand felt slightly uncomfortable.
“In the beginning your hand’s going to cramp, it’s inevitable. But you’ll slowly build muscles and a good resistance to pain. Remember, a musician must always finish their song. Doing otherwise would mean losing their pride.”
“I don’t think I’ll be playing any songs for a while still Virgo,” commented Isse as she tried to keep her hand in position.
“Most probably, but who knows. Maybe you’ll be one of those prodigies, eh?”
She snorted: “What, like you?”
He shook his head, a slight smile on his face: “You’ll be surprised but I wasn’t always a good musician. I had to start from scratch like everyone else and it took me decades to get where I am.”
“I’ll be honest, I never heard about you.”
“That is extremely offending and you must be joking. You never heard about the King in Yellow? Virgo, the King of Strings?”
She shook her head no: “Nope. Never once. But my family did keep me… sheltered, for most of my life, so it’s no surprise.”
Virgo frowned mightily, then sighed: “I blame your family then.”
That sent a pang to her heart and she suddenly felt a prickling in her eyes as memories of her clan came back. She put them aside. Right now wasn’t the best moment to reminisce.
And, to make sure she could distract herself, she asked: “How did you and Albert meet?”
He smirked: “Wouldn’t you rather ask me how I ended up owing him a favor?”
“That too.”
Virgo sighed and passed a hand through his blonde hair: “He helped me in a very tight spot ten years ago, give or take. I owed a lot of money to the wrong person and, at the time, I wasn’t that great a [Musician], with funds, Levels and Skills. I was just a two bit bard trying to live the life. He got rid of my debt by getting rid of the person I owed the money to, then set me up with someone to help me grow. And now I’m here.”
She frowned: “Then why do you act like you hate him.”
He frowned back at her: “Because I know who he was and I remember him seeing people as nothing more than tools, dominoes to set up some chain reaction. I’m grateful he helped me, but I didn’t want to be his little piece in a game. That’s the only reason I accepted to teach you.”
Isse sat in silence, because, really, what could she have said to that? That Albert was a good man? That he would never do that? They would’ve been lies, and bad ones at that. She was pretty sure Albert would’ve been more than capable of doing what Virgo was saying, even if he was retired.
“Now, let’s stop dilly dallying, shall we? It’s time for you to start learning.”
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That night Isse fell into bed and began reading, a [Light] Spell by her side shining onto the pages. She was tired, but not overly so, even though she still winced when she moved her hand in the wrong way.
Today had been a good day.
When, finally, she closed her book at around one in the morning, she smiled. She couldn’t wait for morning to come, for that strange, gruff, but altogether likable, [Violinist] to give her another lesson, to teach her songs and stories.
Then she closed her eyes, and the System began speaking.
[Apprentice Musician Class Obtained!]
[Apprentice Musician Level 2!]
[Skill - Enhance Muscle Memory (Minor) Obtained!]
[Relic Bond Level: 7%]
[Relic Skill Unlocked!]
[Skill: Anti-Cramping Muscles Obtained!]
Isse opened her eyes in surprise. That had been different. Since when could Skills be canceled?
It was always possible, Isse. There are things in this world other than the gods that can defy the System’s will. It tends to listen, most of the time. Now go back to sleep.
She did.
And the Wintry Violin played her a lullaby.