"Song Out of the Silence" Log Date: 11/11/00 Log Cast: Kaiulani, Benja Log Intro: The winter months of 3907 were hard on Haven --- but for the Atlanteans, cold temperatures were no hardship. For one particular Atlantean maiden, the only difficulties presented by the brutal winter were the deep falls of snow keeping her confined to or just around the Pantheon. Oh, to be sure, she's had periodic distractions: glimpses of the strange men from the North who had descended upon the city, a debate with their leaders, just enough to fire off her curiosity about the Aesir before they up and departed from the city once more. There's even been the disappearance of her young cousin Aquafina, and Kaiulani has managed to discover something of the story behind that: Aquafina, it seems, has turned graisha. And fled into the city of Haven, thinking herself a disgrace to her family and eluding all attempts to search for her. By and large Kaiulani's striven to keep to her best behavior, anxious to impress up on her cousin Sarojin the fact that she has indeed reached her adulthood. That she can be trusted to behave. That she could, if he so chose, be entrusted with the duties of a woman grown, a contributing member of the Pandion ruling family... But as of yet, her remote and distant cousin has yet to show any acknowledgement of her trouble-free existence during the winter. And her guardsmen, the memory of an attack upon them in the old city garden still unsolved and still vivid, have remained remote as well. Polite, attending to their duties of looking after her as always if she chooses to venture out of the Korallion, but remote. Even when Kaiulani's succumbed to the impulse of dropping in on a gathering of Mongrels and Sylvans and musicians from the poorest sections of the city, a gathering in honor of a dead Mongrel bard, Akane and Ronan have kept their distance from her. Someone else, much to Kaiulani's ongoing consternation, has been keeping his distance from her as well. She has not forgotten, not in the slightest, the fight she and her guards had had in the middle of the winter with a pack of half-starved dogs. Nor has she forgotten that someone -- as near as she can tell, her mysterious guardian -- attacked her older guardsman, for no apparent reason. But that someone -- again, as far as she can tell, her mysterious guardian -- carried her unconscious back to the Korallion. Whispered her name... and kissed her, as he held her in his arms. Kaiulani has not forgotten, but during the winter months, she's had no sign of her unseen protector. And so she's had to take consolation in her daydreams, in trying to convince herself that the nameless one who's protected her for so long could not possibly have meant her or her guardsmen ill, and in diligent practicing with the fine bone pipes that have become the most treasured of the gifts that have a habit of showing up around her. Tonight, she is doing just that. But on this fine spring night just off the beach of Haven, the unseen audience who's never really left her at all through the winter is about to make the first break in a long-established barrier of silence.... *===========================< In Character Time >===========================* Time of day: Night (Duskside) Date on Aether: Saturday, May 18, 3907. Year on Earth: 1507 A.D. Phase of the Moon: Waxing Crescent Season: Spring Weather: Rain Temperature: Cool *==========================================================================* Eastern Beach - Haven A bit further east than the last of the houses, this beach spreads out its length along the shoreline in broken dunes. Unlike the gentle and smooth rolling ways of the western beaches, rocks thrust from the sand at almost regular intervals. The far eastern edge of the beach trails off into jagged rock. To the west it ends in a containing wall where the waves lap against the stone, held back from the delicate, private gardens of the Empyrean quarter. The beach itself is quiet; not one of the more popular spots--as the swimming is dangerous. Instead, the privacy here calls to quiet meetings of many sorts. The sand is studded with craggy pillars that thrust their granite bulk from its deceptively soft grains--and the ocean is as well. The shelter the stones present is ideal as a shield from prying eyes--as are the caves that riddle the bluffs to the east. Off the shore, blue waters churn into frothy white foam. Contents: Benja Obvious exits: Path to Haven Ocean The sun is going down, and although the bay lies to the south of the city, one can still get an excellent view of the sunset if one's willing to find an outcropping of rock upon which to perch and face towards the west. Kaiulani has had time enough in Haven by now to have selected her favorite places along the shore, where she can climb up onto the rocks with her pipes in hand and toss notes out into the ocean breezes. Where she can watch the sun's rise or fall painting vivid hues across the sky and the water... and where she can hope, every so often, that the one who gave her the pipes she's treasured all winter and assiduously practiced playing might actually still be out there. Somewhere. Tonight, she watches the sunset, aware that Akane and Ronan aren't too far away, occupying themselves with a game of dice on the beach as long as she feels like staying out here brooding. There hasn't been much in the way of conversation between her and her two guardsmen for some time... and that's just fine with Pandion Kaiulani. What could she say, after all, with the mystery of who had assaulted Akane still unsolved? And so she plays, one of the softer, sweeter tunes she'd learned from the Mongrels and Sylvans playing at the gathering for the bard who had died. She has no idea who Lyre Talespinner had been... but at least, those who came together in honor of his passing did give her the opportunity to learn new music. The sweet clear voice of the pipes rises up from her perch, while she watches the sun's descent and the wind in off the waves dries salt-dampened tresses blown back from her face. Even before Benja emerges from the cave he has found for himself along this shoreline, he hears that sound of those pipes. His pipes, he's sure of it. A smile comes to his face as he listens to the tune and eventually catches it enough to hum along with it. His voice is rich and deep, and not loud at all, but it echoes from the region behind the rocks on which his love sits. He cannot be seen, and it is likely that the guards cannot hear the softly accompanying song from where they are, nor could even Kaiulani be able to place which direction it comes from, if she notices it at all. _His_ pipes, most assuredly. For there they are, in the slender white hands of the Pandion maiden perched barefoot and half-wet upon her rocky perch, lifted up to her lips and spilling high sweet notes into the darkening air. For a time, she doesn't notice that the trill of the bone pipes has picked up an echo. Kaiulani is too caught up in the making of the music -- and at any rate, the ongoing crash of the waves about her helps blur the soft baritone humming insinuating itself into her surroundings. At last she trails the song off into silence, shifting her position on the rocks and cradling the pipes to her gently, hand running along them in a gesture that's become unconscious habit over the past winter and the many days of spring, since. Her expression, half-turned towards he who has surfaced among the rocks behind her, has turned piercingly wistful. In a strange, bizarre way, she can't help but almost envy that sad-eyed girl she'd seen in the garden during the singing, the one they'd said had lost her love... _At least -she-,_ Kai tells herself dolefully, _probably has gotten to see him, huh?_ The humming that echoes from the surrounding cliffs and caves slowly dies off as the pipes do, lasting no longer than she allowed the song to continue. Benja stands in a position where he can behold her, drink in her beauty and allow his heart to race back to that familiar fast rhythm it seems to acquire every time he is able to chance a look at her without her moving away too quickly to truly be seen. Without thought, he begins to hum again, a rich resonating sound, perfect baritone pitch, and it echoes from every cavern around shore. It is not the same tune, but another, a love song. One that was sung in the Rialto as he watched her watch the singer upon the stage. He keeps himself hidden, but cannot resist the urge to make some sort of contact. Kaiulani gazes out to the spill of color on the western horizon, half her thoughts still back on the gathering for the dead bard and still flavored with a strange kind of envy. What _would_ it be like, she asks herself, to have a beloved who made music? No singer to match Naiadre of the Order of Pasiphae is she, but the Pandion maiden has loved music ever since she was old enough to understand it... and despite the purpose that had brought them all together, it had thrilled her to no end to hear the Mongrels and Sylvans and others massing their voices together in song to honor their lost friend. With the exception of a still-vivid memory -- or was it a dream? She's not quite sure, sometimes -- of a pair of arms holding her close, a warm and tender touch upon her lips, there's nothing that can quite stir her blood like-- --Music? The maiden on the rocks abruptly stiffens, her head lifting up, sea-green gaze snapping this way and that. What is that? _Who_ is that? The song continues as the young woman's formerly silent admirer watches her take note of the song. He does not know the words yet, but he is learning them. For now, he will simply give her the tune. It was a duet when she heard it originally, in the Rialto, sung in perfect tune by a man and a woman. If she remembers, it was a song of lovers meeting in secret stolen moments so they would not be discovered by disapproving families. The voice eminates from everywhere around the beach and nowhere at all. Caressing her ears with the deep, smooth sound of a heavily masculine nature, calling to her in the gentleness of the wordless melody. Kaiulani seems to forget to breathe, eyes gone wide and alert in her fine-boned face. It takes her but a measure or two before recognition jolts through her system; oh, aye, she knows that song. She remembers seeing the pair of Sylvans, the man with the straight dark brown hair and the woman with the russet braid, serenading one another in the middle of the Rialto to the delight of the passersby... including her. But this voice... this isn't either of those. It hits her blood and her ears in a way that sweet harmony hadn't done, and all unknowingly, the maiden's features brighten into the beginnings of her resplendent smile. _Him?_ Is it her guardian, at last? The song falters at the sight of that smile, as Benja is forced to catch his own breath. And when it continues, the smile can be heard in the renewed song. How he longs to go out to her and take her in his arms, kiss those lips again! But he knows he cannot. He has spotted the guards already, and he is well aware that he has no right to ever expect such affection from her. But, that will not stop him from his own wordless serenade of his beloved. The music of his voice swells and ebbs in perfect rhythm as he watches from his concealed place to see her expression. Slowly, he halts the song just enough to send out a whistle of the same tune. It is not part of the song, but perhaps a request? Her guards -- _waters_, her guards! Kaiulani flashes an alarmed glance off to the beach, trying to judge whether she's far enough out that they've been alerted to what's happened. But no. Though she is within sight of the shore even now, it's still a good swim's distance back to where Akane and Ronan are still engaged in their game of dice. She can't, she tells herself fervently, alert them to what's -- to _who's_ come into her presence. *Where are you?* she sends out, thoughts brimming with hope as she tries to keep herself from looking too excited. But Kaiulani cannot suppress the flare of her own smile, or the flush of color that tinges her face even as the sunset tinges the sky. *Can I see you? Let me see--* And then, the whistling, that rich deep voice changing its shape and sound, catches her by surprise. _He can see me -- he was in the Rialto then, he knows I knew that song -- does he want--_ Impulsively, then, she lifts up the pipes, beginning to call notes forth from them again. They're soft, a little tentative, an unvoiced offered answer to that whistled request: an echo of the exact same notes. As the song is whistled through the pipes, again, a broad grin overtakes the shark hunter's face. And it can probably be heard in the tune that he not so much hums as sings out to her, wordlessly. His voice resonating around her from every direction, thanks to the natural accoustics of this place she's chosen to play her pipes in. The water is an excellent conductor of sound, after all. And though her thoughts are sent out fruitlessly, as she picks up the female portion of the song with her pipes, he responds in the correct areas with the male parts. A lazy, wordless duet of young lovers. The effect upon the maiden, too, is electric. Where she had almost languished before upon the rocks, her shoulders bowed and her eyes plaintive, Pandion Kaiulani now sits as if poised to leap into the water at any moment -- or perhaps into the air. Her chin has lifted. Her eyes shine as she plays through the first two verses and choruses of the duet and then carries, as best as she can from memory, the instrumental interlude that the male Sylvan bard had played out upon his lute. But when the song comes around again to verse and chorus, Kai draws the pipes downward -- to take the part of the female singer with _her_ voice. The crystalline soprano takes wing into the air, offered out to the rumbling baritone enfolding her seemingly out of nowhere. And even as she sings, she turns slowly this way and that, gaze keenly searching every nearby rock, every wave, for some sign of her serenader. Her guardian. She's sure of it, now. * * Her thoughts swell out with her voice, unheard... but this is Pandion Kaiulani. Where her mind goes, her body invariably follows. The sharp yearning in her mind's voice limns itself in the set of her slender frame, in her expression, and in her eyes. Benja gasps softly to himself as she adds her voice, rather than the pipes to the song. Again she leaves him breathless with another facet of her beauty. So breathless, in fact, that he misses his queue to sing in the stunned moment of basking in the wealth of her voice and the expression on her face. He cannot feel the thoughts she sends forward, but he has an idea that they are probably there. Regret that he cannot feel them weighs heavily on his mind as he closes his eyes and sings his part of the song, soft and sweet, yet powerful and rich, a voice meant for music without a doubt. With no percussion but her own heartbeat and no accompaniment but the repeating roar of the waves, the maiden pulls air into her lungs to support the sweet, high notes she sends pealing forth. Aye, sound carries clearly upon the water -- and deliberately, she ups her own volume, to try to make sure that her guards will hear only her if they chance to pay attention. But that only takes a fraction of her attention. The rest of it is riveted upon the other voice, whose owner she has yet to spot. She ceases looking just long enough for the final chorus; she can't help it, as her voice hits and holds a note a perfect fifth above the baritone. It is not a union of minds -- but nevertheless, it's a joining that shoots through her entire body and straight into her heart. _Sarojin is -wrong-! How could he mean me ill? Not when he gives me this...!_ Benja does not seem to have any fear of being heard by the guards right now. He knows there are far too many caverns for them to search and by the time they got to the one he is concealed in, he would be long gone. With a wildly beating heart, he joins his voice with hers, the perfect union of complimentary song, each matching the exact pitch and harmony of the final stanza of a song that more or less describes the situation, as best as he has heard it described at least. As the song draws to a close, he wonders if she remembers the words, if the choice of that song in particular will give her a hint as to why he does not meet her, why she cannot see him. The lovers in the song knew he was beneath her in station and was not worthy of her. Will she take note of that? Will it pass her by completely? Does she even know the words? Benja is left to question these things as he gazes upon the fairness of the woman he has grown to love over so many lonely years of watching her. The echoes of that final pure note die away, borne away like foam upon the waves, but they do not take with them the almost desperate need in Kaiulani's mind and in her eyes. The wordless joining of voices has stripped away the habits she's learned in Haven, the teachings of the tutor that educated her in how to communicate like a lander; the girl that sits up anxiously upon the spray-wet rocks has reverted now to image, concept... and emotion. Image and concept in her sent plea to her unseen watcher, her desire to see him at last. And emotion, her excitement and wonder at the sound of his voice and at the dizzying possibilities invoked by his presence. But when the call she sends forth goes unanswered yet again, as many calls she's sent out throughout her childhood have done, she sags visibly. She begins to remember the words that the Sylvans had sung to one another, and it dawns upon her that perhaps her watcher is trying to tell her something. Her head turns momentarily away, consternation etching itself into her countenance -- and when it occurs to her what message might have lain behind that song, her heart lurches painfully within her breast. Kaiulani's chin snaps back up again, tears of denial and frustration and more than a little loneliness of her own springing up within her eyes. Watching, unseen, as always, Benja observes the transformation upon her face that he cannot hear in her thoughts. He cannot be certain, it seems as if she has understood the message he is sending her. He is not good enough for her. Her family would never approve. She deserves better. But he loves her none the less. Spying the tears in her eyes, his throat constricts upon itself, his gills extending to take in the air his throat cannot. Fists clenched at his sides, sadness and pain raging within his dark gaze, he remains silent, unable to go to her. Unable to wipe those tears from her eyes, unable to give her what it is she is longing for... Perhaps he is being too selfish? Too cruel by taunting her with his presence... Maybe he should let her be now, and allow her to go on with her life, and find a proper mate. The thought alone makes him want to cry out in anguish, but... he does not wish to hurt her either. The maiden's agitated visage crumples for a moment -- and then, though her tears remain, determination makes its way into her expression. This is Pandion Kaiulani, the girl who's caught rides on the backs of dolphins, who's swum undaunted in the height of raging storms and laughed into the wind. The song and its plaintive message resonate all too clearly through her, but there is no way that the hidden hunter can know that what he's tried to convey only underscores a theory put to his beloved by the High Priestess of Pasiphae. That her guardian will not -- for whatever reason, believes that he _cannot_ -- come to her is now apparent. Therefore, she must obviously come to him. Slowly, determinedly, Kaiulani pulls herself up to her full standing height upon the rocks. Her heart races with the possibility that her guardian's gaze is upon her, and now, she hopes dizzily, he will see her. See her resolve. Without thinking beforehand what she'll do, she breathes out into the air -- out loud -- "Let me see you...!" Benja blinks as she rises, trying to figure out what she is about to do. If she dives from there, she will certain hit one of the sharp rocks that are right below the surface. Excitement builds within his chest as she sends out her spoken command. How he'd love to show himself to her, love to see the look in her eyes when she looked at him for the first time as a woman. But how can he? A bit nervous that she might do something foolish, since he is well aware of her determination and lack of fear, he thinks quickly. Pulling out his small back of gems and other such things from within his tunic, he holds one very reflective piece out of the cavern mouth and out to the last remnants of the sunlight, letting it catch and refract the glare back toward the Pandion princess, giving away his location without actually allowing her to see him. If she can make it all the way to the cave without being sidetracked by her guards.... She will find the silver and emerald headdress waiting there for her. The sparkle catches Kaiulani's attention, and there upon the rocks, she momentarily freezes in reaction. _There_. He's _there_! A quick glance to the beach -- Akane, Ronan, are they looking? They aren't. And that's enough for the impetuous young woman, who takes just long enough to insure that her pipes are safely nestled atop the rocks before she slips nimbly down from them, taking to the water with barely a splash. She knows there's sharp rocks to be avoided, indeed... but rocks are not a deterrent, not now. One last mark of the place where she'd spotted that glimmer -- and then she dives, able to move more quickly just under the surface of the sea than she can with her head above the water. Benja watches her progress from his place of hiding, grinning to himself like a young boy being brought a great present. When she surfaces again, he again flashes the shiny reflection toward her, but the light is fading and so it is not as strong. She should know where she is going now though, at least. As she gets closer, he fades back into the dark recesses of the tunnel he's spent most of the day in, watching the mouth of the cave and the place where he has left the gift for her. Away from the rocks Kaiulani goes, sluicing effortlessly through the currents at an angle to the shore. One check above the surface, long enough to verify her direction -- and to make sure that her guards have not yet been roused to her absence off her perch -- and then she goes under again, not resurfacing until she's reached the mouth of the tunnel opening practically right into the water. There could be anything within, but it is not fear that makes her pause for a moment to tread water, her heart in her throat. Rather, it's a brief burst of shyness, a fleeting giddy wondering if she is, in fact, about to finally get her mystery solved. Shaking off her temporary hesitation, she enters the tunnel and rises up out of the lapping wavelets at its mouth, slim and pale and silhouetted against the dying light. Her voice, in this smaller space, echoes clearly as she whispers aloud: "Let me see you...!" For a long, breathless moment, there is no response, then from somewhere within the many offshooting tunnels inside this tunnel, comes a deep, rich voice, soft as the kiss she remembers upon her lips, gentle. "Look beside you." On a rounded rock to her right rests a beautiful silver headdress that will hold green gem to the middle of her forehead when she wears it. From the shadows he watches. Never mind what might lie on the rocks nearby -- the maiden is transfixed by the voice that rises up to her out of the gloom. Breath and heart both stop at the first words she's heard from the shadow who's been guarding her almost all her life. _He speaks--_ The implications of this, that he should answer her in voice when he has never done in mind, do not yet sink in. Too excited is Kaiulani, impulsively stepping forward a pace or two and blurting out, "You're here -- truly here--" * * Even as she speaks, her thoughts ring forth, regardless of their failure to reach the lurker in the darkness. But then what the voice actually has said registers at last, and her gaze snaps sideways. Falls upon the glimmering delicate creation of silver and emerald. And with a gasp, she takes it up into her fingers. "Another thing... for me?" Up comes her gaze again, just a hint of shyness softening the eagerness in her eyes. The smile can again be heard within the voice, though the thoughts receive no response. A step or two backward can be heard as she advances, but it is hard to tell from which direction it comes and there are five tunnels breaking away before her. "I am." comes the smooth, soft voice, slightly breathy with his own nervousness and excitement. "And it is." This new gift -- it's lovely. There can be no doubt. But even as Kaiulani cups it gently in her palm, she is far more enticed by the reality of the giver's presence so tantalizingly near than she is by the gift. For a moment she pauses, torn, and then a thunderbolt of memory strikes her. Her expression wavers, impulse and desire suddenly having to wrestle with honor. If he is _here_, if she _finally_ has the opportunity, how can she fail to try to get the answers her cousin has been demanding? "You've... given me so many lovely things," she calls out, unthinkingly keeping to vocal speech, willing to run with what has finally succeeded in breaking the barrier of communication with her unseen protector. "If you won't let me see you -- at least let me ask -- there are so many things I must know -- please?" Fortunately, Benja's verbal speech has gotten decidedly better over the past few months, he's been practicing. Still, he keeps his words short, constantly glancing behind her to the opening where her guards may come any moment. "They will come soon." He warns, voice holding a great deal of regret. Still, it is an enticingly deep voice, if sirens were male... "Then let me see you!" the maiden insists, her fervor carrying her another step forward out of the water lapping about her knees. Where the mind of Pandion Kaiulani goes, there goes her body -- and her voice. It's growing too dark within the tunnel to easily read her expression, but longing still veritably blazes in her stance and it palpably rings within her words as they burst out of her, rapid, uncontained. "My cousin, he thinks you mean me harm, but I don't believe him, I _don't_! And I've been going mad -- I want, I-I need -- please, let me see you! Just once! Let me see your face and--" Now, her voice cracks, just slightly, as it occurs to her to wonder whether he somehow finds her shameful. Most of her family does, why shouldn't he? Kai's mouth twists against this painful little concept; her shoulders brace against it, too, as she finishes plaintively, "If... you don't _want_ me around... just let me see you... and I'll go...!" The first gasp comes at the very idea that he could mean her harm, and there is a stunned sort of silence from the tunnels beyond. When he speaks there is a tone of indignance about the words, "I would never hurt you, Pandion Kaiulani" The name caressed lovingly upon his tongue, practiced over and over in his mind and upon his lips. The next small startled intake of breath comes from the idea that he might not want her around. At that, a warm, radiant sort of chuckle reverberates off the walls around her, though it still bears that uncertain edge. "Your guards come." He pauses, hearing voices from outside, "I will be there, Pandion Kaiulani." He just loves to say her name, to feel it upon his lips. And the sound of feet retreating quickly in the darkness can be heard. They do pause however, and his voice sounds a good deal further away when he adds, "You have a beautiful voice, Pandion Kaiulani!" And there is a sound of sheer glee in his tone. He's actually spoken to her! Conversed with her! The footsteps retreat into oblivion. "Don't go--!" This last plea bursts by instinct out of Kaiulani, all her curiosity and frustration and yearning churned up into a maelstrom within her breast as she hears those small sounds of movement retreating into the deepening shadows. But the retreat of her guardian allows her to hear, too, the agitated calls of Ronan and Akane, outside in the dusk; she pivots for a moment, alarmed. They can't come, not now -- but nevertheless they are. Slipping the dainty headdress of silver and emerald into her halter, for she isn't quite prepared toexplain this new gift to her suspicious guardsmen, Kai reluctantly surrenders to what must be. At least for now. Before she steps back out into the waters, though, she casts one last glance into the blackness from which her protector had spoken. He's actually _spoken_ to her, and the thrill of that still coursing through her cannot be denied. Nor can she deny the way that husky, resonant baritone has captivated her. Though she has no idea whether he still lurks within range, she nevertheless has to breathe by way of goodbye into the darkness: "So do you...!" And only then, with utmost reluctance, does she dive back out into the surf. [End log.]