[Intro] The days have begun to pass pleasantly for Kevlan and Bernadette on the Sharr family farmstead. Tammany, Shilda, Varta, and little Fanna all cheerfully escort Bernadette into Bremany on a spree of purchasing clothing for the coming celebration of the two Singers' union. And Kevlan, his gitar in his hands, lingers where he thinks no one will see him, in the barn, around the side of the house, or out back in the tall, gnarled willow tree that provided him sanctuary as a boy... plucking out chords as tentative as the steps of the young puppies with which Fanna happily plays. The tree is taller than two men would be, if one stood on the other's shoulders. Its branches are thick and curled, and, dangling down from it, its fronds offer a sheltering green curtain from the rest of the world. The trunk bears enough knobs and knots that climbing it is easy for a farm-dweller used to climbing trees... easier still, for one with the reflexes of a Crystal Singer. Kevlan, perched in the nook between two thick branches where his younger self once hid, leans carefully over the battered gitar he's carried up here with him. It feels _right_, with the instrument cradled in his lap, and the scents of trees and fresh air and grass all around him. And though his playing is rusty, to be sure, after months of lack of practice, it is not as hard as he expected to pull music out of the old weathered wood and strings..... ---------- "Star-Lady, you'd think it was twenty years back," Tammany declares, glancing out the back door of the house to the distant figure of Kevlan mostly hidden in the branches of the big willow. Briskly rubbing a cloth across the plate she's just washed, the woman looks pleased. "That's a sight t' bring tears to an old woman's eyes!" Bernadette, standing on the back porch watching Kevlan quietly, starts slightly as Tammany's voice, heard through the screen door directly behind her, interrupts her thoughts. She turns to look back at the older woman and smiles, briefly, before returning her gaze to the distant tree and its occupant. Her voice soft, Bernadette murmurs, "Holler if you need me, Aunt Tammany," before she drifts down the few steps off the porch, heading across the grass towards the tree. As she approaches the the old willow tree, she can hear the chords being coaxed out of the gitar by Kevlan's fingers, and she smiles to herself. She reaches the base of the willow and stands behind Kevlan and the tree's trunk, out of his line of sight, listening for a few moments before she nimbly takes to the tree, climbing quietly up into its branches until she is a branch or two above Kevlan's head where she settles herself comfortably in the crook of the branch's juncture with the trunk. Kevlan's concentration is so focused on his gitar and his music that he either does not notice, or simply doesn't acknowledge his pledged's presence above him. Bernadette begins to sing softly, accompanying Kevlan's playing. The sun is at such an angle filtering through the branches that should one look up to the branch upon which Berni is settled, he would see her shadowy outline haloed by the diffused sunlight. Kevlan starts the moment he hears Bernadette's voice, but, surprisingly, his hands do not falter on the gitar strings. But he does look up. Seeming not to notice or mind the sunlight directly in his eyes, he gazes up at his sweetheart reverently. The chords are those of "Gently", and though he does not sing the words, Berni can see his mouth shape them silently. Bernadette leans forward, grabbing hold of the branch before her, her voice still raised in song. She slides her body off the branch and dangles by her arms beside Kevlan for a moment before she releases her grip and drops onto his branch. For one moment, her voice falters as she wobbles a bit in a temporary loss of balance. She recaptures it, however, and lowers herself to sit beside her beloved. Tipping her head to one side, Bernadette stops singing as she watches Kevlan mouth the words to the song. Shaking her head slightly she says "I can't hear you..." as she cups a hand behind her ear. Sun-dazzled, Kevlan blinks rapidly for a moment or two. Then his hands abruptly still on the strings, and he starts to look abashedly down at the instrument... then he changes his mind, and turns his gaze towards one of the hills on the horizon. "Ah-Ah'm sorry, Berni... Ah... Ah ain't quite ready yet. Theah's somethin'... somethin' Ah hafta do first... " Smiling, Bernadette scoots closer along the branch until she's sitting directly next to Kevlan and leans her head on his shoulder. "You don't have to apologize to me. There's nothing to be sorry about." She wraps one arm loosely about Kevlan's arm that she's leaning against, her eyes lowered to the neck of his gitar, as she adds quietly, "You just take your time, love." She does not, however, ask any questions, as she sits quietly with him, lending quiet support and assurance simply with her presence. Kevlan scoots the gitar slightly to make room for her, and says softly, "Ah been... thinkin' 'bout this all mornin'. Fanna came an' found me when Ah got up... she said t' me, 'Unca Kevlan, you hafta go up on th' mountain.'" His voice goes distant, his eyes still on the distant tree-covered hills. A small frown of confusion flickers across Bernadette's face as she tips her head back to look up at him. "The mountain?" She follows his gaze to the distant hills and, with a hint of worry in her voice, asks "Alone?" The hills are very green in the morning sunlight, but only that; more things than trees cannot be seen from this distance, even to a Crystal Singer's sight. Kevlan gazes at them quietly for a moment, and then glances back to her, giving a slight grin. "Fanna didn't say that... jes' that Ah gotta go." His voice quiets. "Ah think she's right." Still looking troubled, Bernadette simply nods and says quietly, "Well, do what you have to do, I suppose..." She offers a small smile and adds "Just be back in time for the wedding...if you're not going to take me with you." She sits up straight and looks away from Kevlan, looking down at the ground below. Studying Berni earnestly, Kevlan finally tells her, "Ah'd... like it if you came with me. Ah jes'... dunno what'll happen up theah. Theah's stories... " He gives a sheepish bit of a laugh. "Then 'gain, ain't nothin' no scarier 'n' a Mach storm in th' Ranges, Ah guess... " Kevlan folds his arms over the top of his gitar and props his chin upon them, saying consideringly, "Th' hills... an' the woods 'round heah... don't like bein' disturbed. Folks used t' talk 'bout that when Ah was a youngun." Bernadette watches him and listens attentively, her hands linked around her knee. When Kevlan falls silent, she prompts gently, "Go on..." He glances at her solemnly, then continues, his voice low and soft, "Well... folks... git lost a lot in th' woods... a body'll go in one way, thinkin' o' goin' huntin' or campin' or somethin'... an' jes' wind up gittin' lost. Wander 'round f'r hours, it'd look like... an' th' thing is, they come back out right neah town, jes' 'bout all th' time. 'Specially folks that ain't from heah... or folks who're 'specially ornery.... " Kevlan trails off, and looks at you shyly, as if not quite certain his words are believable to you. "Fanna, though... folks like Fanna, they c'n go in th' woods, no problem 'tall." She listens to him quietly and nods. Finally, she speaks. "Maybe I _shouldn't_ go with you, then...if there's a chance that me being with you can cause you to get lost," Bernadette says quietly. "Ah... Ah dunno, honey." Kevlan sighs. "Ah ain't... sure wheah Fanna thinks Ah gotta go. Or whethah Ah won't git lost anyway." Bernadette chews on her lower lip contemplatively, as she looks at Kevlan thoughtfully. She dangles her leg over the branch one more and sits up straight, saying resolutely "Well, I'm going with you. It's that simple. If you're going to get lost, I'd rather you didn't get lost alone." She shrugs and offers Kevlan a small smile. Kevlan's only response to that is to reach around the gitar, and hug her close. -*- At supper that evening, the talk among the Sharr family is animated. Orynn's brother Terk arrives on hand again, muttering grouchy-sounding imprecations at most everything about his day, and acting not unlike some of the Heptite Guild's grumpier older Singers. Terk's bristly demeanor softens just slightly, though, around Bernadette and little Fanna, and he barks at Bernadette after a brief look up and down at her, "You'll do." Bernadette blinks in surprise and blushes, as she stammers, "Th-Thank you..." Terk settles his stocky frame into a chair at the end of the table, and only grunts in reply, his attention promptly diverting to the food that's been set in his place. Even Kevlan seems to be a little more chipper, a little closer to how he had been before his experience on Hesperia. When his brother Danyel, with a wry grin, tells him that the young people of Bremany are looking forward to hearing him sing, Kevlan even manages a bit of a sheepish grin, murmuring, "Ah... hope Ah'll be up t' singin' for 'em." "Unca Kevlan has t' go up inna hills and git his voice back," Fanna announces gravely over her glass of milk. Around the table, eyebrows go up, and Orynn and Morten glance from the child to Kevlan and back again. Kevlan shrugs a little, and Varta turns to peer at her little daughter, asking, "How d'you know that, kitten?" "'Cause th' Lady gave Unca Kevlan his voice, an' th' hills are close t' th' stars where she lives, an' if Unca Kevlan goes up an' asks her nice then he c'n sing again," Fanna pipes in reply, calmly. Terk snorts under his breath and mutters, "Th' boy'll jes' git lost." Having finished his food, Orynn's brother takes out a pipe, and is promptly shooed out to the porch by Shilda, though part of the woman's attention is still on the little girl. Orynn squints at his granddaughter, then at Kevlan again, who says sheepishly, "Fanna tol' me this this mornin', y'all.... " Placing her fork daintily beside her plate, Bernadette pats her mouth with her napkin and chimes in. "I'm going with him." Glances are exchanged across the table, and as the family is mostly done with the food, Morten and Tammany elect themselves in charge of cleaning off the table, discreetly retreating to the kitchen with the dishes. Varta scoops up Fanna, peering at the little girl with a mixture of trepidation and wonder, and says uncertainly to Kevlan and Bernadette, "This l'il kitten has t' git t' bed... " "It'll be okay, Aunt Berni," Fanna says sagely over her mother's shoulder. Bernadette smiles at Fanna and nods, winking to the little girl. Orynn nods to his daughter-in-law, and Varta makes her own retreat up the stairs, leaving a plainly curious Danyel and a frowning Shilda the only other Sharrs besides Kevlan and his father at the table. But at a stern glance from Orynn, both of them retreat as well, Shilda into the kitchen and Danyel up the stairs after Varta. At last, Kevlan's father turns back to his son, and, brow furrowed, says, "Lemme git this straight, boy... you two're gonna hike up intah th' hills, jes' 'cause Fanna thinks you should?" Kevlan nods solemnly, meeting his sire's gaze with surprising alacrity. "Ain't y'all noticed yet? Fanna... knows things, Pa." "Fanna's," replies Orynn gruffly, "only four years old, boy." Kevlan leans closer to his father, voice dropping to a soft whisper, audible only to his father and Bernadette's own sharp hearing. "She got th' starlight in 'er, Pa. Me an' Berni... we saw it." Bernadette, who had been listening silently to the two men's exchange, backs Kevlan up with a nod, her voice equally low. "It's true, Mr. Sharr. And it's not just Fanna..." Briefly, she fills Orynn in on the woman she'd seen on the moonbase, who had captured her attention and caused her to stumble over the suitcase. Orynn blinks in surprise, then stares intently at Bernadette, a flicker of something like distrust - no, not distrust, but definitely a kind of wariness - flashing across his face. He pauses, apparently uncertain, before seeming to reach a decision and turning to demand of his son, "You gone fey on me, boy?" "No, Pa. At least, Ah-Ah don't think so. It's jes' that... Berni an' Ah c'n see th' starlight. Fanna, she's th' fey one." Kevlan gives a diffident half-shrug, and finishes, "Trust me on this'un, Pa? Ah... need t' do this. Fanna's right. Ah... need t' sing. Give us two days?" Bernadette shifts uncomfortably under Orynn's scrutinous gaze, not failing to catch her future father-in-law's change of attitude and lowering her eyes from his to stare blankly at the gingham tablecloth spread neatly across the dining table. Silently, Kevlan reaches to clasp his beloved's hand, supporting her before his father's gaze. The older Sharr regards his son wordlessly, clearly confused, clearly troubled, as if realizing that after several years of absence, Kevlan has changed to a creature he no longer quite recognizes. But Kevlan's earnest blue gaze - the same guileless regard that won him his nickname at the Guild - on him seems to soften him somewhat, and at last, Orynn concedes, "Take th' skimmer, then, if you need it. An' if you two ain't back in two days, Ah'm sendin' th' boys down t' town t' scout th' woods t' find you." Bernadette peeks sidelong from beneath her bangs at Kevlan, not saying anything herself. Kevlan nods soberly, and rises. "Thank you, Pa." And with that, tugs lightly at Berni's hand, encouraging her to accompany him up the stairs to bed. He crawls quickly into bed and is just as quickly asleep, as if eager to make it to the following morning as quickly as possible. -*- Kevlan rolls out of bed before dawn, propelled with an energy not unlike that of crystal song, given the longing look in his eyes. Softly, he nudges his love awake as well, his hushed voice relaying his feeling that it was best for them to leave in the morning, "So's Pa an' ever'body won't be frettin'." As Bernadette yawns herself awake, Kevlan is already dressed, though he pauses to softly cup his hand against her cheek as she rouses into consciousness. Then, he grabs one of the carisaks they'd brought with them from Ballybran... and after a moment's thought, his gitar case as well.