[Intro]
This log occurs shortly after Bernadette returns with Kevlan from the jaunt
to Rykos's black crystal claim in the Ranges. The two Singers have had time
to report in to Tamber and Jerrik, and to get themselves cleaned up again....

----------
Bernadette lies huddled under the covers, half-awake.

It's early in the morning, and the sounds of running water emerge from the 
  bathing chamber for a while, before Kevlan tentatively emerges from the 
  bathing chamber. His bare feet pad soundlessly on the suite carpet, and he 
  pauses in the room, glancing between Bernadette on the bed... and the corner 
  of the room, where a pair of gitars are propped.

Bernadette pulls the covers up halfway over her head and grunts a little, not 
  quite prepared to awaken fully yet.

Kevlan blinkblinks, and glances over at you. His eyes soften a little, and he 
  ventures towards the beside, though his gaze wanders distractedly to the 
  corner.

Only the top of Berni's frazzled hair is visible upon first glance, sticking 
  out from beneatht he top of the covers. As you near the bed, you can see her 
  forehead and her closed eyes...the rest of her face is obscured by the quilts.

Kevlan kneels down slowly, reaching one hand to touch your hair, shyly. 
  "Berni," he breathes to himself, and as if testing the sound of it, "Berni 
  honey." His eyes soften again.

Bernadette stirs with a little protesting sound and opens her eyes slowly to 
  peek out from under the covers at you. The outside edges of her eyes crinkle; 
  the only indication of her smile.

Kevlan doesn't smile in return, but his gaze is very soft and full 
  nevertheless, as he looks down at you. "Ah-Ah... Ah didn't wanna wake yah," 
  he murmurs.

Bernadette raises her arms and pushes the covers down as she scoots over. She 
  shakes her head. "You didn't...I was sort of...trying not to wake up, but not 
  succeeding in staying asleep." She smiles again with a little shrug.

Kevlan shifts a bit on his knees, and tells you solemnly, "You look... real 
  purty, jes'... sleepin' all peacefullike."

Bernadette blinkblinks at you and then blushes as she mutters "I'm always a 
  mess in the morning..." She sits up and attempts to smooth her snarled hair.

Kevlan, with that, promptly blushes back, but tries to sound assuring as he 
  quickly tells you, "Ah mean it! Ah... felt like Ah... Ah-Ah needed t'... say 
  it." His blush deepens.

Bernadette smiles and puts a hand gently to your cheek. "I think I may have 
  needed to hear it," she says softly.

Kevlan casts another distracted glance at the corner, before he tells you, 
  "Ah-Ah gotta lotta... stuff in mah head. Woke me up.... "

Bernadette follows your furtive glance to the instruments, but says nothing in 
  reference to them. "Are you hungry?" She starts swinging her legs over the 
  side of the bed.

Kevlan almost smiles, but not quite, as he answers, "Uh-huh... l'il bit... "

Bernadette nods and stands up, stretching as she digs her toes into the carpet. 
  She smooths a hand over her still-disheveled hair self-consciously, and pads 
  toward the catering unit.

Kevlan seems torn between watching you walk, and glancing to the pair of gitars.

Bernadette stands at the unit down, her back to you and the instruments in 
  their corner. "What'll we have?"

Kevlan stares off at the corner, then blinks, distractedly, as you regain his 
  attention. "Wha? Oh. Um. Juice?"

Bernadette glances over her shoulder and nods, turning back to the unit and 
  dialing up juice for you and a sizeable breakfast for youboth.
Bernadette carries the tray to the table and looks at the instruments in their 
  corner. She says quietly, "I don't think it's tuned right..."

Kevlan blushes a little, fidgeting. He rises and snags a chair to sit on, but 
  as he sits, one of his bare feet bounces restlessly. "Which'un?"

Bernadette looks at you evenly for a moment, then back at the gitars. "Mine." 
  She sits at the table across from you and starts picking at her breakfast.

Kevlan ohs. And asks blankly, "You ain't tuned it?"

Bernadette looks up. "Oh, I've tuned it...but I'm sure wrong."

Kevlan's gaze shifts to the corner again. A little awkwardly, he stammers, "Th' 
  t-tunin' c'n change, y'know... th' wood an-an' th' strings'll act diff'rent, 
  an' all... "

Bernadette frowns a little and stands up, crossing to the gitars and picking 
  hers up. She plucks a few strings...they shound slightly off-tune and fiddles 
  with the tuning keys; plucks again...still off-key.

Kevlan wrinkles his nose, and nods a bit, gravely. "Ow."

Bernadette sighs with a frown and twists the keys again, testing the strings 
  lightly...no dice.

Kevlan's mouth twists, and he ventures shyly, "It... it ain't warped or 
  nothin', is it?"
Kevlan starts automatically, "Th-that B's j-j-jes' a hair flat... "

Bernadette looks up at you, then at the B string and attempts to correct 
  it...it twangs the next time she plucks it. She winces and shucks it onto the 
  bed, muttering "Forget it.." before she shuffles moodily back to her seat at 
  the table and picks at her food again, half-heartedly.

Kevlan stares at the instrument, then his brow furrows as he glances at you. 
  "You... you jes' gotta twist the fret a little... a-a-a-a-ain't it movin'?"

Bernadette doesn't look up from her plate. "It's moving...I just can't get it 
  right." She shrugs and lowers her voice an octave as she mutters "Maybe you 
  should.."

Kevlan turns crimson, looking aghast for an instant. But he rises tentatively, 
  his gaze on the bed and away from you now.
Kevlan pauses with his hand stretched about a foot above the gitar; his fingers 
  shake a little.

Bernadette watches you quietly, her eyes intent, but she makes no move or sound.

Kevlan at last, hesitantly, picks up the gitar and turns back to you, bringing 
  it over. He offers shyly, other hand coming up to the appropriate tuning peg, 
  "You... jes' gotta kinda twist 'er... like this... "
Kevlan's voice roughens as he speaks.

Bernadette raises an eyebrow and watches your hands, looking skeptical. "That's 
  what I did.."

Kevlan plucks timidly at the B string, and the note rings out a little purer. 
  "See... y-y-you twist 'er one way, an' it gits flat... 'thother way an' it 
  gits sharp....?" He peers at you around his bangs.

Bernadette props her elbow on the table and her chin on her fist and nods. She 
  sighs "Guess I just don't have the patience..." She stands up again and 
  crosses to your qitar and carries it back to the table.

Kevlan blushes, mumbling abashedly, "I-i-i-it ain't hard... easier 'n' tunin' a 
  cutter... " He fumbles with your B string again, until after a time or two 
  the note rings on the true.

Bernadette looks at you and holds your gitar out with one hand, her other one 
  extended for her instrument. She nods as you correct the B string's tune. 
  "Want to trade?"

Kevlan blinks. And freezes. But the sudden look of longing in his gaze is 
  unmistakable.

Bernadette eyes her guitar and yours and looks at you a little expectantly.

You say "Ah... Ah-Ah-Ah guess... mine's outta tune too, prob'ly...."
Kevlan's voice goes even huskier, as he touches a hand to his own gitar, 
  seemingly afraid that the smallest contact with the old wood will make the 
  thing vanish.

She switches gitars with you and pulls a chair next to you, drawing her guitar 
  across her lap as you tune yours. She idly starts playing a familiar tune...
  at least, half of it...it's a piece that was obviously intended to be played 
  with two, harmonious instruments.

Kevlan glances up at you as you begin to strum, freezing yet again with 
  his gitar in his grasp. His hands more visibly shake now. Hastily, he 
  fumbles with his instrument's strings, trying to test their pitch.

Watching her fingering and the neck of her gitar, Bernadette does not
   notice this reaction. She continues playing her half of the duet, her
   own gitar in perfect tune thanks to your ministrations.

Kevlan swallows hard, transfixed by the situation, and by the song. 
  It's been so long - months. Can he do this...? But at last, 
  tremulously, his fingers go from his gitar's tuning pegs to the 
  strings. And on the next measure you reach, there's an extra chord, hit 
  without much force, but clearly there...

Bernadette falters just a beat and looks up at first your gitar, then
  your face. As she picks up the tune again, she strums the steel strings
  just a little harder, increasing the volume of her half, watching you.
  Her lips are curved in a slight smile, her eyes a lighter shade of brown
  than they've been in awhile and shining brightly.

Kevlan, intently pursing his lips, leans awkwardly over his gitar; his
  bangs dangle forward, obscuring most of his face, as his head is tilted
  downward. As you play, he continues to strum a single chord per
  measure. Some of his fingerings are off, but this is no doubt because
  his hands are trembling like leaves in a stiff breeze.

Bernadette comes to the end of the song and immediately launches into
  another taking only the briefest of moments to shake her left hand out
  and rub her finger tips together. The tune is one that they're heard and
  sung many times together...she plays the ballad tenderly and with
  feeling.

Falteringly, Kevlan follows along, producing nothing more complicated
  than very simple chords that add depth to your own playing. And
  occasionally, he produces a wrong note that makes him wince slightly
  in embarrassment. He ventures a timid look over at you, though, and
  there's an odd look about his face - odd, because you haven't seen him
  smiling, or at least trying to smile, in several months.

She maintains eye contact with you whenever your eyes meet hers on
  your brief, timid glimpses in her direction, smiling encouragingly and
  nodding, as she plays...her own performance far from flawless. She
  ignores her mistakes and yours, simply enjoying the music and your
  accompaniment.

Strum. Strum. Rather monotonous, really, the simple chords he's playing,
  but he attends to the task with all the attention of someone trying very
  hard to relearn a skill gone dormant, or forgotten. Finally, as you reach
  the end of the song, his fingers trail off unsteadily on the strings, but
  Kevlan suddenly looks up at you. He hasn't quite managed to smile...
  but there's a definite light in his eyes.

Berni rests her gitar lightly on her knees as she gazes back at you,
  silently smiling. She rubs the fingertips of her left hand with her
  right, commenting "Boy, these strings smart when your callouses
  have gone away, don't they?" Her smile broadens a little and she
  starts giggling inanely for no apparent reason.

Kevlan - the wary fawn venturing a step or two out of the underbrush
  towards offered food, or so his expression broadcasts - gives a
  husky little giggle. His features promptly turn puzzled for a moment
  as if he can't quite believe the sound he just made, then he eases
  his way into... yes. That's a smile.

They say laughing is a good release from stress and tension, just as
  crying is....
Still giggling like a lunatic, Berni puts her gitar aside entirely and
  stands in front of you, leaning over the instrument in your lap to
  throw her arms around your shoulders in a hug, just as her giggles
  dissolve into a helpless fit of laughter.

Kevlan's smile flickers shyly, and he asks almost wryly, "Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah
  did somethin' funny?"

Bernadette shakes her head tenderly, as she lays her head on your shoulder
  and tells you, "No... something good."

[End log.]