Date: Tue, 9 May 95 15:48:30 PDT From: "Angela 'Anna' Korra'ti (EDP)" To: crystal@duke.poly.edu Subject: LOG: Kevlan Goes into the Ranges, Part 4 Message-ID: <9505092303.AA26237@netmail2.microsoft.com> Archive-name: kev-ranges-4.log [Introduction]: As Bernadette has gone into crystal withdrawal convulsions, a panicked Kevlan has finally been coaxed into the Ranges. With the gift of the coordinates of a black claim from Rykos, Kevlan has flown Bernadette here - nearly crashing his beloved sled _Teesa Narie_ more than once - but has found himself unable to sing to the live crystal. It is Bernadette who sings the black face into life, which throws both her and Kevlan into crystal thrall. And in the meantime, Rykos arrives, bringing with him the other two Singers' forgotten cutters.... ---------- Rykos climbs down the wall from the hole in the ceiling. Rykos has arrived. Bernadette is plastered to the crystal vein, singing a strong, high A, oblivious to anyone or anything save the song. Rykos clambers down the wall, carefully trying to balance three cutters across his shoulder and a lamp. Kevlan and Bernadette are both ragged of appearance - neither of them had bothered to dress for the Ranges - and Kevlan stands near the edge of the vein, transfixed. There's a strange expression on his face, half fear, half longing, but his blue eyes are utterly blank. Rykos falls the last part of the way to the floor and wincing at the sound. "No..," he whispers, "N..not yet." The crystal resonates strongly through the room, vibrating to the very center of your bones. Rykos moves slowly towards Bernadette, noticing Kevlan's state. He shivers uncontrollably. "B..Berni..?" Bernadette continues singing, eyes staring at the crystal before her...but not quite seeing it. Rykos looks at the crystal and for a brief moment his eyes cloud. Bernadette's voice falters for a brief second as she takes another deep breath and belts out the note again, unwavering. Rykos falls to the ground heavily, his knees banging against the rock. His eyes clear again and he shakes his head, "N..No, c..can't let it." Rykos starts to softly hum a very discordant B, trying to shake the effects of the crystal. Remaining utterly motionless, Kevlan seems turned to a statue. Bernadette blinkblinks, falling silent suddenly as the discordant B resonates badly with her A, her mouth still open. Rykos slowly stands again, his face twisted in pain, but never stopping the note. He steps around Kevlan and reaches out hesitantly to touch Bernadette's shoulder. Kevlan's eyes flicker, just a hint, as the two clashing notes fill the air - but aside from that, he doesn't move. Bernadette jerks away from Rykos as if touched by a scalding hot piece of metal with a strangled cry. She falls sideways, her hands coming off the vein, and lands in a little crumpled heap. Rykos stops humming and moves quickly to Bernadette's side. He almost falls to the ground, his own steps unsteady. "M..Miss B..Bernadette..?" Bernadette blinkblinks, shuddering almost violently, and drags her slightly unfocused eyes to Rykos's face. "Rykos?" The whisper comes out of her raggedly. Rykos shudders, feeling the crsyatl pull at him. Painfully he remains looking at Bernadette. "I..I b..brought y..your c..cutters..." Rykos nods, "Y..yes. R..Rykos. C..can you stand?" Bernadette blinks again, not comprehending at first. She nods dumbly at your question and draws herself up, leaning against the stone beside the vein. "My...cutter?" Rykos nods, "M..mister Jerrik s..said y..you might..." his eyes drift towards the vein. Bernadette follows your gaze to the vein, then looks back at you, her eyes a little clearer, and she stands straight, advancing upon you briskly. "My cutter..." she says as firmly as she can, holding out her hand. A soft hum builds in Rykos's throat until Bernadette speaks. He tears himself away from the vein, crying out softly in pain. "Y..your c..cutter?" Kevlan blinks a little, and seems for an instant as if he is in pain, before his expression blanks again. Bernadette nods, as she puts an urgent hand on Rykos's arm. "My cutter...please.." she says pleadingly. Rykos looks down at Bernadette's hand and nods dumbly. He pulls the cutters off his shoulder laying each on the ground. Bernadette's Crystal Cutter has arrived. Rykos sets the cutter down. Kevlan's Crystal Cutter has arrived. Rykos sets the cutter down. Bernadette lets go of Rykos and snatches up her cutter. She looks at the two men near the vein with her with a puzzled expression, then she scrambles into the vein. Bernadette's Crystal Cutter has left. Bernadette picks up the cutter carefully. Kevlan, as the echos of the sung notes seem to die down round him, blinks again slightly, looking pained. Bernadette has left. Bernadette clambers into the entrance of a crystal vein site. Rykos looks at Kevlan then stumbles after Bernadette. Rykos has left. Rykos clambers into the entrance of a crystal vein site. Crystal Vein All about you can see freshly painted a bright blue circle, randomly cris-crossed with black stripes. The vein subtly sings to you in a scale of A. You catch a sparkling glimmer of pure black. The crystal rings with a sweetness and purity of tone. Contents: Rykos Bernadette Rykos almost crumples to the ground as he enters the vein. "S..so loud.."he whispers. Bernadette runs her hands over the vein again, humming softly, listening and feeling the crystal respond. Rykos's hand automatically drifts to his cutter. The whole time he mutters, "N..NO d..don't listen. C..can't.." Bernadette blinks and looks at Rykos. "Sing to it..." she whispers, then looks at the face again, bringing her cutter up and singing a strong, low A in her soprano. Bernadette sings a pure A. Rykos shivers as the note runs through him, he stands and presses himself into the back of the vein. Kevlan, still standing nearby, gives the slightest of frowns as the crystal rumbles an answer to the sung note. Rykos's face screws up in pain again as his thumb flicks against the cutter, a lower tenor A building in his throat. Rykos braces his body for the power surge and turns his crystal cutter on. Rykos sings a pure A. Rykos moves slowly, haltingly to stands beside Bernadette, he reaches a shaking hand out to touch the vein. Bernadette holds the note and draws her blade through the crystal. Bernadette holds the note strongly and while the crystal sings in return, uses her cutter to extract a dodecahedron from the vein. Occasionally, your thoughts turn to your claim sites. Non-singers around you see: You get the feeling that something is slightly wrong as you gaze upon the worried face of Kevlan. Kevlan moves, just a hint; his face abruptly unblanks, at the chord, and fills with a naked longing. But the expression remains only for an instant, as he mumbles something that is lost in the wash of sound... takes a step backwards, and keels over senseless. Rykos's fingertips touch the vein and he shudders violently, gasping a little before continuing the note. Slowly he closes his eyes and the volume of his note increases, ringing clearing and meshing with Bernadette's Bernadette snaps her cutter off and pushes it over her shoulder, digging with her fingers at the dodec to dislodge it. Bernadette carefully turns her crystal cutter off and relaxes her stance. A large, pure black, dodecahedron crystal has left. Bernadette picks up the crystal with careful hands. Rykos sets his crystal cutter to A. Rykos sings a pure A. Rykos holds the note strongly and while the crystal sings in return, uses his cutter to extract a dodecahedron from the vein. Bernadette lifts the crystal, still singing to it, eyes transfixed on its matte surface, and raises it sligtly until a shaft of wan, evening sunlight warms it. Rykos cuts thorugh the vein, his eyes closed the whole time. he automatically turns off his cutter and reaches for the crystal Rykos carefully turns his crystal cutter off and relaxes his stance. A medium, pure black, dodecahedron crystal has left. Rykos picks up the crystal with careful hands. Rykos takes the crystal and opens his eyes to look at it. He seems unaware of Bernadette standing beside him anymore, as he looks deeps into the crystal. Kevlan lies crumpled where he has fallen, his head turned to one side. Time begins to pass, and he remains still, as the other two Singers remain enthralled. The temperature goes down in the cavern.... Rykos sinks to the floor, cradling the crystal like a child. The light still reflecting off it and he smiling broadly, lost in it. Bernadette stands stock still in the waning sunlight, alternating between singing and taking breaths, lost in the depths of the black crystal. Darkness - grey and deep, not so dark as the cut chunks of blackness the two thralled Singers hold - floods through the chamber slowly, blanketing the fallen figure of Kevlan, and just as slowly, cooling the crystals that have been hewn from the rock face. The crystal thunder drains out of the air.... Bernadette's voice trails off with a little whimper as she ceases to coax the black to sing. Her eyes roll up into her head and her body goes limp, as she slides to the ground. The dodec rests lightly in her nerveless hand. Time creeps onward into honest night, the chill of the darkened cavern sinking quickly into crystal-starved bones. Rykos cradles the crystal closer to him, as the light fades he curls around it, his voice fading. He slips into unconciouness, curled around the crystal. Time creeps on, though with minds gone inert, its passage goes unheeded, until at last, Scoria from a morning angle begins to peek down into the cavern. A breathy ripple of sound stirs in the air... and Kevlan stirs with it, his brow furrowing in his sleep. Bernadette's dodec now lies solitary on the floor of the vein, having slipped entirely out of her hand as she, too, shifts along the gravel, frowning slightly. ---------- [Interlude]: Kevlan begins to dream, as the fading crystal song nevertheless lingers on his consciousness. The dirty, shard-littered cavern floor beneath him shifts... becoming the gnarled bark of a tree: a tall willow, somewhere on the Sharr farmstead on Estenar. A dangling frond brushes his cheek... and startledly, he jerks up to look around. There's singing somewhere. He frowns, glancing out from the shelter of the branches, but all he can see are shadows, an indistinct twilight - the color of early morning, before dawn. Darkness - it makes him shiver, and without consciously knowing why, he backs up against the sturdy branch behind him. The distant music, far enough away that he cannot tell what sort of voice produces it, nags at him - but it's out there, in the darkness.... "Kevlan?" He blinks, looks up... and stares. She is sitting quite comfortably on the branch just beside him. Slender, her skin clear and radiant, seemingly suffused with moonlight, she almost glows in the dim twilight that surrounds the tree. Like any woman of Farann Province would be, she is simply clad; despite the indistinct light, he automatically knows that her tunic is dark blue, her breeches a soft silver-grey. Her hair is dark, some of it pulled neatly back from her face in twin braids wrapped about her head. He cannot tell the color of her eyes... all that comes to mind as her gaze gently comes to rest on him is that they are the color of stars. _She... she looks like Mama... _ He swallows hard, and stammers awkwardly, "Wh... what're you doin' heah, ma'am?" She smiles softly - and as she speaks, Kevlan hears the lilt of his folk's accent in her voice. "I thought you might need to talk with someone, Kevlan. Don't you think it's lonely, all by yourself here?" He blushes, not sure how to respond, but finally he manages, "It... it didn't used t' be, ma'am... when Ah was littler... Ah-Ah'd come out heah... " He feels himself start to tremble, but forces himself to finish, "An-an' sing.... " She considers this gravely, and nods. "This _is_ a place of music," she agrees. Kevlan hangs his head. "Ah-Ah-Ah cain't git it back, though... " He glances dolefully out into the twilight, where the ethereal chord continues to drift, rising and falling in volume. "It... it's out theah." "And you can't go find it....?" There is no scorn in her voice, simply a question, but nevertheless he flushes in shame, mutely shaking his head. She leans over slightly, reaching to brush his overgrown hair out of his face, in a light maternal touch. "But you miss it, don't you?" Shyly, he nods, trying to blink back tears. "Ah-Ah-Ah... feel like Ah got a leg chopped off, ma'am... " Very softly, she smiles, and points out reasonably, "Limbs grow back for Singers, Kevlan." At that, he blinks, not having thought of that. His companion gently nudges his attention back out into the dusk around the tree, and adds, "And the good thing about music is, if you have trouble hearing it, you can always listen harder. Listen, Kevlan.... " She nods out into the dimness, and Kevlan obediently focuses his sharp hearing, straining hopefully to catch that elusive chord. Almost eagerly, its volume grows, building with the same slow rate of a sunrise. Kevlan's breath catches; he whispers reverently, "Ah... Ah c'n heah that... " A sudden insight strikes him. "It's... easiah, if Ah don't try so hard, ain't it?" The woman smiles, looking pleased, as the distant chord grows louder, nearer. "What do you think?" "Ah think... " He sucks in a breath, as the chord demands his attention, awakening a need in him he'd almost made himself forget. The sudden rush of emotion leaves him only half-able to talk, as he finishes huskily, "Ah-Ah think Ah... need t' listen t' that music, ma'am." She nods peacefully. "Then do so. It won't go away, dear one... neither will this place, or I." As the chord grows louder, her voice softens - but, oddly, seems to interweave with it as if part of the music. Kevlan blinkblinks, forcing himself to look back up at her, but she gently turns his head back towards the gradually lightening darkness. His throat begins to ache in sympathy with the increasingly audible rumble of sound; the very tree beneath him seems to vibrate with it, sending strange thrills coursing through his nerves. He hears one final thing from the woman, before the music makes her vanish entirely: "Just listen, Kevlan. Just listen.... " ---------- Warming to the increasing touch of sunshine flickering down into the cavern, the black face starts to crackle deeply. Kevlan gives a groan, and his eyes snap open. Rykos stays huddled in a tight ball, around his crystal. The only evidence of life being the fact he shivers slightly. Bernadette stirs again, a small whimper escaping her as her symbiont answers the waking the crystal. Kevlan rolls over, pulls himself stiffly to his knees, to his feet. As he awkwardly rises, the black's rumble grows louder. Rykos shudders a little more, whispering softly with the thunder, talking to it in a semi-concious state. With a little cry, Bernadette's eyes snap open, as well and she blinks dazedly from her prone position on the crystal shard-strewn floor, eyes blank. Kevlan stares... can it be? He isn't dreaming? Unaware of the other two Singers nearby, he staggers to the rock. He is abruptly lit by the sunlight that is readily streaming downward to the rock - and with a slight groan, he moves, seeming to instinctively realize that he's blocking the source of the growing rumbling song. Rykos slowly uncurls as he whispers, the crystal he was clutching falling to the ground with a ringing sound. His eyes snap open and he stares at it blankly. Bernadette groans and rolls over, reaching out...but for what? Her hands search the empty air and she draws herself up onto her knees. Kevlan lifts reverent hands to the warming crystal. Still half-lit by the shaft of sunlight, he opens his mouth slightly.... Rykos slides back from the crystal a little, almost fearful of it. "H..help m..me.." he whispers to no one. Bernadette inches forward on her knees, eyes still blank and unseeing, hands searching...searching. Ignored are the sharp crystal shards biting into her knees gone unprotected by her flimsy slacks as she continues slowly along the floor towards Kevlan and Rykos. Almost inaudibly, a new thread of sound works its way into the black's sunwarmed song: a voice, sounding scratchy and rusty from lack of use... but coming in lowly on a baritone C. Bernadette blinkblinks and groans louder as the added sound reaches her, halting her forward motion. Rykos looks up sharply at the note, mixture of fear and ecstacy on his face. Kevlan stares at the crystal face before him in tentative wonderment... the C falters, and he coughs a time or two, before drawing in a breath and giving the note a bit more strength. Bernadette shakes her head as if trying to clear it, and turns her face toward the source of the sound. She moans again and begins inching along the ground again. Rykos softly hums an E, just above the note he hear. His eyes wide and lost. Kevlan shakes slightly... his eyes lightening. The C grows louder. You listen, realising that all of the resonance is now gone from your body. Non-singers around you see: You feel something is wrong as you gaze upon the pale face of Kevlan. Bernadette halts again as a new note is added to the song. Shivering she takes a breath and opens her mouth, her voice joining in with an A an octave above Kevlan's. Rykos begins to pull himself towards the sounds, his voice strengthening. Bernadette draws herself forward once more toward the source of the other two notes, her soprano strong and clear. Kevlan's expression softens, and he trembles a little more as the chord grows louder. Rykos reaches a shaking hand out towards the source of the sound. He smiles a little, strengthening the chord as much as he can. Bernadette reaches the epicenter of the chord almost simultaneously as Rykos. One outstretched hand coming into contact with Kevlan's thigh, the other with Rykos's also outstretched hand. Rykos grips Bernadette's hand tightly, as though it's his only lifeline in the crystal song. Kevlan blinkblinks, swaying slightly; the note shivers a bit as he glances unsteadily from side to side. Bernadette wraps her arm around Kevlan's leg, her other hand grasping Rykos's and pulling him towards her. Rykos allows himself to be pulled along. His note and the chord being the only thing he's concentrating on. Kevlan, unbalanced by Berni's tugging, sways again, catching himself on the crystal. His throat goes dry... he swallows, sucks in a breath, and begins to sing again. Bernadette has come face to face with Rykos now, blinking as she continues to sing, but unaware of who is before her. She disentangles her hand from his and slides it up his arm to the side of his face, her other arm still tightly wrapped around Kevlan's leg. Rykos continues to sing an unbroken note. He gazes at Bernadette, seeing he as the source of one of the accompanying notes. He reaches out hesitantly to touch her cheek, trying to feel the note inside her. Kevlan presses his cheek against the rock face before him. His eyes squeeze closed, dampened slightly... but he grows louder with the C, providing a backbone to the chord. Around all three Singers, the black crystal thunders - A's, C's, and E's crackling through the air, eerie descants to the notes uttered in human ranges. Bernadette sways on her knees at Rykos's touch, her eyes closing, her hand curling around behind Rykos's neck and she pulls him roughly to her; her A and is E abruptly silenced as she kisses him. Rykos kisses Bernadette back, his eyes closed. He shudders a little, moving his hand round to her back to support her. The C, solo, rings out: Kevlan's voice sounding strained, but true, as he holds the note. Bernadette releases Kevlan's leg and wraps her arms around Rykos, clinging to him. Kevlan shudders softly, evidently oblivious to the two beside him. His head tilts back slightly as the C continues to pour out of him... Rykos falls into Bernadette's embrace. Bernadette pulls her head back from Rykos, looking around in puzzlement. The chord's not complete...She reaches out with one hand and snags Kevlan's shirt, pulling him towards her. Strangely, the ringing C seems to gain strength even as it's sustained - Kevlan keeps pausing every so often to suck in a breath, to keep the note going. But as soon as Bernadette latches onto him, he blinks dazedly, the note wavering. Rykos's hand brushes against Kevlan as Bernadette pulls him towards them both. The note, even faltering, courses up his arm and he gasps a little. Bernadette's hand slips off Kevlan's shirt...but her fingers hook into the waistband of his pants and she pulls again, whimpering. Kevlan seems to vibrate slightly with the resonance of the crystal, as if the thunder - sustained by the sunlight that now freely floods into the chamber - has sunk into his very body. He blinks again as Bernadette fumblingly undresses him, her attentions beginning to transport him back from whatever other place he'd gone to when the sunlight woke him up. Kevlan falls down between you both, the C sliding into a throaty groan that somehow still seems on-key with the symphony in the air. Rykos whimpers a little, his hands playing across the both of you, trying to suck the resonance out of you into his own starved body. Te crystal thunder in the air only serving to fuel his hunger for more. Bernadette grasps the shoulder of Rykos's shirt and begins tugging. Her other hand finds its way to the back of Kevlan's head and, longing to complete the chord, she pulls him to her as she continues to tug at Rykos's shirt, covering Kevlan's mouth with her own. Kevlan's C is abruptly cut off. He blinks in wonderment, then shivers. Silenced, he nevertheless seems to instinctively try to hum on... contact with him _almost_ seems to make a C resonate through your fingers. Or are you imagining it? Rykos shudders as he touches both of you once more. Instinctively he tears at his own shirt, leaning against the both of you in an attempt to feel as much as he can. [And with that, as the crystal thunders, one may assume that the morning proceeds as planned... :) End log.]