Harping on Memory
This was kinda prompted by the art book picture of Gourry in mermaid costume holding a sort of harp and by memories of the comic actor, Harpo Marx. He portrayed a zany, clueless clown in the movies, but he was a serious musician on the orchestral harp, a totally different person when he played a piece in a movie. The clown disappeared.
The usual disclaimers. Borrowing the characters from Kanzaka just for fun and taking my mind off everyday stresses.
He was alone, and there it sat on its stand. While Lina, Amelia and Zelgadis were occupied in the royal archives, he had wandered into the castle's music room. He never had had time to explore the palace in previous visits. He and Lina had only been there in times of crisis, never just a friendly visit with time to explore. Also, as Lina's bodyguard, he had not wanted to stray far from her in those times, and she had no active interest in music.
Various musical instruments were everywhere. They were on stands, hanging from walls, lying in glass cabinets, sitting on the marble floor. He had not seen a harp in so long; not since he had fled home. This was a graceful, elegant instrument, the type wandering bards used, not the heavy, gilded ornamental type of aristocratic orchestras. The simple, curving lines of the dark wood and sparing use of gold inlay made him gently smile in appreciation. He held still for a moment and listened for the sounds of anyone nearby. Satisfied he wouldn't be observed or heard, he approached the harp and sat down in the chair next to it. Carefully he placed it between his legs and lightly began playing scales to see if it was in tune and if he remembered how. Next he tried strumming a few arpeggios. He smiled more broadly as the finger memory came back. That was the thing. His body's muscle memory was superb. Once it was imprinted with a pattern, unlike his memory for events, it stayed. Playing music on the harp was like following sword forms. If you had the forms and patterns ingrained in you, you could recognize them and use with them without conscious effort.
After a few more practice arpeggios, he began to pluck and stroke out some Elmekian folk melodies. In his mind he envisioned the bleak, but beautiful high desert of the home to which he could never return. He saw the multicolored rock formations of its mountains and the fanciful dwellings, buildings , and fortifications carved into them. The desert plains stretched so far into the horizon, and the air had such clarity that inhabitants' peering into the distance developed amazing eyesight. One had to live with all the too easily hidden dangers. There were many predators, human and other creatures, and death by exposure to heat or high desert cold was always a threat. But there was beauty. His homeland, as well as his family, had helped make him what he was.
His playing loosened up as he became one with the music and lost himself in the melodic strains and memories. He threw in some satisfying improvisations and tackled some classical pieces. A tune emerged that had been beloved by his granny. the one who had encouraged his playing in an effort to provide a balance to the harshness of his martial training and family. As he played and remembered her, he felt sadness begin to rise in him. He let it reflect in the music. Expressing the unhappiness of his family past was something he rarely indulged in around others, especially Lina. He followed that fisherman's advice not to show his sadness around the girl he loved, and kept up his good-natured facade around her.
Ah, that was another thing, he thought, as he began composing his own melody. Unrequited love sucked. The melody under his fingers started out lively and spunky and gained in complexity, like the woman he loved. As he thought of their adventures, he reflected them in the music he drew from the harp. There were passages that built explosively and others that, in a shift to a minor key, were quietly melancholy. As he played, he became so focused, the castle could have collapsed around him, and he wouldn't have noticed.
At Lina's insistence, the group in the archives broke for lunch and went in search of Gourry. Figuring the blond swordsman wouldn't be far from the dining room at that hour of day, Lina, Amelia, and Zelgadis drew closer to it, Suddenly an excited maid came running toward them from the direction of the music room.
"Your Highness, there's an angel playing on your mother's harp in the music room!" the woman exclaimed in awe to Amelia.
Amelia gasped, "It can't be!" and turned pale. Eyes wide and wild-looking, she dashed off to the music room. Lina and Zelgadis gave each other a skeptical and questioning look and chased after her. All three stopped short at the large, double doorway of the room and stared in amazement. A gorgeous air was emanating from the harp. The sunlight pouring from the window behind Gourry reflected off his golden hair in shimmering waves as his fingers plucked at and glided over the harp strings. His face shone with the blessed feeling of oneness with his music. He did, indeed, looked angelic.
Amelia shivered and raised a hand to block out some of the light in order to see better. With tears slowly making their way down her face, Amelia whispered to her companions, "No one has touched my mother's harp since she died. We've kept it tuned and cleaned in memory of her, but I've never had the heart to learn to play it. Nor has anyone else dared to touch it. When we first arrived here, the bright light masked Mr. Gourry. For a moment I thought maybe an angel really was here."
Zelgadis and Lina were stunned. This was earthy, simple Gourry, whose only art, as far as they knew, was with swords? Zel felt a new respect for his often forgetful and sometimes clueless seeming friend. Lina and Amelia quietly entered the room. Lina, for once, was too surprised to say anything. She sat down cross legged in front of Gourry and looked at him in admiration and wonder. Retreating for a moment from his zone, Gourry blinked in sudden recognition of his listeners, reddened, and paused.
"Please keep playing," Amelia pleaded in a soft voice. She then opened a flute case on a nearby table. Taking out the instrument, she swiftly lubricated its joints and assembled it.
"Start something, Amelia, Just tell me the key beforehand. I'll improvise, if I don't know the melody," Gourry replied to the question expressed on her face.
Amelia named a famous tune in a minor key from Lina's home country, Zephilia. Gourry flipped a few levers to match the key, grinned, and winked at the volatile sorceress sitting in front of them. Amelia began, and Gourry's harp joined in. Flute and harp wove such melodious patterns around each other that Lina had a dreamy look on her face that was tinged with a little sadness. At times, she sang very softly to herself. The cold-hearted, mysterious sorcerer-swordsman was moved to tears at the beauty of the sound, but also felt a stirring of jealousy at the report the two musicians had established between themselves. He glanced around the room and found a guitar. Alas, he found it was badly out of tune when he picked it up and very quietly strummed it. Zelgadis didn't want to leave to tune it and miss more of their playing, He was torn between wanting to join them with a tuned instrument or just listen until they broke off and then tune. While he was deciding what to do, they finally finished with a flourish of frenzied notes.
When their playing faded away, Lina's stomach growled. A crowd of nobles and servants at the wide doorway clapped at the same time. With tears making tracks down his hairy face, Prince Phil boomed out, "More, more!"
"Why, thank you!" Lina jokingly exclaimed, "I AM an excellent player of the bellypipe." She stood up and turning to the two musicians, she soberly said, "Seriously, guys, your music was so lovely, I forgot we originally were on our way to lunch. I gotta stay in character and rush outa here, or the palace chefs are gonna be ticked off if all their work gets cold."
She then pushed her way through those at the door and dashed off to eat.
Zelgadis bit back a snarky rejoinder to Lina and just asked, "Would you mind if I played guitar with you two after lunch?"
Amelia and Gourry smiled at each other and Zelgadis, and chorused, "That would be great!"
Gourry then yelled, "Don't eat everything, Lina!" but gently replaced the harp on its stand, before barreling out the door with a "Food! Food! Food!"
Amelia shook her head as she disassembled the flute and swabbed the insides of it dry, "Hard to imagine Mr. Gourry is so wonderful at playing an instrument like the harp, isn't it? You think a man is so uncultured and goofy, and then he surprises you."
Zel shook his head and gently kissed Amelia's forehead, "You are an amazing flautist. Thank you for that beautiful concert. Now, we'd better hurry and eat, or there will just be fruitcake left."