Word: didactic - adj - 1a: designed or intended to teach; b: intended to convey instruction or information as well as pleasure and entertainment; 2: making moral observations
"What do you mean my posture's wrong?"
Edge glared at the bard king sitting calmly by the window with the hint of a smile touching his lips. It pissed Edge off. Reminding himself for the tenth time just why he was doing this, clenched his fists and waited for Edward's instructions.
The bard set down his harp and approached the irate ninja. "You need to relax. When you puff up your chest like that you won't be able to get a good breath."
"I know how to breathe!" Edge cried indignantly, stalking past Edward and looking out the window to the scorched sands of Damcyan below. The brightness and openness of the landscape offended all his keenly-tuned ninja senses. He turned back to his host. "Can't you just teach me a simple tune, play an amazing accompaniment, and leave it at that?"
"If you wish to impress Rydia, wouldn't something a little more complex be more appropriate? After all, you haven't seen her in over a year."
It was true. Edge had tried to track her down, using a good deal more of Eblan's considerable information-gathering capacity than he should have to make sure she got his lengthy love letters. She had yet to respond to a single one. So when he'd heard she would be attending Damcyan's festivities in celebration of the castle's reconstruction he'd jumped at the chance.
And while he'd much rather be spending time with his aloof green-haired summoner than Damcyan's monarch, he did want to impress her, enough to seek out the spoony king and ask for a quick music lesson. Surely a ballad of his love would make it even into her guarded heart.
"Fine, fine," he assented, waving Edward back to his instrument as he once more took his place.
Relax, he thought to himself, carefully adjusting his shoulders. He knew the tune by heart; it was a well-known Elbanese piece, but he'd never attempted to sing it before. Not that that mattered. Things like stage-fright were for lesser men than he.
Edward played the short lead in and Edge sang.
He supposed things were going well. For one thing, the bard hadn't dropped his harp to cover his ears. He wasn't even wincing like he had last time.
"Very good," Edward said once the last note was played. "Just remember to watch your shoulders and you should do fine."
"Yes!" Edge exclaimed, tone completely different than when he'd been singing moments before. This was totally going to work! With a quick thank you to Edward he sprinted out of the room. He needed to find Rydia so he could be sure she'd be there tonight to be serenaded.
Edward sat for a moment after the ninja's departure. The man had a better singing voice than he'd expected, he'd give him that, even if the bard king wasn't quite sure what to make of his choice in songs. Gathering his harp and moving out into the hallway, Edward chuckled to himself. He couldn't be sure how Rydia would react to being compared to the heroine of the Ninja Sutra, it would certainly be a sight to see.
Until then, though, he had a kingdom to run and festival preparations to oversee.