Chapter 66 : A Concert
« Your staff needs some time off, » says Lady Pree to Shego and Flora to whom she has now become visible. « They have been working hard but I hear the frustration of being on a treadmill with this project. Perhaps now a concert would be in good order. »
"Yes, that is a great idea," says Musa when Flora and Bloom approach her with the idea of a concert, "but perhaps Meera should be the featured artist. She is from the planet Bhrata which is also a part of the Harmonic Nebula. I'm sure she can offer us something that will be a refreshing change from the usual."
"You want me to put on a concert?" asks Meera, surprised and smiling. "I would be most happy to and I am sure that I'll put on a performance that includes something to please all."
A few days later, a low stage is set up in the Comm Station behind which is a semicircular acoustic reflector designed by Tecna and Musa who claim that it will reduce the harsh echo of the Comm Station but enhance and focus the music from all the instruments so they may be heard clearly by all without amplification.
Bloom is watching Meera who is seated in what seems to be a most uncomfortable position waiting for everyone to come in and settle before beginning her concert. Across her lap is a strange instrument that looks like a potbellied lute with an extremely long neck with a lot of strings and a small pumpkin attached at the top. "What is that?" she whispers to Musa.
"It's called a veena," replies Musa excitedly. "I have seen only pictures of it but never heard it being played. I think we're in for a treat."
Shego is seated on a cushion with Icy in her arms not knowing what she is about to hear from this strange instrument. Meera strikes the first note which is a drone that seems to resonate with something deep within her soul. Next is a ripple of higher notes that invoke an image of curtains being drawn apart to reveal a vista of lush jungle vibrant with colour. On the ground are animals of every description and in the air and upon the branches are beautiful birds whose songs are as varied and colourful as they are.
"I am fortunate to be here," thinks Shego as Meera's music enwraps her in its spell. "At last, I am among those who accept me for whom and what I am. I have a good and meaningful position in this society and, most of all, the love of a beautiful woman whom I have come to love as well. Alfea is where I belong…, without a doubt, here is where I belong."
Kim looks at Shego with Icy in her arms while the magic of Meera's music captures her being. "We have changed a lot," she thinks. "I never thought I would see Shego at peace within herself. Strange, though, I always thought that I would be the one within her arms. Still, I can only feel happy for her."
Behind Bloom and Musa, Yurika's Trix is seated lost in thoughts and dreams that only Cat-Witches can fathom and purring in a deep unison that compliments the drone of Meera's veena.
Meera smiles as the piece concludes and everyone awakens from her dreamlike state then applauds.
"Thank you," says Meera. "The next piece I wish to play for you requires a percussionist. Musa, please come up on stage," indicating that Musa should seat herself at the tablas next to her.
"These look like strange bongo drums," remarks Musa while looking over the small drums.
"I'm not sure what those are," replies Meera, "but do you think you can play them?" indicating the tablas.
"Of course I can!" grins Musa. "Just lay me a beat, sister!"
"Dha Dhin Dhin Dha
Dha Dhin Dhin Dha
Na Tin Tin Na
Ta Dhin Dhin Dha," intones Meera.
"Whoa!" says Musa. "Lay that on me again."
Meera begins again and in two seconds Musa is echoing on the tablas. "Exactly!" says Meera. "You may add as much ornamentation and embellishment as you want but those sixteen beats must remain static and distinct. I shall start with a drone then nod when I'm about to start the melody. On the seventeenth beat, you start playing and repeating that cycle."
Meera begins the piece and right on cue Musa starts the cycle on the tablas. Everyone is again captured in the rhythm – even little Mazal who is lulled to sleep in his mother's arms.
Icy, with her eyes closed as if dreaming, opens them, smiles at Shego, looks pensive and then as one touched by an inspiration she gets up and quietly makes her way to the stage and quietly seats herself beside Meera. Meera looks at Icy, puzzled, until a bamboo transversal flute materializes in her hands and she begins improvising in and around the music of the veena and tablas.
"Whoa!" thinks Musa of Icy. "She's unbelievable! Who would've ever have guessed?"
The piece concludes with loud applause from everyone and praise and admiration being lavished on Icy by Meera and Musa. "Thank you," says Icy, blushing deep crimson. "It really wasn't that much."
Hardly has the applause stopped when Shego shouts, "Dance for us, Isha!"
"Yes, dance for us, Icy," echos Stormy excitedly and then the Cat-Witches add their voices.
"Dance for us, Icy?" whispers Stella to Bloom, Flora and Tecna who shrug open-handed.
"Dance for us!" pleas Stormy again. "At least, dance for me."
"Okay, okay, I'll dance for you," smiles Icy and an enthusiastic "Yeah!" goes up among the Witches. "But I need to go change. Back in a flash," and she vanishes.
As they wait, some idle chatter is going on among the Faeries, Pixies and Witches. Meera has traded her veena for a lute-like instrument she says is an oud. Meera is busy tuning the oud while Musa is working on the tablas and she, Stormy and Musa discuss the dynamics of the next piece. Meera strums the oud and frowns. "Something's not right here," she says aloud. She turns the oud over and shakes it then a little being wearing a large sleeping cap falls from out of the oud onto the mat before Meera.
"Piff!" Tune scolds Piff who is starting to cry because of being ousted from her cozy sleeping spot while Stella is looking panicked fearing that Mazal would be awakened and start wailing in duet with Piff. Stormy, however, picks up Piff and sets her atop her cloud of blue-black hair and soon both infants are sound asleep.
Icy is soon back in her ice-blue eyes and silver-haired guise, wearing a bedlah with veils attached to her wrists, a sheer scarf hanging from her hips and a transparent veil across her face. About her neck is a piece of complex jewellery. Bloom and The Winx take one look at the costume and become apprehensive.
"You have nothing to fear," Icy reassures them. "My Disenchantix and Gloomix lost their powers once Lord Darkar and Valtor were defeated. They can do you no harm but they are still appropriate for the style of dancing I shall be doing for you.
Icy signals her readiness to dance to the instrumentalists who are Stormy on a tambourine-like instrument called a bodhrán, Meera on oud and Musa on the tablas.
Stormy taps once on the bodhrán with a small striker then incants, "Foah, foah, foah-ah-ah-ah!"
Kim is listening and wondering why, although Icy's interpreter spell identifies the language as Ancient Witchspeak, she is not hearing a translation but just the word "foah". Stormy strikes the bodhrán again then starts a chant which seems to Kim to be long, drawn out and mournful but the words are suddenly clear to her:
O Ishandra, Thou Witch of ice and snow,
O Thou Mistress of the White Ice Dragon's Fire,
Though cold Thou art as the caress of winter,
Thou settest mine heart ablaze!
All this time, Icy has been completely still except for the slow and graceful movement of her arms and head. Stormy strikes the bodhrán yet again then all the instruments begin playing and Icy swings into action.
Musa watches amazed as Icy's body bends and sways with remarkable grace and agility as she makes the veils flutter and fly over her head and about her hips which are swaying in counterpoint to the movement of her high ponytail. Then she sets her finger-cymbals a-jingle – each at a different rhythm – which creates harmonics that speak of deep mysteries and exotic faraway planets. Icy makes her way slowly to everyone in the audience to dance for a time before each. When she reaches Stella, Mazal is awake and seems entranced by the tinkle of Icy's sagat and squirms to be free from his mother's arms. While Icy continues to dance before them, Stella supports Mazal upright by holding his hands while he stomps his little feet then falls "boom!" on his bottom with the infectious laugh of a baby which has everyone in the crowd aww-ing and giggling over the little darling. "Little scene stealer!" thinks Icy but not unkindly, smiles, then moves on.
Brandon is, meanwhile, watching Icy dancing through the crowd and thinking, "Wow! She may be the Witch of ice and snow and she may be the Mistress of The White Ice Dragon's Fire but when she dances she's hot! hot! hot!" then yelps when Stella jabs him hard in the ribs with her elbow.
"I know that look," Stella snarls at him in a whisper. "Don't you even dare to think of going there. I've already had to free you from the clutches of one Witch. Force me to deal with another and she'll not be the only one who'll be sorry."
Lastly, Icy comes to dance before Shego and Kim picks up on the subtle difference in her movements as if by her dance she's saying, "This is for you, my beloved. For you and for you alone."
When Icy again turns to dance for her entire audience, another entity makes her entrance into the Comm Station – first as a mist but then as a column of mist and then as the image of a young woman with warm brown skin, blue eyes and a somewhat African hairdo. She is wearing a dress that brings to mind a vision of sea waves and from her back are spread a pair of Thalassix wings the colour of corals that she flutters gently and gracefully as she dances beside Icy.
The Winx start gesticulating and pointing in Icy's direction and Icy stops dancing and puts her hand to her nose expecting to find that an ugly wart has sprung up on it or that it has grown by six inches.
"Aïsha!" exclaims Bloom then Icy turns to come blue eyes to blue eyes with the apparition then gasps, places both hands over her mouth and stares in shock.
Bloom gets up ready to rush towards Aïsha but something tells her to stop. Meera, sensing the same thing, also whispers to Stormy and Musa to stay put.
Bloom is holding back the remaining Winx and the Cat-Witches but Stella is demanding to know why and the Cat-Witches are looking confused.
"This is not for us, yet," Bloom tries to explain to Stella and the others.
"I can feel it too," says Flora. "I think we should return to our places and wait. Calm down, Stella! Breathe in and breathe out and find your inner peace. You're going to have Mazal all upset, agitated and crying."
Stella looks down at her son who is frowning and whimpering because of his mother's moment of anxiety and whispers to him, "Hush, Mazal. Mama's here to protect you. I'm here…, I'm here."
The Pixies have Aïsha surrounded and are all smiling and chattering excitedly except for Piff who is crying because her desperate attempt to settle on Aïsha's head nearly resulted in her tumbling onto the floor as she passes right through Aïsha's ghostly body.
« It's okay, Piff, » Piff hears in her mind. « I can no longer touch you nor you me but I shall be eternally here to watch and protect you. » and Piff stops her crying and begins to smile. « I have a little gift for you, » then places a ghostly finger upon Piff's mouth and says, « Open. »
"Aïsha, Aïsha, don't go away. Stay with Piff, stay with Pixies," pleas Piff while all gasp but look at her and each other smiling.
« I can't, » says Aïsha, « but you have a special mission. You must be Stormy's Pixie now. She has many wonderful gifts she does not know about or understand yet but to develop them you must be sure that she always has sweet dreams and keep at bay the thunder and lightning that rage in her head and prevent her from reaching her full potential. And I want you to be happy too. Can you do this for me? »
"Yes, Aïsha, I do this for you," says Piff, smiling joyfully, then flies and lights atop Stormy's head while Stormy smiles with tears in her eyes and whispers, "Thank you, Aïsha."
« You others have your bonded Faeries and you, Zing, have Shego. You are very brave to bond with a Witch but together your lives will be filled with many good things and many exciting adventures. Now all of you go to them. »
Aïsha approaches The Winx whom Musa has joined. « Don't attempt to come too near or touch me, » she tells them. « I'm a Guardian Faerie now and by rights, I shouldn't be visible to you. But as your friend, know that I shall be watching over you too. And that includes Mazal as well, » she adds, smiling at Stella and her baby.
"You hear, Mazal?" Stella whispers to her little one. "You have a special Guardian Faerie," and Mazal burbles and goo's happily.
Aïsha approaches Icy who is still looking dazed. « As for you, Icy – Oh! I forgot. You prefer to be called Ishandra or Isha now. Well, as for you, Isha…, no more guilt or remorse, you hear me? Be happy and live well. But for the few moments I have left to be with you, perhaps you and I can dance together. »
Stormy strikes the bodhrán and hisses sharply, "Icy, snap out of it! She's talking to you."
"What?" says Icy.
"She wants you to dance with her," whispers Stormy and strikes up a rhythm which the others pick up and Icy and Aïsha start dancing together in perfect harmony.
Stormy sounds a concluding tap on the bodhrán bringing Icy's and Aïsha's dance to its finale then Aïsha fades away in the same manner she appeared. There is a loud applause as all get up on their feet to surround Icy.
"Oh, lady," exclaims Tora-ko, "you've got the moves! Even though you are not a Cat-Witch, you could put many of us to shame! Who was your partner?" but Shego signals urgently to her not to go there.
"Her name is Aïsha and she is a dear friend whom we lost not that long ago," explains Bloom then Tora-ko nods in understanding.
Mazal is waving his arms and making excited noises as Stella approaches Icy with him in her arms. "I think he is saying that he likes the way you wiggle and wants to play with your tinkly-things," says Stella.
"How just like a man," laughs Icy.
"How did you get that kind of a sound out of them?" asks Musa, pointing at Icy's sagat. "May I see?"
"I can't let you touch them yet, Musa," warns Icy, "or they will burn you."
"They're hot?" asks Musa, puzzled.
"No," replies Icy, "just extremely cold. Part of the secret of their unique sound is that they are forged from a special alloy from your home world in the Harmonic Nebula, Musa. The other part of the secret is that I freeze them to well below the temperature of liquid nitrogen before I start playing."
"I never knew you had so many talents, Icy," says Bloom. "It just goes to show how very little we know of each other," she adds sadly. "We really need to remedy that," and Icy smiles at her.
Musa is sitting on stage strumming her guitar and everyone retakes her place. Her song speaks of dragons, magic and forbidden potions and, although lost in Musa's song, it is obvious to all that it holds some bitter-sweet memories for her.
Icy is the next to go on stage to play a solo on a metal transversal flute and smiles and blushes over the enthusiastic applause she receives when done.
The last piece of the concert is a late evening raga played by Meera on sitar and Musa on tablas. The concert closes with all singing the Alfean Planetary Anthem, O Brilliant Jewel Amongst The Stars, together in both Alfean and Witchspeak. Stormy, Bloom and Flora then clap their hands and trays laden with food and drink appear before all and the feasting begins and lasts well into the night.