A/N: Sooo…that was one crazy semester. Here's a short return. I did not edit so there may be some mistakes.

Also I'm going to start redoing Off and Away (better written and planned out better), so if anyone wants to check that out, it'll be up in a bit.

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.


Kevin Burke

Ms. Clearwater

Men's Chorus

January, 18th 2017

Historia de Jephte: Plorate filii Israel

The 17th century was a time of very deliberate creation in music. Opera, born out of the dramatic madrigal, the expressive recitative and speech mimicking monody, was one of the most innovative musical styles of the century. Because of the growing popularity of and the demand for dramatic music styles it was the forerunner of the time in the secular music world. However, in the more sacred music world another style grew in popularity. Named for the space it was performed in, the Oratorio, was the more religious version of opera. Like Orfeo was the go to story for creating a very dramatic and emotionally expressive opera, Historia de Jephte was the go to for the writers of oratorios. Jephte, coming for the book of Judges in the Old Testament, is the story of man who vows to God that upon his home coming from war he will sacrifice the first person who greets him at the city gates as thanks for his victory. What makes this story so tragic? The first person Jephte sees is his one and only daughter. Jephte does not break his vow to God. No wonder why this piece was originally sung by boys who were soon to be sent to war. The perfect lesson on obedience to God and one's earthly authority, is it not?

Before diving into Historia de Jephte and the Plorate filii Israel, let's talk about the man behind this particular Jephte oratorio: Giacomo Carissimi. Giacomo Carissimi was a composer from…


Leah stared down at the paper sitting on her bed. She rubbed her eyes twice, not sure if she was imagining what she was seeing. Ari sat beside her on the bed, staring down at the paper as well.

"Kevin wrote this?" Ari asked incredulously, his left eye brow raised slightly.

Leah nodded quietly as she fingered through the other five pages of the boy's essay.

"Are you sure?"

Again, Leah nodded. "I asked his mother and she confirmed that yes, Kevin wrote it."

Ari reached for the last paper in Leah's hand, a copy of the Plorate filii Israel score and eyed it carefully.

"His analysis is perfect."

"I know, I checked with the music theory teacher."

Leah flipped through the papers again, just as Ari had with the score, she eyed each page carefully.

"I…I just did not expect this. I mean I didn't expect the boy to be illiterate but…"

"You expected something more along the lines of his 'finewater' antics."

Leah shrugged.

"Kind of…well, yeah. I expected him to half-ass it not to be so descriptive or thoughtful in his construction." Leah thought for a moment. "I don't think badly of Kevin but the boy is consistently careless."

Ari playfully shoved Leah's shoulder. "You don't need to explain your feelings. I don't think anyone expected Kevin to take this seriously. Not even Noah, who's known him a bit longer than you have, expected him to take any of this project seriously."

Leah laughed, remembering how Noah had stormed in her room angrily complaining about having Kevin for a partner.

"But still."

Ari shrugged and grinned. "Eh, kid's a pretty decent writer."

Buzz buzz buzz

Both Leah and Ari looked towards the iphone on the right side of Leah.

"Uley." Ari stated, his voice nearly a growl.

Ever since Leah had chosen to ignore Sam's direct order to quit her job, the man had spent several hours out of every day calling her. It got to the point where Leah grown to expect the man's constant intrusions into her life. It barely fazed her but she could tell that it bothered Ari greatly.

"You'd think that his wife would have a problem with him constantly calling his ex."

"Why would she? In her mind it's just for work and if it's for work why should..."

Leah suddenly stopped talking, realizing what she had said. She looked up at Ari, the man's eyes were narrowed at her. This wasn't the first time she had slipped up in the last couple of weeks.

"Work?" Ari questioned raising his brow again.

Leah stared at him for a long time, questioning herself silently.

Could he handle it?

She shook her head at herself as Ari watched her internally war with herself quietly.

"Tribal business. Sam runs it and I'm a part of it."

That's the closest Leah had ever been to giving him a straight answer.

"And you can't get out of this tribal business?"

Leah took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"It's my birthright. It's not something that I can choose or run away from. I tried. I really did." She stared into Ari's eyes without blinking, he almost shrunk away from her because of the intensity of it. "I won't be escaping it anytime soon."

Ari looked away from her and grabbed another essay from the stack sitting in front of Leah.

"Let's look at Mikey's next."