Ria had been at the colegium for at least half a year, more then that
actually, now. Her life had steadied into a routine. She would go to
classes, math and writing, history and religions, then arms classes, sword
and hand to hand combat, then there was time and training with Kera, and of
course meals and chores and times to practice her gifts, under supervision
of course. Mindspeech came to her as easy as breathing so she didn't have
to do a whole ton of developing with that asset, but she did practice with
it, she tested and used it regularly, trying to talk with people, starting
with those closest to her and always ending in Cian. She could speak to him
now with more ease at great distance. But she could only speak with him
across the country; everyone else she talked with was inside Valdemar.
Ria liked life at the colegium. Some people thought being a Herald was easy, but it was not a simple business. She was always trying to do something or another, and then there was her other problem, or rather, complication. That was Stella and Kaelin.
Stella was in the year class before her, and a year older then her. Stella had been her mentor when she had first come to the collegium. She had felt strange about Stella from the start. That strange feeling had grown and become stronger till it was almost an obsession. She hid it as well as she could; speaking only very little around Stella and acting shy even though it was not her natural state of being. But it might have been fine except that she was also having strange feelings for one of her year mates, the other trainee that Stella had mentored, Kaelin.
Kaelin was almost the same height as Stella at five foot nine, though she was two years younger then Stella and a year younger then Ria. Kaelin's hair was a russet red-brown almost as long as Ria's but not as curly; more wavy then curly. She would go quiet when Kaelin came by. And the worse problem was that Kaelin seemed to be as enthralled with Stella as Ria was, if that was possible. And on top of that it seemed as if Stella felt the same and she liked Kaelin.
:Worrying yourself to death again?: said a voice in her head, Kera.
:Yes, having a pity party, that's what I'm doing, and I should be working. I hate summer! No I don't hate summer, I hate doing work in the summer. I can't concentrate. Do you mind if I visit you a bit, is there any shade in the Companions field? Is it open?:
:Yes. And I would love it if you would spend time with me.:
:Thanks, I need someone sensible to knock me over the head and put me back together. Sometimes I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.:
:You just aren't sensible on some subjects, your emotions being one of them, but otherwise you are pretty logical.:
:Thanks, I realized. Whatever. I'm coming.:
Ria met Kera and walked over to a tree where she settled down on a patch of soft green moss. She picked up her work and went back to her figures, Kera sitting companionably beside her, resting a little of her wait against Ria ever so slightly.
Ria was so intent on her figures that she hardly noticed when a shadow strayed over her. She started, blotting ink on her problem, when someone gently touched her shoulder. She felt her body tremble from the touch, feeling that fluttering in her stomach that had become almost normal, seeing as how she saw and came into contact with Kaelin or Stella almost every day. She looked up. Kaelin's tall figure was outlined against the sun of mid-afternoon, her hair catching the sun in a red halo.
"Can I join you?" she asked, her light voice twinkling in the air like sunlight on a clear stream of warm water in summer when birds call from the trees and bees buzz lazily in fields of green waving grass, like Kaelin's eyes when they caught the sun and positively glowed with excitement when she was given a new project.
Ria nodded, not trusting her voice.
"Thanks. This is my Companion Fleta; she's joining us as well." Said Kaelin as another shadow blocked the light. Ria had expected as much, she scooted over so that there was more room for both Kaelin and Fleta. They came under the tree, and Ria got a better look at both of them. Kaelin was a Menthmillan, she had a notion that that was somewhere either north or northeast of Valdemar. The legendary Kero had been born there. But as she discovered here; many legends that were actually truths and the people in them themselves were not like what the stories said. They were ordinary people with misgivings and loves and pet peeves. They were, human. Talia, the famed Queens Own, had a problem with her feet, they had been crushed, and she had to be carried around, she couldn't walk. There was Selenay who was ever so in love with Daren, the younger brother of her treacherous and deceiving older brother (Daren was nothing like his brother, in fact he was a Herald).
"So how do you like the colegium? I love it." said Kaelin, startling her.
"I like it well. I'm certainly doing things I've always wanted to do but couldn't because I was supposed to be a "proper female". It's better then home on any plain."
"Really? I ran away as well, my parents were planning to marry me off. But we're not the only ones, it seems like a number of Heralds, or at least the Outland ones, ran away from home because of family issues. I was going to get married but that just didn't work, not only because I had gifts, but I was able to scare off some of my suitors with my Fetching, but that almost got me locked up for life, so I ran away."
"Oh." Said Ria. She wondered why Kaelin couldn't get married, was she too? But no she couldn't think about that. She would be a friend of everyone, nothing more; she wouldn't get her hopes up.
They did their work there under the tree till it was time for evening classes and then dinner. Ria was glad for the release. Her emotions were very confusing things, the more she was with Kaelin or Stella, the more she wanted them and loved them both. But how could a person love two others so equally? She wanted to live out the rest of her days with Kaelin and Stella. But she didn't know how they felt and she was not one to bring it up. And both Kaelin and Stella had not shown any sign that either of them felt anything, or at least that she had noticed. She quickly finished packing up her things and headed for the wash room, her chore to day was folding.
So life in the colegium went on. she mastered her Empathy, learning something called grounding and centering. It was not easy, but she had it easy, easier then Talia, who had never learned till maybe something around 20. within a week she could ground and center at any time or anywhere, and she had shields. She was amazed at how much good they did. There were little things she had gotten used to but that had been an annoyance. It had been worse when she had come to the colegium because there were so many people, but someone, one of the teachers, had put up small barriers around her so that she could feel at ease till her first lessons with her Empathy and her mastery of the shield. Now her shields were her own, it was a relief.
Ria was not alone and friendless, but she didn't have any close friends. She always felt uncomfortable around many people, that uncomfortably was quickly fading in these circumstances. She escaped the crowds by not going anywhere where there were likely to be lots of people, she took her baths before or after the usual bathing times, she hid out in the library and Companions field.
Autumn came and the end to her first year at the collegium. The leaves on the trees turned to flame in their last dieing glory, and the days grew shorter and colder. There was the harvest and festivals of fall when trainees were aloud to wander free for a few days enjoying a much needed vacation. Then at the end of fall came winter.
Ria woke up to a stillness that could only mean one thing, especially since she had not closed her window all the way before she went to sleep. The world, as she had presumed, was bathed in a blanket of pure white like that of Companions back. Her breath puffed steam as she gazed out the window. :Kera, are you warm?: :I'm fine dearheart, so kind of you to ask. I tucked myself away somewhere warm before this blew through.:
Ria closed the window and put on her warmest things, shivering uncontrollably as the icy air fingered her bare skin. But soon she was bundled up in so many layers she was not sure if she could find herself.
Evidently she was not the only one who had the same idea, because when she came outside there were already a few groups of people, young and old, frolicking in the winter wonderland.
With in half an hour the whole collegium it seemed had come out to play in the snow. Ria herself was engaged in a furious game of 'snowball'. You compacted snow into a hard little ball and threw it at the other players while trying not to get hit yourself. Soon the air was white with whizzing balls of snow as more and more people joined in, and she was soaked and there was snow down her mittens and the back of her neck.
When she grew too cold to stay outside any longer she went back to her room and changed into some warm, but in door, clothing, and then went to the kitchen to see if she could wedile a cup of tea out of the cooks.
Soon time found her in the library curled up with a book and a steaming mug of tea in her hand. It was, by Ria's standards, a perfect day. A day without cares or worries, the classes, of course, had been canceled, and even the teachers were joining in the fun. A group of blues had gone by naught but five minutes ago, commenting on how all the Bardic teachers had had a competition; in fact it was still going on. Ria decided that she would go to that and then come back to her book, she didn't mind big crowds of people anymore, how could she not? She was always surrounded by throngs of people every where she turned it seemed. She carefully placed in the page marker before heading off to where the Bards where competing.
The hall was crammed with people laughing and talking, almost as loud as the music being played. Ria squeezed her way through the crowd. It seemed now anybody who wanted to could sing or perform. Ria nursed her tea and listened to the music and floated, a little detachedly, around.
Then came a tap on her shoulder, she turned to find herself looking into Stella's purple eyes.
Stella grinned, a big enigmatic smile, "You want to join us? I've heard you like to sing, and are good at it. Jeran, Kaelin, and I are performing and we wondered if you would like to join?" Jeran, a Herald trainee in Stella's year class, and Kaelin nodded in agreement.
"Uh, sure, I guess." Said Ria, flustered and flattered by the invitation, "I'm not as good as a Bard, or even a minstrel, but I do like to sing."
"Great!" said Kaelin, "I'm on harp, Jeran's on drums and Stella's singing and playing her hammer dulcimer."
Then it was their turn, Kaelin grabbed Ria's hand and dragged her up on stage with the rest of them. Ria didn't even know what they were singing, but as soon as the music started she recognized the song, and as Stella was obviously taking role of lead singer, Ria did her best to harmonize and support. At the end they got a wild round of applause, not that everyone else hadn't gotten something like that, and calls for an on chore. They did one more song, Ria coaxing a flute out from under the fingers of a musician in another band and playing it along with the sheep- herders reel that had a few people dancing and most clapping and everyone coming in on the course along with Stella, Kaelin, Jeran, and Ria's wild and crazy fluting.
Ria drifted off into the crowd after their day beau and little song session, it was somewhat of a relief. Though she liked singing well enough by herself but in front of many people she had trouble, she liked fluting much better. She had learned flute from the little boy who had tended the sheep back home before they all fell to black-fly.
Ria wandered back to the library and picked up her book again, this time she had come prepared though, she had filched some bread, thickly buttered, and more tea from the kitchens; she presumed she would be in here for the long hall.
"That was really good." Said a voice, jarring her mind away from her book. She shook her head a bit to clear her head of the spell the book had put on her.
"No it really was." Ria could tell now it was Kaelin, no one else had a voice so sweet, except for maybe Stella, but her voice was not sweet like Kaelin's was.
Stella's voice was gentle and firm like the ocean, rocking gently holding the boat that rested in the harbor with such care, ready for anything. Cool gentle and smooth, a velvet voice, but it was not like the way some voices were, forced velvet, no her voice was her own, good and Stella. It was a very reassuring voice. Kaelin's voice was like rich honey sunshine, golden, and thick, and sweet, and ever so light, and laughing no matter what.
"Yes, well we all did well, didn't we? Not just me, both you and Stella were wonderful, and Jeran did some pretty amazing beats on that drum."
"True. Could I sit down." Said Kaelin motioning to the space next to Ria on the couch. Ria nodded, oddly calm, but that was probably just a side effect of the tea.
"So how did you learn to play the flute like that. I haven't heard that sort of playing before, but it did go well with the sheep-herders reel. Flutes aren't usually a instrument played by proper ladies."
"To hell with proper, I hope you don't take offense, but that's my opinion. And as for the flute, the sheep-herder at the Keep played and I watched him, and then finally got him to give me lessons under sworn secrecy. It is a very interesting way of playing though isn't it?"
"Yes, it is that. Would you teach me?" Ria considered. She was realizing that she was very tired, another reason why she was being so calm and possible sensible, if only she could be like this normally,
"Sure, I don't see why not. We could get together in the evenings and I could teach you flute, that is if you would be willing to let me pick your brain for math. As you might have noticed I don't grasp concepts easily and math usually makes as much sense as why I was born a girl."
"Isn't that black mail? Oh well, sure, fine with me."
"We could use your room or my room, which ever you prefer, but I warn you, though I can navigate my quarters, not many others can, or at least not lately. But it's which ever works best for you, Kaelin."
"My room then, and if you don't mind call me Kae, it's what all my friends call me." She smiled and then opened the book she had brought with her and dove into it with as much vigor as Ria usually treated books.
Ria stared at Kae a few minutes. She hadn't really had any real friends at the colegium so far, not any real close ones, she had friends but there was no one to write Cian home about, or to chat over books and music with, might this be the beginning of a friendship, it seemed likely. And there was the problem of her feelings, but she wouldn't let that get in the way. She needed friends, everybody does. So she returned the smile that Kae had given her, even if she didn't notice, and then indulged herself in her own book.
She was the last to join the group in Kae's room. It was not only herself and her year-mate trainee. No, now there were six of them; herself, Kae, Stella, Jeran, Chessy, and Madric. They all played instruments, none of them where bards though, and shared a passion for music. They would gather to play and sing once a week in Kae's room. They all learned the others instruments, and now Ria could play the hammer dulcimer as well as Stella, though she was not as quick on the drums. They also had reading sessions in the library every once in a while, they all shared a love of reading as well. They were a good group.
"There you are! We've been waiting. Did you here. The young nobles want us all to compete. I signed us up, I hope you don't mind." said Chessy, her golden-blonde head bouncing a little, she always looked like a puppet for some reason.
"Fine with me. When is it and what will we play?" Ria asked, entering the room, bathed in warm firelight.
"We were thinking on doing Sheep-Herders Reel, with you on flute of course, no disrespect meant to you Kae, but Ria, you're a goddess with your flute on that song." Said Jeran from where he laid sprawled comfortably near the hearth, a book in hand, his drums near by.
Ria blushed at the complement. "I'd be happy to play on that. Anything else?"
"Possibly this new song one of the Bards created," said Stella, handing over a hand written sheet of music, "it would be you, me and Kae singing, Jeran on drums, Chessy on fiddle and Madric borrowing your flute. What do you think?"
Ria stared at the music a moment, she could see how it would played and knew that it would be an exquisite piece. "I'd love to do this one. Should we practice now?"
"Why not, I'll take alto, you can be mid and mezzo-soprano, and Stella can be soprano." Said Kae.
"Great let's try."
They practiced a few times, it was a beautiful piece of entwining voices and complex rhythms and harmonies, she wondered how anyone could ever come up with such an amazing piece of music.
They bowed, Ria couldn't help grinning. They had sung beautifully. She could Feel how happy Stella, Kae, and the rest were. It was a great feeling to have won something, even if it was only pride. They walked of stage together and after getting food, retired to Kae's room.
"That was great!" Ria said throwing open her arms as if embracing the walls and world, "I can't believe we pulled that off. It Felt so wonderful!"
"Yup. That was great, my fingers are going to be throbbing for hours from all that drumming." Jeran complained.
"To bad for you, I agree with Ria, we did great." Said Kae.
"that was great." Stella agreed. "and you all did a great job, how about we celebrate."
"We should be doing schoolwork but why not." Said Madric.
"Maybe we can celebrate and do schoolwork at the same time." supplied Chessy.
"Schoolwork is not a celebration." Ria stated.
"But it does need to be done, can I pick your brain for this history paper?" asked Kae.
"If you'll help me with fractions."
"Sure."
"You guys are all lame, you celebrate by doing schoolwork." Said Stella, teasing as she picked up a pastry she had gotten from the kitchen, "you're all bores."
So now Ria had true, good, close, friends. She still had feelings for Stella and Kae, but she had better control now. She enjoyed spending time with the group and she no longer avoided crowds, she dropped all pretense of shyness, and found that the colegium was a big and friendly place.
So she learned and grew and made more friends, but her closest friends were the first true friends she had. She kept in touch with Cian, she was working on convincing him to come into Valdemar and visit her. She didn't talk much with her parents. She spent most of her free time, when she was not with her friends, with Kera. She fell in love with the peaceful life that she was leading, no embroidery, no one to tell her she was not being feminine enough. She was for one of the first times she could remember she was free and happy and she was who she was, Ria, no one else or anyone else's idea of who Ria should be. No, she was her own woman.
Then Stella was named a Herald. Ria could not contain her pride and happiness. She came up and congratulated Stella happily, surprising herself and the older girl by hugging her.
"Congratulations! This is great, you're a Herald. How does it feel?"
"No different actually." Said Stella, tugging the hem of her new Whites, she was possibly more splendid and beautiful in them, her dark hair standing out more, her eyes brought out by the contrast from the white clothing and black hair. Kae joined them, beaming as much as Ria was.
"Really, no different, aren't all unexplained questions supposed to make sense now you're a Herald?"
"No difference I can see or feel other then that my wardrobe has gone through a dramatic change." They all laughed, Stella liked wearing exuberant colors, she looked as good in them as she did in Whites, she looked good in almost anything when it came down to it.
Soon after Stella was made Herald she was sent off on an internship, and almost as soon as she walked out of the door of the collegium Jeran was created Herald and sent off as well. Now their music group was smaller by two people, it was different from when the other two were there, somehow not as fun. But they still got together.
Then it was Chessy's turn to become Herald. And after she left Madric started spending his evenings elsewhere and it was back to the beginning two, Ria and Kae.
She and Kae got together often, they added two new people to their group now, two new trainees that they had been each assigned. They sat around the fire and Kae strummed her harp gently as Ria sang and the other two did needle point for a reason that Ria couldn't understand, some one who actually liked needle point!
Soon winter came round again. This year the snow fall was not a good thing. The colegium was enveloped in a blizzard that lasted for three days. They all gathered close to their fires and drank mugs of hot tea or chocolate. They were joined by a few of Ria's and Kae's friends, the more people the more body heat, and they all sat in a circle trading stories and music.
It seemed though, that after the end of the snow storm spring made up for lost time and came to full bloom in a few weeks. Soon they had spring rains and all that had died in the winter came back. Stella returned and rejoined their nightly music and work group. Now they had Stella, Ria, Kae, and Janri and Shanwa; Ria and Kae's mentees.
Ria liked life at the colegium. Some people thought being a Herald was easy, but it was not a simple business. She was always trying to do something or another, and then there was her other problem, or rather, complication. That was Stella and Kaelin.
Stella was in the year class before her, and a year older then her. Stella had been her mentor when she had first come to the collegium. She had felt strange about Stella from the start. That strange feeling had grown and become stronger till it was almost an obsession. She hid it as well as she could; speaking only very little around Stella and acting shy even though it was not her natural state of being. But it might have been fine except that she was also having strange feelings for one of her year mates, the other trainee that Stella had mentored, Kaelin.
Kaelin was almost the same height as Stella at five foot nine, though she was two years younger then Stella and a year younger then Ria. Kaelin's hair was a russet red-brown almost as long as Ria's but not as curly; more wavy then curly. She would go quiet when Kaelin came by. And the worse problem was that Kaelin seemed to be as enthralled with Stella as Ria was, if that was possible. And on top of that it seemed as if Stella felt the same and she liked Kaelin.
:Worrying yourself to death again?: said a voice in her head, Kera.
:Yes, having a pity party, that's what I'm doing, and I should be working. I hate summer! No I don't hate summer, I hate doing work in the summer. I can't concentrate. Do you mind if I visit you a bit, is there any shade in the Companions field? Is it open?:
:Yes. And I would love it if you would spend time with me.:
:Thanks, I need someone sensible to knock me over the head and put me back together. Sometimes I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.:
:You just aren't sensible on some subjects, your emotions being one of them, but otherwise you are pretty logical.:
:Thanks, I realized. Whatever. I'm coming.:
Ria met Kera and walked over to a tree where she settled down on a patch of soft green moss. She picked up her work and went back to her figures, Kera sitting companionably beside her, resting a little of her wait against Ria ever so slightly.
Ria was so intent on her figures that she hardly noticed when a shadow strayed over her. She started, blotting ink on her problem, when someone gently touched her shoulder. She felt her body tremble from the touch, feeling that fluttering in her stomach that had become almost normal, seeing as how she saw and came into contact with Kaelin or Stella almost every day. She looked up. Kaelin's tall figure was outlined against the sun of mid-afternoon, her hair catching the sun in a red halo.
"Can I join you?" she asked, her light voice twinkling in the air like sunlight on a clear stream of warm water in summer when birds call from the trees and bees buzz lazily in fields of green waving grass, like Kaelin's eyes when they caught the sun and positively glowed with excitement when she was given a new project.
Ria nodded, not trusting her voice.
"Thanks. This is my Companion Fleta; she's joining us as well." Said Kaelin as another shadow blocked the light. Ria had expected as much, she scooted over so that there was more room for both Kaelin and Fleta. They came under the tree, and Ria got a better look at both of them. Kaelin was a Menthmillan, she had a notion that that was somewhere either north or northeast of Valdemar. The legendary Kero had been born there. But as she discovered here; many legends that were actually truths and the people in them themselves were not like what the stories said. They were ordinary people with misgivings and loves and pet peeves. They were, human. Talia, the famed Queens Own, had a problem with her feet, they had been crushed, and she had to be carried around, she couldn't walk. There was Selenay who was ever so in love with Daren, the younger brother of her treacherous and deceiving older brother (Daren was nothing like his brother, in fact he was a Herald).
"So how do you like the colegium? I love it." said Kaelin, startling her.
"I like it well. I'm certainly doing things I've always wanted to do but couldn't because I was supposed to be a "proper female". It's better then home on any plain."
"Really? I ran away as well, my parents were planning to marry me off. But we're not the only ones, it seems like a number of Heralds, or at least the Outland ones, ran away from home because of family issues. I was going to get married but that just didn't work, not only because I had gifts, but I was able to scare off some of my suitors with my Fetching, but that almost got me locked up for life, so I ran away."
"Oh." Said Ria. She wondered why Kaelin couldn't get married, was she too? But no she couldn't think about that. She would be a friend of everyone, nothing more; she wouldn't get her hopes up.
They did their work there under the tree till it was time for evening classes and then dinner. Ria was glad for the release. Her emotions were very confusing things, the more she was with Kaelin or Stella, the more she wanted them and loved them both. But how could a person love two others so equally? She wanted to live out the rest of her days with Kaelin and Stella. But she didn't know how they felt and she was not one to bring it up. And both Kaelin and Stella had not shown any sign that either of them felt anything, or at least that she had noticed. She quickly finished packing up her things and headed for the wash room, her chore to day was folding.
So life in the colegium went on. she mastered her Empathy, learning something called grounding and centering. It was not easy, but she had it easy, easier then Talia, who had never learned till maybe something around 20. within a week she could ground and center at any time or anywhere, and she had shields. She was amazed at how much good they did. There were little things she had gotten used to but that had been an annoyance. It had been worse when she had come to the colegium because there were so many people, but someone, one of the teachers, had put up small barriers around her so that she could feel at ease till her first lessons with her Empathy and her mastery of the shield. Now her shields were her own, it was a relief.
Ria was not alone and friendless, but she didn't have any close friends. She always felt uncomfortable around many people, that uncomfortably was quickly fading in these circumstances. She escaped the crowds by not going anywhere where there were likely to be lots of people, she took her baths before or after the usual bathing times, she hid out in the library and Companions field.
Autumn came and the end to her first year at the collegium. The leaves on the trees turned to flame in their last dieing glory, and the days grew shorter and colder. There was the harvest and festivals of fall when trainees were aloud to wander free for a few days enjoying a much needed vacation. Then at the end of fall came winter.
Ria woke up to a stillness that could only mean one thing, especially since she had not closed her window all the way before she went to sleep. The world, as she had presumed, was bathed in a blanket of pure white like that of Companions back. Her breath puffed steam as she gazed out the window. :Kera, are you warm?: :I'm fine dearheart, so kind of you to ask. I tucked myself away somewhere warm before this blew through.:
Ria closed the window and put on her warmest things, shivering uncontrollably as the icy air fingered her bare skin. But soon she was bundled up in so many layers she was not sure if she could find herself.
Evidently she was not the only one who had the same idea, because when she came outside there were already a few groups of people, young and old, frolicking in the winter wonderland.
With in half an hour the whole collegium it seemed had come out to play in the snow. Ria herself was engaged in a furious game of 'snowball'. You compacted snow into a hard little ball and threw it at the other players while trying not to get hit yourself. Soon the air was white with whizzing balls of snow as more and more people joined in, and she was soaked and there was snow down her mittens and the back of her neck.
When she grew too cold to stay outside any longer she went back to her room and changed into some warm, but in door, clothing, and then went to the kitchen to see if she could wedile a cup of tea out of the cooks.
Soon time found her in the library curled up with a book and a steaming mug of tea in her hand. It was, by Ria's standards, a perfect day. A day without cares or worries, the classes, of course, had been canceled, and even the teachers were joining in the fun. A group of blues had gone by naught but five minutes ago, commenting on how all the Bardic teachers had had a competition; in fact it was still going on. Ria decided that she would go to that and then come back to her book, she didn't mind big crowds of people anymore, how could she not? She was always surrounded by throngs of people every where she turned it seemed. She carefully placed in the page marker before heading off to where the Bards where competing.
The hall was crammed with people laughing and talking, almost as loud as the music being played. Ria squeezed her way through the crowd. It seemed now anybody who wanted to could sing or perform. Ria nursed her tea and listened to the music and floated, a little detachedly, around.
Then came a tap on her shoulder, she turned to find herself looking into Stella's purple eyes.
Stella grinned, a big enigmatic smile, "You want to join us? I've heard you like to sing, and are good at it. Jeran, Kaelin, and I are performing and we wondered if you would like to join?" Jeran, a Herald trainee in Stella's year class, and Kaelin nodded in agreement.
"Uh, sure, I guess." Said Ria, flustered and flattered by the invitation, "I'm not as good as a Bard, or even a minstrel, but I do like to sing."
"Great!" said Kaelin, "I'm on harp, Jeran's on drums and Stella's singing and playing her hammer dulcimer."
Then it was their turn, Kaelin grabbed Ria's hand and dragged her up on stage with the rest of them. Ria didn't even know what they were singing, but as soon as the music started she recognized the song, and as Stella was obviously taking role of lead singer, Ria did her best to harmonize and support. At the end they got a wild round of applause, not that everyone else hadn't gotten something like that, and calls for an on chore. They did one more song, Ria coaxing a flute out from under the fingers of a musician in another band and playing it along with the sheep- herders reel that had a few people dancing and most clapping and everyone coming in on the course along with Stella, Kaelin, Jeran, and Ria's wild and crazy fluting.
Ria drifted off into the crowd after their day beau and little song session, it was somewhat of a relief. Though she liked singing well enough by herself but in front of many people she had trouble, she liked fluting much better. She had learned flute from the little boy who had tended the sheep back home before they all fell to black-fly.
Ria wandered back to the library and picked up her book again, this time she had come prepared though, she had filched some bread, thickly buttered, and more tea from the kitchens; she presumed she would be in here for the long hall.
"That was really good." Said a voice, jarring her mind away from her book. She shook her head a bit to clear her head of the spell the book had put on her.
"No it really was." Ria could tell now it was Kaelin, no one else had a voice so sweet, except for maybe Stella, but her voice was not sweet like Kaelin's was.
Stella's voice was gentle and firm like the ocean, rocking gently holding the boat that rested in the harbor with such care, ready for anything. Cool gentle and smooth, a velvet voice, but it was not like the way some voices were, forced velvet, no her voice was her own, good and Stella. It was a very reassuring voice. Kaelin's voice was like rich honey sunshine, golden, and thick, and sweet, and ever so light, and laughing no matter what.
"Yes, well we all did well, didn't we? Not just me, both you and Stella were wonderful, and Jeran did some pretty amazing beats on that drum."
"True. Could I sit down." Said Kaelin motioning to the space next to Ria on the couch. Ria nodded, oddly calm, but that was probably just a side effect of the tea.
"So how did you learn to play the flute like that. I haven't heard that sort of playing before, but it did go well with the sheep-herders reel. Flutes aren't usually a instrument played by proper ladies."
"To hell with proper, I hope you don't take offense, but that's my opinion. And as for the flute, the sheep-herder at the Keep played and I watched him, and then finally got him to give me lessons under sworn secrecy. It is a very interesting way of playing though isn't it?"
"Yes, it is that. Would you teach me?" Ria considered. She was realizing that she was very tired, another reason why she was being so calm and possible sensible, if only she could be like this normally,
"Sure, I don't see why not. We could get together in the evenings and I could teach you flute, that is if you would be willing to let me pick your brain for math. As you might have noticed I don't grasp concepts easily and math usually makes as much sense as why I was born a girl."
"Isn't that black mail? Oh well, sure, fine with me."
"We could use your room or my room, which ever you prefer, but I warn you, though I can navigate my quarters, not many others can, or at least not lately. But it's which ever works best for you, Kaelin."
"My room then, and if you don't mind call me Kae, it's what all my friends call me." She smiled and then opened the book she had brought with her and dove into it with as much vigor as Ria usually treated books.
Ria stared at Kae a few minutes. She hadn't really had any real friends at the colegium so far, not any real close ones, she had friends but there was no one to write Cian home about, or to chat over books and music with, might this be the beginning of a friendship, it seemed likely. And there was the problem of her feelings, but she wouldn't let that get in the way. She needed friends, everybody does. So she returned the smile that Kae had given her, even if she didn't notice, and then indulged herself in her own book.
She was the last to join the group in Kae's room. It was not only herself and her year-mate trainee. No, now there were six of them; herself, Kae, Stella, Jeran, Chessy, and Madric. They all played instruments, none of them where bards though, and shared a passion for music. They would gather to play and sing once a week in Kae's room. They all learned the others instruments, and now Ria could play the hammer dulcimer as well as Stella, though she was not as quick on the drums. They also had reading sessions in the library every once in a while, they all shared a love of reading as well. They were a good group.
"There you are! We've been waiting. Did you here. The young nobles want us all to compete. I signed us up, I hope you don't mind." said Chessy, her golden-blonde head bouncing a little, she always looked like a puppet for some reason.
"Fine with me. When is it and what will we play?" Ria asked, entering the room, bathed in warm firelight.
"We were thinking on doing Sheep-Herders Reel, with you on flute of course, no disrespect meant to you Kae, but Ria, you're a goddess with your flute on that song." Said Jeran from where he laid sprawled comfortably near the hearth, a book in hand, his drums near by.
Ria blushed at the complement. "I'd be happy to play on that. Anything else?"
"Possibly this new song one of the Bards created," said Stella, handing over a hand written sheet of music, "it would be you, me and Kae singing, Jeran on drums, Chessy on fiddle and Madric borrowing your flute. What do you think?"
Ria stared at the music a moment, she could see how it would played and knew that it would be an exquisite piece. "I'd love to do this one. Should we practice now?"
"Why not, I'll take alto, you can be mid and mezzo-soprano, and Stella can be soprano." Said Kae.
"Great let's try."
They practiced a few times, it was a beautiful piece of entwining voices and complex rhythms and harmonies, she wondered how anyone could ever come up with such an amazing piece of music.
They bowed, Ria couldn't help grinning. They had sung beautifully. She could Feel how happy Stella, Kae, and the rest were. It was a great feeling to have won something, even if it was only pride. They walked of stage together and after getting food, retired to Kae's room.
"That was great!" Ria said throwing open her arms as if embracing the walls and world, "I can't believe we pulled that off. It Felt so wonderful!"
"Yup. That was great, my fingers are going to be throbbing for hours from all that drumming." Jeran complained.
"To bad for you, I agree with Ria, we did great." Said Kae.
"that was great." Stella agreed. "and you all did a great job, how about we celebrate."
"We should be doing schoolwork but why not." Said Madric.
"Maybe we can celebrate and do schoolwork at the same time." supplied Chessy.
"Schoolwork is not a celebration." Ria stated.
"But it does need to be done, can I pick your brain for this history paper?" asked Kae.
"If you'll help me with fractions."
"Sure."
"You guys are all lame, you celebrate by doing schoolwork." Said Stella, teasing as she picked up a pastry she had gotten from the kitchen, "you're all bores."
So now Ria had true, good, close, friends. She still had feelings for Stella and Kae, but she had better control now. She enjoyed spending time with the group and she no longer avoided crowds, she dropped all pretense of shyness, and found that the colegium was a big and friendly place.
So she learned and grew and made more friends, but her closest friends were the first true friends she had. She kept in touch with Cian, she was working on convincing him to come into Valdemar and visit her. She didn't talk much with her parents. She spent most of her free time, when she was not with her friends, with Kera. She fell in love with the peaceful life that she was leading, no embroidery, no one to tell her she was not being feminine enough. She was for one of the first times she could remember she was free and happy and she was who she was, Ria, no one else or anyone else's idea of who Ria should be. No, she was her own woman.
Then Stella was named a Herald. Ria could not contain her pride and happiness. She came up and congratulated Stella happily, surprising herself and the older girl by hugging her.
"Congratulations! This is great, you're a Herald. How does it feel?"
"No different actually." Said Stella, tugging the hem of her new Whites, she was possibly more splendid and beautiful in them, her dark hair standing out more, her eyes brought out by the contrast from the white clothing and black hair. Kae joined them, beaming as much as Ria was.
"Really, no different, aren't all unexplained questions supposed to make sense now you're a Herald?"
"No difference I can see or feel other then that my wardrobe has gone through a dramatic change." They all laughed, Stella liked wearing exuberant colors, she looked as good in them as she did in Whites, she looked good in almost anything when it came down to it.
Soon after Stella was made Herald she was sent off on an internship, and almost as soon as she walked out of the door of the collegium Jeran was created Herald and sent off as well. Now their music group was smaller by two people, it was different from when the other two were there, somehow not as fun. But they still got together.
Then it was Chessy's turn to become Herald. And after she left Madric started spending his evenings elsewhere and it was back to the beginning two, Ria and Kae.
She and Kae got together often, they added two new people to their group now, two new trainees that they had been each assigned. They sat around the fire and Kae strummed her harp gently as Ria sang and the other two did needle point for a reason that Ria couldn't understand, some one who actually liked needle point!
Soon winter came round again. This year the snow fall was not a good thing. The colegium was enveloped in a blizzard that lasted for three days. They all gathered close to their fires and drank mugs of hot tea or chocolate. They were joined by a few of Ria's and Kae's friends, the more people the more body heat, and they all sat in a circle trading stories and music.
It seemed though, that after the end of the snow storm spring made up for lost time and came to full bloom in a few weeks. Soon they had spring rains and all that had died in the winter came back. Stella returned and rejoined their nightly music and work group. Now they had Stella, Ria, Kae, and Janri and Shanwa; Ria and Kae's mentees.