Chapter 28
The Trailing

Promise if I have a seed, I'ma guide him right
Dear Lord, don't let me die tonight
I got words for my comrades, listen and learn:
Ain't nothin' free; give back what you earn
No doubt
Getting higher than a motherfucker,
Bless me, please
This Thug Life'll be the death of me
Come on…

And I remember what my papa told me
Remember what my papa told me:
Blasphemy
-2Pac

A silence carried through the forest. Just the sounds of birds were heard through the peaceful morning. The sun sprinkled its gentle beams down through the canopy.

And then a loud noise rang through the air.

"Oh, geez, Tommy! Did you fart again?" Laila asked in desperation, trying to scoot away from the culprit.

Tommy, in turn, laughed and asked, "What do you expect? Where do you want me to do it?"

"Away from us," Rebecca Tauber responded, taking a blanket the group had taken with them and swinging it down on Tommy.

Still laughing, the percussionist got up and moved slightly away, leaning against a tree.

Monica groaned loudly. "Shut up!" she shouted into the ground and blankets she was laying on. She turned over, completely and obviously tired.

"Keep it down, guys. Monica's still trying to sleep," the Flute they had picked up in Keeremp-ierkay told the others.

Monica looked up from where she lay to see Kyrstin; the Bass Clarinet and Color Guard gave her a slightly mocking smirk; Monica simply buried her head into the blankets again.

Mallika, on the other hand, tried to force herself up. Usually relatively upbeat, like any other sane person, she found it hard to maintain that at the way early hours of the morning. "What're we doing?" she asked the rest of the group, looking around in an almost comical, bewildered fashion.

"Dying, thanks to Tommy," Rebecca responded, getting up and moving away, as Tommy had.

Tommy, of course, just found the situation hilarious.

Kyrstin, watching the dysfunction and confusion, viewed them all with the air of one who was in a position of advantage. Dressed in her usual trench coat, her appearance fit the mood. "We ought to keep moving,' she told them. "I found a nearby city; shall we go there and plot our next course, or shall figure out our final destination now?"

XXX

Of all the groups, this was probably the most cohesive. The other two groups were not so large and had drastically opposing instruments comprised of them. Even if the French horns were the friendlier of their kind, Emily was still a Brass in an all Woodwind group. And Michelle was still a Flute dealing with two Clarinets and the friend of a Clari.

The second group was all Woodwind, yet comprised major-ly of Flutes and Clarinets. Working together was something they would have to work on.

This group was nearly all Woodwind, except for two, and incredibly Clarinet heavy. The odd men out were Tommy and Rebecca, naturally; Tommy played percussion and Rebecca was Color Guard. Even still, Rebecca was close friends with Mallika and Kyrstin was Color Guard as well as Bass Clarinet. She would find no problem fitting in.

A percussion player, by nature, is a bit of an anomaly. They can be quite hard working. It is, after all, no easy feat learning all the instruments that they are required to. While the normal player worries about one instrument, a percussionist worries about many. And to say that all never take pride in their work would be heinously incorrect. No, the percussionist actually has the reputation for doing well (God help them if they didn't: they hold the beat of the Band, for crying out loud). Besides, you try carrying a quad or bass drum and march with it for an extended period of time.

This makes the percussionists all the more odd and confusing. For a percussionist also has an amazingly accurate habit of being fantastically crude. They also are quite loud and rowdy. It would not be out of place for a percussionist to brag about how much sex they have had or who they had it with, to be a (very loud) class clown in public, to make prank calls with their friends, or to flash their chest (generally, though, for guys) at another band carriage while on a band trip, only to duck down after realizing that their band director was on that carriage. Now this, of course, can vary. As with all instruments, their attributes varied in intensity and otherwise from person to person. Yet, while this doesn't apply to all percussionists, to Tommy it most certainly did.

XXX

"Doesn't look foreboding at all," Mallika commented, gazing up at the towering walls of the city they were to soon enter.

"Um, how do we get in?" Laila asked, scratching the curly hair on her head. It had been hastily tied back, given the little time they had. They hadn't been sure if all the Orchs were really gone.

The group couldn't have known (they were lost far more than any of them would've admitted) that they were in front of a Norirrim city on the very outskirts of Norr-on. For that reason, the city was huge. While it would have displeased the inhabitants to have known, the group would soon find that it was constructed in the same multi-level fashion as Keeremp-ierkay.

A slit in the massive doors was pulled back and two eyes peered through it. "What do you want?" a voice seemed to snarl, though there was as much fear in the voice as in the group.

"To enter," Laila stated simply. Rebecca quickly came forward.

"We need a place to stay," she explained. "We were ambushed by orchs earlier and have been separated from most of our party."

The eyes seemed to look her over skeptically. "What instruments do you play?" it asked next.

Pointing to each player, Rebecca labeled off the list: "Percussion, Clarinet, Flute, Clarinet, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet and Color Guard, and I'm also Color Guard."

The eyes seemed to look at Rebecca warily and the voice stated contemptuously, "I asked what instruments you played." The slit then slammed shut.

Subsequently, the doors began to creak slowly open. Rebecca simply cast a questioning look to her companions. She then slowly led them into the French horn city.

XXX

"Oh, for crying out loud, we're never going to find a place to stay," Tommy groaned, letting himself sort of fall to the ground to sit down.

"We're all tired, Tommy," Laila told him.

"How is it that we can't seem to find a single open or not entirely booked hotel here? This place is enormous, after all," Mallika was next to complain. Typically, Mallika seemed to get more hyper the more tired she got. It was something of a problem for her and her sister, considering that the sibling got grumpier as she became tired. However, straight walking for an entire day left nothing but fatigue for Mallika.

"How about the fact that five sevenths of this group is Woodwind in an entirely Brass city?" Monica asked, tired as well. As she sat down, she noticed that the Fluten girl sat next to her.

"That wouldn't be the problem, would it?" Kyrstin asked. She had come from Cree: the idea of instrument prejudice was new to her.

"Not the main one, I think," Rebecca answered. "They don't seem to take too kind of an eye to our flags." She rolled the pole of her flag between her hands. She sighed. "We better keep moving. The last thing we want is to have to spend the night on the streets."

XXX

"No, no – Rebecca, this is crazy," Mallika tried to protest.

"Would you rather sleep outside? Look at the sky; it's nearly dusk," Rebecca countered.

"Would you rather sleep in there? It's not a hotel – it's a lowlife bar that decided to rent out rooms!" The group found themselves in an alleyway. Above them stretched the second level. On either side of them were the back of houses and the rare front of a store facing them. Very little light found its way in, given the "roof" of the second level was above them.

The building they now found themselves in front of could barely be considered still standing. Parts of the wall had fallen out. It seemed an odd mix of brick and dried clay, as well. The wooden beams of the floors of the building were sticking out of the wall as well.

Tommy eyed the building warily as well. "Mallika has a point," he started.

Rebecca sighed. "It's your guys' choice. I, however, would prefer a roof over my head."

The final decision was made when Monica headed into the building. Naturally, everyone else soon followed.

Almost hesitantly, the group trailed Rebecca as she headed to the bartender. As they approach, some ruckus went up; it sounded as if a table had broken, along with shouts of anguish and excitement. The bartender quickly barked something in Brassish towards the disruption, then he returned his attention to the band members.

"We'd like some rooms, please," Rebecca told him.

The bartender glanced towards the flags and clarinet cases they were holding. "We don't cater to your kind," he responded simply.

Rebecca withdrew a bundle of money and held it loftily out. "Are you sure?" she asked.

The bartender eyed it. Sighing, he withdrew some keys. "Follow me," he told them.

Heading towards the back, they ascended some stairs. As they walked down the hall, a woman exited a room and came the opposite way they were heading. She seemed to linger her glances to Tommy, though he was too tired to notice.

The bartended unlocked a door and opened it. "Here," he barked, holding his hand out for the money.

"Um, we need at least two rooms," Rebecca told him.

"Then twice the money," the bartended responded tersely.

"Twi- fine. Here, just take this," she told him, practically shoving the bundle into his hand and entering the room.

The room consisted of a single bed and wasn't too big. There was a window, at the back, but the building was directly against the walls protecting the city so you opened the window just to be able to put your hand against wood.

"How are we going to handle changing?" Laila asked slowly.

Still exhausted, Tommy started, "Huh? Oh yeah! We've only got one room don-"

"Tommy," Rebecca interrupted, "we need to kno-"

Tommy laughed again. "Don't worry about it. I wouldn't peep in on you guys when you're changing."

"Thanks," Rebecca responded in turn.

"Wait, we're just going to trust him in the same room as us and that he's going to just respect out privacy?" Monica asked.

"Do we really have any other choice?" Laila asked her in a resigned voice.

"We could toss him out into the alley," Monica muttered, then laughed to herself.

"Does anyone know what we're actually going to do tomorrow?" Mallika asked as she unrolled a blanket to lie upon.

No one answered as the group continued to get situated.

"It's a good thing our stuff isn't getting delivered, this time," Tommy joked. The last national band trip that was held resulted in many of members' luggage being held back, so that it had become a joke that most bandies knew well. But they knew the joke was simply postponing the question they had no answer to.