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I started with scales, but as my mind shook free, the marching notes drifted into short melodies and chords. With the spin-dice as an accompaniment, I began to weave a tune, a net for memories. Unburdened by bitterness, I lived again those summers where Sharp and I wandered together, collecting experiences and stories, leaning of life. We slept in fields beneath the stars, and in barns while it rained. We traded songs and stories for meals in road-side taverns. Once again I smelled the wood smoke and roasting meat, heard the thunk of mugs and the rattle of dice, and saw the crowd dancing to my tunes. Sharp would grin at me, a perpetually dirty face with bright eyes, then sneak our secret tune into his melodies whenever a particularly attractive girl walked by.
We’d made a pact never to play that tune without the presence of the other, and I had not even thought of it for almost ten years. I wondered if he had also forgotten it.
From the world of memories I stepped into the spirit world, which reflects our own in the same way that a glass-still pond reflects the sky. I saw Lord Reinard, standing alone, waiting for his bride. He looked across a pond to where a woman seemed to stand, but his way was blocked by Lord Guerney. I looked at the woman, and realized that she had no form, no features. Perhaps she was pregnant, or perhaps it was just the way her veils drifted around her figure. I could not see for certain.
Indeed, I realized. Unless I knew for certain, I could report nothing to my lord. Nothing that would convince him to leave this ill-fated union alone.
So, how to see the hidden woman? She kept herself within the ladies’ tower. If I hid myself in skirts, perhaps I could enter – but with my strong chin and deep-set eyes, I doubted I would keep the disguise for long. And with it, certain useful parts of my anatomy.
I now saw a Silent Monk before me, his hands moving in a complicated pattern. What was he saying? I didn’t know those gestures. I leaned forward, the better to concentrate, as he started again, then he seemed to say –
