Video; Fiddlesticks 25

[achickenformylove]

[For anyone that would know based just on the background, WangJi is in the garden car. It is quiet at the moment and he's clearly sitting on the ground, based on the position of flowers behind him. Also, a white rabbit keeps poking its head into the field of view, trying to get WangJi to pay attention.

WangJi's face is carefully impassive, but there is a subtle sadness in his eyes]

For those that knew them, it would seem that Wei WuXian and Lan Sizhui are no longer on the train.

[Sorry, Yanli and HuaiSang. He's noticed, but those two are his priorities]

Comments

[achickenformylove]

[WangJi began to follow her song as well, doing surprisingly well considering he had only heard it once. It was a beautiful song and he kept his music low and as an accompaniment to her playing]

[marriedanidiot]

[ He's very, very good, and Nerdanel beams in joy, to hear one so skillful play, her own music picking up, joyful and light ]

[achickenformylove]

[When the song finished, there was a faint smile on his face as he put his hand over the strings to silence the vibrations]

That was nice.

[marriedanidiot]

It was. You are an excellent musician! Ah, but now I do dearly wish my Makalaure was here - how he would have deligthed to learn a new instrument.

[achickenformylove]

Thank you. If he was here, I would be happy to teach him. I have started teaching someone else how to play the guqin as well.

[marriedanidiot]

If he ever returns, I will direct him to you! But who is the fortunate student?

[achickenformylove]

It is Glorfindel.

[marriedanidiot]

Ah! [ She smiles ] The Lord of the House of the Golden Flower. He has a lovely voice, you should ask him to sing, some time.

[achickenformylove]

I have not heard him sing yet. I will have to ask him. He is making great progress on the guqin.

[marriedanidiot]

Ah, I shall have to ask him for a performance. [ She smiles ] As should you, I am thinking!

[achickenformylove]

Yes, I think that I should. I wasn't aware of his singing.

[marriedanidiot]

I doubt he advertises it - but I think he sings very well, if not quite so as my Makalaure.

[ POSSIBLY SHE IS BIASED ]

[achickenformylove]

[He figures she is biased, like how he would say Sizhui is the best guqin player besides him. Logically he knew that wasn't true, but still... he felt that way]

Your Makalure sounds very talented in musical arts.

[marriedanidiot]

[ She is VERY biased. But then again, considering Maglor is considered the second best bard in existance... ]

He truly is. [ She smiles ]

He was singing before he spoke.

[achickenformylove]

He was? That is very impressive and speaks to how musically inclined he is.

[marriedanidiot]

Oh yes! He did have us a little worried, between you and me - he did not seem to want to talk for a long time! But he was echoing back the birdsong from his first year.

[achickenformylove]

I see. That would have been disconcerting if I had seen the same thing. But it sounds as though he grew out of it, but it speaks to the natural connection he has to music.

[marriedanidiot]

It did, eventually!

[ It is a great grief to his mother than now, burdered by his sins and griefs, Maglor speaks more often than he sings ]

But you are right - the Song has always rung clearer for him than for many, I think.

[achickenformylove]

Yes, Glorfindel mentioned about the Song before. We don't have a song like that, but our sect believes that music has power. We have a section of our Forbidden Library dedicated to songs that are meant to do harm. We do know that unfortunately one was used against someone in my lifetime.

[marriedanidiot]

Music is what made our world. [ She nods ] And so those who hear the Song can also... nudge it.

For good, or... for evil.

[ She sighs ]

There are Songs for breaking as well as mending.

[achickenformylove]

Yes, we as a sect teach the Song of Clarity, which is meant to calm the mind and spirit. My brother was using it to help Chifeng-Zun, who is from a sect where their swords' spirits become rather powerful. It is good for fighting, but it also leads to early deaths. Someone... he thought he could trust to help Chifeng-Zun in his absence corrupted a passage of the Song of Clarity with a passage from one of the songs in the Forbidden Library and wove it in so well that Chifeng-Zun couldn't tell.

[marriedanidiot]

[ She hums softly in understanding ]

I am no bard, to touch the Music the way my son can. But what moves the world is intent.

[achickenformylove]

It is. If someone wishes to help others they will. If they wish to cause harm, they will.

[marriedanidiot]

Even so. [ She sighs sadly ]

Any tool can be turned to harm, if one wills it.

[achickenformylove]

That is very true. A shame that this person used the thing my brother loved to hurt someone else he cared for.