Side A – Yasgrid
Yasgrid had known she was playing a dangerous game. That when other Bearers lost similar gambits the results had been fatal was more than a little disconcerting.
“They must have been attempting something different,” she said, struggling to imagine what a Bearer could have done with Endings that would have led to their deaths.
“I believe each struggled against unique circumstances,” Naosha said. “There was a great deal of conjecture as to the causes of their demise but the common thread seems to be that they attempted something which caused Endings to turn against them.”
“You knew about this too?” Yasgrid asked Kayelle.
“We both did,” Kayelle said. “Or that’s what I believed while I still thought you were Nia.”
“I never wished for either of my daughters to be chosen,” Naosha said. “Preparing them should that come to pass however was the only alternative to denying them a place in our society by removing them from the ceremony.”
“Also, if we hadn’t been able to release our Troubles to Endings with the start of each year, they could easily have spawned into far greater problems,” Kayelle said.
“A possibility I confess I only considered in the abstract,” Naosha said.
Yasgrid was struck by a question she couldn’t ask; what had the first night of the New Year been like for Naosha?
Naosha had been alone. Yasgrid remembered that much. After her daughters fled their home to draw away the more foolish Troubles and prevent any innocents from being harmed as collateral damage, Naosha had been left with none of her family around her.
She’d worked to protect Kayelle and Nia for years and had been forced to accept that they were somewhere beyond the reach of her sheltering arms. And that monsters were hunting them.
Yasgrid had heard of Bearers who didn’t last beyond their first nights. Ones who’d made impossible vows or who’d had the misfortune of stumbling on one of the truly ancient Troubles.
Had Naosha though Kayelle would be wise enough to keep Nia safe?
Or had she known it would be the almost exactly the reverse?
No, Naosha hadn’t known the turmoil in Kayelle’s heart. She would have imprisoned both of her “daughters” without hesitation if she had.
How terrible had the night been when she’d finally understood?
Observing her, Yasgrid couldn’t see any signs of that turmoil within Naosha. Yasgrid didn’t think it was purely a matter of Naosha’s bone deep poise and self control either.
Seeing Nia again had released a worry that was crushing Naosha’s heart, but she’d found an island of peace within herself even before that.
“I will be more careful with what I attempt in the future,” Yasgrid promised Naosha, knowing that, while she wasn’t Nia, Naosha still valued her well being to some degree.
“I will not hold you to that promise,” Naosha said. “I am coming to see that there are circumstances that can only be resolved when caution is cast aside. Instead I will ask that if you find yourself in any sort of extreme situation, you call on me if the possibility of doing so exists. I will not prevent you from fulfilling your vows, but know that I will give everything I have spent a lifetime building to see you resolve them safely.”
Side B – Nia
Pelegar looked like she was already regretting every ounce of support she’d ever offered Nia.
Sure, the trip the Darkwood had been fantastic, but putting a Shatter Drum back in the hands of someone who might not even be a Shatter Drummer? Even from the little playing she’d done, Nia understood the feeling of creeping madness that accompanied that idea.
“Do you need to warm up again or are you good from the rhythm you played with Yasgrid?” Margrada asked, sitting down behind the Shatter Drum Gossma’s parents had provided them.
“I think I’m ready,” Nia said. “Go easy on me though okay?”
Margrada offered her a broad and bright smile.
“No.”
Margrada’s hand hit her drum and Nia felt the ripple of magic pass through her. It wasn’t destructive or angry but it had fascinating undertones.
And it needed a reply.
But she wasn’t sure what the reply was supposed to be!
Rushing so she wouldn’t miss the timing on the next beat, Nia stuck the drum with her cupped left hand.
It worked, but only barely. As the magic flowed out of her, she heard the fractional delay she’d let creep in. And her strike had been too hesitant.
That didn’t stop Margrada though. She answered Nia’s beat with a simple reply and Nia scowled. Margrada had been teasing her, but they were back on relatively safe ground with Margrada leading them into a short passage that had appeared in Nia’s basic drumming training.
By the twentieth beat, Nia was enjoying herself and felt the terror that had gripped her loosen up. She could do this! She was a drummer!
Which, of course, was when Margrada threw in a double beat from out of nowhere. Nia had never heard the song contain one of those but she knew instinctively what it meant.
Margrada was changing to a new song.
Nia tried to follow, guessing that a double beat was required from her drum too.
It was not.
The song Margrada switched to practically choked on the misstep.
That did absolutely nothing to slow Margrada down though. She took the next three beats, making them a double, a triple, and a heavy double without leaving Nia any room to make an answer from her drum.
On the fourth beat though there was silence.
Silence Nia was supposed to have filled!
Nia caught the triple beat for the fifth and bungled the heavy double that followed into another triple.
The errors left the magic jangled and wasted but Margrada was relentless, playing something that Nia followed only with her hands and heart, not her ears.
Five beats from Margrada and Nia answered back three.
Which was correct, though each of Nia’s beats had a rough edge to them and cast out only unfocused magic.
The final run of the song saw the beats bouncing back and forth between them seemingly at random with Nia bungling at least half. As silence returned, Nia could hear every mistake she’d made still ringing in her head, each one a potential death knell on her Shatter Drumming career.