Side A – Yasgrid
Yasgrid knew that what she wanted to try wasn’t going to work. The smart play, the one which offered a real hope of success, involved patience and careful planning. Waiting for the solstice to arrive also had the benefit of aligning with Kyra’s plans and the plans being formed by Naosha, Kayelle, and Marianne. Yasgrid knew they would be much stronger together than she could ever manage to be on her own.
But she had to know the answer to so many questions.
Could she save Kyra from all the additional suffering and confinement if she acted sooner than the solstice? Could she spare her friends (and family?) from putting themselves in danger in the first place? Could she be strong enough, all on her own?
The smart move was to wait, but after weeks traveling with only King for company, Yasgrid yearned to see if she couldn’t cheat fate, if even just a little bit.
“Your time with the nightmares has changed you,” King said without any notes of judgment in his voice.
“That’s not surprising,” Yasgrid said. “I never imagine facing anything like that before I started on this path.”
“Has it brought you closer to the one you seek?” King asked.
Yasgrid went to answer and then paused.
She’d been about to say that Elshira was avoiding her more than Yasgrid would have dared hope when she’d first set out, but that wasn’t what King has asked.
“I don’t feel like I’m any closer to her than I was,” Yasgrid said, no longer thinking about Elshira at all. “I want to imagine I’m not changing so much that she won’t recognize me when we meet again, but that’s not something I have any way of being sure of.”
“And yet you will continue on?”
Yasgrid looked down at her hands. They were still the same tiny hands she seen when she woke at the turning of the year. There were new scars of them, and around the edges flickering memories of rainbow light and darkest shadows. The face she showed the world was the one Nia had worn for years, a little more weathered for the miles and cold, lonely nights, but still easily recognizable as Naosha M’Kellin’s daughter. It was person behind the eyes that Yasgrid found herself unsure about.
Or, no.
She stepped over a log without thinking about it and charted her course based on nothing more than the scents on the wind and the play of light on the treetop canopy. Around her the Darkwood hummed with life and every chirp and squeak and bird call felt familiar, as though she was walking through a world that was an extension of herself in a way the stone and surf of Frost Harbor never had been.
So, no, she wasn’t unsure of the person she’d become. It was strange and wonderful to feel like she could believe in herself, and it was that wonder as much as anything else which was driving her towards Trouble.
That wasn’t the smart play, but with a quiet certainty in her heart, Yasgrid turned towards the scent of uncontrolled fire, knowing it was the right one.
Side B – Nia
Starting a brawl before the first drum was struck was not, technically, considered good form at a Battle of the Bands. That the Frost Harbor drummers were outnumbered more than two to one made it an even worse idea, but Nia found she really could not regret her words or even imagine taking them back.
Of course, part of that was because the horrible, one-sided brawl was stifled almost as quickly as it began by the people who came to hear a proper Battle of the Bands – the Roadies on each side.
“That was not smart,” Pelegar said as Horgi placed a bandage over a small cut on Nia’s forehead.
“Tell me I was wrong?” Nia said.
“I didn’t say you were wrong, but you stole my line!” Pelegar whined, with the kind of pout that hit Nia so hard a chuckle escaped before she could bite it back.
“Should I gag her?” Margrada asked, looking keenly interested in the idea if it would keep Nia from getting punched in the face again.
“Nah, tempting as that is, the Roadies would riot if we did,” Pelegar said. “It’s not like she’s wrong after all.”
Nia felt such a warm glow of pride at hearing that she thought she was going to float off the chair and vibrate her joy into the universe like she’d become a living Shatter Drum.
“Don’t smile too much,” Pelegar said. “We’ve got five minutes until they get the drums set back up and it’ll take more than smiles and happy thoughts to get us through.”
“Oh, yeah, do we have a plan for this?” Nia asked.
“You mean do we have other bands pull this kind of nonsense often enough to have a strategy all worked out for how to handle it?” Pelegar asked. “Given that this is the first time I’ve seen anyone foolish enough to try it, no, no we do not.”
“We’re not going to need one though, will we?” Margrada asked, casting a quick glance over to where the other Shatter Band was assembling.
“And what makes you say that?” Pelegar asked with a smile on her face that said she was fishing to see if Margrada understood something critical about their current predicament..
Nia was not in the least surprised to learn that, yes, of course Margrada had seen the same thing Pelegar had.
“They’ve added in every Shatter Drummer they have in town from the looks of it,” Margrada said. “That gives them a lot of drummers, but half of them look like they’re unsure which side of the drum to hit.”
“Still a lot of drummers for us to get through though isn’t it?” Pelegar asked.
That was all it took for Nia to see the issue too.
“Oh! We don’t have to fight all of them, do we?” she asked. “All we need to do is make them fight themselves!”
Nia let her gaze drift over to their opposition.
Their sloppy, clumsy, oh so foolish opposition.
This was going to be fun!