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Side A – Nia

The thought that she’d been in communion with someone outside her world sat oddly with Nia. Part of her felt as though she should have been petrified at the idea. Gaining King’s attention had rattled both her and Yasgrid in part because of how fundamentally alien he was. 

Elves and Stonelings were not the same but they were a part of the same physical reality. King was not, and neither were the beings who existed beyond the drums.

Did that make them dangerous? Nia had no idea. Probably? Though the Elves generally lived in harmony with the Darkwood, there were plenty of them who ran the gamut from ‘unpleasant’ to ‘disturbingly perilous’, and the same seemed to be true of the Stonelings from the stories Nia had heard around the campfires. While two peoples weren’t a vast sample size, it seemed like a safe bet that it was a universal trait in any large group that some would be less than pleasant to deal with.

Could the Shatter-people actually do anything to her or the other drummers though? If they existed outside Nia’s world then perhaps their influence was limited to the interactions the drums facilitated? Even when they only wanted to communicate the process was sufficiently difficult that only the best drummer present (Margrada, Nia had to sing her fiance’s achievement there until the wind grew tired of carrying the notes) had been able to even notice they were trying to speak across the void.

On the other hand, they were connected to the magic the drums could call forth, magic that could rewrite the world, so Nia wasn’t willing to make any bets on the harmlessness of people she had next to no understanding of.

Despite all that however, Nia wasn’t worried.

Could the Shatter-people be hostile? Certainly. Did they know more about her than she did about them? Clearly. Had their actions suggested any sort of animosity though? In fact, did they seem to be anything other than entertained by the songs she’d played and created?

Fans could be scary, Nia recalled the ones who’d broken her hands because they wanted their home team to win, but they could also be an unparalleled source of inspiration and support.

“Should we play again?” Nia asked which drew looks of astonishment from pretty much everyone around her, and a chuckle from Gossma.

“I remember being that young once,” Gossma said, with a shake of her head.

“How are you not exhausted you demon?” Belhelen asked.

“Oh, I mean, I am, but, you know, what if they want to talk more?” Nia asked. Naosha had raised her to be polite and sometimes those impulses just popped up on their own.

Naosha offered no comment on the question, though Nia could see she was visibly restraining herself and allowing her youngest daughter to find her own wings in the situation.

“Are you capable of playing more?” Margrada asked.

Nia paused and considered that honestly.

“Not well,” she said and felt very proud that she didn’t add any self deprecating remarks after that. “I know we have drummers who probably could though, but I was thinking you folks,” she nodded towards Horgi, Grash, and the other Roadies, “might know whether or not it would be good for the drums if we did?”

The Roadies had been carrying a haunted look behind their eyes from the moment they arrived, but Nia’s question seemed to reassure them more than she’d expected.

“You want our opinion?” Horgi asked.

“Always!” Nia said, which brought small, hopeful smiles to the other Roadies faces too.

“If you’re tired, the drums probably are too,” Grash said. “We can leave them here and check on them tomorrow, if that’s okay?”

Osdora, despite later reports, did not in fact pass out at the sight of a Roadie asking a drummer if they could take care of a drum, but she did sit down so hard so might have well have, and she very definitely was not alone.

Side B – Yasgrid

Yasgrid probably shouldn’t have sat down. She wasn’t a drummer after all. 

But still.

She’d known drummers her whole life.

She’d known Roadies her whole life.

Roadies didn’t…

It was just impossible…

“Yeah, I think that would be just about perfect,” Nia said. “Thank you too. I know this wasn’t what you expected when you woke up today, but I’m glad you went along with our idea.”

“It’s what they wanted,” Horgi said.

“Yeah,” Grash added with eyes turned glassy with unfallen tears.

“We’ll see if they still want it tomorrow,” Nia said. “I’m suspecting that when things have cooled down a bit, people, here and there, may not want to lose touch with what they’ve known too too much.”

“We are all creatures of our comforts,” Marianne said, which also drew a smile from the Roadies.

“Speaking of which, do you have plans for the evening feast?” Belhelen asked Marianne. “If not you’ve got to try the Gray Rift Boar Roast. I don’t know what they use to season it but the meat is unbelievable.”

And Yasgrid felt a spell they’d been enmeshed in loosen it’s hold.

The drums were a new fascination once more, bright for everyone with the excitement Nia always seemed to feel for them, but food? Uniquely good food especially? That cut through the cloud around their minds as only good primal hunger could.

“Hey,” Nia said, as the Roadies turned away. “You folks going to have a fire going tonight?”

“Are you inviting yourself to their celebration?” Margrada asked, not-subtlely pointing out that Nia might, very well, not be wanted there given the chaos she’d thrown the Roadies lives into.

Yasgrid had to grin at Nia’s response though.

“That is exactly what I’m doing,” she said, clearly away of the implication and just as clearly embracing them.

“You know they’re going to have Roadie booze there, right?” Belhelen said.

“Counting on it.”

“And there’ll be fights, probably a lot of them,” Horgi said.

“Counting on that too,” Nia said.

“Then we’d be pleased to have you,” Grash said.

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