Day 36: Music Room

[tony-castaway.livejournal.com]

The nurses came and took Takaya away. For a visitor? Tony heard that as the other boy was led away, but he didn't react. Usually, when he heard something, he wasn't supposed to hear it, and it was just a good idea to pretend he hadn't. Though he wondered if he should check on Takaya later if he found a way to do it.

He returned his attention back to the recorder in his hands. Now with no "student" to teach, he could play the melodies from his head again. This one was a bit more exuberant, a bit more expressive of the hope he felt that life was more than this, more than the city where he'd grown up. Tony had dreams that weren't crushed. His music said all this.

(for Frey!)

Comments

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

Frey smiled a little, inclining his head in agreement. "I feel much the same about the outdoors." Despite the negative memories he had of the Sun Rune, sunlight itself was still immensely pleasing to Frey, simply because he had been surrounded by it so often in Falena--until he'd spent time with the Cave Dwarves it had really never occurred to him that anyone lived without sunlight pouring into their homes at every possible hour of daylight. "Especially around water... my homeland has a great river that runs through it, and I spent much of my time sailing on it."

[tony-castaway.livejournal.com]

"I love the outdoors, too, but I needed this today." Tony gestured with the recorder. "Did you really live right on a river with a sailboat?" His eagerness lit up his whole thin face. "I grew up in a city. We hardly even saw the sky."

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

Frey smiled, quite liking the way Tony's face lit right up. It was nice to be able to talk about pleasant things, even if it did make him miss home all the more. "Ah, well. I did grow up in a city, but I don't think cities where I come from are much like cities here. Sol-Falena wasn't much bigger than the town we visited the other day, except for the palace, and it's the capital of Falena. But Sol-Falena is actually built straddling the river, so it's surrounded by water."

[tony-castaway.livejournal.com]

"Granny Malone's apartment was on South Water Street, but what they called a river in that city was disgusting." Tony wrinkled his nose. "Even when we went to Heron Lake, which was a little ways away, it didn't feel like a real lake, even though we could see the mountains above the trees."

Even though he'd been very unhappy in those places, Tony was incapable of putting the complete and utter contempt he felt for those places. He didn't understand why he hated them so much, but he knew he did. That feeling warred with the optimism and hope that had kept him and Tia alive all those desolate years. Besides, Granny had always warned them that if you didn't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.

"Can you tell me more?" He could almost see the places Freyjadour was describing.

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

"The Feitas is... immense. It winds throughout the entire country. So even though we only have one ocean port, travel by ship is very common. There's even a community, Raftfleet, that lives entirely on boats and travels from one anchor point to another within the country." Ever since he'd become responsible for inspections, Frey suspected he'd spent more time on the river than anywhere else.

[tony-castaway.livejournal.com]

"It sounds lovely. I'd like to see your country. You wouldn't like to see where I lived." It wasn't much different from here, locked in these walls. Even Doyleton was nicer. "I'm almost jealous," Tony said, but his tone was cheerfully teasing.

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

"I hope it's beautiful again by now. The war did a lot of damage. But it's good to remember the nice things as well as the difficulties of the war." That was something Frey had had great difficulty doing while he was in the middle of it, but now that he was able to look back...

[tony-castaway.livejournal.com]

"I've read that land recovers fast." He smiled, trying to sound encouraging. "It can, I mean. If the people love it. Nature is important to take care of, don't you think?"

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

Frey blinked, a little confused by Tony's question. "Take care of in what sense...?" Nature did quite well on its own, where he came from. If anything, the True Runes that embodied the forces of nature tended to be things that people needed protection from.

[tony-castaway.livejournal.com]

Frey's confusion was reflected by Tony's own confusion. In his experience, people tried to kill living things at every chance they got. "Well, not abuse it or tear it up, I guess."