Callie's Heroes

PART VII - DEDUXIA SPARKBRITE

Deduxia Sparkbrite saw her husband returning and swallowed back the last of her wine. Everyone was back or would be shortly, so it was time for them to play their next set. Only two more and they'd be done for the night. It had been a long evening, especially for the two Gnomes, who had been playing since before the dinner started. But, it was a good crowd, and the air was festive and happy.

This was their second year playing at what was now Camp Utora. Last year they'd been here, too, although this year their contract called for the two nights of music, rather than just one. The other band members had grumbled a bit about playing over Midsummer, both last year and this, but the money they'd been offered had simply been too good, and more than doubled this year for the return performance because of the two nights of playing. Even with losing all the time with travel before and after the holiday, it was still more than they'd make for half the rest of the year. At least everyone here was nice, and not terribly raucous or demanding, unlike at a lot of shows.

Nekini stepped close. "We ready?"

"Did you drink a potion?"

"I don't really need it."

Deduxia gave her husband a deadpan look. "Drink the damn potion." They went through this every time, to the point it had become almost a habitual argument. He had a good-sized mana pool, but would invariably run low sometime during the third or fourth set, which made the music suffer.

"Fine," the other Gnome growled, pulling a vial of blue liquid from a chest pocket. He swallowed it back, making a horrible face, and then guzzled back a half-cup of wine to wash down the taste.

Up on the stage, it looked as if the other group members were already in their places, getting things situated. Deduxia was a little concerned about their Illusionist, though. She'd been feeling a bit exhausted of late, and hadn't been able to provide lights for the last song of the previous set. Of course, the Elf insisted everything was fine and that 'the show must go on'. Deduxia wasn't convinced, though, and was keeping a close eye on her. If there were any more problems, she'd force her to at least get examined by Healers here. That had the benefit of at least not costing anything, unlike if they were back home.

The Bard couple walked up onto the stage, giving the crowd a general wave as a few scattered applause were heard. They still needed to get a few things organized, but could already see a few couples had returned to watch and listen. "Set six?" Deduxia suggested to the others.

"With this crowd?" the Pantherkin percussionist said. "No, let's do set eight. Some may want something more exciting, but we also need to account for those that are just mingling and don't care."

Nekini looked at the other faces, and nodded. "Eight it is, then. I need to tune a bit."

As the Gnome retrieved his guitar and started fiddling, Deduxia fetched a stack of thin, ironwood slices, each about the size of a playing card. Glued to them was parchment with the song list for the set written on it, each titled with 'Set 8' at the top. It was a newer set arrangement and she handed one out to each member. This would help keep them aligned on the right order of music if they rolled from one song into the next.

"How are you feeling?" Deduxia asked their Illusionist.

"Fine. A little tired, though. I have a stamina potion if I need it. Don't worry, I'm good for the rest of the show."

A little dubious, Deduxia nonetheless nodded, taking the Elf at her word. "You just let me know if you need to call it a night. We can still play without the lightshow, if we need to." She turned to her husband. "You ready?"

Nekini was still fiddling, and shook his head. "Sorry, this is giving me a hard time. Give me a bit."

Holding up two fingers, Deduxia called out to the room, "Two minutes! Sorry everyone."

The currently-attentive audience wasn't that big, only about ten people, but it was an excited ten people, and there was a bit of a collective groan at hearing the delay. One of those groaning was Nevikk, sitting at a table next to his father, the Ratkin, Thorn. They were also with the Foxkin Reynard, and the camp's Elf Scryer, Yulayla, who seemed to have it bad for the hobbled Ranger. Deduxia sighed. Elves and Beastkin. It was not a good match in the long run, and if it went the distance, it would only end in Yulayla's heartbreak. Deduxia knew this, because it happened to her, too.

Years before, Deduxia met Kilichar by chance at a music festival in Imor she was attending with friends. Deduxia didn't cross the border from Cillisant into the neighboring capital often, but it was an annual event she'd been wanting to see for a few years. She had finally saved up enough from her lousy job as a barmaid at a Gnome-oriented tavern to take the time off and go. It wasn't love at first sight, by any means, because she managed to step on the Catkin's tail while weaving her way to her seat. Between the surprised sudden yowl and him leaping up in anger, the three mugs of ale she'd been carrying were promptly dumped all over him and those sitting around him. It wasn't a good first impression at all. Still, it had been an impression, and she tried three times that night to seek him out and apologize. It was on the third attempt that he finally threw up his paws and allowed Deduxia to say what she needed to.

Kilichar was a beautiful Catkin, a Domestic-descended with orange and white fur, and amber eyes. Deduxia didn't really notice that though. She just bumbled through trying to profusely apologize for her clumsiness, quickly breaking into sobs for some reason. He'd sighed, invited her to sit so she could compose herself, and as the sniffles eventually subsided, they got to talking. They didn't have a lot in common, except one thing. That being their love of music.

A Bard by class, Deduxia never had the luxury of being able to pursue it. It was too expensive and she wasn't that good, having only an Improvisation perk and a skill to increase her volume. Her barmaid job made ends meet, barely, providing she had two roommates in their tiny apartment. It wasn't optimal, by any means, but she was young, only twenty, and had plenty of time to make her way in the world.

Kilichar, on the other hand, was almost the complete opposite. He was a Scholar by class, Silver Tiered, almost Gold. He made his living as a landlord, owning almost two-dozen flats around Imor that were available to rent. They weren't high-end housing by any means, but not slums either. Certainly outside of what Deduxia could afford without a roommate or two, though.

He was also fifty-eight.

Despite the huge age difference, and the circumstances of their meeting, for some reason they hit it off. The festival's music was great, and that drove the conversation. He was a good conversationalist, too, and somehow managed to set Deduxia at ease and eventually get her laughing. The evening finally ended with a promise that they would get together again at another upcoming festival a month later. Deduxia wasn't sure how she was going to afford another few days off, and the trip across the cities, but she'd find a way. Three minutes later, though, it ended up unnecessary. Their goodbyes said, they had walked maybe ten meters apart, when both simultaneously turned to look at each other. She'd rushed for him, leaping rather awkwardly into his arms to kiss, and the next morning they woke up together.

Quickly, they built their life as a couple. She became his assistant, helping vet renters, collect payments, and generally keep the books. That allowed him more time to focus on repairs and updates, as well as seek out a few more properties. They were happy together, and made a happy home together, soon marrying in a tiny little ceremony, just the two of them and a Cillisine officiant to make sure it was all properly recorded. It was a good life, despite her parents and grand-parents not trusting Kilichar, primarily because of the sizable age gap. Deduxia also suspected it was because he wasn't a Gnome, even though nobody would admit to it. Her grandmother had even warned her the relationship would only end in sadness. That was maybe the worst part, because years later, it turned out to be true.

The issue was indeed the age difference. Not the thirty-eight year gap, specifically, although these days Deduxia would be the first to admit how immature she had been at the time. No, the problem was lifespan. Gnomes generally lived to be around two-hundred years old, maybe even as long as two-hundred-twenty. Beastkin, though, seldom lived past seventy-five, and beyond eighty was nearly unheard of. By the time he reached his mid-sixties, Kilichar began to slow. He'd had to hire a few assistants to help keep the properties up, didn't have the stamina for the all-night festivals any longer, and developed more than a few aches and pains. Healers could only do so much against natural aging. Illnesses could be cured, and wounds healed, but the march of time would always win in the end. By the time he was seventy, Kilichar was barely mobile, his joints wracked with enough arthritic pain that he just couldn't move well, as his body quickly started to become weaker and weaker.

Deduxia couldn't do anything except watch as her lovely husband slowly withered, and she felt so, so guilty. She wasn't even a fifth of the way through her natural lifespan, only thirty-three, and still as spry and bouncy as the day they had met. He'd even tried to get her to leave, wanting to spare the need to care for him, and eventually watch him die. She'd refused to go, and often ended up crying herself to sleep at night wishing there was something she could do; wishing there was more time.

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Kilichar died peacefully at home at the age of seventy-one, just a few days before his birthday. Deduxia held his paw as he slipped away, while his younger brother, sixty-eight, held his other. Deduxia's family was there, too, having eventually warmed to him, and that helped.

But their presence also reminded her of the warning her grandmother had given her so long before. Deduxia had hated her for years, but that changed when she learned her grandmother's first love and first husband had also been a Beastkin, also a Catkin, although this one a tiger-descendent. Her grandmother had gone through the same pain, and eventually they bonded over the shared heartbreak.

Deduxia had never had an interest in the practice of 'cycling', like some of the other long-lived races did. To her, it had always seemed silly to abandon your life, your spouse, and everything you were, just to start all over again doing something else. But, without knowing it, when her husband died, she found herself doing exactly that.

For the most part, Deduxia had always ignored her Bard class, despite part of it constantly calling to her. Even when Kilichar had encouraged her to pursue it, pointing out they had enough money to easily hire someone to take over her responsibilities, she'd demurred. She was happy where she was, doing what she was doing. She still loved music, and had picked up a couple new skills upon waking over the years, as well as an instrument perk, but her heart just wasn't in doing the work needed to actually get good.

Now, though, with Kilichar gone, she needed something different in her life. She'd been forced to grow up far, far too much in the last few years, and needed to find a way to go back and maybe act her age for a while. She sold most of the properties, paying off the debts secured by them and pocketing a little extra. Those that were kept were put into the care of a management group that would run the day-to-day, while providing her with effectively a modest but livable stipend. She also sold their home, not being able to stomach seeing the signs of him every day, before moving back north into Cillisant to be closer to the support of her family and other Gnomes. She then located a small school for Bards, and enrolled. She was the oldest one in the class, both by age and by life experience.

Bard 'school', which really meant getting lectured on Bardic theory every day by an elder Elf that was sure no student would ever amount to anything, didn't go well. It was too dry, too … boring, and did nothing at all to inspire her. Eventually, she made an expensive decision. With some creative accounting, selling off a few more flats, and plain dumb luck, she was eventually able to get a Bard Symbiote, quitting the school in the process.

That dumb luck was befriending a two-hundred-ten year old Gnome Bard, Lalain, that she'd met while attending a theatrical production as a school assignment. Lalain had a Symbiote, and was willing to bequeath it to Deduxia in exchange for not an insignificant amount of money, as well as being a part-time household aide until she died, since her children weren't willing to do it. It was far, far less money than buying a Symbiote on the market would be, though, and Deduxia jumped at the offer. This also gave Deduxia the opportunity to properly mentor under an experienced Bard, which was much more exciting than the lecture-academy she'd abandoned. Amusingly, when Lalain finally did pass a few years later, in addition to inheriting the Symbiote, most of the money also was willed back to Deduxia, much to the chagrin of Lalain's children.

Upon receiving her Symbiote, everything changed for Deduxia. All the lessons she'd learned from Lalain, and even a few from the lecturing school, suddenly came together as all of her missing skills and perks were revealed. She was still only Iron Tier, but she now knew everything, and felt, for the first time, like a complete Bard. So, she entered a contest for amateurs, a 'Battle of the Bards', at one of the more popular theatres, intent on winning and proving what an amazing Bard she now was. With her Symbiote and the years of tutelage under Lalain, she was sure she'd be absolutely unbeatable, and would no doubt become highly sought after.

Deduxia made one important mistake for her performance. She went onstage after another cocky, green-haired Gnome. The guy had even graciously offered to let her and a couple other contestants go first. The others accepted, but Deduxia blew the offer off. She still wanted to go last, the position she'd drawn, to be in the perfect spot to sweep the judges off their feet at the end with her Symbiote-powered music.

Standing gape-mawed in horror as her dreams were crushed in real time, Deduxia watched as that smug Gnome walked out onto the stage. He bowed deeply, making a bit of a show of it, and then played out a single note. Just one single note. Immediately the murmuring and chattering audience went dead silent. Another note followed the first and then a pair followed that and then more. Bardic magic mingled with the sounds, and everyone watching stood transfixed as the emotions of the Gnome's music rolled out from him like ripples on a pond. Soon, his voice was added to the music, singing out a slow, haunting ballad of love, longing and loss. His singing actually wasn't great, but the music masterfully made up for it.

In the crowd, a group of four Ogres were soon left sobbing, falling to the floor on their rears. They were not alone, either, as so many others in the crowd found themselves with tears in their eyes, too. There was even a Troll that had wandered in, apparently out of boredom, and he stood in the back transfixed by the music, an uncharacteristic smile on his huge mouth. As the Gnome continued to play, soon the entire audience, even including the judges, were singing the refrain along with him, even though the song was original, and they'd never heard it before. It was absolutely … beautiful. For almost everyone, that was.

Deduxia? She wasn't moved to tears like the others. What she was moved towards was anger! Pure, white-hot anger! This was supposed to be her night to shine, and she wasn't going to be shown up by some other Gnome with an ever-droning dirge, even if it had turned into a sing-along! When the stage was finally cleared and it was her turn, she walked out, holding her guitar across her body, ready to play and sing for the world.

She was booed off the stage after less than one verse. Someone even threw fruit. Fruit! Who actually brings fruit?

Backstage, the livid and fruit-stained Gnome looked for the other one. She found him, quietly but eagerly talking to the venue manager. Wiping away a chunk of stinky produce, she stormed forward, ready to give the Gnome a piece of her mind. In fact, she was probably going to outright slug him across the face on general principle. This contest was supposed to be for amateurs, and there was no way this guy was an amateur!

"You have some nerve showing …" Deduxia started to shriek.

"You were amazing!" the other Gnome began just as she started cussing him out. "Your use of Perfect Pitch was brilliant!"

" … up here and … huh?"

"Truly! Where did you study? You must have studied formally, right? I can't get that skill to work for me very well at all. I always end up warbling a bit, but yours was absolute!"

"I … um … thank you?"

"Oh, I'm Nekini," the Gnome said, bowing slightly, "and I mean it, you were great."

"I got booed off the stage! And hit with fruit!" Seriously, who brings fruit?

By now, the two remaining contestants had come over to join the argument, the rest had simply left while Nekini was playing, knowing they had no chance of winning. Neither were actually angry, or at least not as angry as Deduxia was. Nekini had bested them, there was no question about that, assuming he was actually an amateur.

"You aren't a professional?" one of the Elves asked.

"Me? Nah. I work at a tannery, making boots and the like. I know I need more work on my technique, but I just wanted to see if I could even sing my song in front of a crowd. I get really nervous on stage."

"You're joking, right?" Deduxia asked. "A tannery?"

Nekini held up his hands, showing off calluses and dark tannin stains.

"Unbelievable," Deduxia mumbled under her breath, adding a few cusses for color.

"As to your idea," the theatre manager said, "I'll let the judges know we're going to hold their announcement."

"What? Why? We all know he won," the other Elf contestant said. "Why drag it out?"

"I had an idea," Nekini said. "You all know Starfire Falling, right?" It was a fairly well-known song, and everyone nodded. "Good, I was thinking we could all go out and perform it together for the crowd. I don't know many songs, but I think I can play that one just fine." He pointed to Deduxia. "Your voice is stunning, so you can sing, and we'll back you up."

"What?"

"Yeah, it will be fun!"

Fun? Deduxia wasn't here for fun! She was here to kick off her Bard career and her new life, and this … leatherworking interloper wanted to play together?

"That does sound fun," one of the Elves said, with the second concurring quickly. All eyes looked to the still-angry-and-now-confused Gnome.

"Fine!" Deduxia finally said, throwing her hands out and bowing to the pressure of her peers. She harshly held out a finger. "One song! Then, I'm leaving!"

There were initially boos as Deduxia walked out on stage, still wearing the purple fruit stain on her chest. Nekini quieted everyone with a simple padding of his hands, though, before taking his spot. Eschewing her guitar, Deduxia sang the simple, popular song, Nekini and the others playing along. It only took a half-minute before all four of them were in a groove, making music together and showing no sign this was their first time doing it. Deduxia's righteous anger quickly subsided, soon turning into a hesitant smile, and then an outright grin. After the song ended, the audience demanded an encore, and then another, before the judges finally put their foot down, wanting to announce the winner so they could go home.

Backstage afterwards, the two Elves said their goodbyes, saying they looked forward to crossing paths in the future and playing together again, leaving just Nekini and Deduxia, as the manager was out front seeing all the patrons off. She'd had fun in the end, but this was finally a chance for Deduxia to give Nekini a piece of her mind.

"I just want you to know …" the red-haired Gnome snarled in warning, jabbing an angry finger at the other one.

"I think you're beautiful!" Nekini sputtered, interrupting the threat.

"... that you better … what?"

"You're beautiful. Absolute starfire. I needed to tell you that, on the chance we never see each other again."

"I … what?!"

Nekini blushed, smiled, and then gave a hesitant wave goodbye. He turned, picking up the little carved trophy of wood he'd won as he walked towards the exit.

Deduxia stood there stunned for several long seconds, her brain simply frozen in confusion. She finally snapped out of it just as the door closed behind the other Gnome. "Hey! Wait! What did you just say?"

The next morning, Nekini lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. He hadn't slept well, his mind whirling with all the things that had happened the evening before. Unfortunately, he'd need to get up soon to go to work. It wasn't a bad job, and it paid decently, but it was mindless and uninspiring. Yet, after winning the contest the night before, the dreams of being a real musician had come back full-on, and he wondered if he should try to follow them this time.

There was a movement next to him, and a groan. Looking down at a head of bright, red hair contrasting against naked skin, Nekini had an idea.

"We should get married."