Good As New

Writers: Ainsley1, Patrick
Date Posted: 30th May 2007

Characters: Evaleine, Faran
Description: Evaleine seeks out Faran to help repair her violin
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 3, day 18 of Turn 4

Knocking one more time at the door in front of her,
Evaleine gave the slightest shrug of her shoulders,
turning in disappointment. Obviously the harper
wasn't in. She ran a finger lovingly over the violin
in her hands. Well, she could see to it another time,
but she had so wanted to get it fixed.

Faran sifted through the many keys on his ring,
searching for the one that opened his office. He
found it and looked up, preparing unlock the door when
he ran into a young woman holding a violin.

"May I help you?" He asked politely.

"Well, I'm hoping so. Harper Faran?" Though she did
indeed know that's who he was, she had never actually
met the harper and thought it polite to ask.

"Yes I am. Why don't we just step into my office?"
He unlocked the door and walked in, dumping the mass
of hides onto his rather cluttered desk. Kio looked
up from his napping place on the shelf momentarily
then seeing nothing pressing went back to sleep.
Faran sat himself on the edge of his desk and motioned
for the girl to seat herself. "So what's the problem
my fine young lady?"

Evaleine offered a warm smile for the friendly harper,
enjoying the lilt of his fine tenor as he spoke. "My
name is Evaleine, and I am rather hoping you can help
me with this," she said holding up the violin. "It
was my mother's and is very special to me but as you
can see one of the tuning pegs has been split and of
course it is in need of new strings. My mother taught
me to play, but I'm at a loss for fixing the
instrument. I have the marks to pay for its repair
and was hoping you might be able to help me."

"Of course. And don't worry about paying for a tuning
peg. I fix those all the time." He held his hand out
for the violin. "It's a simple fix I can do right now
if you like." He said, examining the damage.

"You are too kind, Harper Faran," she answered. "It
will be such a pleasure to be able to play again. Do
you have an instrument of preference?"

Faran tapped his throat with his fingers as he deftly
inserted a spare peg into its appropriate hole.
"These." He said. "I'm studying for my Mastery in
Voice." He rummaged in his desk for violin strings.
"But I very much enjoy the strings."

"My mother was an instrumentalist before she moved
South, but she did have the most lovely singing voice.
Do you perform often in the Hold? I would very much
like to hear you sing."

"I sing most nights." He said as he dug in his
shelves for a bow to tune the instrument. He hummed a
tuning note and ran the bow down the corresponding
string.

"Well, now that I reside in the main Hold, I will look
forward to hearing you sing."

"I should be singing a bit tonight. If there's anyone
there with the Tavern open." Faran said before he
ran a test scale up the violin. Satisfied, he played
the opening measures of one of his favorite reels,
tapping his foot against the floor in time with the
notes. He nodded. "I pronounce this violin as good
as new. My compliments to its crafter its very well
made."

A gentle smile spread across Evaleine's face. "Thank
you. My mother made it a very long time ago."

"Well she was very skilled at what she did. I would
have loved to have met her." Faran said as he handed
back the violin. "I hope that you are as skilled at
playing it?"

Accepting the instrument with thanks Evaleine eyed the
bow, having left hers in her room, "May I?"

Faran handed the bow to Evaleine with a flourish. "Of
course."

She had no aspirations for showing up a harper, she
really was not that good, but of all the instruments
her mother had taught her to play, this was by far her
favorite. She straightened just a bit and struck the
opening chord. OH! It had been too long! She had
not played since the earthquake. It was luck alone
that she had saved the precious heirloom. Her song
was a woeful coastal tune, and she did not play the
entire piece, but enough to ascertain the range of the
instrument...and the musician.

There were actually tears glistening in her eyes as
she faced Faran, returning the bow. "Thank you," she
said, referring more to restoring the instrument than
to lending the bow.

Faran's grin was sad. He thought he might understand
her predicament. He'd seen many people who'd come to
him with instruments damaged by the quake. Wanting
them as a reminder of those they'd lost. "I never
heard that tune before. Do you know all the words?"
He said taking the bow.

"Yes, it was a favorite of my mothers. Would you like
for me to write it down for you?"

"That would be great. I'm collecting rare heard songs
as a project for my mastery." Faran took out a sheaf
of paper and a pencil.

Evaleine accepted them and then paused, "Would it be
alright if I wrote it down tonight and brought it to
you later? I am supposed to be meeting someone before
too long and as I want you to have a nice copy, I
don't want it to be rushed."

"That's fine. I'll meet up with you after dinner and
you can write it out for me." Faran put the paper and
pencil back down. "Is that alright?"

"Just perfect." Evaleine answered rising to leave.

Last updated on the July 18th 2007

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