driftfleet | I've done my sentence but committed no crime

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I've done my sentence but committed no crime

Who: Adalwolfe Hawke and you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: On the Iskaulit
When: Nowish

Broadcast

[The video pops up with Adalwolfe's face centered in the camera, but with the background moving behind him, clearly showing the familiar corridors of the Iskaulit. He's making his way to his new job at Málum as bartender.]

So I noticed on the list of scheduled lectures posted a bit ago that there are several on magic, not to mention several people I've spoken with having positive or relaxed reactions to its use. It's incredibly strange to me that everyone is so open and accepting of this, considering the doctrine regarding magic in my home of Thedas, so it begs the following question and I hope at least someone from outside of Thedas will indulge me:

What is magic like on your world? Is it regulated? Does everyone have the ability to use it, or only a small number of people? Are there prejudices that go along with that.

Ah, well, I suppose that's more than one question. Still, if you're willing to talk about it, please feel free to respond to this post and I'll get back to you when I'm finished with work. Thank you!

[The video clicks off.]

Action

It's only a short walk from the hanger to the bar, but Adalwolfe takes his time since he can't watch where he's going very well as he's recording on his device. Which could lead to all kinds of problems. He seems to be avoiding walls okay, but if a person, say, came out of a corridor nearby or happened to step in front of him at just the right time before he put down the little screen, he might just bowl right into them, or walk right past without noticing a mischievous foot out for him to trip over. Honestly, he's an open target. Or at least seems like it...

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There's just something at the back of my mind that your skills remind me of in the description, but I can't think of it exactly. It's just a bit frustrating.

[He shrugs, the video starting to move as he heads towards the hangar bay.]

Nothing to worry about. Perhaps it will come to me if I listen to your songs.

[He'll just have to focus on how interesting it will be to see this different kind of magic, rather than the effects it could possibly have. After all, he'd fought of mind control and even demons. He has faith in his willpower to see him through a little augmented lullaby.]

Alright.

[ Maglor agrees and turns to do the same, fetching his harp to bring with him.

He wonders what Adalwolfe expects to learn - it might be interesting to find out! Either way, he will be waiting. ]

[Hawke arrives first, purely by virtue of knowing where exactly to go. Even though he's not working that day, he does a little tidying while he waits. No reason not to. Then tidying turns into moving some chairs and tables around so Maglor has a place to sit and play and he has a place to listen in a semicricle of chairs around where Maglor is to sit. If anyone comes it, they might as well bill it as 'live music' or something like that.

Y'know, if magic wasn't involved that wouldn't be a bad idea.]

[ Maglor has to ask for directions a few times, but he tries not to make Hawke wait overly, stepping into view with a soft hail. ]

Well met.

[ He's tall, is Maglor - over six and a half feet, dark haired and grey eyed. Almost beautiful, with his sharp features. But what Hawke might find most interesting is the fact that he glows, ever so slightly - as if favoured by moonlight. There is no sense whatsoever of magic to him, unless it be the inhumanness of him ]

[Taller than Adalwolfe, who stands at 6'1", but that's not what throws him off. It's the diffused glow that causes no tell-tale tingle in his senses. It's as if he reflects light like white stone does at a full moon, and something he hadn't noticed in the video.]

Well met. Have a seat.

[He motions to the seat he'd placed, all curiosity now and none of the trepidation.]

Would you like something to drink?

Only if tis no trouble.

[ Maglor assures him, taking the seat with a grateful bow ]

I do not wish for you to have to put yourself out overly.

None at all.

[He moves to pour a glass of wine. He knows only a few elves well and they tend to like something less stiff than what the ruins his liver with. The honey wine he'd poured for Anders before seemed like a good option, so he goes with that and brings it over in a stemless glass, handing it to Maglor before setting himself down in a seat.]

Hopefully that's to your liking.

[ Maglor accepts the glass with a grateful smile and sips at it appreciatively ]

Thank you, it is.

In regards to the ... experiment, I suppose - I do not wish for you to be uncomfortable - is there anything you wish to know or ask?

Mostly I'm just curious how this works. Magic-like effects that aren't magic sounds fascinating. I'm going to stretch my senses while you do this, see if I can't figure it out. Is that alright with you?

[He hopes he can figure it out, partially because he still doubts that it's not magic, but also because not!magic could be a way to protect the people he cares for in a situation where he can't use his magic.]

[ Maglor nods, thoughtfully ]

I have never truly thought about it before either, in truth - it is... simply something I have always been able to do, as natural as breathing. It will be interesting to hear what someone who makes a more thorough study of such things finds it.

Then I'll let you know.

[He flashes a grin, settling back in his chair to listen whenever Maglor is ready.]

[ A smile and Maglor sets the wine aside, stretching his fingers as he considers what to play ]

One of the shorter lays, I think.

[ He murmurs almost to himself and then nods, hands settling onto the strings ]

This is the 'Lay of Nimrodel' - in brief, and translated from it's original, which looses a little of the emotion, I think, but maintains most of the intent.

Edited 2016-07-17 09:20 (UTC)

[ As Maglor sets his hands to the strings and lifts his voice, the Song flows from him like water, an all encompassing rush that draws Adalwolfe in. So real it seems that he walks as part of the tale, living it, the images as real as if he knew those involved intimately - for this is Maglor's gift, to shape Song as a sculpter shapes clay. Above and beyond even the simplest of the elven bards, Maglor, like Daeron and Tinfang, and those who are taught to do so, walks in memory, and draws his listener with him, so that those with open minds can see as he sees, and feel as he feels.

And this is the tale he tells; ]

An Elven-maid there was of old, a wild maiden, one of the Silvan, who loved more than anything else the green trees and the shadowed lands of Middle-earth. She dwelt in a wood where the trees grew tall and their leaves golden, and the king of that wood loved her. He was Sindar, one of the Grey King's court before it fell, strong and bold. He courted her and courted her, and eventually she accepted his suit - but she feared the shadows that grew in her beloved wood, and so they decided to Sail West, to Elvenhome. The king went to prepare the way, but in the shadows of the mountain, she vanished, and he waited for her in vain, until the ship broke its moorings and was driven out to see. In despair he leapt into the water to swim back to shore...

[ And the song ends there, a low grief, a story of partings that were not even sure, Maglor's hands falling still on the strings, voice drifting into silence ]

Edited 2016-07-17 09:31 (UTC)

[Adalwolfe can see it. The golden wood with an elf maid winding her way through the trees; the shadow of a sinister mountain; the ship, elven make he knows yet nothing like anything he's seen in Thedas made by elves and the tall elf lord, jumping from its bow into the water when his love does not appear. He can see it all as if it's happening just in front of him and yet no magic is inherent in the song, no prickling of the hairs on his arms or at the back of his neck. Nothing.]

That's amazing.

[He doesn't speak until the last note fades from the air, finding it disrespectful to interrupt even that last lingering vibration. Perhaps it's part of the song's power, or perhaps Hawke simply feels for the pair in the story. Maybe both.

He wrestles with what to say, to reveal he felt no magic or to ask the questions the story brought to mind. Finally, he decides.]

Did he ever find her?

Thank you. [ He bows with a small smile, pleased as any artist who is appreciated.

But the question gets a shake of his head ]

We do not know - the storm was severe, that day, and the waves high - if he came ashore, he did not come ashore at the harbor, and none saw him. Both of them are presumed dead, for none have seen them since. If so, then they are, at least, reunited in the Halls, but in Middle-earth, we have no word of them.

[The Halls... must be the elf's version of the Maker's side. Interesting, and something he files away for later.]

It's funny, if you were a Thedosian minstrel, I would take a tale like that as just a legend, but the way you sing it I have no doubt that it's true. And I sensed no magic, either. I saw exactly the story you painted, but no magic at all was used.

[He leans back in his chair, still looking at Maglor curiously.]

Where did you learn such a skill? How was it taught?

[ Maglor quirks a wry smile at him ]

Well, I never met either - but I knew very distantly Amroth's father. [ If you call being one of the guys responsible for helping to slaughter Amdir's people "knowing" ] And they are right about the elven blood in the house of the Princes of Dol Amroth, although I never met the ellith who was responsible. So yes - history, for me, rather than legend.

[ He shrugs a little ] Any elven bard worth their salt can do what I did - although I admit I am widely considered one of the best. But... I was born hearing the Song of the world in my ears - it was only inevitable that I give it voice.

Your world sings?

[Maybe he's taking that a little bit literally but considering the place he's in is also considered impossible by the standards of Thedas, he's not taking any chances.]

That must get noisy.

[ Maglor waggles his hand in what is apparently the multiversal sign for "sort of" ]

That... is probably the closest word I have for it. It was born of Music, you see, and to those who know how to hear it, still the Song sounds, which both upholds and underpins the world. My folk are tied closer to it than Men, and so we may learn - or in my case, be born - knowing how to hear it. And to know the Song is to know the World, and one can... coax it, if you like, to do certain things.

[ A wry smile ] But for me, aye - it is, indeed, quite noisy.

You've lost me. It just sound very metaphorical, even if I know you mean it literally.

[He smiles though, encouraging and self-deprecating at the same time. He wants to learn, but he's entirely out of practice with a lute after being on the run for so long and they're both completely out of context in the fleet.]

There are just some ways in which elven society - societies I should say - interact with the world that are far enough different from humans as to be incomprehensible to us. I'm not sure I'll ever understand what it is to 'hear the song of the world'. I'd ask you to teach me, but as it's not magic and I am no elf, I'm not sure it would work.

[A beat, then-]

Also we're in space.

Forgive me - I fear I am not the best at explaining, either. [ Maglor shrugs at him wryly ]

I suppose that is true, but we are not that different in the end, I think. After all, we feel and we grieve and we love, all the same.

[ He laughs softly at that ]

So we are - this is the clearest I have ever heard the stars Sing.

True enough. I'm not saying elves and humans can never intermingle or anything of the sort; one of my closest friends is an elf. I only mean there are certain cultural barriers, like anywhere. Even here, among only the humans, for some of them I have no idea what they're talking about because their world is so different than mine.

[He shrugs.]

It just means more chances to learn. Especially when there's little to do but float through the black.

[He rubs his chin, raking fingers through his short beard.]

Now the stars singing, that I've heard of. There's an Orlesian composer where I'm from who claims to write the 'music of the spheres'. It's nice to listen to, but I'm sure it's nothing like what you hear.

[A wry grin, brought on by the ridiculousness of some chamber musician claiming he can hear the stars and write the music they sing to him. Malgor he might believe that of, but not a ridiculously overstuffed minor noble in a gaudy mask.]

We are better for the mingling, I think, although it brings grief, also. [ Maglor nods, eyes going a little distant in memory ]

We benefited greatly from their strength and courage, and suffered great hurt from their betrayal - but then, so did they. And still, one of the greatest of our heroes, Earendil the Mariner, is one of the Peredhel - Halfelven - who has both mortal and immortal kin. His line has done and will continue to shape the fortunes of our world.

[ Maglor shakes his head and focuses on Hawke again with a wry grin ] Well now, without knowing what he hears, I cannot say if what we here is alike! For all you know, he might have the skill as well!

True, but I doubt it. Orlesians are full of pomp and bluster usually. Or at least the nobles are.

[He dismisses that with a wave of his hand. He's literally never met an Orlesian of any standing who didn't put on airs and at best look down their nose at everyone around them and at worst try to kill him. He has a few prejudices because of it.]

I'm curious; Elves where you're from, they're immortal?

You said "usually". [ Maglor points out, amused ]

You never know - perhaps pomp and bluster might hide things they prefer not to advertise!

[ He nods ] For certain definitions, yes - we can certainly be killed, but we are tied to the world, and so long as it exists, so also do we. From a physical standpoint, our physical ageing slows to essentially a standstill by our fiftieh year or so, and our fea - our spirits, or souls, I suppose, if we are slain, go to the Halls of Waiting, from whence we may walk again in flesh, once healed.

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damnit internet let me post this

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1/2 sorry

2/2

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