[Road to Najmi]

[mr_gaeta]

Once they're out on a road not pockmarked with stones and potholes -- or, at least, dotted with fewer of them -- the constant jostle of the cart settles into an easy, rolling rock from side to side.

Given his usual lack of sleep the night before, it isn't terribly surprising that that's enough for Gaeta to slip into a light doze, leaning against the back wall with his bag bunched up like a pillow.

Comments

[no_thief]

He's not the only one.

Curled up small among the bags, Kaya's watching silently as the bard plays.

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta catches her eye and smiles faintly.

He tips his head toward Azimar as if to ask, How long has that been going on?

[no_thief]

She shrugs, and smiles.

A complicated little run of notes in the middle of the song, and Azimar stops, makes a faintly irritated noise, and starts over from a few bars back.

[mr_gaeta]

-- That didn't sound too bad to him.

(Then again, Gaeta is not the musician of their ragtag bunch.)

He cants his head a bit, absently lifting his other hand to his mouth. A thoughtful crease forms between his eyebrows.

[road2najmi_npcs]

That same run of notes again, slower this time, and then again at the prior speed, and Azimar nods to himself.

And glances up to see Gaeta watching.

There's a momentary pause, and then a faintly self-deprecating smile. "I find myself unaccountably out of practice."

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta readjusts his position against the wall, striving to get a bit more comfortable. "I thought it sounded all right," he admits.

[road2najmi_npcs]

Kaya nods, silently.

"Do you know this song?" Azimar asks with interest, almost hopefully.

[mr_gaeta]

"I don't, no." Apologetic now.

And then a little rueful, "Which...probably negates my opinion a little."

[road2najmi_npcs]

"Ah well." A faintly theatrical sigh. "Most of the folk who hear it won't know it either. But I'll always know if I play it wrong, and then I shan't sleep until I've played it right."

His fingers move on the flute's stops, absently.

[mr_gaeta]

A soft exhalation, almost resolving into soundless, wry laughter. "Now that, I know," says Gaeta.

He shifts position again as his right knee twinges, otherwise ignoring it.

[road2najmi_npcs]

"Oh?" He shifts position slightly, leaning on his pack, propped up on one elbow.

[mr_gaeta]

He shakes his head.

"It's a long story," he says. "I, ah, did a lot of detail work when I served in the military."

Among other things.

[road2najmi_npcs]

"Ahh," he says, with a nod. "And as with music, so with the soldier's work?"

Struck by a thought, not waiting for an answer, he leans forward. "Did you by chance learn any soldiers' songs, when you served? I've never been able to collect more than a few."

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta lifts his eyebrows, slanting a swift glance in Kaya's direction.

"Nothing that's appropriate for mixed company," he says with a hint of a smirk. "Or that I think you'd understand without context."

Like the one about Starbuck that no one ever, ever sang to her face unless they wanted to be picking their teeth out of the grates.

[no_thief]

Kaya looks faintly put out by this, but doesn't protest.

[road2najmi_npcs]

Azimar heaves another sigh, and brushes back his hair with one hand.

"It's been some time since I've been able to collect any new songs," he explains sadly.

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta's mouth quirks in apology in response to Kaya. It shifts, quite easily, to Azimar a moment later.

"I'm not much of a musician anyway. Not -- like you, I mean," he amends.

[road2najmi_npcs]

"Well." His mouth widens in an irrepressible grin. "Few are. -- But do you sing at all? Your speaking voice sounds as though you might."

[mr_gaeta]

He hesitates, the smile fading.

"Sometimes, but it's not..." He trails off, trying to pick the best words, as he settles a hand on his right knee to quiet another twinge. "Really something I do publicly."

[no_thief]

"You do sometimes," Kaya points out, sounding a little uncertain -- not of the facts, but of how he'll take her saying it.

[mr_gaeta]

He glances her way. The cart strikes a rock, jostling his hand against his leg.

"Not that often."

No annoyance; no anger. It just...is what it is, the simple fact of the matter.

[road2najmi_npcs]

Azimar moves easily with the swaying of the cart, looking curiously at Gaeta.

"Would you, though? If I asked you to teach me one of the songs of your home?"

[mr_gaeta]

If Kaya weren't there, he could shrug it off with another lie, saying, all I know are the impolite songs. His fingers work at his knee, as if anticipating a deeper hurt.

"There is one," he says, quiet, cautious. "I...can't remember where I learned it. I think it's something I heard when I was a kid."

[road2najmi_npcs]

Azimar studies him for a moment.

Then, very quietly: "I'd be honored and grateful if you'd teach it to me."

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta's eyes slip closed. It nearly looks, for a moment, as if he's dozed off again.

And then his hand unconsciously tightens on his right leg, and he begins to sing.

"Alone she sleeps in the shirt of man
With my three wishes clutched in her hand..."

(It fills the entire cart. He may not claim to be much of a musician, but Gaeta undoubtedly sounds like one.)

"The first that she be spared the pain
That comes from a dark and laughing rain
When she finds love, may it always stay true
This I beg for the second wish I made too..."

As the song gains momentum, so does his voice, building to a sweeping crescendo on the final lines.

"But wish no more
My life you can take
To have her please just one day wake
To have her please just one day wake
To have her please...

Just one day wake."