symphony

[isthisart]

The day of the party approaches. Linya learns a Barrayaran-original solo piano symphony, adds some flourishes of her own where the composer has marked that it may be played "freely", memorizes the whole thing, and arranges to be playing it on the grand piano when party guests file in on the day of. She smiles and nods at them and takes note of how they arrange themselves in the room; there are thirteen minutes in the piece unless she decides she needs an extra three (if there seem to be a lot of stragglers; if there isn't a good path to the people she wants to meet and around the people she wants to avoid) and takes the repeat at the end to prolong it.

She doesn't wind up taking the repeat; the end of the symphony without it has her playing the final chord when Lord Auditor Vorthys is nearer than anyone she's hoping to evade. She counts out the beats, holds for a moment longer, and then lifts her hands from the keyboard. She has decided that given her choice of titles she's going to address this particular guest as -

"Professor Vorthys."

Comments

[isthisart]

"Quite a bit. And the piano in particular was my instrument because if I'd chosen something that is not played in a stationary fashion I'd have been expected to learn to dance at the same time, and I have been known to fall over while changing direction at speed, which is very embarrassing in a haut constellation."

[first_loyalty]

"Oh," she says sympathetically. "Well, doubly clever, then."

[isthisart]

"Thank you. The drawback is that I don't operate as well solo - I can produce pleasant sounds for a few hours without any cues, and I can read music, but I'm accustomed to a musical environment I can't readily duplicate here. My bandmates weren't close personal friends, but we could read each other and it was fun. If something similar is available to be had here - well, for one thing, it's anyone's guess if they'd have me, and for another I haven't managed to locate them."

[first_loyalty]

"Oh. I'm musically hopeless, or I'd volunteer," says Madame Vorsoisson.

[isthisart]

"I appreciate the thought regardless. At least when I moved in here there was a piano that no one minded my retuning. And it's not like I can't retrain for solo playing insofar as I want music to go on occupying my spare time."

[first_loyalty]

"Well, that's not so bad, then. If you wanted to take up, I don't know, companionable gardening, I might have a little more to offer."

[isthisart]

"How does one companionably garden?" wonders Linya.

[first_loyalty]

"I don't know, I only just invented the phrase."

[isthisart]

"Ah, a pastime unfettered by tradition. I don't think I even know for sure what activities principally constitute gardening. Weeding, I suppose? Planting things? Depending on the time of year."

[first_loyalty]

"Yes. And planning, of course, and going out and getting things to plant - where I grew up we often had to do a lot of soil enrichment before Earth life would even grow, but here that's been less of an issue. And watering and otherwise caring for the plants. Once they are planted."

[isthisart]

"And in gardens I'm familiar with there is often non-plant decoration around the plants - stones, water features, that sort of thing? Does that count as gardening?"

[first_loyalty]

"Yes, I suppose so."

[isthisart]

"And then of course," continues Linya with a perfectly straight face, "if one has planted any carrots, at the appropriate stage of development one must teach them to tapdance."

[first_loyalty]

...

Madame Vorsoisson cracks up.

[isthisart]

Linya beams.

[first_loyalty]

Ekaterin beams back.

[isthisart]

"Where is it that you typically teach carrots to dance?" inquires Linya.

[first_loyalty]

"Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with dancing carrots."

[isthisart]

"Aha. Where is your dancing-free garden, then?"

[first_loyalty]

"Oh - not too far from the capital. Just a few hours by groundcar, and much less by air. We moved recently, for Tien's new job."

[isthisart]

"Miles is going to teach me to fly a lightflyer but it's a little hard to arrange in the middle of the city. I don't know how to operate a groundcar either, but I tend to go with a bodyguard when I leave the house anyway and I suppose some of them can drive."

[first_loyalty]

"I can't imagine needing a bodyguard."

[isthisart]

"It took some getting used to. I used to go most everywhere outside constellation grounds in a force screen attached to a float-chair, but I gave it up when I got married. There I didn't expect to be attacked, it was mostly just a haut-lady status symbol thing - here, there is the risk that someone will ignore the fact that I am unarmed, a noncombatant, female, married to a Vor, etcetera, not to mention the fact that the war has been over since well before I was born, and decide that violence is the answer to their - confusion."

[first_loyalty]

"I hope no one does that," she murmurs.

[isthisart]

"Yes, so do I. But at any rate I take an Armsman along when clothes shopping or what have you. I can't help but wonder if they're bored - nothing requiring their protection has come up yet - but it seems rude to ask."