Raine Sings an Aria

[Kaleb (Raine) he/him]

Raine: (Singing an enchantment while walking in the woods and looking for a friend)
“… where in the world have you been hiding? Truly you are missed…”
(I hear humming respond close by and head toward it.)
“There you are, Aria!”

Aria: “Ah!” (Aria was visibly startled by the sudden appearance of Raine, not expecting anyone to be in the forest, much less looking for her.)

Raine: “I knew if I went singing in the woods, you’d sing back. You doing alright? Many of us have been worrying about you going off on your own with all that’s going on.”

Aria: “I’m doing fine thanks.” (She smiles in a way that seems, strained and foreign to her face.)

Raine: “I brought some bread and juice and I say we eat and drink and if you feel like talking, I feel like listening. If you feel like listening, I feel like talking. If you don’t know how you feel, well we can figure that out too.”

Aria: (I feel like being alone, is what she thought.) “I don’t really know what I want… maybe to listen. I don’t wish to burden you.”

Raine: “Oh, I would be so grateful to tell you a story then:
Sirens use song magic, as you know, and we can combine our magic by singing together. As a wee siren, I loved to experiment with different harmonic tones, combining my voice and magic to family members and see the outcome. But the interval I would naturally gravitate to was a Tritone. Which is known as the Devil Tone. It’s half an octave away from another note. Have you ever see a play when something scary is about to happen they play a three note sequence: Duh Duh DUHHH…. That last DUHHH is a tritone.
It’s called the Devil Tone because it traditionally causes troubling or dangerous outcomes. The first time I combined with a tritone, my brother’s water wave spell became a dangerous squall. The next time, my auntie’s calling song to fish scared all sea life away for miles. My family would yell at me and tell me not to sing with them. My mother saw how I was beating myself up and feeling like a failure. She told me that all notes have worth, all intervals were made for a reason. But I kept silent for weeks, only singing to myself… alone.
Then a strange ship entered our home waters. It was full of hunters trying to capture sirens to sell into captivity. They had a siren in their hold already from another family and he led them to us in order to save his own. They attacked us with electrified metallic nets and my family countered with waves & confusion. But one of the nets grabbed two of my siblings and my mother’s voice rang out in terror and mine joined hers in fury at a tritone. The water she was sending on a wave attack became jagged spears of ice, skewering the ship and its riders alike. As they started sinking, the surviving crew tried desperately to surrender… but seeing the wounds their nets gave to family members, my grandmother spared their lives only to be taken to the Winter Court gathering for punishment… where they would face worse than quick deaths from us.
Ice was not a power my people knew they were capable of until I sang out the Devil Tone and I was joyously encouraged to keep singing, keep trying new things, from all of my family after that.”

Aria: “I apologize for what happened to your family, my father as well never wanted me to sing. Both my parents were great adventurers, once in a century greatness. I’m never quite sure as to why they had me, but even elves fear death and the loss of legacy I suppose. They wanted me to be an adventurer like them, which I am. But they wanted a copy not a parody. They wanted bards to sing songs about them, not one as their child. I loved singing as a child, my parents saw it as a pastime so never stopped me. As I got older and was about to be shipped off to school they laid out their rules, I would get good grades, be in at least 2 clubs, and be in either the fighter or ranger track. But at that point I had already chosen to study to be a bard. My mother was disappointed and my father got angry. Telling me I’d never amount to anything by doing so and how I wasn’t good at singing. Being a contentious 12 year old I felt like I needed to prove him wrong so after a bit of arguing I was able to convince them to let me sign up for the bard track. But I quickly learned how outmatched I was. My voice is just, weird. I was told by my voice teacher people had to make a conscious effort to turn on their vibrato, I have to make an effort to turn it off. People didn’t like how I sounded, if that wasn’t bad enough, choir was just one large popularity contest. Gossip abounded and the guys were constantly favored by our director. I never fit in, musically or socially.” (She looked into his eyes solemnly.) “I tried so hard Raine. But I can’t stop being me. It was awful. Kids talked about me behind my back. I don’t even think it was behind my back, they weren’t trying to hide it. There was one kid, the favorite boy of the director, who kept throwing his shoes at people. I was always scared they would hit me. He hated me. And he never got in trouble, the teacher encouraged him! There was another girl who was in charge of our social board and when we all went to solo and ensemble I was the only one who didn’t get a 1. If that wasn’t embarrassing enough she made a note of it on the board! She only put up people who got ones, she didn’t mention anyone else who got a two but me! I just wanted to have friends.” (Aria puts her head in her hands and begins to cry.) “I tried to be kind, I tried my best to learn the songs, I tried my best to stop being me! I just can’t. I’m so scared that you all hate me for who I am. But I know how foolish that is, I hate holding onto this hope that a group would accept me. I’m going to be honest, I don’t expect myself to come back to meadowmere. I hate being on the edge like this, when I was traveling on my own back in my home dimension I didn’t stick around for a long time in any one place, I made connections with people but they were quickly severed when I left. I cared about them just as I care for you all, but I can’t stand being so, awful next to you. You don’t deserve to have me next to you, I bring you all down. We don’t have time for being down. We need to be fighting the DeJardin with all we have, we have to be saving the people stuck there!”

Raine: “I feel like you have not been told this before, so please allow me: you don’t have to be anything other than yourself, and who you are is enough.
You’ve been let down in your past by people who should have been building you up and it takes great courage to overcome that.
I understand if you feel like you need to travel more to find your place. But, if you are worried that you’re not a good fit for Meadowmere, let me tell you that no one else thinks that. We cherish your presence, I thank you greatly for being my lookout recently while I was undertaking a task. Gladius is worried sick about you and looking everywhere. Your Gouda pals keeps asking after you and trying to contact you. So many of us are worrying after you and your well-being. I’ll send back any message you ask of me. But there are some things you need to know: war has come to our door. House Rousseau has given us less than 30 days to surrender or be attacked. A team is heading out of our friends to infiltrate De Jardin lands to rescue Arianna and Order children who are being imprisoned in a school. We are in need of every pair of hands available and you, Aria, have capable and caring hands. We want you with us.”
(Raine begins to head back) “Keep the food and water. You know where to find me if you need anything. Your decision, my friend.” (Exits)

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