Justice for the Forest-Beasts

Chapter Seventeen - In Which the Party Becomes Quiet

The group spent the rest of the night cramming themselves full of champagne and bite-sized snacks from the dining hall. Petra didn't really want to drink, and no one pressured her. More for them, Estelle figured. She and the rest of the group danced and chatted happily until Lucian began to seem uncomfortable and overwhelmed. He was making more noises than usual, and his fidgeting began to seem uncontrollable.

"Let's go upstairs and take a break where it's quiet," Estelle suggested.

The rest of the group agreed, and they followed Estelle upstairs to the second floor. Just reaching the top of the staircase, Estelle could feel the difference in both stuffiness and volume once again.

"Thank you," Lucian signed to Estelle.

"Don't worry about it," Estelle signed back.

"Where are we going?" Petra asked. The twins were still walking idly down the hallway, with Rain, Aravis, and Petra simply following behind them.

"I was thinking about taking you all to the music room," Estelle said.

Rain made an odd sound, which Estelle assumed was of excitement. "You play more song?" xe asked.

"I think I'd rather not," Estelle said, "I'm done playing any instruments for the evening."

The group entered the music room, and Estelle turned on the overhead light. It was a somewhat small room, by the twins' standards. Its walls were covered in an odd brown material, which did a good job of muffling sound, so no one in any other rooms could hear music being played in the music room. Guitars, ukuleles, violins, and other such instruments hung on the music room's far wall. Closer to the door, shelves lined the wall, holding black cases in various sizes. The largest cases were at the bottom, and the tiniest were at the top. A piano stood in the center of the music room, facing away from the door. A book of sheet music was still on its stand, having not been put away with the rest of the sheet music in the small bookcase on the wall near the door. On the other side of that bookcase, there were drums, xylophones, and marimbas, in a variety of sizes.

"Petra, Rain, do you play any instruments?" Estelle asked curiously.

"I do," Petra said. She merrily made her way over to the shelves of instrument cases, "I played the piano and violin in school, but I'm learning to play the flute now. The flute is definitely my favorite; It sounds so pretty."

"I play a wooden flute," Rain said, "I like to play drums more."

"The Queen doesn't want any of us to learn to play the drums," Aravis complained, "Not elegant enough for her, I guess."

"That's a shame. I've heard some fancy drum-playing in the courtyard," Petra said. She grabbed one of the small cases off the shelf, then opened it. Inside, there was a flute separated into its three pieces. She quickly assembled it, before turning to the twins, "How often are these things cleaned?"

"Not enough," Lucian signed, before Estelle jabbed him in the side with her elbow.

"They're cleaned after every use, which does mean that you'll have to clean it after you use it, too," Estelle said.

"You got it," Petra said, smiling softly.

Petra brought the flute up to her mouth and blew softly. The flute made a rather strong sound, although Estelle knew flutes to be very quiet instruments. Using her test note, Petra played a short, jolly tune for the rest of the group. They enjoyed the song, and there was a hint of pride in Petra's smile when the song ended.

"Oh, can I try?" Rain asked, xyr eyes bright with excitement.

Petra hesitated, but answered, "Of course!"

She quickly wiped off the mouthpiece with the rag in the flute's case, then handed the flute over to Rain. Xe positioned the flute awkwardly and took a deep breath in preparation. Xe began playing part of a song the twins had heard when they visited Rain's family in the north. Rain couldn't hold a tempo quite like the rest of xyr family, but the song didn't necessarily sound bad.

"Beautiful!" Estelle said, once Rain had lowered the flute from xyr mouth.

"Your way of playing is so wild and unique," Petra said.

"That's one way to put it," Aravis remarked with a mischievous smirk. Estelle quickly glared his way, but Aravis barely acknowledged it.

Rain struggled to take the flute apart, so xe handed it off to Petra, who dismantled it, cleaned it, packed it neatly in its case, and returned it to its spot on the shelf.

"What about you, Aravis?" Petra asked, "Are you gonna play something?"

"I could, I suppose," Aravis said. He strolled over to the far wall and lifted a violin off of its stand. He picked up the bow, moving more gently than the twins had ever seen. He turned towards the group, then played a quick tune. Aravis was not musically gifted, and his song was messy and squeaky. "How's that?" he asked afterwards, returning the violin and bow to their proper places.

The group gave their compliments as Aravis bowed. "What's next on the tour?" he asked.

Estelle hesitated, having nothing planned. "We don't really have anything fun on this floor. All the fun stuff is on the first floor."

"We only have an hour or so left, anyway," Petra said, "We can just go back downstairs and wait for all the nobles to leave. It shouldn't be long."

"Alright," Estelle said. She led the group out of the music room, "By the way, Petra, do you think you could keep Rain at your house a little longer?"

Petra scratched the back of her neck, avoiding eye contact with Estelle as she pretended to think, "Well, I suppose so. I think, at least. I can bring xem home with me, and I'll ask my moms. It's up to them, but they'll probably be fine with it."

"Thank you so much, Petra," Estelle said, "It really does mean so much to us—I hope you know that. If it weren't for you, we'd probably be trying to keep Rain in the servants' quarters, and I can't imagine that'd be easy."

"Don't worry about it," Petra said, "It's fun to have another person in the house. It's always been just me and my moms, you know."

The conversation faded when the group reached the staircase and strolled back to the Grand Hall. It was always a whole lot emptier after the fireworks. Many guests would go outside to watch them, then they'd simply leave for the night once they ended. Late at night, the people in the Grand Hall were mostly younger nobles, who didn't get tired as quickly as the older ones.

It wasn't long before the grandfather clock rang out through the Grand Hall exactly twelve times. With that, the party was officially over, and people began to meander over towards the exit with a bit more haste. Petra waited with the twins, Aravis, and Rain in the Grand Hall until most of the crowd was gone. Then, she hugged Estelle, Lucian, and Aravis each goodbye. Rain, too, hugged everyone goodbye, though xe hesitated to hug Aravis, since the two didn't know each other very well.

"Let's try to meet tomorrow, at the courtyard," Estelle said, "I don't know what time, but we'll try for noon. I don't know what our punishment will be, so I can't really promise anything."

"That's okay," Petra said, "We'll be there at noon. Hopefully, we'll see you tomorrow."

Rain waved goodbye as xe and Petra made their way to the castle's exit.