Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 132: Tradeoffs

"Don't be ridiculous. That would defeat the purpose," said Mardalan. "They must be restrained and humiliated so they understand why what they have done was wrong and so they will not do it again."

Belinda shook her head. "They have to be able to use their hands to play instruments. Unless you'd prefer to have them singing only, but I'm not going to be able to do as much with their singing."

"We have never had singers before," said Mardalan. "But we must be open to what change we can find, if we are to survive. They have taught me that. I shall return." To Corrie's surprise, she walked off to the crowd of faeries that was milling about and began to speak softly to some of them. Was she actually asking for their opinion? That didn't seem like the kind of ruler she'd been before.

"Girl," said a harsh voice, making Edie, Corrie, and Belinda all jump. After a moment, Corrie realized that it was actually Feloc speaking; his voice was so rough and strange-sounding that she hadn't recognized him. She wondered what had been done to him. He was standing with his hands on the bars, his muzzle pushed out between them, glaring at Belinda.

"I have a name," said Belinda.

"Be lin da," he said, then smiled, a grin that was made all the more eerie by the flecks of dried blood adorning his white teeth. His blood, or someone else's, from before he'd been put in the cage? "You know this is absurd," he said, his voice still rough and punctuated by brief coughs. "You can't teach us to make music in this tiny little cage. And we're not human like you. We can't learn music right. We need human musicians. Why don't you let us out of here?"

"That doesn't sound like a good idea," said Belinda. "Corrie told me what you tried to do."

"If you think you need human musicians," said Edie, "you probably shouldn't have gotten rid of the ones you had, should you?"

His muzzle wrinkled in what seemed to be a snarl, though he made no sound. Edie stared back at him, apparently unperturbed.

"Even if you were able to talk your way out of this with them, Feloc," said Professor Lal, "I am still here. Do not forget that."

"And you're on her side?" he scoffed.

"You know what side I am on, Feloc." The professor crossed her arms and stared unblinkingly at him. After a moment he looked away.

A few sounds emerged from the keyboard. Corrie turned her head to see that Siffyd had managed to brace it between her body and the wall of the cage and hit the keys. She looked very awkward, with her elbows sticking out to the sides, but she was able to hit some of the keys. She shook her head. "I've never heard an instrument like this before."

"There wasn't one of these in the group of musicians that I saw before," said Corrie, thinking quickly. "But the other instrument Belinda has was being played by someone. A man."

"May I try it?" asked Siffyd, turning her head to look at Belinda.

"Sure!" said Belinda with a grin. She quickly opened the violin case and tightened and rosined the bow. "I'll just play a little bit and tune it," she said. She lifted the violin to her shoulder and the bow to the strings and played a series of short notes, fiddling with the little silver things on the end every time. Corrie couldn't tell the difference between the first notes and the last ones, but Belinda seemed happy.

She and Siffyd traded instruments, and to encouraging nods from Belinda, Siffyd lifted the violin in the same position that Belinda had and scraped the bow over the strings. It made an awful noise and she jumped.

"It always sounds like that at first," Belinda reassured her. "It will get much better with practice."

"Oh, don't tell me you're going along with this," spat Feloc. He had turned to put his back against the wall of the cage and seemed to be glaring at the violin.

"Why not?" said Siffyd with a trace of irritation. "It's better than sitting in this cage and watching everyone else have a good time. At least I'll have something to do."

"You just want to get on Mardalan's good side in the hope she'll let you out."

"And why not?" Siffyd aimed a halfhearted kick at Feloc. It didn't connect. "Better than you, growling and snapping at everyone and only making your punishment worse. Besides, I know better than to listen to you now."

"Why did you do what he wanted in the first place?" Edie asked. "Why mess with us?"

Siffyd looked like she was going to speak, but before she could say anything, Mardalan returned. "We will not have any singing," she announced. "It is very unpopular. We will have strings and... and black and white things."

"Keyboard," said Belinda. "I think Siffyd has claimed the violin, so this will be Feloc's."

"No," said Feloc.

"No?" said Mardalan, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows.