Whisper Of The Free

Chapter 4 Music of The Wind

Olivette

He simpered and pulled out the bow and adjusted the violin and held it between his jaw and shoulder while using his arm to hold the neck. He closed his eyes allowing for his long eyelashes to be on full display. I'd be lying if I wasn't a bit annoyed that he had naturally long lashes. He looked peaceful at that moment and focused. The sun beamed a smile and it almost seemed like he had all the sun's attention.

His eyes peaked open and gazed at the strings as he released a sigh and began playing. It seemed like the whole world was watching him play with such grace. The wind blew and his hair followed the breeze revealing more of his face. The melody was soft and almost sad.

A few notes later he stopped. I clapped softly in amazement. A tinge of red began to rise on his face as he bowed jokingly. "Thank you, thank you."

I smiled, "Well you proved me wrong I suppose you can play."

He walked over to where he was sitting before carrying his instrument with him, "I'd hope so I've been playing since I was ten."

"How old are you now?" I questioned.

"I just turned twenty a month or two ago."

He was only two years older than me, I noted mentally. "So you've been playing for a decade?"

He nodded, "Yeah during school you have to pick an instrument and you learn to master it." I blinked at him for a moment, "You went to school?"

"Yeah, everyone does at least in Sherwood they do." He said as he rested the violin on his lap. I look down, "Here, only the rich get tutors and even then it's mostly how to kill wizards."

"You never went to school?" He inquired. I shook my head, "What do you learn in school?"

He pondered before speaking, "Well in Sherwood we have the basic academics and then many have the freedom to choose an elective for instance I chose to research about wizard culture."

"Why wizard culture?" I asked. "I thought it was interesting." He admitted with a shrug. "What else did you learn?" I questioned further, curious about this different view of the world.

"Well the mandatory classes we have to take are English, music, mathematics, and science." He explained. I nodded to show I was listening before asking, "What is mathematics?"

His eyes furrowed in confusion before relaxing in understanding, "It's a really complex way of using numbers to find measurements of various different objects or distances. It's confusing and many dislike it."

I slightly made an "O" with my mouth briefly understanding what the subject was. "Do you?" He tilted his head towards me, "Do I what?" I bit my cheek again to prevent myself from spouting how much of an idiot he was. "Do you dislike mathematics?" He blinked at me and looked down at his violin and traced the painted flowers, "Sometimes I do." I nodded.

We sat in silence for a moment. It wasn't awkward but peaceful. All I felt in his presence was comfort, like I was being given a hug from someone I loved. My stomach flipped when I realized my mind didn't retreat to Chet. In fact I hadn't even spared him a thought all day. I breathed in and guilt filled my lungs rather than oxygen.

It was Caspian who broke the silence, "You live with your parents?" I turned my head swiftly at the sudden noise and my hair followed, "Yes, I do."

"And I'd be right to assume that you live on a horse ranch of sorts." He mentioned.

"Kinda I wouldn't call it a ranch but we have stables and horses. We normally just tame horses for other people." I corrected.

"Horse tamers?" He put his hand to his chin and glanced at Rita who had laid down in the shade, "That explains the horses." I nodded in agreement before adding, "Yes, my family has been horse tamers since before the war."