Blood, Sweat, and Hanon - A Ranger's Apprentice fanfiction

Chapter Two - Alyss

Alyss dashes into her room, grabbing her violin case off her desk. Her roommate, Jenny, doesn't even notice her - she's sitting crosslegged on her bed with her eyes closed, wearing her headphones. Her drumsticks thud rhythmically against the rubber practice pad on the bed in front of her.

Alyss can't believe she forgot about orchestra auditions! She's not one of those girls who loses her head over boys and obsesses about crushes and makeup. But that brown-haired boy, Will Treaty, did something to her head she's never felt before. 

Keep your head in the game, Alyss, she tells herself sternly as she jogs along the sidewalk towards the Conservatory. You can't afford to get distracted. You are here to learn and to succeed. 

She runs through the big front doors of the main Conservatory building, heading down the strings studies hallway to the orchestra rehearsal room. Most of the other students are already there, and the room is full of the familiar sounds of string instruments tuning.

"Hey, I've never seen you before. You must be new!"

Alyss turns around to see a tall blond boy grinning down at her. She's not usually one to talk to strangers, but there's a friendly glint in his eyes that helps put her at ease.

"Yeah," she admits. "First year here."

"Nice," the says. "I'm George Carter." He tucks his viola under his left arm and transfers his bow to his left hand, freeing his right hand so he can first push up the glasses sliding down his nose, then shake Alyss's hand.

"Alyss Mainwaring," she says. "It's nice to meet you."

"Good luck in auditions, Alyss," he says.

"Thanks. You too."

Alyss finds an empty spot on the floor to unpack and sets down her violin case, unzipping it. She pulls her violin out, fitting her shoulder rest on the back, and takes out her bow, tightening it with a few quick motions. She tunes her strings with quick, practices movements, and begins to warm up. 

She plays a few smooth, slow scales, blocking out the students around her and the disquiet in her head by savagely focusing on using every last inch of her bow, feeling her bow arm go through its entire range of motion. Then she goes into arpeggios, paying attention to her intonation and the ease in her left-hand motion up and down the neck of her instrument. She's just begun a last-minute run of her audition piece when the room goes silent.

Alyss turns around and almost drops her violin. There she is. Pauline DuLacy. Only one of the best violinists in the world, and one of the most sought-after teachers. The auditions today are not only for orchestra placement, but for studio placement as well. 

Pauline DuLacy's voice rings out through the orchestra room.

"Good evening, students. My name is Pauline DuLacy, and I am the head of the string program here at Redmont Conservatory. I would like to take a minute to introduce some of my colleagues to you before I go over the audition protocols."

She gestures to a line of people standing behind her. Only the best and brightest in the string world. Alyss recognizes every single one of them - from the CDs stacked on the dresser in her dorm room, from interviews in music magazines, from the programs she's saved from her trips to see the Araluen Symphony with her Gran before she moved away to Seacliff.

Alyss listens in awe as Ms. Dulacy introduces the string faculty. She's always dreamed of this moment. She almost can't believe it's happening.

Alyss shakes her head, forcing herself to snap out of her dreamlike state. She absolutely has to focus. There's nothing she wants more than to study under Pauline DuLacy, but it will be incredibly difficult to get into her studio. The other students are highly competitive and highly skilled, and Alyss's audition is going to have to be perfect.