Discordant Harmonies 3: Measure of Resistance

Chapter Eighteen

No matter what he tried to do, Géta couldn't distract himself. He'd tried writing to his mother, then made the bed. After the bed was made, he tried writing to Alénil, but that went about as well as his letter to his mother had gone, so he now stood fiddling with his clothes in the wardrobe. Even now, he wasn't doing anything. Just aimlessly opening and closing the drawers, shuffling his and Téus's hung garments on their hangers along the bar. Their cloaks had gotten shoved to the back of the bottom shelf, and now he noticed Téus apparently owned a pair of slippers. He'd never seen the other musician wear them. Or the robe Téus had draped over the headboard.

Géta finally gave up trying to find distraction and went to sit on the bed. He propped his back on the headboard, using his pillow for cushion, and stared at the door across from the foot. Willing Téus to return from his first official amplification exercise didn't work, either, but at least this way the time passing didn't stretch across Géta's nerves. He wanted the other musician to return before he had to go to lessons, though he didn't check the time obsessively. The quiet tick of the clock was reminder enough of his limited amount of free time.

He was also trying to ignore a fear that had risen when Esqué had come to fetch Téus after breakfast. Géta supposed he felt how Asthané had felt about his own initial reluctance to accept the Gifts he'd been Bestowed. Though Téus's reluctance hadn't been as great as Géta's, it had been present, and Géta was wise enough to know just because he thought the other boy's reaction not as vehement as his own didn't mean Téus's reluctance wasn't just as strong as his own had been at first. He couldn't help but consider that Téus may ask to be Abrogated after his first training session.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Esqué stepped aside, gently urging a very ill-looking lyre-player into the room the two musicians shared. Téus didn't even greet Géta. He crawled onto the bed and flopped face down in miserable silence, feet hanging off the foot. Esqué shut the door.

"May I sit, Géta?"

He nodded, pulling his legs back to tuck his feet under his knees. Instead of sitting in the vacated space on the bed, Esqué fetched the chair from the writing-table and put it right beside the bed before sinking onto its seat with a deep sigh. He unslung the satchel he wore and passed it to Géta.

"In this are food for Téus and music I wish you both to learn, Géta. There are going to be several duties you two may need to amplify in concert for, beginning with the Summoning of the Wall we need around the post."

As he accepted the satchel, Géta nodded. "How did Téus do this first time?" He set the satchel on his lap and wrapped the strap around one hand from wrist to fingertips.

"Téus is, in his own way, as dutiful as you are, Géta." Esqué's lips turned up slightly, in what Géta thought to be an expression of approval. "I would also like you to introduce him to the music you have composed for best Gift function, if you have not already. This also I would like you two to play together as needed. If Utevsko's forces are as ill-led as they have been in the past, I do not expect to need your tandem skills very often, but I want you two to be prepared in the event your joint assistance becomes necessary."

He nodded again. "I showed him what I've composed, and he's been practicing it already."

"Good, Géta. I will ensure you two have hours together to practice each day. It will not be long, probably not longer than two, so you must use the time wisely, but you _will_ have all the time I can guarantee. When would you prefer to have these hours?"

"It doesn't matter to me, Esqué." Géta wrapped the satchel's strap around his other hand now. "Whenever you can put them in."

"Very well, Géta. I will also schedule Mages for you two to assist during those hours, since Téus is already familiar with your compositions." The Proxy rose and returned the chair to the writing-table. On his way back to the door, he paused to pat Géta's shoulder, looking down on him with another faint smile. "Now you take care of your sweetheart."