Beyond All Part 1 ( The Searches)

Chapter 9

Lyrics and Chords

Lapisa sat on her bed, tuning her instrument. It was basically a keytar but with a longer neck and guitar strings. In Unitatis it was known as a Citharem

She had got it just right when she heard a knock on her door.

" Who is it?"

" Guess."

" Planta!" She said, then opened the door.

The two hugged and greeted each other.

" I'm so happy to see you, I heard about what happened when you guys tried to get on, are you alright?"

" Don't worry, All I had to was exert my ability some and they got the message to back off."

" Isn't that going a bit far?"

" Don't worry, I only used enough to push them back some. Besides, they were insane, trying to grab at me and one even tried cutting off my tail."

" Fuck. Wait, can't you regrow it though?"

" That's not something I'm willing to test."

" Never mind that, what have you been up to?"

" Tuning my Citharem, writing song lyrics, you know, the usual. What about you?"

" I just enjoyed the two weeks I had off with Saliso and Luxy."

" Did you do any work during your time off?"

" Why would I? It's called time off for a reason. Hang on, how much time did you spend with Clayton and Terry?"

" A little."

" Damn it, Lapisa! We took time off just so we could spend time with our families. Why would you just spend that time working?"

" I knew you'd get like this. Look, I appreciate your concern about my relationship with my family. But everything is fine between us."

" So, if I asked Clayton or Terry about it, do you really think they would say the same thing?"

Lapisa responded with silence.

" I thought so."

" If you were just going to lecture me, why did you even bother coming here?!" Lapisa asked, raising her voice some.

" I'm not trying to, I just want to help and spend time with you. We've been friends since we were kids, wouldn't you be concerned for me if the roles were reversed?"

" Yeah, I would. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

" And I'm sorry I talked down to you, I didn't mean to. But, why don't you ever try taking some time off? You don't want to overwork yourself."

" You've known me long enough to understand how my mind works. I'm not like you, I can't just turn my talent on and off like you can. I forget things easily. So, when song lyrics come to me, I need to write them down before they slip my mind."

" That's why I'm here to help you with them," Planta told her smiling.

" I can always count on you," Lapisa said, then hugged her.

" And I can always count on you. Just promise me that you'll spend time with us not involving work during this cruise, okay?"

" Fine, I promise. Do, you want to see the lyrics I wrote so far?"

" I'd love to!"

" Take a look at this!" She said, excitedly showing Planta the lyrics she had written down.