Pokeking
Senior Member
Xenophon yios Calix
Location: Guild Hall
Interactions: Stan (
Genii
)Xenophon played the first handful of notes of a ballad he learned from his strange traveling companion Enrique. He crooned in his naturally robust voice, "Here comes the rain again, Falling on my head like a memory, Falling on my head like a new emotion". He gently puts his lyre back in its casing as if it was a baby being placed in its crib.
The minotaur looked at Stan, "Thank you. It is a gift from my sister in law. Present sister in law. She was just Lady Carmina at the time she commissioned it as a birthday present." His smile faded quickly when the bard asked, “Have you been playing long?”
One of the activities that gives me joy was born in times of sorrow. I was five years old at the time. Lysander yios Aldebaran was a vigorous male and had such a commanding presence. It started with a stumble. Nothing too suspicious, but then another one and another one. No obstruction like a loose carpet or stray rock. He just stumbled for no clear reason. Ovid's prognosis was grim. It was a disorder of bone and muscle, a wasting disease. Joints were starting to seize up and he became gaunt like a living skeleton. Father and the other counselors pleaded with him to depart this life with dignity by his own hand. He declined the request. His mind was still hearty and he could still get around even if there was difficulty. He lasted longer than Ovid's estimation, a full year. After Carmina turned 13, his heath declined greatly as if his body knew that he could pass on having seen his daughter become a young woman. He could no longer eat and was given simple broth. He knew the end was near.
We were in his bedchamber at the appointed time. My family was on one side of the bed and Teacher Ovid was on the other. The other counselors were in front of the bed. Father stood behind me and Altair who was also newly 13. I was six then. He held our shoulders firm and he asked me if I had seen death. I knew what death was, but I had never witnessed it. Carmina approached her father and kissed him on the forehead. She held dagger firm and plunged it into his heart to give him release. He gasped and moved no more.
Some days later, dignitaries came for the funeral from around Aldebaran and from the rest of Dreema including the king visited. As the pyre was lit by the newly ordained Lady Carmina to send her father back to the Primordial Flame, they played a hymn. It was overwhelming and I focused on the music. It was the lyre that caught my attention. Not drum or tin whistle, but the lyre. I watched the man play and my fingers strung the air. I tested its use and Ovid saw. He suggested to Father that I might have an aptitude for music. For the next few years, I practiced on the lyre used by the court musicians. That was until the Lady presented me one of my own.
Xenophon replied to Stan in a more cheerful tone, "Several years, about 16. In addition to playing the lyre, I am also a certified scribe. I can fight though. Not as well as my brother or father, but I am a reasonable warrior. I am skillful in the baxtrix" he indicated the two batons in the holster strapped to his back "and in grappling. The mission to escort Professor Hatkins caught my attention because I might employ my skills best there." Speaking of his baxtrix, "It would have been nice to gets some training in, but it appears to be raining."
