Unalmis Raxëlilta and
Iole Ishen
A little light Evening Entertainment. For fun. And for friendship.
Set in September - Open.
“
I’m fairly certain we’re not meant to be in here ..”
Iole ought to have been suspicious when he offered to walk her home. If it had been a stranger, she would never have even entertained the notion. But knowing .. actually, she ought to have known better with
Unalmis as well. She certainly knew that trespassing was bad, despite all her friend’s insistence that the doors had not been locked, which meant that it was not breaking and entering. It was only entering, and that was not a crime. He said. Still dubious, she was rather more concerned with letting him go forth unsupervised than she was worried about either of them getting caught. Or worse, both of them .. How had he ever .. no, no. She knew exactly how he had managed to talk her into coming .. two circles further than where he had promised to escort her. This had been a definite mistake. But he was very hard to say no to. The young woman glanced from one side to another of them, before making the further grand mistake of raising her eyes high. The vast domed ceiling filled her with awe, awe in the sense of wonder and intimidation.
Nal’s hand making contact with hers, stole her attention back from the grandeur of it all, but she remained wide-eyed.
“
Trust me, will you ?” he said, in that way he always did. “
This is important,” he had decided and she knew better than to try and debate the matter. Best to simply get whatever he had set his mind on this time over with, as soon as ever possible. So that they could get out of there, and far from any risk of trouble ...
“
Wow,” the young man had stalled, long enough to admire their surroundings himself now.
“
Yes, it is .. extremely wow. And now you’ve seen it so ..” she agreed, turning foolishly to revel in that wow for just a moment. When she turned back, he was not where she had left him. “
Nal !” she called out, as loudly as she dared to. With no wish to disturb the scene that stood so far removed from anything they were accustomed to. “
No ! Don’t ! Get down ! Come on ..”
It was far too late for to think better of it now.
Unalmis had chosen to selectively hear her say ‘don’t get down’ .. even as he had strolled across and sat down then upon the front edge of the stage. This managed, he let both legs dangle with a stupidly satisfied look on his face. Glancing nervously over her shoulder,
Iole checked that they were still alone. There were lights .. which of course he’d set to light. And when she had protested, he had only pointed out they might very well have an accident if they couldn’t see where they were going. This was such a bad idea. Hastening over to try and catch his foot with her raised arm from below, the young woman glanced up, to note her friend’s head was bowed, hands resting in his lap. When she whispered his name, it was as though he did not seem to see her.
“
Have you ever felt like nobody was there ?” **
Unexpected. What was he .. was he .. singing ?
Iole fell back onto her heels where she stood, completely taken by surprise. “
What are you doing ?” she hissed. It didn’t help at all.
“
Have you ever felt forgotten in the middle of nowhere ?”
He wasn’t asking. He was remembering. She knew those words as well as he did.
Trevadir had composed the song. She knew the meaning of those words. She knew this tune. She didn’t know at all what he was doing though ..
“
Have you ever felt like you could disappear ?”
“
Nal. Please ..”
“
Like you could fall, and no one would hear ?”
He leaned an arm back on either side to support him as he reclined then, throwing back his head so that the words were aimed at the ornate canopy far above.
“
Well, let that lonely feeling wash away
Maybe there's a reason to believe you'll be okay ..”
“
Someone is going to hear you !” she interjected, as though it would make any difference. Why, oh why had he never grown out of getting them into trouble ? They were going to be in so much trouble ..
“
'Cause when you don't feel strong enough to stand
You can reach, reach out your hand ..”
He was literally reaching out his hand, now. Extending and flexing all the fingers on that hand, to encourage her join him. The young woman braced where she stood and resolved to hold her ground. Whatever this was …
“
And oh-oh, someone will come running
And I know, they'll take you home ..”
The song fell away as the prompt intruded. “
Come on, Leelee. You know you want to ..”
She most certainly did not .. want to. Not outside of dreams, not where there were repercussions. Undaunted, he watched her shaking her head, he waited for her to rise up regretfully from the seat which she had only hovered over, unsure if she dared to sit. He knew .. even before she came over, even if she were as slow as though these were her first steps ever .. only to shake her head at him. She found her way onto the stage in his wake, convinced that she was only going to drag him away.
“
Even when the dark comes crashing through
When you need a friend to carry you
When you're broken on the ground
You will be found.”
Still he sang, as easily as if he had been speaking to her, ignoring the uncertain expression that was her response.
Iole had no idea what to do with her face. And still he would not stop. Dedicating time and practice to an instrument like
Trevadir did, was very beyond the patience of
Unalmis, let alone the learning to read an entirely other language to understand quite what and how and when the sound should work to sound .. perfectly. But noise, and attention,
Nal certainly had no problem with.
“
So let the sun come streaming in
'Cause you'll reach up and you’ll rise again
Lift your head and look around
You will be found ..”
Against her best efforts
Iole fell into cahoots with it all, in the end. Fighting it was doing nothing useful anyway and had he not told her a thousand times ? If you’re going to be nervous anyway, might as well do something worth being nervous about.
“
You will be found,” she sang back. Meekly. She’d heard the boys messing around with the lyrics before now. Enough times to recall the chorus at any rate. With a shake of her head that she could not believe she was even entertaining .. this. Was this supposed to be fun ? She was terrified ! Somebody was going to find them. Somebody was going to come running alright. They were going to be arrested !
“
You will be found,” he repeated back to her. Before they took the last one together. “
You will be found.”
A slow clap of footsteps were no applause at all and yet the only audience which had come across the impromptu performance.
“
Well,”
Iole tucked in her lower lip as
Nal seized her hand and led her down off the stage to meet their critic. “
I think we have been found ..” she muttered, so embarrassed. He did not look surprised, least of all shaken by their discovery at all.
“
What is the meaning of ..?” the shadow began. “
Do you have any idea what time it is ? You can’t just wander in off the streets you know ? There are protocols. You have to reserve the auditorium for rehearsals if .. Let’s start with who are you, shall we ?”
The two young people waited for the onslaught of questions to stall, so that there might be chance to answer any of them.
Iole was not exactly sure what she could say at this point. She had more questions than answers herself. Fortunately, or maybe not, for her,
Nal rarely had a problem wondering what to say.
“
We are the auditory advisors, for the Trust,” he shrugged. “
Come to test out the acoustics, for the what-have-you .. , the benefit”
Their inquisitor removed and cleaned his eye glass while he regained his composure. “
And for whose benefit .. would that be ?”
Iole cast blue eyes toward the floor and fought a want to flee. But her hand was in her friend’s grasp and she could not be afraid. He was certainly not afraid. Why oh why was he not afraid ?
“
Why for the benefit of widows and orphans of course,” was the apparently obvious answer.
Unalmis offered a shock which suggested he was the one who ought to have been surprised. “
The trust is a charity which recognises the needs of our nation’s widows and orphans. That’s why .. ”
“
And who exactly runs this ‘Trust’ For the widows and the orphans ?” the enraged ‘janitor’ or well, he might as soon have been anybody really. He had not introduced himself at all,
Unalmis observed and so maintained his stance. “
You ?” the man all but exploded, in disbelief, after glancing the pair up and down.
“
Oh no. Gosh. That would be ridiculous,”
Unalmis all but laughed, and
Iole smiled, awkwardly beside him. “
Me ?” the young man shook his head. “
No. Our director .. directors ..are ... excessively talented musicians. They are very very busy of course. So I .. that is, we, are here on their behalf. To assess if your arena ..?”
“
Theatre ?” his friend whispered helpfully close to his ear.
“
Thankyou,” he grinned, with almost an ‘ahah’ for having cajoled her into participating, as he turned to take in
Iole’s face. An eyebrow was raised in amusement before the lead trespasser remembered the protest facing their unauthorised presence. “
Theatre,”
Nal corrected his explanation accordingly, and cleared his throat, to return to meeting their enquirer face on. “
To assess if it will be adequate .. for their charity benefit performance.”
“
Well,” the resident narrowed his eyes. “
I have never heard of … anything until now, about any of this. You will have to give me the details so that I can meet with your directors in person and discuss the specifics ..”
“
Oh of course. Naturally”
Unalmis nodded agreeably. “
If you have scroll and ink, I can write down all relevant name and contact details ..”
Of course the Ranger had not come prepared with such materials himself. And of course, the other fellow naturally had them about his person. He might have been
Lieutenant Brian’s brother .. or perhaps even some other trespasser, having his very own joke at their expense .. who could say ? Nonetheless, he allowed for the two young people to depart, and glanced over the given contact details .. thoughtfully.
“
Tell me,”
Iole almost tripped over the front step as they made good their escape. “
Did you have us come up here with this benefit your true motive the whole time ?” she narrowed her eyes in perfect mimicry of the man they had fled from. “
Or did you just make that up on the spur of the moment ?” she had to know.
“
What do you think ?”
Nal only grinned.
“
I think .. he’s going to kill you,” was the young woman’s honest opinion. “
They’re both going to kill you. Nal,” she tried rather undecidedly to take her hand out of his, but still made the impetuous fool face her at least. “
You can’t just go about volunteering people for things they don’t even know about.”
“
You were the one who said he’s all excited about the theatre,” was the unfazed retaliation. “
He’s been going on and on about it. You said ...”
“
I did not say for you to do this !” she wanted to make very very clear. “
And why did you go and get me involved in ..”
“
You were the one who keeps going on about getting him to speak to GrammyU,” was his answer. “
She will love this. She can help him with costume ideas ! And Eryn is forever saying about the state of that orphanage ..” a shrug. “
I just thought ..”
“
You didn’t think ..” she frowned.
“
I know, I know. Not my strong suit. But really, I don’t see what the problem is.”
Unalmis twirled
Iole where she stood, and then she did break his hold on her, stepping back a little determinedly. As though she had to decide whether she would take offence. “
Its something they’ll both enjoy,” he pointed out, as though to convince .. her at least. “
And.. well, if they really truly don’t want to do it, they have only to say so. They have only to say no ..”
“
To the widows and orphans ?”
Iole’s tone was weary and doubtful.
“
Trevadir would never disappoint the nation’s widows and orphans,”
Unalmis corrected her gravely, before raising up both hands before him, in apparent surrender. Though he did not stop nor show the slightest remorse “
All I’ve done is sow the seeds, that’s it. Its .. an opportunity. Neither one of the two of them have a job at the moment, no purpose or excuse and .. well, they have loads of free time. They both want redemption, and recognition for you know .. doing good deeds. And they both love making music, bringing joy .. its a good cause ..”
The last of the dim lights was muted from the Hall of song, an encouragement if any more were required to have the pair cease their converse upon the very steps. It did not discourage
Nal’s explanation. If anything, it was easier to express the next part of his confession without her seeing his face too distinctly.
“
I got to thinking some about Ryn,” the young Ranger’s voice was quieter than it had been, as though he had been replaced in the sudden shadow of the street outside, by someone with more common sense. Though it seemed quite unlikely. ”
How people, just like him, give their lives in service of this country all the time,” he made clear his thinking, the motive maybe ... “
Ryndir, Amarthel, so many others I can’t even … Why shouldn’t there be a benefit to help those who they leave behind ? To prove we’ve not forgotten them. To celebrate the lives which won’t be brushed under some carpet of war. They were people and they mattered. And somebody should .. ”
Somebody should .. say. Something. He couldn’t say though, not about the recent murders. The debriefing had not left him, though he’d left the Headquarters since then, of course. He could not share it, not properly. It was difficult to speak of. This was .. the only way he could think of to react to it. To do something. It felt as though if ever there was something that needed doing, it might be the likes of this.
“
Ryn would think it was a good idea,” he all but sulked as a conclusion.
“
He would,”
Iole admitted, not unhappily. “
So why don’t you just bring the idea to Trev, yourself ? Then he and Macardil could consider it. In their own time.”
“
Oh you know,” the excuses seemed prepared, and yet not far flung from reality. “
He’d be all .. ‘modest and rubbish and ‘nobody would want to listen to me’ blah blah blah. He wouldn’t take the idea seriously if it just comes from me.”
Nal kicked at nothing upon the street and then reached for his friend’s hands anew, both of them. “
But if the Chairman of musicality or whatever he is called comes a-knocking, and supposing already in his head that they’ll do it … well, they might just believe it then, that there are people who believe in them. Because they’ll be hearing about it from people who know something about all that .. stuff”
“
But i mean, you can’t just expect people to do what you want.” she reiterated, though, determined to be the voice of reason. Whispered as it might be, rather than raise up a ruckus on the street at this hour.
“
Even its what they want ?” he rolled brown eyes. “
Probably,” he relented. And then further.. “
Possibly ? They just haven’t realised it yet. They just need a little help.”
“
And are you going to ?” she demanded, regarding the young man rather seriously all of a sudden.
“
What ?” he confused. “
I already ..”
“
Are you going to help ?” the young woman enunciated, as though he were an idiot and required it broken down. “
You can’t just think up some wild idea and then hand over all the responsibility to people who never asked for it, and wipe your hands of it all. You started this …”
There was a moment, just a moment mind you, when
Unalmis seemed as though he was absorbing all that
Iole put to him. He glanced at his feet and seemed to be taking the time to mull it over. Then, as though the spell was broken, he began to walk away unconcerned.
“
Why don’t we see if they even want to do it first ?” he supposed, the dusk concealing a hint of mischief, though it soon became evident. As he added, very offhandedly, “
Honestly, Iole. I mean, you’re quite rushing ahead of yourself a little here, aren’t you ? They haven’t even said yet if they want to … ”
He knew instinctively to run, even before she began to give chase. But there was no real hurt in the ‘dispute’. They were as glad and merry as though they were still seven years old, pounding down the Circles and before long it was just another race. At any rate, he saw her home. A detour only, he would name it afterward. And what might come of it, if anything, would be up to others. It might come to nothing at all. Or something which might just make a difference. But that was not his decision to make. From small rocks cast, are avalanches begun. And just hopefully this one would do no damage. It was kindly meant at least, if somewhat optimistic. Time would tell.
(
@Rillewen @Arnyn)
** Lyrics borrowed from and therefore credited to the song -‘You will be Found' ; from the musical, ‘Dear Evan Hansen’.