Peek: Slash

Simple notes drift through the tunnels as the earth elemental gets familiar with the lute Tiny gifted him.  It sounds completely different from the snippets of music he sometimes hears through the bond with the Composer.  He's known from shortly after his creation that the Composer had a special role to give him.

The Composer was uncertain if Slash would be up to the task, and if he's honest, Slash wasn't sure either.  He was allowed to simply explore Composer Thedeim's territory, to see if anything else might catch his attention or inspire.  He supposes something did, too.

His fingers wander the strings as he thinks back.  The bat scion was directing some digging.  As an earth elemental, Slash could make it go much quicker, and so decided to join in.  And the Composer sang.  He's tried asking the Voice about the song, but even he can't give much more information.  It's a song both melancholic and somehow triumphant, of someone in a bad situation.  Yet, instead of succumbing to despair, they work hard at their impossible task.  They're not quite accepting the poor bargain, yet not outright rejecting it, either.  The Voice knows the words, but they don't give much extra detail, except that it's about mining.

It's also a much different song than what Slash hears when the Composer usually thinks about him.  Those songs are full of energy and life, beautifully-complex melodies played on harsh instruments.  Songs of danger, songs of life, songs of battle.  The axe the Composer is creating is supposed to be able to create those kinds of sounds.  His fingers pick notes faster as he imagines bringing those songs to reality, and he winces as he notices.

No, this lute is not for those songs.  And yet, there are songs he hears sometimes that could fit.  Some are simple little tunes that often serve as jokes, or drinking songs or even nursery rhymes.  But there are also haunting ballads, beautiful and sorrowful.  His fingers stumble along the strings as he tries to play them, his inexperience not letting him even manage a pale imitation.

He shakes his head to clear it, choosing to focus on what he can manage, instead of what is still so far out of his reach.  He remembers back to the digging again, the rhythm guiding his movements, and even guiding the movements of the ratlings.  The bat would even sing at the rock at times, and Slash could feel it trying to sing back to him.  While the bat used it to help guide the digging, Slash was inspired to a different use.

He knows that, to be the Bard he wants to be, he needs Thunder affinity, or Sonic, as the Composer calls it.  Whatever its name, he needs it.  He also knows affinities can be expanded.  The zombie scion is the most successful at it so far, and has given Slash the only advice he can: to pay attention.  The affinities are not so rigidly separate as they first seem.  Slash would like to argue that, but he's felt the proof in the very earth around him.  With the right circumstances, the stones will sing.  If simple stones can sing, he can sing.

He reaches deep into his Earth affinity as he plays one of the simplest songs he's heard from the Composer, about the stars in the sky.  It doesn't have the kind of deep wonder of so many of the other songs, but the simple notes loop easily, letting him almost meditate.  He can feel the movement of the earth around him.  The beat may be slower than most would notice, but it's still there.  He works to slowly bring the beat up a bit around himself, even as he slows the beat of the music he's playing.

Fittingly enough, he knows he needs to bring them into harmony if he's going to attain Sonic affinity.