Winter's Song
Plot points/Scenes
Themes
Structure
Exposition
The One Clear Note
It always amazed him, even after all these years, how breathtaking the Music could be. Sometimes, when he'd close his eyes and open his mind to it, its symphonic beauty would flow over him and around him and through him, replacing all of his senses with the joy of Song.. and it was in those moments that Drasdoc O'Tanopolis felt most at peace. Though it often repeated its rhythms it never got old; each living thing sang its note brightly, as part of the harmony contrepuntal to the silences of the unliving things. With a trained ear, one could hear Saeria's Dream in vivid enough detail to walk blindfolded through even the most treacherous of environments and never set a foot amiss. With a trained ear and a practiced eye, one might know the heart of another. With the right application of Harmony, one might accomplish the miraculous.
While the magicians had an inkling of this, they fell short of true understanding when they sought only for power over things... a dissonant aim, to be sure. One had only to listen to understand that the Music was all about harmony. Now, as he lay under a tree gazing up at the stars beside a crackling campfire, Drasdoc opened his mind's ear and let his consciousness drift along the songlines which crisscrossed the countryside, whistling complementary melodies to the symphony the living mountains around him sang with such vital profundity.
The crepuscular creatures of the mountains did their business; the nocturnals would soon be on their jobs, and by now the last of the daylight creatures would have found their way home. Drasdoc stretched his long legs, felt the warmth of the fire on the sole of his foot, watched the stars fade in, on cue, as the worlds turned on in perfect time. Breathtaking, always.
He heard it then, faintly at first. A potent, brassy, resounding note from the East which crested hills and ridges, rolled into valleys and filled them like the flood from a broken dam. Brave, fearless, full and defiant, this note, the sound of a new Song awaking alone in the dark, dark wilderness. Wasting no time, Drasdoc attenuated the Music and drew himself back into his skin; no sleep tonight, no indeed! If he'd heard it, surely others must have. Some of those who had, who knew what it was, would undoubtedly be closer to it. He'd need to move quickly, if he wanted to get there before everything got crowded.
Shaking off his fatigue, the big Dyrishman set coffee on to boil while he tore down his camp. When he had finished, he whispered the fire to sleep, then with a miles-eating stride he loped off into the settling night.
Conflict
Classically-trained Bards are being drawn north by the siren Song of Sunset, the Rune of Runespeaker Auril. It infiltrates their dreams or meditations (as applicable) and sticks in their mind like an earworm that no tricks will shake. It's not just catchy, it's downright insidious; those who hear it find themselves drifting closer to the source of the music in their mind's ear as the Song replaces their usual worksongs, travelling ditties, and other daily music.
The purpose of the Song of Sunset is to put out the Sun, proving to Annam the supremacy of the Frost Giants. Auril believes herself to be inspired by Thrym to place the Frost Giants atop the Ordning, and is unaware that she bears a Rune.
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