A shade of purple(Raven)

[maruset]

Really, it had been a busy last few weeks, between trying to get everything taken care of that he needed for candidate lessons, given there were eggs on the sands again, as well as keep up with his other lessons. And his own personal drawing. And the goal he had of trying to do a decent painting of each of the dragons who had died of poisoning.

Add to that his need to keep up with D’nari and his training with Enci, and keeping track and training his fair, Letorin had been having a busy time of it.

Still, he was pleased to see that the Harper lessons were going on still, whenever the scheduling did work out, and he absently scratched under Sourtai’s chin as she was relaxing on his shoulder. His pink was quite pleased with herself for having gotten to him first, though she did have to share his time with Vitula, who had gotten herself settled into Letorin’s hair and refused to move. Already used to that, Letorin had just made sure that both were not going to jar him while he was working on things, and made sure the others behaved themselves. Though Lazaward had pouted so much that Letorin had already told him that he could come next time.

Finally, he looked up at Master Naras, waiting to see what he wanted Letorin to work on next.

[RavenSong]

Master Harper Naras had decided not long after reaching the Weyr that he absolutely did not like firelizards thanks to the flit attacks he suffered from Naraevhyn every time he encountered his daughter outside a public function. Her fair was well trained, but he'd learned how to deduce when they were about to attack and got away quickly. Thanks to that, he had fewer scratches in general of late. He tolerated the ones his students had, mainly because they didn't attack him, but he was wary of them in general and did not want one himself.

So he was markedly dismayed when a colleague of his from Western presented him with a large-ish firelizard egg that he thought contained a bronze. Unwilling to offend, because that was what the refusal of the egg would cause, Harper Naras took the egg and tended it. With various other things on his mind, he'd forgotten that it existed in its pot of warm sand on the hearth in the room he'd been given as a classroom. Unbeknownst to him, the hatchling inside it had decided today was the day it was going to hatch and explore the world beyond. A very faint scritching sound could be heard from the sand-covered pot.

Or would be, if Naras hadn't been expounding upon vocal dynamics. It was an elementary lesson, of course, but he was one that insisted on re-covering basics when introducing new concepts. Given Letorin's intellect, Naras tended to give the Apprentice concepts a lot faster and drill his knowledge more and more. The day's lesson was actually on composition for stringed instruments and voice, specifically female voices.

His explanation covered the full range of the women's voices, how a lady's soprano and a boy's treble were comparable, but the woman's voice would near always have more strength and thickness than the boy's. He also covered briefly the boy's soprano, noting that it was lighter in pitch than a lady's unless the boy had sufficient vocal training, at which point he could easily rival a lady soprano. He also noted that sometimes trebles and boy sopranos were used in historical ballads to represent a Queenrider or a famous Queen dragon when a woman of sufficient vocal talent was unavailable. He noted how the contralto range held depth and warmth, easily conveying power and strength, and was frequently used for dramatic pieces.

"However," he said, "the training of the female singer is the most important part. You cannot cast her for a part she cannot do. If you have a specific woman you want to sing for you, though, you'll have to write your piece to match her. Of course, we'll cover composition soon enough."

At that point, the pot on the hearth fell over, spilling sand and the egg out onto the floor. The egg rolled up to Letorin's feet and started spinning around a bit.

"Oh! Heh. I'd meant to give you that egg, Letorin, but forgot. Seems... whoever's inside is ready to come out and enjoy the world. A colleague of mine gave me the egg... I'm not exactly fond of firelizards, yours are tolerable, and I don't want one of my own. It's lucky you had a lesson today."

[maruset]

If nothing else, Letorin adore learning new things. Which made refreshers annoying, as he was just going over details he already knew.

However, it was interesting to hear about the distinct differences between the voices of female singers and those of boys who’s voices had not broken yet. There were pleny of reasons to prefer a female singers, and not just because her voice would last much longer than a growing boy’s.

Some of it he already knew, but Master Naras was adding in new ways of seeing things and new concepts, so he was happy enough to listen, making mental notes here and there for laster study.

Most of his fair was not with him today, as he knew that they could be a distraction. Though Sourtai, and Vitula all managed to make their way into the lesson. The others were off doing their own thing, though he was sure that Kuanos was working on organizing them in some manner. Sneaky flit.

Though his attention was caught when there was a bit of clatter, and an egg was moving around. Sourtai was absolutely delighted, and swooped down quickly to pat her paws over the moving egg, making happy chirping sounds.

Letorin had been about to call her off when Naras spoke, and he paused a moment, looking up at the man. Really? -Really-? The man thought he needed -more- flits? Though he kept that to himself, just blinking at the other a moment.

“Ah. Thank you. One of my friends, Iola, the new copper rider, has a dislike of flits herself. Though she does not seem to mind borrowing mine to assist her with the washing of her dragon.” He gave a bit of a chuckle, tugging his treat pack out so that there would be something for the baby itself. Though he first gave one to the pink and green he had started off with.

“Your daughter has quite the fair as well, does she not?” Why had the man not given the egg to her? Though it was a gift, and that did make Letorin smile. Though Sourtai’s glee at enlarging her fair only made him roll his eyes a bit with a smile.

[RavenSong]

"Yes, Naraevhyn does, and I'm rather sick of them being in my face," Naras said. "They're why I'm not too terribly fond of flits, actually. They're... obnoxious, her fair. I know you have a bunch already, but yours are impeccably trained."

The egg under Sourtai's paws stopped moving. A chirp sounded from within. Naras backed away from the egg as it split open, a vivid purple head poking its way out. The flit blinked a few times, chirped at Sourtai, then got the rest of the way out of his egg. He flicked some egg bits off him and looked around.

He was magnificent, his body a vivid, rich purple on the bluer side of the spectrum. His wing membranes were a light eggplant purple, fading to a lighter shade of that same purple at the edges. Around his neck was what looked like a mane of brilliant pinkish lavender, and his tail was lavender halfway up. His feet were socked with the same color as his chest, and the fingers of his wings were that same hue halfway up them. He was distinct, he was lovely, and he just sat there chilling. He chirped at Letorin as if asking what was up. Then he realized he was hungry. He looked around a bit, then asked Sourtai where to find the munchies.


Naras raised a brow.

"Straight out of the egg and he's docile? Huh. Maybe I should've kept him, I'd have an ally against Naraevhyn's pests. No matter, no matter. Tend him as you need to and make sure he's fine. Give him a proper name, all that sort of thing. Then we'll continue."

The Master harper stroked his beard, watching the boy and his new flit quite curiously. He was intrigued about the whole process.

[maruset]

With a treat in hand, Letorin made a soft hum at the baby and offered him the treat. The purple perked up and happily started to eat, quickly working through it. Letorin gave a treat to his other two, and then just started feeling the baby until he couldn't eat any more.

After eating her treat, Sourtai continued to be far too pleased with herself. Vitula trilled a greeting at the new member of the fair. It was always nice when the family got larger, yes.

Running his fingers over the purple, Letorin grinned as the girls reactions. He should have expected that from Sourtai. "Most of mine have been pretty calm on hatching. They are mostly just hungry, so if you have food, you can distract them pretty quick." Letorin gave a small laugh. "Of course, mine are all smaller in general. This boy is going to be the biggest of my fair."

He studied the boy a bit more. "I think I'm going to call you Porphyra."

The purple seemed to consider that, still gnawing on the newest bit of food. Then he decided that it was all cool, and he finished eating. That seemed to get the last of the empty bits, so he stretched out, giving a lazy cheep as he was picked up by Letorin. The teen ran his fingers over Porphyra again, and got settled back where he had been sitting, the purple stretched out on one leg. "I think we're good now. He'll probably sleep in a little bit."