• Solo • A Hall of Cacophony

[Kalortah]

Continued from here

22nd of Cylus 720

Ilpa, without asking, wormed her arm into Kalortah's, and dragged him along. As Kalortah looked back at Ibudo, he mouthed the words I'll burn you and Ibudo merely stuck out his bright green tongue at Kal, and went hopping and skipping back into the halls. Apparently he didn't want to miss a moment of Kalortah's humiliation and punishment.

A few bits into their walk through the University, Kal had to ask the professor, "Professor, where are we going?"

She beamed at him, and said, "Why, we're going to your first teaching engagement! First year singing students, young minds ready to be molded by the finest voice of the age!"

Kalortah stifled a groan, not for modesty at being called the finest singer, he actually was! But the fact that he had to endure a group of new singers? People who couldn't carry a tune if it wrapped its way around their neck? The avriel had to find an escape from this situation, but none was presenting itself, and the professor wasn't having it any other way. Ibudo was one dead wood man when they got back to the tower...

Already, Kalortah could hear the young students in the distance, all haphazardly tuning their voices. The dreadful chorus carried through the halls, swept on the air and into Kalortah's unfortunate ears. He nearly lost his stomach contents as he had to endure both the sight of the air waves and the sound of their voices. The juxtaposition of both was very discordant, it must be said.

Nevertheless, Ilpa dragged guided Kalortah into the room. With a swift peck on his cheek before they entered, she wished him luck, "You'll do wonderfully, my little feather-bum!" And so saying he was cast into the hell storm that was the beginner's course for singing.

Ilpa slid by him, taking a seat at her desk as she watched him in rapt attention. Eventually, mercifully, the noise died down as the students took notice of their avriel guest instructor. Their eyes bugging out of their heads as if they'd never see a winged man before. Kalortah stiffened his posture, as he buffeted his wings slightly, spreading their brilliant red plumage for all of the students to see. Then he fixed his red eyes on each of them in turn, taking in the measure of what he had to work with.

For a few moments he stared at them thus, at turns exasperated by his current predicament, and at others assured that he was probably the only chance they had to forge them into a proper chorus. His eyes fell on each of them, and they stared back for a few moments. However, when it became clear that Kalortah wasn't going to say anything, they began milling about, chatting among themselves.

In a few moments, Kalortah's face contorted in anger, as the attention was drawn away from his glorious self. The students had the temerity to ignore him now! "QUIET!!!" He shouted at them as they began chattering. Promptly they all stopped, and then smiled and chuckled at the avriel, and went back to chattering.

Well, that didn't work, so Kalortah tried the next best thing. He began singing in his beautiful, and perfect voice.

It stood to reason that his perfect and beautiful voice wasn't harsh enough to interject. And though he thought he was good at making himself threatening, even as a person on the short side, his voice perhaps needed more command about it. But there wasn't time to worry over that. He could only sing to soothe these savage beasts.

He sang a song in Lorien, an old lullabye that his mother used to sing to him. In time, the students calmed down, and took a seat to watch him sing. Ilpa was enraptured. A few bits passed in this way, the acoustics of Kalortah's voice enhanced by the structure of the room and the way his voice played upon the air in such a unique way, in a way only a avriel's voice could.

Finally, after a few bits their chatter seemed to calm down, and he stopped singing for them. ”Now that I have your attention, let’s get to the lesson.”

Kalortah puffed out his chest, and strode from one end of the front of the class to the other, eyeing each of the novice singers in turn. Slowly a smirk spread across his face, as he realized he had their full attention. Yes, this was as it should be. He had no nerves nor a trace of self-consciousness as their eyes were all on him, and his magnificence. And why shouldn’t they? He was beautiful.

He almost forgot what he was there for, until Ilpa cleared her throat, which reminded him. Then he began talking, pointing out one of the students. ”Well, let’s see what you’re made of. In order to produce a pleasant choral harmony, we need to determine where the cracks in our ‘wall of sound’ lie. So you,” Kalortah singled out a brown-haired young man, and then a black haired young woman. ”Sing for me. Any song or tune will do. First the boy, then the girl.”

So they began to sing. And as they did, Kalortah’s facial expression warped from one of light amusement and contentment, to apprehension, and then abject horror. ”Thank you, stop now.” He said, and then shook his head, waving his hands dismissively. ”There’s nothing I can teach you that will make you sound better than a ape getting skinned alive. Begone from this class, begone! Trouble my ears and eyes no longer!”

[Kalortah]

They ran from the class, utterly humiliated and dressed down, one after the other. That done, Kalortah heaved a sigh of relief, and went desk to desk, singling out student after student, until he’d narrowed his class attendance down to 50% capacity. At that point, he thought he had what amounted to a number of adequate voices, that could be honed further until they sounded vaguely pleasant.

”Right, now that we’ve rid ourselves of the cracks in our wall of sound, we can proceed. You all have the potential to become adequate singers, who at the very least aren’t likely to scare away every street cat and pigeon ten acres from your voice’s point of origin. That’s a promising start!” Kalortah clapped his hands together, pleased with his turn of phrase. Then he directed the students to line up at the back of the classroom, and took them through several singing notes, wordless to start. Afterall, a baby had to cry and coo before it could properly form words. He had a long way to go with this class, and it’d take every bit of his discipline and concentration in order to overcome his revulsion at the terribly mediocre timbre of their voices.



Bits and breaks later, Kalortah had taken them through all the basic singing notes, and even began to teach them simple, short lines of lyrics through which they could sing. He taught them coordination with each other, and even began to see progress as they managed a decent tune… almost. They were still horribly discordant, but at least they wouldn’t murder every ear within a country mile.

He concluded his class, with a pep talk of sorts, ”Now, you all have horribly plain voices, but together at least you have achieved something that few can boast. In that your combined voices haven’t made me violently ill. Your harmony is good, and your timing is also good. But I want each of you to work on your individual voices, treat them as you would a favored possession. It is your instrument, and far more valuable than any metal drum or fiddle that you may buy in a music shoppe, as you only have one of them, and will never get another.”

Kalortah sighed, and turned to his teacher as the students filtered out of the room, thoroughly dressed down by Kalortah’s words. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about some upstart cutting into his busking territory. And maybe they’d actually learn something. He looked at Ilpa expectantly, wondering what she thought of his teaching. Not that he cared, but he was never one to turn down excessive praise, where warranted. And it surely was warranted.

”Oh darlink, you are the most wonderful teacher and singer. These students don’t know how privileged they are to have learned at your feet… Now, will you join me for dinner?”

Kalortah’s face paled, if it were possible for one as fair as him to lose even more color. He inched toward the door, smiling and nodding as she followed him with her eyes, then he bolted down the halls, dragging his satchel, Ibudo, book, and all through the corridors and out of the University grounds.

[Doran]

Kalortah:

Knowledge:
Singing: x 2
Intimidation: x 2
Leadership: x 2

Loot: Teaching credit for Diploma (Arts: Singing)
Lost: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: 5. This class definitely left a lasting impression on the students!
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
Points: 10

- - -

Comments: Oh my. I loved this thread!

Kalortah’s reluctance to teach those first-year students was almost tangible. I couldn’t help but grin when he thought about finding an escape, even though it wasn’t a pleasant situation for him. And his interaction with Ilpa was quite entertaining. Feather-bum! Do I need to say more?

I was looking forward to seeing Kalortah teach a class. It was more challenging for him than I had thought at first. How dare those students just ignore him when he shouts at them and tells them to be quiet?!

They seem to have liked the song he sang to them though …

I wonder what will happen to those students whom Kalortah humiliated and who left the class. Will they give singing another try or decide to study something else instead now?

I liked the way you ended the thread, with Kalortah pretty much running from Ilpa. That was great.

Poor Kalortah though!

Enjoy your rewards!