Conversations with the dead (Zaure & Elaine)

Elaine · Post by **Elaine** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 10:04 pm

"Who says there was no backup plan?" Elaine inquired, genuinely surprised. "Maybe the people did not think it up, but it seems to me a new plan has already been set in motion. We are far from vanquished, dear friend."

Zaure mentioned Mother, making the girl giggle. That faint trace of distaste was so funny coming out of his mouth. "No, no, it has nothing to do with Mother's song. That is simply something personal to me at this moment. It's you, Zaure. It makes me very sad to see you pin yourself down as a withering flower while I see so much hidden in your flexible branches. Smell the tiny blossoms...they are small and they need so much more attention than you have ever gotten from anyone, but they are there. Feel the slender branches. They need so much more time than you ever got, but the agility is already there. Look at the birch, how it manages to simply be without being noticed, yet beautiful in it's design and able to let itself be seen whenever it wants to catch the wind. See how it fought it's way out of the darkness, towards the light...That is what I see in you."

Zaure · Post by **Zaure** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 10:12 pm

Zaure shrugged, "Yes, but now we cannot know exactly how the backup plan shall go. It would have been better to have another plan in place originally. Indeed, you are far from vanquished, Elaine." He smiled, and yet, he still did not include himself in her 'we', because, well, he was vanquished.

Once more, the elf merely shrugged, "We tend to glorify that which isn't ourselves." Zaure reached out and ran a hand along the bark of one of the tree's branches, "I do not know if I agree with you, Elaine, but the only thing I see that makes me a bit sad is that a birch is only beautiful so long as it grows. Once it is done growing, it merely turns into a hollow husk of a tree... but..." He leaned in to smell the little blossoms, and giggled when they tickled his nose, "I am very flattered, Elaine. I feel horribly uncreative with what I did with your flowers now, you know." He grinned impishly.

Elaine · Post by **Elaine** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 6:06 pm

"A birch is never done growing." Elaine smiled. "Once it finally reaches old age and ceases to reach into the air, many of his little seeds will have budded into new beginnings. Bird will have taken them to far away places and people will see the birches again. You know, once it told me a little secret...it told me that it was actually all birches. I love that idea, even if it was my fantasy that made it up."

"We all have our different ways of looking at people and the world. I need to feel, Zaure, whereas you might be satisfied with seeing. So I don't think you were uncreative at all."

Zaure · Post by **Zaure** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 5:22 pm

Zaure thought about that statement for a moment, "But what if the birch was cut down before it had a chance to spread the seeds? Or if there are no birds? You spoke to a birch tree?" The elf giggled, "We have to be two very odd people. You speak to trees, and I hear songs. Most of the time, when people hear things, they're labled crazy. Do you think we're crazy, Elaine?" He sighed, "I wish I had known some birds, Elaine."

"No, I'm not satisfied with seeing, really, but I can already hear all of you, and the flowers do represent the seeing part, I guess. Unity between melody and color, just like energy! Oh, I forgot, Vanir has a flower too. Do you want to see it?"

Elaine · Post by **Elaine** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 7:32 pm

Elaine shook her head. "There is no such thing as not getting a chance. It might not be a conscious choice, but spread it will by it's mere existance. As for birds...I think I could qualify." She smiled. "I do sing a little song here and there after all. Maybe we are crazy, but if that be the case, then I'd rather be crazy than normal."

The girl got on her feet when Zaure mentioned another flower. "Vanir's flower? Yes, I'd be most interested to find how you see him."

Zaure · Post by **Zaure** » Sat Mar 27, 2004 8:22 pm

He bit his lip, "I sure hope so, Elaine, I don't want it to die, it gives me a reason to keep existing. I don't think you're a bird; you're a person, Elaine! Although you are as musical as a bird, I think. You've never sang for me, Elaine, would you mind?" Zaure was curious; he knew his friend was musical by her very nature, and yet he had never heard her actually sing before.

He laughed, "I agree, Elaine! Here's to the crazy people!" The elf smiled, "Vanir's flower is right... here." It was a flower that was soft to the touch, and yet had too many petals. It had a very sweet smell but an overpowering one; it was a flower of excess.

Elaine · Post by **Elaine** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 8:24 pm

"If you don't want it to die, it won't." Elaine replied simply. "And the bird part was not meant literally, silly. I just meant I heard you and won't forget. If I can help it the song of the Citadel will be heard."

She heard Zaure's question about her singing and blushed. She had sung for him when he had trouble sleeping. How ironic that he would ask now that he would never wake up. She bit her lip and followed her friend to Vanir's flower.

Once she touched it she laughed. "Oh Zaure! That is rather fitting, is it not? Sweet and caring and a bit too much! Amazing!"

The blind woman hesitated. "I did sing for you, Zaure...it was just a lullabye, but it's one of the few things I know the words to. I'm not that good in front of an audience. If you really want to, I'll try to find a song here."

Zaure · Post by **Zaure** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 3:22 am

"As though something could be kept alive merely by the thoughts of a dead waif," Zaure smiled; the idea was somewhat amusing, "I know it wasn't literal, Elaine, but you should not spread ideas you don't believe in. I know you disagree with me on a number of things. Not only heard, but hopefully changed. Let the people decide their own path."

He put a hand on his friend's blushing cheek, "What is it, Elaine?" When she laughed, he smiled, still that same sad smile, but a smile nonetheless, "Yes, it is fitting from what I have seen of him, and watched of him."

The elf reached for her hand and put it inside of his own, "Well, how about if I wasn't an audience, but your singing partner? Do you believe you can sing a duet?"

Elaine · Post by **Elaine** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 8:22 pm

Elaine smiled back, shyness overcoming her again. "I might not be bard material...but I just like to sing, to be the song...yes, I think I could sing together with you. You are as much part of the whole as we all are."

Carefully she felt around, listened for the humming that sustained her through everything. There...a little strand that played through the scent of the flowers. She liked that particular take on the music and followed it.

Softly she began to hum, feeling the song grow as she voiced it. There were no words and the girl did not feel it as a loss. The melody simply was what it was supposed to be and she played along with it. Unaware of the strange image she presented to her small audience she enjoyed the waves of music and let her voice rise and fall with it, inviting Zaure to join in.

Zaure · Post by **Zaure** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 9:26 pm

Zaure just waved a hand, "Meh, who cares if someone is 'bard material', it's the feeling that counts! That's what singing is. I can't resist pointing out that I'm not really part of anything anymore, much less your universal whole, Elaine." He smiled at her, and when she began to hum he followed along, knowing the melody because, well, they were his flowers.

The elf leant his voice to her own, he had a greater voice range and was a bit more trained than Elaine, but the main difference was that he was not trying to connect with or sing the whole through the melody as she was, but trying to sing his personal connections, so it was a blend of ever-changing melodies and harmonies. He took her hand and then waved the two through the air in time with the music.