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An access to a limited intimacyThey would hum it...An access to a limited intimacyThey would hum it together in rough, untutored attempts at harmonyLater Garin bought a scaled-down three string syrenya for his youngest child on one of his twice-yearly trips to the market in Asoli townAfter that there were actually a few evenings Devin did like to remember, when he and his father and the twins would sing ballads of the sea and hills by the fire at night before bedEscapes from the drear, wet flatness of Asoli When he grew older he began to sing for some of the other farmersAt weddings or naming days, and once with a traveling priest of Morian he sang counterpoint during the autumn Ember Days on the "Hymn to Morian of Portals The priest wanted to bed him, after, but by then Devin was learning how to avoid such requests without giving offense Later yet, he began to be called upon in the tavernsThere were no age laws for drinking in northern Asoli, where a boy was a man when cartier must 21 he could do a day in the fields, and a girl was a woman when she first bled And it had been in a tavern called The River in Asoli town itself on a market day that Devin, just turned fourteen, had been singing "The Ride from Corso to Corte" and had been overheard by a portly, bearded man who turned out to be a troupe-leader named Menico di Ferraut and who had taken him away from the farm that week and changed his life "We're next," Menico said, nervously smoothing his best satin doublet over his paunchDevin, idly picking out his earliest cradle song on one of the spare syrenyae, smiled reassuringly up at his employerHis partner now, actually Devin hadn't been an apprentice since he was seventeenMenico, tired of refusing offers to buy the contract of his young tenor had finally offered Devin journeyman status in the Guild and a regular salary, after first making clear how very much the young man owed him, and how loyalty omega fake watches was the only marginally adequate way to repay such a large debt of gratitudeDevin knew that, in fact, and he liked Menico anyway A year later, after another sequence of offers from rival troupe-leaders during the summer wedding season in Corte, Menico had made Devin a ten-percent partner in the companyAfter making the same speech, almost word for word, as the last time The honor, Devin knew, was considerable; only old Eghano who played drums and the Certandan deep strings, and who had been with Menico since the company was formed, had another partnership shareEveryone else was an apprentice or a journeyman on short-term contractEspecially now, when the aftermath of a plague spring in the south had every troupe in the Palm short of bodies and scrambling to fill with temporary musicians, dancers, or singers A haunting thread of sound, barely audible, plucked Devin's attention away from his syrenyaHe looked over and black chanel bag with white logo on the side smiledAlessan, one of the three new people, was lightly tracing the melody of the cradle song Devin had been playingOn the shepherd pipes of Tregea it sounded unearthly and strange Alessan, black-haired, though greying at the temples, winked at him over the busyness of his fingers on the pipesThey finished the piece together, pipes and syrenya, and humming tenor voice "I wish I knew the words," Devin said regretfully as they ended"My father taught me that tune as a child, but he could never remember how the words went Alessan's lean, mobile face was reflectiveDevin knew little about the Tregean after two weeks of rehearsal other than that the man was extraordinarily good on the pipes and quite reliableAs Menico's partner, that was all that should matter to himAlessan was seldom around the inn outside of practice-time, but he was always there and punctual for the rehearsals slated "I might be able to dredge them up for you if I fake louis vuitton wallet thought about it," he said, pushing a hand through his hair in a characteristic gesture"It's been a long time but I knew the words once "Don't worry about it," Devin said"I've survived this long without themIt's just an old song, a memento of my fatherIf you stay with us we can make it a winter project to try to track them down Menico would approve of that last bit, he knewThe troupe-leader had declared Alessan di Tregea to be a find, and cheap at the wages he'd asked The other man's expressive mouth crooked sideways, a little wryly"Old songs and memories of fathers are important," he said"Is yours dead then?" Devin made the warding sign with his hand out and two fingers curled down "Not last I heard, though I've not seen him in almost six yearsMenico spoke to him when he went through the north of Asoli last time, took him some chiaros for meI don't go back to the farm Alessan considered that"Dour Asolini stock?" he louis vuitton replicas handbags guesse12:29 AM - Tuesday, February 2, 2010
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