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 Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:08 pm
 Yes, that had probably overwhelmed Kyrie nicely, come to think of it. "Some part of them are. Think of it like..."
He could come up with something simply, could he not ? They would turn the corner and find his desk in the center, and the two tomes would be set down on the dark surface.
"Think of it as if your mother heard a story from someone in the market. She tells Isidore that story. Isidore then goes and recounts that story to Caelia. Then, Caelia finally finds you and tell you the story. The story she will tell you will not be exactly the same as the one your mother would have heard, be it because of things that were forgotten in between, or Caelia deciding to make one part of the story more important than it was because there was a crow in it, and she knew you would like that. It does not make the story any less true, just different. Imagine this going on, but in the spans of decades, centuries, ages... Then the story changes even more, to the point where only maybe a small part of it isn't exaggerated or changed. This is what a legend is."
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:18 pm
Kyrie paused by his desk and looked up at him expectantly as he tried to figure out a way to explain it all to her. Picturing the scenario in her mind, she contemplated it for several moments. She could understand the part about her mother and siblings and even about forgetting or changing details, but to think of a story being told over such long spans of time, that was a little mind blowing to the little godling. Her concept of time was not much beyond her short amount of time in existence.
"Oh. Do you have a favourite legend?" she asked, her mind cycling back close to her original question.
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:32 pm
"I have a few." Again, how could he truly pick a favorite ? He would sit at his chair, and after a moment lift the little crow so that she could settle in his lap as the tome was opened with a soft thud.
Pages would be turned, and the handwriting would prove to be the same on all the pages. This was one of the tomes he had started when he had been barely older than Kyrie was, and finished only after he had grown.
Which one... ? Ah. This one would do, he decided. Not exactly his favorite, now, but one he had once enjoyed. Maybe it was time to associate more memories to this one beyond the start of the sparks of an ill-fitted romance that eventually brought him to the world.
"On his mother's side he was more than mortal." His voice was a little different - sadder, almost, as he recounted the legend, barely having to look down at the words to recall the meanings. It was always this way when he read out loud, as if Lament knew no other way to recount and touch minds and hearts than his own influlence. "He was the son of one of the Muses and a Tracian prince. His mother gave him the gift of music and Thrace where he grew up fostered it. The Thracians were the most musical of the peoples of Greece. But Orpheus had no rival there or anywhere except the gods alone. There was no limit to his power when he played and sang. No one and nothing could resist him."
Then he sang, beautiful but deeply melancholic.
"In the deep still woods upon the Thracian mountains
Orpheus with his singing lyre led the trees,
Led the wild beasts of the wilderness.
Everything animate and inanimate followed him.
He moved the rocks on the hillside and turned the courses of the rivers...."
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:43 pm
Kyrie looked to the book when he said he had a few. She supposed you would have to with a book that big. There were so many to choose from. Giving a bit of a squawk as she was lifted, she very happily snuggled up and settled in on his lap. Resting her head on his chest, she listened to his voice. It was quiet and soothing and made her feel a little bit sad. She listened to him tell the beginning of the tale of Orpheus, then lifted her head to look up at him when he began to sing.
"What happened to him?" she asked barely above a whisper when he came to a small pause.
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:46 pm
Well, even with that question Kyrie was much more well-behaved for story time than Caelia. Not that it was such an hard thing to do, to be honest.
"When he first met and how he wooed the maiden he loved, Euridice, we are not told, but it is clear that no maiden he wanted could have resisted the power of his song. They were married, but their joy was brief. Directly after the wedding, as the bride walked in a meadow with her bridesmaids, a viper stung her and she died. Orpheus' grief was overwhelming. He could not endure it. He determined to go down to the world of death and try to bring Eurydice back. He said to himself..."
Then, he sang again.
"With my song
I will charm Demeter's daughter,
I will charm the Lord of the Dead,
Moving their hearts with my melody.
I will bear her away from Hades..."
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:52 pm
Kyrie's eyes opened wide when he said that the girl died in the story. She knew about death. Her father had told her all about it. She sat silently for a moment after he sang, then looked down at the feathers on her arms.
"Why didn't he wait for her to be reborned?" she asked and glanced up at him. "Daddy says that after mortals die they go to the underworld and wait to be reborn."
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:00 pm
"Mortals are not always reborn on the same world that they inhabited when they died... Or even in a similar form. But, I do believe that in this case, he simply could not cope with the loss." A tragic loss indeed, this was the part of the legend he loved the most, obviously. "Not many are able to think clearly in such a state, Kyrie. If you ever have to deal with someone who is mourning, remember that... And be kind to them, even if they are not to you. They do not always mean what they say."
Then, he would continue. "He dared more than any other man ever dared for his love. He took the fearsome journey to the underworld. There he struck his lyre, and at the sound all that vast multitude were charmed to stillness...."
Song, again.
"O Gods who rule the dark and silent world,
To you all born of a woman needs must come.
All lovely things at last go down to you.
You are the debtor who is always paid.
A little while we tarry up on earth.
Then we are yours forever and forever.
But I seek one who came to you too soon.
The bud was plucked before the flower bloomed.
I tried to bear my loss. I could not bear it.
Love was too strong a god, O King, you know
If that old tale men tell is true, how once
The flowers saw the rape of Proserpine,
Then weave again for sweet Eurydice
Life's pattern that was taken from the loom
Too quick. See, I ask a little thing,
Only that you will lend, not give, her to me.
She shall be yours when her years' span is full."
"No one under the spell of his voice could refuse him anything. He drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek, and made Hell grant what Love did seek..."
He paused for a moment.
"They summoned Eurydice and gave her to him, but upon one condition: that he would not look back at her as she followed him, until they had reached the upper world. So the two passed through the great doors of Hades to the path which would take them out of the darkness, climbing up and up. He knew that she must be just behind him, but he longed unutterably to give one glance to make sure. But now they were almost there, the blackness was turning gray; now he had stepped out joyfully into the daylight. Then he turned to her. It was too soon; she was still in the cavern. He saw her in the dim light, and he held out his arms to clasp her; but on the instant she was gone. She had slipped back into the darkness. All he heard was one faint word, "Farewell." "
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:08 pm
She was fairly certain she understood that. Mortals were reborn, but they were not the same. Kyrie supposed that made sense. She had never seen any bodies that looked the same, so they must not exist. As he went on to give her advice, she nodded somberly. She could do that. She could be kind to someone who was sad.
As he continued the story and song, she shifted a little and watched his face as he sang. He looked so sad. But then the story started to get happy. Orpheus had found his love and they were leaving the underworld. Feeling a bit of excitement build up as Orpheus stepped out into the sunlight, she blinked and fluffed her feathers in distress. She had never heard a sad story before. She wasn't entirely sure how to react.
"Did he go back to find her?" she finally asked with a note of hope in her voice.
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:13 pm
Perhaps this was something Kyrie needed to understand. Not all stories had happy endings... Not all stories could have happy endings.
"Desperately he tried to rush after her and follow her down, but he was not allowed. The gods would not consent to his entering the world of the dead a second time, while he was still alive. He was forced to return to the earth alone, in utter desolation. Then he forsook the company of men. He wandered through the wild solitudes of Thrace, comfortless except for his lyre, playing, always playing, and the rocks and the rivers and the trees heard him gladly, his only companions."
He would shorten the next bit. The way Orpheus had found his end was... Well, a little too gruesome for a child, really. Even he had been shocked when he had first read it.
"But at last death came to claim him in turn... His body the muses gathered and placed in a tomb at the foot of Mount Olympus, and there to this day the nightingales sing more sweetly than anywhere else."
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:21 pm
Kyrie studied his face for a long moment to judge if that were the end or not. As it seemed to be, she frowned a little.
"Well... what happened when he died? He got to see her again, right?" she asked. "And they got to live happily ever after in the underworld?" Surely that was the true ending of the story.
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:24 pm
"The story does not say, as there would be no way for a mortal to know." But... He doubted it. His father had never been kind to those who dared stand against him.
"What I can tell you is that Music learned of what her servant had done, and wandered to the Underworld herself to apologize for the disruption. And there were the first spark that started another tragedy... But that is another thing, for another time."
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:31 pm
Kyrie narrowed her eyes slightly. She was clever enough to know when she was being put off, but she didn't want to hear another sad story. Breathing in a little, she toyed with her feathers and glanced towards the large tome.
"Why do you like this story? It is so sad? Don't you like happy stories better?" she asked and leaned over to reach out and touch the book.
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:36 pm
Ah, perhaps she would find this strange. Many initially found this strange, after all. Even he had wondered if it was normal when he was younger and so worried about the approval of others.
"Not all stories can be happy ones. If you were happy all the time, then what would make the good times stand out ? What would make them special ?" He found himself combing though her head-feathers gently, trying to soothe her a little bit in a way he had often done for Madrigal when the boy had still fit in his lap.
"Beside... A Lament is a sad story, at it's core. If I did not like what I am, well, I would be quite miserable, would I not ? There is beauty in even the saddest story if you look hard enough."
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:44 pm
If she were a cat, she probably would have purred as his fingers began to find their way through her feathers. She liked to be petted. She liked it a lot. His words made sense too on some level. If things were special all the time, then they wouldn't be special anymore.
"I like you," she smiled and rested her head lovingly against his shoulder. "I like the part where he was singing. That was pretty and it was my favourite part."
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:50 pm
Well, the little crow was definitively pleased, which was a good thing as far as he was concerned.
"I do not sing as well as he did, I would think." That was his mother's domain, literally.
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