Whispers from my Muse - "Shadow's Song"

    It was as grand a re-opening night as anybody could remember for the Golden Note, even some of the employees of rival houses had dropped in simply to enjoy the celebration.  Standing at the entrance to one of the private side rooms, Kyri watched and listened to get a reading on the crowd, flirting with the occasional special guest who knew her well enough to get past Tehrasha where he stood guard nearby.  Behind her, obscured by the mostly closed curtains and shadows they created, Kyrn kept an eye on things in his own way, while paying special attention to one guest who sat quietly in the main parlor sipping at a glass of wine.

    “He knows we’re watching him,” said Kyri in a voice pitched only for her brother’s ears.

    “He’d be a fool to believe otherwise, and that one, for whatever else he might be, is no fool,” came the reply from behind her.  “I’ve seen at least three of his body guard come through so far and select somebody to spend time with, but there is always at least one simply talking with your ladies while keeping an eye on him and anybody who comes near him.”

    “Like I’d be stupid enough to start something in my own place,” said Kyri with a disgusted and unladylike snort.

    “He can’t know what to expect.  He’s seen two of his associates turn up dead so far, so he’s come looking for answers to questions he’s only half formed, answers that you and I know won’t help him.”

    At the front of the main parlor, the musicians that had been playing finished another song to the applause of the audience, then several of them placed their instruments in safe places and went to mingle with the crowd.  Three though stayed behind and quietly re-tuned their instruments, while one of the staff cleared a space in front of the stage.

    “This should be interesting,” commented Kyrn.

    With the stage setup, the lights shifted to highlight the lady who stepped through a nearby doorway and took her place with the musicians.  The staff knew who she was, some of them had helped her in her transformation from Mistress Shadow to the lady who was now stunning the audience first into silence, then into whispered questions to people nearby as they asked if that was really who they thought it was.  While still dressed in her customary black, leather had been exchanged for sheer silk, metal buckles for polished silver, fur had been brushed until it shined with an inner glow.

    Then the lights dimmed further and she began to sing…

    “I am she who slinks past your windowpane.”

    Kyrn could almost of walked up and taken care of Shadow’s enemy right then and there, and nobody would have noticed.

    “I am she who prowls the night.  I am she with ebony fur and mane.”

    But then he too got caught up in the power of the song, and just for a moment his horn resonated with her voice and he thought he heard a different song being sung as he saw her look towards the curtains he was standing behind.

    “You dream of me with strange delight.”

    Any doubts Kyrn still had about whether his new apprentice was going to survive what the future would bring vanished then and there.  Both Kyri and he both heard by means uniquely theirs, the force, the emotion and the power behind what was simply, Shadow’s Song.