Could You Imagine

Writers: Anika, Jane
Date Posted: 20th March 2015

Characters: Gautrek, Tevarn, Geirolf
Description: Gautrek and Geirolf seek out Tevarn for some input on his craft.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 12, day 6 of Turn 7

Gautrek

"Ah, Journeyman Tevarn, very good to see you again," Gautrek said
entering the Harper's classroom with his nephew of twelve turns in
tow.

"And you journeyman Gautrek." The older man smiled at the boy at the
journeyman vintner's side. "Who is this that you have with you
today?"

"This is my nephew, Geirolf. He's Geiran's older brother and the
reason for our visit today. He's twelve turns old and has been
considering different apprenticeship possibilities. As you know, his
father, and mine before were both harpers and Geirolf is wondering if
perhaps that is the craft for him. I wondered if you might be willing
to talk with him about your craft, both the responsibilities and the
satisfactions."

"I would be pleased to do so. Shall we find some seats?" The harper
pulled some of the chairs around into different positions around one
of the larger desks, wanting to avoid sitting one side of the desk
with the two visitors on the other. This wasn't an interview with the
harper teacher and shouldn't feel like one to the boy no doubt so
recently part of harper classes himself.

Taking their seats Gautrek smiled amicably but Geirolf fidgeted a bit
uncomfortably. He cleared his throat, "It's a pleasure to meet you
Journeyman Tevarn," he offered as he'd been taught.

"Now, what can I tell you that you don't remember from your father's
work?" Tevarn asked, settling himself down on one of the chairs.
"Though perhaps we don't notice what our parents do when we're
young." And now the boy had no chance to change that. "What _do_ you
remember of your father's work? Did he have a specialisation?"

"Well, our house was always filled with music," the boy answered with
both nostalgia and longing.

Gautrek could have kicked himself at having missed such an obvious
void in the children's lives. Why hadn't he thought about the lack of
music in his home?

"Dad had a really good voice and was always singing and writing songs.
He could play a few instruments, too. He taught me how to play the
guitar before he, um, well..." Geirolf's voice trailed off, but he
picked up again in a moment. "I remember how everyone respected him
and came to him with problems."

"Yes, Geirik was a talented mediator and musically, he specialized in
voice," Gautrek confirmed.

"Do you still play the guitar?"

"Ah, I, haven't played much lately, but I picked it up the other day
and I remembered all that Da had taught me. I'm outta practice,
though."

Once again Gautrek was flooded with guilt at this oversight. Why
hadn't he encouraged his nephew to play over the past seven months.

"I have some guitars here," the old man said, getting to his feet.
"Shall we play a little so I can get an idea of your standard?" He
glanced at Gautrek. "Do you also play?"

"Sure," Geirolf agreed.

"No, I'm afraid not since I was Geirolf's age."

"We won't embarrass you then. If you have something else to do you
might be able to leave us to it," the teacher suggested.

"Very well, I'll leave you to it. I'll see you at home later,
Geirolf," the vintner said, rising to take his leave. "My thanks
Journeyman Tevarn."

"You're welcome Journeyman Gautrek." As the vintner journeyman left
Tevarn crossed to the large cupboards that filled an alcove in the
classroom. "Do you want to be a harper? Follow in the family
tradition?" he asked over his shoulder as he selected a guitar for
each of them.

"I don't know. Sometimes I do. I really like music a lot, but I
don't know if I'd like teaching or not and I don't know if I'd like
music so much if I did it all day long. And...," the boy's voice
wavered in uncertainty, "I mean, what if I'm not really good at it?
That would be kind of embarrassing since my grandpa was a master and
my dad was a journeyman."

"You're right to wonder," Tevarn said, handing the boy one of the
guitars he had selected. "At your age it is hard to know what you're
going to be good at, especially when all the options available at the
Harper Hall will be checked on if you apprentice there. You might
find a real passion for one area of the craft. It's hard to tell at
your age and you really have to just go along with whatever seems best
at the time. Is there any other craft that appeals more?"

"Not more really. I've lived at the Hall a little while and what the
vintners do seems interesting. I really like runners and canines and
I've wondered if I might enjoy beastcrafting. It's hard to say," he
replied, accepting the instrument and striking a chord. He adjusted
one of the tuning knobs and played another chord. Satisfied with the
sound, he looked expectantly at the Harper.

"You lead with something you enjoy playing and I'll follow." The
harper teacher's eyes had noted the casual competence that the boy
showed in checking that the instrument was in tune. Sometimes people
ended up crafting where they had skills, rather than where they had an
interest, and he didn't think that was necessarily a bad thing.

Geirolf started with one of the simple teaching ballads. It was one
of the first his father had taught him and something he was
comfortable playing in front of Journeyman Tevarn. He did miss one
fingering and his tempo slowed more than once, but given his lack of
practice, the boy didn't perform badly. A smile appeared on his face
when the Harper joined him as it reminded him of playing with his dad.
It was fun!

Tevarn noticed the boy's smile and the enjoyment that came through the
music and when the last chords were played he asked: "Could you
imagine yourself going to the Harper Hall and building on this?"

"Yeah, I think I could."

The teacher nodded. "I think you could, too, but I believe your uncle
mentioned that you were looking at a number of apprenticeship options.
Perhaps you can keep this in mind while you look."

"Yeah, I'm gonna," he agreed. He had some more questions for the
journeyman, but he was realizing that he honestly could see himself as
a Harper.

Last updated on the March 30th 2015

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Could You Imagine