[Here is Sieglinde, the Green Witch, perched on a desk chair in her new room in the saloon of Perdition's Rest, trying her very, very best to appear completely unruffled and not at all pink-cheeked.]
I wonder if you might spare a moment- there is something I wish to discuss with you.
[When comes Sieglinde's call he is resting in his own chamber, the one he shares with Olivia, and so she shall see a similar scene unfolding in the background of the feed: the rooms are cramped and made to feel all the smaller by the wood paneling that ensconces each one, the windows are small and the curtains faded, and what daylight falls through is bolstered by kerosene lamps.]
Well met indeed. What is this matter that you wish to discuss, bright-eyed Sieglinde?
[While her cheeks are stamped pink with the memory of how they had been entangled when last they were together, to hi the memory is distant enough that he cannot immediately call to mind why she might wish to speak with him.]
[It may not be at the forefront of his memory, but seeing as not a day past she'd "confessed" herself to Olivia... it is most upon her mind. She may have been avoiding him ever so slightly since then, lest she be tempted, but.
Sacrifices must be made.]
It is the matter of our...
[What words did one use to describe such things...]
Youthful indulgences. I wondered if you might recall them?
[Olivia had not quite answered her, when she'd gone fishing for if Achilles had memory of that time or not.]
[His mouth presses into a solemn line as that afternoon takes shape in the haze of his memory. He might have expected that this would linger in her mind more thickly, as she had not been pulled into a different season of life as he had been.]
Indeed I remember the days I passed as a boy in the house of ALASTAIR, although these seem to me so long ago. Nevertheless I can faintly recall how when green still with youth I was mesmerized by your fair visage.
[So too can he recall how they had tumbled to the grass and shared shy kisses, which then had been the wildest of thrills. How strange it is, he reflects, to have new memories inserted into his life as easily as a bard might add new lines to a verse when he sings it for the second time.]
However, you must realize that now I am not so young in years, and so what maidenly hopes I may have then stirred within your breast I must therefore disown.
[So he does remember, then. It is somehow more real to know it, and she does blush a bit more noticeably to be speaking of it, but his words are greeted not with innocent heartbreak but instead a knowing nod and a dismissive wave of her hand.]
I have no designs for such time shared to happen again, I assure you.
[As pleasant as she'd found it, as much as it had set her small heart pounding, and as much as she found herself thinking of it unbidden from time to time- she would blame that on lack of experience more than a fixation on the man himself. After all, when you only had two experiences to your name you need rotate between them and are left with little else. But-]
That is no smear upon your charm or aptitude, but rather that I would not do such a thing to my own disciple.
[She should still make sure he knows it's not because she's insulting him, though- it was to do with their Olivia. And speaking of her...]
I simply wondered if you had spoken to her on this matter.
[His words are warm to suggest what may well be teasing. Young though she may be, she is considered to be on the cusp of womanhood in his culture, old enough to consider marriage prospects. Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, had been only fourteen years of age when her father summoned her to Aulis with the false promise that she would be wed to Achilles - and when she bravely faced her fate that the well-benched ships of the Achaeans might sail, he had lamented that she would have made him a fine bride indeed. Yet he had been a younger man then, before ten long years of battle upon the plains of Ilios: he marvels now at how young Sieglinde seems, blooming still from so small a bud.
His voice then sobers as he continues.]
As to your question...no, of this I have not spoken with lovely-haired Olivia. What good would it do to stir her jealousy over so small a matter? The passions of my youth, the desires in which I indulged long ago - for in my memory, our romance is no more fresh than that which I shared with Lycomedes' daughter, also in the days of my youth-- Such passions bear not on the love I hold at present for my wife.
Heart has very little to do with it... Surely you are aware.
[It is something she says partly because she finds it to be the truth, and partly because she wishes to convince herself once more, after so many in ALASTAIR have seen fit to try and convince her that selecting a father for her heir based only on genetics and intellect was wrong, that one ought marry, or at least fall in love. It had been much easier to go along with the idea that she would probably couple with a man she had only just met, conceive a daughter, and then never see him again when she had lived in the Witch Forest and all the women around her simply told her that was their way. The way of her mother and mother's mother.
Indulging in "love" was to Sieglinde the way of men with enough status or power to not need care, and of women who either died tragically or settled for a subordinate position- mistress, or consort, at best. Suicide upon the rocks or guillotines at worst. Something to be upheld in song as both romantically admirable as well as pitied.
Many here did so insist on complicating it. Complicating things for her and her plans as well.
But she cannot hide the slightly guilty expression from her face, gaze cast downward for a moment before she returns it to him.]
For me it is not so long gone as that, and what she might think if she thought I had hid it from her weighed heavy on my mind. She is my best disciple, and I do not wish to see that ruined by such a trivial thing as... Fleeting affections. I confessed my transgression to her yesterday.
... It seemed only right to inform you of such, though I do not think ill should come your way for it.
[Indeed he is aware, for the daughters of the Achaeans are not free to choose to whom they shall be wed: marriage is a matter decided by men and accepted by women. It is not love that determines a good match, but the status of each the groom's family and the bride's family. It is the bride price paid by a man that he may prove his worth, and the dowry given by the bride's father along with his daughter, that binds the couple together more so than any love-sweet promises.
His union with Olivia, then, is strange not only for the lack of ceremony observed, but for the rare privilege Olivia has in sharing love with the man who has chosen her for his bride. He meanwhile has the privilege possessed by men, the privilege of taking this for granted because he always knew he would be allowed to choose.
Achilles pauses a moment to ruminate over that which Sieglinde has revealed to him.]
I see...of this she has made no mention to me. Therefore it seems that all is forgiven, and my fidelity to her is unmarred, as is your friendship.
[Isn't the institution of marriage a wonderful thing? People from different worlds and times keep insisting to her that it is, but Sieglinde really cannot see it, despite her efforts. She doesn't want to aspire to things she considers unlikely... she had dreamed of so long for the unattainable dream of the Outside World, once, and the real thing...
It was better to keep one's expectations low, for things like that.
Still she cannot help a small sigh of relief to hear Achilles has heard nothing of it.]
... that is good to hear. Perhaps you are correct. That would be for the best, after all...
[She tries to stop herself from trailing off uselessly, nodding sternly.]
Forgive me for taking of your time, then. I merely wished to be sure of it.
Here I have a great bounty of time to pass, and thus you are welcome to it, bright-eyed Sieglinde. How glad it is too that no woe has come of these strange happenings that have lately befallen us.
[With the matter thus settled, so he believes, Achilles bends the conversation in another direction.]
Moreover, I have heard that you seek plants from which you might make medicines. Toward this end I would gladly lend my aid, for I too wish to better know the plants which grow wild in this land - and I shall need more salves and poultices of my own should those scoundrels make to ambush this crew once more.
That is true. It is best to make use of what native plants we can, rather than waste my dwindling supplies. Your help would be most appreciated in this regard.
Have you need of some potions in particular? I spent much of my time in Oska preparing, and one of ALASTAIR's gifts allows me to carry far more than I used to be able to. I have work to spare, and more variety than usual.
Once I thought those of ALASTAIR to be wholly greedy, kings who keep for themselves the best of treasures and allot no prizes to the warriors who for their sake have won victory, yet now do I see how generous they truly are in the gifts that they bestow upon us. In manner they differ from the customs of the long-haired Achaeans, yet for this I cannot decry them as dishonorable.
What manner of potions have you, bright-eyed Sieglinde? I should count myself grateful for any that you might be willing to spare.
It does seem as if they are becoming most free with their gifts as we earn our keep... many seem to have woken to healing spells in particular of late, though the physical rewards appear as well...
I have the most of those most useful in general situations... those that speed the healing of wounds, those that purify the blood and split flesh, those that flush the body of poisons... but I also can make more specific items if need be. For burns, or muscles, and the like.
Such draughts as these all seem to me quite useful - thus if you are willing to share from your bounty, I shall gladly accept what you shall grant. For this kindness I shall repay you in plant samples gathered from this land.
As for the gifts granted by those of ALASTAIR, you speak true - for just this morning I found outside the door to my chamber a splendid sword, such that might honor a worthy man, and a most curious instrument that plays music free of man's aid. So wondrous an invention I have never seen before!
The instrument is enchanted to play without man's hand? I would be interested to see such a thing myself... and a sword as well, that is fortuitous for you. I have occasionally been blessed with trinkets, but I believe I spent all my favor with them on a single gift already.
Listen here and you shall witness for yourself the wonder of which I speak.
[So speaking, he rises from the chair upon which he sits, and the video feed bounces with his footsteps as he retrieves the curious instrument. He holds it up that Sieglinde may see: it is rectangular in form like a small box, composed of gleaming silver and rich blue. Attached are what might in her eye appear to be some strange manner of earmuffs, which he loops around his neck that his fingers may be free to work the buttons, and this he does with measured deliberation that indicates how new to him this task is.
From the headphones faintly pours a svelte saxophone riff. As if to prove that he himself has no hand in producing these sounds, he sets the device down upon the table and returns to his seat.]
[That is not what she was expecting. She was imagining something... perhaps like a lute enchanted so that the strings were plucked by unseen hands, or a wooden and metal structure the likes of the chime-y music boxes, but...]
What manner of "tech" is this...
[Surely it was "technology" more than "art"... it had the same shine and colors as the more "advanced" tools she has come across, but none of them served so leisurely a purpose as music...]
How long does it play? Do those buttons control simply the activation, or is there else to be done? What is that instrument?
[He takes delight in her awe, which mirrors the wonder which he himself felt upon first hearing the clever contraption's music.]
Why, it plays for as long as you wish! When fades the final note, you need only turn the tape to the other side, and so begins a new song. Tapes are tablets upon which the notes of the song are written, and thus this invention, this Walking Man, plays this although it has no fingers with which to pluck the lyre strings nor lips from which might pour the lyrics. At my behest, with but a turn of this wheel, it sings as loud or as soft as I so wish. And with but a press of these several buttons I might return to the last song it sang, or choose another.
[The timing is hard to pin down, but he takes delight too in the hum of the device as it rewinds or fast-forwards through the reel of tape.]
[Sieglinde has seen much since joining ALASTAIR that would have seemed impossible to her had she never left her village. Communicating over devices that sent their voices and images through the air to someone miles away, silver boxes that cooked meat in no time at all, weapons that made the guns of her own world seem almost like toys in comparison...
Just because it didn't seem to have a utilitarian purpose didn't mean this one was not equally fascinating, even if she knows very little about musical appreciation. Her attention is rapt on Achilles' explanation, muttering along, ("walking man?"), a knuckle to her lips in thought even as her eyes sparkled.]
So it "reads" the song as a musician reads the page? But how does it produce such a variety of sounds? Are there small devices within to replicate each instrument and mimic voice?
[Wait, there is an easy solution to finding out how it works-]
Perhaps when your ears want not for music I might investigate this... ?
[Music is purpose enough to Achilles: his is a culture in which bards are admired for their skill and thus prized for the entertainment they grant. Many an evening too has he passed delighting in the songs that his fingers coax from the lyre's strings, and sharing this merriment with those he best loves.]
No answers to your questions can I give, for I too am wholly confounded by the workings of this instrument. But if you so wish, I shall gladly lend this to you that you might learn its secrets. Already I have delighted in a hundred songs that never before had reached mine ears, and I can amuse myself still by trying to replicate these melodies upon my lyre.
[She sounds honestly impressed with the Walking Man's skills of memorization despite the fact that she herself had the ability to recall hundreds of spells, tales, and formulas. Arts and science were somewhat seperate in her mind, and she considered herself hardly skilled at singing or music, let alone art or dance. She could admire the ability in others, though.
Even if that "other" was a machine.]
Then- I shall await your word on the matter, with much anticipation.
[Just don't let it burn up in a brothel fire before she gets her hand on it...]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
un: sieglindesullivan / video
[Here is Sieglinde, the Green Witch, perched on a desk chair in her new room in the saloon of Perdition's Rest, trying her very, very best to appear completely unruffled and not at all pink-cheeked.]
I wonder if you might spare a moment- there is something I wish to discuss with you.
no subject
Well met indeed. What is this matter that you wish to discuss, bright-eyed Sieglinde?
[While her cheeks are stamped pink with the memory of how they had been entangled when last they were together, to hi the memory is distant enough that he cannot immediately call to mind why she might wish to speak with him.]
no subject
Sacrifices must be made.]
It is the matter of our...
[What words did one use to describe such things...]
Youthful indulgences. I wondered if you might recall them?
[Olivia had not quite answered her, when she'd gone fishing for if Achilles had memory of that time or not.]
no subject
Indeed I remember the days I passed as a boy in the house of ALASTAIR, although these seem to me so long ago. Nevertheless I can faintly recall how when green still with youth I was mesmerized by your fair visage.
[So too can he recall how they had tumbled to the grass and shared shy kisses, which then had been the wildest of thrills. How strange it is, he reflects, to have new memories inserted into his life as easily as a bard might add new lines to a verse when he sings it for the second time.]
However, you must realize that now I am not so young in years, and so what maidenly hopes I may have then stirred within your breast I must therefore disown.
no subject
I have no designs for such time shared to happen again, I assure you.
[As pleasant as she'd found it, as much as it had set her small heart pounding, and as much as she found herself thinking of it unbidden from time to time- she would blame that on lack of experience more than a fixation on the man himself. After all, when you only had two experiences to your name you need rotate between them and are left with little else. But-]
That is no smear upon your charm or aptitude, but rather that I would not do such a thing to my own disciple.
[She should still make sure he knows it's not because she's insulting him, though- it was to do with their Olivia. And speaking of her...]
I simply wondered if you had spoken to her on this matter.
no subject
[His words are warm to suggest what may well be teasing. Young though she may be, she is considered to be on the cusp of womanhood in his culture, old enough to consider marriage prospects. Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, had been only fourteen years of age when her father summoned her to Aulis with the false promise that she would be wed to Achilles - and when she bravely faced her fate that the well-benched ships of the Achaeans might sail, he had lamented that she would have made him a fine bride indeed. Yet he had been a younger man then, before ten long years of battle upon the plains of Ilios: he marvels now at how young Sieglinde seems, blooming still from so small a bud.
His voice then sobers as he continues.]
As to your question...no, of this I have not spoken with lovely-haired Olivia. What good would it do to stir her jealousy over so small a matter? The passions of my youth, the desires in which I indulged long ago - for in my memory, our romance is no more fresh than that which I shared with Lycomedes' daughter, also in the days of my youth-- Such passions bear not on the love I hold at present for my wife.
no subject
[It is something she says partly because she finds it to be the truth, and partly because she wishes to convince herself once more, after so many in ALASTAIR have seen fit to try and convince her that selecting a father for her heir based only on genetics and intellect was wrong, that one ought marry, or at least fall in love. It had been much easier to go along with the idea that she would probably couple with a man she had only just met, conceive a daughter, and then never see him again when she had lived in the Witch Forest and all the women around her simply told her that was their way. The way of her mother and mother's mother.
Indulging in "love" was to Sieglinde the way of men with enough status or power to not need care, and of women who either died tragically or settled for a subordinate position- mistress, or consort, at best. Suicide upon the rocks or guillotines at worst. Something to be upheld in song as both romantically admirable as well as pitied.
Many here did so insist on complicating it. Complicating things for her and her plans as well.
But she cannot hide the slightly guilty expression from her face, gaze cast downward for a moment before she returns it to him.]
For me it is not so long gone as that, and what she might think if she thought I had hid it from her weighed heavy on my mind. She is my best disciple, and I do not wish to see that ruined by such a trivial thing as... Fleeting affections. I confessed my transgression to her yesterday.
... It seemed only right to inform you of such, though I do not think ill should come your way for it.
no subject
His union with Olivia, then, is strange not only for the lack of ceremony observed, but for the rare privilege Olivia has in sharing love with the man who has chosen her for his bride. He meanwhile has the privilege possessed by men, the privilege of taking this for granted because he always knew he would be allowed to choose.
Achilles pauses a moment to ruminate over that which Sieglinde has revealed to him.]
I see...of this she has made no mention to me. Therefore it seems that all is forgiven, and my fidelity to her is unmarred, as is your friendship.
no subject
It was better to keep one's expectations low, for things like that.
Still she cannot help a small sigh of relief to hear Achilles has heard nothing of it.]
... that is good to hear. Perhaps you are correct. That would be for the best, after all...
[She tries to stop herself from trailing off uselessly, nodding sternly.]
Forgive me for taking of your time, then. I merely wished to be sure of it.
no subject
[With the matter thus settled, so he believes, Achilles bends the conversation in another direction.]
Moreover, I have heard that you seek plants from which you might make medicines. Toward this end I would gladly lend my aid, for I too wish to better know the plants which grow wild in this land - and I shall need more salves and poultices of my own should those scoundrels make to ambush this crew once more.
no subject
That is true. It is best to make use of what native plants we can, rather than waste my dwindling supplies. Your help would be most appreciated in this regard.
Have you need of some potions in particular? I spent much of my time in Oska preparing, and one of ALASTAIR's gifts allows me to carry far more than I used to be able to. I have work to spare, and more variety than usual.
no subject
What manner of potions have you, bright-eyed Sieglinde? I should count myself grateful for any that you might be willing to spare.
no subject
I have the most of those most useful in general situations... those that speed the healing of wounds, those that purify the blood and split flesh, those that flush the body of poisons... but I also can make more specific items if need be. For burns, or muscles, and the like.
no subject
As for the gifts granted by those of ALASTAIR, you speak true - for just this morning I found outside the door to my chamber a splendid sword, such that might honor a worthy man, and a most curious instrument that plays music free of man's aid. So wondrous an invention I have never seen before!
no subject
[Deal.]
The instrument is enchanted to play without man's hand? I would be interested to see such a thing myself... and a sword as well, that is fortuitous for you. I have occasionally been blessed with trinkets, but I believe I spent all my favor with them on a single gift already.
no subject
[So speaking, he rises from the chair upon which he sits, and the video feed bounces with his footsteps as he retrieves the curious instrument. He holds it up that Sieglinde may see: it is rectangular in form like a small box, composed of gleaming silver and rich blue. Attached are what might in her eye appear to be some strange manner of earmuffs, which he loops around his neck that his fingers may be free to work the buttons, and this he does with measured deliberation that indicates how new to him this task is.
From the headphones faintly pours a svelte saxophone riff. As if to prove that he himself has no hand in producing these sounds, he sets the device down upon the table and returns to his seat.]
no subject
What manner of "tech" is this...
[Surely it was "technology" more than "art"... it had the same shine and colors as the more "advanced" tools she has come across, but none of them served so leisurely a purpose as music...]
How long does it play? Do those buttons control simply the activation, or is there else to be done? What is that instrument?
no subject
Why, it plays for as long as you wish! When fades the final note, you need only turn the tape to the other side, and so begins a new song. Tapes are tablets upon which the notes of the song are written, and thus this invention, this Walking Man, plays this although it has no fingers with which to pluck the lyre strings nor lips from which might pour the lyrics. At my behest, with but a turn of this wheel, it sings as loud or as soft as I so wish. And with but a press of these several buttons I might return to the last song it sang, or choose another.
[The timing is hard to pin down, but he takes delight too in the hum of the device as it rewinds or fast-forwards through the reel of tape.]
no subject
Just because it didn't seem to have a utilitarian purpose didn't mean this one was not equally fascinating, even if she knows very little about musical appreciation. Her attention is rapt on Achilles' explanation, muttering along, ("walking man?"), a knuckle to her lips in thought even as her eyes sparkled.]
So it "reads" the song as a musician reads the page? But how does it produce such a variety of sounds? Are there small devices within to replicate each instrument and mimic voice?
[Wait, there is an easy solution to finding out how it works-]
Perhaps when your ears want not for music I might investigate this... ?
no subject
No answers to your questions can I give, for I too am wholly confounded by the workings of this instrument. But if you so wish, I shall gladly lend this to you that you might learn its secrets. Already I have delighted in a hundred songs that never before had reached mine ears, and I can amuse myself still by trying to replicate these melodies upon my lyre.
[Mistakes are about to be committed...]
no subject
[She sounds honestly impressed with the Walking Man's skills of memorization despite the fact that she herself had the ability to recall hundreds of spells, tales, and formulas. Arts and science were somewhat seperate in her mind, and she considered herself hardly skilled at singing or music, let alone art or dance. She could admire the ability in others, though.
Even if that "other" was a machine.]
Then- I shall await your word on the matter, with much anticipation.
[Just don't let it burn up in a brothel fire before she gets her hand on it...]