Bands of the Athenaeum

Her eyes closed, Sylphie trailed her fingers along the white keys of the hydraulis, making soft, haunting notes echo through the hall that was the music room.

"I'm glad they have a hydraulis here. Otherwise, I wouldn't have anything to remember you with, Cleta," Sylphie murmured, reminiscing about her dead friend.

Panflute, hydraulis, kithara, bouzouki, baglama, double aulos... After 4 years of learning and practicing in the Athenaeum, she could play them all. The Panflute was her own, but the rest were the musical instruments played by her friends.

Sylphie's fingers played a sad tune.

They were all dead now.

Playing their musical instruments and the music composed by them is the only way she can remember them and keep their soul alive. She brought their instrument's here and placed them on the shelves in her room. Sylphie was worried at first because she couldn't bring Cleta's hydraulis--it was too big to carry. So she was really happy when she found out that the Athenaeum had an ancient one in the music room.

The hydraulis had water pumps and 2 people will have to pump it continuously while the musician plays it so that it can work. But Sylphie, although she's a Wind Charis, had a small degree of control over water. So she used that to operate the water movements in the instrument, making her able to play it although she was alone.

Sylphie imagined how her small band of Charites would make an awesome orchestra by now if it wasn't for that incident.

She left the hydraulis and drifted towards the entrance of the classroom. If someone comes, she'll propose the idea of setting up bands.

Cedric was walking among the corridors. Classes were doing great and the people seemed nice enough for a casual chit-chat. He had got his roommate and was happy to have somebody to talk to of his own age that could also control his element. Fire was indeed a beautiful yet deadly element.

He was humming a song to himself, something of Mozart, that wonderful man when a melody came to his ears. It was incredibly beautiful. He tried to see the source of that wonderful sound, walking right and left on those huge corridor of the Athenaeum, soon coming to a door. The sound came from inside the room. He opened the door slightly, without making any sound and he couldn't believe his own eyes.

An angel? No, there were no angel at the athenaeum, only pegasis, right? Right? No, that was an angel for him, it was a beautiful young woman, with a pure white pair of wings and golden hair. If it wasn't an angel, what else could it be?

And the melody... It fillled his ears like a chord from Heaven itself. But it was so sad that the smile he had on his face disappeared and he just stood there, watching her with sad eyes.

"Ah, good morning," Sylphie bowed when she sensed someone nearby.

"I'm Sylphie," She smiled her most graceful smile, her voice clear like the echoing ring of a bell.

Her smile soon faded away, "I can feel that... you're sad..."

Cedric got startle as the girl noticed him "Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt, m'lady." he said, quickly making a bow.

Her voice was incredibly beautiful, matching the melody, but hers was not that sad.

A frown came to his face "Well yes... your song it affected me from how sad it was." he confessed.

"Ah, then it's my bad. Apologies, kind sir," she bowed again, then smiled and looked up at him, although her eyes weren't 'seeing'. "Well, you shouldn't be sad now. We should always view life with optimism. I shall do the same."

"On the contrary, I was happy that you're quite... musical. You're able to feel the emotions of a musician. I'm sure that you can pour out your emotions through music, too."

"Do you like music?"

"No need to apologize, young lady." he said, with a gentle smile and noticed something was wrong. She was looking at the emptyness which could only meant one thing to him. Blindness. But instead of being all freaked out and start asking question he simply continued to talk to her normally.

"I agree but your song was incredibly sad. Were you putting your feelings into it?" he asked, slightly curious.

At her question, he quickly nodded "Yes, back home I used to listen a lot to Mozart and Bach, great composers of my time."

"It was a song I made for a good friend of mine," Sylphie replied, "I just thought it was too sad to be played in public..."

"Really? That's interesting. It's always nice to listen to others' music. ...Umm, do happen to play any musical instruments, sir....," she realised he haven't told her his name.

"Oh, I see... my apologizes." Cedric bowed, noticing that the sad ballad remind him of a requiem.

Cedric quickly flushed at Sylphaea's unfinished sentence "Oh! How rude of me! I'm Cedric Oswald, student of Hermes." he said, never saying he was a warrior. He never liked that word. "And what's the name of the beautiful angel standing in front of me?"

He shook his head "I just used to play the piano sometimes, nothing special..."

"I'm Sylphaea, a Charis of Aphrodite," Sylphie said, "Just call me 'Sylphie', if you please." She blushed at Cedric's description, replying with an innocent smile, "Haha, an 'angel' would be too high a praise for a humble fairy like me." She really hoped that she can see, so that she can at least return the compliment.

"I love the voice of the piano--it's one of the most beautiful and soothing."

Sylphie was about to tell about the 'band' idea, but something else came to mind.

"Umm... Cedric, the Masquerade ball is coming up. Care to practice for a dance? Maybe I can sing a song for the accompaniment...," the Charis blushed again, having never danced with a man before.

"Charis?" Cedric blinked his eyes for a moment, thinking about what odd that name was for the meaning of angel. She sure was no pegasus! "Then, Lady Sylphie it will be!" he said with a small bow. "And why it is such a high praise? I find it low for you." he simply said with a smile.

"Yes, it can express any feeling you have in your heart"

At the idea of practicing dancing, Cedric smiled the more "Of course!" he approached her and bowed, taking her hand as he did so "You can sing what ever you feel like it, it's just a practice."

"Haha, 'Sylphie' would be fine, really," she giggled playfully, "Otherwise I'm going to keep calling you 'Sir Oswald' and, trust me, you'll start feeling uncomfortable after awhile." The Charis blushed even more at Cedric's words. He really knows how to form beautiful sentences with them.

Sylphie was feeling a little light-headed from blushing, but Cedric taking her hand managed to bring her back to reality.

"Sure."

The Masquerade Ball was held to commemorate Lady Mnemosyne's birthday, so she chose a cheerful song.

((Aww, I hope I can put real lyrics here DDD:>.... *gets stabbed for being bad at lyric-writing* And I wanna draw these two!!! DDD< BTW, you're really an awesome writer >XDDD))

((Go, go! Put the lyrics xD DRAW I wanna see xD Awww and thank you x3 I can say the same about you xD))

Sylphie was indeed right. He didn't like to be called 'sir Oswald'. "Sir Oswald is my father so, it's a deal. Only Sylphie, it's still pretty." he nodded with a smile.

As he took her hand and started to dance at the sound of her voice, he noticed her blush and tilted his head. He never understood why did girls blushed at his words. Wasn't it normal to praise a lady's beauty? He shrugged his shoulders and simply said "You have a beautiful voice."

((Aww, thank youuu XD! And no, I don't have any lyrics in mind T^T... *gets shot*))

"Thank you, Cedric. I think you have a wonderful voice, too. And I can tell that you're quite truthful," Sylphie said, smiling.

"Oh, sorry for interrupting the song," and she continued singing.

((No worries xD I'm actually listening to music but nothing to this "Savin' me - Nickelback does not suit this xD))

"Why, thank you m'lad- I mean, Sylphie." he quickly corrected himself with a smile. "And no worries, I can still dance." he said as he keep swanging his feet to the beat inside his head, together with the charis voice.

Jane could hear a voice, singing. She had been nothing but bored wandering around this mysterious place inhabited by crazy people by herself, and was thinking that she was starting to get in on the madness. Gods...everyone knew that the Greeks were just trying to explain a few things that they couldn't prove scientifically due to their lack of advancement in science. But still, how could she explain how she got here? She was determined to find a way.

While she had been thinking, she'd let her feet-still clad in their standard-issue black boots-lead her towards the voice. Looking in, she saw two people dancing. Dancing! As if ballroom dancing even mattered anymore! But despite her conviction that everyone here was insane, she didn't want to be caught alone. Might as well go along with them...sometimes, she thought with a sigh, it was hard being an atheist when everyone seemed set against you.

Sylphie noticed that someone else had arrived in the room, so she stopped dancing and turned her head that way. She's sure that there's indeed someone, so she greeted the newcomer.

"Hello."

Cedric noticed also and when she stopped dancing, he turned around to see a female figure dressing strange clothes.
"Well, hello m'lady. Good to meet you, I'm Cedric Oswald, student of Hermes." he said in his always polite tone and smile.

Sylphie followed and introduced herself as well.

"Sylphaea, Aphrodite's Charis. A pleasure to meet you," she smiled and bowed, lifting her dress a little.