The School of One
an excerpt

When Kass entered her bardic classroom, she was immediately awed and star struck by all the instruments hanging on the walls. Her fingers itched to hold just one of them in her hands for just a second. She had never seen such beautiful, well-crafted instruments in her whole life. She walked up to one lute in particular. The finely polished wood gleamed in the sunlight coming through the windows. Kass could almost feel the warmth radiating from the golden, shining instrument. She resisted the urge to stroke her hand along the side of the shell and the neck. Kass had a feeling that it would be the gravest breach to etiquette to touch someone else’s personal instrument. She was sure that this one had to belong to one of the teachers. They would let students use something so fine and dear. Kass was so entranced in gazing at the lute that she did not hear the teacher enter the room.

“That’s a very nice lute you have your eye on there,” Kass heard a quiet voice from over her shoulder. Startled, she whirled around to face Bard Itha. “If I wasn’t so partial to my own lute,” the bard continued, patting the instrument slung behind her back. “I would say this one is the best instrument in the room.”

Confused, Kass looked at the bardic teacher. “You mean, this isn’t your lute?” Bard Itha nodded her head in confirmation. “Then whose is it?” Kass asked after a short moment.

“It’s yours,” the bard replied shortly. Kass met Bard Itha’s eyes in shock, certain that she was joking. “Well only if you want it, that is.” Dumbfounded, Kass just stood there, not sure that she heard the bard correctly. “You do want it, don’t you?”

“Well,” Kass said slowly, not sure how to put it. “I really do like it a lot, but I already have a lute. I don’t need two.”

“Everyone is getting a new lute,” the bard insisted, gesturing throughout the room. Kass finally looked around her and saw that the other students were picking out lutes of their own. “Your old lute was fine for busking in the streets, but you are going to need a better quality instrument for your lessons, something that will hold up under endless hours of practice.”

Kass nodded her understanding. At this point she realized that Bard Itha would not back down and accepted her new instrument. She turned back toward the wall and gingerly pulled the lute from its rack. Kass initial feeling of warmth regarding the lute was right. It felt so warm and friendly. The strings were smooth to the touch. Kass put her hands in position and immediately felt like they were at home on this lute. She looked up at Bard Itha, who was still watching her. The bard gave her a small smile and moved on the see what the other students had selected.

Once all the students had selected their instrument, Bard Itha told them to put them back. Confused, Kass quietly did as she was told. The other students were not as quiet or complacent. “We just got these,” one boy said loudly. “Why do we have to put them back already? We haven’t even been able to play them yet.”

Bard Itha gave a small smile and replied, “This is your incentive to learn all your lessons. Before you even touch your lute again, you have a lot to learn about musical and magical theory.” At this pronouncement, a majority of the class groaned quietly. Kass almost smiled, she knew that it was almost too good to be true. She had highly doubted that green bardic students would be given such fine instruments on their first day of class. “You cannot make good music before you know how or why the music is made. Also, you need to learn to control your magic before you go near another musical instrument. I do not like uncontrolled magic in my music lessons.” Bard Itha motioned for them to join her on the other side of the room. “Now come over here. We have a lot of information we need to cover today.”

As Kass started to join her other classmates on the other side of the room, she paused to look regretfully at her new lute, hanging alone on the wall. She let a small grin sneak onto her face. Her perfectly beautiful new lute would still be there when she was ready for it.