Kenny panted as he leaned against the doorjamb, one hand supporting his weight. His cello had never seemed so heavy or unwieldy before. He sorta wished he'd chosen flute or even oboe that long winter night long ago.
Then again, cellos were awesome! They sounded so dramatic, and his father had nearly had a foaming fit when he'd priced them. That alone had made it all worth it.
Kenny straightened up. His father would ask Frau Mueller if he'd been on time or not. Frau Mueller would tattle on him in a heartbeat if she thought it would gain her any brownie points with his father.
Dean Kellog had been single for a long time, and he'd gotten through his grief over Kenny's mother by being a cutthroat business tycoon. If not for his own father's endowments to several music conservatories, he wouldn't have condoned his only son being a musician of any stripe.
Besides, Kenny being a musician was a bragging point among his peers. Kenny had nearly rolled his eyes the first time he'd heard his father bragging about his skills. His grandfather's bragging, he didn't mind since the old man was over the moon that his grandson could play an instrument. It was clear to Kenny that he could have taken up harmonica or kazoo and still gotten the same reaction.
Still, he'd never earn first chair if he kept being late to practice. His father had threatened to confiscate his capsule if it kept up.
As far as Kenny was concerned, his father was more interested in being able to brag than Kenny being happy.
Kenny stowed the dark thoughts away as he entered the room. Frau Mueller would sense if anything was amiss.
"Ah! My star student!" Frau Mueller said as he walked towards his usual chair in the middle of the class.
"Frau Mueller," Kenny nodded as he sat down.
He began the laborious process of pulling out and tuning his cello. It wasn't wise to stow it away properly tuned. The strings would invariably stretch and deform. Why that was so, Kenny had no clue. It was just something he'd learned in the decade he'd been playing.
He could still remember when he'd neglected it. He'd naively thought that his cello would be fine and then wound up having to restring the entire instrument when it went horribly out of tune.
It had been a harsh thing for a ten-year-old boy to do himself, but his father forbade anyone from helping, saying that it would build character and teach him not to do it again.
Kenny still hadn't forgiven him eight years later.
"So, you're finally here, Mr. Kellog," Frau Mueller said with that slight German accent.
Kenny sighed internally. Then he looked up at his music teacher. Frau Mueller was tall and thin with her brown hair always scraped back into a bun that looked painful. Wisps of hair didn't even dare to escape, and he'd heard the girls in class whispering about hair products once.
Frau Mueller was also pretty in a severe sort of way. It had to be all the angles. At least that was Kenny's opinion on the matter. She had to dress like that to be taken seriously.
"I'm not late, Frau Mueller," Kenny muttered, putting the final twist to his strings.
"With a few seconds to spare at least," Frau Mueller conceded. She turned her attention to another student. "Ms. Leonard, are you ready yet?"
Kenny looked over to see Kristy fluttering as she put away the cloth she was polishing her flute with. He couldn't figure out why. The flute gleamed so brightly, it was a bit disconcerting.
"Yes, Ms. Mueller, of course," Kristy said, nearly stammering.
Kenny also could never figure out why she was always so nervous in class. Kristy had serious skills and was one of the best flautists he'd ever heard, and his granddad had dragged him to plenty of orchestral concerts over the years.
"Fine, Vivaldi, Four Seasons, Spring," Ms. Mueller instructed.
Kristy took a deep breath, put her flute to her mouth and beauty flowed out.
Kenny nodded to himself. It truly was like listening to birds chirping in spring. He was awakened from his reverie as Kristy finished and lowered her flute, looking towards Ms. Mueller anxiously.
"Passable," Ms. Mueller said, eyes half lowered. She turned towards Kenny. "Kenny, Vivaldi, Four Seasons, Spring."
Kenny sighed and placed his bow on the strings. It looked like it was going to be one of those days.
*****
Kenny stretched his arms, taking a deep breath of fresh air. He was so happy to be back in the game. From his vantage point, he could see the rooves of Gunnan in all their strange and funky glory.
Some of the rooves were wood, and some were metal. Most were patterned in some way. Taken together, it provided a blended harmony that soothed the aggravation in Kenny's soul.
That was why he loved logging out here on one of the bluffs that overlooked the town. It was quiet and secluded. Besides the occasional hunter or playing group of kids, no one came here. Even then, there were other bluffs with more resources than his.
His only had a stand of woods and a pile of rocks that weren't very climbable. Kenny solved that problem with a ladder he kept in his inventory.
He pulled said ladder out and thumped it against the side of the rock he was sitting on. Then he climbed down and restowed it.
"I wonder if Master is done with the sword," he muttered to himself after doing another set of stretches.
Practice always made him tense. If it wasn't for the fact that the tryouts were soon, he would skip Frau Mueller's lessons, consequences be—
He forcefully cut off that line of thought. While he didn't believe those who said that cursing even in one's thoughts would be punished, Kenny also didn't believe in tempting fate.
Kenny traveled down the path hurriedly. His Master's dwelling wasn't far from his logout, just slightly hidden from sight. He could see Gunnan but not the ramshackle residence his Master lived and worked in.
He slammed to a stop at the inadvertent crossroads. The path was really one from Gunnan to his Master's workshop with the faint trail leading to the bluff marked simply by a small cairn of greyish white stones. To anyone else, it would just look like a distance marker, similar to those that marked the roads of the kingdom every mile or so.
Kenny took a deep breath, brow furrowing. Unlike his previous one, this one contained a large amount of smoke. Kenny turned towards Gunnan, but the scent was lighter.
Then he started running towards his Master's house.