Paley had promised Neidu, his piano teacher, that over the April holidays, he'd have written his own piece and mastered it. There had been previous attempts, but Neidu had always said it lacked soulful passion: Paley didn't stray from rules or conventions, he didn't put his own 'story' into the score.
After lunch, he flew into Gouon, which had changed greatly in the span of just 2 years. The citizens had come to love the dwarves' architectural style; streets and most houses had been completely overhauled into this new style. Instead of wood, colorful stones made up most of the houses, which were also adorned with more floors. Archways and dwarven street decorations – lamps, flower tubs, statues, etc… – were more than abundant. Vibrancy was omnipresent.
He arrived at Neidu's shop, now much bigger with customers coming in and out constantly. The reason for its success dates back to when Paley had played for his school in a talent show and declared Neidu his teacher. This resulted in most of the students picking up piano as a hobby and requesting Neidu's guidance, who, because he wanted his only student to be Paley, had to hire staff to teach others and handle the customers. The man was in his late 70s after all.
Neidu had been waiting for Paley in his newly built small flat above the shop. He'd grown weak and frail after a period of illness, taking Paley's help to get up from his bed.
"You think this is the one?" He asked in his coarse voice.
"I hope so," Paley sat down at the piano right next to Neidu's bed – the room was fairly small; despite his riches, Neidu had refused to live lavishly. Instead, he donated his money to charities; for him, an old man had no use for money.
Paley began by pressing down on two chords that created an air of passionate tragedy. He began singing too which surprised Neidu deeply, but he soon realized the reason behind it.
Not only was there passion in the music but when Neidu closed his eyes – as he liked to do when Paley played – he only saw Paley's soul. He'd identified himself with the song. But it was the lyrics that intrigued Neidu the most. They told a story, incomplete and sorrowful, of a heart that has been burned to cinders and a soul that yearns for its companion.
After the song was over, Neidu didn't even clap, he just grinned with tears in his wrinkled eyes.
"I didn't know you believed in love, Paley." He said, patting Paley on the back.
"What else can a man believe in?" Paley replied, a half-smile on his face.
Neidu laughed, ruffling his hair, "When did you grow up?"
"See you tomorrow?" Paley checked the time and got up from the piano.
"Tomorrow," Neidu smiled and watched the boy leave his room. He turned his head to his window, watching the sky with a wistful smile, whispering very quietly his beloved late wife's name, "Laiah…"
"Mr.Neidu?" Paley burst back into the room.
"Yes?" Neidu was slightly startled.
"Thank you for everything." Paley's smile warmed him far more than the spring sun could. As he left, Neidu mumbled to himself, "Thank *you*, Paley." he lay on his bed, taking deep breaths as he closed his eyes. He let out a small withered chuckle, "Laiah…"
Paley walked down the street, proud of himself and the piece that he had still not named. He'd no idea that was the last day he'd be walking that street with music sheets in his hands and an itch to show them off.
The news came suddenly that night. It was a man dressed in all black whom Madella greeted at the door. Teerom and Jurie sat together on the sofas, and Paley was helping the others with their homework upstairs – none of them had bothered to even begin completing them.
The man's voice was low and melancholy and Teerom turned down the volume to hear what he was saying. Madella's expression mirrored the man's, sad and heavy. She nodded as he spoke, assuring him that "We'll be there".
"What was that, Mom?" Teerom asked.
"Get Paley. It's Neidu." Madella sat down at the dining face and dropped her face into her hands, worried about how Paley will take it, as Teerom hesitantly made his way upstairs. Neidu had become much like a grandfather to Paley, not just teaching him piano, but telling him stories and advising him on how to be a better man. He'd taught Paley the necessary part of being human. Love. Not the kind that one holds for their family or for their friends. With his own love story, Neidu bought Paley into the hope that one day, someone will walk into his life whom he'll be willing to do anything for. "Even destroy the world?": Paley's extreme, jokey suggestion to Neidu. But the man was serious, saying that "Before your love. Nothing else is worth it."
Paley had been laughing with the other orphans at Adimia's horrendous handwriting, which made Teerom's heart sink as he stood outside the room, his hand reaching for the knob shakily. He probably wouldn't have been able to do it had it not been for Jurie, calmly placing her hand on his and looking into his eyes.
They entered the room and immediately, Paley could tell from their expressions something was wrong. All of the orphans soon came gloomily downstairs to Madella, who had been quietly crying.
"Paley," She hurried to the shocked boy and hugged him tightly, "I'm so sorry,"
The others quickly joined the hug. There'd be weekends where the first thing Paley would do was get up and head to Neidu's and with great effort wake the man up to have him listen to him play. He'd written hundreds of pieces and fine-tuned them in thousands of hours with his mentor. No one had any idea what to say. Perhaps it was best they didn't say anything.
Madella looked down at Paley's face. Blank. It was blank and distant. She ran her hand through his hair and bought his head into her chest as a way of saying to him that it was okay to cry. Thankfully, she felt tears form in his eyes and stain her skin.
The funeral happened the very next day. Neidu's cultural belief was that the quicker one is buried in the ground, the easier and faster it is for their soul to traverse the mortal plane. It was a sunny day with an ethereal, thin blanket of clouds covering half the sky. Before they lowered the casket into the ground, Neidu's first employee read out a letter from a lectern.
"I shall now read Neidu Hajranga's final words." He cleared his throat,
"I feel there is a time in everyone's experience when they realize their final chapter is closing. However, where one's chapter ends, another begins. I have lived an incredible 78 years. I fell in love and married. My beautiful Laiah. We wanted to have children of our own, but Laiah couldn't conceive. I had no one to continue my memory. I was frightened. Frightened that I'd be forgotten. It was a fear I had pushed away when I was growing up, and at that time, it came back to haunt me. Hence, I used my passion for the Piano to become a performer in Rouma. The WindMaker I called myself. How childish. But I was young, and I had a burning desire to be remembered. I still do. And though I may fear the mysteries of death. I look forward to watching over a particular boy. I have no clue by what goodwill of fate he came into my shop that peaceful night. But that boy is my future. That boy is my legacy. Paley, that boy is you. Wherever you go, I will watch over you. You will be amazing, and if you take up performing, you will be marvelous; magnitudes better than I. Don't be sorrowful over my death. Look forward with confidence for nothing can stop you, my boy."
Paley's heart crunched at the words being read aloud, and it had become tough for the reader as the handwriting became shaky and faint; the dried-up blotches of tears crumpled the paper here and there, but the very last words of Neidu's final letter were:
"I have one last selfish request… Remember me."
After the funeral, Paley met his friends, minus Negie and Dillie who had gone on holiday and would both be returning on the same pegasus carriages that night.
His apprentices were Libon Jeice and his two friends, Elhom and Tugas. Then there were Iji – the Map Magic user – Ketto, Homar, Ott, and Negie, who unfortunately wasn't there. They all gathered in front of Paley, Libon placing his hand on his shoulder consolingly.
They understood from Paley's expression that he wanted to be left alone so they promptly walked past him, hoping that gesture would tell him they were there for him. The DnD club was also there, or what remained of it, Diz, Liba, and Megora. They watched Paley walk with the orphans behind him back home, down South.
That night, as a token of respect, Paley sat down in the city center at a piano Neidu had installed just for him to get over his fears of public playing. For hours, Paley's fingers reflected the hundreds of pieces Neidu had written in his lifetime. The successes as well as the failures.
It wasn't that he was still in sorrow, rather he'd accepted everything and felt only gratefulness for his late teacher. So he played with a smile on his face.
Dillie and Negie's families sat thousands of meters in the air, above the clouds. Ten pegasuses had been drawing the wooden carriage they sat in along the sky. Beneath, there were Air Runestones that thrust the carriage upwards to keep it afloat.
Negie had returned from her parents' home country, Hamna, in Nijia where she'd met her grandparents and countless cousins. Dillie too had met her extended family in Dijin and was almost culture shocked by their traditions of mixed baths especially – she'd always been a particularly embarrassed person. Both had undergone little change physically apart from looking much more grown up now despite still being only 14. The biggest change, however, had been in their abilities.
The clouds parted, revealing the beautiful green landscape under the deep blue night sky littered with millions of stars. Gouon came into view on the horizon and they felt an incredible excitement arise within them. They'd be seeing Paley again.
The pegasuses slowed down and they stuck their heads out of the window to feel the fresh wind against the sides of their faces. Gouon was right beneath them now, just about fifty meters down, and as they approached closer and closer, they began to hear the growing sound of a beautifully played piano. As they passed over the city square, they saw him, still dressed in all black and playing his mentor's melodies.
Quickly, they made their way to the city square after landing on a small runway in East Gouon. He was still there, a crowd around him, standing or sitting and swaying or clapping along. Dillie and Negie sat with their families far on Paley's left. They couldn't help but smile and join the crowd's swaying and clapping; the expression on Paley's face was one that incited nothing but ecstasy in others.
The last piece he'd play was his own: the one he'd shown Neidu the morning before. He'd never sung in public before, and yet he created an incredible atmosphere of awe and strangely enough, love.