Corner Money

[Kalista_Karador]

Kalista's eyes watched the piece of paper float gently down before her and plucked it gently from its resting place and read it.  A light smile etched the corners of mouth just as she felt a pair of eyes on her.

She turned her dark orbs on the small boy, and instantly, she knew that this one too, was not as he seemed, not so much at all in fact and that etched smile turned up all the more and she gave the small chilled a sparkling wink as his grandmother whisked him away.

"I am certain, we will see one another again child."  Her words floated to the small child's ear on the back of a sudden breeze, which had to change direction in order to bring the child the message.

Kali then moved, her feet walked along the cobbled street and ten out of site, in passing of the band members though, she inclined her head to one in recognition of his growing talents and then, she was gone from the crowd.

The dark haired girl stood now in front of the door that had been described to her in the note.  She looked it over and then did what the note had told her to do and with a small popping sensation in her hand when she grasped the knob, it allowed her entry and she stepped inside and looked about

[~Harry Potter~]

The room was completely covered with dust from misuse.  There was clear footprints of where Rhyme entered and he was on the far side of the room, trying to dust off a place to sit with a scrap of fabric he had left over from an old shirt.  The window on the wall left of the door was wide open and looked out onto the street.  Oddly enough though, looking in, there was no window there, just brick and wood.  It was a nice enchanted window like those the Ministry had. 

All around the room there were hooks on the wall to hold instruments.  There was a couch on the one wall with a coffee table with long dead plants in a vase.   On the far room from the door there was a mirror with oil lamps around it to illuminate it.  Most of the light came from the window though, filling the room with bright sunshine.  Beneath the mirror there was a table with the remnants of old stage makeup.  Beneath there window there was a window seat with stuffed chairs spread sporadic around it.

When Rhyme heard the door open he looked toward it, giving a smile to Kalista.  He was glad she found the door and that this room even existed, not being sure exactly when the pub was built. 

"Good, you found it, I'll clear us a space in a second, just need to find the right tone"

He learned a neat trick for small rooms like this, he normally used it to defend himself if attacked.  He found that if he hit the right note, he could get the room to resonate, which would let him have basic control of the air within the room, not as well as an air elementals but not bad.  And he figured that since it was a bard's room, it would be a normal note, if not beyond a normal persons vocal range. 

He filled his diaphragm with a large breath and focused.  He felt his vocal chords shift and change to fill the right register and then, he let out a deep note, well below even what a professional base singer could hit.  He hit a G in that range and found to his pleasure that the room vibrated with him, and with a shove of his arms toward the window a large amount of the dust in the air that he kicked up walking around and a good portion of that on the furniture left out the window.

After which he began to cough, one from the dust still slightly in the air and from vocal chords shifting back to normal.  After he was finished he gave Kalista another smile. 

"Sorry for that, this place hasn't been used in decades by the looks of things."

[Kalista_Karador]

Kali stood there quietly and patiently, her dark orbs settling on the dusty room, taking in the enchanted window and all that surrounded it, the mirror on the other side and then to the musician and her lips turned up into the small smile they seemed to hold more often than not.  Her hands were clasped, one over the next in front of her and the small piece of paper with the directions for opening the door now behind her was still present, lightly sitting between forefinger and thumb in her right hand, as if forgotten there for some reason.  Her long dark locks now resting on her shoulders and down her back in a mass of softness about her form, a few shorter locks now noticeable as she stood still without breeze to interrupt them, lined her somewhat pale features brilliantly, leaving her dark orbs to stand out before all else.

She watched and listed as the musician started to, hum?, that was what she though when she heard the sound, she thought probably she shouldn't have been able to hear.  She watched quietly standing, the only thing moving where her eyes as they followed the dust towards the window and then behind her where she no longer could see it as it disappeared though the enchanted frame.

"Indeed."  She stated simply in response, her quiet voice was soft and friendly enough.  "I am Kalista."  She introduced herself, still standing quietly in her same position.  "Might I inquire the name of the one with the ancient song?'  She asked, just as quietly and softly as ever before, her dark orbs watching the boy almost as if looking through him, but no, she was actually seeing him.

[~Harry Potter~]

"My mother named me Artemis Entreri though most just call me Rhyme now.  You have to thank her for teaching me all that I know, if my father had his way I would be just like all of those out there, boxed in, ignorant of where the magic comes from and how to use it to its full power.  Very few can hear the Song or Morning and the Song of Evening or the Song of Life and Death.  The first two are sad but accepted, though it breaks my mother's heart when the last is even being forgotten."

As he spoke it seemed like he zoned out as he stared out the enchanted window at what little bit of nature he could see.  The hardest thing for him being he was being away from the true nature.  The forest and lake near the school were okay, but even they were starting to be tamed.  He missed the woods where nature still controlled, Pan's old world.  Looking back at her his face obtained one of realization.

"I am terribly sorry, I seemed to have rambled on there for a bit.  But now, I must ask, who is one who retained the ways of old?" 

[Kalista_Karador]

Kalsita watched him and listened calmly as he faded out to the distance a bit in his introduction and credit to his mother, and none to his father.  She smiled at him the entire time, her lips never giving up that small grin she held on her total figure that was until he asked her who she was, or more to the point what it was that retained the old ways, as her name had been given, he obviously wanted something deep within her.  She knew he would, and knew it would come to pass that he would ask, it just never made the girl to happy to remember what she had been given and what had been taken away, or more to the point, forbidden to be used.

"Your mother then was or is a great woman."  Kalista replied to his first statement. "As for your rambling, as you have put it so fondly, it is of no harm, these are the times for memories, these times with which we find ourselves reminiscing about the past to educate others; take it not to heart, it is quite all right."  She eased his mind on what another might have found to be rude, though obviously, she did not.

"I am, Kalista Karador and though I have no stories of a family, such as yourself as this would be my first go at being human at all.  I just simply am."   She told him with no smile, no light within those onyx orbs to tell him she was happy, or even sad.  "I have always been, I have fought in many wars for the sake of Heaven.  Fought as his graces general."  She gave a soft sigh though still, stood perfectly still, the slip of paper with the directions contained upon it still slipped between her two fingers.

Her eyes then turned down to look at her feet and she took a large breath and let it go slowly before she continued as if to steady herself before she began again. "I have also, fought for the other one, fought and taken many human souls to his realm for his pleasure.  I have since been released, able to soar again as I once was and then thrown to earth to live a life in this form as punishment."  She told him. 

She didn't know why she told him so much as she had, and she didn't tell him all of it, as the fact that she was tricked into slavery by the devil himself, how she had been betrayed by her own kind and handed over to the devil in lue of peace, these things she did not say, what had been done, had been done and there was nothing she could do about it, so why even bother.

"But this is who I am, you have asked and I have told thee."  She then added, her dark orbs turning back up to meet his once more.

[~Harry Potter~]

Rhyme's mind spun a bit as he took it all in.  He was never one for philosophy, and she brought up big concepts that the study would have helped him understand, that or course on that religion.  He never really connected with any of the modern religions.  He believed that as long as he respected nature and did his best to work for the greater good, that he would be rewarded. 

"I am not one to judge on the global war between the two sides of the same power if anything I would ask you.  You have experienced both sides, which do you feel is the greater force?  Wait, that is a bit vague.  How to word this"

His mind began again to try and think of a way to phrase the question without right or wrong, or stronger and weaker.  He wanted a question that did not pick sides, something that was purely...pure. 

"What side if you could go again would you want to join more?  What side did you enjoy more outside of the wars since wars should never be enjoyable"

He hoped he did not offend, she was beyond his range of wisdom, that was something that could not be taught and had to come with age.  He believed himself to be more wise then the general students of the school but he was still naive about many of the greater ideas of the world and had no real power to answer any questions about good or evil not encountering it enough to give credit for either side. 

[Kalista_Karador]

Kalsita listened to him struggle to find the question he desired to ask.  It was indeed a very tricky question and the answer was not to easily given either as there was much to weigh upon in thought as to where it was she found herself liking best.   

The girl then walked over to the cushions under the window and took up residence on a fluffy seat that Ryme had made clean for their use and sat there for several long moments, just thinking of how to properly answer his question. "Well, as I am certain you know the stories of Harry Potter and his sister Kiara, everyone who knows this land should at least have heard of those names.  I will start with that."  She stated.  "They fought a long hard battle against the darker forces why? Well, it would be because of the fact that the darker side of things always seems to take away the rights of all whom it controls."  She began her eyes searching the other's face for recognition.  "I have found in my time spent on either side, that it was easier to bend to the will of evil, than to stand up with the will of the good, the light and to protect the world from slavery against the darker powers that would be."  She moved on. "In short, I would think that I would not want to go to either side, but stay on a path that I would make my own decisions as to what is right and what is wrong."  She then stated. "As I do believe that in each case, one is a slave to another's thoughts and will and slavery of any kind, is not good at all."  She continued, her dark orbs lighting with a spark of something bordering hatred for what was known as the greatest powers of the universe. "Yes that is my answer to your question, I find neither of them to be pleasant, and so therefore, would pick neither side."  She ended with a nod of her head to insure him that she had thought it through.

[~Harry Potter~]

Rhyme pondered a moment her words.  Indeed she was wise, even for a person as timeless as herself.  Normally they can get stuck in a rut or extremely jaded, at least that is what he was told.  She, she seemed very at one with the world and here in the present. 

"You are indeed very wise, not many would expect one to say that they would rather be a mortal then an angel or demon.  Since isn't that what a mortal is?  A person on a narrow walkway between d**nation and salvation.  I would not expect the forces of the army of the light to be as horrible as the army of evil, though maybe at that level, slavery is still slavery, no matter how much the other one tries to pretty it up or his enemy bribes you."

Rhyme watched her as she spoke and say the flash in her eyes.  It spoke much about her being, it showed her power, but with it, it also showed what her power was like, it was limitless, she could basically do anything she wanted with it.  He now understood what others said they described the power he put out during certain songs.  He had nowhere near the power that Kalista held, but his had the same way of being limitless, he could warp reality in any way he wished, though the range would most likely never be large. 

"And I do not know as much about Harry and Kiara as most do in this area, my family was shoved so far away from others it always took time for the news of the world mortal or magical to reach us.  I remember something about a man who they would never name and something about his children.  Maybe someday, the bards that are left will write a ballad for them."