Calling for a Song

Looking back, Illumina saw herself in Nina's eyes. A wild exotic creature, brilliant in the dazzling white of her shirt and pants and the contrasting red of the jacket and chaps; all beautiful, functional garments serving to emphasize the beauty and presence of the person wearing them.

In that same sense of Nina's vision of her she also caught a sense of Nina's vision of herself. Suddenly older, a relic from the past, a past burdened by things she could never revisit and so a past that she could never come to terms with. For Illumina it was a disturbing vision, not the least because Nina's vision of her became mixed up with Nina's vision of herself. Illumina found that she was confused about herself, almost as though the past had become hers and she was trapped in a present that offered little other than a temporary and fragile refuge from something she could not face.

She actually stumbled briefly, suffering a sense of vertigo, as though standing on the edge of an immense cliff but then she turned and smiled and laughed again, finding that Cavalla, her four-year-old mare, had answered her call. She had come up behind her as she stood transfixed by Nina's vision and nudged her in the back, clearly wondering what she was doing, standing idle in the middle of the crowd of people and horses.

Illumina embraced the horse, putting her arms round the animal's nose, hugging her. "Cavalla, you came, good girl, come let me up." The horse stood as Illumina went round beside her, got a foot in a stirrup and hefted herself up onto the horse's back.

As Illumina mounted the horse, she heard her father's voice raised, full of the joys of leaving for home, calling for a song. The people of Loro loved music and made much of it but especially they loved the voice in all its many forms and gave great status and honor to the singers among them. They had several fine tenors with them and three men took up the song together, no doubt having arranged matters before hand. The youngest among them, whooping, threw his cap into the air and bowed elaborately to Illumina. They began with a song much favored by the Margrave and a favorite riding song. The three of them began with the chorus, singing it on their own; their beautiful clear tenor voices filling the courtyard.

Green grow the rushes, O;
Green grow the rushes, O;
The sweetest hours that e'er I spend,
Are spent among the lasses, O.

They followed immediately with the first verse:

There's nought but care on ev'ry hand,
In ev'ry hour that passes, O;
What signifies the life o' man,
An' 'twere not for the lasses, O.

The whole crowd of forty men and women joined in the chorus, Illumina among them. They all sang on together as the Margrave led them out of the courtyard and onto the high road. Illumina, looking back, caught a brief glimpse of the Prince peering out from under the cover of the wagon. The look on his face was hard to read but she could just imagine what was going through his mind. She did not care and sang on with the people round her and laughed aloud at the next verse:

For you so wise, you sneer at this,
Ye're nought but senseless asses, O;
The wisest Man the world e'er saw,
He dearly lov'd the lasses, O.

The tenors somehow arranged among themselves which verse came next. The song was such that it did not matter a great deal what order they were given in. They mixed up the verses, stringing out the song so it lasted a long time. The city was large, straddling two islands in the river delta with the palace on the western of the two islands, roughly in the middle of the city. They made their way through the island, over the bridge onto the mainland and then out of the city, heading north as they would follow the river for some days before turning west into Loro and the country bordering the Green World. The Green World was the great forest of the north, an impassable barrier that rose into the high country in the west and a vast expanse of desert in the east. Both west and east it was possible to travel further north but there was little incentive to do so. The country beyond the forest to the north was sparsely populated and beyond the banks of the great river that ran through it, offered little by way of arable land. The tenors sang and they rode out of the City of the King following the river that ran through the low-lying lands of the King's realm, rising in the forest through a series of rapids beyond which its course was a matter of guesswork and legend. They finished the song with the traditional last verse, the youngest of the tenors doffing his hat and bowing to Illumina as he sang:

Old Nature swears, the lovely Dears
Her noblest work she classes, O;
Her prentice hand she tried on man,
An' then she made the lasses, O.

They rode without song for a time people talking and mixing as the fancy took them riding up and down the line seeking out friends, exchanging news and gossip from the stay in the palace. The Margrave called for another song and there were shouts up and down the line over what they should sing and who should sing it. Illumina had a sweet soprano voice and was well known as a singer, several voices called for her to sing. She rode up a little behind her father looking at him with a mischievous smile and started singing:

Jamie, come try me,
Jamie, come try me,
If thou would win my love,
Jamie, come try me.

If thou should ask my love,
Could I deny thee?
If thou would win my love,
Jamie, come try me!

The first verse was sung as a chorus which again everyone in the party knew well and when she came round to it again they all joined in:

Jamie, come try me,

It was a slow walking song and despite the ribald comments that went round the group when Illumina started singing they quickly settled into the pace and mood of the song, listening almost reverently as her high soprano launched into the next verse:

If thou should kiss me, love,
Who could espy thee?
If thou would be my love,
Jamie, come try me!

They joined her in the chorus and she cycled through the song repeating the verses several times before finishing with the first verse sung on her own.

The Margrave turned to her, a mock frown on his face asking, "Who is this Jamie anyway?" She replied, "He's a name in a song father, I suppose you would rather he were a Prince in a cart?" The Margrave just laughed and said something about boys and men leaving Illumina riding along in silence on her own as he took up a conversation again with some of the people round him.

The afternoon's ride was uneventful apart from one occasion when Illumina happened to notice the Prince waving surreptitiously but frantically in her direction. She sighed and reined Cavalla back, waiting for the cart to catch up with them. She took up a position behind the cart waiting to see what the Prince was waving at her about. He stuck his head out the back, which, she noticed, he had closed down, shutting himself off from the gaze of those around him.

She rode easily, allowing her hips to shift from side to side as Cavalla idled along, keeping pace with the cart. Illumina looked at him, a quizzical expression on her face, waiting for him to speak first, knowing he had no idea what her name was. He started hesitantly, stumbling over the words, evidently not sure what he should ask, though it was clear something was bothering him.

He blurted out a question: What time were they going to stop? Illumina, rode along looking at him waiting for the absence of her name to sink well and truly into the silence between them. She shook her head and said, "I have no idea. If the mood takes us, the animals are fresh, we could ride all night. In any event we will stop when people feel inclined to stop and we see a likely spot."

She could tell he hadn't heard what he needed to and hadn't said what he needed to say. She clucked at Cavalla and started to ride off anyway. He called her back, asking again if they wouldn't stop just for a break sometime; still not using any kind of courtesy or any attempt at addressing her as a person.

Illumina suddenly realized what the problem was and she almost laughed outright but managed to keep a straight face, leaning forward and patting Cavalla to hide the change in her expression. 'Of course,' she thought, 'the bumbling idiot needs to relieve himself and doesn't know what to do.' There was a simple if rather undignified solution in the form of a chamber pot in a compartment under the bed of the cart but Illumina decided she wasn't going to tell him a thing until he could at least say 'please' or 'thank you' and make some attempt at pursuing the idea that she might have a name.

To follow this thread in the story go to: Choosing to Sing

The next section to read is: Too Exposed

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