Songs of Risa Bardsdottir

[Ludo]

Risa Bardsdottir won the title "Songspinner of Tervale" with this song in spite of its length. The others she composed for the same event were even longer. I, Elm Terese, promised I would scribe her winning song here. I am certain that with a bit of coaxing she would scribe her other songs for us as well. She is a friend of my father's, despite the difference in age.

One of those longer songs was very interesting. I wonder if we are half-sisters. I wonder how my mother would feel about that.

They tell me this song was set to a familiar tune, but I assure you it is not familiar to me. My cousin will not sing me the original words. He says a girl as young as I should not know them. Risa is my age. Well, I suppose even a fledgling bard does not lead a sheltered life.

~My mentor bard is truly skilled and he is wondrous wise.
~He always has a tale to sing to widen all our eyes.
~He huddles in a cozy inn and eats his berry pies,
~For he loves his sloanberry pies.

~"You must seek heroes brash and bold and follow them," he said
~"So you can learn heroic songs to earn your daily bread."
~And so I followed heroes while my mentor stayed in bed,
~While he stayed safe and snug in his bed.

~When I returned all sick and sore he greeted me with glee
~"The heroes say they won the fray, so did they win or flee?"
*in a trembling tremolo*
~"Those heroes fine went to a mine where I could hardly see,
~And the drow were shooting at me."

~"You followed them too closely, girl, and I will teach you more,
~"A way to follow heroes true and not wade through their gore.
~"Just follow to a cozy inn and listen to them lie
~"While you eat your sloanberry pie."

I'm told that after this song, Risa looked up through her lashes to see how her mentor reacted. No one there would admit to being her mentor. I think he was the anonymous 'Master of Ceremonies.'

[foaloke]

Very nice. I can almost see the mentoring interraction unfold with the song.

[Ludo]

Elm is absolutely wrong. Her father, Julian Terise, is not my father. Elm has never seen me or my mother, or she would know that my far Eastern features did not come from her father. Julian laughed when he heard of that conclusion. I just met him again. He and Willow are really roaming around these days. I will sing you the song Elm refers to, 'A Forgotten Father,' so that the truth of this matter can be known to all. Perhaps my true father will yet come forth.

~Risa my name, singing my game, daughter of a bard of fame
~How do I know? My mother says so, yet she forgot his name~

~My mother sold her favors for a song, they say, they lie!
~She never sold her favors, not for song and not for gold.
~For favors freely given are not favors crassly sold
~She would not cage a singing bird with any formal tie~

~Yes, many a bard has shared her bed, but one bard at a time
~And many an itching foot was soothed for weeks in her embrace
~But bards must wander freely, and my mother knew her place
~Until her children all were grown she scorned adventure’s rhyme~

~She had no need for gold because her skills could earn her keep
~And though such skills are often scorned, she used them honestly
~And some authorities would wink and set my mother free
~For she would help them solve those crimes that make all good men weep~

~And when no longer welcome she would travel for awhile
~And we would travel with her and her latest favorite bard
~Yes, such a life was pleasant, though occasionally hard
~She taught us all the skills she knew, to lurk and to beguile~

~The bards taught, too, and of us all my talent was the best
~So mother urged me to attend a famous bardic school
~And that is where I want to go, because I am no fool
~When I have earned the coin I want to sing there with the rest~

~Until then I will make my way by singing when I can
~And when no one will listen I might use my other skills
~But only if I really must, to pay my daily bills
~The coin I earn by singing must support my fondest plan~

~I will become a bard of fame.
~All other bards will know my name
~Mayhap my father then will claim
~His daughter as his own~

~I bid him find my mother dear
~She loves him best, she wants him near
~And we, her children, greatly fear
~That she will die alone~

I am happy here in Tervale, and I can earn coin here without using the skills my mother taught me in any dishonest way. I will wait here until I have the coin for Focluchan or until my true father shows up. How will I know him? My mother remembers well the pet name she called him. That will be my test.

[Ludo]

I have a song that I wish to sing, a song that refers to a dead hero of Tervale that I met only twice, once under the circumstances I am about to relate. Would that I could tell more of his heroism on that occasion. I sing this song in tribute to his memory, and to honor all unsung heroes.

*strums a cheap student lute as she sings to a well-known tavern tune*

~A bard may follow heroes when they sally forth to fight
~We ran to help a man who cried of bandits in the night
~We found no bandits, though we searched as well as we knew how
~Back near the gate it was our fate to be attacked by drow
~A bard may follow heroes as she searches for a song
~Methinks she is a foolish bard that will not live for long

*breathes deeply as she delays the next verse with an arpeggio*

~The knight Elias ordered us to search throughout the town
~The arguing did quickly bring my youthful spirits down
~The dwarf was sorely injured, yet he dared to search alone
~I followed, though my throat was parched, my song was but a moan
~A bard who trails a foolish dwarf is more a fool than he
~A bard without a singing voice is useless as can be

*shakes her head mock-sadly between verses, her toe tapping the beat*

~The dwarf ran up toward the mine, again the dwarf was hit
~And that was when I had to use my second healing kit
~The heroes traded insults and maligned each others' kin
~They stood around outside the mine until the dwarf charged in
~A bard who follows heroes needs to see what may befall
~But as I stumbled through the dark I could not see at all!

*shudders as she plays the arpeggio in a minor key, but just as fast*

~I think I shot a bolt or two, my friends fell all around
~And when I heard their cries for help I searched until I found
~I did not find the elf in time, that hero is no more
~Elias cried "Get out, go now!' I could not find the door!
~A bard who follows heroes has to honor them, although
~The very way they won the fray the bard may never know

*lets the last chord ring triumphantly as she bows*

[danielmn]

*applauds quietly* indeed. a dwarven hero. I remember the night well...I learned an important lesson that night. You can teach some people from sun up to down, tell them the best paths to take and the wisest what to do's...and they'll ignore you, because experience is their teacher. And with these, you must wait patiently with a smile, and hope they come back home.

Wonderful job, songspinner a credit to the small populace of Tervale.