For the next three days, our troupe stayed in Solhaven to help the people there start to rebuild their homes. For the men, that meant helping the men of the hamlet to fell trees and bring the lumber back to the hamlet’s small lumber mill for them to fashion into planks for walls and shingles for rooves. Sten was helping them with that as well since he was the oldest and biggest of the boys and had quite a bit of muscle from handling the troupe’s kirgen with his father.

My grandfather was choosing which trees to cut down, to not overly harm the forest surrounding the hamlet, fields, and pastures. He was choosing trees that had grown too large, blocked out the sunlight, and prevented new growth, which was for the better since the larger trees would provide more wood to rebuild with. With the men of both the hamlet and the troupe contributing, the work went much faster, especially since they had the troupe’s herd of powerful kirgen available to help haul the logs to the lumber mill.

Most of the women of the troupe helped with minding the children, both ours and those of Solhaven, while the women of the hamlet tidied what was left of their homes as best they could and prepared them for rebuilding. We also helped to round up any farm animals that escaped during the Orc attack, before they could be hunted by the forest’s predators, and occasionally herded some sheep. As with any Fae, Voyagers are very good with animals, and we were able to coax all that we could find of them back to the hamlet and their pens.

I helped with that not only by coaxing my fair share of the escaped animals but also by spotting any such animals from the air. With both Zaiya and I searching from above, we were able to find the majority of the escaped animals on that first day. All that were unaccounted for were a male hog and pair of chickens, but Mara found tracks that indicated they were caught by predators.

I could not help but think that despite the loss of some of their friends and loved ones when the Orcs attacked, and the trauma that poor Oraine had suffered, the hamlet was somewhat fortunate. Their crops were not seriously damaged, all their sheep and most of their other livestock were accounted for, and this happened during the summer. If this happened in late autumn or during the winter months, they would have been a lot worse off.

When I was not helping with retrieving animals or watching over children with Korine, I watched over my daughter and Oraine. I do not know if it was because I was Fae or because I was the one who rescued her from the Orc that was despoiling her, but she seemed to take comfort from my presence while her parents were both busy with other things. I worried about the poor girl’s mental state though as she seemed very skittish, hardly spoke, and sometimes her mind wandered, leaving a pained and distant look in her eyes.

I took to teaching Oraine to play the shepherd’s pipe during those times since she seemed to enjoy the music when I played my pipes for her and Kalara or when Korine and I entertained the children. The instrument was not too unlike my Voyager pipes, yet simpler to play and we had enough leftover materials at hand to help her make an instrument of her own. I hoped that the ability to make music of her own rather than just listening to it would help to soothe her anguished soul and take her mind off her troubles and unpleasant memories.

While I was working with the other women of the troupe to care for children, retrieve lost animals, or trying to help Oraine take the first steps on her path to healing, Vesha was working with the hamlet’s blacksmith. She provided a hot fire for his forge and used her strength and immunity to heat and fire to help him fashion the nails, tools and other implements they would need to rebuild homes. Fortunately, there was plenty of metal to work with, due to the Orcs’ roughly made weapons and the weapons and armor they had scavenged from others. We had set anything that might be useful aside when we piled the bodies to burn.

As much as we were helping the people of Solhaven, Master Nirlyn did not give us Apprentice Bards a break from our lessons. We still had our lessons every day, usually in the afternoon as it began to get hot, when she would gather us all to our wagon and teach us all herself while Daivin helped the men of the village with the most necessary of tasks. The lessons went by quickly with all three of us being taught at once since we were not on the road and did not have to switch drivers and she did not have to give lessons twice.

Our lessons were mostly short for those three days because they did not involve practicing singing or playing our instruments. It was mostly academic learning such as songwriting, composition, diplomacy, and reading and writing sheet music. Korine and I were encouraged to keep practicing our singing whenever we could, which the children seemed to enjoy when we were watching over them, especially the duets when we would both sing and play an instrument to entertain them. Mostly we switched off though, one singing and one playing, to not strain our voices too much.

Still, we were both getting plenty of practice while working at other tasks and that constant practice was beginning to pay off. On our second night in Solhaven, Master Nirlyn told Korine and I that we were both getting very close to master quality with our vocal control and would be ready to learn more than just the basics of spell-singing once the troupe was on the road again. We were both very happy with that news, but I was even happier with the other milestone I reached during our stay in Solhaven.

Shava and I were still doing our morning training sessions with our weapons before the people of Solhaven awoke each morning, and each night after the evening meal, we still had our dancing lessons with Selice. Those lessons were done in a forest clearing I found while flying beyond one of the pastures looking for a lost sheep though, so nobody in Solhaven would find out about my ‘twin’. As much as we wished to help the people of the hamlet, we did not want them asking questions that could lead to them discovering the Voyagers’ secrets.

Selice felt that, thanks to my natural grace, flexibility, and agility as a Faerie (and possibly my training with Sharai on the ‘dances’ that made up our sword training), I was fast approaching her level as a dancer. She had gotten used to dancing in my form too, well enough that she wanted to try some new dance routines that would challenge both of us, and that she had choreographed specifically for Faerie bodies, from some of the dances we had seen the Faeries of Thaeria Village perform. Some of the new movements from those routines caused the remaining crystals from my Tien’jin to light up and sound their musical chimes, including those that I had been having trouble with on my wings.

I had to carefully repeat each of those movements to be sure, and to memorize the notes, and the movements and positions that caused them, but these were the last of the crystals that I needed to learn how to activate. As happy as I was with this turn of events, I knew that this did not mean that I had mastered the Tien’jin. In fact, I still had a long way to go.

Knowing how to make the notes was one thing, but putting all those movements together to combine those notes into a song was going to take work. The timing of each movement was especially important to keep the proper rhythm and cadence of each individual song. Faster songs would have to quickly flow from one precise movement to the next, while with slower songs I would have to be sure not to sound the notes too early or too late and fill the time between with the movements that would lead into the next note. The movements of my body would have to suit the song as well.

This was going to be a challenge, but I had the first step completed. Creating the dances required for every song in my repertoire was going to take time, and first, I wanted to be able to get a better feel for each of the movements and positions needed for each note until both body and mind knew them by heart. Perhaps while I was doing that, I could dance more freely and work on a composition/choreography of my own, something that called to me.

I knew just the thing. There was a song in my heart that had been bursting to make itself known since I had received the Tien’jin. I could still clearly remember that morning in my mind and now I just needed to find the dance that would bring that song into being. I had to discover the movements, notes, and words that would do justice to the Fading of Lorai, to share that bittersweet memory with others.

Excitement fluttered in my heart as I thought about getting started. I wanted to get started right away, but Selice had been patient enough and was eager for us both to master these new dances of hers. Besides, this was something that I needed to do on my own, I did not want anyone to hear anything less than the entire completed ballad in my heart before it was completed. Lorai, and those who had gathered to grieve her loss that day, deserved no less.

I decided that I would start once we were back on the road since we would be leaving with the dawn tomorrow. Tonight, I would work hard with Selice as we attempted to make her new choreographies for us a reality and then I planned to spend some time with Vesha and Kalara before it was time to put the little one to bed. She usually enjoyed watching us dancing, but Vesha and Master Nirlyn were watching her now since we had to take our practice so far away from camp.

When we returned to the hamlet and the square, some of the people of Solhaven were around the fire talking with my grandparents and the other adult members of the troupe. Thankfully, Selice shifted back to her true form before we headed back, though we were both still in our dancing finery, as Selice had taken to calling the outfits we wore to dance. Even though the outfits left little to the imagination, I was unbothered as we went to see what was going on. I had gotten used to wearing the outfit, and even casual nudity, since joining the troupe and it had not really bothered me much since we left Hindra.

Fortunately, the crowd wasn’t anything to worry about. The mayor of Solhaven and some of the other residents of the hamlet, including Oraine and her parents, had come to say their farewells tonight since we would be leaving at dawn. They had also brought some gifts to thank us for our help with the Orc’s and with the efforts toward rebuilding the hamlet over the past few days.

They had brought several sacks of vegetables from their fields, baskets of eggs, and some freshly butchered mutton to pad our supplies for our trip toward the capital. It was a nice gesture, and one that we all greatly appreciated. There were also over a dozen of those earthenware jugs that I had seen stored in the shelter beneath the Common Hall, which I was told were filled with mead that the townsfolk brewed. I guess that should not have surprised me since they were followers of Torr and he was known as much for his love of mead and other alcohol as he was for fertility and the harvest.

Just before they all left to return to the Common Hall for the night, Oraine broke away from her parents and approached me. She bowed her head and said in a quiet voice, “Lady Kaelyn… I wanted to thank you. For saving us from the Orcs… for killing them all… and for the pipes and your kindness. I am not strong and brave like you and I have no gifts to show my thanks, but…”

“I need no gifts,” I told her gently as I reached out to tip her chin upward, so she was looking me in the eyes. “We helped because we wanted to, and it was the right thing to do. You are safe now, and I think that you are a very strong and brave girl, those traits are not reserved solely for those who swing swords. Lesser girls would have buckled under what you endured, but you are still here, standing strong, and not just because I stuck my sword in some Orcs. Keep being strong and brave, Oraine, and practice on those pipes while you are tending your flocks. The next time we pass through, I will expect you to play me the song I was teaching you. That is all I ask of you.”

Hoping that my words might help her with the healing path ahead of her, I embraced her. When I let her go, her eyes were glistening, but she nodded in agreement. “I will, Lady Kaelyn. Safe journey to you and yours.”