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This is a very different vibe from the madness of the weekend. Though a DJ is still playing their usual brand of pop remixed with classical woodwinds and strings, we can hear ourselves talk without shouting. I don’t even think those seats are usually there.
Some people are dancing, at least. I can join them after my cocktail. Still, a sense of loss and frustration lingers. I’m not here for the drinks, or the DJ, or dancing, for once. I’m here for those notes, and I can’t hear them.
Mavek slides my drink down the bar, and a mug of green liquid Cissa didn’t even have to order.
“This place is even more enchanting today,” I remark, to hide my unreasonable irritation.
Cissa snorts. “You havenoidea.”
There’s a certain inflection to her voice, so I’m about to ask what she means when I finally,finallyhear the tune that has haunted me for days.
Relief floods me, like the first breath after spending too long underwater. I take in the song, committing it to memory, studying each sound so I can precisely recall and play them.
Now that the sound of the music around the club plays at a lower volume, I can distinguish where my enchanting melody comes from: the basement.
As I look at the stairs leading down into darkness, the song gets louder in my mind. “Do you hear that?”
Cissa’s eyebrows knit. “What?”
I repeat the familiar tune and watch as her frown deepens. Her mouth opens a little in surprise.
“Are you playing it somewhere?” I press.
She blinks a few times. “Erm, no. That’s… I mean, it sounds like an old nursery rhyme from where I’m from.”
Then why would I hear it coming from the mysterious depths of an exclusive nightclub?
“A nursery rhyme,” I repeat. “How does it go?”
Cissa bites on her lower lip, and starts to sing.
Tall is the tree,
Gold is the wine,
And the queen of the Hollow,
In her first shine.
Strong is the hammer,
Fell is the swine,
And her word they defied,
So to war the fair queen rode,
To keep them in line.
Tall is the tree,
Gold is the wine,
And both rest by Queen Mor’s side,
Her tomb covered in vine.
My heart vibrates in my chest. I lose sense of my surroundings.
