Shining in Fields of GoldSilver Knight It felt so strange to be back on DSVP after so long an absence. Silver shook out her long brown hair and hefted her small bag onto her shoulder. Not so long, she mused. Barely two months. But it felt like longer. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if he'd still remember her, but then it passed and she put him out of her mind. Her tall, dark haired man with his bright green eyes and a softness of voice and touch that left her glowing. Laughing silently at herself, she followed her little band out of their shuttle and down to the habitation decks. Their first gig was in the Main Lounge. She was opening with Fields of Gold and closing with Scarborough Fair. They were her favourites but she had a secret reason too. They were his favourites as well. Mackie was saying something about setting the kit up once they were all settled in their rooms. He was anxious about getting it just right for the station commander. He always liked to impress. Silver grinned to herself. Mackie always made an impression the first time someone met him. With his shaggy grey hair and bushy beard that was big enough for birds to nest in, he looked a little like a wild tramp. His redeeming quality was his great gentleness of spirit and his gift with a fiddle. She loved the guy like a brother and he had sort of adopted her. Other than that, there was Sammy Souter, a whizz on the sax, Linda Finch, whose flute could break a man's heart, and Stout, their percussionist. Stout was an interesting fellow. None of them knew his real name, only that he went by Stout because it was his favourite beverage and an apt description of the volumous gentleman. He was a saurinoid from Lungiia Twelve with a wide belly, a long snout with far too many teeth in it to be legal and extra fingers on the end of his tail, but he was a sweetheart and a wonder on the drums, xylophone or any other percussion instrument they needed. She loved her little band but they all admitted there was something missing. For, as much as Mackie was a great fiddler, he wasn't quite good enough to accompany Silver in the more operatic pieces they knew she was her most stunning at. None of them were really. What they needed was someone who matched Silver's calibre in the classical side. They needed a violinist. "C'mon then," Mackie huffed as he ushered them into their communal living room. "Let's 'ave a practice 'ere before heading up to the Lounge." Silver smiled as she deposited her bag in her room and slipped back out. "Fields of Gold, Mackie?" "Perfection!" He lifted his violin, Linda her flute and Sammy his sax as Stout sat back and smiled for them to begin. In a tone that was so pure it silenced everyone in the room, Silver sang the first verse unaccompanied, "You'll remember me when the west wind moves, among the fields of barley, you can tell the sun in his jealous sky, when we walked in fields of gold." Wiping a tear from his eye, Mackie nodded. "You're gonna shine, duchess, absolutely shine." |
