Lyric nervously made her way to the front of the group and took several deep breaths to try and calm her nerves. She adjusted the white eyepatch covering her left eye, making sure it was securely in place, and then wiped her sweaty palms on the hem of her alabaster robes. After a brief moment to collect her thoughts, she at last spoke.
“Hello, all. Some of you may know me, most of you don’t. My name Is Lyric, and I knew Ipsin pretty much all my life. In fact, he was the person who gave me my nickname, stating that he would never be able to pronounce my real name, Kilyrie a’Kavreshi, in ‘a million lifetimes.’”
At that memory, she could feel a tear well up in her good eye, but she powered on.
“Like many of you, Ipsin was a shining ball of light my life, spreading joy and cheer whenever he graced me with his visits. He even encouraged me to try to join the White Robes and to practice magic, and …. he would have been so excited that I – along with the help of Oskar, another acolyte who is here today,” she said, casting him a quick smile at her friend, before continuing, “…and a person without whose help I would not only not be an Initiate in the Society of Mages, I might not be drawing breath given what happened during our trial.”
Memories of those horrific draconic creatures flooded back to her as she remembered them barging in on the pair of them during their trial. Her memory then shifted to Oskar, standing tall and strong and brave in front of the creatures. Interposing himself between Lyric and these monsters and wielding his giant club with all of his might. Strong and wicked smart, with the bravery of a hero, she had marveled time and again since that encounter, and Lyric’s cheeks flushed again, but this time not as a result of her anxiety at public speaking.
When she collected herself she continued on, this time trying not to look Oskar’s way lest she derail her train of thought yet again.
“Sorry, I am rambling. When I first passed the Initiation, the first person I wanted to tell, even before my mom and da, was Ipsin, because I knew he would be so proud. I am not sure what else needs to be said that hasn’t been said already, and by people who knew him better than I. I guess I will leave you all with a snippet of a song my da wrote called ‘Ardor of the Goblin Queen.’ My da wrote a lot of songs about Ipsin, which he called his ‘Greenshield Ditties,’ and this was the one that always got the most laughs whenever he sang it in the pub. I didn’t get the gist of it for a long time…too long…but I hope you all enjoy. And please forgive my singing, I didn’t get my da’s gift.”
She cleared her throat nervously and began to sing in a soft, wavering voice.
The goblin queen looked half a’fright,
Her dark eyes burning with a thirsty light.
She stared at Ipsin and Willy too,
And then said to Ip “No, I don’t need you,
But I’m afraid that your friend must stay.”
And Ipsin looked to Willy ‘n his face turned gray.
“Alas my queen, ‘twould be hard you see,
For my dear friend Willy is a part of me.
Try as we might, we cannot part
And so I fear, we must depart.”
Ipsin turned and jumped out a window high
with Willy dangling against his thigh.
And off they ran into the night,
As his bride shrieked at the slight.
Lyric stumbled as she realized that the phrase was actually ‘bride-to-be’, but she quickly regained her confidence and shouldered on.
And off they ran, the coupled pair,
Ipsin and Willy, from the Goblin’s lair.
Hey-dally-hee, Ipsin and Willy, can’t ya see?
A pair of good friends, tight as can be,
Looking for trouble ‘cross land and sea.
Hey-dally-ho, Ipsin and Willy have got to go.
Made trouble for each other, dontcha know?
Good times and bad, weal and woe.”
At that, her dark cheeks flushed with nervous energy and a stream of tears pouring from her soft, silver eye, Lyric mumbled a quick thanks to the crowd and shuffled from the stage and back to the shadows where she was most comfortable.