Calando Arioso

Light whisper winds had come and gone within the watchful eyes of the crescent moon. A small patch of green amidst a gathering of ice-capped mountains had been a residence for an adolescent girl. Those are they that dream and wish upon the starry night that glimmered down onto the peaceful winter earth.

Whispers of the past swayed her long white hair as it fulfilled the wish of the snow that had halted for the moon. It then had passed through and it's white noise faded as the wind began to converse with the reaching thistle leaves of the winter pines. Her snowflake eyes too had played as a mimic to nature, glimmering and shining with the stars, it showed nothing of a care within the depths of her ice framed iris. With a moss green cloak and a self-woven willow basket, she moved towards a lonely mulberry tree to pick it's bursting ripe gifts.

One gentle pluck after another like that of a lute string would grace the hanging gifts as they fell into the basket. She had been singing in a beautiful breathy voice much like the whisper wind as she performed her tedious yet humble task of foraging for food. Within the night her voice had seemed to amplify the whispers as if it was a choir of harmonies which had attracted an unexpected night guest.

"Caw..." Went the raven in the night as it elegantly glided above, catching the wind's frolic.

She removed black, white and red berries from the mulberry tree and placed it in her heart made creation. It didn't matter the colour or taste, for diversity filled her favour. One more pluck had performed in the ensemble of her and the wooden life before she noticed the after light raven, black and glistened, fly towards the voice of gravity she sung. The night stood silent as it watched its conducted play.

"Hello there, little thing." The girl greeted the raven as it landed on her shoulder ever so gently.

"Caw." The raven replied bobbing its head up and down as it observed her and the berries.

She patted the raven from his head down to his long black feather tail that felt so soft. Both had begun to reminisce the spring time as the warmth from her touch complimented their minds. Removing her hand away, she resumed foraging. The raven began to copy her, taking the stem of a gift by its beak and nudging it until it was removed as he then placed it in her basket.

"Thank you for the help." She petted the raven.

Without noticing she began to sing again. That breathy melody like angel chants had seeped into the raven's ears as he began to caw happily, enjoying her wondrous phenomena that seemed to him as an essence from the ardent air.

"Do you like my singing?" The girl asked.

In a reply the raven rubbed its soft feathery head against her rosy cheek. The girl smiled as she then placed the raven in her hands and kissed him on the forehead. The raven cawed by blush, opening its beak, happy and content.

"I was named Andante," She whispered to the raven. "If you could speak I would love to know your's."

"Caw." The raven answered.

Andante smiled at him and placed the raven back on her shoulder as she began to walk away from the gift bearing tree. The fine to the night's first piece.

"I must return home now dear raven. I shall see you in the morrow." Andante glided her hand across the bird's feathers before it cawed and flew off into the starry night.

All of a sudden, a shining sparkle came and went out of the corner of Andante's eye. A shooting star. She made a wish as fast as she could before she walked back with her basket of mulberries towards her small yet warm and humble cottage amidst the patch of green within the depths of the frosty mountains.

Little did she now that the diminuendo star she wished upon had reappeared though unseen as Andante curled up in her bed. The raven was drawn to it's constant golden sparkle, it's fervent glimmer and it's miracle shine. He drew closer towards the standing star. A diamond in the rough, for it's natural beauty made the raven's eyes succumb to its radiance. It began to move towards him, picking up pace faster and faster as the raven snapped out of its gaze and attempted to fly away.

The star kept chasing him, never giving up. In fear he cawed, calling for help from the whisper winds, but the crescent moon had been hidden by a dark grey cloud. Alone was the raven. His attempt to escape had failed as the star only just touched him with its core, creating a blast of light like fireworks within the darkness. With the near end of its sparks, both the raven and the star disappeared, dispersed within the smokeless display. The star had consumed the winged being.

--- --- --- ---

Dawn broke as the pale sun rose in lamentando, and the morning melody had begun. The door of the single lone cottage closed tightly and was locked with rusted metal bars. Wearing her moss green cloak and a white woolen scarf that rested on the collars of her thin brown wool top, Andante walked towards a gap between two mountains in the north. She had a worn leather bag of sorts that touched her brown leggings every time she took a step. Her worn green boots made a muted noise every time they landed on the ground, crushing the snow beneath.

It took an hour and a half to reach the mouth of the mountain pass. Andante could feel the morning cold touch around her face like tracing fingers. The nearest town was a day away. A day of endless traversing through the rocky and icy pass. Suddenly the whisper winds began to wail and screech, increasing its unveiled velocity. An invisible valor that Andante could not bear for the intensity reached her breaking point of resistance. She ran for shelter towards a nearby cave carved by that of which she escaped from.

A warmth had wafted into the cave of darkness. It made Andante feel at ease but at the same time she could not see. The neutral phenomena lurked until she lit a wooden torch that she carried in times of need.

The deeper she went into the cave, the more she felt not alone. A sound of breathing echoed through the cave as it bounced against the walls and out into the fierce wind. Just where the light from the torch reached the edges of the dark, she saw a man shivering, scared and unclothed. Quickly she tended to him.

The man gasped for air as Andante attempted to warm him up with her cloak, drying his black feather-like hair that glistened in the torch light. His eyes turned to her as Andante helped him in the spare clothes she carried in her bag.

"Volante." The man spoke.

"What?" Andante remarked once she heard his quiet voice as she continued to help him.

"Last night, you wanted to know my name. It's Volante." The man answered.

Volante looked into Andante's snow doused eyes. All he could see in them was someone else. When he moved he noticed the reflection followed. He gasped, crawling backwards to the cave wall.

"That isn't me is it?" He trembled.

"What's wrong?" Andante moved towards Volante concerned.

"Where are my feathers?" He cried. "Where are my wings?"

Volante flailed his arms around as if he were flapping them. Confused, all Andante could do was to try to calm him down. He looked so frightened as if something terrible had happened. She became worried too, after all Volante was left in the cave, cold and unclothed.

"Calm down, I don't understand," Andante spoke softly. "What happened?"

After a minute, Volante calmed down but still breathing heavily. He started to explain all that he could to Andante.

"In the night, I heard a voice and so I flew to where it was. I saw you picking berries, but when you left, a light appeared and took me here. Now I'm like this. My wings are gone -- I don't know why..."

It still didn't make sense to Andante. She didn't see anyone else that night and in truth there was no one near her within a days walk.

"Who are you?" Andante questioned.

"The raven you befriended that night." Volante replied.

Andante gasped a sound like the whisper winds had been vacuumed into her breath. This man looked nothing like the raven, yet nothing explains why he would know all this. The only truth Andante could clear was that Volante was lost, frightened and confused. That shooting star may have granted a wish for someone, but not her.

After moments of silence that crawled onto the walls of the cave, Andante resumed sound.

"Maybe you might find answers at the nearby town. I'm heading there. Would you like to come along?"

Volante nodded as he moved over to her, holding Andante for warmth. He was shaking. Andante could feel nothing but coldness within him. She could only empathise. A fermata held onto them until they walked back out into the open.

"The town is less than a day away." Andante said to Volante as he linked his arm with hers, attempting to find his balance. Walking seemed like an effort for him.

The wind had died down back to its gentle calmness as it conversed with the peaks of the mountains. The two pressed on within the lamentando.

--- --- --- --- ---

"They said a goddess by the name of Niente has been lurkin' 'round these passes." An old man mentioned within a conversation near the entrance of the town as Andante and Volante walked through.

"Heard she looked like a brimming light." A young woman added.

"A light...?" Volante whispered to himself as he overheard them talking.

"Some say she was lookin' for somethin'." The old man continued, taking a sip of his pint of ale held in a wooden cup.

The two continued to walk past the woman and the old man as they headed for the inn. A place to stay for the night.

"I'd like to stay for the night," Said Andante to the inn receptionist as she handed her ten copper coins. "One room, please."

Near the opposite wall was a fireplace. The crackle of the flame caught Volante's attention as he gazed at the bright shining fire -- a moth to a lamp.

"You'd better stay right where you are if you don't 'wanna be scorched." Blurted the receptionist and with that, Volante backed away.

Volante shrugged, then apologised.

"I'm fascinated with shiny things." He added.

The receptionist pointed to the stairs before Andante grabbed Volante's hand and lead him towards the room.

Another fireplace was burning brightly within the room. Volante stood near it, gazing at it's still dance as Andante readied herself for bed. It was a long day for they only had a few hours sleep before continuing to travel towards the town.

"Why were you going here?" Volante asked to Andante. Not once did his eyes leave the sight of the ember.

"Weren't you content with where you were?"

Andante giggled.

"I came here to trade with people," She answered. "I give them goods like jam, other foods and things for money. It's how I make a living."

"I liked flying," Volante muttered into the flame. "That was my living."

Andante looked at him as he stood still near the fireplace. Not once did he budge. It seemed that Volante's life revolved around light's bidding. She felt so helpless, for Andante could not contemplate this phenomena. It felt like magic was at hand. Magic was Andante's yearn, like how a tree root yearns for water and its leaf yearns for the light of a passionate sun. Knowing what happened to Volante only made her thirst more for the unreal. Volante was a raven and now a human. An unreal reality.

Her snowflake eyes dimmed into dream as she stared at where Volante's wings would have been. She drew a short sigh before tucking herself in bed, awaiting the element of sleep -- that fateful moment where remembrance is but a futile gesture. And with that, the night's second piece had ended.

--- --- --- --- ---

"You look lost." Whispered a womanly voice.

Andante awoke. She was standing up near the fireplace right where Volante had been. He was now asleep on his bed, huddled in the shape of a sitting bird. In front of her she noticed a woman.

"Are you lost? Looking for your room?" Andante questioned the woman without a care how in the midst of the night she appeared whilst the door was shut and barricaded with locks. She had also succumb to confusion as to how she was here and not sleeping in her bed.

The woman laughed.

"You have me wrong, and yourself too. You are the one who is lost."

"Me..?" Andante whispered.

The woman replied with a slight nod.

She snapped her fingers and presented her palm to Andante. Out of nowhere came snowflakes that dabbed her skin and formed what looked like an ice crystal, floating above her hand.

"Do you dream of such things as these?"

"Magic..." Andante's eyes were drawn to this mystic.

"Shooting stars grant wishes. It's true," The woman moved towards the fireplace and continued. "A wish is granted if you only close your eyes and speak clear to what you desire."

After a brief moment Andante complied to her voice, closing her eyes and whispering unknowingly into the ice crystal in the woman's hand.

"I... I wish for magic."

Suddenly the flame from the fireplace began to fade and the crystal in the woman's palm shattered into thousands of tiny shards. Andante gasped for air, shards seeping into her mouth and nose. Her eyes began freeze and her ears became overwhelmed in diamond dust as she fell to the floor in slumber.

"Good girl..." The woman whispered as she reached down to her face and ran her index finger around her forehead.

The woman then shot a photon of sparkling light at Andante, radiating her body like sunlight to glass. Unnoticed by her, it was the same light that shined within the shooting star. And in no time taken, the woman disappeared into niente. Nothing more and nothing less within that night.

--- --- --- --- ---

Volante awoke in the crack of dawn. A flock of chickens made a cloud of dissonant melodies which oddly made him feel happy. The sound of other birds made him want to be one again. He noticed that no one was on the bed beside him and Andante was nowhere to be found in the room. The crackling fire seemed to have been doused recently with water that trickled onto the floor.

He removed himself from the bed and walked outside to see a cluster of snowflakes and crystals germinating out of the cold air just near the entrance of the inn. Crowds of people gathered around, marveling at what the majestic dawn presented in its birth. Passing through the gathering of people his deluded eyes caught a glimpse of a shadow.

"Andante?" Volante called out. His vision still unclear, for the million shards of ice wrapped him in a deluge.

Shards, crystals and pieces of snow began to float around in spherical motion. Andante was in the center, chanting in an unknown language. Guided with her hands, she performed a main gauche, switching the crystal's motion backwards and forwards again with the sudden change to a main droite. It was beautiful and encapsulating but for Volante, an essence of worry had plagued his mind. Around her, the whisper winds were gone, depleted into normal breezes.

"Fine!" She whispered with breath. Crystals then shattered into thousands of tiny snowflakes. The crowd then applauded in amazement just as her magic dispersed within the abyss of the dry, cold air. Andante bowed.

"'Seems that she made a wish to a shootin' star." A voice spoke behind Volante, thrusting him into a conversation.

"A shooting star?" Volante turned around. It was the old man and the young woman from yesterday.

"The goddess Niente to be more specific." The young woman replied.

"Many people believe she grants wishes, but at the same time grants her own -- a give and take pact." The old man added.

"And it looks like that legend was true. It truly is a gift from a god, I have never seen magic in true form!" The young woman marveled as she continued to applaud Andante's performance.

Volante gasped. He ran towards Andante, screaming at her. She looked back as he grabbed her hand, moving her away from the crowd. There was clarity in Andante's mind, he knew what had happened to him.

"What did she do to you?" Volante yelled, concerned of her being.

"She gave me magic..." Andante replied. Her voice was monotoned. She smiled, yet it looked melancholic.

"Andante..." Volante began to speak after a moment of silence. "I've realised why I'm like this – why I am a raven no longer."

"How so?" She asked. Andante's face was pale. It had no emotion and not once did her voice change.

"That shooting star, I made a wish." Volante answered. "I wished to speak to you."

"You have your wish now. That is good." Andante replied.

"No it isn't!" Volante scolded as tears began to fall from his eyes.

He attempted to take words from his mouth.

"In order to make that wish come true Andante, she had taken my wings. Now I can never fly again."

Andante kept silent.

"Tell me something..." Volante paused as more tears fell onto the snow covered ground. "What did she take from you?"

Andante searched and searched her heart but could not find anything missing. To her it seemed that the goddess took nothing and did nothing more than present her a gift. She shrugged to answer him back. It was that the sky brought upon an unnatural dawn which cloaked itself within the dark grey clouds above. Volante befell his tears onto the friend he treasured. He knew what Niente had taken from her.

Andante sat silent on the white ground as Volante drenched her cloak with his watery eyes. She searched the depths within for an emotion but with all her heart she couldn't find one. With all her heart she didn't understand. For her, music played no longer.

With her wish fulfilled, the night's final piece came to an end. With her wish fulfilled, the goddess had taken Andante's heart.

Fine