Perspective Shift: Sofia; The Duel

After separating from the group...I immediately got lost. It felt like hours that I was wandering the streets, more so looking for the inn again instead of something to do. Eventually, I was drawn in by an alluring scent and sound, into a tavern. Walking inside, I was surprised to see the tavern had a live band playing music for the customers.

Naturally, it wasn’t very full, since it was the middle of the day, but it was doing really well for a bar in the daytime. It must’ve been the band drawing in other likeminded people like me. Sadly, the music abruptly stopped.

“Dammit Tyler! I can’t work in these conditions!” yelled one of the musicians, a lanky man with a mop of dirty blonde hair and simple clothes. He stormed over to the bar, berating the owner.

“Buzz off Barry. You’re drunk again,” said the owner dismissively.

“I’m not drunk! How can I get drunk with their sloppy performances accompanying me?” Barry yelled, gesturing towards the other band members. They looked confused and offended.

“Stop being a jackass! Sure they aren’t as good as you, but they’re doin their darndest, and they’re the best you’ve got!” Tyler retorted. “Now get your ass back over there and keep these fine folks entertained. They came here for music, so they’ll have music!”

“Tch, you know what!? I’m done with this shit! Fuck you, and fuck your customers!” Barry yelled, slamming his recorder down on the counter and storming past me out of the bar. The bar owner rushed over to the door.

“Hey, wait! Calm down!” He shouted after the musician. Barry ignored him, storming away. “Sorry girl. Looks like we won’t be having any more music today. Damn egotist.”

“Uh, if you want, I can play for a while,” I said.

“Huh? You know how to play recorder?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’ve been playing it since I was a kid. I’ll keep your customers entertained while you go work things out with that guy...for a price,” I said.

“What price?” He said, eying me suspiciously.

“I get half of all donations the band receives tonight,” I said, ready to show off and make money.

“Pfft, fine. It’s a deal girl. Just get going before people start to leave,” he said, heading out of the bar after the musician. I grabbed the recorder off the bar, and after giving it a quick clean, I headed over to the band members.

“Hi everyone. My name’s Sofia. I’m gonna be playing with you guys for a bit,” I said.

“Please tell me you’re not gonna yell at us too,” said the harpsichord player.

“Of course not,” I said. “Music should be for having fun. We can’t have fun if we’re stressed out. And neither can the audience.”

“Thank the goddess,” said the theorbo player.

“You guys haven’t had a very good time, have you?” I said, feeling sorry for them.

“Barry’s an ass,” said the viola player.

“I saw,” I said. That earned a chuckle from the band. “How about we just do a run through of one of the songs you usually play? I can sightread it if you have his sheet music.”

“Sure, no problem. Here,” said the harpsichordist, handing me a few pages of music. After a quick scan of the music, we did a run through. Luckily, I was pretty good at sight reading, so it went pretty well. When we got to the cadenza near the end, I decided to show off, and improvised a solo that had the slightly drunk crowd cheering.

“Wow, Sofia. You’re pretty good,” said the harpsichordist, the stress gone from her expression.

“Thank you. It’s actually my first time playing in front of a crowd,” I admitted. I’d only ever played alone at home before. Playing for others was exhilarating.

“Wow. You handled your nerves really well. You must be a natural at being in front of others,” said the viola player.

“Oh, uh, I guess,” I blushed.

“Since that went so well, let’s play some of the other tunes,” said the theorbo player. I smiled in agreement, and we continued to play through the rest of the sheet music. As we did, people occasionally came up and left donations for the band. Eventually we had run through all of the songs, and the owner still hadn’t returned.

“What now?” asked the viola player. He was clearly getting nervous again. “We’re out of songs.”

“Hmm...oh, I’ve got an idea!” I said. I grabbed a blank sheet of staff paper and quickly jotted down a basso continuo for the harpsichordist to realize. Then on two other sheets of paper, I jotted down music for the viola and theorbo players. “Here. Take these. It’s a song I learned when I was a kid.”

“Hm...wow, this is pretty good stuff,” said the viola player.

“I haven’t done much with basso continuo, but, I should be fine,” said the harpsichordist, giving me a thumbs up.

“Let’s do this,” said the theorbo player. He counted us off, and we played the new piece. It was a ballad, slow and pretty, focusing on counterpoint and the melody on recorder was meant to illustrate the meaning of the words. While in this performance it had none, the song was made after a lullaby my dad used to sing to me. I had written an instrumental version as a kid, but never got the chance to play it for him.

Halfway through the song, the owner returned, Barry in tow. While the owner seemed pleased with our performance, Barry was getting angry. He walked straight up to us, and hopped on stage, snatching the recorder away from me.

“Back the hell off Lady!” He said angrily. The band stopped playing, looking increasingly uncomfortable.

“What’s your issue? The owner asked me to play until you got your act together, so calm down,” I said.

“Yeah, well I’m back now, so you can get on your way already!” He said, venom dripping from his words.

“Hey screw you man!” Shouted a drunk from a nearby table. “That chick’s like WAY betterer than you!”

“Did I ask for your input?” Barry asked rhetorically. His face was red with anger now.

“He’s right! That red girl sounded cool!” yelled another drunk.

Barry turned back to me, “You know what, I’ve got an idea. You versus me. A duel.”

“Wha!? I’m not gonna fight you!” I exclaimed.

“Not that kind of duel, idiot. You are a musician, no? We shall each play a cadenza. The crowd shall decide the winner. Do you accept?” he smirked.

“Why should I?” I asked. “What’s in it for me?”

“What would you wish?” He asked.

“How about you shut the hell up? Start treating your bandmates like the good people they are!” I said.

“That all? Very well, I’ll go first.” He put the recorder to his lips and began playing his cadenza. Turns out, the owner wasn’t kidding. Barry had incredible technique, and his cadenza was full of intricate runs. When he finished, he bowed to the crowd’s cheers. “You’re up, girl.”

He tossed the recorder to me. After a quick clean, I began to play. Instead of going for fast complicated runs, I decided to simply let my feelings flow through the music to the crowd. When I finished, it appeared to have worked, the crowd cheering and chanting ‘Red!’ over and over again.

“Looks like I won,” I said. “You’re gonna have to keep up your end of the deal.”

“Damn,” he said. “Fine. Just. Get out and leave me be.”

I complied, eagerly taking my half of the donations after saying goodbye to the band and leaving the tavern. It was already starting to get dark outside, so I began heading towards the church.