Mastering Mastery

[Althalus]

“There is one more matter, before cake.” Sam smiled at the pixie-like face of his sister and Apprentice as he pushed back his chair from the table, standing.

Reina looked at him curiously, his shift to a more formal stance unexpected.

Reaching behind him, Sam took an old threadbare oiled burlap bag off his back. “My father, “ he smiled, “was a Master Bard. He taught me what he could, in the time I was given with him. “

Sam tenderly caressed the object inside through the bag while Reina smiled softly at him, listening to his tale.

“He told me, when he came to pick me up at the Temple in Corda, that I was his son, but I was also his apprentice.” Sam looked up at Rei, considering her. “He told me that when he could no longer teach me anything...that I would become a Master myself. And that I would need to find another to pass on what I had been taught. “

Again, Sam considered the bag beneath his hands.

“He said that on that day, he would give me his lute, as Bards had for generations, to symbolize the Apprentice’s coming of age and skill.”

Sam looked at Rei fondly, pulling out an old, terribly beaten and oft repaired lute from the bag, one she had always seen him play. Rei’s eyes were filled with tears as he considered her, looking at the lute, then him, and then the lute again shaking her head.

“He never got the chance to give me his lute. I took it from the cold ground beside his body. And I fixed it, piece by piece.”

Rei swallowed and big tears began to softly fall one by one down her delicate cheeks. Sam brought the old lute up to his lips and kissed it, holding it reverently in both hands, and then with a swift motion, he presented it to her. “I have nothing left to teach you, my Apprentice. You are a Master now. And you will need to find another one day to pass on what you have learned.”

Rei’s hands were shaking as she caresses the battered instrument. She looked up at her former Master’s face in disbelief. She watched the tears falling from his face as well, as he stood, a look of fierce pride about him.

Rei’s mouth opened, but nothing came out and she moved into his arms, holding onto him tightly as she took a few moments to cry into his chest.

When she could regain her composure, though she dared not look him in the face, she spoke her heart. “You...honor me....and you humble me…. and you have given me a piece of your soul.... “ She looked up at him finally, eyes and cheeks stained with tears. “And now...I have to insist you take a piece of mine. My master cannot be without a lute.”

With the grace of her lineage, she moved to the nearby bench and took down a lute of her own. It was a well made instrument, the patina of the wood showing much care, the carvings on it a work of craftsmanship and art. With careful hands, she presented it to Sam.

“This...was my father's....he would have been your uncle of sorts....” Sam took it from her as reverently as his was given, smiling as he examined it as one would eye a lover.“You will keep it for me, yes?”

Sam nodded and smiled. “I will try and do it the honor it deserves.”

His former apprentice gave him her pixie smile, her heart and eyes full of love for him.

“You already do.”