you had a heart, it's been gone since they left you
A hungry look came over Korbin when he saw the lute. The hands that reached for the instrument were almost trembling, eager yet reverent all the same, just as the way he lifted it. Turning it over, he inspected the mending closely - if he hadn't known where it was, he would never have known - and as he kept turning the lute back and forth, flipping it over to check the underside too, his eyebrows steadily rose. Clearly impressed.
Only with great restraint did he keep himself from stroking the strings, like a pet or perhaps a lover's skin. He couldn't hear the hum of music in them anyway; he knew it, and tried to spare himself the pain of trying, even though his heart already ached just by holding it.
It looked like he had all but forgotten Glas for a while. But then he looked up, saw the note, and brightened into a wide grin, surprise and genuine warmth returning to eyes that had been dull for too long.
"Thank you," Korbin replied, with a weight of sincerity behind the simple word. "You did a great job. Almost on par with old Misha." The name was of the woman who had made his lute; he wasn't sure if it meant anything to Glas. Might, if the guy liked to make instruments; the woman had been a master carver.
Carefully setting the lute back down, Korbin tilted his head at the follow up question. Thinking back over the past season, he had to grimace. "I've been better. It's rough not to hear anything." He shrugged, knew it was impossible to convey the full horror of the silence that enveloped him. His own thoughts - and the thoughts and emotions of other Attuned - were the only things that echoed in his mind. In everything else, silence reigned. When he chewed and swallowed, when he pulled a shirt over the head, when he breathed or his heart beat... It was like being excluded from a part of life he'd always taken for grated.
"I met a dragon, when I came back from the last trip to Torchline," he went on, with some effort tearing his mind away from what haunted him. Korbin said it casually, like it happened every day... but his slight glance at Glas suggested he was measuring the other youth for a reaction.
Only with great restraint did he keep himself from stroking the strings, like a pet or perhaps a lover's skin. He couldn't hear the hum of music in them anyway; he knew it, and tried to spare himself the pain of trying, even though his heart already ached just by holding it.
It looked like he had all but forgotten Glas for a while. But then he looked up, saw the note, and brightened into a wide grin, surprise and genuine warmth returning to eyes that had been dull for too long.
"Thank you," Korbin replied, with a weight of sincerity behind the simple word. "You did a great job. Almost on par with old Misha." The name was of the woman who had made his lute; he wasn't sure if it meant anything to Glas. Might, if the guy liked to make instruments; the woman had been a master carver.
Carefully setting the lute back down, Korbin tilted his head at the follow up question. Thinking back over the past season, he had to grimace. "I've been better. It's rough not to hear anything." He shrugged, knew it was impossible to convey the full horror of the silence that enveloped him. His own thoughts - and the thoughts and emotions of other Attuned - were the only things that echoed in his mind. In everything else, silence reigned. When he chewed and swallowed, when he pulled a shirt over the head, when he breathed or his heart beat... It was like being excluded from a part of life he'd always taken for grated.
"I met a dragon, when I came back from the last trip to Torchline," he went on, with some effort tearing his mind away from what haunted him. Korbin said it casually, like it happened every day... but his slight glance at Glas suggested he was measuring the other youth for a reaction.
- ever feel you grew up too fast?
Korbin
