Lance Can Play the Piano

Gin Burtenshaw followed Lance Hua's every movement with his eyes like an eagle scouting its prey. Chiaki followed Gin following Lance like in a crazy game of stalking. In a more private setting, the lad might have hurtled his Tadasu towards Lance's chest.

The lord he wished to burn a hole on the head just by his gaze sauntered to the centre stage, his aura was brilliant and steps haughty. It was as though watching a maestro about to perform his masterpiece creation. All eyes on him, he dismissed them like not noticing the dust on the soles of his boots.

Boiling rage bubbled up from the bottom of Gin's stomach, burning his lungs at every breath he took. How could the man who killed his parents run freely and was about to give a public performance? Screw the Council elders as well, for letting him off the hook. Everyone in this room was responsible according to Gin, his presence here was only to polish his deductions and feed his imagination on who would have a taste of his sword first after Lance Hua.

But his sweet, sweet aunt . . . Gin didn't know what to do with her. He missed her sweet touches and gentle words, and sometimes a stern scolding if Gin crossed the line. He missed laying his head on her lap, listening to the calm breathing the practitioner of the Path of Indifference had.

Gin never practised that path successfully; in him lay too many emotions to manifest; he simply couldn't succumb to the paradox of emptiness and fullness that the path required.

Gin Burtenshaw missed his aunt, the only family member left in this world. But the evil lord now stood between them, trying to break his last strong connection. He tried blocking his senses from the music Lance Hua was about to deliver, but it was futile. Closing his eyes didn't block the sound while closing his ears would make him look impolite and dramatic. He would embarrass General Ao, who agreed to his request to tag along to know more about his enemy.

So Gin Burtenshaw endured.

Lance Hua sat on the grand piano bench, long fair fingers floating in the air before pressing the first notes gently. Similar to his aunt, Gin couldn't play music. Adults in the Spring family didn't practise it, while those in the Burtenshaw line had long cast him out.

The melodious, smooth tunes flew from his play, nuzzling his ears and coddling his heart with pitiful softness. Gin glimpsed at Chiaki, who was fixated on the pianist on the centre stage as if being under a spell. Gin's face became sour, the corners of his eyes red by the suppressed anger. That man had to be demonic to be able to transfix someone practising the Path of Indifference.

Bolted on his seat, he couldn't just stand up to shake the bewitched aunt awake. He peered under his eyes at the North Guardian, seemingly unaffected. Neither was the East Guardian who seemed too dazed in his own thoughts. While the host and the guests were fixated in awe on Lance Hua's performance, Gin sulked.

Azure Ao chuckled beside him. "You're too young for scheming." Shaking his head, he continued to watch the performance with smiling eyes.

"Why?" Gin was aggravated by his statement, too.

"Why can't you enjoy his performance like a normal person? There's no use in too much hatred."

"I don't understand," Gin whispered under his breath.

Azure Ao paid no attention to him, so Gin waited until the disgusting villain finished his song. He focused back this attention on Chiaki Spring, who now mouthed voiceless words following the tunes. This sight cloyed his heart.

But when Gin paid attention to the music and did not blind his senses with only hatred, he registered what song this was. A Faraway Homeland.

A faraway homeland,

Mentioned in passing by the bards

The market still bustled with merchants

Their face indifferent

To the sudden longing in me

Of late love and kins

A faraway homeland,

How long has the name evaded

The snare in my heart

Forgotten but siren-like

Waving to me across the lake

Only existing in my dream

Why did he sing such a sentimental song at this banquet? Gin thought songs memorised by an evil lord whose path to glory was paved with the blood and bones of his enemies was war cry.

Did his eyes lie to him, or were his aunt's eyes gleaming with unshed tears? Looking sad in public because of this weird song?

"Don't tell me they share a deep emotion over this piece of a mediocre song," he muttered lowly.

Azure Ao frowned at him, glancing at Chiaki to understand what Gin meant. He, too, looked baffled but still gave claps earnestly when the evocative part was closed with a decrescendo to the softer tunes. A climax with a short anticlimax, then the end.

It was like a vivid, vibrant, and fragrant life that stopped abruptly without enough time to reflect and retrospect. Just like how his parents left this world because of this wolf in sheep's clothing!

Gin woke up from the hazy mind as the rest of the guests pointed their fingers at the energy level monitor. Compared to the first three participants, the bar from Lance Hua's piano play skyrocketed, leaving the other three's cumulative level only a percentile.

The black bar had even continued climbing, surpassing the beginning maximum value of the vertical axis.

Up, up, and up it went. The black bar rose higher; everyone's eyes widened. Gin stole a glance at the West Guardian who gripped the armrests of his throne.

The bar eventually stopped at a value ten times more than the initial number. For the second time that day, silence fell upon the hall again.

"I think it's clear who gets the Skeleton Medallion unless there's any other contender who can break my record," Lance Hua's chilly voice froze the ears, bleeding fear into their spines. Jasper Wymark had to concede. Otherwise, he would be a public laughingstock if he licked his spit in a grand event like this.

For the good five minutes, nobody dared to step on the centre stage, duelling against the evil lord.

"Very well, Lord Hua. The medallion is yours." He took out the prize from a velvety box an attendant brought to him. Jasper Wymark beckoned his younger sister to come forward to the dais and handed over the medallion to her.

"Given that the lord is the winner, please allow my sister to bestow it on your person."

From how Gin saw it, this was an act of provocation. Gin had chatted with General Ao on their way here, he was aware of the one-sided rivalry between the ladies. And the Wymarks had proven that they weren't above doing a low-class provocation like this.

"Too garish and tasteless," Azure Ao commented as the claps drowned his voice. The audience, who were partly oblivious and dismissed towards the act, just clapped like a herd when the Wymark lady finished the bestowing, patting Lance Hua's chest a couple of times as if wanting to feel the ripples of his muscles beneath her palm.

Chiaki followed along, clapping with the rest, eyes free from strong emotions as if she clapped on a random champion out of a random competition.

"They do it on purpose, the Wymark siblings," the Guardian added now that Gin's attention was back on him.

"Does General mean the West Guardian and his sister run the mutual homewrecking?"

"Exactly. It's like his first day out in public, rude and tactless. If you think the East Guardian is too straightforward with his feeling, the West is that degree multiplied by a hundred until we can't distinguish where the sincerity stops and the lustful part starts. Both are sickening."

"But how about you, General? Don't you want to show your feeling, too?"

"Me?" he scolded Gin. "What feeling? Oriole is only sentimental and nostalgic, he thinks people haven't changed over the years. Jasper doesn't know boundaries, he wants Chiaki for himself. But my mind and heart are never for her."

Gin stopped the budding question from getting out of his mouth. He wanted to ask why General Ao joined the bedroom activities with his aunt, despite claiming he had nothing on her. He wasn't aware that the Guardian also practised the same path. So what was the point? Just for a release?

All the adults around him didn't portray a good example. Only her parents did. Unfortunately, they kicked the bucket too soon because of this pig who won the musical competition.

Azure Ao didn't let his annoyance simmer. Instead, he asked another topic that made Gin thankful for breaking the awkward silence between them.

"About the earlier remark I made, when I criticised you for being unable to enjoy the performance, have you understood it now?"

Gin frowned his forehead churlishly.

"If you let emotions always overflow your mind, how could you discern the provocation versus the real aggression? People possessed by the advanced shadow puppets, who showed no differences from us, still have their intelligence. Fighting these people who might use all ways to trigger your rage and hit when you're too focused on retaliation, how would you win if you can't read past their strategy?"

The youth only pursed his lips.

Azure Ao smiled. His eyes encouraging, he added, "Your aunt knew that Janice Wymark only provoked her. Even though she doesn't love Lance Hua due to her path, it's socially expected and acceptable for the legal wife to express a strong objection. But she didn't. That's what makes her a formidable adversary on the battlefield."

"I can't bind my feelings to her level, General Ao."

"Then, you should practise restraining them more. Only by improving your maturity could you advance your techniques."