Finding the Perfect Instrument

Cardinal was excited to attend his first Eeriels’ Ballade since hearing about it from Tangerine. He was eager to help with taking care of and pampering the Eeriels as they arrived to Yfalos. However, Tangerine had urged him to try finding an instrument to play during the Ballade. He didn’t quite think himself as a music person, so the idea scared him a little. A lot, actually. Tangerine reassured him they’ll find him the perfect instrument in no time.

The hum of both music and chatter echoed through the building as Cardinal and Tangerine entered. Cardinal’s eyes widened as he set sight on just how many instruments filled the room. Instruments with strings, instruments of wood, metals, brass, woodwinds, bells, and more. This was already overwhelming. Cardinal took a step back towards the door.

“You alright?” Tangerine asked, looking over her shoulder back towards her friend.

“I didn’t realize just how many instruments there was,” Cardinal murmured, his eyes still wide.

“Don’t worry! We’ll find the right fit for you!” Tangerine walked over and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

Cardinal shook his head to focus his eyes back in and nodded. How hard could it be? “Right. Where do we start?”

“We can start with the lute, like I have!” Tangerine motioned to the lute that was held on a sling around her torso. “This way!”

Tangerine led Cardinal over to a side of the room filled with string instruments. She picks up a lute similar to hers and holds it out to Cardinal.

Cardinal takes the lute and holds it gently. The shape of the instrument already felt weird in his paws.

“To start, you’re going to hold it like this.” Tangerine moved her lute from the strap and held it in her paws. One paw rested across the body of the lute, while the other held the strings on the neck.

Cardinal copied her form, adjusting himself into an awkward sitting position. As the lesson went on, he felt more and more unsure of the lute. It felt difficult to hold for him, the strings were hard to pluck, and trying to keep track of what note was what and what string to hold made his head spin.

“I don’t think the lute is for me,” Cardinal sighed, placing it back with the rest.

Tangerine carefully put hers back on its sling. “Well, it was the first one we’ve tried, so there’s plenty more to go!” She turned and trotted away towards another string instrument.

Cardinal walked behind her, occasionally looking across the room towards other Faians also trying to find their perfect instrument. Did they find theirs on the first try? Or maybe it took them two, three, or ten instruments to find it?

THUD.

Cardinal stumbled back as he bumped into Tangerine. She stumbled as well and nearly fell onto her feet.

“Sorry!” Cardinal quickly blurted out.

Tangerine laughed and shook it off. “No worries! What about this harp?” She pointed towards the instrument beside her. It was large and an odd shape, with dozens of strings threaded through the middle of the shape.

“Uh… that looks like too many strings.” Cardinal tilted his head away.

Tangerine lowered her paw, looking the harp up and down. “Hmmm… yeah you’re right, I think I know the perfect instrument!” She motioned for Cardinal to follow as she walked across the expanse of strings. They soon came upon a small, string instrument in the shape of a U.

“A water lyre!” Tangerine held out the small instrument. “An instrument that was made right here in Yfalos!”

Cardinal took it in his hands and gently ran a finger across the strings. A melodic tune echoed from it that reminded him of the ocean.

“It sounds lovely!” he gasped. “But…” Cardinal placed it back down. “Maybe string instruments just aren’t for me?”

Tangerine tilted her head. “Not clicking?”

Cardinal shook his head. “I’m not really feeling the spark you mentioned you felt when you picked up the lute.”

“Oh yeah!” Tangerine sighed wistfully as she looked towards the ceiling. “I remember it like it was yesterday! I saw a lute at a merchant stall while doing my usual shopping. The moment I picked it up and heard the tune I knew it was the instrument for me! Since then I’ve been wanting to play it in the Eeriels’ Ballade!”

“You haven’t before?” Cardinal asked. He had thought she was the master of the lute and won over Eeriels everywhere last year with the way she spoke about it.

“N-no…” Tangerine sheepishly looked away. “I really want to play in the big Ballade this year, but it doesn’t feel like the music I write is up to par.”

“Nonsense!” Cardinal waved his paw in a grand gesture. “This will be your year!”

“Just like this will be yours?” Tangerine teased back.

“I think so?” Cardinal winced. He wasn’t quite sure about that. They still hadn’t found him an instrument.

“Then lets get going! Maybe I can even craft a song with you!” Tangerine jumped up and rushed away.

“Wait up!” Cardinal called out to her as he ran to keep up. Perhaps this day was going to be longer than he had anticipated.

For awhile, Tangerine would point out instruments to Cardinal, who would then dismiss them for one reason or another.

A windweaver’s flute! But no, Cardinal couldn’t hold the small instrument properly, and keeping the notes consistent was difficult.

How about a clarinet? That was difficult as well, and the noise that sounded when Cardinal attempted to play was not pleasant to his- or anyone else nearby- ears.

A piano? Cardinal doesn’t feel like they have the dexterity for it. It also isn’t that portable of an instrument. Perhaps something smaller would be preferable.

Tangerine picked up a giant golden instrument. It had twists and turns all along and several what appeared to be buttons on the side.

“Tuba!” she shouted, before then blowing into the instrument. A deep honk rang out from the other side.

“How are you even holding that…?” Cardinal asked. The instrument was as big as her, the honking noise echoing from a cone twice as large as her head.

“No idea!” she answered, stumbling as she placed the tuba back down.

A saxophone! Well, Tangerine and Cardinal ended up watching another Faian play out an entire song than actually trying it for themselves. The performance was amazing and the duo wished them well for the rest of the Ballade. However, Cardinal was certain this wasn’t the instrument for him.

A triangle! Tangerine gently tapped the small, triangle-shaped metal.

“I don’t think so.” Cardinal shook his head and they continued searching.

BAGPIPES. Tangerine held up the strange half bag half flute mechanism to Cardinal.

“I don’t think that’s a simple instrument, Tangerine.” He remarked, prodding the bag. The instrument let out a mix of a honk and squeal.

“You’re right.” Tangerine put it back. “But it looks and sounds cool!”

Cardinal sighs, “maybe this music stuff isn’t for me. I can still help pamper the Eeriels though!”

“Maybe… but there’s still a few instruments you haven’t seen!” Tangerine points over to the other side of the room.

“I guess I could give them a try.” Cardinal shook his head. He had been losing faith in finding that perfect instrument to play as more and more just didn’t seem right. He wandered among the bells, chimes, and xylophones, hoping to find something that called to him. The bells, while lovely, were awkward to keep track of whether they were in his hand or on a rack. The chimes were similar, and a bit unwieldy for the portability Cardinal wanted his perfect instrument to have. A xylophone was portable and easy to play, but the tune just didn’t feel right.

“We’ve been here what feels like all day, are you sure-” Cardinal began to speak, only to turn and see Tangerine wasn’t there with him.

“Tangerine?” he looked around the room. Between the other Faians and instruments, he couldn’t find her.

“Where did she go?” he thought. “She was here just a second ago…”

Cardinal lifted himself onto his back legs and looked over the crowd as much as he could. In the far distance he spotted the orange fur and green flames of Tangerine. She was eagerly chatting with some other Faians who were holding string instruments of their own. They looked to be happy and gleefully discussing their songs.

Cardinal lowered himself back to the ground. It looks like he was on his own for now. He sighed, lowering his shoulders and head. Perhaps this just wasn’t his year for music. There was always next year. This year he could stick to helping the eeriels. That was still a noble cause for him here.

Then he heard it. A rumble. A boom. The rhythmic thudding that sounded like waves crashing against the shore or the rumbling thunder of a storm. Cardinal lifted himself immediately and looked around for the source of this magical music. Not too far from him, a candle noodle was playing on a large, cylindrical-shaped instrument. They had two sticks in their hands and hit it against the tan surface in a rhythm.

Cardinal rushed over to watch them perform. Each beat of the instrument filled him with hope.

“What is that?” Cardinal blurted out in a pause of their performance.

The candle noodle stopped drumming and looked to him. “The song?”

Cardinal shook his head rapidly and pointed a claw towards the instrument. “No no- that instrument. What is it called?”

The candle noodled looked confused towards the drum, then back to Cardinal. “A drum…?”

“Yes! A drum! Is there smaller drums? Something that can be held? Like about this big?” Cardinal asked rapidly. He held his paws out in the vague size of something that he could carry on his side in a strap like Tangerine’s lute.

“Yeah, over there-” the candle noodle motioned with a stick towards the smaller drums.

“Thank you!” Cardinal rushed away before the candle noodle even had a chance to reply. He quickly took a smaller drum and mallets in hand and sat down.

This was it. The moment he had been searching for. Cardinal took a deep breath and raised the mallet. He paused, then swung it down onto the drum’s top. The sound that rushed through his ears lit the spark that Tangerine had told him about. With newfound excitement, Cardinal began to rhythmically drum out a tune and let the music carry his paws. Every beat, every hit of the drum, delighted him even more. This was it! This was his instrument!

Cardinal rushed around and began trying out different drums. Small drums. Big drums. Even tiny drums or super huge drums! What about a cymbal? No- too chaotic. Every drum felt perfect in his paws, he was having a hard time picking out which one to play for the Ballade. Eventually he settled on a small taiko drum. Though he loved the larger taiko drum and would like for nothing more than to play it in the ballade’s grand performance, he thought the smaller one would be better for practicing in the meantime.

It was a half hour later when Tangerine broke away from her new friends and found Cardinal drumming out a tune among the other percussion instruments. Wordlessly, she sat down beside him and began strumming a tune on her lute to match his drumming.

“Hey, I told you that you would find something!” Tangerine piped up between notes.

“That I did!” Cardinal beamed with pride as he continued playing the drum.

The pair continued playing as Cardinal grew used to playing the drum. Once he felt satisfied, Tangerine and him rushed to the Faian in charge of renting out instruments to visitors for the Ballade. Cardinal was ecstatic to have found an instrument that not only lit that spark in him for music, but also meant that he could play alongside Tangerine! He spent the rest of the day finding lessons for his new drum, and chatting with other Faians about music and percussion. Now, with his perfect instrument, Cardinal could perform for the Eeriels as well as pamper them!