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Amber stared at Solanum, willing her to magically understand everything they wanted to tell her. You found the Eye. I’m going to explore it.
Your clan are all long dead.
I’m sorry.
Maybe if they thought about it hard enough and stared into her eyes long enough…
It was no good. Solanum stared back blankly. If only they could speak some language even an alien from lightyears away could understand.
“Oh, you launched! That’s great.”
“Hi, Riebeck.”
Amber took off their helmet as they walked, plopping down opposite Riebeck around the fire.
“How are you handling space so far?”
“Riebeck. Can you teach me to play the banjo?”
Riebeck stopped strumming, seemingly caught off-guard.
“Um! I- I guess I could, yeah. I was going to visit the village next week, we can–”
“I mean right now.”
“R-Right now?”
“Yeah. Just for a little while. It’s not like you’re doing anything else at the moment.”
“I-I was going to explore the H-Hanging City, but… I guess I can put it off a bit longer. O-Okay!”
And they set about showing Amber how to tune and strum the strings.
Amber didn’t know how long it had been since they’d last huddled close to another person like this and concentrated on some activity together. Maybe the last time was when they were working on the translator with Hal, a lifetime ago.
It was nice.
They had just finally gotten to grips with the basic motion of strumming when they heard the deep, resonant ‘boom’ and saw the blue flash of light in the sky.
“W-What was that?!”
“Don’t worry about it. Look, my finger keeps slipping off–”
Riebeck was shaking now. “What’s that s-sound? I think it’s getting c-closer…!”
Amber put the banjo down and gripped Riebeck’s shoulders firmly.
“Hey. It’s okay. Look at me.” Riebeck obeyed. The terror in their eyes made Amber’s heart ache.
They picked the banjo back up and placed it gently in Riebeck’s hands.
“Can you show me how you play that song again? Please?”
Riebeck gulped, gave a small nod, and with trembling hands, began to play. The melody sounded wrong, the notes shaky, but it didn’t stop, even as Amber leaned against their side. Even as the blue flame finally reached them.
“Oh, you launched! That’s great.”
“Riebeck. Can you teach me to play the banjo?”
“A-Are you sure you haven’t learned before? You’re playing really well!”
Riebeck seemed to be trying to speak in a light tone, but their eyes betrayed their bewilderment. Amber supposed it made sense. They’d just shown up, a total newbie, and had been able to play the banjo with a familiarity that a real newbie could never have.
They allowed themselves a small, sad smile. If only Riebeck could know.
“Actually, Riebeck. Can I… borrow your banjo?”
“B-Borrow it?”
“Yeah… Just for a little while! I’ll give it back in a jiffy. I just want to show, er… Gabbro.”
“Um, okay, sure!” Riebeck seemed to accept this explanation, though they looked a little reluctant to hand off their precious instrument. Amber almost felt bad, but they’d have it back and forget all of this in a little while anyway.
“I-I’ll be right here for… the next few hours, I think. So you know where to find me again.”
“Great. Thanks, Riebeck!” They gave Riebeck a quick hug, which seemed to catch them off-guard, and quickly ran off back to their ship.
The Quantum Moon’s sixth location greeted them with its usual strange aura. They used their jetpack to reach Solanum at blazing speeds, eager to watch her reaction.
At their approach, Solanum gave the usual curious tilting of the head. Amber figured they should let her talk for a bit first — how long had it been since she’d talked to anyone?
They used the rocks to ask her the usual questions, all of which they had exhausted long before now. But they always got the impression that Solanum felt incredibly rejuvenated answering their questions, so they never neglected to let her do so when they visited.
Perhaps she could’ve been a teacher.
SOLANUM: There are many questions I would ask, if I could comprehend your language. You have my gratitude for understanding mine.
Amber clipped the translator back onto their belt. Now was as good a time as any. They raised the banjo a little, only receiving another curious head-tilt from Solanum.
They sat down carefully, leaning against one of the rock pillars Solanum had made for them.
They closed their eyes, and began to play the song Riebeck had taught them.
After a few bars, they opened their two right eyes and glanced at Solanum.
She was staring down at them, not unlike the way she always does. But there was something inexplicably different about her demeanor. Amber thought she might be thinking very hard.
They kept playing, moving two eyes back to Solanum every now and then.
Finally, a reaction. Solanum walked slowly in front of where Amber was seated… And sat down facing them!
Amber beamed at her through their visor, never letting the song stop even though they wanted to jump up and hug her.
After a few more bars, Solanum’s demeanor changed again. Her head was tilted back a little, her breathing gentle. It reminded Amber of sitting by the river on a hot summer’s day, head tilted a little skyward, feeling a calm breeze pass through their scales.
Solanum’s fingers were tapping lightly against the floor. Was she… drumming to the rhythm?
Amber smiled even wider and played with all they had. Maybe music really was a universal language. Maybe, through some fundamental law of life in the universe, Solanum could hear some of their thoughts and feelings in the notes.
They tried to tell her “I think of you as a friend too.”
They tried to tell her “I’m sorry I couldn’t save your clan.”
They tried to tell her “I’m sorry they left you alone here.”
They tried to tell her that her clan had found the eye, that when Amber was finally ready, they would go and observe it, and carry her curiosity with them as they did. That maybe it would all turn out okay.
Maybe she’d understood on some level. Maybe she hadn’t. Maybe they were both just sitting here, enjoying some music, ignoring the occasional wrong note.
Solanum kept sitting with them until the Ash Twin Project called them back.