This first song was a parody of the life of a nobleman's wife, making breads in the kitchen.

Oh, I am gray already

The bread, the bread is late

I am gray though I am young

And I have the cure of the plague

But while I contemplate it

I am filling men's plates

The endlessmen late in the day.

As Sileris sang it very dramatically, I pretended to pound bread in time, and tried to keep my harmony pretty enough, but not too pretty. Part of the comedy was the contrast between the slave girl who couldn't sing and the wife who had the most beautiful voice known. We danced and pretended to make bread, Sileris gracefully, and I made jerky motions. Sometimes I pretended to drop the dough and Sileris raised both hands up as if to complain loudly! Hard not to laugh.

The trader stood aside and watched us with light eyes. But, two men came to do the nobleman and slave parts. Two men already dressed like prov officials. I concentrated on the song, and only on my part.

Men gathered and watched with shock on their faces. I never saw such emotion on Perlans! Their minds ached to pry at me, but all of them knew what combined telepathy could do. A Perlan would be dead before she fell.

As we finished that song, I spotted a TS Inspector coming up front, and my heart nearly stopped! But, we started the second song, a happy bread-making song, and Sileris waved to me. Me? The only solo of this performance? My knees shook, but I raised an arm and found my note.

In the kitchen there is flour, there is water, there is spice

In the trading there is Pasa, merry Pasa, and I hope

Father meets him there, meets him there, in the trading

In the trading if he loves me I will have a wedding sash.

The words repeated and Sileris was like a chorus of sweet harmonies. I projected all my emotion of three times in love, all my hopes, and the hope that somehow, Doc and I might make it to our respite. I danced, and that nobleman took my hand and sang the happy ending. We danced together, and I gave him the happy looks I wanted to give Doc, dreading the end of the performance. Perlans easily get the wrong idea!

Ladies came from the crowd and pulled astonished men after them! It turned into a mass wedding-hope ballad!

Then, as orderly as they came, they melted back into the crowd, and we started the third song. This one was very sad. Sileris sang first, and I sang the second part of a two-part round, a long one.

My love is late, and I walk in the garden

My dress is green for the bronze of his skin

He went trading far, and his brother,

His dear brother, was to tell him

Of my love.

But, his brother found me,

In the garden, and he was crying, because my love died.

The dance was almost like ballet, full of those gestures that aren't in the Perlan databases. We knelt and touched the tops of our heads together, the ultimate gesture for sorrow, for women, as Sileris' voice poured out all her sorrow for Alasondon. She loved him? I held her head up as she gasped and moaned, a sorrow moan like I never heard. Men in the audience fell to their knees with it. I nearly fainted. Suddenly, it ended, and she laid over my lap, cold.

"No, Sileris! You can't leave me!" I spoke English, and kept mumbling a prayer as I tried to do what Barry did. I put my hands on her head and tried to give her energy. I sang her favorite song from Earth, "A Walk In The Garden". Did she think she was dying?! Nothing happened.

"Habis ha!" An Elshar in white robes plopped down on the hard obsidian and sang with me. He poured energy into us. I warmed up, and my headache went away. Sileris didn't come back.

That nobleman took me to my feet. Waved Sileris' body away. "Our people have eyes on you. Sing, and forget sorrows." His mind gave me steps and song, and I performed with him. Perlans gathered, they pressed together and more came, and they flew up in tight rows four men high, women on their shoulders! This song gave me a way to vent my emotion.

You told me that you loved me

You promised me you'd trade well

You said you'd take me to gardens

But instead, I'm making baskets.

Baskets! Baskets! They ask for my baskets!

Did anyone think to ask me for my name?

Baskets! Baskets! They think that is my name!

I sang with an indignant tone, and he sang the response, that he was sorry he left her to support herself. She danced a flamenco-like dance with furious steps that made rhythm. His steps were softer, like backup to her feet. At the end, he threw himself down at my feet on the hard obsidian, and his face bled when he came up!

I started to ask if he was okay, and he taught me a song about a lady and the injured man who came home to her. Each song was more intense. We performed a lot longer than the sched. People begged at us for more. I shook all over. My voice wavered.

Doc flew down to us. Bowed when we finished that song, another love ballad. "Friends, I must interrupt. My friend is weary."

Leader Minis came up, with Leona and that TS Inspector. "Where is the Angellan?! I expected--"

The nobleman threw himself at Minis' feet. They spoke a dialect of Perlan I hadn't heard. Minis was very angry with him. Then, he stormed over to me with rage in his face! "You! How dare you show strangers our hearts?! I shall have Ih Esta--"

"No! Father, I offer you my life!" The nobleman held out a sword, an obsidian sword, and fell on his face.

Leona fell on him. "I taught her. I asked her to do this. We die today, my son."

Minis lifted the sword.

Another song came to me, and I started softly, almost a high whisper.

Love is powerful, and the people know

Our songs sing in our hearts, the hearts of Perla.

Every woman who looks on a husband

And every man who loves a lady

Knows the song of love.

All of Perla shall sing

When the song of love opens.

This song didn't have a dance. I shook all over as I tried to look graceful, as Sileris would. Carefully, I brought my arms down in front of me, as if offering the planet a hug. A breeze came the right way, and blew my sleeves back. The red dress probably resembled flames, another symbolic women's gesture. My voice sounded naked without Sileris' harmonies, but this song wasn't on the sched. This song would probably anger all the men, because it was only sung when noblemen gathered in a special ceremony. A ceremony that included the ancient sword that Minis hefted.

I finished, and pretended to hold a baby. Sobbed. Doc caught me.

Minis dropped the sword. It shattered. The crowd went completely silent. He strode over to me. A whisper. "Where did you learn this? Leona does not know it. My son Arfaura does not, for he never attended a Meeting, he is young."

I waved, and that terminal floated up. Minis went white.

The TS Inspector made quick waves, to trace it. He was Perlan, and also turned very pale. "Aronn." He dropped on his face.

So did Minis, at my feet! Quickly, I pressed it into his hand.

"You must keep it, and rule--"

"No. You are of Aronn, and must have it. The rightful ruler of Perla! All I ask is that you give women equal rights."

I felt his anger, but he also feared me. When I waved to give him rights to it, my holdings floated back to me and a dimportal left a heavy coin in my pocket. Heavy? Maybe Alsondon's holdings. I didn't want to have things that weren't mine, so I waved the coin out and showed it to the TS Inspector.

He pushed it to me. "I already verified this one! Aronn's terminal hides, it is so old. How do you have it?" The poor man didn't look up.

How did I get it? "I thought it was part of Alsondon's holdings."

"Perhaps it was. Legal holdings are not subject to inspection."

-- This little bit is from an unpublished story, Singing For Lives. Don't worry, it has a happier ending.

Singing For Lives

Flan joined ES to teach at Sigan Mas, best of the college worlds. No one told her travel was involved, nor that it was dangerous.