The Piper's Debt - Chapter One

Chapter One
The Mouse's Muse

"You're my most perfect little muse."

Musris smiled down at the tiny little girl in the crib. She was perfect. He had counted her fingers and toes several times and every time they were all accounted for. She had perfect little brown eyes just like his. His wife hoped that when the child's hair grew it would be soft and fair like hers, but Musris knew it would be brown. All Piper children had brown hair. Their small daughter would always look more like her father than her mother.

The baby's mouth stretched into a circle and her chubby little arms reached up. Musris lifted a hand to gently push mobile and set it back in motion. Little stars of gold and silver twinkled and chimed softly as they spun around above her. "I bet you like the sound more than the sight, don't you, little muse?" She gurgled happily and he took that for agreement. "All the world could fall around us but we could go on so long as we still have the music. That's the Piper's way."

He stretched a thin finger to tickle her stomach. She wiggled happily amidst the cushions and blankets. Musris was proud that he had been able to provide such luxuries. The whole house was far more opulent than he was used to, but his wife understood about image. It all seemed foreign to him. He didn't mind living off what he could carry and moving from one place to another, following where his muse might lead him, but Vivian had another life in mind. She explained it all so very well. He was a well sough after musician and good enough of a performer to obtain very rich patrons. It wasn't necessary to travel so much once they found a city with enough of an audience. Vivian had also pointed out that their daughter would need a home to grow up in. A nice, rich home with servants.

He didn't understand the servants at all, but they made Vivian happy and that was what mattered. Besides, it was a very nice home. A long stone path led through a perfectly manicured lawn and up to the grand steps in front of their front door. They had a dining room, a kitchen, several rooms just for servants, a room just for dancing, and even a couple of rooms that were entirely belonging to the new baby. Three rooms, just for this tiny little girl! But she deserved it. His little muse deserved everything.

"Do you want me to play you a little song?" He moved the blanket to dab away at some of the spit bubbling out of her mouth. "All right, I will. This one is called Tiny Girl. It is very much like you."

Musris reached into his pocket and pulled out his flute. It wasn't shiny or expensive. He had made it himself under his father's supervision. It was carved out of wood and only had one key which he could press with his thumb. There were many more difficulties in playing this flute than one of the newer ones, but it was a Piper flute and so it was the only one he would play.

He lifted it to his lips and took a deep breath. He let the air slowly out to begin the soft tune. As he played he watched his child, and saw her brown eyes watching him. She quieted down and stared at him, her tiny mouth turning up into a smile. He smiled back as best he could while still playing. It was a pretty song, gentle and soothing. Soon her eyes were drifting shut, but not into sleep. No, he knew a Piper shut their eyes to block away the other senses and float deeper into the music. He shut his eyes as well and allowed the tune to wash over them both.

The song drew to an end and he remained still as the last note lingered in the air. He loved that echoing silence that comes from a perfectly released note. It span around the room creating waves in the air only perceptible to those who listened for it. Its ghostly presence promised that though the song might be over the music was never truly gone. The music was always there.

Musris opened his eyes to look again at his daughter. Musae, the perfect little muse. She had already opened her eyes and was giggling at something in her crib. Musris slowly blinked, uncertain that he wanted to see what was there and uncertain that it was possible. The second uncertainty quickly faded. She was a Piper. It was possible. Not likely at such a young age, but always possible.

Three mice had found their way up into her bed and he saw another one making its way through the bars. They weren't doing any harm, just investigating the child as she looked back at them with a recognition that came from the strong bloodline of Pipers. One of the mice crawled right up on top of her and over to her chin. As its whiskers brushed against her she laughed.

"Ah, Musae." He watched with a sad smile. "You like the mice, don't you? You know they are our friends and distant brothers."

She did. Another child may have cried but she continued to laugh as the mice scurried around her. It was so natural and beautiful. He was so proud of her for being able to call them so soon, even if she was too young to realize what exactly she had done. There was no doubt that she was his daughter. No doubt that she was a Piper.

"Musris. What are those doing in there?"

His back stiffened as he heard his wife's bright brittle tone. Her voice shook as if it may suddenly break if he didn't respond properly. He lifted his head to look at her and saw her standing in the door to the nursery, her long blonde hair loose and freshly combed. She wore a pink silk night robe and small matching slippers. Although he had left her sleeping and she now appeared angry at having been wakened, somehow she had found the time to comb that hair. Or had it been that perfect when she had lifted her head off the pillow?

"Musris, answer me."

"They're just mice, Vivian."

"What are they doing in my baby's crib?"

Her voice quivered on the edge of hysteria. It worried him but he tried to keep his own voice calm. "They crawled in. Here, I'll take them out. No harm done." Keeping one eye on his wife he reached in and began to pluck out the mice.

She drew in a hiss of breath and cringed as he touched the first one. "You promised that there would be no more rats."

"These are mice, Vivian."

"Mice, rats, vermin, Musris! You promised me!"

"It isn't my fault." The four mice were now out of the crib and sitting safely on his lap. "They just came."

"Don't lie to me." She took a step back towards the doorway, her hands fluttering up as if trying to ward the mice away. "I heard you playing. You called them here."

"No, that was just a song. I didn't call them."

"You expect me to believe that they just came?"

"She's a Piper." He smiled weakly. Why couldn't she understand that this was good and share his pride? "She must have called them instinctively."

Vivian shook her head back and forth causing her bright hair to whip around. "No, not my baby. She isn't one of them."

Musris felt his heart sink as he frowned at her. "One of what?"

"One of the vermin, like you!"

“A vermin. Like me.” Musris barely heard himself speak those words. They sounded as hollow as he suddenly felt. He had known that she wasn't comfortable around mice and so he hadn't called any for some time. It was a sacrifice that he made for their marriage. Even though it was part of who he was he had refrained from communing with them in her presence. Still, a part of him had believed that she understood. Despite all the times she drew back and wrinkled her nose at the sight of mice, he had still convinced himself that somewhere in there she knew that he still had to keep connected with them even if it was out of her sight. And now she had called him vermin. Was that how she really felt?

“That's not what I meant,” she said the words quickly, dismissively. “You're a man. It's different for you. Musae is a little girl. Proper girls don't associate with rats.”

“Mice.”

“Vermin.” Musris winced as she used the word again and cradled the four small mice in his hands. “You had to have had them near for them to come at all.”

“Mice hide very well. They're everywhere.”

“They aren't in my home! You have to kill those.”

“Kill them?” He stared at his wife in shock. What had happened? When had they grown so far apart? The woman he had fallen in love with didn't speak like that. “I can't.”

“You have to!” Her voice began to shake again and her fair complexion reddened. At that moment she looked repulsive to him. How had he ended up here?

“I'll just send them outside.”

“They could get back in. Any rat that gets into my house should be exterminated.”

“It could hurt her. What if she bound herself to them?”

“What?”

He winced as the question came out as a whiplash. “She might have bound herself to them. Since she's so young we can't tell.”

“My baby wouldn't bind herself to rats!”

“She might have.”

“Then that's another reason to kill them.” Vivian slashed a hand through the air and glared at him. Her blue eyes looked like fire as her anger boiled through. “She is going to grow up properly, and being connected to mice won't do that.”

Musris sighed and shook his head. “I can't. If she bound with them it would hurt. She's too young for that.”

“She's too young to have mice crawling all over her! This is your fault, Musris, fix it!”

Musris looked at his wife, glaring at him from the doorway, and then looked down at the four mice. They were all still on his lap, staring over at Musae. He imagined he could feel the pull that they did, drawing them towards his daughter. He was certain they would have leapt to her if he hadn't been the one holding them. There was a connection between them and the Pipers. It was a connection passed from generation to generation for longer than anyone could remember. It was a way of life for them, and was once something to be proud of. Letting his eyes drift over to Musae, he felt defiance rising up. Why shouldn't it still be something to be proud of? It was tradition, with all of its rituals and minutia taught from father or mother to son or daughter down all the branches of the Piper line. He hadn't had any siblings and didn't know of any aunts or uncles. He could be the last.

But there was Musae. She had rolled to her side to stare back at the mice, her brown eyes watching their tiny beady ones. Her pudgy face was split in a bubbly smile. It was as if she knew that they belonged together. It was instinct. “Musae is a Piper. She calls to the mice.”

“No!” Vivian screamed and their daughter widened her eyes at the unpleasant sound. Musris ignored it. He wouldn't hurt his daughter to please his wife. His wife didn't understand. “You will kill them! A proper husband would exterminate the vermin her found in his house.”

He smiled softly, still looking at Musae. “Then perhaps I'm not a proper husband.”

There was silence. He could feel it thickening behind him like the coming of a storm, but he ignored it and kept his attention on Musae. He would protect her and show her what it meant to be a Piper.

“No, you're not.” The hysterical shaking of her voice had frozen. Musris could feel her cold blue eyes boring into the back of his head, but still he didn't look. He knew that the woman he had loved was no longer standing there. “You're vermin and you made my daughter vermin too. I don't live with vermin.”

Seconds later the door slammed shut. The mice let out worried squeaks as Musae opened her mouth and cried. Musris was saddened by the sound and gently put the mice back into the crib. They scurried over to her to comfort her and soon she was hiccuping as her attention was diverted by the furry beings beside her. He smiled. “It's better this way,” he whispered to his daughter. “It's better.”