Who: Nagisa, Seihin
When: some time before the 10th pass
What: Their first meeting, as told by Nagisa ( Seihin's version of events is different.)
Why: To provide background for their characters on Down Under MUSH. This narration is here to provide insight and to add to the overall experience of the MUSH.

It was just about the end of summer at Fort. The leaves were starting to change, and the last wave of flowers were in bloom. My birthday is near Turnover, so at that time, I was five and a half turns old. We were living at the harper hall -- we had always lived in or around it, but father was rehearsing for a large festival that turn, so we were there rather than the hold. I had started learning to play about a turn before that, after one of my teachers spoke to my parents.

I had never met Seihin before then. I can't exactly recall why, now, because his family was distantly related to ours, and even more than that, our mothers were friends. I was familiar with his sister, as we were about the same age, but not being at the main hold all the time had made it difficult to keep up friendships with the girls there.

My parents had brought up the subject before -- it was an important decision, and even though I was too young to have a very educated opinion, they wanted to make sure I was informed and aware of what was in progress. Then, finally, one morning, they said that Seihin and his parents would be coming to visit us later that day. I remember being so filled with anticipation that I could hardly think what to do first. I remained still and staring for so long that I think my parents misunderstood, and they told me that if I really disliked him, they would cancel the arrangement. I'm thankful that they provided that option, of course, but that really wasn't my concern.

Mother put me in my nicest dress, and because I was still acting witless, she brought me to the healers' garden and had me sit there and wait. They must have been afraid that I would embarrass them, acting like a fightened rabbit. Looking back, I probably would have. I was far too excited to be properly introduced to a pair of adults, and sitting there among the plants gave me plenty of time to think about what was going to happen. Time passed very slowly, and I started to feel that the tension would never break -- it was much the same feeling I had in the last few days before the hatching: the world had stopped, the air had stopped, and it was almost hard to breathe, or think, or do anything but listen to the sound of my heart beating.

I sat there, frozen in place, my thoughts racing, but in circles. Finally, though, something prompted me to turn. A noise, perhaps, or a shift in the air, or maybe just the sensation of being watched. I can't be certain exactly what. When I turned though, he was there, standing and watching me.

I stared back at him for what felt like hours, completely unable to speak. He was the one who broke the silence, taking a step closer and offering the handful of white flowers I hadn't noticed he was holding. "These are for you, Nagisa," he said. I could still hardly move, but I got my hands out enough for him to put the flowers into them; when he did that, our fingers touched.

I still say he's the one who blushed first. He insists that it was a simultaneous thing, but whoever it was, we both ended up red-faced and staring at the ground, murmuring apologies. After that, I could talk again, and he sat down on the bench with me. I can't remember all of what we talked about that afternoon, but I know that he told me a verse about the flowers he had handed over. He said it was part of a song, but he didn't know the name of it, and since he was supposed to be impressing me, he wasn't going to sing it.

Later, turns later, after I was an apprentice at the hall, I spent a long time tracking down that song. The verse he gave me was an obscure one, not included in most common versions.

After a while, someone must have come to fetch us, but I confess I don't remember that part anymore. I also don't remember much of what happened for the rest of that night -- our parents did much of the talking, until finally Seihin's family went home, well after dark. Before I went to bed, though, I told my mother that I would be glad to marry him someday. I remember that she laughed, and I can't imagine why, exactly.

I had put the flowers in some water the day before, but the next day, mother suggested that we make a small book and press them, so they would last longer. Somehow she got a lot of small sheets of parchment -- nearly a dozen! (though now, I suspect that they were part of a larger sheet that got cut up) -- and we sewed them into a book with a cloth cover. I wrote down on one of the pages where the flowers were from and then we weighted them down.

Mother must have had some inkling that there would be more flowers in the future.. at the time, I wasn't sure why the book needed so many extra pages. He never forgets, though -- every turn, on that day, he brings them to me, even if we can't be together for very long. And every turn, I put them into the book, tangible evidence of the memory.