"I wouldn't blame you for seeking one," Bella says.

"I'll keep the option in mind."

"I actually have an orchestra rehearsal next. Which is silly because it's just going to be a giant violins sectional; they're having problems." Bella gets up, shrugging.

"Problems as in... a surplus of violins?" she wonders, getting up also.

"Problems with dynamics and phrasing, more - they have the correct number of violins as far as I know."

"Ahhh. Well, that's good, I guess. No one wants too many violins."

"They'd be terrible clutter." Bella's moseying towards the door now. She does not wish to be late to orchestra, or wish to use magic to be not-late.

"Flute!" Bella says. She pulls the case out of her bag. "I'm third chair."

"Is that like third place?"

"Maybe? I'm not sure what you're thinking of. It's not exactly special; only the first chair per section does anything that everyone else doesn't. It sort of means that they think I'm not quite as good as the occupant of second chair and a little better than the occupant of fourth chair."

"So, exactly like third place, then."

"Sure."

"I guess the real question is, third place out of how many flutes?"

"Four. Orchestras usually don't have that many, but the conductor really likes woodwinds, and even our fourth chair is really good so it'd be a pity to kick him out."

"A surplus, you might say."

"Yes. But only of flutes, not of violins. There are lots more violins and there are supposed to be."

"I wonder why."

"It's a mystery," Bridget says agreeably. "We can only speculate."

"Well, we could also ask a historian of music, or maybe a music theorist," Bella shrugs. "If we really cared."

"And do you know any of those?"

"No, but I bet there's one on campus or in regular contact with someone who is. I just don't care enough to seek them out."

"So, back to speculating, then," Bridget agrees.

"Flutes can be very piercing. Maybe we'd overwhelm the strings in quantity."