I think every Draak mostly agrees on the Four and what they mean! And it makes perfect sense to all of us if I say that Bloom is strong in Earth, for example.

I don't think we have anything like it that's universally understood.

There's a lot more of you and you can't sense the song like us. But maybe if there's any Draak left on Oldhome maybe they'll have come to a different understanding of the Onesong by now.

That seems plausible, that tends to let things diverge if there's a way for them to do that.

Yeah.

...I think I want to learn about your music! The sound kind, not the other kind.

We have lots of it, it's a very rich subject! Do you want to hear some now?

Yeah! I think you'll get it from the internet!

The vague mental image of the internet she leaks into the song is of reaching into an ocean and pulling random things out.

I will, in fact! She puts on some light instrumental stuff that won't make it hard for her assistant to hear her murmured commentary.

She listens, very still, for a good thirty seconds. Then,

I want to sing along.

This song doesn't have words, but it does have a tune one could hum, or perhaps you have something else in mind?

Well, there's humming of a sort. A sound almost like something an animal might make, except purer and clearer, properly musical.

There's also images unfolding into the closest-by minds, telling a wordless story of cheerful wandering matched to the music. Plants and animals and landscape features drift into focus and then out, one at a time.

- you could also charge admission to concerts like that, if you wished.

As River claps her forepaws together in excitement, Bloom interjects, I could do better than that, but I will not bother. My only true passion is Essence and Enkindling.

Even if you both wanted to do nothing but give concerts all day you could fill spaces doing it, Amseli assures them.

Shouting is exhausting, but it also sounds fun! Let's do it!

I'll have my assistant get a hall booked for you! What hours do you have in mind?

I might run out of ideas after... An hour? And I'd get brain-tired and need a break to run around or something. Measuring time in stony blocks is strange.

Oh I don't know how far I can send to Amentans and have it still be clear, what's the hall like?

Halls vary in size, we can get you a round one with seating in all directions for efficiency and one that's sized about right for whatever that range turns out to be. One hour per... day?

Days make sense. Yours are about the same even though the year is really long. Hours don't. I guess I'll have to try singing for an hour and see how I feel after that.

I'm sure they can make it clear in the marketing that the performance may not last the whole hour.

The first one should be free since neither of us know what to expect! ...Well I guess whoever owns the hall has to be traded something?

They do, and also charging money for something is one good way to decide who gets in at all, since there will be limited space.

Oh right there's ridiculously many of you. I bet cities are loud.

Money can be turned into shiny things, yes? So I should get some. I should get... Half!

I'm not sure what standard rates are, I've never thrown a concert, but I bet we can finagle you at least half!

I won't complain about more but I don't trust too-complicated deals. Make things harder than they need to be. At least half.