Captain Karelia's Mandolin

set a little before WarStories
.......


It was something other than jumpiness that made Zoe Washburne and Malcolm Reynolds twitch awkward in their seats like naughty school kids and shut off their laughter mid-giggle, hardly known for the shaky state of their nerves, not those two.

Coming into Serenity’s galley and as conspicuously loose limbed as possible, the other Washburne pulled a sour face, his hooded eyes flicking from one to another of the obviously guilty pair. There were times when a homely and low-lit surrounding was just kinda... off.

“Zoe,” he said sharply, “Are you mussing up my captain again?”

Zoe gave a discreet cough. “No Sir.”

Mal blinked cow eyes at Wash. “My hero.” Blink-blink.

Wash had a trained pilot’s focus of vision. “You know, Cap’, your eyelashes are really lon-n-ng.”

“Curls is my best feature.”

Wash seated himself down opposite them across the table with an obligatory squeak of the chair. “Zoe?”

“Just reminiscing is all.”

“Oh goody,” Yep, he was all about the sarcasm tonight, “bedtime stories! For the sleepiness.”

“If you must know,” Reynolds allowed a little of his own irritation to blend into the conversation now, “we were talking about this,” An opened handed gesture to a slim and very battered looking case on the table, “Came in with that last trade.”

“The good Doctor working his crime, it’s a very bad universe.”

“It surely is. All the same, it did fetch us this pretty piece.” Mal slipped the catches on the case and opened up the lid.

Wash had had a good view. “Ok, see, surprised, l’il bit. I can admit to that, in a manly and honest fashion, expecting firearms or some such, not a musical instrument.”

“Oh now,” a shake of the Reynolds head, “Don’t be damning this little lady with faint praise, she aint just any old ‘instrument’, THIS was one of Captain Karelia’s mandolins.”

“No kidding? And tell me again, he was who now?”

“Not a ‘who’, Honey,” Zoe, tactful as she could muster and faster than Mal could retort. “Karelia was a place.”

“And a hard one at that.”

“Started out as a rest stop for prison hulks, hard-core kind as never touch soil, then a free-port and pretty soon, what with all the ships tethered up and floating there, found itself to be a fortress come the war; a blockade the Alliance never could over run.”

Mal was patting the instrument case now. “But not for want of trying, must have used every siege trick in the book. All the same, and every night, their purple squawks would be fixing on the Browncoats’ signal and all they ever did seem to get was a goodly and rousing Independent song or three picked out on a Mandolin. Fair broke ‘em in the end.”

Wash nodded for the captain to continue, despite himself, he was listening intently – ‘course, Mal knew as much and Wash would be annoyed about it later, but not right now.

“So, finally, when the Alliance did plant some boots on the blockade all they wanted to know was who in the tyen shiao duh had been tormenting them. And so we told ‘em; Captain Karelia, the mean, the moody and the mandolin. Oh and this place is his so you’ll never find him.”

“Only he didn’t exist,” Zoe picked up the tale, “and we passed the instruments hand-to -hand to keep the pressure on. They must have smashed more mandolins than Jayne has skulls. There was a real scarcity after a while.”

“Which,” that quick Reynolds grin, “scarcity; brings us from the funny to the shiny, by which I mean value - by which I mean coin. Collectors do like to collect, and museums do like to... their thing.”

That actually made sense, and Wash could see the instrument itself was a beauty as Mal eased it out and let the lamplight dance over the deep polished redwood. “Such a pretty thing and from such a lousy sounding place, who knew?”

“That ‘lousy place’ was home to more than a few.” It was Zoe that corrected him - and something in her tone made bells ring in Wash’s head. He looked at his wife with a mixture of appreciation and alarm. “When you told me about growing up on a spaceship, I... and how does a person get to think of a place like that as home?”

Zoe shrugged. “You learn.”

While they were busy gazing on one another, Serenity’s captain slipped the mandolin back into its case. “And now children, it’s time for bed.”

Wash needed no urging.

Mal snapped the catches shut and the instrument was safely stowed. Everything found a home eventually.


the end
......................................


many thanks to charlie for the confidence boost. this is still riffing on Zoe's backstory prompted by Byte. hope it serves.

Oh, this is great! I love the backstory for Zoe that you revealed -- it seems very fitting that the "spaceship" she's from was a "free port" and a "hard place" -- that goes a long way to explain aspects of Zoe and also the Dustdevil-ing she is said to have participated in.

And as for the mandolin: using music to torment and mock oppressors is a time-honored, long-standing tradition. One can put together a long, nasty string of insults simply by putting together the right pieces of music, all without speaking a word. And of course, music can convey secret messages to those in the know. I love that notion.

Also, the word-collecting, pun-seeking part of me cannot help but notice the alternative meaning for "mandolin": an extremely sharp blade set in a frame, meant for reducing solid vegetables to a pile of paper-thin slices in seconds, kind of like a food processor but without any of the safety features. Also notorious for relieving incautious chefs of their fingertips. Seems fitting in the context of this fic.

Ooh, an orbital space port/ skyplex. That's a take I hadn't thought of before when Zoe talks about being born vessel side.

You know, Shepherd's Tale suggests that the Independent movement was going on for almost thirty years before the Alliance made it's move and war actually broke out. Maybe Zoe was ALWAYS among some Independents. And maybe they WERE the harder type.

She might not ever have believed like Mal did because that's just what she grew up with, but neither could she let it go at the end of the war because it's all she knew.

I actually like that. The story doesn't suggest that Zoe had to be anything else before the war beyond what she already is.

thank you both and kindly:)

eb - i do love a word pun, for true.

byte; yes - the more i think on the possibilities, the more the exciting they seem to be!

also; what you say elsewhere about Inara, the Guild, an Academy, shadow war etc. Yes and thrice yes. it's a sure bet, IMO.

Had to check, it's over in the walk on parts parts thread in character discussion.

But I like it when the Guild is actually a good entity, but they're stuck between a rock and a hard place with the Alliance. And it's hard for me to imagine people in the Alliance not trying to use companions for spies, since the Alliance is very serious about stopping crime and halting anything that subverts the normal social order, and that would include gathering evidence taken from unguarded moments.

So the guild is trying to do everything it can to maintain its integrity and keep the girl and boy acolytes safe, but there's also things that the government makes the guild go along with, and both entities are struggling for the future of all these kids while maintaining perfect public poker faces.

Anyway, back to your story. I almost think I want to adopt this idea. Probably won't edit my current story with it, but I might start using it in the episodic stories I want to do after the big one is done.

Bytemite wrote:Had to check, it's over in the walk on parts parts thread in character discussion.

But I like it when the Guild is actually a good entity, but they're stuck between a rock and a hard place with the Alliance. And it's hard for me to imagine people in the Alliance not trying to use companions for spies, since the Alliance is very serious about stopping crime and halting anything that subverts the normal social order, and that would include gathering evidence taken from unguarded moments.

So the guild is trying to do everything it can to maintain its integrity and keep the girl and boy acolytes safe, but there's also things that the government makes the guild go along with, and both entities are struggling for the future of all these kids while maintaining perfect public poker faces.

yes absolutely; no ill intent on their part but... and i remember hinting the Guild High Priestess to be a sort of proto-River.
the Guild is a compromised edifice. i see them as having their own sense of justice - even a GIA (more of an FBI than a CIA but...) and that possibly Inara had wanted to avoid the consequences of working for them or from having worked for them - i can't remember now. I only remember that she had a friend 'in the service' called Radha and that the story was called The Wages of Sihnon.

More importantly, I used to picture The Shepherds (The Abbey) as exactly the same deal just opposite. Sometimes all 3 political forces could and do gel nicely and work in harmony but at other times (and post BDM would be such a one), not so much. I love historical in-fighting and intrigue too much, ha-ha! They too, are not certainly not evil.

Anyway, back to your story. I almost think I want to adopt this idea. Probably won't edit my current story with it, but I might start using it in the episodic stories I want to do after the big one is done.

Well in some ways you are the author of it anyway! I'm fair certain it's flexible enough to allow you to build in your own direction. And it does seem valid to me too.

I actually think Saffron might have been a washout of one of the more Alliance/Academy side programs. I also think Durren Haymer was a bioweapon scientist and there's more to his story, and it all ties together.

She's still an evil untrustworthy snake who can't be fixed and can't be trusted, but she probably has some sad traumatic backstory.

I don't think the Guild has an Intelligence Agency like for spying like the Alliance does (which might pick up wayward companions), I think what the Guild has is more like a secret companion protection service. Fighting off abductions and watching/countering the moves of the Alliance and such. I think most of the companions don't even know about all this. The Guild encourages the companions to play nice and buy the Alliance official stories while behind the scenes there's frenzied resistance to Alliance efforts at infiltration, blackmail, and influence.

Bytemite wrote:

I don't think the Guild has an Intelligence Agency like for spying like the Alliance does (which might pick up wayward companions), I think what the Guild has is more like a secret companion protection service. Fighting off abductions and watching/countering the moves of the Alliance and such. I think most of the companions don't even know about all this. The Guild encourages the companions to play nice and buy the Alliance official stories while behind the scenes there's frenzied resistance to Alliance efforts at infiltration, blackmail, and influence.

Well that's Watergate for ya! LOL! i am now envisioning Inara with a pipe like E Howard Hunt.
And Saffron making a hasty exit with the John Dean tapes. Seriously, Nixon sort of fits. But spying in the old school ongoing Alliance way? Nah, i agree with you, can't see how such a thing would serve to help them and it would just waste resources. Beside, they can use contacts in the Alliance for what they need.

The Guild wouldn't need to spy on its own behalf; they have contacts *everywhere* and can easily get the information they need. A number of politicians were hand-picked by influential Guild Companions and retired Companions who subtly influence the political process. (headcanon)

ebfiddler987 wrote:.

Also, the word-collecting, pun-seeking part of me cannot help but notice the alternative meaning for "mandolin"

wytchcroft wrote:

eb - i do love a word pun, for true.

or as Becky would say:
Kaylee, Kaylee
rhymes with ukulele.

wytchcroft wrote:
or as Becky would say:
Kaylee, Kaylee
rhymes with ukulele.

I would not so!

This is such a well-realised idea. You mustn't give any more thought to capturing the Wash voice - you have!

Like EB, this reminded me of seiges past, particularly Germans v Soviets for some reason. Maybe because the inventiveness that people are capable of in wartime.

ebfiddler987 wrote:The Guild wouldn't need to spy on its own behalf; they have contacts *everywhere* and can easily get the information they need. A number of politicians were hand-picked by influential Guild Companions and retired Companions who subtly influence the political process. (headcanon)

That's what I actually have in my series. And Saffron was the graduate of a criminal program to groom and control Companion-calibre young women, in order to blackmail influential people.

Becky Mears wrote:Saffron was the graduate of a criminal program to groom and control Companion-calibre young women, in order to blackmail influential people.

*likes*

ebfiddler987 wrote:

Becky Mears wrote:Saffron was the graduate of a criminal program to groom and control Companion-calibre young women, in order to blackmail influential people.

*likes*

i'll second that!

as for the previous, Becky - many thanks; i am starting to enjoy writing Wash, finally, and the voice here is much better than in Transport (IMO).

So, wytchcroft, I have a mandolin-war-story for you.

I was traveling this weekend with a musical colleague of mine who happens to be an Italian professor by day and a mandolin player by weekend, and he was telling me about a course he was teaching, an Italian language class for music students, that featured the history of Italy through Italian song. He told me a story dating from World War II. It seems that Mussolini hated mandolins and mandolin music, and detested the image of Italians as mandolin-playing singers -- not "manly" enough for him or some such. Well, Italian soldiers took mandolins with them to war, and it seems that when on guard duty or other boring tasks, they were prone to pull out their mandolins and sing to pass the time. Members of the press were charmed and took pictures of the singing, mandolin-playing Italian soldiers, which were published, thus perpetuating the image Mussolini sought to suppress. Mussolini forbade the press to publish pictures of soldiers playing mandolins, and tried to re-direct the natural course of Italian music, by encouraging the broadcast of songs featuring brass and other instruments, and doing his best to ban mandolins from the airwaves. Needless to say, this wasn't very popular with the soldiers, and playing the mandolin came to be seen as an act of defiance.

Just wanted to chip in with this real life example of a Mandolin-Driven Resistance Movement.

Also, re-read the story tonight, and this caught my eye:

wytchcroft wrote:Collectors do like to collect, and museums do like to... their thing.”

Made me laugh!

Ha, sounds like they're keeping alive the tradition of soldiersnot getting along with the brass. I wonder what the Independents might have tried to ban, besides drugging officers and shaving their walrus stache off.