Even though there are many more rooms available than actual members of the Chalk clan, it's unusual for one of the Lapis to live by themselves. For Miranda, privacy is an on-again, off-again prospect as she ends up sharing her quarters with various roommates. Her most recent one is her second-cousin Gilly, who is trying to get as far from his sister as possible. Gilly is a 'sport' – a Lapi that has been deemed unbreedable by the elders for some physical or mental lacking. In Gilly's case, the boy turned out to be a bit too shy, a bit too skinny, and overall a bit too 'Skeekish'.

The current arrangement has lasted longer than any of Miranda's previous roommates, partly because Miranda does not tease or berate Gilly like his more immediate family tended to, and because the buck was rarely around – but when he was, he kept the tunnel spotlessly clean. Like Miranda, he spends most of his time up above, where his Skeek-like nature and need to clean make him very popular among certain Skeek and Kadie girls.

At the moment, Miranda has the space to herself. It's been somewhat of a long day for the Lapi, what with tending to her normal duties as well as taking care of Kalila. She also missed out on dinner and had to make due with leftovers, but at least she's feeling full.

Miranda's Room
Like most of the living spaces in the Chalk Warrens, this room was originally mined out and then left when solid rock was hit. Now the roughly T-shaped tunnel serves as a residence for Miranda Chalk. Being one who spends much of her time aboveground, Miranda's color choices tend to be earthy ones: browns, greens, tans and blues. Shelves carved out of the chalk and then lined with cloth serve to hold a small collection of books and supplies, while a small desk and bed constitute the available wooden furniture. A violin and bow rest on a shelf of their own, next to an old book of sheet music.

Miranda sits at her desk for the moment, enjoying the brief 'alone-time' she has in her room. Setting aside a small book with a green leaf on the cover most likely containing information on plants in the area the Lapi admires the tidiness of the room, noting to herself to thank Gilly later for the maintenance.

There is a small note from Gilly on the desk – written in chalk, of course – letting Miranda know he won't be back tonight.

Blinking as she finally takes notice of the note on her desk, Miranda smiles. If she doesn't have to worry about someone coming and going in the room the Lapi might be able to get a little bit of uninterrupted practice in. Standing and gently lifting her violin from its private shelf, Miranda checks the strings, making sure the instrument is in tune.

One of the reasons for choosing this particular tunnel was the acoustics… and the small likelihood of anyone being close by to hear (and thus complain) about the playing.

Plucking each string very gently for tone before lifting her waxed bow to it, Miranda finds the violin to be in the same state as she last left it, beautifully tuned. The Lapi begins practicing with several ascending and descending scales and cords; easy stuff to get warmed up with…

The candle-flames seem to flicker in time to the notes, but then they tend to flicker all the same whether or not the Lapi is playing. The sound fills the small tunnel without overwhelming Miranda's own sensitive ears.

Miranda smiles at the sound, and soon after beginning she has swung her playing into a soft, but not particularly sad, ballad, drawing the bow gently across the strings. The Lapi rocks lightly back and forth, ears perked high as she listens to the tones the instrument produces under her touch.

Even as focused as she is on the music, Miranda still catches a flicker of light from the main tunnel, and the faint sound of fabric rustling as somebody walks.

Miranda blinks, but does her best not to let her hands interrupt the flow of music; only the slightest note of discord betraying her pause before being swept away into the flow. Wondering who it might be, the Lapi cocks one ear towards the door. Listening to see if it might be someone else coming to her door with some new errand, possibly for the next day, or just someone passing by, though splitting her focus does make it a bit more difficult to play.

Whoever it is, they seem to stop at the entrance to the tunnel. The shadows cast on the wall from their held candle aren't very helpful, either.

Slowly bringing the current song to a close, though a bit early, as her focus is drawn away, Miranda gently sets down the violin and quietly heads to the tunnel entrance to see who is wandering about, calling out "Hello? Who ith over there?"

The figure enters, and at first Miranda isn't sure who it is… until it appears that Clover Chalk has dyed her hair black. The Lapi woman is also wearing some sort of multi-layered black lace dress. "It's only me," the doe says. "You don't mind if I listen, do you?"

Miranda does a small double-take. First, after taking in the normally blond Lapi's hair with some surprise and thinking to herself, Well, at least it will be easier to tell her and Parsley apart now… , and again, at having the normally combative doe speaking politely to her. After taking a moment to gather her thoughts Miranda scratches her head and gives a small, but wary nod, ushering Clover into the room where the violin had been left.

Clover spreads her skirts and sits on the floor, rather than on one of the beds. "You are Miranda, right?" the doe asks.

The gray doe picks up the instrument, settling it in position under her chin, replying as she lifts the bow and prepares to begin again, "Yuth, I am Miranda, and yu Mutht be Clother… I didn'th know yu liked violin muthic… " And there she stops and plays, not volunteering any conversation for the moment.

The older doe winces a bit at Miranda's speech, but settles down again to listen to the music. "I've only recently come to appreciate it," she comments.

Miranda pretends not to notice the flinch. Perhaps she is quiet because she does not want to give more ammunition to someone already known for teasing and other rudeness… But as more of her concentration goes into playing her current song she ventures, "Oh? I didth not know anyone elth in tha warren, or in town, played."

"They play in private," Clover says, a bit cryptically. "Would you like to play with them?"

The song Miranda plays is a slow and soothing one. As the Lapi strikes a series of gently ascending chords she arches an eyebrow in thought and replies, "Um… Perhapth… I've nevfer really played in a group before… " The truth was Miranda rarely played for more than a couple of people at a time and the thought made her a bit nervous. To try and cover it though she quickly asks, "What kindth of thingth do they like to play?"

"Sort of… slow music," Clover replies, looking a bit confused. "What kinds are there?"

Miranda lifts her bow off of the instrument at Clover's question, pausing the music to explain with a slight twitch of her nose, "Well… Thhere ar lullabieth, balladth, different typeth of danthe muthic, fathht and thlow, ambient muthic… The violin can exthprethh many different emotions. I can fiddle too, thame inthtrument."

Clover tilts back a bit, as if afraid of the lisp. After a moment of thought, she says, "Probably lullabies. I think."

The gray Lapi ahs and plunges onward, "Well, I know thome nice lullabieth, very thoothing. A couple I've learned are guaranteed to get childrenth to thleep… " Miranda says, gesturing to her book of sheet music with the end of the bow. "My favorite one ith about the thtarth." she finished, smiling.

"About the start of what?" Clover asks, misinterpreting.

Miranda was actually enjoying talking about music and forgot her speech impediment for a moment, quickly doubling back, "Ah… no, about the Thhtarthh… umm… The lightth in tha thky?" she said, hoping the other Lapi would understand. "More thpethifically it ithh about counting them."

"A lullaby about counting the stars?" Clover asks. "But the Procession has… there's no way to count them all."

Actually giggling at this revelation on Clover's part, Miranda replies, "Ah yeth, we all know that. But that ith menthioned in tha lullaby too. It ith a thweet, thoft thong, meant to lull thomeone to thleep." The gray Lapi seems much more relaxed now on the subject.

Clover seems a bit miffed at the giggling, but says, "Well, can you come play it? My friend who plays is very shy, and there's a special room where she can listen and play along."

Miranda cocks an ear in thought, still smiling a small smile, but trying not to tick off Clover any further. "Um, I thuppothe I could. I have thome theet muthic for it, if yu think your friend would like to ueth it? Thee'd have to be very careful with it though."

"I thought you said it was lullaby music?" Clover asks. "Are you trying to confuse me?" Her voice is growing a bit more impatient, sounding like the 'old' Clover.

Miranda, for her part, runs a hand through her hair and slips back to being almost mechanically polite in the face of the other's growing irritation… Not wanting to speak again and be further confusing, the gray Lapi simply walks over to a shelf, pulls a few loose, yellowed sheets of thick paper out of her book of sheet music, and shows them to Clover. The notation can be seen, along with words underneath the bars in time with the notes. The title of the first sheet reads simply, Count the Stars.

"What is this?" Clover asks, looking at the lines and dots and squiggles under the title.

Still holding her instrument in one hand by the neck Miranda sighs and lifts it to its resting place, saying, "Thith ith what I uethed to learn to play the violin. Tha notathion… " and here she paused to gesture with the bow to one of the notes, "reprethent muthical noteth." And then she lifts the bow and with a deft stroke, plays the note she had been pointing at for emphasis.

"Oh, I didn't know you could… draw music!" Clover says. "I thought you just made it up in your head, or learned by listening."

Miranda says, "Ah, Well, there are many wayth to learn. Thith… " and she points to the sheet music again, "… ith a way to record tha muthic tho that you remember where all tha noteth go, or tho thomeone can practice when there ithn't anyone to lithen too. But making it up ith fun ath well."

The white doe looks a bit unconvinced, but says, "So I can bring this to my friend, and she'll be able to read it?"

Pausing in thought again, the gray doe rubs the tip of her bow against her cheek. "Well, it dependth on how thee hath learned. If thee only knowth by lithening, it wont help tho I would probably haff to play for her. But yu could alwath athk if thee can read theet muthic if you don't know."

"I'll do that then," Clover says, standing up. "Is this one sheet enough?"

Miranda tilts her head and shakes it lightly before replying, "That ith only tha firtht theet of tha thong, thtart with that. If thee knowth how to play and liketh it I can loan yu tha retht. Jutht be careful with it, okay?"

"Right, I will," Clover says, somewhat casually. "I'll let you know how it goes," she adds, then swirls about and leaves the tunnel, without so much as a thank you.

Miranda's ears flick as she watches Clover go, mumbling, "Well, thee ithen't completely over herself, or her rudenethh… I hope that wathen't a bad idea… " And, lifting the violin, she returns her attention to the instrument, the music picking up again.