"I am trying." Jude stretched his fingers and cracked his wrists before putting his hands back on the ivory keys. "My hands are smaller than before, it takes some getting used to." Which was really an excuse and both of them knew it.

The Frenchman had worked hard to get rid of his embarrassing accent, though some soft remnants remained. He had also worked hard to go through this semester without embarrassing himself academically. He completed his homework and attended all the detentions he earned without minimal complaint.

His piano lessons, however, were a slightly different story.

Jude ran his fingers along the keys, pressing the pedals and turning the page on the music as it demanded, but inevitably he got his hands off base. With his fingers out of place, the wrong chord grated against the flow of the song and brought his playing to a halt.

Kate took a deep breath and let out an exasperated sigh, “Again.” She passed next to the piano as she listened to Jude play. He had been getting so good before he aged and their lessons almost stopped. She saw such potential in him and didn’t understand why he didn’t see it and want to go for it. Kate had a hard time understanding people not reaching for and striving to be good at things. She had always been the kind of kid that did extra work when not asked to and practiced a piece so much that she memorized it even though she wasn’t asked too. It was these things that had gotten her into Julliard and it was these things that had gotten her a European tour. It was killing her to see someone throwing away the magic they could do if they tried.

Kate cringed as the wrong note came up and she couldn’t’ help but sigh again. Her back was to the boy as her hand formed into a fist and she tried to calm herself before turning around. ”Jude you are not trying. We have been playing this piece for 4 weeks and you haven’t gotten any betta. Have you practiced at all? I know you keep saying that you are getting used to the smaller hands but we both know it has been almost a year. If you aren’t used to them by now you are never going to be.” She looked away from him and took another calming breath before moving to sit next to him on the betch, “Jude,” her voice was lower and kinder, “you have such talent. You grasp the music so easily when you try. But right now you aren’t trying. You are wasting you potential. You could be great at this.” She smiled at him, “All you have to do is try. Now play it again.”

Kate remained sitting next to him hoping that her little speech made some kind of impact on the young boy.

For the off and on again nature of his lessons, Jude performed magnificently. But that was the problem. He was naturally talented enough to squeak by with minimal practice. "I should have practiced more." He sighed, "But I don't sink I would have done anything differently if I could do it over again."

He hated to say it, but it was a little thing called priorities. Jude flipped the pages back to the beginning and picked out the melody only as he spoke. He somehow managed to put a bit of sarcasm into the way he played. "In the future, when I am grown up for real, what good is a little piano playing going to be for me?" The melody of the song continued. It was the chords that got him all switched around.

"Can I feed a family by playing the piano? Can I defend myself with a piano?" Potential, schmotential. Without a reason he would never be able to put his heart into it. Not really.

Kate smiled at first happy that Jude was taking responsibility for not practicing but that smile quickly faded and was replaced with a sigh. It was not great to hear how useless her career of choice was in the real world. Or at least how much Jude thought it was. Yes, Kate was ridiculously rich and didn’t really have to worry about doing anything for a job for the rest of her life, but even if she was penniless she would still play the piano. For her the music was a place she could hide. It helped her fly far away whenever things got hard when she was a kid. It had saved her from her mother and the darkness that was held inside of her more times than she could count.

He was right though. It wasn’t going to help him defend himself and actually making enough at it to support an entire family was a once in a lifetime thing. She put a hand on his to stop him from playing and scooted further onto the bench getting closer to Jude and hoping he would move over in kind. She cracked her fingers and started playing her favorite song. “Jude? You do remember that I am going to school to play concert piano professionally correct? And, by the by, I know many people who play the piano and feed their families just fine.” Her body seemed to move with the music as she played from memory and her hands moved with such grace across the keys. For Kate piano was like a dance. Every time she hit a held not her hand would float off of the keys and gently fall back down. She had such a grasp on the piece that it was second nature to play and talk to Jude. “But this isn’t about the music or the practice or any of that. It is about how it makes you feel. When I play I remember my life. I think of who I am and where I have come from. I think of my mother and how she loved to listen to me play. I think of how many lives have been saved through music. I play because it gives me hope and calms my worried soul.” She raised her eyebrows on the last comment and smiled at the teen boy reassuringly, “Jude, playing an instrument isn’t for everyone, no matter how talented they are. If you don’t’ want to play you don’t’ have to. No one is making you. Talent you have, heart you need to learn. You need to find the place it takes you and hold onto it or you will never find a passion for it. And if you don’t’ want to you should probably stop trying.”

It was blunt, yes, but he had kind of told her career choice and the career choices of a good portion of her friends were useless. Kate really didn’t want to sit here any longer wasting her time if he didn’t want to be there. She felt like music was a choice not something you should feel is an obligation.

She put her hand over his and Jude looked up at Kate. She hip checked him over and then started to play.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." Jude sighed as well. The last thing he had wanted to do was hurt one of his friends. And it was clear from her playing that Kate's heart was in the music. It flowed out from every note.

"When I play I remember my life..."

"Ms. Taylor says I should be sinking of my future." He interjected sheepishly. That was all he'd been trying to do. Think responsibly. About his future.

His shoulders sagged as she continued. Jude didn't want to let Kate down and it wasn't like he hated playing... "I do have to play." Again, he was almost ashamed to say it after he'd said all the wrong things before. "It's one of my electives. Piano." So he liked it enough to choose it at least. Jude traced the edge of one of the ivory keys at the edge of the piano, one he knew Kate wouldn't need.

Did he have a place to retreat and reflect like Kate was talking about? Jude scratched his head, sighed again, and this time he put his hand over Kate's to slow her playing.

"Let me try again. I won't saying anysing. Just... let me try it like you said?"

Kate shook her head as she listened. She remembered Ms. Taylor from their meeting years earlier. She had been the one the tell Kate that her mother had passed. Kate remembered breaking down in her office fondly. Her mother was why she chose this song. It had always been the older woman’s favorite. It however was not surprising that the guidance counselor had told him to think of his future and where he wanted to go in life. That was kind of her job.

Kate smiled trying not to laugh at the thought of herself teaching an elective. Her smile only grew larger as she watched Jude play with one of the keys she would not be using for the piece. It was funny first that he knew she wouldn’t need it and second because he was ashamed enough to do such a tick. She looked over and smiled at him kindly saying nothing in response to his words. It was obvious to her the boy was reflecting on what they had just spoken of.

Her smile only grew has his hand was placed over hers. She finished the finale few notes of the phrase and let them ring through the room before moving off of the bench and gesturing her hand towards him and bowing her head as to tell him to go ahead. She could have said so much but this moment didn’t need words she needed to let Jude go on his own now with no guidance from her. Like she said he needed to find his passion.

Kate leaned her hip on the side of the large black Steinway smiling with all the reassurance she could musters and waiting for his hands to begin moving across the keys once more.

Kat vacated the piano. It was a real shame they couldn't be the same age.

Jude shook his head to cut off that line of thinking. He took his hands, rubbed them together, and bowed low over the keys as he tried to find the place Kate talked about. The feeling in the music.

It took him a moment.

The idea was weird. Playing piano was something that would not make him any legitimate amount of money. If he played, it would have to be because... he wanted to? Like, a hobby? People were allowed to have hobbies. But hobbies were usually things people wanted to do without any prompting.

He frowned. Jude was over thinking this. Kate played as an expression of her life. He could do that much. Maybe.

Jude turned the music back to the first page and placed his hands on the appropriate keys. He knew these hands. He knew them at every age. And when he thought about it, he knew this piece of music too. Just because he hadn't practiced much, didn't mean he hadn't run through it at least once.

Kate had selected this piece so she had to know what it was like and that it might speak to him.

He took it slow. His movements were a bit robotic at first as he focused on the technical bits, but as he went along he started to worry less about how he played and more about how it sounded. What was Kate trying to say to him with this piece of music?

Kate leaned into Jude hearing him struggling to find his muse. Her face held a look that was both painful and hopeful. As he started to play her eyes closed tightly and she waited hearing the same mechanical movements as she had before. She relaxed and sighed wishing she had heard something else but knowing she hadn’t. Though, as she listened with still closed something was different. The focus on the technical started to fade as Jude seemed to loosen up in the struggle to find his connection to the music.

Her expression softened and a smile formed. He had listened to what she had said and taken it to heart. Maybe he did want to be here more than she was giving him credit for. He had after all named this as an elective. Did that make her a teacher now? She would have to ask Ms. Taylor at some point if she was supposed to grade him or anything.

Kate was so lost in her thoughts she almost wasn’t paying attention anymore. She had to pull herself back to reality and listen to Jude play. This was about him after all. She shook her head and leaned her elbows on the piano so she was facing her student and could both listen closely and watch his hand movements. “Wrists up, Jude.”

There came a point in the music where Jude forgot. He forgot he was playing for Kate. He forgot about his math homework. He forgot just about everything except for the way the song sounded. Light and playful. Teasing, maybe?

> "Wrists up, Jude."

He slipped, his hands getting out of sync for a moment with the reminder, but he picked it back up again. Piece of cake. He could have kept going, but it was only one movement. Eventually, the music on the paper came to a close.

He let the last notes linger. He was sad it had to end.

"There's more, right?" Jude cracked his fingers and looked up to his teacher. "That can't be the whole story." He could see how people got caught up in this.

Kate smiled kindly at him as her words caused him to loose focus. He was finally getting it. Finally feeling it. She had been trying for three years to pull that out of him and finally it had come. She pushed up off of the piano and couldn’t’ help but let her smile grow. She couldn’t have been more proud of him.

Kate moved to sit next to him again. “Jude, that was wonderful. Don’t you feel the difference? How you can just throw yourself into the piece and then you never want to leave.”

>>>>>There's more, right? That can't be the whole story.

She laughed kindly at his question and it was obvious that he had felt it. “This is sadly only a variation. There is no story. It is just the same tune played over and over slightly different. The story for a piece like this is whatever you make it. However if you would like more of a piece with a beginning a middle and an end I would be happy to find you one.” Kate stood and moved to grab her iPad from her bag. “If you would like I can find you a piece.” She had quite a collection of digital sheet music she had downloaded specifically for teaching Jude. So, as you can guess she was more than happy to search them now for an appropriate cadence. “What kind of piece do you want to play?”

"I feel the difference..." And it sounded like there should have been a "but" after that. He still had his problems with the whole art for art's sake stuff. Money had to have a sideline somewhere. He didn't want to hurt her feelings by harping on the same point again, though. Women were sensitive to stuff like that and tended to take it more personally than a man meant it to be.

Over and over but slightly different. Hm. Jude flipped back to the front of the piece again as Kate flipped through her fancy iDevice.

> “What kind of piece do you want to play?”

"Something with story." Though they had established that already. "Epic. Not like Beethoven epic, but like... epic, epic?" He made hand motions so that it might make more sense. Okay. So he didn't really know what he wanted to play. If he did, then he supposed that he would be the teacher and Kate the student.

Kate opened the file of music as she listened to Jude. What exactly was an epic piece of music? She used her finger to sort through the titles. Did he want something that was loud and full of life? Did he want something hard to play that would show his skill? There were so many things that the word epic could mean Kate couldn’t just pick one. He was going to have to narrow this down.

“Okay so do you want something that is hard to play? Something that will challenge you.” Kate moved into Chopin and Tchaikovsky. They were her favorite composers and she hoped that Jude would like them to. “We could use a ballet or an Etude. One of the seasonal pieces for piano. There are so many choices to pick. You just have to decide what kind of music do you want to play. Every great piano player has their own style. Mine is romantic. What is yours?”

Romantic. Heh. "I suppose I should have guessed that about you." Jude winked at Kate. He was not above flirting with his teacher.

"An etude sounds about right. That's the one meant for practice, right?" Maybe he could get so dazzling good at piano that people would admire him... or something. Would that make learning piano worth the effort? Jude put his hand to his chin in true Thinker fashion.

He could imagine passing piano off as dexterity practice or something. Though, how that would help him, he wasn't sure... maybe he should pick up a dexterity based weapon. He should check the Dungeons and Dragons handbook again for which ones those were.

"I don't know what my style is. I don't think I have enough experience in difference things to know. Is there like... a quiz I can take? Or a sampler I can play?" Or did he really have to do it the old fashioned way and play a lot of different pieces before he could figure it out?

Kate looked over at Jude with a look of amusement in her eyes at his attempt to flirt with her. He had been doing it since they had started the lessons 3 years ago and it never really got old. He was a little too adorable for his own good sometimes.

>>>>>An etude sounds about right. That's the one meant for practice, right?

“Yes, that is actually why I suggested it. If we can get some of them perfected we can sharpen you skills enough to find the more complicated music that you will like.” She sifted back to her Chopin folder and typed Etude into the search. She knew she had them in here. Ah yes. He had a good number of them that she was sure Jude couldn’t even attempt yet that had been brought on for her own practice but there were also a number that could be used as tools for the young Frenchman.

>>>>> Is there like... a quiz I can take? Or a sampler I can play?

Kate couldn’t help but laugh at Jude’s questions. It was almost silly to think for someone who knew music the way she did. But for someone who was still a student it made an odd amount of sense. “No there is no quiz. It is about playing though piece after piece and finding the era you like to play in or the composer you prefer. For me that is Frederic Chopin. He is a romantic composer as I said and he is my absolute favorite. He is also French like you.” Once she found the one she wanted she placed the tablet with the open sheet music on the stand. “This is actually one of Chopin’s Etudes that I am going to have you play. It is his 10th Opus and there are about 12 parts. Each one teaches a different kind of skill. This first one is all runs with chords in the baseline. It’s something we haven’t really worked on, it is also something that always looks easier then it is.” She put her hand on his knee for only a moment before pointing at the first line of music. “Now I want you to start at the beginning and take the first run slowly.”

"Ah." It was as he feared. The long road. Kate made with the iPadding until she found something and then set the device on top of his old piece. The notes were a tad smaller on the screen, but it wasn't too big a difference.

"Hoookay then." Jude peered closely at the music then down at his hands. Music, squint, hands. Then he was ready.

She was right. It started out pretty simply. He ran through the beginning at a measured tempo just to be safe and did not stumble too bad until he had switched screens on the iPad at least three times. The sounds was light and fluffy and reminded Jude of ruffles in satin and baroque architecture.

Well. Then it got crazy. Jude had to stop and squint again. Did they really mean to do that? He tried it. Huh.

Jude really struggled through the crazy. It was choppy at best and it just snuck up on him. And then the end leveled off again.

"I think Chopin has issues." Like multiple personalities or something. Seriously.