Day 5...

The hall was by no means large but what it lacked in size it made of for in atmosphere. It had a certain panache, a certain je ne sais quoi, it reeked of old money but was that really a bad thing? It was grand, the seats were red velvet, so were the carpets, the upholstery was secured by brass rivets with a beautiful patina, and to top the proverbial cake, a glorious 10 foot wide by 15 feet tall chandelier hung from the ceiling.

Weiss stood there, front and center flanked by an orchestra and nearly 100 pairs of eyes focused on her.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen," Weiss spoke out to the crowd of music students.

"GOOD MORNING!" They replied enthusiastically.

"So how many of you in the crowd are violinists?" Weiss asked.

A good third raised their hands.

"Wonderful! Now though I'm doing this presentation on a violin concerto what the main theme I want to get at is musicality and expression,"

Weiss played the theme from Paganini's 24th caprice.

"How'd that sound?" Weiss asked the crowd, still not quite use to performing again.

They erupted into applause, so much so that Weiss had to quiet them down.

"Really I'm flattered guys, in fact I'm not quite sure if you can see but I'm still a little red!," Wess couldn't stop herself from smiling, "But I thought that kinda sounded like shit,"

The crowd let out a collective laugh.

"My intonation was good, my rhythm was, at least I'd like to believe, on point, and all my notes were correct. What am I missing?" She asked the crowd, "Ah yes, you my dear, in the first row,"

"Dynamics," The timid girl answered back.

"Yes, very good! Now what else? Yes, you in the back,"

"Musicality?" A young man said, not quite sure of his answer.

"Absolutely!" Weiss replied, "Musicality,"

"Now what do I mean by musicality?" Weiss asked and not a soul raised their hands.

"I know it's kinda hard to define but let me put it another way. Musicality is our artistic license. It's the initiative to pour our souls into the music and do so without completely butchering the work of the composer. In the tchaikovsky I'll be playing tonight I enter with this," The orchestra played a few measures then came in Weiss' entrance.

"So notice that I pick up right after the strings and horns, I continue their musical thought, so to mirror that I don't want a straight tone I wanted heavy vibrato throughout my arpeggio and a nice soft piano as to not create dissonance in the dynamics. I want to ham these arpeggios up not because It would have been what I wanted but it's what Tchaikovsky would have wanted. He's a very romantic composer, he wore his heart on his sleeve, a luxury many of us may not be able to afford. When he was angry he wasn't just angry, he experienced unbridled rage. When he was sad he wasn't just sad, he was morose, and when he got sentimental he wrote this concerto. It's a very sentimental piece. The theme harkens back to summer nights with your sweetheart, to the saturday mornings where you'd watch cartoons, to the warm embrace of your loved ones,"

Weiss gushed on for the next 2 hours, pouring her heart and soul into her work. Trying and succeeding to implant the same passion into these musicians. It truly was a sentimental piece.

3 Years Ago…

"I'm sorry Blake…" Weiss faced woman with flowing black hair and striking light brown eyes.

"Sorry for what?" She asked tentatively, looking quite confused.

"I can't do this anymore…" Weiss spoke, barely audible and unable to meet her girlfriend's eyes.

"What...what do you mean,"

"Us...we can't be together anymore...I'm sorry," Weiss finally looked up, tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

"I don't understand...I thought you were happy, I thought we were happy…" Blake replied, eyes starting beginning to water.

"After tonight I take my flight back home, I can't take you with me. Father would never accept us, he'd force us apart. Pry us from each other's grasp if it came to it. I love you so much, but I need to let you go, for both our sakes," Weiss said, still crying as she took Blake's hand.

"Runaway with me, please Weiss...we can leave it all behind. Make a new life for ourselves, please Weiss…" Blake replied, kissing the back of Weiss' hand.

"I...I can't...not yet at least…" Weiss withdrew her hand from Blake's grasp.

"You hate the family business, your home never felt like home, why go back?"

"Because I hate the family business, because while it's still under my father's control nothing will change...I need to fix this Blake, I need to do it...I'm sorry," Weiss stood and retrieved her Violin from its open case, I need to do my soundcheck...I love you very much Blake Belladonna, please don't forget,"

With every stroke of her bow Weiss exuded raw emotion. Sadness and regret felt in every not while maintaining a faint tone of hopefulness. Her playing dripped with sentimentality while you watched people watched her heart break on stage. The rather grotesque part was the crowd enjoyed it, relished it, absorbed it like water starved sponges. What a way to end a relationship one's life. To a piece of beautiful music and raucous applause.

The crowd applauded Weiss after the conclusion of the first movement of the piece. With that her lectured was completed and now only the concert tonight was left on her itinerary.

She walked backstage to put away her instrument, carefully placing her violin back in it's case.

"I have to admit, you still got it Weiss,"

Weiss turned around and to her shock, dismay, and utter joy stood Blake. Still the same if not even more beautiful with age.

"Blake...oh...my...God…" Weiss leapt from her position and embraced the woman in front of her who surprisingly hugged her back.

"I've missed you so much…" Blake whispered in her ear.

"And I you," Weiss replied, stepping away from the embrace, "You look very good Miss Belladonna, did you start working out?"

"Yes I did actually! My girlfriend's an MMA fighter so I kinda got into the whole gym thing," Blake replied smiling, "You look pretty nice yourself! Been keeping up with your sword play?"

"Not since college, unfortunately. Business as usual keeps me pretty occupied," Weiss replied, her heart sinking just a little.

"What are you doing here? Not that I don't enjoy the fact you're standing in front of me," Weiss asked.

"Well after we graduated I got offered a job to teach here, so yeah here I am," Blake replied, "Listen are you doing anything today?"

"I actually just arrived in town, I still need to look for a place to stay but besides that and the concert tonight, I think I'm free," Weiss said as she packed up the rest of her things.

"Cool! Why don't you stay with us?" Blake replied cheerily.

"With...with you and your girlfriend?" Weiss asked, a little surprised, "Is she gonna be alright with that?"

"Of course she is! She's a great person I think you'd like her! Besides Weiss, no matter what transpired between us you're still my friend, even though you neglected to keep in contact with me for the past 3 years," Blake smiled and gave Weiss a hug, "Listen I have a class to teach in 20 minutes, I should be done around 2pm. Just give me a call around then and we can meet up. Sound good?"

"Very" Weiss replied with a smile.

"Good, catch you later, Weiss," blake waved goodbye and disappeared through the artist's' exit.

A/N: It's been a while and many things have transpired in my absence. I, for example, was in NYC two weeks ago to perform at Carnegie Hall, but besides that I've been doing a lot of thinking. I've gotten into a slump as many music students have and It's left my life rather empty. Without purpose, so I stopped listening to classical music, stopped practicing, and had no desire to resume that is until I performed at Carnegie. I found something in me that night, a feeling I wanted to chase, to experience again. It was a rather indescribable night and hope you experience such a night at least once in your life.

Yours as always,

K.A. Giovanni.