The writer would like to apologize for her rusty French—that is, Canadian French, mind you. I've heard that it can be quite different than French spoken in France. Even so, it's only a few phrases here and there, and accurate as far as the writer knows, for Canadian French.

The title is roughly translated to "You heard me," though the verb entendre can be used for 'to hear' as well as 'to understand.'

Written for angleterrreee on the FACExchange on tumblr. Hope you enjoy!

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tu m'as entendu

i. e minor

"Who's there?" Arthur called out, placing his violin carefully into its case. There was someone climbing up the steps behind him. It must be a man—footsteps too heavy and strides much longer than that of a woman's—footsteps that halted at Arthur's words, at the edge of the stage, judging from the time it took for the acoustics of the concert hall to bounce the sounds back to his ears. It was an unfamiliar gait, so it couldn't have been any of his siblings; they knew better to approach him without verbally announcing their presence first, anyway.

The violinist closed the case and turned to greet his visitor. "I'm sorry?" Arthur said after a long pause, though he was sure the man hadn't spoken. "I didn't quite catch that."

And still, when Arthur heard nothing from the man standing there, Arthur began to grow apprehensive. There were some shuffling noises in the general direction, and the violinist wondered what he would do if the man turned out to be a madman of some sort come to murder him. His brothers who had escorted him here were nowhere to be seen at the moment (though Arthur hadn't seen them since he was sixteen), and he had only his violin case to defend himself with.

The rustling grew louder, more frenzied, and Arthur picked his violin up, clutching it warily to his chest. He remembered the layout of the stage well enough; he began to edge away backwards, stepping over where he believed the equipment and wires were. The fear sharpened his senses and he soon recognized the scuffling sound as the rustling of clothing as when one was removing them quickly, or searching through them. Either way, Arthur did not believe that that was something for him to celebrate. He repeated himself, voice gruff, and bolted from the stage. "I can't hear you!"