I wonder what he would think of Sebastian the Crab and his Jamaican beats. Beautiful design, Dearshul. Excellently done.

They'd certainly be a novelty to him! But then, he's fairly open-minded about music, so I'm sure he'd find beauty in it ^^

Thank you, my friend!

And he'd be able to experience them up close.

True! We'd just need to figure the talented crustacean's whereabouts

I thought kelpies were pretty rare, even round these parts. How does he get on with Lachlan?

They are ^w^ He's one of the two that live in the Greylands, while there are only three in the Seelie territories. He and Lachlan have only spoken once. They didn't agree on much except for decent works of literature.

Not decent hors d'oeuvres?

Now that you mention it, they would agree on that

Seems like a free spirit...is that a scar going down his leg?

There is, indeed. It isn't often one escapes angry human villagers unscathed.

Your instrument looks and sounds beautiful, Alastair.

Alastair: *bowing his head* Thank ye.

No problem. I have noticed that a kelpie that I know and you have the same accent. What region are you from?

Alastair: I'm from Alba... or do humans call it Scotland, now? Anyway, I've never met a kelpie who wasnae originally from there.

Scotland is a beautiful place. Nice to know the Kelpie name for it. How long have you been drumming?

Alastair: Och, not long. Fifty years, maybe. What brings ye tae the Greylands?

I heard your drumming, and the music that follows. It was beautiful, so I followed it.

Alastair: Ye'd best be careful following strange music in the sidhe. There are shellycoats tae be wary of, ye ken.

That's all wood, is it? Have you tried a hollow ring with an animal skin stretched across it? Gives a very different and more flexible kind of sound.

Alastair: *raising a curious eyebrow at the presence of a unicorn* Aye, but the skin I used wasnae "acceptable" by Seelie standards. It was frowned upon tae bring it with me intae the Greylands. *he gestures to his drum* All wood, no insult.

You could always try making a replacement 'skin' out of extracted plant latex, left to dry out and thicken into natural rubber. Not really the country for rubber trees here, but I gather dandelions would work if you were to cultivate enough of them. Be a bit of a long job though.

And hey - nice to meet a drummer who clearly isn't the 'comic relief' type. That's a bit of a mortal thing.

Alastair: *laughs* Dinnae ken if I have the patience for that. It's nice tae meet ye as well... ye dinnae strike me as yer average unicorn, either.

True that.

Alastair: D'ye play?

Only vocals, really. I had a fine singing voice when I was younger - I'd be a little out of practice but a little spot of autotune magic can rectify that.

Of course, as an ex-mortal there's a bunch of modern-style instruments I could magically replicate and introduce this world to.

Alastair: Our band could do with some proper vocals, if it interests ye. I'm game tae learn more about human instruments, as well. No doubt the mortal realm has plenty tae offer in this age of machines.

I'd be more than glad to give it a go, introduce you guys as well to some 'classic' songs which by the mortal timeline would be quite old, but here would produce a fresh and new kind of sound, hopefully not too far removed from what this world is used to.

Let's see... brass wind instruments are probably uncommon here, you'd have to fire and smith those with some pretty accurate and heavy skill in the absence of metal manufacturing. Real drum kits, high-hats and cymbals are pretty sophisticated these days too. I can jazz up Gideon's strings to sound like an electric guitar, I think he'd get a kick out of that. But the biggest thing in modern mortal music is the keyboard - we still have pianos, organs and harpsichords, but with human technology it's possible to create a portable keyboard instrument that you can hook up to a device capable of making it play any sound you can capture or imagine at all, with no magic involved. Though that must sound so much like 'magic' instead of talent that I doubt it would catch on here, a band like this would probably consider it cheating. Me, I'm more of an old-fashioned art-rock snob anyway.