Perfectly controlled, he indicates the piano and asks, “Do you play?”

“Terribly,” I respond. Kor’s taught me a bit over the years.

“Show me,” Rafe commands.

I sit on the bench and begin to pluck out a passable rendition of the “Moonlight Sonata.” It’s not a song I particularly enjoy, a bit too simple and slow for my taste, but that’s what makes it easy enough for me to do it some kind of justice.

Rafe sinks down next to me and brushes my hands away from the keys.

“You’ll deafen me if you keep that up. You’re tearing the soul out of a beautiful song.”

“I suppose now you’ll tell me that Beethoven was a Maker or a Sire or something?”

“No, just a genius.”

“A philistine a genius? Such a thing is possible?”

“It was different in the earlier generations. The more time that passes since the Exodus, the more the provincial world is separated from the truth they denied, and the more they devolve in their ignorance.”

Ugh. I’ve been trying so hard not to hate him. Why must he keep making it impossible?

But then he begins to play the sonata. And he does it properly.

It’s beautiful, like no version of the song I’ve ever heard before. Damn him. Why does he have to be so good at everything? I was wrong to ever consider it simple; when played correctly, it’s anything but. The notes wrap around me and pull my pulse into the melody.

I’m envious. I wish I could speak my emotions through music. It sometimes feels like there’s something inside me but I don’t know the language to let it out, so I’m doomed to never be able to fully express myself.

Rafe leans into the music, the muscles in his back and shoulders rippling. It’s like there are two separate masterpieces: Rafe, his whole body engaged, his hands doing a deliberate and intricate dance on the keys; and then the music itself, so beautiful, so haunting, so rich. He transitions into the third movement of the piece, one I hardly know and could certainly never play. His hands move so swiftly that they become a blur in my vision. He bangs them almost violently, and yet the sound released is melodious. When I play piano, I just use my fingertips. Rafe uses his whole hand. The tendons stretch as the sides of his fingers, his knuckles, all get pulled into the dance.