On Yasha’s harp and wanting things
I absolutely loved Ashley’s response on Talks last night talking about Yasha starting to understand that she can want things, that she can exist outside of being a weapon or being in service to others. It reminded me of the strong feelings I have about Yasha and her harp and how it fits into her story.
Let’s not forget that the rock harp started as a joke. It was this totally spontaneous random thing that Jester tossed out while she and Yasha were speculating about Yasha’s missing memories. It was meant as a silly thing that might make Yasha feel better in the moment.
And Yasha is so instantly enchanted by the idea, so blatantly enthused by the thought that she could be notorious to Obann and his lackeys not because of her prowess in battle but because she used to be a musician. She is so taken with it that, as the M9 begin their descent into the full-on cosmic horror vault that is the King’s Cage, she jokes that the inscription above the door – “Let lie the King’s instrument, deathless and detained, until the world ends” – must be referring to her rock harp.
We can only speculate at how many nights Yasha spent under Obann’s thrall clinging to this imagined alternate reality, where her mark on the world was measured not in bloodshed but in strummed notes and beautiful melodies.
And then, in Keona the Keen’s shop, scarcely 24 hours after she is freed and reunited with her friends and Obann destroyed, she makes the very deliberate choice to make that fantasy a reality. She commissions the harp, and begins the slow process of learning and practising, for no other reason than it is something that she wants to do.
I just adore the way that this random and innocuous throwaway line has bloomed into such an outlet for Yasha to explore herself and how she influences the world around her. I love that for 300 or so villagers and Traveller cultists on Rumblecusp, Yasha is famous not for her strength or her capacity for violence, but for her music. And I love that from the beginning, it has never been something that was forced on her, but something that she liked and decided to pursue of her own free will.
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