Lyris shut her eyes and stilled her mind before she slipped the earpiece on. All around the low, circular stage the audience waited in hushed anticipation. The familiar, energizing hum filled her thoughts before the harp materialized in her mind’s eye. She moved her hands into position, and the shimmering harp appeared before her on the stage.

As always, her consciousness expanded, taking in each individual present for the performance, both those with a body and without. Something was different tonight. Usually, the audience blended into one energy she could draw on. The energy of a lone life force caught her attention. A powerful male, sensual and aware. She touched his energy lightly with her own and focused away.

Waves of colors danced, and the harp began to sound. She shaped the energy into long, delicate spirals while her fingers added elegant strands of sound. Only then did she join her voice with the light, frothy strains.

Music from the Solani mind harp could be recorded, but rarely duplicated. Only those with enough fortitude to harness the energy in the same way again and again could perform pieces people knew and remembered. After the first hour, Mayan let her mind travel to those familiar musical thoughts. The music lost some of its magic, but there were pieces she was asked for time and time again.

As the evening lengthened, Mayan’s spirit soared higher and higher as she prepared for the end of the performance. Before her energy could flag, she went still. She summoned the colors and let them wash through her. In turn, they woke the full gamut of emotion filling the room. Only when the music danced at fever pitch did she coalesce the sound into joy. She held the music inside until it burst in a blinding, white light, as pleasure swept through her body time and time again. When the last notes died away, she bowed her head and waited for the harp to disappear.

After her bows, she locked herself inside the renewal chamber for fifteen short minutes before dressing to meet the public. She shook hand after hand, wondering if he would come. Greeting guest after guest, she felt his approach. Just as the other nights, his energy left as quickly as it had come. So she would wait and pray he was more than a dream.