Chapter 47 part 3

"If you don't tell us, how are we supposed to know why those songs or whatever you mentioned are problematic?" Hesha asked as they walked along the road that Scithia had told them would lead to the city they were looking for.

Beth sighed. She didn't think Hesha would be so persistent. Though, if Hesha wasn't the one bugging them about it, then it was Feon. It had been a couple days since they'd started walking and Beth, Ralph, and Wes had been getting pestered almost nonstop about letting the two girls hear what the songs were that they'd determined would draw unwanted attention towards them.

They'd pretty much made out a playlist, starting each day with: The Start of it by Meese. While Beth felt like they could have picked a better one, she'd been outvoted by Wes and Ralph. Feon and Hesha had abstained, simply because they didn't know any of the songs that they'd decided to 'play.' Beth didn't regret leaving Tim in lieu of Wes, even for this, since she was confident that Tim would likely have gone with it as well.

As they moved, they'd been having three watches during the night, with each of them taking turns with the middle wath, although Beth wondered if they should just do two watches instead. Even though she was still finding herself rather tired.

"Those songs can't be that strange, can they?" Hesha persisted.

Beth wished that it hadn't been necessary to bring Hesha and Feon with them, if only to keep from having to deal with this issue itself.

Beth didn't respond to Hesha, but turned to Ralph and Wes, hoping that they'd agree to give them a taste of the songs they mentioned, if only to get the two girls to stop bugging them about it.

"Should we give them a taste of it?" Beth asked, ignoring the sounds of pleasure she could hear Hesha and Feon making. "I mean, they'll probably keep going at it, even if we're in the city."

Ralph shrugged, looking like he didn't really care. Although Beth was confident that he would care a lot if he was the one who had to expend the effort about it.

"I guess it shouldn't be a problem, as long as the volume stays low," Wes acknowledged. "And if we are overheard, we can just say that we were practicing for when we get to the city."

"How far is the city anyway?" Ralph asked.

"If I remember correctly, I believe we were told that it should be about maybe two weeks?" Beth answered. She couldn't say for certain, but that's at least what it felt like. Besides, she had a feeling they could probably make better time if they really pushed themselves. Such as if they kept going until the sun went down and got up as it came up, rather than how Ralph insisted on leaving after the sun had been up for a little while.

"Well, what song should we play for them to help them understand?" Wes asked, getting them back on the main subject for the moment.

"Why not 'Macho Man' by Village People?" Beth suggested. It definitely wasn't her favorite, but it definitely would sound weird in this culture. Especially since she doubted they would know what a 'macho man' was. If anything, she suspected that they'd think of a 'macho woman' before they would think of a 'macho man.'

"Maybe, but I think 'Princes of the Universe' by Queen might be better," Ralph commented, showing Beth that he was in fact paying attention, no matter how much he seemed to try and pretend he wasn't.

"We could do both," Wes said before his face brightening up, like he'd just thought of something. "Oh, and then we could also play 'YMCA' by Village People for them. As at least then that's be one they could understand how confusing the songs can be when they deal with our culture."

"You say it like we don't know anything," Feon complained.

Beth couldn't help but smile. A statement like that certain sounded like it should come from a child. Especially since she didn't really know how different their cultures really were.

"Let's begin," Beth said. "Why not start with 'Princes of the Universe' then move on to the songs by Village People?"

"Sounds good to me," Ralph said.

Wes, stopped and rummaged through his pack before he found the CD case he had with him. Then he searched through it until he found the CDs that he wanted.

When Wes first started to play the song, Beth watched Feon and Hesha carefully to gauge their reactions. She wasn't sure what to really expect, but had no doubts that both girls would have issues with the cultural differences of the song. Such as why it would be 'princes' instead of 'princesses.'

When the second verse started up and they were still listening, Beth had a feeling something wasn't right. She couldn't say what it was, just that there was something that didn't fit with what she had expected. It was almost like…

Beth suddenly realized what the problem was. She couldn't believe that none of them had realized this would be a problem in the first place. The fact that the songs were in English when these girls spoke a completely different language. If they played these songs for the public here, they might get some interest solely on the fact that it was different than whatever music they had on this world to begin with, but they certainly wouldn't be able to understand the songs. Even the ones that would counter their culture the most.

"Uh, hold on Wes," Beth said, wanting to stop this before they went on. "I think we have a problem here."

"What's wrong?" Wes asked, sounding a little confused as he let the disc in his hand stop spinning. "It sounded good to me."

"It's not about the song," she explained. "It's the fact that the girls don't understand the language."

Wes blinked then looked a the girls. "You didn't understand a word of it?"

Hesha and Feon shook their heads. Beth couldn't say that she had expected Wes to take her at her word, but it still felt a little irritating that he sought confirmation about the matter.

"I've wondered about that," Ralph mused. "I mean, we can speak their language, but that doesn't mean we can really translate directly through our magic."

Beth suddenly had an idea. She was confident Ralph hadn't intended to give her this idea, so she wasn't going to give him credit for it. Not that she expected he'd want it. If anything, he'd probably be uncertain whether to be happy with that fact or troubled.

"What about this," Beth said. "Wes, you play the CD, then let Ralph use his magic for the sound. It might not work, but if it doesn't, it might be simpler to work with instrumentals rather than songs in a language the people in this world don't know."

Ralph and Wes exchanged glances. It was clear neither of them like the idea, but they didn't say anything, which Beth had expected. After all, it wasn't like they could argue with the idea. Not unless they had a better one, and Beth was pretty sure this would be the only way that they'd be able to make it work.

Beth waited for them to either say something or get on with is, and it felt like they might have been trying to outwait her. Or at least she had started to think that was the case when they hadn't moved to do anything for a few minutes, when suddenly Wes put his left hand on Ralph's shoulder and the disc in his right hand started to spin.

Then as the music started out, Beth looked at Hesha and Feon, looking for any differences as from before. Since 'Princes of the Universe' started out with lyrics as well as music, Beth could see immediately that they understood the lyrics.

Although, Beth couldn't help but wonder how the magic exactly worked to do that. As it wasn't turning the lyrics into the alternate language, since otherwise Beth was confident that she'd be able to hear it in the language of this world. If that was the case, she'd have expected at least some ussues with the lyrics not meshing so well in this language.

Beth still remembered reading some poetry from China, though Beth couldn't remember when the poetry was supposed to have been written. Only that it didn't flow as well in English as she was told they did in the language they'd originally been written in. While she wondered if she should have considered that when they'd first started out, it clearly wasn't turning out like that. It was clear that they understood the lyrics as the song played.

By the end of the first verse, Beth could see that both girls were starting to get uncomfortable. Beth was confident that the cultural differences were starting to take shape in their minds. Where they might even be ready to accept the assertions that some of the songs they had wouldn't be good enough to play because of the cultural issues that would only create more problems in general.

When the song finished, Beth didn't know if it was really necessary to continue on, but she had a feeling that Hesha and Feon had come to understand what they had been getting at about the songs.

After they finished the third song, Beth couldn't help but notice that Hesha's and Feon's expressions had glazed over. Like they weren't even trying to connect with the songs anymore. Which told Beth that the objective had been successful.

"So, still think it won't matter?" Wes asked them when the last note ended of the song 'YMCA.'

Hesha and Feon didn't respond and Beth wondered if maybe they'd check out for a while. Not that she'd have blamed them. If songs from this world had been played for her when she hadn't had even a little bit of preparation for how the culture in this world was like, she wouldn't be surprised if she'd end up like them. Although, she couldn't say for how long they'd be like that.

"I think we broke them," Ralph remarked.

"Well, just think about it," Beth remarked. "If we did this in the city, how long before people started asking questions about us? How long would we have before we'd need to split?"

"Fine," Ralph replied, not sounding like he cared so much about the subject anymore. "Let's just move on. I'm sure we'll find something else soon enough to do."

Beth smirked to herself. She couldn't be sure if Ralph was annoyed that he'd been proven wrong or if he was just embarrassed. She wouldn't be surprised if either of the options would turn out to be true.

"You know, it was at least good for us to do this anyway," Wes remarked suddenly.

"What? Why?" Ralph asked, his confusion evident in his voice, if not his expression.

"Well, because now we know how to get whatever audience we have to understand the songs," Wes answered cheerfully. "Otherwise we might have had a problem when we tried to play them in a city."

"He has a point," Beth acknowledged to no one in particular. She hadn't thought about that being an issue before, and she could only write it off as luck that they'd become aware of that problem before they even reached a city.

They then fell into a companionable silence as they continued on, each step taking them closer to learning about if the girl tha they had heard about was in fact Charlie or just a complete coincidence.

Beth wasn't sure how long it was before Hesha and Feon snapped out of the funk that they'd fallen into. However, Hesha suddenly spoke up when the sun was starting to get low in the afternoon sky. The sound nearly made Beth jump out of her boots and catch some air.

"Why did you even have songs like that where you're from?" Hesha asked.

Beth wasn't sure if Hesha realized how long she'd been quiet or if she was still unaware of her surroundings. Or possibly that she had been aware, but merely had been deep in thought and hadn't felt like talking.

Regardless of what the reason was, she couldn't help but acknowledge that they needed to give her an answer. Otherwise Beth was confident that Hesha would just create more trouble for them later one. Possibly even Feon too.

"Well, it's like how we explained to you about how we came from another world," Beth started to say, though she felt like her words weren't coming out as fluidly like she'd have liked. Especially since she was pretty sure how she made that statement wasn't very clear, either. "In our world, men were the ones fighting and working while women stayed home and took care of the children."

"A little oversimplified, don't you think?" Wes asked.

Beth shrugged. "Maybe, but I couldn't think how else to make it very concise." Beth paused for a moment before continuing, "Besides, it's not like it's inaccurate, either."

"What?" Hesha asked, looking like Beth had just told her the sky was green. Although, Beth had to push the thought away about the 'green sky theory' or she knew she'd probably go down a rabbit hole and get completely off topic. Which, naturally, wouldn't help them deal with Hesha's and Feon's issues with the cultural differences of their worlds.

"You've mentioned about how Wes and I look rather feminine, right?" Ralph asked. "And how Hannah, Amelia, and Beth look masculine?"

Hesha nodded slowly. "Yes, but I don't see what that has to do with this."

"It's because in our world, Wes and I are considered masculine, because that's how guys typically turn out. Then Amelia, Hannah, and Beth are considered feminine in our world because, again, that's how women are in our world."

"But why would there be such a difference?" Feon asked suddenly, startling Beth, though she suspected that the others were startled as well.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Wes remarked, apparently the first to recover. "Could be a matter of evolution, a matter of adaptation, or merely a matter of a different intelligent creator."

Beth couldn't help but giggle as she watched Feon's gaze glaze over again. Though she was pretty sure this time it was from Feon's inability to understand what Wes was talking about. After all, she had a strong feeling that this world didn't have as much in the way of scientific studies and theories. Let alone a common education system for everyone.

"Anyway, if you think too much about it, I'm sure you'll only give yourselves a headache," Beth said, hoping to try to move this along and get them to just accept that the difference was there, regardless of what they'd just learned here.

"By the way," Ralph said suddenly. "Does it bother you to be breaking copyright law this way?"

"We're not breaking it," Beth assured him. She wished that he'd have at least given them a minute, if nothing else, to finish the topic she'd tried to move on from.

"What're you talking about?" Ralph asked. "We'll be playing the intellectual property of musical artists and hoping to get money for it. I'm pretty sure that's breaking the copyright laws."

"Actually, I'm with Beth on this one," Wes chimed in. "We're not in a country that probably has laws like that, so we won't get in trouble with that. Besides, it's not like this world is aware of ours and vice versa."

"Uh, what's 'copyright law?'" Feon asked, her voice quieter than usual.

Beth couldn't help but chuckle. She figured it was probably because the topic had come so far out of left field that she'd even forgotten about Hesha and Feon.

"Don't worry about it," Beth said, soothingly. "it's a law that is about protecting ideas an individual makes into reality so that others can't profit off of them without giving that person some kind of compensation for them to live."

"Not sure that's exactly how it is," Wes remarked, "but I guess it's close enough."

"Are you sure we won't get in trouble for this?" Ralph asked, looking around like he thought others might be listening in on them.

"Let me put it this way," Beth answered. "Anyone who would try to press the issue would be out of their jurisdiction."

"Sure they wouldn't try something anyway?" Ralph pressed.

"They could try," Beth acknowledged, hoping to end this topic soon. She couldn't help but start to get annoyed about the matter altogether. She wasn't sure what else there was, but it was getting old for her.

Ralph opened his mouth to say something else, but after a moment, he closed it. Beth couldn't help but feel a sense of relief at that fact. She actually hadn't thought about the copyright laws, but didn't worry too much about it. After all, they were in a completely different world and she would stand by what she'd said: she seriously doubted that this world, or any of the countries in it, had any laws of a similar nature as the copyright laws. Maybe that would change down the road, but it wasn't the case right now.

What Beth looked forward to most right then was to find a place to set up camp. While the marquis had given them some money for expenses while they travelled, they hadn't come across any place that would have made them consider spending any of the money.

Besides, the more they saved now, the more they'd have in the event the slave girl in question turned out to be Charlie. Although, Beth felt she'd be more comfortable if she knew exactly how much money they had. She felt like the amounts had been explained to her once, but her mind was drawing a blank of that now.

She was confident that she could probably ask Hesha and Feon about it, but didn't feel like doing that right now. After all, they'd already had enough issues with teaching the girls about some of the key differences between their cultures. Which Beth figured was enough for right now. There wasn't a need to try and add more to the pile when it wasn't necessary.