The next day, Eli is back to assist in the tournament.
As for the matter about the Pope, she and Leon decided to talk about it later once Leon was able to confirm something on his end.
For now, Eli had to focus on assisting Lainie to meet the delegates she was able to recruit for the past few days.
According to Lainie, aside from the people that were personally endorsed by Randel, there were a couple of musicians that expressed interest in helping her fight the composing section.
It was true that Lainie still needed a few more musicians and even if they add up the people whom Randel recommended, they would still be needing for Lainie to be able to assemble a small chamber orchestra.
"Mentor, you are here…" As soon as Eli reached the designated music room in the Farauld institute, Lainie immediately led her to meet the members of Lainie's team.
"Good morning Mentor!" Desmond, Raya, Marie, and even Hailey were there as well.
Since they would also be a part of the orchestra they had to also ensure that they would be able to work with the other members of the team.
Eli could feel the curious gazes directed at her the moment she entered the rehearsal room.
The room is wide and spacious, Dean Athena made a lot of effort to renovate this area in order to accommodate Eli and the music team, and so even with around 40 members inside, the atmosphere was still relaxing and not suffocating.
"Hello everyone, as I have mentioned earlier, I will be introducing to you, my mentor… Lady Eli. Most of you knew her by her works in the innovation and research field, but she is also a strong and reliable mentor for music. In the Farauld music delegates group, she was directly mentoring yours truly and our pianist, Desmond."
Lainie enthusiastically introduced Eli to the members of the group. However, the atmosphere of the entire room was quite awkward as every one of them was not yet used to each other.
These student delegates were all from the eliminated batches of the recent rounds of the music tournament.
Obviously, all those who were retained to proceed to the final section were from the top schools of the major continent, and so these students had no more chance to participate other than joining the battle for the arrangers.
Eli stepped forward and smiled amiably, she knew the kinds of glances that were directed at her. Some of them were from curiosity, but most of them were from skepticism and distrust.
It seems like these musicians were still hesitant to recognize her as the mentor for this orchestra which is why Lainie was quite having a hard time making these assembled groups of musicians truly become comfortable with each other.
"Good morning everyone. As Lainie has said, I am Eli. Although many of you might not have heard of me being involved in the musical field, I can assure you that I was able to guide Desmond and Lainie through this tournament. In the future, I will also do my best to guide all of you as well."
The tense atmosphere still did not change, but Eli remained calm as she continued.
"As you all know, you are assembled here to become part of Lainie's chamber orchestra to fight for the battle of the arrangers.
This was not only a battle of how proficient Lainie was in arranging a musical piece, but also a battle for every member of this team. Think of it as a revenge match from the recent elimination rounds.
Our goal was to make everyone here become comfortable and used to each other as you will all create one beautiful music together…" Eli continued.
She swept a glance at everyone and smiled once again, like a teacher trying to navigate her class on the first day of school, "For starters, don't we use this time to raise questions and ask away? I'll be sure to answer it as long as it is connected to our objective, which is to be able to form a group that would create beautiful music."
She clapped her hands and encouraged the students to participate.
The students looked at each other, the skeptical ones frowned in hesitation and remained silent.
"Me! Me! Mentor, I have a question!" Suddenly, Raya's voice sounded in the hall. After the incident, she was able to recover with the help of her friends and mentors, and now she is back to her usual lively self.
"What instrument did Mentor play?" She asked. "Oh, of course, I know that mentor knew how to play the piano because you were mentoring my big brother… but do you have any more instruments you were able to play?"
"Hmm…" Eli smiled and cast a quick glance at the students. She was relieved that Raya took the first step to ease the situation and so Eli decided to reply,
"Aside from the piano, which is my main instrument, I also knew how to play the violin and an instrument similar to the lute…"
Suddenly murmurs appeared around, there were surprised gasps and hushed discussion. Clearly, the reaction of the students was that of disbelief and surprise.
"Are there any more questions? Feel free to ask away?"
"Mentor, how long have you been practicing these instruments?"
"Hmmm… that's tricky… if you asked when I started to learn, my answer would be from childhood. However, due to some circumstances, I was forced to do away with it and I only had a chance to seriously pursue them a few years ago."
Eli carefully answered, she used half-truths to ensure that her answer would still fit Elise's original circumstance, should other people investigate.
"Any more?" She asked, she could see that some of the students were already at ease, but she wanted to completely win the entire group so that Lainie will not have a hard time leading her members.
"How much do you practice a day, Mentor?"
"What piece do you like the most?"
Questions after questions were asked for the next few minutes. Lainie and the rest of the bunch could not help but smile with relief seeing how Eli was able to make the atmosphere turn lively.
Finally one of the skeptical students felt that it was comfortable enough to raise her question and so she took the courage to stand and meet Eli's gaze.
"Mentor… This tournament is meaningful for me and my classmates here…" She turned her head and looked at the students beside her, "We wanted to at least not end our journey here as eliminated musicians… and so we take the arranger's competition seriously…"
The room was silent as they were drawn by the girl's opening statement. Eli also kept silent, she knew that it was finally time to prove to the students her and Lainie's ability, only then will the group be truly willing to participate.
"If it is not offensive on your side, I would like to ask if you could play us a piece and show us a little extent of your abilities. Just for us to know that you and Junior Conductor Lainie also take this competition seriously?" She fidgeted and hung her head low, fearing that she would face Eli's lashing.
"Hmm.. that's a good idea. Why not?" Eli nonchalantly replied, she had been waiting for this chance after all.
"Alright, but I will only demonstrate it today. For you know that this is not time for me to show off my ability, but rather, the abilities of the team behind me." She pointed at Lainie, Desmond, and the rest who were behind her in front.
"Then… Why don't we show them what we have been practicing together?" Eli looked at the group behind her and smiled.
Desmond and the rest immediately took their instruments and positioned themselves on the instruments up front.
"Let's play Vivaldi's Winter," Eli announced, picking up the violin from her space pouch.
Lainie also did her duty and took out her arrangement for Vivaldi's winter and gave it out to Desmond who is playing the harpsichord instead of piano to match the piece, Raya on the second violin, Marie on the viola, and Hailey on the cello.
Finally, she positioned herself on the third violin's position and looked at Eli gesturing that they were all ready.
The melody started on an eerie string of notes, depicting the harsh winter storm that is about to come. After a few measures, Eli finally entered as the soloist, playing the fast combination of notes while taking turns with the ensemble to answer with the melodies.
The students watching were shocked, not only because of Eli's prowess but because of how amazing the music they were able to create.
Even as Eli played the solo part of the piece, the students never thought that she was making herself stand out. All they could see and hear was that they were playing as one.
No one tried to best another, and they were able to create such beautiful music, with a melody that is unheard of!
When the piece ended, they were already on their toes, clapping passionately at their performance! Praises flew left and right, overwhelming Eli and the rest.
Finally, they all took a respectful bow. Eli looked at the students and asked, "So what do you think? What to join our music ensemble?"
"We…we want to truly join your team!" They gladly answered.
