Omnia Vincit Amor

XXXVI.

"Caelum, non animum, mutant, qui trans mare currunt." -Horace

Those who run off across the sea change their climate but not their mind.

As soon as Brett left his hometown to continue being a soloist, he was asked by his patron and friend from years of chamber music, Mrs Von Meck to go to Russia and meet a composer that he was about to work with. Only so that he could evaluate for her how well this man composed.

So, he went straight to Russia via ship.

He was tasked to meet the composer at the the conservatory of music in St. Petersburg. His name was Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He was planning to compose a short composition and Brett was to play for him to make the composition come alive. This was the morning he was to meet Mr Tchaikovsky.

"Good morning, Mr Kotek. I believe you are the friend that Mrs Von Meck sent?" The man asked, smiling at Brett.

"Good morning, Mr Tchaikovsky. I wish we could work well so that you could have a patroness... Nadezhda believes in you." Brett said, smiling at the man.

"Well, we shall go on now, shall we?"

"Yes, we shall."

They went to a room with a piano as Brett followed along, his violin case in hand.

"Mr Tchaikovsky, what will you be working on?" Brett asked.

"No need to call me Mr. Tchaikovsky, that is my father. Call me Pyotr. And I am working on a violin concerto." Pyotr said, smiling at the man.

"Well, in that case, you could call me anything you might want." Brett said, not meaning for the words to come out as flirty.

"Well, I want to call you mine, will that be a problem?" Pyotr said, laughing as he sat down on his piano stool. "Anyway, Kotik, we shall start..." He added, handing Brett the sheet music.

Brett played the passage as Pyotr played the orchestral music using his piano. When they stopped, Pyotr asked Brett a question.

"Could I ask you a question, Kotik?"

"As long as I get to ask one, it is fine." Brett replied.

"Are you fine with me being a homosexual?" Pyotr whispered to Brett, afraid that someone might hear them.

"Oh, it is fine with me. I am quite open minded about that. My first love was a man, between you and me. Although, nobody but I know it. In our case now, you too." Brett said quietly, smiling at the man. "What about Kotik, why do you call me that?" Brett asked again.

"Well, your name is Yosef Kotek, is it not? Kotik in Russian means tomcat. When you entered, it reminded me of a tomcat. It is just coincidental that Kotek is your last name." Pyotr replied, chuckling lightly. "Anyway, let us start again."

"Let us."

- - - - -

When Brett entered the room, Pyotr looked distressed.

"Ilyich, what is it? You seem quite tense." Brett asked as he looked at Pyotr in the eyes.

"There is this woman, she does not want to leave me alone. She keeps on sending letters to me even if I had told her I am not interested!" Pyotr said as he handed Brett the letter. "Just read it, Kotek." He added.

"I cannot, it is a private thing, Pyotr." Brett argued.

"But I am giving you the permission to read it, so you should." Pyotr argued back.

Brett did as Pyotr told.

"This Antonina does not sound so bad, Ilyich. She just adores you, through and through. Need not to be bothered by it, I am sure she has good intentions. She might just let you marry her to allow people to stop gossiping about your love life." Brett suggested but Pyotr did not budge.