"Now remember, the secondary partner must sway with your partner, and flow with their rhythm. Primary partners, be both aware of your movements and watch your partners, your feet are attached to your legs, staring at them will not change that fact. Let us begin again."
We all moved throughout the ballroom. Kaelen had been partnered up with Liora, Jax was with Thalia, and Selene and I were partnered up. As someone who had never learned to dance before, I was rather surprised by the details of it all. When there are 4 different races, one of which can be all kinds of shapes ranging from humanoid to full on animal, the question of how one dances together comes into play. In this a dance is divided into two parts, each partner being assigned to a different rhythm of the songs played.
One partner stands and must move in a way to both allow their partner to move while also meeting their eyes, and then they switch off. Each dance also begins and ends with a kind of bow, level of courtesy and more depending on what kind of partner you are dancing with.
It was mind numbing, and despite Selene's great strength, she lacked very much lacked the gentle finesse required to both avoid tripping over her own dress, and avoid stepping on my feet.
"Ok, you all have been working hard, time for a break."
Lily said as she clapped her wings together. Like dominos we practically fell apart as we all made our way over to the nearby bench. Selene held a shaky hand out to me as I handed her another Energy potion that she greedily gulped down, he skill to hide her arm normally would just block off a chunk of her energy, but due to her condition it instead slowly drains her over time.
We all quickly grabbed and drank the water from the bottles we had been offered by a maid passing with a tray. Dancing itself normally would seem like something that those who train daily to improve their physicality wouldn't get tired from, however Lily was a brutal teacher.
Her methods involved teaching us a movement and insisting we move trough them at a crawl, forcing us to hold hard to balance poses while also straining to hold our bodys at hard angles.
"If you are to hold a perfect form, you must get to a point where you cannot feel the strain even after an hour."
Jax had complained that Lily was a halfblood flamingo and had hollow bones, and had earned himself 1 hour of holding a handstand. I put my water bottle down as I leaned back on the bench and rested my back against the wall. It had been 4 days since we arrived which meant I had crossed the one month of being an adventurer mark. The days at the Dukes estate had been rather repetitive.
We wake up, eat breakfast, get an hour in the morning to do what we want, spend 8 hours practicing dance, and get the rest of the day off after that. For the most part I had been spending my days brewing potions, the Duke had a rather large herbal stock, so I had been brewing healing potions, energy potions, and more, using all 82 mana to make 8 per day. Today however I had a different plan. The letter was already in my bag next to the door of the ball room, and I had even learned the directions to arrive from asking the Duke's servants.
"Alright, you have had time to rest, and we are almost done for the day, you all have improved, but I want to look each pair over so I can formulate a plan for your practice tomorrow, first up Lord Kaelen and Lady Liora."
The two stepped up as they each took their positions. Kaelen was set as the lead as the two bowed. Kaelens lead dance was an intricate one, following a flow like someone light on their feet running trough the woods, he circled Liora as Liora spun in place, a hand in hers to keep her balanced. Kaelens movements were rigid and crude, partially from fatigue, but also in a way like a reluctance to preform well. Despite that his dance was regal and beautiful to look at.
As the music shifted Liora's turn arrived, her dance was one that focused on her avian nature, having her step into the sky and move and dance like she is a leaf on the wind. Liora's portion of the dance held a fluidity that hid the fine control required to move as she did, despite this it lacked regality, looking more chaotic than it did formal.
"Thats enough you two, there is improvement, but work must be done. Kaelen, you need to get more into this and stop fighting the dance. Liora, your dance is too chaotic, you must flow around your partner, like a spiral of wind embracing an old friend."
I could see that both Kaelen and Liora nodded half heartedly as they sat down again.
"Jax, Thalia, lets see you two next and we will end with Aiden and Selene."
The two stood as they took their positions, unlike Kaelen and Liora who could hold a more formal waltz like position to begin, Jax and Thalia instead began by sharing a bow. Jax lead, his dance being one that was supposed to mimic a mix of an animal stalking prey while also spiraling around Thalia as she was meant to be looking around like she was trying to find him. Jax had the physicality to pull it off, but his rhythm was different from the music and he seemed confused as to the description Lily had given.
Jax switched with Thalia as she began, maybe it was because her class was focused on the flow of battle, or other aspects of rhythm, but Thalia's dance was hauntingly beautiful. Her's was meant to show strings wrapping her ankles and wrists, like she was a puppet on strings as she was meant to go from a rigid and stagnant style to a more flowing one as she moved. However, I could see that both holding the strings, her own position, and more all at once was difficult as her arms and legs would jerk from time to time. The two finished as Ms. Lily looked them over.
"Jax, you have the physicality, but you lack the mentality, while Thalia, you hold the mentality, but seem like you're struggling with the multitasking aspect, all in all good job."
Selene stood up as I gave an internal grown as my tired muscles protested. Following her to the middle, I was up first. My dance was one that was supposed to focus on spins and flair.
"Think of it like you are the pestle and you are grinding up herbs for a concoction."
Ms. Lily had described. The movement wasn't too difficult to pull off, but the muscle fatigue and the mental fatigue of dancing for 8 hours straight left me making small, but stupid mistakes.
As I finished Selene was up, and I could already see that Selene was struggling just as much as earlier. She had been told her style should mimic a duel, think like she was fighting with a sword with me standing as an opponent they could not hit. This however did not translate well as Selene was staring at her feet, and even with that she still stepped on my feet from time to time. As she finished my feet were throbbing as she seemed embarrassed.
"Aiden, you are doing ok, you need work in a few parts, but otherwise not bad for just starting, but Selene darling, this is a partner dance, not a solo, if you only focus on how your moving it can't involve anyone else."
Ms. Lily said as she looked us all over. We made our way back to the seat as we sat with the others, Ms. Lily stepped forward and looked us over.
"You all have worked hard today, you are dismissed, and I will see you all tomorrow."
We stood and made our way out of the hall, careful to hide our excitement of escape as we thought back to our first day where we had tried to run out and we had been made to stay an extra hour because "she didn't know we had so much energy left" as she said. So we walked, until the door closed and we broke away in a run, we were free from the torment for the day. Everyone had things they wanted to so, Selene was going to meet with the Duchess as she had for the past few days, Kaelen and Liora were running out to meet up with Kaelens siblings, Jax was already half way to the bar to get wasted and Thalia had taken her seat in the garden as she continued to work on her woodwork project, carving out what seemed to be a set of wooden puppets.
I made a beeline for the gate, and made my way down the long driveway and out the gate onto the street. It was strange to walk the 8 miles it would take to reach the bookstore instead of driving, but the vehicle was back on the other side of the teleport gate. So I walked, and in doing so I saw the beautiful large trees, their leaves a bright vibrant green as the summer heat was starting to build, but for now was comfortable and not too sweltering.
I made my way along the cobblestones, passing vehicles and people, the smell of baked bread and sweets filled the air, as in the distance, I could see a row of homes, and in between them was a simple little shop, a small sign hung above the doorway as I saw the bookstore. I started forward, however I froze, a familiar feeling of unease settling on me as I saw the door to the bookstore opened.
The figure that stepped out was one who wore an ornate purple dress, golden trims made intricate designs on the front. Their hair was a deep, and vibrant violet color and curley trailed down to just below her waist on her back. This could have just been seen as an eccentric noble visiting a store, however she wore a strange, and chilling accessory.
It was painted in an indigo color, with bits of golden crack like designs running through it. A box-like design made a set of eye and mouth holes, the mouth covered in bars made into the mask as it moved with the woman's face.
My blood froze in my veins, as memories my mind forced away broke free like a herd of rampaging Elephants, the mask, the attire, the feeling. She was just like Red, and unlike the terrifying world breaker, she was looking at me.