Chapter 125 - Dancing Maiden

The handsome young man held out his hands to Yuzu in a gentlemanly manner. Yuzu stepped forward, holding his left hand with her right. Yuzu tensed up a bit as his right hand gently rested on her back. She placed her left hand on his upper right arm, forming a frame in preparation for the dance.

The couples around them all assumed the same position as the noise in the hall quieted to a brief silence.

“You seem familiar enough,” Rey teased in a whisper, “Are you sure you’ve never danced before?”

“Never.” Yuzu replied honestly, her eyes flittering to the people around her.

Rey noticed her look, interpreting it as nervousness. He smiled and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, “Relax, just follow my lead.”

Yuzu nodded, continuing to look to the side.

In fact she was not particularly nervous at the moment. It looked like she was being intimidated by the confident couples around her, but underneath she was calm and collected. Rather than worrying, what she was actually doing was examining the threads of all the dancers around her.

The powers of fate didn’t give her physical abilities. They didn’t make her more athletic or give her better reflexes, but what they did improve was her ability to take in information and identify the patterns in the threads.

In the brief pause before the dance Yuzu tapped into the threads of dozens of dancers, watching the future play out simultaneously across the strings. She didn’t focus on one specific couple, but as she watched the dance unfold her mind picked up on the similarities in movement.

The dancers looked graceful and sophisticated as they spun across the floor, but the motions were a simple three step pattern repeated continuously. Using her amplified analysis abilities Yuzu was easily able to grasp the flow of the dance. Left right left, right left right. The footsteps made a square, and the minor variations in the distance and rotation between each step was what let the dancers move across the floor.

Not only that, but the men were the ones who lead the dance, with the women simply following along. Yuzu could focus on the movement of the dance and let Rey handle the rest. With such a simple task, how could Yuzu screw it up?

“Ready?” Rey asked.

Yuzu nodded confidently.

The music started, and all of a sudden the whole floor was alive with movement. A graceful waltz played on strings filled the air as Yuzu found herself quickly overwhelmed by the speed of the dance.

She had underestimated the pace of the dance, and her body struggled to find the rhythm. In the first few seconds Yuzu nearly stumbled over her own feet, only saved by Rey who held her firmly and prevented her from tripping. For the initial part of the dance he was nearly lifting her completely off her feet.

“Easy, now. Follow my lead.” Rey had a focused look on his face as he counted out the steps to the beat, “Starting with your left- One two three, one two three…”

Yuzu quickly recovered as her body finally synced up with the music and she was able to manage a reasonable semblance of a waltz.

“You weren’t joking when you said you’d never danced.” Rey said with a wide grin, softly enough that the others around couldn’t hear.

“I warned you-” Yuzu muttered with a scowl.

“You’re actually picking it up, though. I’m impressed.”

By the halfway point of the song Yuzu was keeping up with Rey’s lead and no longer felt like she was a drowning person struggling to stay afloat.

“Are you regretting asking me to dance now?” Yuzu asked now that she finally was able to breathe.

“Never.” Rey smiled. He had kept the pace steady without adding complicated turns or flourishes. He had also directed them to a corner of the floor where they stayed dancing within a small area. He was clearly being considerate of her beginner’s skill.

“By the way,” He said in an offhand tone, “I recall you said that you and Char Char were not close, but Char Char seemed quite friendly with you.”

“What’s your point?” Yuzu frowned.

“Nothing, really. Just idle curiousity.” He shrugged. “I’m amused that you’d lie about your relationship with her.”

“I can say the same to you.” Yuzu shot back, “Char Char seemed to be quite familiar with you, for someone who’s supposedly only ‘met her once’.”

“Touché.” Rey grinned. After a few more spins he continued the conversation, starting with a casual, “I wonder, have you heard the recent rumours about Char Char?”

“What rumours would that be?” Yuzu feigned ignorance.

“It seems that she has been involved in the occult and that she did a bunch of weird things during the Night of the Living Vines.” Rey’s tone was neutral as he watched carefully for Yuzu’s reaction.

“Ah.” Yuzu replied, not interested in elaborating further.

“You wouldn’t happen to know anything, would you?” Rey asked.

“Why would I?”

“Well, because you’re probably the first person I’ve ever seen Char Char treat... well, like a close friend.”

“Please.” Yuzu rolled her eyes, “Char Char is friendly to everybody.”

“She’s friendly to everyone but she’s not close to anyone.” Rey said pointedly.

Yuzu raised an eyebrow at Rey’s comment. This was news to her. She’d always assumed that Char Char was popular and surrounded by people wherever she went. Come to think of it, Char Char never talked about her friendships with other people, even back in the day when they were close. Yuzu had never thought about it before, she was just glad Char Char didn’t rub her popularity in Yuzu’s face. Could it just be that she actually didn’t have that many friends?

“Is that why you asked me to dance?” Yuzu asked, sensing something in Rey’s tone. She thought about how the girls in the refreshments room had noticed her arrived with Char Char, and about Char Char’s rejection of the Viscount’s son from earlier. “You couldn’t get a dance with Char Char, but you noticed I arrived with her, so thought I could be your way in?”

“Where’s that coming from? That’s not it at all.” Rey frowned, “I asked you because-“

He paused awkwardly as he stopped himself from telling the truth. “Never mind, it’s just not like that. Really. I really don’t care about Char Char, I was just curious if the recent stories are true.”

“Right.” Yuzu muttered sarcastically, not believing a word. “Well, I wouldn’t know.”

Honestly, she didn’t care about Rey’s motivations, she didn’t need or want him to explain himself. She just wanted to get this stupid dance over with.

After a minute the dancing slowed and came to a stop as the song ended, causing Yuzu to look around and give a sigh of relief.

“Is it finally over?” She muttered.

“‘Finally’? Surely I wasn’t that bad to dance with.” Rey had a pained smile on his face, as if he was hurt by her words.

“It was... pleasant.” A smile flickered on Yuzu’s face as she felt her patience to keep up a friendly expression quickly evaporate. She stepped away from Rey and bowed slightly, “Thank you for the dance.”

To Yuzu’s surprise Rey didn’t bow in response, but instead reached out and took her hand, pulling her towards him. She felt his hand on her back as he resumed a dancing posture, “That last conversation topic aside, I rather enjoyed this dance. Would you care to stay for another?”

A shiver ran up Yuzu’s back as she felt repulsed by the young man. She instinctively pulled away but his grip tightened on her, keeping her from retreating. There was a dangerous sheen in his eyes that was at odds with the smile on his mouth.

“No, I’d rather not.” Yuzu replied.

In her peripheral vision Rey’s golden string coiled around hers and tightened.

“Relax, there’s nothing to be worried about.” Rey said, “The next song is a slow dance, we barely have to move.”

“I’m not worried about the steps.” Yuzu said, her lips were a thin line as she glared up at him.

“Are you jealous about Char Char? I don’t know what to say, I really didn’t know you were friends with her until she talked to you before the dance. And I really don’t care about getting to know her.”

“I’m not jealous.” Yuzu’s eyes flared as she gathered the last bit of her social propriety to say softly, “You’ve been a gentleman up to this point, but if you don’t let me go I am going to cause a scene.”

“I’m afraid that the only one to suffer from such an outburst would be you, my lady.” Rey smiled gently as if he were advising a child, “My reputation is impeccable. You’d only make yourself out to be a fool.”

Yuzu glared at Rey, not responding to his statement. She’d thought he might have hesitated due to her threat, but he was surprisingly unshaken. Of course, what he said was completely true. Up to this point her attempts to get out of his grasp were subtle enough that the people around them didn’t know anything was amiss. If she stormed off or starting shouting at him now, he’d only need to do a bit of acting to make her out to be the villain.

In any case, that sort of outburst wasn’t Yuzu’s style.

We’ll see who’s the fool. Yuzu muttered inwardly as she reached out to a string on the dance floor and pulled it over. At the same time she took Rey’s string and spooled it off of her own, deftly tying it to the first string in a tight knot.

The entire time her spiritual intuition was clanging in warning, which she completely ignored.

Almost immediately a high pitched, nasally voice rang out, “Reynold, Reynold!”

Rey bristled in agitation as he instantly recognized the voice. He seemed to physically shrink inwards as he pretended not to notice the girl calling out to him. Before long a thin, bony girl with pronounced cheekbones and slightly too much blush stepped up beside them. Rey was forced to let go of Yuzu as he turned to face the new girl.

“Oh Reynold, I finally found you! I’ve been looking for you all night. I was beginning to wonder if you were purposefully avoiding me. I even bumped into your sister and asked her where you were, and do you know what she said to me? Haha, she said...”

Her name was Anita Glint, and though Yuzu was not familiar with this girl she knew from the strings that Reynold did not appreciate her company at all. She had a grating quality to her voice and once she started talking she never seemed to stop. The edge of Yuzu’s lips curled up in a hidden grin.

“Ah, Anita. You’ll have to forgive me but I already have a partner for the next dance.” Reynold had a strained smile as he faced Anita with a fake politeness.

“Oh, no. I am quite tired from the previous dance.” Yuzu interjected, fanning herself delicately with her gloved hand, “This is perfect timing Anita. I’ll hand Master Warren off to you for the evening and go find somewhere to sit down. I don’t think I have another dance in me.”

Yuzu felt Reynold’s heated glare on the back of her neck as Anita went through a brief flash of confusion, surprise, revelation and then happiness.

“Oh, Reynold, I’ve been practicing my chassé with my dance teacher and I’ve been dying to show it off to you-“

Yuzu used the opportunity to quickly escape from the dance floor, giggling mischievously in her heart as she saw that Reynold’s expression had turned absolutely sour. Of course, now that Yuzu had handed off the dance to Anita, Reynold had no choice but to accept the dance with her.

“May you have the most miserable dance of your life.” Yuzu blessed him as she reached the door to the hall.

Before she left the room she paused, turning around to scan the hall. The golden tapestry flowed gently in her spiritual vision. She checked her string, confirming that Reynold’s string had been completely separated. Furthermore, she didn’t notice any irregularities in the threads.

She was slightly surprised. She had gotten such a strong sense of danger when she had irrationally altered the strings that she expected there to be a change.

Her lips curved into a satisfied grin as she turned around with a swirl of her dress, “Lucky!”

~

On the balcony overlooking the dance floor, an elderly man in flowing robes was in the middle of a discussion with several politicians. He was in the middle of a sentence when he felt a tug on his spiritual intuition, causing him to stop and look down at the dance floor below.

The dance was in full swing as the couples gently twirled to the music. After a few seconds the elder’s eyes focused on a young blond man dancing with a thin, bony girl. His hand subconsciously raised to his beard as he stroked it thoughtfully.

“Abbott? Is something the matter?” A voice called to him.

“Oh, no. I was just distracted by the music for a moment.” Abbot Deacon Glass turned his gaze away from the floor below as he chuckled, “This music is quite nostalgic for me.”

“Ah, yes. It’s a classic, isn’t it? Why, I met my wife dancing to this exact tune...”

A little while later the Abbott excused himself from the group and walked along the balcony as he scanned the people in the room. However, aside from the couple that was dancing he didn’t notice anything else out of place. Still, he could only come to one conclusion.

“She’s here tonight.” He stroked his beard as he muttered softly to himself, “The White Maiden...”