The Winds of Ysgard - Part One

[Legendary Sidekick]

Addison caught Troia's tone, but pretended not to. She called out, "Ye look lovely in that, Princess!"

Years of many-mile runs through forests kept Addison in shape, but the unfamiliar moves took getting used to. Addison threw in a twirl where it fit the pattern, then concentrated harder on mirroring Rikhard's footwork. This was a side of Rikhard she did not expect to see. She was savoring the experience.

 

[Tom]

"Thank you," Troia responded, allowing a smile to break through. "You look...interesting...as well."

She took in Addy's festive outfit and her woad body paint, thinking to herself that with Addy and her eccentric fashion sense around, she'd never be bored.

 

[AkamaruGames]

Accepting the invitation, Chrisania, well accustomed to dances of many regions from her travels, easily picked up the rather simple rhythmic dance. Reaching into one of her larger pouches, she withdrew a small tambourine which she skillfully tapped on various parts of her body in rhythm with the music as she danced. She laughed and twirled. Clearly she was having a good time.

 

[Gryphos]

All the dancing hypnotised Bendalitz as he ate the thing the pastry person gave him (he didn't bother learning what it was). Bendalitz never danced himself, but he always admired the concept. Actually, he loved the concept.

Just as Bendalitz finished his pastry, a woman appeared literally out of nowhere and sidled up to Bendalitz with a charming, slightly crooked smile and short brown hair. "You look lonely," she said.

"Do I?" Bendalitz brushed off his hands. "Am I? Now that's philosophical. Actually it isn't, but you look nice."

"Thank you," the woman chuckled. She didn't seem to have realised what she was getting herself into. "You don't look half bad yourself."

"Are you about to ask me to dance?" said Bendalitz. "Usually people don't just walk up to people and strike conversation without something like that in mind. Well, I don't, anyway, though I guess the world would be a lot better if I could. But am I right? Is dancing on your mind?"

The woman looked at Bendalitz like an amusing child. "I can't lie, it was."

"In which case I must decline. Do not take that the wrong way, I would love nothing better than to prance like a deer across the square with you. It's just that, if I did, it would be this evening's entertainment."

"It's not evening."

"Well aren't you perceptive. I like perceptive people."

"Are you drunk?"

"Again! How perceptive."

"Ah, I see."

Bendalitz shrugged his shoulders. "So I'm afraid I shan't dance with you, but if you'd like I can tell you all about my philosophical theories."

"Maybe some other time," she said. "I won't bother you anymore."

Bendalitz beamed at her. "Have a wonderful evening."

"You too!" She smiled and disappeared off to find someone a little more willing, while Bendalitz returned his attention to the happy dancers.

 

[DMThaane]

Loke wandered slowly towards some kind of square that seemed to be the centre of much of the festivities. Even in his state, a little drunker and a few coppers lighter, he quickly picked out Addison and Rikhard, also noticing that Troia and Einan were out and that Bendalitz had clearly been enjoying himself.

He climbed up onto a step for a better few and bit into some strange meat thing a dwarf had sold him. The first bite revealed a surprising spiciness to the meat but it was the taste once he'd swallowed that truly amazed, dancing across his tongue like… like an enthusiastic Rikhard, from the look of things.

"You there," he said, grabbing a passing boy. He pressed two coppers into his hand. "Find the dwarf who sold me this and bring me more." He found another copper and added it to the small pile. "Buy one for yourself."

The boy nodded and made to leave but Loke grabbed him by the collar and pulled him in.

He fixed his gaze on the boy, holding him in place through will alone. "Fail or betray me and I will hunt you down and deliver you to Vyrhel's cold embrace."

The boy's eyes widened so much they looked about to fall out.

"Off with you," Loke said, clapping him on the back and turning back to the dancers.

 

[Ireth]

Rikhard ended the dance with one last cry of "Hoi!" and his arms in the air. He grinned at Addy and Chrisiana as he lowered them. "And that is a sailor's hornpipe. Good exercise, isn't it?" He couldn't remember the last time he'd enjoyed himself like this. Probably not since his mother had been alive. She'd been the one to teach him, after all.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Addison had enjoyed herself as well, but when the band played something slower, she was more than happy to dance to steps she knew. This dance did need a partner, and the world of dancing was like the world of fashion. Who wears what and do dances with who mattered to the world, and Addison was fine with it. It was only the matter of love where Addison paid no mind to traditional roles.

The dance had begun while Addison was lost in her thoughts. She turned to Rikhard.

"I know the steps," she said to him, "but ye need to ask me."

 

[Ireth]

Rikhard nodded, smiling at her, and held out a hand. "Will you dance with me?"

He followed her lead, trying to keep his eyes away from his feet.

 

[Nimue]

Farrun, disbelieving, followed the Dunwoman with his eyes as she dipped and spun. Her cheeks were flushed; he wondered if she remembered it as clearly as he did. Gods, that was a night, a good victory, and the spoils of the elf lord's kitchen and cellar rolled out into the field beyond the walls. There had been dancing and ale then, too, but the air was wholly different, charged with joy and grief and the blood-burning passion of battle. Lit with bonfires instead of lanterns, the banner of Ysgard flying over the walls for the first time in two hundred years.

The dance came to an end, and at once the fiddlers and pipers struck up with a quick and jaunty tune. Farrun lost sight of that familiar face in the change of places, but that was likely for the best. She'd be embarrassed to see him again, and probably well-married by now. Looking across the circle, he saw to his surprise that Rikhard was a part of this dance, and was going at it with gusto and quick feet. Farrun laughed aloud, and joined in clapping to the beat with the other onlookers. It was good to see Rikhard enjoying himself, and casting aside his self-consciousness. Good indeed. Addison was across the circle as well, standing out like a painted Caernish stone in her fine, odd clothing. He caught sight of Troia and Einan too, breathless from dancing, Troia with her hair let down and wearing a pretty doeskin dress. Aye, this was a night that they deserved to have. Let them know that duty was not always a strict mistress--a lesson he'd do well to learn, himself.

He was thinking of looking for another pint of ale to keep that good-feeling going when a voice spoke up, very close to him.

"I think I know you, sir."

Farrun turned, half-expecting and dreading someone pointing him out as The Dragonrider, and looked down into the same lovely face that had caught his eye before.

The years of peace had been kind to her, rounded her cheekbones, deepened the dimple beside her smile. And a little age had given her the look of a woman who knew what she was about. She was much shorter than him, but her gaze pierced him straight through. Like most Dun in the east, she looked to have a good deal of Folk blood: her skin was fawn-brown, her eyes amber-hazel. And her hair was velvety-dark, wrapped back into a thick braided skein of curls and held by green and white ribbons.

"I think I know you too, madam," he said slowly, marveling. When she only smiled back at him, he said, "I'm sorry, but I can't remember your name."

"I don't believe I ever told it to you," she replied.

And he had not told her his. "Well," Farrun said, and knew that he was coloring, as the blood was also rising in her cheeks. The hornpipe ended with a shout that saved him from speaking, and when the music began again, it was in a slower, more courtly tempo.

"Can you dance this one?" she asked him, tilting her head.

"Of course." It was the handfast-walk or the round-and-bow, at any rate one of the simpler high dances, and he'd done too many of them at royal court gatherings. "I've some manners in me." He held out one arm.

"Fine thing in a soldier," she said, smiling, and wound her arm through his.

They walked out, and the dance began. He thought to say something at first, since they were more than close enough to speak, but most of the other pairs were silent, and there was something fine about just moving together, his hand around her waist, her hand clasping his. It had been a while since he'd touched a woman like this, not just courteously but gently, with meaning. And aye, she kept on drawing closer to him than she needed to. He lost track of the crowd for a while, stepping with the music and watching her, the swinging of her hair and the fanning of her skirts. She had a fine, lush figure, bound up in a good dress, rich cloth in blue and green.

She caught him looking, gazing up through her lashes, very deliberately. "You do know the dance," she murmured to him. "Aye," Farrun said. Moments like this, he reflected, in the lantern-light and sweet music of the fair, words weren't of much importance.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Addison curtsied before accepting. As she made the gesture, she thought of how she hated dancing at all those fashion events… though she did derive quite a bit of pleasure hogtying a dance partner with her sash after his hand fell too low for the second time. Then he believed I was a real Huntress and not a model dressed as one.

Rikhard wasn't like those jerks. Addison could never love a man, but she could understand what a girl would see in Rikhard. "Eyes on mine," Addison said when Rikhard was too focused on his step. "Ye dance better than I do, so no need to watch yer step."

Once the moves repeated for the third time, Addison thought Rikhard was the best male dancer out there. The best dancer was a cute blonde thing. Maybe Rikhard noticed her too.

At the end of the dance, Addison stood close—so close that she was self-conscious about her pastry breath—but she whispered anyway, "You're a perfect gennelman, Rikhard. Ye find a lady ye like, ask her to dance. I won't be accepting anymore dances with men tonight." A look from another man suggested Addison's tone was louder than whispers are supposed to be. She told the man, "He's a tough act to follow."

Addison wondered if the looks she was getting had more to do with her forgetting to remove her woad paint when she changed outfits. Ah, shit. Blue with green and gold and me bright red hair. I'm damn near a rainbow o' clashed colors. Or perhaps Ainsley would approve.

 

[Ireth]

Rikhard inclined an ear toward Addy's whisper, and smiled slightly. "Maybe." He wasn't exactly looking for romance, but dancing for its own sake was fun.

He looked all around them, drinking in the festive atmosphere -- so unlike anything he knew from his former life. Holidays and celebrations had always been cheerful but quiet, when it was just him and his mother. The Captain had never done much for celebration, save for Rhunon's holy day and the anniversary of each crewman's induction. And the latter especially were not things to look forward to.

 

[Gryphos]

"Let me ask you something, my fine fellow." Bendalitz, having approached a stranger, rocked back on forth on his feet. "What is the point of dancing?"

The gentleman turned his head to Bendalitz. "Come again?" His voice was friendlier than that of the patriot in the inn, so Bendalitz decided it would be okay to continue.

"Why do people dance?" he said again. "It serves no practical purpose, and yet every culture does it, or at least every culture I know of – and to be honest I wouldn't want to go somewhere where they didn't dance – but don't you think it's strange?"

"I guess I've never really thought about it."

"In which case I've enlightened you! Always nice when I make someone think. Thinking is the spice of life – one of them, anyway. I imagine there are so many spices. In fact," Bendalitz tapped the heel of his boot to the rhythm of the song, "dancing is one of those spices."

The gentleman's mouth hung ajar for a second. "Are you alright?"

"Good question," said Bendalitz. "Perhaps none of us are truly alright. There's always something ailing us. Bad memories, bittersweet memories, the threat of our love coming crumbling down." Bendalitz's expression dropped back to its usual, non-alcoholically enhanced state, lined with pensivity and the weighed down by the world he knew. "I suppose none of us can ever be alright until ours is an ideal world." In an instant his goofy smile reappeared and he clapped the man on the shoulder. "Bah! Who needs those kinds of worries at a time like this? Go, my man, go have a wonderful day. Go convince yourself you're alright. Hey, maybe that's what dancing is for!"

The man gave an awkward nod and departed, and again Bendalitz was left watching the dancers with an expression one might say was full of longing.

"Why do people dance?" he muttered. He thought for a good dozen seconds before he came to his conclusion. "Because it's fun."

In that moment everything became so clear. He clapped his hands together, brushed his boots against the ground, and charged. He dashed partnerless into the crowds of dancers and made for the entire of the square, where he skidded to a stop and threw caution to the wind.

Bendalitz himself would struggle to define or describe the dance he performed. Needless to say it wasn't professionally choreographed, and anyone seeking to copy his moves would be technically insane. He waved his arms around him like a frightened octopus, with all the grace of a soggy brick. His legs bucked to and fro, his long coat fanned out around him as he span, and the long braids of his hair whipped his face like twigs on a forest road.

But even in this frenzied state his mind was active and thinking rationally. He came to a new conclusion as the first people around him started laughing. Why do we dance? To look like bloody idiots.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Addison was about to respond to Rikhard, but Bendalitz's moves kept her speechless. She smiled, but did not laugh. There were many dances at the galas. Galas. How she hated that word. Many rich idiots would dance as clumsily as Bendalitz, and Addison knew better than to laugh at the men who funded her hunts. But it didn't take the same amount of effort to stifle Addison's laughter now. Addison may have been the only person in the crowd who could see Bendalitz make an ass of himself and respect him more for it.

She turned to Rikhard. "What d'ye mean maybe? Ye best ask Chrisania to dance before the competition does."

 

[Ireth]

Rikhard couldn't help but stare as Bendalitz dashed into the crowd and started up an impromptu dance of his own. He looked back at Addy when she addressed him, and shrugged. He might as well give her the option.

"What do you say, Chrisiana? Shall we dance?"

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

As Rikhard approached Chrisania, Addison decided Bendalitz could use some company. In his current state, Addison was more inclined than usual to be that company. She helped herself to two more pastries—reminding the baker she and her friends had yet to consume the ten she'd paid for. She offered one to Bendalitz. "Dough thing?" she asked, having no idea what the pastry was actually called since the sign on the booth just said pastry.

Addison made an abrupt shift in topic to that of Bendalitz's dance, as if whether he accepted or declined her offer of a snack was inconsequential.

"What ye did out there, it was lovely." Her tone was sincere because Addison was sincere. "I don't mean the dance itself, I mean seeing a side o' ye I ain't yet seen. Normally I don't recommend the drink, but it suits ye." With a hint of concern, she added, "I do think it'll take more than a couple o' nameless pastries to keep ye vertical."

 

[AkamaruGames]

A warm smile spread across Chrisania's lips as she was asked to dance. Though she was well accustomed to dancing, it was rarely so formal that a partner would ask another to join. It was usually just a matter of feeling the music and letting it take you where it will, and in that, it seemed that Bendalitz had thoroughly thrown himself. Giving an over-dramatic curtsy, Chrisania offered her hand and joined Rikhard in the dance.

Unlike Bendalitz, Chrisania had no questions as to why people would dance. It is the same reason that a peacock fluffs his feathers into a mighty plumage. It is the same reason wolves challenge the alpha of a pack to battle. It is the same reason flowers smell sweet and are bright in color. The reason for dance is attention. To feel the eyes of potential mates upon you and know that they desire you, whether you choose to pursue it or not. The need to be desired is a basic need in all living things and without it, all life would perish.

Suddenly feeling a tad impish, Chrisania locked eyes on her dance partner. Her gaze was hot and more than a little mischievous. She pulled Rikhard close and began to lose herself in the dance, allowing her body to flow with the music as her mind concentrated on the feelings of the crowd as she had done for many performances in the past. Building on the existing feelings of mirth, merriment and lust, she subtly intensified them. It was not so strong that an outside influence would be noticed, but enough to put a little extra pep into everyone's step.

The music felt a little more intense, the laughter of the crowd a little louder and the blushes on everyone's cheeks just a little hotter and redder. Chrisania laughed to herself over her little bit of secret mischief as she happily danced with her partner. Leaning close so as to be heard over the crowd, she asked him, "Rikhard is having good time?"

 

[Ireth]

Rikhard blinked as Chrisiana pulled him closer, and bit his lip as she leaned in to whisper to him. He recognized the glint of lust in her eye, though he'd never seen it before in a woman looking at him; it sent a shudder of revulsion through him. Well, he had been having a good time. He quickly looked away and did not answer. Maybe it was time to finish dancing.

 

[AkamaruGames]

Somewhat hurt by the reaction, as it was not one that she had ever encountered before, Chrisania gave a mild frown. Unfortunately, the change in her mood also had the unintended consequence of transferring through the spell and into the crowd. Suddenly the feelings of happiness, lust and celebration were replaced by those of disappointment, anger and just a taste of spite. As arguments suddenly broke out between couples in the crowd over various complaints in their daily lives, Chrisania quickly said, "Forgive me, I must go," before removing herself from the dance area. She didn't want to ruin the festival, but she knew that she needed to get a hold on her emotions, at least until the spell wore off. Partially under the effects of the spell herself, this would be no easy task.

Without further word, she disappeared into a secluded alley. Once alone, she took a few deep breaths trying to purge the negative feelings from her heart. She cursed to herself as she thought, Using magic in public always seems to end up badly, doesn't it? None of this was helping, of course.

 

[Ireth]

Rikhard sighed and started to edge his way out of the crowd, wondering whether returning to he inn would be best. After a moment he looked around for Addy. Would she stay with him, or did she had other plans in mind?

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Addison had been using magic much longer than the two weeks she'd been training at it, which made her a quick study. Her lessons on magic defense suddenly popped into her mind. Defense was intuitive. If you felt the unwanted touch of magic, you countered it with its antithesis. It was just a matter of being in control of magic enough that such was possible.

But why am I thinking about that now? And why is everyone being an asshole?

Addison wanted to shout out to the crowd and ask why they were being such assholes, but she was dressed much too elegantly for such talk. She countered the negativity of the crowd with positive feelings. Her dance with Rikhard, Bendalitz's dance, Einan and Troia in the lovely deerskin and turquoise design that was so two years ago, but then Addy's designs were ahead of their time… or were they behind the time in a retro sort of way, but a good retro… or were they running parallel with her own time without actually being a part of it, making them timeless? Addison turned to Bendalitz, whose mood was impossible to read with all the fuss about, but Addy assumed him still in good cheer as she told him, "I never did understand the fashion world. I just kill big animals and make pretty things of 'em. I feel pretty, and all these miserable dicks ain't taking that from me!"

And so they didn't. Without knowing it, Addison had deflected the negative magic around her. Dogs were fighting, birds were shitting on arguing couples, trained rodents were rattling their cages—and some got out—but Addison didn't know that either, nor did she know her part in it.