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rainbowfic2024-07-14 09:04 pm
thisbluespirit) wrote in rainbowfic2024-07-14 09:04 pm
Light Black #30; Vert #30 [Starfall]
Name: Dance With Me
Story: Starfall
Colors: Light Black #30 (stop); Vert #30 (Stronger together than we are apart)
Supplies and Styles: Giftwrap + Novelty Beads (via April Food Challenge: this image)
Word Count: 1946
Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Notes: Portcallan, 1313; Viyony Eseray, Leion Valerno, Kadia Barra, Ivina Gerro, Tessine Hyan. Takes place a short while after Full Circle.
Summary: Enough is enough.
Viyony hadn't been inside High Chamber Hall since the day Leion had taken her to meet the High Governor. That had been three weeks ago. Tonight it was crowded with party-goers and decked out in flowers and greenery, both inside the hall and outside in the square. Portcallan was celebrating the Southern Spring Festival. Viyony wished it wouldn't. She had hardly spoken to Leion since that last meeting here, or at least, not civilly, and without him these occasions lost more of their appeal than she wanted to admit.
Her cousin Ivina kept a light hand on Viyony's arm, guiding her through the mass of Portcallan's great and good in spring-shaded colours—white, pink, yellow, peach, lavender and pale green predominated. Petals fell from blossoms they were wearing on their clothes or in their hair as well as from those strung about the Hall. They walked up four shallow steps onto a higher section of the hall, and once there, leant on the polished bronze railings, observing the dancing below.
"We should have stayed outside," said Ivina, wrinkling her nose as someone elbowed her. "The crowd in here is even worse than usual."
Viyony scanned the dancers, looking for familiar faces. "Yes," she murmured absently.
Someone below pushed their way over and stopped in front of them, putting one hand on the vertical bar of the railings. "Viyony!" Tessine Hyan called. She waved wildly at Viyony, her hair already coming loose from its pins and combs.
Viyony laughed. "Hello, Tess."
Tess performed an awkward manoeuvre, slipping through the gap in the railings to pull herself up beside Viyony. She stretched over and patted her hand. "You'll dance with me, won't you?"
"In a moment. I have someone I must speak to first," said Viyony. She caught sight, as she spoke, of Leion Valerno, dancing with a stranger, and swallowed.
"Have you seen Eollan?"
Viyony shook her head.
"Oh," said Tess. "Well. I shouldn't be surprised. He hates these formal High Council parties. Only comes if he can't get out of them."
Viyony nodded, still following Leion's progress in the dance. She shook herself and looked away—and caught the eye of Kadia Barra, standing opposite across the hall. Kadia raised her head and smiled, before turning away.
"Are you listening to me?" said Tess in Viyony's ear.
"I don't think I am," Viyony confessed. "Sorry."
The music died away and the dancers came to a halt with varying degrees of flourish. Viyony forced her way back around to the stairs and down to the centre of the hall, Tess trailing behind. She had to catch Leion before he started the next set.
"Imai Eseray," said Leion as she approached him. "I have an address for you—someone who can help you when it comes to finding a suitable warehouse." He pulled out a piece of paper, holding it up in front of her face. "I keep my word."
It was far too hot in here—too busy, too rowdy. The musicians struck up a new piece, and Leion had to shout the last sentence at her. Tess, close by, rolled her eyes, and ran off to find a more willing partner before she missed another opportunity to join in the dancing.
Leion didn't mean it when he looked at Viyony like that. It was only the agreement they'd made. They needed to ensure Kadia Barra didn't think she had to do anything worse to try and remove Viyony from Leion's orbit—and it was much safer all round to put an end to their friendship before it deepened into something more dangerous. Viyony could not afford to lose her heart.
"Think what you like," she snapped, snatching the paper from him.
"I usually do." He winked at her.
Viyony responded with a cool, brief nod and marched away, holding her skirt up. She was wearing the same white dress she'd worn to a few formal affairs already, made over and adorned with tiny blue fabric flowers she'd bought in the Aiamance Arcade that week. She focused solely on getting away from him without betraying emotion. She tucked a wayward flower behind her ear, and then found herself at the opposite side of the hall, away from Ivina, the dance floor, and anywhere she'd intended to be. She gave a minute shrug, and folded the contract's address over, tucking it away inside her dress for safekeeping.
When she straightened up, she met Kadia's eye for a second time, standing straight in front of her during a pause in the movements of the dance, before she was whisked away, her face hidden against her partner's arm, but Viyony could tell even from here that she was smiling.
Something inside Viyony boiled and then snapped. She drew upright and then marched back through the crowd, heedless of brushing up against warm bodies in silks and satins or catching herself on carelessly attached trailing leaves and flowers, ignoring the stares people gave her.
Leion, as she reached him, was on the point of heading up the steps, but she tugged on his sleeve, letting go as he swung around. He raised his eyebrows. "What now?"
"Enough," she said, remaining on the floor, two steps beneath him. She gave a crooked smile as she held his gaze and stuck out her hand. "Dance with me!"
One eyebrow rose higher still. His mouth twitched. He took the last two steps down to join her, and clasped her outstretched hand in his own. "Oh, of course. Anything you say—as usual."
Leion led her into the nearest set, standing next to her, hands lowered between them, fingers touching. The music started up immediately and any explanation had to wait while Viyony floundered, unsure what dance it was supposed to be. She watched Leion closely for her lead, following his steps until she'd figured it out. There was a distinctly amused gleam in his eyes as he steered her through it.
Once they had repeated the full set of steps and she had her bearings, she looked up at Leion as he turned with her, one hand lightly on her side.
He murmured, heads briefly close together, "Change of plan?"
"Stupid plan," said Viyony before the dance stole them away from each other again.
Leion laughed. Viyony gave herself up to minding the steps with a lighter heart than she'd had for weeks; parting from him and returning to the dictates of the music. For a few minutes, the whole world seemed to fit into rightness of its pattern and make new sense.
It was only as they walked away, hand in hand, that the reality of what she might have done fell back in on her. "Oh, dear," she said, pulling down her mouth.
"No, no," said Leion, "you weren't that bad, I promise. You got the hang of it before the end."
She shook her head, and tried not to look around them. She should have found a more discreet way to end their supposed estrangement. Kadia would have worked it out sooner or later, but there was no need to have done this right in front of her.
Leion ushered Viyony outside. He always seemed to find it easy to navigate a crowd. They emerged into Chamber Square with hardly any jostling or being caught by anybody's elaborate outfits. It was, Viyony concluded, one of the most annoying things about him.
Out in the unseasonably chilly evening air and away from the crush inside, Viyony leant back against the building's wall and breathed again. "I'm so sorry," she said, after a few moments. "I don't know what came over me."
"You had been deprived of my company for nearly three weeks. Who could blame you?"
"You don't get any more modest, do you?"
"What do you expect to happen when you're not around to keep me in check?" he said. " As you said—stupid plan."
Viyony pressed a hand to her face. "Oh, dear, yes. Worst plan I've ever had."
"No," he said, falling serious. "Not by several hundredlengths. Anyway, it didn't work. Nobody crawled out of the woodwork and attacked you. And if we'd carried on refusing to speak to each other any longer, we'd have started a genuine feud between our families. I'm beginning to think all your plans may be terrible."
Viyony lowered her head. The cold in the air hurt her chest. "It is possible."
"Well, I suppose it keeps life interesting." He smiled, and then poked her arm. "Now, come home with me."
Her heart stuttered as her mind blanked. How had they jumped so casually to this? "H-home? With you?"
"Where else?" he said. "Arna is kitten-sitting for me tonight with Leily and Nin, and I would be eternally grateful if you'd speak to them. Will you? They saw us outside the theatre the other day and, let me tell you, getting lectured by your niblings is not an experience I recommend."
Viyony sagged in relief, and had to bite back a laugh. "Well, you were horrible that day."
"I'm sorry," he said. "Truly. Now, will you? I'll see you home again after—or back here, if you'd prefer. It is rather early, I suppose."
Viyony caught Leion by the arm, and by way of answer, pulled them on towards the paved path that led to the western gate out of Chamber Square. Pink petals, both paper and real, drifted past them as the breeze shook the flowers strung across the square. "I'd love to see them again. This -" she waved her free hand towards the lights of the main hall - "is too crowded for my liking."
"Good," he said, but he stopped suddenly, and gently detached her hand when she tried to tug him onwards.
"What is it?" Viyony turned.
"I don't know about you, but I'd like to collect my coat— and we should tell Ivina where you are. Ket too, while we're at it—I promised her a dance. But if you want to run away coatless into the night and let them all speculate wildly, I'm happy to oblige. By the by, you seem to be shedding flowers."
Viyony gave a small exclamation and bent over to pick out a spray of delicate fabric flowers that had come unravelled during the dance and was now hanging down her skirt. She pulled it up and tucked it in behind another. "There." She glanced back at the domed hall, forehead wrinkling. "I wish—oh, I suppose it doesn't matter." She bit her lip.
"What?"
"That I had waited to catch you later—quietly—not made such an exhibition of myself. Do you think Kadia might try and do something worse?"
"Than trying to frame you for theft, possibly even treason? If she did that."
Viyony followed him back into the light and warmth of the hall, both blazing after the interlude outside. She nodded. "Well, that is one of the main things we were trying to avoid with this ridiculous pretence."
"She won't," he said, lowering his tone as they neared the open side doors. "She's—a piece of work, but if that really was her doing, that's as bad as it'll get. Trust me, I used to go to school with her."
"Leion," she said, as they fought their way back into the crowd at the entrance, "even if you don't believe me, be careful!"
The low roar of everyone's chatter and the music swallowed up her warning. Not that Leion would have listened anyway. He did not believe in Kadia Barra as a threat. Portcallan, every bit as heedless, only rained more petals down on her head.
Story: Starfall
Colors: Light Black #30 (stop); Vert #30 (Stronger together than we are apart)
Supplies and Styles: Giftwrap + Novelty Beads (via April Food Challenge: this image)
Word Count: 1946
Rating: PG
Warnings: None.
Notes: Portcallan, 1313; Viyony Eseray, Leion Valerno, Kadia Barra, Ivina Gerro, Tessine Hyan. Takes place a short while after Full Circle.
Summary: Enough is enough.
Viyony hadn't been inside High Chamber Hall since the day Leion had taken her to meet the High Governor. That had been three weeks ago. Tonight it was crowded with party-goers and decked out in flowers and greenery, both inside the hall and outside in the square. Portcallan was celebrating the Southern Spring Festival. Viyony wished it wouldn't. She had hardly spoken to Leion since that last meeting here, or at least, not civilly, and without him these occasions lost more of their appeal than she wanted to admit.
Her cousin Ivina kept a light hand on Viyony's arm, guiding her through the mass of Portcallan's great and good in spring-shaded colours—white, pink, yellow, peach, lavender and pale green predominated. Petals fell from blossoms they were wearing on their clothes or in their hair as well as from those strung about the Hall. They walked up four shallow steps onto a higher section of the hall, and once there, leant on the polished bronze railings, observing the dancing below.
"We should have stayed outside," said Ivina, wrinkling her nose as someone elbowed her. "The crowd in here is even worse than usual."
Viyony scanned the dancers, looking for familiar faces. "Yes," she murmured absently.
Someone below pushed their way over and stopped in front of them, putting one hand on the vertical bar of the railings. "Viyony!" Tessine Hyan called. She waved wildly at Viyony, her hair already coming loose from its pins and combs.
Viyony laughed. "Hello, Tess."
Tess performed an awkward manoeuvre, slipping through the gap in the railings to pull herself up beside Viyony. She stretched over and patted her hand. "You'll dance with me, won't you?"
"In a moment. I have someone I must speak to first," said Viyony. She caught sight, as she spoke, of Leion Valerno, dancing with a stranger, and swallowed.
"Have you seen Eollan?"
Viyony shook her head.
"Oh," said Tess. "Well. I shouldn't be surprised. He hates these formal High Council parties. Only comes if he can't get out of them."
Viyony nodded, still following Leion's progress in the dance. She shook herself and looked away—and caught the eye of Kadia Barra, standing opposite across the hall. Kadia raised her head and smiled, before turning away.
"Are you listening to me?" said Tess in Viyony's ear.
"I don't think I am," Viyony confessed. "Sorry."
The music died away and the dancers came to a halt with varying degrees of flourish. Viyony forced her way back around to the stairs and down to the centre of the hall, Tess trailing behind. She had to catch Leion before he started the next set.
"Imai Eseray," said Leion as she approached him. "I have an address for you—someone who can help you when it comes to finding a suitable warehouse." He pulled out a piece of paper, holding it up in front of her face. "I keep my word."
It was far too hot in here—too busy, too rowdy. The musicians struck up a new piece, and Leion had to shout the last sentence at her. Tess, close by, rolled her eyes, and ran off to find a more willing partner before she missed another opportunity to join in the dancing.
Leion didn't mean it when he looked at Viyony like that. It was only the agreement they'd made. They needed to ensure Kadia Barra didn't think she had to do anything worse to try and remove Viyony from Leion's orbit—and it was much safer all round to put an end to their friendship before it deepened into something more dangerous. Viyony could not afford to lose her heart.
"Think what you like," she snapped, snatching the paper from him.
"I usually do." He winked at her.
Viyony responded with a cool, brief nod and marched away, holding her skirt up. She was wearing the same white dress she'd worn to a few formal affairs already, made over and adorned with tiny blue fabric flowers she'd bought in the Aiamance Arcade that week. She focused solely on getting away from him without betraying emotion. She tucked a wayward flower behind her ear, and then found herself at the opposite side of the hall, away from Ivina, the dance floor, and anywhere she'd intended to be. She gave a minute shrug, and folded the contract's address over, tucking it away inside her dress for safekeeping.
When she straightened up, she met Kadia's eye for a second time, standing straight in front of her during a pause in the movements of the dance, before she was whisked away, her face hidden against her partner's arm, but Viyony could tell even from here that she was smiling.
Something inside Viyony boiled and then snapped. She drew upright and then marched back through the crowd, heedless of brushing up against warm bodies in silks and satins or catching herself on carelessly attached trailing leaves and flowers, ignoring the stares people gave her.
Leion, as she reached him, was on the point of heading up the steps, but she tugged on his sleeve, letting go as he swung around. He raised his eyebrows. "What now?"
"Enough," she said, remaining on the floor, two steps beneath him. She gave a crooked smile as she held his gaze and stuck out her hand. "Dance with me!"
One eyebrow rose higher still. His mouth twitched. He took the last two steps down to join her, and clasped her outstretched hand in his own. "Oh, of course. Anything you say—as usual."
Leion led her into the nearest set, standing next to her, hands lowered between them, fingers touching. The music started up immediately and any explanation had to wait while Viyony floundered, unsure what dance it was supposed to be. She watched Leion closely for her lead, following his steps until she'd figured it out. There was a distinctly amused gleam in his eyes as he steered her through it.
Once they had repeated the full set of steps and she had her bearings, she looked up at Leion as he turned with her, one hand lightly on her side.
He murmured, heads briefly close together, "Change of plan?"
"Stupid plan," said Viyony before the dance stole them away from each other again.
Leion laughed. Viyony gave herself up to minding the steps with a lighter heart than she'd had for weeks; parting from him and returning to the dictates of the music. For a few minutes, the whole world seemed to fit into rightness of its pattern and make new sense.
It was only as they walked away, hand in hand, that the reality of what she might have done fell back in on her. "Oh, dear," she said, pulling down her mouth.
"No, no," said Leion, "you weren't that bad, I promise. You got the hang of it before the end."
She shook her head, and tried not to look around them. She should have found a more discreet way to end their supposed estrangement. Kadia would have worked it out sooner or later, but there was no need to have done this right in front of her.
Leion ushered Viyony outside. He always seemed to find it easy to navigate a crowd. They emerged into Chamber Square with hardly any jostling or being caught by anybody's elaborate outfits. It was, Viyony concluded, one of the most annoying things about him.
Out in the unseasonably chilly evening air and away from the crush inside, Viyony leant back against the building's wall and breathed again. "I'm so sorry," she said, after a few moments. "I don't know what came over me."
"You had been deprived of my company for nearly three weeks. Who could blame you?"
"You don't get any more modest, do you?"
"What do you expect to happen when you're not around to keep me in check?" he said. " As you said—stupid plan."
Viyony pressed a hand to her face. "Oh, dear, yes. Worst plan I've ever had."
"No," he said, falling serious. "Not by several hundredlengths. Anyway, it didn't work. Nobody crawled out of the woodwork and attacked you. And if we'd carried on refusing to speak to each other any longer, we'd have started a genuine feud between our families. I'm beginning to think all your plans may be terrible."
Viyony lowered her head. The cold in the air hurt her chest. "It is possible."
"Well, I suppose it keeps life interesting." He smiled, and then poked her arm. "Now, come home with me."
Her heart stuttered as her mind blanked. How had they jumped so casually to this? "H-home? With you?"
"Where else?" he said. "Arna is kitten-sitting for me tonight with Leily and Nin, and I would be eternally grateful if you'd speak to them. Will you? They saw us outside the theatre the other day and, let me tell you, getting lectured by your niblings is not an experience I recommend."
Viyony sagged in relief, and had to bite back a laugh. "Well, you were horrible that day."
"I'm sorry," he said. "Truly. Now, will you? I'll see you home again after—or back here, if you'd prefer. It is rather early, I suppose."
Viyony caught Leion by the arm, and by way of answer, pulled them on towards the paved path that led to the western gate out of Chamber Square. Pink petals, both paper and real, drifted past them as the breeze shook the flowers strung across the square. "I'd love to see them again. This -" she waved her free hand towards the lights of the main hall - "is too crowded for my liking."
"Good," he said, but he stopped suddenly, and gently detached her hand when she tried to tug him onwards.
"What is it?" Viyony turned.
"I don't know about you, but I'd like to collect my coat— and we should tell Ivina where you are. Ket too, while we're at it—I promised her a dance. But if you want to run away coatless into the night and let them all speculate wildly, I'm happy to oblige. By the by, you seem to be shedding flowers."
Viyony gave a small exclamation and bent over to pick out a spray of delicate fabric flowers that had come unravelled during the dance and was now hanging down her skirt. She pulled it up and tucked it in behind another. "There." She glanced back at the domed hall, forehead wrinkling. "I wish—oh, I suppose it doesn't matter." She bit her lip.
"What?"
"That I had waited to catch you later—quietly—not made such an exhibition of myself. Do you think Kadia might try and do something worse?"
"Than trying to frame you for theft, possibly even treason? If she did that."
Viyony followed him back into the light and warmth of the hall, both blazing after the interlude outside. She nodded. "Well, that is one of the main things we were trying to avoid with this ridiculous pretence."
"She won't," he said, lowering his tone as they neared the open side doors. "She's—a piece of work, but if that really was her doing, that's as bad as it'll get. Trust me, I used to go to school with her."
"Leion," she said, as they fought their way back into the crowd at the entrance, "even if you don't believe me, be careful!"
The low roar of everyone's chatter and the music swallowed up her warning. Not that Leion would have listened anyway. He did not believe in Kadia Barra as a threat. Portcallan, every bit as heedless, only rained more petals down on her head.
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"You had been deprived of my company for nearly three weeks. Who could blame you?"
"You don't get any more modest, do you?"
"What do you expect to happen when you're not around to keep me in check?" he said.
Well, all of that is adorable.
Not that Leion would have listened anyway. He did not believe in Kadia Barra as a threat. Portcallan, every bit as heedless, only rained more petals down on her head.
That's ominous, of course, but beautifully observed.
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I like this! So ominous!
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