“Am I doing this right?” Xennet said, sidling up to us. He began kicking madly. Shiloh, Tasha, and I danced out of his way.
“That’s some fancy footwork, Xennet!” I called over the music. “But maybe you could focus on keeping your feet on the ground. Like Dorn!”
Although, Dorn wasn’t exactly the best example of dancing I could have given to Xennet. He was doing this kind of swaying, bouncing motion, with his fists raised in front of his chest for some reason, like a boxer.
“Dorn’s style of dancing is too restrained for my tastes,” Xennet said, spreading his arms wide and doing a big sashay across the floor. “How about this?” He crouched down, then jumped impressively high with his arms aimed straight up. Almost like he was diving into water, but upside down and into the air instead.
“I like that move,” I told him, shimmying to the beat and tossing my hair. “Keep doing that one.”
With any luck, all that leaping about would tire him out.
Thrilled by my praise, Xennet continued his crouch-jump routine with a big smile on his pale green face. To spice things up, he added the occasional spin on his knees, flourishing his tail like a dancing ribbon. Dorn just continued on in his oddly lumbering fashion, fists clenched, bending his knees and straightening them over and over. Occasionally, he let out a grunt of effort, though his movements really weren’t very demanding. I finally figured out that they were gruff sounds of concentration, not physical exertion. He seemed to be trying very hard to keep to some kind of rhythm that matched the song. His pal Xennet had no issues in that arena. He was surprisinglymusical, managing to wrangle his chaotic energy in such a way that it hit all the big beats.
Warden Tenn and Rivven didn’t dance, preferring to stay by the bar.
Warden Hallum, apparently, preferred to stay all by himself by the door. He stood stationed there, a sentinel who seemed to have assigned himself the duty of guarding my ugly pants. As if anybody in their right mind would ever be tempted to steal them.
Although, if he was meant to be guarding the clothes, he wasn’t doing the best job of it. He wasn’t looking at our piled stuff on the chair.
He was only looking at me.
Without even being consciously aware of it, my movements slowed, became more sultry. I rolled my hips, running my hands down the sides of my body, emphasizing my curves. Whenever I twirled his direction, I shot him a glance from beneath my eyelashes. His eyes never left me. His jaw was tense as stone, his spine erect, his hands held tightly behind his back.
I danced until my feet ached. And then, I took off my boots and danced some more. I didn’t stop until my legs were numb and my hair was sticking to my neck with sweat. When my knees felt like they might give out from fatigue, I returned to the bar.
“Drink, please!” I said between panting breaths. Rivven handed me another one of those delightfully sweet concoctions. Completely parched, I forgot Shiloh’s advice about sipping it until most of it was gone.
Oops.
Hoping to stave off a bout of true drunkenness, I nabbed some fruit and cheese from the platters and asked Rivven for some water. When he put it down in front of me, he asked me how I was enjoying the dance so far.
“It’s been great! Although that guy is a bit of a party pooper.” I tipped my head towards the door where Warden Hallum loomed.
“A party…what?”
“A stick in the mud.”
“The warden is a stick?”
“Just not the party type, I guess. I told him he didn’t need to stay, but he insisted. Do you think he’ll dance at all?”
“Perhaps if you ask him to,” Rivven suggested. “But I am not sure. He is a very serious man. He makes a very good warden.”
“Indeed he does.”
That new serving of alcohol was winding its way through my system. Loose and tipsy, I leaned forward over the bar, putting my weight on my elbows.
“What’s his deal?” I asked Rivven. “About becoming a warden, I mean. All I got out of him was that he’d come here with a child.” I gasped. “Oh my goodness! Was it you?”
“Me?” Rivven blinked his blue eyes. “No.”
“Oh.”
Rats. I was hoping to get a little more intel on the subject.
“He came here with Xennet.”
“Xennet?” I twisted in my seat to find Xennet doing a dance move that involved spinning his own tail over his head like a lasso. He also, inexplicably, appeared to be yodelling.
