Clapping, whistles and cheers erupted and Fjalda pushed to the front of the crowd, with Viktor's uncle, Reynar, close behind, both of them beaming from ear-to-ear. A hulking man with a lion-like mane of hair, Reynar was known in town as the owner of the sparring and fencing house. Since I could walk, he's taught me every fighting style imaginable. You never know what you might need to do until you've got your back against a wall. His favorite saying.
Hell, he's taught all of us.
"Boy, you never cease to amaze me," Reynar laughed, glancing down at Viktor's belt and wincing. "Particularly with how careless you are with your blade." "Well I'm not exactly in danger of being attacked here, am I?" Viktor said, through a chuckle. "You never know, you never know." Reynar shook his head, his eyes darkening a bit before a smile returned to his face. "Anyway, you sound perfect together, a true pride for this town for many years to come I'm sure," to which Kellen bowed, Marialena grinned, and Enialis inclined his head. As his uncle passed back into the crowd, Fjalda moved towards him and hugged him. "I know exactly what that was and it's the best thing I've ever heard. You put it to song and on carnival day no less," she buried her head in his shoulder, then brought it back up, "the same day that we moved here all those years ago." If we could just stay like that...229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZaa7tpF2i
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"I had to do it," Viktor found that his hand was on her shoulder and pulled it back jerkily, though she merely smirked. I don't even know what I'm doing. Every second I spend with her, especially in the last year, she leaves me spinning.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNKHjnCNFmN
"Vik," He all-but jumped out of his skin as her voice broke through, catapulting him back into the present moment. With the lights over their heads and her eyes burnished gold in the illumination. As his arms began to go numb once again, he shook them back-and-forth in the air, drawing a side-eyed look from Fjalda as he brushed against her. Every single time I get nervous. I hate this. Why can't I flow through things like Kellen or Enialis? 229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5IcFPQYRkL
"Viktor Kyrgan."
"Sorry, I, well, I'm fine."229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKlcaQ7wmB
"I didn't ask anything yet," she chuckled from deep in her belly. "I know that, I just divined what you meant," he winked. "Ridiculous," rolling her eyes, she put on a frown, though it lasted for all of two beats before the guitars picked up once again and rolled into a rollicking tone. She took his hand and led him into the crowd, which had thinned out to about half of what it was and was arranging itself into couples and trios, all of whom fell into a mixture between a waltz and a swaying motion, which when done together, made all of the groups look like a river flowing from one place to the next. "It's the Last Bend Home, you know what that means." Nodding, he placed one hand on her waist and one outward, which caught hers and served as the lead. Round and round they went, following the other couples around the expanse of the porch, with him falling slightly behind Fjalda's swan-like, effortless movement. Throughout Silverwood, everyone knew Fjalda Hawkspire as the best dancer, at least next to Marialena Elias and Valentina Westenfeld, the latter of whom didn't deign to show up at any events at the inn anymore unless a foreign dignitary or some other important figure was in town. I don't even know if she still lives here. She's the kind to have run off to Actaentum or even the Romyrian peninsula at the first chance she got. 229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92AMHwKw4c
As Kellen led the now trio of musicians into a new, even more, rousing song, Viktor and Fjalda separated and he watched her movements, trying to mirror some of them at first. When at one point, he tripped, she grinned, still bouncing a bit on her feet as she held her shoulders back and her arms high as if imitating a ballet dancer's movement. She always does that, but she's never said where she's learned it from.229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWxTK0UdnX
He tripped again, grimacing and hopping back up to a fully upright position, following her into a sort of jig, with the song behind them showing no signs of slowing. The more they danced, the less he found himself looking at his own feet, and the more he found himself looking at Fjalda. The way she dances. So purely graceful and yet full of life, all at the same time. Everything about her is perfect. The way she lights up when she enjoys something and it shows throughout her, the way her eyes speak even more than she does, the... He felt himself start to color from the inner part of his cheeks outward and raked his hands through his hair, looking down, trying to keep dancing with his legs as he did, though he knew it was inevitable Fjalda would notice his discomfort. "Vik, loosen up. Be here with me," she grabbed one of his hands and he laughed as Marialena started to sing an all-too-familiar song, and Kellen's guitar, as well as Enialis' percussion, followed her. 229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34nU8DaKTp
"Rolling through the pines," she winked at him, tossing her head back with a short laugh, and he couldn't help joining in her joy as they danced into a sort of fencing stance, making a circle around each other, then pausing at measured intervals to rise up and clap with their hands held high.
As the song reached its chorus, he saw her as she was all of those years ago, her red-wine shaded dress splayed out across her knees as she picked burnt-blue Revebelles from the village green. As her hand gripped his even harder, he slipped back into the present time. The entire crowd seemed to stop dancing at once and join in singing in almost perfect unison. "And when we're outside, we give the spark to the night with a certain kind of energy. Rolling through the pines, I admit that it's hard to recall why I ever called myself your enemy." At "enemy," a cheer rose and couples, as well as trios and even groups of four, all-around swung back into all sorts of dances. A few moments later, they found themselves dancing almost on top of their friends in the band, who seemed to have been joined by Eliza, who appeared to be outclassing Kellen with her miniature guitar. 229Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmU8DOBjlh
From somewhere inside the pines ringing the area of the deck, a whistle rang out, answered by another, then another, with footfalls starting through the pine needle-line forest floor, though the festivities drowned all of it out entirely.
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