Fated

IV

Perl lead the lady back to the main hall where all the warmth could be found as that was where the good folk stayed to eat. He was just about frozen in his seat, barely eating before Caia arrived.

As his hand was on the small of her back, they walked south of the room and eventually headed out to the back garden where a campfire was burning brightly. Behind them, the lively people who enjoyed a dance and musicians that were tasked to play followed.

"A dance outside? How bohemian," Caia commented as she eyed the campfire. It looked pretty in the middle of the wide field, the pine trees behind it serving as a background.

"Indeed. It's quite freeing, my lady," Perl replied as he positioned them at a desirable distance from the fire. His tribesmen did the same and waited for the musicians to start playing.

Not missing a beat, the first notes were played by the lead violin. It carried a merry tune that fitted a lively jive that invited anyone to move their feet.

It reminded Caia of the dances carried by the warriors when they've drunk more than they could to celebrate a victory. It was far from elegant but it did lighten up the mood. Unfortunately for her, she rarely participated in such dances, preferring a formal waltz over this so it would be a little challenge for her to dance without stepping on someone's foot.

As everyone moved in a familiar choreography, Caia followed and tried her best to remember the steps. As she was unsure of her movements, which Perl noticed easily, she had moments when she would turn the wrong direction or face the wrong person.

The young general found this amusing and assisted her throughout the dance while still executing the steps gracefully. Some moments when she would falter and fall in his arms, she would blush and the man would laugh while encouraging her to go on. Other times, she stepped on his foot and the general would slightly wince. Caia would then laugh and apologize as she danced away from him to dance momentarily with the girls.

This went on for 10 minutes. As the men and women, boys and girls, lined up to bow to one another and then walked towards their respective partners, Caia was undeniably beat.

She was flushed with heat and her skin glistened by the moonlight with sweat. Perl, on the other hand, was as fresh as they were before dancing. This made the young lady apprehensive about getting too close with the Agran as she was afraid she smelled.

As Perl escorted her to a nearby bench to rest, he commented on how she did well on her first Agran dance.

"Don't flatter me. I don't deserve it," she laughingly said as she looked upon the night sky that was adorned with thousands of stars, Your feet are probably dead from my clumsy footing and your arms have been stretched out like rubber as you have pulled me to the right direction multiple times."

He smiled at this and sat beside her, looking up as she did. It was a starry night.

"I assume it was your first time dancing like this? I heard Alexandrians greatly favor a proper ball over events like this," he admitted as he breathed in the pine-filled air.

"The drunken warriors do enjoy this when they have won any victories but I am rarely invited to such events as I had always been one of the front liners to tend to the injured," Caia explained as she looked about. The dancing continued, the band still played a lively tune, and it seems only the younger folk had participated.

"Our worlds are rather different, don't you think?" Perl said as he turned to her, looking serious now. Of course, the little time they spent together was rather bland but they were to marry soon and everyone expected they share a bed on the very day they took their vows. The young man was privy to the thought of being intimate with someone he did not love.