Oath [BL; Book 2]

41

"Everything hurts!" Aether complained sitting in the bath enjoying the warm water. "I've been exploring, adventuring.... and learning to dance?" He sighed fully relaxed as he rested his arms on the edge of the tub laying his head on them as a pillow. "Xiao's teaching me to dance, I don't know why, but Xianyun requested it. I wasn't expecting him to take it seriously, he's a relentless teacher, but it's fun!" Smiling to himself he loved the idea, "He even made an effort to teach Paimon but she got tired so fast he scolded her for not having enough stamina! Hahaha, I wish... you could see it Lumine." Aether said speaking to no one but himself, "I'm having so much fun.... haaa. Why do we have to be in such different fields of the same plane? I wish I could introduce you to them. Maybe we could all get along."

Finishing his bath he untied his hair letting it dry. Ruffling it with the towel he chuckled happily. Out into the room he saw Paimon floated in exhausted, "P-Paimon can't dance anymore! No more dancing!"

"Hahaha, are you okay Paimon?" He held her as she floated in his arms. "Take it easy, do you want anything special for dinner?"

"Paimon wants Honey Char Siu! Oh and Braised Meatball, oh-oh, and Black-Back Perch Stew!" She went all out, "Jade Parcels too!"

"Wow, that's a tall order." He laughed and patted her head, "Ok, for doing a good job today I'll treat you to your cravings."

"Yaaay!" She clapped happily,

"Now go take a bath, I'll fix up dinner."

"Right!" She flew right into the bathroom closing the door, "Wait for Paimon!" Paimon said from inside the bathroom.

"I will, take your time it'll take a bit to make everything!" He called back making sure he got the ingredients. "Good I can make it." Going out the room he closed the door and went down the stairs seeing Xiao was sitting on the rail, curiously he went over to him and leaned in the rail catching his attention.

"Hm?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering if I could get one more lesson in." Aether wanted to get better quickly to see why Xianyun requested such a thing of him. "It's ok if you don't want to."

"Very well." He slipped off the rail and held his hand out, Aether was fully prepared to convince him and was surprised when he accepted so easily.

"Ok!" There was no questioning it as he placed his hand being taken right into the dance, "Ah-y-you're going too fast!" He fumbled a bit but with such a good partner in this art he was able to recover. "S-slow down a bit-I can't keep up!"

"You have done well to learn this much. We will increase the speed until you show satisfactory results."

"Is this dance normally fast?"

"The art of this is determined by the muse of the song writer. This dance is a traditional song, it's tune is fast paced. A qualifying piece to learn."

"You know a lot about music."

"...." he was silent, perhaps Aether asked something he shouldn't. Not prying he enjoyed the quick dance, his mistakes were known, and Xiao was a tough teacher not letting them slide, coming to a stop he fixed his posture again. "Your posture suffers from lack of experience. Stand straight, be relaxed, stiffness only makes your movement slower." He pulled him in and this time he slowly took step by step. "Allow yourself to be taken by the wind."

"The wind?"

"Close your eyes." Xiao said as they stopped a moment, he moved Aether's hand where it needed to be and once again pulled him close. Aether's habit of moving away was due to something he knew would cause light trouble but it was fixable.