Long Distance

Part 2

"Alright cousin," Winter began, her voice a gentle lullaby, as it always was. "A queen must dance. We will begin with a simple waltz."

Winter, sweet, innocent, whimsical Winter, had taken it upon herself to teach Cinder to dance.

What the princess didn't know, was that Cinder was dreadful at it.

Or maybe she did know, judging by her amused expression.

They began the steps. "You must not attempt to lead, cousin. The man leads, the woman follows. I am playing man, so you follow me."

"Seems pretty sexist to me," Cinder mumbled as they danced around the ballroom. Winter didn't look like she heard, and kept humming something Cinder didn't recognize.

It might have seemed like it, but the princess wasn't crazy, not anymore. Ever since she'd had the bioelectricity lock implanted on her spine, she'd been improving from the awful state killing Aimery had left her in. The visions and hallucinations had gone as well.

Still, she sometimes spoke in riddles, singing songs and howling sadly from time to time, but as time progressed, it became apparent that these whimsys were just how Winter acted, that they weren't just a side effect of her Lunar sickness.

"If you become skillful with the basic waltz, maybe I could teach you the Eclipse Waltz." She leaned closer to Cinder, smiling deviously like they were sharing a secret joke. "It's Jacins favorite."

"Er, okay." Cinder tripped over her own feet again and yelped, but quick as a flash, Winter had her righted with a twirl.

"It is a complicated dance, however," Winter continued as if nothing has happened. "It takes years of practice to perfect."

"Lemme guess," Cinder said, scrambling through the next few steps. "You learned it in a week."

"Yes," Winter said, shrugging. "And you can too, but as I said, it takes years to perfect." She smiled, her eyes distant, like she was remembering a happy memory.

The music that was playing out of Winter's portscreen on the far side of the room faded, making room for the ping of an oncoming comm, before swelling into a chorus. Winter dropped her arms from Cinder and glided to the port, picking it up. 

Cinder folded her arms and waited, savoring the moment of stillness. She couldn't wait until she managed to make Luna a republic, then she wouldn't have to deal with this dancing business.

She'd danced before, with Kai at the peace festival, the night everything went wrong. The night Kai had found her on the base of those stairs, her glamour flickering like a broken lightbulb, multicolored wires spurting sparks from her ankle.

A cyborg, a lunar, a freak.

More importantly, it was the night Levana had known, without a doubt, that Cinder was Princess Selene.

Cinder hadn't even known herself then, until Dr. Erland had told her in a prison cell a couple hours later.

Since then, Levana tried to hunt her down, and again and again, Cinder managed to slip through her fingertips. Even Cinder didn't know how she had escaped so many times.

Now, Levana, the tyrant queen, the false queen, was dead, and Cinder was the new monarch of Luna.

It was an awkward switch, from mechanic, to fugitive, to revolutionary, to ruler of an entire country. Nevertheless, she was glad to serve her people, and whenever she felt like she was doing something wrong, she could always fall back on the fact that, at least she was better than Levana.