Sarabande: River of Falcons Book 4

16. Learning to Dance

Drift woke to the sound of girls giggling. She opened her eyes and looked up with a puzzled frown. A half-dozen girls were staring down at her, none of them in the least bit familiar. How had they gotten into her bedroom? She sat up hurriedly as she recalled what had happened. She was in their room. "Sorry," she said. "The Matron told me to wait for you, and I was tired so I—"

The girls laughed. One of them, the oldest, Drift thought, said, "It's okay, you can use that bunk. Esmerelda isn't coming back."

The others giggled, but the one who had spoken to Drift frowned at them, and they stopped.

"She's gone off with that sailor," another said. "The one with the wooden leg!" This time the frowns of the oldest girl did nothing to dampen the laughter of the others. When it finally died down, Drift realized she ought to introduce herself.

"Um, I'm... Sarabande."

The oldest girl looked at her quizzically. "For real? Well, maybe not, but it's best not to use your real name here. We'll just call you Sara when you're with us, but the customers will like Sarabande. Are you a dancer?"

"I guess. I asked if I could wait tables and clean up, but the Matron said I should dance and that you'd take care of, um, my costume?"

"Right. Well, just so long as you leave my customers alone and don't poach my tips," the girl said. "I'm Sal—Saltatoris for the customers. Come on, let's see if Esmerelda's dress will fit you. I think it should be fine, except that your legs are longer than hers. But the men like to see a lot of leg."

Drift got up and followed Sal across the room to a closet door. "Um, what sort of dancing is this?" she asked.

"From the country, huh?" Sal said with a chuckle. "Don't worry, nothing fancy. Just dance with anyone who asks, so long as they have coins and can pay. If they get too touchy, signal the Matron and she'll deal with them. And if they get drunk and start fighting over you, the bartender will throw them out. But don't worry. Most of them just want a dance or two before they go back to their ships."

"Most of them," another of the girls said with a giggle.

"Shut up, Pantomima," Sal said. "She's new. Don't scare her."

Drift's recollection of the tortoise's words lead her to hope there was a reason she had popped up wherever she was, and she was determined to put up with whatever indignities she might have to suffer until she figured out what that reason was. However, it began to dawn on her that the indignities might be greater than she had expected. For starters, the dresses were very much not to her taste. A glance in the closet revealed that dancers apparently wore tight-fitting garments in shimmering bright colors. Drift thought the dresses were silk. All of them were cut low at the chest and even lower in back, and they had slits up the sides. The dress Sal handed her was a bright blue color with shimmering gold leaf designs embroidered into it. She held it to the light and eyed it suspiciously. "Is this all?" she asked.

The girls laughed. "If you're lucky," Pantomima said. "Sometimes you don't even get to wear that."

Sal turned on them. "Shut up and get dressed, all of you! It's almost time. The band's tuning up."

Drift examined the dress more carefully. It had silk-covered buttons up the back. "How do I do it up?" she asked.

"Here, I'll give you a hand. We have to help each other," Sal said. "Put it on while I get mine. Esmerelda used to help, but now that she's gone, I guess you'll have to help me dress."

"And undress," Pantomima chimed in as she struggled into a shiny gold dress that seemed to be missing an oval of cloth around her stomach.

"Hah hah," Sal said. "Just take care of yourself, Pan, and don't worry about her. Here," she added, turning Drift around and beginning to button the dress. "It only takes a second. You're a bit bigger than Esmerelda. This is going to be tight. Is it okay?"