The Mountain Dancer

Chapter 15: Shaynike & Stoneworth

The Mountain Dance planning council was located in the Upper Library, in a private, somewhat secluded room that was the subject of much gossip and shardtrade. You needed to be let in by a library advisor and everything.

Tutor Stoneworth walked up the boreway with Shaynike as she ascended toward her very first meeting. The cheery young tutor was Shay’s favourite, and she suspected that Deekek Stoneworth liked her more than most students too. Along with Mona’s encouraging shards and the tutor’s company, Shay was feeling halfway okay about the long meeting with all the pupils she didn’t know.

The last lecture of the day had finished, one that Tutor Stoneworth presided over, so she had offered to walk with Shay up to the library. She was going to meet her lawful peer there anyway. They had been chatting about the lecture, when the tutor turned the conversation toward the council.

“Songmaster is an underrated position, you know. I for one quite look forward to the music at the Dance,” Stoneworth said.

“People only really care about the feast. Maybe some of the wonderments,” Shay said. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to pretend to be excited about the role. At least it was a break from the constantly hovering twins.

“True enough. But as Crown Academic and Songmaster, the recruiters will not exactly be ignoring you.”

“Especially not with… who I’m going with,” Shay whispered, allowing herself the boast in order to move away from the topic of recruiters and scholarrights. She hadn’t even told Mona yet. And the news hadn’t made it into any shards that she knew of. Rekness must have been keeping it under wraps too. Shay half believed that if she said it out loud to anyone that she would suddenly wake up on the floor of the library platform, still covered in apple juice. But it had been a good four days already and she had to tell someone. Tutor Stoneworth could be trusted not to freak out or get all girly about it.

Reliably, the tutor kept her cool and lowered her voice. “Shaynike Cliffland, do you have a hot date?”

Shay flushed. “Crown Artyss...”

“Oh ho ho ho, dear. No kidding. And what does the Summittask girl think of that?”

Shay didn’t voice her theory that it could have very well been Faevock that set the whole thing up (who knew why). Instead she just shrugged.

Stoneworth chuckled again and said, “you’re in for quite the dance, I daresay. Keep your ears open and your tongue sharp, little lady. That blondie and her boyfriend are thorny ones.”

Shay suddenly found herself worried about the complexity of it all. It was so much easier when she could just be herself up on the roof or hanging out with Monarec. And what if Rek changed his mind? She hadn’t even so much as traded a shard with him since the library. Maybe Tutor Stoneworth will know what to do.

“I haven’t talked to R– to the Crown Artyss since he... since we decided to couple up for the dance. Do I, er, how long should...” What was she even trying to ask?

The tutor sighed as they stepped off the boreway and onto one of the Upper Library’s landings. “Lady Cliffland, if I’m being honest, I never figured out boys myself. Girls are just easier.”

Shaynike thought back to her encounter with Faevock, and silently disagreed. Curiosity tugged at her though, and she asked, “so you’ve never, er, you know, never, um.” Could I be any more awkward? Ugh.

“Oh, a drunken kiss here ‘n’ there no doubt. But other than that, males remain a blessed mystery to me,” the tutor replied.

“How long have you and Advisor Risper been lawfully paired?” Shay asked, eager to steer the discussion toward less embarrassing territory.