The dirt and snow suddenly felt far colder than Ren would've liked to admit. Dancing had been a formality. Noble training, etiquette, polite society, all of that meant refined balls and galas that members of the House Senate would attend with their families and loved ones. Ren and Erin had attended a few with their parents. There would be one three or four times a year allowed in different parts of the capital, usually held at the manors of one of the seven Grand Houses, which comprised the primary Senate.
"I'm familiar with dance…" Ren muttered, hesitating. "...Why?"
Vivia, of course, decided that her promise wasn't worth missing possible entertainment, and immediately jumped from her mother's arms to chase after the group. "Dance! I want to dance!"
Evelyn turned to the little girl rolling her eyes. "All right, Vivia. When you hear uncle start singing and see the scary Sparrow move like a funny squirrel, then you can dance with us. Until then, please be a good girl for your mama and papa."
Ren turned to Evelyn, "I'm not–"
The little girl's eyes narrowed before she rolled them with the frustrated anger that only a five-year old could muster. "Fine."
"Good girl," Evelyn said, turning back to the group, "Now, come along. We've dancing to participate in."
It wasn't lost to Ren that Felicity stuck close to Evelyn, her head on a swivel at all times, eyes jumping from flame to flame. Still, Ren needed to speak. "I'm not a squirrel." He muttered, which elicited a smirk from Evelyn.
"Are you? Really? And here I thought you were a lion. Or, in honor of my favorite, a horse."
Ren scowled, then turned away as Felicity giggled again. "Are you sure you should be insulting an… Well…"
Humming, Evelyn brought a finger to her lips. "I don't know. I figured he'd have strangled me by now if–" Ren glared at her, an expression he had no reference for the efficacy of with his mask on, and yet Evelyn fell silent, raising an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"I wouldn't dare hurt an innocent."
Evelyn grinned, then turned with a flourish to a campfire at the edge of the semicircle of wagons. "My dear Felicity, and also Venture, I would like to introduce you to my family!" Gesturing to each person, "As you both know, we have my father, Leon, my mother, Yona, and my ever idiotic older brother, Silas!"
Silas, sitting on a bench that had been pulled from the side of a cart, tossed a pile of snow at the side of Evelyn's head. She turned, walked over to him, and kicked snow onto the bench in response. Next to him on the bench, Silas pulled his guitar onto his lap and pat the dry seat beside him. "Liss, you alright?"
The young woman slowly, carefully, moved to sit beside Silas, and Ren noticed that she sidled closer than technically proper etiquette would allow. Which was odd, considering Silas had supposedly been to the Grand academy. Still, the girl sat beside Silas, her shoulders sagging as she spoke. "...Vivia likes the arbiter attendant you told me about." She glanced up at Venture, smiled sheepishly, "Ah, him. Mister Venture."
Silas glanced up at Ren, then over to Evelyn, and grinned. "Let me guess."
Nodding carefully, Evelyn smiled. "I want him to be able to perform by the next town. Even if he looks like a crumbling boulder."
Glancing over at Felicity, Silas pressed his forehead to the side of Felicity's head, whispering something. She nodded, then gently took the guitar from him and lightly plucked a few notes. Alongside each note she hummed, a clear sound, easily able to be extended to song, and yet, she stopped short, allowing herself to continue plucking notes carefully. The young woman was unpracticed, perhaps, but not untalented. Notes slowly turned into a melody, and Silas nodded, kissing her cheek before standing. "Very good. You'll be better than me, soon."
Felicity nodded, but seemed to get lost in the music she played. It was beautiful, starting with slow, gentle plucking and quickly escalating into strumming and rapid movements, chords overlapping chords in a joyous cacophony.
Giving one last glance at the girl as she played, expression far too fond for propriety, he turned back to Ren. "Alright, Venture. What'd all that etiquette training give you?"
"...The star step," Ren muttered, "This music isn't appropriate for that."
Silas nodded, "No. It's not." Then, he turned to the group at large, looked to his parents for permission, who nodded in silent nonchalance, and raised his arms, "My dear friends! Let us dance to celebrate our newest addition, Venture! And to you young women, he is available!"
Ren coughed, stepping back slightly, "Roses and Ink, did you just–"
Evelyn laughed, sidling up next to Felicity, whispering something as the music stilled for a moment. The other girl nodded, then handed Evelyn the guitar, who picked it up and began strumming in her place. This time, the song slowed, a lilting melody that Evelyn began to sing,
"A man once found
Himself away from town
Where he then cried
That time had passed him by,
Saying, "The wind blows,
And yet still I go,
For life has flown behind
And left me nothing kind.""
Silas took Felicity's hand, shot Ren his usual sardonic grin, mouthed the words, "Keep up," and began to dance, immediately letting go of Felicity's hand to rotate around each other, arms outstretched. The tension that had once defined Felicity's figure seemed to melt away in the motion, lighting up to be moving in a way so controlled, and yet so free all at once.
At this point, Ren couldn't follow. Men, women and children swayed and rotated and danced in these beautiful, rehearsed motions that Ren had no part of. Even Leonidas and Yona danced about each other.
And Ren had nobody.
"Scary Sparrow! Dance!"
Ren spun, still lost, still confused, and utterly grateful for a distraction. "Vivia?"
The little girl grinned as her parents, ever exasperated as they seemed, ran to catch up with their 'little rose'. "Dance, scary Sparrow!"
"What?" He sputtered, confused, "Dance?"
"Auntie said I can't dance until you're a squirrel!" Vivia complained, "So dance!"
Ren blinked, mouth falling open slightly. 'Roses and Ink, this whole caravan wants to humiliate me…'
But Vivia stood there, hands on hips, insistent that she couldn't dance until Ren did, and so, carefully, he began to imitate the movements of Silas… With no partner. Well… Not the kind he expected, anyway. Vivia snorted, then toddled about him, attempting to imitate Felicity's movements as Ren's 'partner'. It was awkward to be dancing with a five year old, but… Pillars, Ren was surprised to be… Enjoying himself?
Vivia laughed, "Scary Sparrow!"
Ren gave her a tentative smile. At least, with movement, he wasn't getting sucked into his mind. He had no idea what he was doing, the fluidity that was natural to the people around him was foreign to him, but not impossible. It was like Ren's former training; the kindness of repeated movement on his body. Something he could practice without the problems the rest of the world gave to him. He sucked in a breath, and let himself close his eyes for just a moment, feeling the contrasting heat from the flame and the windy chill of the air, the music had swapped hands again, someone was playing something that sounded more like a fiddle than a guitar, singing long forgotten.
And when he opened his eyes again, Evelyn was in front of him, arm outstretched to match his as they rotated about each other. She grinned at him, "Have fun dancing with everyone's favorite?"
"Shut it," Ren responded, mimicking Silas' movement to bring Evelyn shoulder to shoulder. "I'm doing what you asked."
"I did say you'd make a good dancer, didn't I?" She hummed, "Do be careful though, if I'm giving you attention…"
"Evie! My turn with the new Sparrow!"
Evelyn winked at him and danced forward, finding a new partner in another Sparrow as another young woman found her way beside Ren. Another dark haired and bright-eyed woman that was common in Lilac Sky, but she smiled at Ren with a genuine pleasure that Ren had never experienced at the balls of his youth. Not the proper, hand-on-waist dances of refined folk, but something far more intimate in its necessity to follow their partner.
When he rotated his back to her once, she was already gone, dancing with another young man somewhere while another young woman took her place. Was Ren smiling? He didn't know.
And then, the music sped up, and the dancing changed. Feet moving faster, skirts flapping, the music growing raucous as more dancers joined the ranks, more musicians and vocalists joined the makeshift band, drums and clapping hands keeping the beat.
Closing his eyes, Ren spun again, and when he opened them, it was as if Erin was the next woman dancing with him, laughing in the way she did, poking fun at him as she spun and twirled. His footsteps slowed, his pace steadied.
Then, he was stilled altogether, seeing Erin in everything – In the laughter of Sparrows, in the dancing of women, in the flames that crackled and burned brightly even as the sun began to set overhead. His face fell, and he could feel it fall. Had it been that long since he smiled that the return to normal was almost relieving? Did it matter?
Turning, he glanced around at the people. The joy in their eyes, the lightness in which they carried themselves.
And Ren… Ren couldn't watch it. He didn't belong in the place that was meant to be hers, meant to be his sister's, meant to be her life. And it had been taken from her and given to him.
So he slipped away, phasing through the line of wagons to the fields outside, the gentle winds picking up as he looked out east, where if he focused carefully, he could see the tiny flicker of light through the valley of the Rosespire Mountains, the golden glow of the Grand City.
He wondered, if only for a moment, what his parents were doing. If they were okay. Gentry had probably been taken into custody for defending him. Would Erin get a proper funeral? Would she be burned and scattered to the wind in the traditions of all those below the Third Mark? His mind swirled with questions, his heart aching with grief that was finally settling in dull waves of hollowing pain in his chest. How he would miss the Grand City. How he would miss Winter Manor and his attendants and Erin and his parents. He would miss them all. Terribly.
Shaking his head, he glanced westward, next, where open field met open sky until the next crest of mountains broke both. Valisite Ore was deposited in those mountains, somewhere, and many trade towns dotted the slopes of them. Not visible to his eyes, yet, but he knew from the maps he'd long studied before. And on the mountain itself hid the towns that conducted the mining affairs.
Ren wondered what it must have been like for them, in those small towns carved into the sides of mountains. The thought of it was foreign. There was never a need to consider that as a child. If it was important, he'd find out. That was the way of things.
But nothing was important, now. And so he thought about it with the mild curiosity that only came from idle thoughts. Would Erin have wanted to see those towns? Did she know people there, too?
"Clear heart and mind, Ren," He whispered to himself, reaching up to touch the mask. "Under the Lilac Sky, clear heart and mind."