Time to Dance

Writers: Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 24th December 2015

Characters: F'lin, Lanniya
Description: F'lin and Lanniya dance at the Hatching Party
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 3, day 21 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: Lenala, D'ren

Lanniya

A successful Hatching was always a relief, but after this Hatching the relief was palpable. The Harpers played with faster, people laughed and danced with exuberance. Despite Vilarth's over-protectiveness nearly turning the Hatching into a tragedy, every dragonet had a partner. And it felt _good_.

F'lin strode through the crowd, nodding to the folks he knew along the way. He held a mostly-empty glass of wine in one hand and a stupidly large grin was plastered across his face-- which might have been made
a little wider by the three glasses of wine he'd already had. He reached the edge of the crowd and looked around for somewhere to either leave his glass or find a bottle to refill it, when he spotted a familiar face. He headed toward it and sat next to Lanniya on a bench near the wall. "Taking a break?"

Lanniya offered a tired smile and nodded. "That bronzerider from Dolphin Cove kept asking me to dance and he was horrible." She spoke quietly even as her eyes flicked towards a rider who was obviously watching them both. "He kept stepping on my toes and asking me to go on a walk to the lake with him." Her nose wrinkled as she wiggled her bare toes; the moment she had gotten on to the dance floor, her shoes had come off.

"Want me to go kick him out of the Weyr?" F'lin asked, only half in jest. "I can do that, you know. I have knots."

"No. It's not that important." She pushed a long lock of her hair behind her ear. "He wasn't rude or anything. I think he's just had too much to drink." She tilted her head at him. She then frowned a bit,
then fingered the neckline of her own dress. It was a modest cut and the skirts floated around her legs the way she liked them to. "He did say my dress was pretty though."

The colour was flattering on her, and Lanniya's red hair had deepened to a red-touched gold in the light of the lanterns and glows. F'lin nodded in agreement. "It is pretty, but mostly because of the girl in it."

She blushed a little and her eyes warmed. "Why thank you." She eyed his glass, then his face and her smile widened. "And how much have you had? You're looking very...happy."

"Of course I am!" F'lin waggled the glass at her. "Disaster was averted and all the dragonets Impressed. There's food and wine and dancing and music-- and you're no longer in the newest group of weyrlings! That's a lot to be happy about, don't you think?"

She couldn't help but laugh and nod. "That's true." She wasn't a weyrling anymore either, but that just meant that she had a lot of responsibilities that she wasn't necessarily fond of, especially now that Lenala was still healing. It felt as though there was a lot of
weight on her shoulders that she wasn't quite sure how to ease. But she loved the more lighthearted mood of everyone at the dance.

She happened to glance up to see the bronzerider approaching and she leaned quickly to F'lin. "Help, he's coming back. Dance?"

"For you? Gladly." The Wingsecond stood and held out a hand to help her up. "And I'll even do my very best to avoid your tender toes."

She rose along side F'lin, a grateful smile on her face. The other rider looked disappointed and walked away, but Lanniya kept her hand in F'lin's. "I'm not worried about my toes. But you may need to put this down." Her eyes sparkled merrily as she plucked his wine glass from his fingers and set it down, then walked with him to the dance floor. The music wasn't the fast reels that she normally enjoyed, but a slower dance wouldn't be so bad, she reasoned.

F'lin was a decent dancer, and light enough on his feet to keep from stepping on Lanniya's. More than that-- he enjoyed dancing. Lanniya turned out to be a good partner, and as the song came to an end he swung her out for a couple of spins before dipping her down low enough for her hair to brush the ground.

She bent easily as he dipped her and her face was flushed with enjoyment at the move. "That was wonderful." She straightened herself and on impulse, gave him a hug. "You're a wonderful dancer, F'lin."

"So are you," he said, hugging her back. She felt small and soft and--**Too young.** He let her go and stepped back a pace to put some distance between them. "Ever do a toss dance? You look pretty light."

"I am light." Lanniya quipped back as the music began again, quicker in tempo. "I bet you've thrown firestone sacks heavier than me. So let's do it."

F'lin cocked his head to one side as he listened to the Harpers. The music wasn't right for a toss dance, but they could make it work. He held his hand out to the goldrider and led her back into the crowd, but stuck to the edges where it wasn't quite as crowded. A few of the people around them recognized their steps and cleared a little space. The music began to build and F'lin shifted his grip to Lanniya's waist. "Ready?" he asked, and the moment she jumped he tossed her into the air just as the music peaked.

She kept up with the quicker steps, her flushed cheeks and bright eyes showing her pleasure at their dance. Her steps were light and agile, skirts flipping to reveal her slender ankles at the appropriate moment. When he caught her waist, Lanniya nodded eagerly and leaped into the air with his help. She landed into his arms with a soft whoop and tilted back her head to laugh. "That was wonderful!"

He let her down, also laughing. "Well done! You sure that you weren't a professional tumbler before you were Searched?"

"Very sure!" She flung her arms around him to give him another hug, her mood greatly lightened with the two dances. She hadn't had any wine, but the dancing made her giddy; it was a shot of joy in what had been a difficult week. Grateful and feeling light, she didn't stop herself from her impulse; she lifted up on her tiptoes and gave him a light kiss on the lips, just a peck.

He kissed her back before he realized what he was doing. That she was a kid. A funny, pretty, messed-up kid. F'lin stepped back, suddenly feeling awkward and wishing that he'd had much less to drink earlier in the evening. "Ah-- well, that was fun. Want to--" Not dance. "--get some water?"

For her first kiss, it was definitely nice, even if it was just a light little peck. Did it count? She'd done just as much with little children at the trading caravan. No, she figured, it was just a friend kiss, even though he'd kissed her back. But it was _nice_. She wouldn't have minded a bit more, but after being soundly rejected by D'ren, she wasn't sure how to go about asking for that sort of thing or if she really wanted to try. Instead, she nodded. "Sure. I could use some."

"Great." Water would be much safer for both of them. But F'lin couldn't quite keep the smile off his face as they went off to find something to drink, holding hands.

Last updated on the December 27th 2015

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Time to Dance