The Stone

Life's Given Task

This is why I am so nervous with him and Brianna, they are so similar, right down to family roots, it is baffling.

My not so subtle stare at Kit has caught his attention, he lifts his cup of wine to me, I smile meekly and do the same. I guess if anyone were to steal the woman of my dreams away, it can only be him. No one else would compare, and he would treat any woman he loved like a queen.

Brianna nudges my arm.
"Vance! do you know how to dance?" She whispers.

I laugh.
"Of course! Everyone who lives in a castle or palace must go through extensive training in formalities, dancing is one of them. Would you like to dance?"

She gasps.
"I don't think so, I don't know much about that stuff. All my father taught me was how to...ummm... stomp."

"Stomp?."

She begins to blush profusely.
"Well...it's like moving your hips and stomping around making a beat with your feet."

I burst out laughing and Brianna scowls.

It was then Jed had finished his story, picked up a fiddle and began to play. He must be playing a song Brianna knows, she looks up with eyes full of excitement. Placing a hand on my knee she grins wide, making me smile, and the room erupts with laughter and dance. Jed stomps his feet keeping a rhythm to the music. Brianna begins to tap a beat on my knee, watching her father dance around the room fiddling. The children have joined in now, even Evanora was up stomping around the room. Brianna jumps to her feet, taking the crown off her head, she whips her hair out of its pins and lets it flow wild.

All I can do is watch, watching Brianna was like viewing the world from a different side. She bounces over to her father, lifting up her dress so as to not step on it and begins to stomp with her father. She spins around him moving her hips back and forth to the beat, Evanora joins in with her until he is surrounded by several women stomping and moving their hips in unison. It was nothing like I have seen before, but it looked like fun so I decide to drag myself over there and try it out myself. Brianna notices me approaching and skips over dragging me into the crowd of stompers. I watch her movements and mimic them, the dance was easy enough and I picked it up quickly.
It was a beat of two small stomps followed by one large stomp, spin, then move your hips and repeat. It was much more fun when other people do it with you, not like our formal and intricate dancing we are forced to carry on traditionally. I enjoy this much more.

Jed changes his song to a faster pace and we pick up speed, Brianna lets out a loud howl and everyone in the room erupts, howling and yipping. I had never felt so alive, and I join in their howls, dancing and laughing with her all the way.

We danced and ate into the night, our fellowship growing closer to each other with each experience we make. I wouldn't trade anyone here for anything, there is nothing in this world worth more to me.

———————————————

I awake before dawn, not entirely sure why, maybe it was being in a new place surrounded by new things. Or maybe it was something else on my mind. Either way, my heart is full of excitement from the night before and I felt the urge to get up and go explore. Something I've always done in castles and palaces, and this was a place even more curious to me than the others.

I look over to Vance who is snoring in a deep sleep and take this time slip out of bed unnoticed. I throw on a silk nightgown the maids had left me with and quickly brush out my hair. There was no need for coats or overthrows here, not with the heat so I leave the room with just what I have on.

The halls were strange, they held wall mounted flames lit with bright orange magic. They burned differently than any other place I have been to without any sparks or smoke, it must be the life tree or Druidic magic that does this. I can feel the bond between me and the life tree, it is said that a life tree knows who has crossed into the veil of death and holds a connection to those certain people. So I set out to find the tree, in hopes to bond with it.