Chapter Twenty-four: Dancing Lessons

Two concentric rings of silent watchers surrounded the bonfire stack. The sun brushed distant hills with fire, ready to drop out of sight. A man, anonymous in mask and paint, beat a steady cadence on a deep-voiced hoop drum. Balekara raised her arms toward the north, then the east, the south, and finally to the west, invoking the spirits of the four directions. She spoke of the Sun and its blessings.

Andoval was grinning at Radovin from the outer circle. He smiled back, feeling the tiny wounds on his cheek complain at the stretching. Then he straightened his back and shoulders another notch.

Once a little boy had stood in the outer ring with his grandmother, while his great-grandfather lit the Summer Fire. It was always the oldest of the Dedicated who kindled it. Like the sun, we grow old, but life returns, said his grandmother in the shadows of memory. In the morning, she would collect ashes from the midsummer fire to take home for the Long Night ceremony, so that new fire could be built on the ashes of the old.

Halezi stepped away from the rippling flames and lifted her arms toward the western sky. She praised the Sun for its life-giving warmth and light.

Fire leaped to the sky in an updraft of its own making as the last red sliver of sun vanished. Halezi's words of farewell mingled with a wild, joyful cheer. The drumbeat quickened, and several omarunaran began to dance in the space between the crowd and the bonfire. Young men jostled their way out to join them.

Before Radovin could think what to do next, Tayrolin startled him with a clap on the back.

"Come on, Rado, over this way." He impelled Radovin toward a group drawn together at a comfortable distance from the fire's heat. There, the masked man had taken up a sharper voiced drum that set the pace for the rest. Rattles and a few other drums fattened the sound. Tayrolin pointed to a mammoth skull, freshly painted with sacred symbols of the elements in red ocher. A pair of deer leg bones lay crossed on top of it. "You can trade off for a drum later, but show what you can do with the bones first, ah?"

Radovin knelt by the skull. He picked up the bones and let them settle in his hands. The obligation to uphold his band's honor lay heavy on his shoulders. Even as a child he had been keenly conscious of the difference in quality and complexity of a Sunfest drumdown. The best musicians of all the bands showed off their skill at these annual all-night dances.

At least it was a familiar activity--dancing was something else again. Rapping at double the hoop drum's tempo, he mapped the skull's tones. He shifted the pattern to the simple traditional dance that always started off the Fire Festival's night of revelry.

The skull's sharp tone matched the hoop drum at every fourth beat. His motions became automatic. This was not so hard after all, or perhaps they were just so much better at it that they could allow for his clumsiness.

A startling birdcall pierced the air. He recovered a near miss and stole a quick glance to see a woman of the Hare band, with a tattoo similar to his, playing a bone flute. Her quick runs and quavers wove a strand of bright color into the staccato percussion.

Known variations of any melodic form have their limits. The hen-dance ended and the musicians paused to take a drink of water. The flutist introduced herself to Radovin as Senida. "You play well," she said. "Do you know the 'Stalking Fox'?"

It was one of his favorites; complicated, but therefore more fun. "Sure, I know it, but...." He shrugged. "I never did it with anybody else."

"Hai, you had no problem so far. None of us get to play together very often. Tayro said you're a rare one, we all want to hear what you can do. Let's go, ah?" Senida raised the flute to her lips and blew a trill.

The dancing started again, a different style with more participants. A long line snaked around the bonfire, each person clapping and stepping in time to the music while one after another took turns weaving in and out all around the circle. Each time the "fox" returned to his or her starting point, the next person in line had to make the circuit. There was a lot of laughing and tomfoolery as the fox pinched behinds or stole kisses on the way. The game had rules, but part of the fox's role was to find ways around them.

Radovin's arms moved with the sureness of a horse's rhythmic gait--the white horse symbol of his band, his family, sewn in ivory beads on the vest he wore. Shared excitement filled him with energy. Over him flew the spirit of Raven, black as the feather Tevina had tucked into his braided hair. All around him spirits danced and whirled like flames. Ayah!

The stars and moon told how much of the night was left for the grandfathers who kept watch over the extra fuel, reminding enthusiastic wood-tossers that it had to last until dawn. Others measured time only by the needs of the moment--time to stop dancing and catch a breath, time to run for the bushes to take a piss, time to eat. Even as the first dance set whirled its mutable patterns in the firelight, an informal feast tempted a crowd that had eaten lightly during the day in anticipation of what was to come.

Those who were more interested in food than dancing attacked the steaming, slow-cooked meats as soon as the formal ceremony was over. The feasting would go on until the food or the appetites gave out.

A deluge of rich aromas captured Radovin on his way back from his first bush run. His stomach, forgotten in the musical frenzy, dragged him to the torchlit buffet. He paused in mouth-watering awe at the overwhelming vision of food. Besides big game meat, there were small animals and birds, and vegetables prepared in various ways. Troubled times or no, good cooks had to show off.

A large hand thrust a meaty rib at his face before he could say "Woh!" He grabbed it and tore in, delighting in the rich fat. Lovaduc laughed heartily at the greasy grin of his band's junior shaman. "Here, wash it down," he said, holding out a small waterbag.

Radovin's eyes widened when he took a gulp. "Woh, hucha!"

"I save my best for this." Lovaduc waved an arm, laughing again. Firelight glinted merrily in his eyes. Radovin gave the hucha skin an uncertain look. The headman grinned wide. "Nah, take another swig or two. Loosen up, ah? You haven't danced yet."

Other musicians had taken over. A song soared over the general noise, praising the moon that now gave light beyond the bonfire. Radovin gazed at the cool disk above the flames. He could dance. Yes, he could eat, dance, drink hucha.... He heard young women laughing as they danced around the fire. That too, maybe. He grinned back at Lovaduc and lifted the sack to his lips.

Still awkward among all these people, Radovin stood at the edge of the dance circle with older men and women who only watched. Two interweaving rings moved around the fire in a fast couples dance. At intervals marked by the music, pairs separated to take a spin with their opposites from the next couple; step, turn, back one and forward two, then rejoin and prance onward.

A young woman abandoned her partner to someone else and twirled away from the ring of dancers. She swayed in front of Radovin with her hands held out. The other spectators closed in behind him, laughing at his hesitation. He was cornered, no way to escape.

The impromptu conspirators slapped his back and pushed him toward the girl. He took her hands and joined the dance. It wasn't hard to pick up the pattern with a helpful dance partner. He relaxed a little; it was just a matter of keeping with the beat, after all.

Ottavar and Kewarratiwa smiled at him among the watchers. The Wa!ikerrima girl leaned against her pledged mate, shyly radiant, happy to be out of her isolation at last. He could see why Ottavar had it for her. Woh, she was pretty, all dressed up and smiling.

So was Radovin's dance partner. Her pert little breasts peeked out from the open vest she wore, and her legs and buttocks, though slim, were getting to him. Owoo! This dance might lead into another kind of dance--and why not? If she wanted to. One small detail bothered him, however.

Jesumi came whirling around with a leggy young fellow. She grabbed Radovin for a turn. "You're having a good time, ah?"

"Yeah. Sumi, what's her name?" he gasped desperately in her ear. Too late--his partner snagged him back and away they went.

Ottavar watched Radovin spin by with the oldest daughter of the Red Deer band's headwoman. Those big, serious eyes! He chuckled quietly.

"What is fonny?"

"Rado." He smiled at Kewarratiwa's upturned face. "He looks serious when he's trying to have fun. And that girl is horny as--" He laughed again. "I shouldn't laugh. Do you want to dance again?"

"Maybe, when is slower."

"Tired already? It's hardly started."

"I want to dance in the bed with you, Ottavar." Her eyes twinkled mischief.

"Ah-ha-hah, you think we won't? I'll show you some dancing."

She moved her body against his suggestively. "I will show you, maybe. But I like to watch here too. Oh, look, Baz and that boy!" Tiwa waved a hand delicately to indicate the direction. Ottavar looked and nearly doubled over. Bazenaber was dancing with Thedoren, and they couldn't seem to make up their minds which one was the girl.

"Hai!"

The shout signaled the end of the couples dance. "Oh, it's over," the titillating young lady said. She brushed a lock of firelight-gilded hair from her face, smiling.

"Um...yeah. Ah, thank you for dancing with me." Radovin flopped his arms against his sides. "Um...." What to say? "Ahm...it's hot here, ah?"

"Yes. I'm thirsty. Are you?"

"Yeah. Let's go get some water, ah?" Radovin peered around, trying to figure out where they had ended up. His head spun in a dance of its own.

"Come on, my band's over this way." She held out her hand.

He took it and let her tow him away. A pole topped with the antlers of a red deer stood watch over an untidy heap of rolled hides and dropped clothing. A large waterskin leaned against it. The cool breeze felt good. Radovin stood like a short, awkward pole stuck in the ground watching his hostess fill a big rawhide cup. She took a sip, then handed it to him.

"Thank you." He drank half of the water and gave it back.

She took it with a coy smile and drank the rest. "Do you want more?"

Radovin shook his head. "I'm sorry. I don't know your name."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Radovin. I never thought--everybody knows you. I'm Amarateni."

His manhood lost its urgent notions. Daughter of the Red Deer band's head couple--uh-uh! "Oh. Uhm. I am honored. I better go."

"Maybe we could dance again later?" Amarateni sounded disappointed.

"I--yeah--maybe." He waited for her to make the first move. She didn't. Sounds of revelry clattered on through their silence.

"Do you have to go back now?" she finally asked.

Radovin swallowed hard. "N--I don't--have to...." Another uneasy standoff. Did she really want him to stay? Should he? A woman had a right to choose any man, especially this night. Fine in theory, but he wasn't much of a man. Well, he had some sort of standing now, but--

"Teni, hai." A woman's greeting startled them. A couple approached from the east, faces shadowed. "You caught one, ah?"

"Aw, Aunt Pathi!" Amarateni covered her face and giggled. Radovin pulled his head down between his shoulders, thankful that moonlight doesn't reveal blushing.

"Hai, Rado," said the woman's escort, giving Radovin another start. It was the White Horse band's flint knapper, a friendly, easygoing man whose young spouse was too far into the late stages of pregnancy for partying. "You're doing all right, I see." Garovel's teeth shone for a moment in a moonlit grin. "Let us at the water, ah? Dancing is thirsty work, on your feet or on your back." Amarateni's aunt laughed with him as the younger couple moved aside to let them get at the waterskin.

Radovin had intended--as far as he had any intentions--to return to the bonfire, perhaps to rejoin the musicians, but he stepped first in the opposite direction and his momentum built. Straight toward the moon he ran, dodging or leaping over boulders and low shrubs, slantwise uphill from the gathering. He stopped at the edge of a wide, shallow gully. The broad disk of the moon gazed calmly over a landscape of shadows and silver highlights, without color and full of mystery.

He drank deep breaths of the clear, cold air to calm his spirit. Hucha and dancing and the excitement of a crowd had him all shaken up inside, not knowing which way to go but filled to bursting with love of life. "Ahhh, ye-yei!" he sang, in a spontaneous surge of exultation, "sweet Moon, look upon me, ayah! Be my lover, ah ye-yei!" He flung his arms wide as if to embrace the moon, then spun around to look the other way.

He froze. The Lady Moon stood before him in person, a sacred statue carved from cold light. Amarateni had followed him. Radovin made a perfect ass of himself, arms flailing as he fell backwards into the gully.

"Yaahh--uff!" He landed hard on his back, air knocked out of him, legs kicking at the sky. Unable to move for a moment, he heard Amarateni scramble down the low bank.

"Are you all right? Are you hurt?" She knelt by him, her hands gently cradling his head while he tried to get his breath back.

"No, uh, yeah, uh, I'm all right." The ground was not rocky here. Grass grew thick in the bottom of the shallow wash. His head had bounced with no damage, only a shaking of his addled brains. He blinked up at her worried face, feeling like the worst kind of idiot. Ah, her hands made him tingle.

Still short on breath, he reached up to touch her moon-shadowed face, to test reality. His fingertips tingled. "Why'd you follow me."

"I'm sorry. Do you have...someone else waiting?"

"Huh? uh, no. But--you were dancing with somebody else before."

"That was my brother." She captured his hand before he could move it away and held it against her cheek, smiling. Owoo! "I wanted to dance with you. D'you want to dance some more?"

"Yeah," he breathed, daring to let the tingling go farther. "I want...." The scent of her sweat.... "You...."

"So do I."

He hadn't meant to say what she heard, but he couldn't say that he hadn't meant it. She let him pull her head down until their breath mingled. Her lips touched his.

Radovin wanted to explode. His arms tightened around her. The breechclout had to go. He fumbled one-handed for the thong that held it, yanking in all the wrong places. Blast it, you'd think he could untie what he'd tied! Amarateni was breathing funny. He loosened the grip of his other arm, afraid that he was cutting off her breath. But she only took the opportunity to get at her own clothes with both hands. That looked like a good idea. The thong broke.

They writhed together, hands roving. Radovin got a finger into moist fur, feeling for the little bump that Nali had taught him about. Aiyee, he must be doing it right. She tried to wrap her legs around him, wriggling rhythmically.

"Oh--oh--put it in, put it in!"

The frantic whisper had him on the edge of his control. Good spirits, help me, he thought, tightening up as if trying to hold his pee. It worked, but he wondered how long he'd last. The aroused girl pumped her hips and spoiled his aim as he tried to give her what she wanted. He wanted it pretty bad himself.

"Hold still a bit, ah?"

"Yes. Oh!"

Oh indeed! He wanted to hold himself in and make it last, so she'd get some good out of it. Vah, he barely knew what he was doing. He tried to match the rhythm of her breath with his thrusts. She was moaning, lifting herself to meet him. His moment of objectivity passed. He pumped faster, slipped out, got back in, grabbed her buttocks and drove for all he was worth.

Amarateni's moan of ecstasy and the spasmodic tightening of her womanhole stopped his breath. Then his flood broke loose. He jerked against her. "Ah! Ah! Ahhh!"

He lay half on top of her, panting, gasping in the salty smells of sweat and sex mixed with the rich aromas of earth and bruised grass. I did it, he thought. I did it! I really did it!

A long sigh pushed her breast against his own. Radovin lifted himself up with one arm to gaze at the young woman. Vahé, he was squashing her into the cold, wet grass. He got his other hand on the ground and rolled off. His limp manhood pulled out into the cool air. She turned her face toward him and smiled.

"That was good," she whispered.

Radovin blinked, lost in the moonlight without words. He groped shadows blindly for his breechclout. It had been thrown or kicked some distance away. Amarateni found hers and put it on. Then she laughed at Radovin, standing with his clout held modestly over his front. His fancy flaps had been yanked sideways in their furious rut; it was a wonder he still had anything on. He shrugged, snorted a suppressed laugh at himself.

"I, um, I haven't done much of this. Um, I didn't mean to go crazy like that out here. I mean...."

"Maybe you didn't, but I did," she said, standing so close he could feel her heat. Her arms rose to encircle him.

"Oh." He dropped the breechclout to return her embrace. Kissing got better with practice too.

Radovin paused on the way back to the bonfire to piss on a shrub, facing discreetly away from Amarateni. He held his breechclout out to ponder over afterward. It wouldn't hurt to carry a few extra thongs. Maybe he could tuck it into his belt? But it would look stupid. Sumi would rag him for it.

Amarateni giggled. "I'll get you a new thong," she said. "We have some spares at the post."

"Thank you."

They returned to the celebration talking freely. Amarateni introduced him to some of her friends, and to her mother. Nineta seemed pleased that her daughter was prancing around with a young initiate.

"Cademura tells me that you are very dedicated. She's not easily impressed."

"Mm--yes'm."

"You must visit our camp before the Summermeet is over, join us for a meal and a sing, ah?"

"Yes, amada, if you wish."

"Tschk! Don't be so shy. Does he dance well, Teni?"

"Yes, Mama."

Their looks and voices gave extra meaning to the word "dance." He ducked his grin between his shoulders.

Ottavar stretched his legs, then grasped the edge of the soft hide with his toes to pull it down over his feet. "Are you warm enough?" he murmured.

Kewarratiwa rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. "I am. I do not stick out at the ends."

He chuckled quietly. "No, you make very efficient use of a bed." She laughed at his double meaning. He laid his cheek against her hair with a contented sigh.

Two bodies, two minds, one desire now sated, they lay together in a delicious lethargy. Muffled sounds from the far side of the valley reminded them that most of the great gathering partied on. Nothing else existed to distract them from the pleasure of touch in the total darkness of Ottavar's small tent.

Soon after daylight arrived, they would have to separate one more time. The traditional isolation of a couple who were to be joined for life gave both of them time to consider the depth of their commitment. It sometimes happened that one of a pair had second thoughts. Ottavar had no fear of that; he planned on catching some sleep. It was already trying to catch him....

"Are you sleepy?" Tiwa's fingers walked over his short ribs, yanking him wide awake.

"Yes! You've worn me out. But I am trying to stay awake a little longer." He tickled her nose tip with one finger. She squirmed and pushed his hand out of her face, laughing. They settled snugly together again.

The distant revelry changed pace, quieting, and then rapid drumming started another round of song and dance. A fresh set of musicians had taken over. "I wonder if Rado's at the drums again," he mused.

"He is very good at that."

"That, and other things."

"He is a wishakati," Tiwa said. "Full of strong magic, yes?"

"M-hm." Ottavar listened to the music from the opposite side of the valley for a few breaths. "So are you."

"Oh, no, I am only chi'i-tsa, an herb-woman."

"But you could do more."

"No!"

"Why?"

After a long silence, Ottavar shifted his body slightly so he could kiss her forehead. "I love you as you are," he whispered.

"And I love you, awida."