Assemblage
Daring to dance

Author's notes: This is written for the 15pairings community on LiveJournal. It will be 15 different pairings in each drabble/oneshot, written after a theme. Unfortunately it will only be Suikoden V pairings, although it gives me a chance to write about characters I haven't explored previously. I hope you'll enjoy reading this!

He watched her conversing with the other ambassadors, charming them not only with her beauty but also with her gentle voice and graceful way of holding herself. Though he was supposed to socialize as well, he could not help that his attention kept going back to her. When she finished speaking to someone, she would move onto the next, impressing them to the point where they forgot that she was a foreigner and how their countries had been at war.

Shula did not have the same luck. He did not know if it was something he did wrong, but no one seemed to forget that he was from the New Armes Kingdom. Though they spoke to him politely and tried to be civil, he could see that they could not forget the brutality of the past war. After a while he just sat down by the table, into the comfort of a chair and watched Sharmista instead.

She was in the middle of a conversation with a Falenan noble when she, for some reason, suddenly turned her head and caught sight of him. Turning her body around completely to face him, she looked just like a dancer who ended her performance with a final twirl.

Shula raised his glass of wine silently, like he was toasting her.

Sharmista smiled back at him. After saying a few words to the noble she had previously held a conversation with, she bowed her head a little and then crossed the banquet hall to approach Shula instead.

She walked like none other. Always with a smile on her lips, a smile so charming that any man or woman could not help but to admire her. Always moving through the crowd, yet keeping her distance and never touching anyone as she passed, not even by accident. Her green dress flared up slightly as she moved and turned, her hips swaying just a little as she walked. There was nothing flamboyant about the way she moved, it was simply natural.

"Are you not enjoying this evening, lord Shula?"

Shula smiled.

"No, I was merely too busy watching the dance, that's all," he replied.

"The dance?" she repeated, confused. She looked over her shoulder as if wanting to see if she had missed something.

"Do you remember playing musical chairs with me when we were little?" Shula asked suddenly. Sharmista nodded. "When the music played and everyone was walking around the chairs... you were the only one who danced, as you are doing now."

Sharmista blushed slightly.

"I used to think that it was the music that made you dance," Shula went on. "And even though you danced you always won the game."

"You were not too bad yourself," Sharmista added carefully as if she could not handle too much praise.

Shula laughed.

"I used to keep one hand on the chair and cling to it in order to stay in the game," he reminded. "But you... you always made it back to the chair even though you danced far away from it. You were a natural."

The blush on Sharmista's face disappeared somewhat. She looked at Shula for a long time and though she said nothing he knew that she was reading him like an open book. Finally, she smiled warmly at him.

"It's not too late for you to try it as well," she said cryptically.

Without saying another word, she took Shula's hands and slowly pulled him up on his feet, leading him away from the safety of the chairs.