The pattern on the floor was circular, and deeply complicated, woven of interlinking lines that wandered gracefully and purposefully across the marble floor, smooth, uninterrupted –
"Ouch! Edmund, for goodness' sake!"
Edmund looked up, startled from his daydream. Susan was looking crossly down at him, her nails digging into his hand deeper than was, he thought, entirely appropriate for someone known as "the Gentle."
"What did I do this time?" he asked, somewhat grumpily. These dancing lessons were far more trouble than they were worth – couldn't he just be outside? The day was beautiful.
"You stepped left instead of back again, Ed, like you've done the last hundred times. And you landed on my foot!"
Edmund swallowed back the half-dozen smart-answers that flicked through his mind, and just nodded meekly, knowing the quicker he learnt this the quicker he could leave.
"Sorry, Susan."
His sister calmed slightly.
"Well, we'll start again. And this time you will try to pay attention, won't you?" she asked. Edmund nodded in response, and with a wave of Susan's hand the Faun in the corner began to play again. He tried to focus his mind and not look at his feet so much. However, as they moved in the well-rehearsed but still barely-remembered pattern, he found his gaze drifting to the ceiling, where the circular artwork mirrored the floor below it.