It was late. All of the servants and most of the guests had gone home, save the few who were taking a walk, or who had slipped of to more clandestine locations. All were tired after the ball, the first true celebration in over a hundred years. It had been held in the newly rebuilt castle as a celebration of the liberation of Belisaere from the Dead and the restoration of the capital and the monarchy. The only people left in the ballroom were the King and the Abhorsen Queen or rather, Touchstone and Sabriel, as now that the guests had left they no longer needed to wear their titles.
They sat by the window, Sabriel leaning back into Touchstone's embrace.
"How did you become so good at dancing? Was it from all of your sword work?" Sabriel asked her husband.
"Well, being a member of the royal family, I did have to learn how to dance from a young age. So I rather think the other way around, actually. My dancing informed my sparring. I always thought of each fight or drill as a dance. I liked trying to match a song to each maneuver." He smiled ruefully. "Once, when it was just starting to feel natural, I forgot myself and started humming the song."
Sabriel laughed. "I can't picture that."
"My opponent was distracted by the humour of it and I beat him, but the guards never let me live it down."
"Neither would I." She admitted playfully. "Which was your favourite?"
"My favourite?"
"Favourite dance," she clarified.
"A dance that seems to now be forgotten," he sighed. "It came from the North, from my father's lands, or so my mother told me."
"Would you teach me?" She asked, raising her head off his shoulder to look at him.
He considered the request for a moment and then nodded. "I would love to."
They stood and Touchstone bowed and offered her a hand.
"Would Milady honour me with a dance?" He asked formally.
"Only if His Grace ceases to call me 'Milady'." She replied, accepting his hand.
"It's a triple beat, with and accent on the second or third count," he informed her, not dropping his officious tone.
"Similar to a waltz?" proposed Sabriel.
He frowned. "In some ways, but it has a different tone… more polar than a waltz. It has a sort of harmony in four parts, often that usually switches between a calm, slow round and a faster, more passionate one."
She raised her eyebrows, dropping the charade. "You know a lot about this."
He smiled "I studied music for a while before I joined the royal guard and practiced often after that. This style was one of my favourites."
She took his other hand. "Show me how it's done then."
He turned to that they were standing side to side. "You start by holding hands behind each other's back, like this."
He wrapped his left arm around her waist and she took his hand.
"And you do the same with me." He instructed. She mirrored his pose.
"Now we dance."
He sang a melody in the style he'd outlined and they danced across the empty room, with some difficulty on Sabriel's part.
"Let's try again, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it." Sabriel insisted.
Touchstone beamed "You're doing very well. I'm glad you enjoy it. I missed dancing like this."
She kissed him and he began to hum a different tune and again they danced, this time much more elegantly.
At the end of the second dance, they bowed to each other with mock ceremony and he kissed her hand.
She laughed. "My etiquette teacher would have loved you."
"Poor lady, having to civilize all of the unruly Ancelstierrian girls," he teased.
She rolled her eyes. "We were perfect ladies."
He nodded "I'm sure. Well it's your turn now, perfect lady."
"Pardon?"
"Teach me one of your dances. I'm sure even you unruly Ancelstierrians must have come up with some form of dance."
She swatted his shoulder lightly. "As a matter of fact, we did. It's called swing dancing."
"Sounds suitable bizarre," he remarked.
She ignored his comment. "You have to bounce with beat, knees slightly bent, making sure to always be light. It's not meant to be a serious dance. We unruly Ancelstierrians know how to have fun."
Touchstone scoffed.
Sabriel ignored him again. "First you rock back on one foot. Then you do a triple step. Two steps and rock back. That's basically the only step, the fun part is that you vary how it's done." She demonstrated as she explained, finishing with a quick circle.
"How do you know who leads and who follows?" He asked.
"Same as with any dance, the person who asks is the lead." She faced him, held out a hand and imitated his formal tone. "Would you share this dance with me, Milord?"
He rejected the proffered hand, instead kissing her softly. "Only if Her Grace ceases to call me 'Milord'." She smiled against his lips.
"You can dance in closed position," she placed her hand on his lower back, his just below her shoulder and took his other hand in hers. "Or you can open it up if you want space." She dropped one hand and turned so that they were standing almost beside each other.
"Who needs space?" He joked, puling her to him again and kissing her soundly.
They broke apart, smiling.
"Keep doing that and I'll be too dizzy to dance," she chastised him.
"Too dizzy for this sort of dance maybe," he agreed suggestively, his voice suddenly deeper.
"I'm saving that dance for last. Unfortunately, you'll just have to wait," she said, mockingly apologetic.
He laughed.
"Show me how it's done then." He said, reprising her earlier request.
He was a fast learner. They circled and spun, separated and came back together, Sabriel humming one song and then another, slower one.
"I think I'll have to accept that last dance now." Sabriel murmured as she pulled Touchstone back from a final spin.
"Much as I enjoy these new steps, I think I'd have to agree that I'd prefer to practice a different sort of dance right now." He admitted, kissing her neck, just below the jaw.
She stepped back and offered him her arm. "Shall we head to a more suitable location?"
He grinned at her and slid his arm through her. "Lead on."