Disclaimer: Again, Octopath Traveler belongs to Square and Nintendo; only the stories here belong to me.

Just a general spoiler warning going into this collection, there probably will be spoilers for every point of the game in this but before each chapter I'll put a little warning for what's mentioned in it. If you've just started Octopath and want to avoid spoilers altogether, there's a list of spoiler free stories at the bottom of this chapter. However, as much as I'd like to see you stay and read, it might be in your best interest to wait until you're about halfway through the game to come back as this collection mostly takes place after events later in the game.

Not all of these stories will be happy: there will be tragedies and character deaths thrown in between drinking contests and sparring sessions. Again, I'll put a little warning before each story so you'll be able to avoid the tragedies if you don't want to read them. The T rating is general and won't necessarily apply to all stories - some are closer to K while others boarder on M - and there's general violence, sexual references and the very occasional use of swears throughout.

This is going to be an on-going collection of one-shots about the travellers - sometimes they'll be expansions on the story or travel banter, sometimes they'll be what ifs or what happened after - effectively these are all the little ideas that I had and rather than putting them all up individually I've decided to create a one-shot collection. Updates are Saturday Mornings (UK time) every week.

Anyway, please enjoy! If you do, please favourite, follow, review, what have you, you can come find me on Twitter under the same username minus the 's' on the end if you really want. Let me know what you think and please enjoy!

Primrose teaches Cyrus to dance. Mild spoilers for Prim's chapters 2 and 3.

Learning the Steps

"Shall we try a simple waltz?" Primrose asked, stretching her arms above her head.

"Whatever you think is best, my dear," Cyrus replied, carefully draping his cloak over the back of a chair. "I am your pupil, after all!"

Primrose rolled her eyes. "Very well. Watch my feet, Professor."

And so, in the middle of the former brothel in Stillsnow, Primrose began carefully measuring out the waltz to no music as Professor Albright attentively stared. Although her feet moved as intricately and carefully as could be, her thoughts were on anything but the steps she was performing. She was instead thinking of Arianna, her dear old friend who was finally free; of Yusufa, her more recent friend who had performed the waltz with far more grace than she...

Mostly, she was thinking of her home in Noblecourt and whether or not she'd find a Crow in the town she never thought she'd return to.

Her steps slowed - though Cyrus still focused intensely on them - as her thoughts travelled to a time long ago when she had first been taught. Her father had been her teacher in the beginning, but his harsh words made teaching a young girl to dance a challenge that often ended with the young lady running to the garden in tears. There, she'd find her next, more gentle teacher...

She came to an abrupt stop. A stop that didn't go unnoticed by her attentive companion.

"Is something the matter, Lady Primrose?" Cyrus asked, looking up from her feet to her red face.

"It's nothing..." She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the memories that would not stop coming. "Maybe it would be better for you to join me, rather than just standing there?"

"If you think that's best," Cyrus moved to stand before her. "I fear I may still be all too likely to step on your toes."

"Practice makes perfect," she muttered as she showed him how to hold her as the lead. "No one learns anything by just watching."

"Right you are. Still, I apologise for the inevitable toe stomping."

"Very well." She smiled, tossing her head back as she, too, got into position and looked up at the Professor. "Let's begin with the box step."

After a few encouraging tries (and far too many toe stomps) it appeared that Cyrus might have finally figured out the most basic of steps.

"We appear to have danced an entire minute without you stepping on my toes," Primrose smiled up at him. "I'm impressed."

Cyrus chuckled. "I must apologise again for my clumsy steps. As a child I was far more interested in my books than my poise and before I knew it I was a man full grown with no sense of rhythm. Nowadays, I fear I might be too far gone to learn even the most basic of steps."

"It's never too late to learn, Professor." She responded, amused by his all-consuming attention on his feet.

"Right you are!" A pause hung over them for a moment before Cyrus cleared his throat and asked, "... Would you permit me a question, Lady Primrose?"

"Just Primrose is fine, Professor. But, yes, what is it?"

"Who were you taught to dance by?"

Primrose let the question hang long enough for the Professor to look up at her. "Forgive me for asking, this is clearly a sensitive subject. It's simply that... when you were demonstrating for me earlier, you had such a sad look in your eye, nothing like how you look when your performing for others. It was a look of such painful reminiscence that I felt the need to ask-"

"My father taught me the waltz." Said she simply. "We had many balls at house Azelhart, and he wouldn't dare let the other nobles in town look down on us because he had a daughter that couldn't dance. But, his firm hand could only teach so much... I learnt most of my trade from another."

A pause lingered over the two of them as they continued their slow waltz.

"...He meant a lot to you, didn't he?" Cyrus asked, his eyes seeing more than she said.

"My father? Absolutely, he meant more than the world to me."

"That much is evident in everything you do, my dear." He smiled gently. "I meant the other man, the man who taught you how to dance with purpose and soul."

"... Watch your feet, Cyrus, you've not tripped up in a while now."

"Of course." He turned his attention back to his feet. "Whomever that man was, I hope you can meet him again, once all this is over. I'm sure he'll be more than impressed to see what an amazing and beautiful woman you've become."

Grateful that Cyrus' attention was on his feet, Primrose couldn't hide her blush at his words. From the bottom of her heart, a small amount of hope remained, desperately clinging to the idea that Simeon would accept her for all she was now; would know that all the hardship she'd endured on the road to revenge had only been possible thanks to the hope that she'd see him again...

Though, currently, she only hoped that the charming Professor wouldn't stand on her feet again as she smiled through her blush. "Remind me why you're on this journey again, Professor? I just can't seem to wrap my head around why a young girl would be so smitten with you..."

AN:

Now that this story's been running for a while, I no longer put spoiler warnings before stories. If anyone reading wants to avoid spoilers, here's an ongoing list of all the spoiler free stories in Travel On:

6. Never Have I...

7. Swindling a Swindler

11. Axes, Swords and Salves

18. Heels

25. The Best Present

27. Fruit Loaves and Father Figures

29. Professor Albright's Type

32. Full House

43. Small Boys (Heels Pt. 2)

45. Another Mountain Town

48. What the Ribbons Hide

49. Guided by Morals

56. Sleep Deprived Study

57. A Sharpened Blade (Tragedy)

If another story catches your eye but you can't tell where it takes place in OT and therefore what the spoilers might be, feel free to PM me and I'll let you know.