A/N: A/N: Written for femslash100's drabbletag for the prompt "dance". Had some trouble and ended up deleting the first time I tried to post. Fingers crossed all goes well this time!
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Paris is just as beautiful as Belle dreamed. She walks the streets until she's dizzy and then keeps walking, never retracing her steps. She wants to see everything, to devour the city like the words in her books.
Music, the shuffle of feet and the clomp-clomp of hooves draw her attention through a small, shifting crowd at a corner. She steps around them, eager for more of what the city has to offer. The first thing she sees is the goat, hopping and dancing. When she sees the woman with the tambourine, Belle wonders how she could have seen anything else– she certainly doesn't now. The woman catches her eye and smiles, slow and warm; Belle's breath trips over the feeling that she's the one being read (being devoured).
The captivating performer steps toward her after a few moments more, and that's when Belle realizes she's begun swaying in time to the woman's movements. A hand reaches for her and she's beckoned, "Come on, it's okay."
She lets herself be drawn forward and led through a few lively steps, reminding herself to follow the music and not the rhythm of her own heart pounding in her ears. It's too much for her, though, trying to follow such grace, and she ducks away with a laugh.
"You did well," the woman assures in a whisper in her ear, hand squeezing Belle's shoulder before releasing her.
Belle laughs again, murmuring thanks. She hesitates, then settles in to watch just a while longer.