Chapter Eight: Dance

The moon watches Nozomu, Akira, Mahiru, Mitsuru, and Misoka prepare for dinner with the queen and Shirogane.

"But didn't you guys already eat?" Mahiru asked Akira. Nozomu, overhearing, protested, "That was just a light snack!"

"It would be rude to refuse the Queen's invitation anyway," Akira reminded Mahiru. "And we have to keep on her good side."

"Well, OK…" Mahiru said. "But make sure you guys don't explode!"

Misoka impatiently spoke. "Hurry, you three! We can not afford to be late. They may be talking about the Dance of the Eclipse."

Mahiru hurried into her dress, which the queen had provided her with. It was as light as silk, and reached down to her ankles, with a slit up to her knee. It was the color of poppies, and it was very slinky. Mahiru felt very strange in it, and she gasped when she looked in the looking glass.

"Is that me?" she squealed. Nozomu crept up behind her and nodded. "Yep, it's you," he nodded. "Uh-huh," Akira added.

Misoka spoke impatiently again. "You have to wear it, princess. The queen gave you that dress."

"The Queen is an old snob," Mitsuru spat. He did not like the queen of the Lunar Race.

They hurried to dinner and Mahiru got used to the feel of the dress, even if she thought she looked like one of those girls who liked to wear stylish clothes that bent the school rules and who flirted with the boys.

The dinner was simple, yet elegant. Mahiru ate just enough as was polite and to keep herself alive, as she was very nervous. It was an uncomfortable dinner. Although they talked, there was a lot of tension.

"My Queen," Misoka said, "isn't the Festival of the Waning coming up?"

"It is cancelled this year," said the queen. Misoka did not say anything, but Mahiru knew him well enough to know that he was thinking of something – what could this cancellation mean?

After the food was served and eaten, the queen had the table cleared away and dessert was put on the table. She also had music be put on, and after they ate the powdery sugar cake in the shape of a swan, the table was put away too. Then the Queen sat down on a sofa made of soft velvet, Shirogane next to her.

Mahiru was unsure what to do. She looked questioningly at Misoka, who told her, "It is the time for dancing."

Nozomu walked over to the queen and gallantly asked for a dance. Mahiru was feeling very uncomfortable and looked over at Mitsuru. He stood there grimly, in the suit that he had been forced to wear.

"Mitsuru," Mahiru said urgently, and he came over to her.

"What?"

"Do you want to…do you want to dance?" Mahiru said tentatively.

Mitsuru drew back in alarm.

"No, wait!" Mahiru grabbed his arm. "It'll be good practice for my school dance!"

"I don't dance," Mitsuru grumbled.

But Mahiru, gently insisting and teasing, lured him onto the tiled floor where Nozomu and the queen waltzed. Mahiru grabbed Mitsuru's hands, and she guided him through a simple square dance.

"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Mahiru asked him when it was done. Mitsuru hmmphed, but he didn't object when she dragged him onto the floor again and they began a sweet, slow waltz.

Mahiru sighed and leaned her head against Mitsuru's chest. It was worth coming to this dinner, if only for this dance. While they whirled around, she felt like nothing, not the queen, not Shirogane, not Dawn's Venus, could get her then.

belatedly Is Misoka a girl or a boy?