Dance

Despite the fact that the feast was impromptu, it was extravagant.

Kai sat at his father's right hand. Driniah, Nya, and Jay sat on his left. Cole and Varasach sat quietly at the farthest end of the table. She was trying to make him eat a few bites of food, but be wouldn't take it. He accepted a refill on his wine, though.

Besai grabbed Kai's hand nervously. She was dressed in a simple lavender gown with long sleeves.

"What's wrong?" Kai asked. He awkwardly picked up the fork with his left hand and jabbed at a piece of lamb.

"I cannot finish my food," she whispered. "What should I do?"

Kai looked over at her half empty plate. "It's all right," he said. "You don't have to."

"Good," she said. She sneezed, then sniffled and wiped her nose on a napkin.

"Do you have a cold?" Kai asked.

She sneezed again daintily, shaking her head. Kai thought it was cute. He was about to suggest that she go upstairs and rest, but the musicians began playing a slow waltz.

"Oh," Kai said, pulling Besai to her feet. She walked awkwardly in the flats; she had never worn shoes in her life. "You're going to like this, Besai. Come on."

He pulled her into the room's center and put a hand on her hip. "Hand on my shoulder," he said.

Besai jumped at his touch, then relaxed and did as she was told.

"Good," Kai said. He pulled her close, then began to sway with the gentle rhythm of the music.

Besai swayed with him, confused. "What ees this?" she asked. "I like the music, but why must we stand?"

"We're dancing," Kai said. He started moving his feet. In and out, right and left. "Follow me lead, okay? It's simple enough, once you get used to it."

"O-okay," Besai said. She watched his feet, copying him as deliberately as she could.

After a minute, she grew more confident and looked up at his face, smiling broadly as she held him close. "This is nice," she said. "I like dance."

"Dancing," Kai said. "It's a verb."

"Right. Dancing." Besai's tiny nose scrunched up as she pretended to frown. "Your language is strange. We say, "micha rel," not "micha reling." Why ees it this way?"

Kai shook his head. "I'm not a linguist," he said. "You'll have to take that question somewhere else."

"...Take it somewhere else?"

"A figure of speech. I meant that I can't answer your question."

"Oh." Besai rested her head on his shoulder as they continued to dance in time with the music.

"What is that smell?" Kai asked, nose momentarily in her hair. "You used oils again?"

"Yes," Besai said. "Do you like it?"

Kai took a deep breath and smiled. "Yes. Orange and peppermint, right? The scent suits you."

Besai visibly relaxed. Had she been waiting for him to notice and compliment her on the choice?

Finally, the song was over. Besai looked dizzy from all the slow circles they had danced, so Kai led her back to her seat and sat down. "Where do they have you sleeping?" he asked.

Besai pointed at Varasach. "I'm supposed to share with her," she said. "But Vara says she ees staying with Cole. So I am alone."

Kai studied her face. "You don't want sleep alone?"

Besai blushed. "No."

Kai leaned in to ensure no one else at the table would hear him. "Follow me to my room tonight, then," he whispered. "I'll take the floor."

Besai looked like she wanted to say something. She looked across the table at Nya, who was deep in conversation with Zane.

"What is it?" Kai asked, setting a hand on her knee.

Besai rubbed his fingers with her own and swallowed hard. "Nya talked to me in the bath this morning," she said. "Encouraged me."

"Okay? And?"

Besai picked up her fork and scooped up a bite of potato in garlic sauce. "And...I'm trying not to be afraid." She lifted the fork to her lips, hesitated, and set it down again. "I...want to do it tonight."

Do it? Kai's mind spun. Do what? Another dance? Talk to...someone about...something?

No. Kai knew exactly what she was talking about. There was no use denying it. "Are...you sure?" he said gently, though his heart was doing somersaults. "We can wait."

"No," Besai said. "No, Kai. You have freed me. This country ees...amazing. You have given me more than I have ever hoped for. I...she pressed a hand to his chest, just to the right of his Ouroboros mark, "...I just want to give you a gift in return. I am ready, Kai. Please. I trust you. Do you trust me?"

Kai stared, mouth cracked an inch, for a few seconds. Then he shut it and swallowed. "Yes, Besai," he said. "Of course." He was tempted to kiss her in front of everybody. But that probably wouldn't be the proper thing to do. Not yet, at least.

So much for telling Father, he thought ruefully as he pretended to focus on his meal.

Kai's bedchambers were huge. Thick red carpets blanketed the floors, and the bed itself sat against on one wall, so large that four people could have easily slept beneath its warm gray swaths. He didn't like it. After so many weeks of sleeping on floors and cots, this felt far too luxurious.

When they first entered the large room, Besai gawked like a child. The curtains over the large windows, the intricate carvings on all the wood trim and baseboards, and the bedclothes laid out for her and Kai left her completely overwhelmed.

"Your father," Besai said as she set the bedclothes on the floor with hands shaking from anticipation. "He doesn't know?"

Kai sat down on the bed and gestured for her to sit. There was only one lamp lit, on a small table next to the bed. It let off light as gentle and soothing as Kai's voice. "I never told him," he said. "He still thinks that you are in the empty bedroom next door."

Besai hugged herself, slouching slightly. "Will he be mad?"

"He'll never find out. After all, he thinks you're just my servant. He'll assume that if we shared a room, you slept on the floor."

Besai nodded. "That ees good," she said.

Kai wrapped an arm around her waist. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," Besai said quickly. "Nothing ees wrong. I am just..."

"What?" Kai tried to read her face. Her shivering a seemed to be getting worse.

Besai closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then uncrossed her arms and sat up straight. "I am no longer afraid of Overlord," she said. "I am not afraid of Kozu." She forced her shivers to stop. "But...even though I am safe, eet still hurts me. Does eet hurt you too?"

Kai's heart started beating faster. His eyes drifted to her lips, then her pale blue eyes, which glimmered with a thousand different emotions fighting for dominance- among the crowd were anxiety, adoration, and deep passion.

"Yeah," he managed at last, standing and taking her hands in both of his. "Yeah, it does. But you know what?"

Besai looked at him expectantly, a faint smile lighting up her face. "What?"

"All that hurt can be healed." Kai pulled her hands to her chest and kissed her lightly on the lips. As they parted, he smiled coyly, stroking her fingers with his thumbs. "Don't let scars from the past hinder your future, Besai. Okay?"

Besai's response was to stand on her toes and kiss him. Though in the beginning their noses brushed as delicately as a butterfly's wings, their touch quickly grew bold: Kai released her hands to grasp the small of her back, and she caressed his face, his hair, breath growing fast and warm as their bodies drew close. The unfamiliar sensations tingled, buzzed, ravaged all of Kai's mind and body: this was his first time with a woman. His heart seized, then pounded to the same cadence as their thirsty lips as they kissed with ardor. Anticipation and eagerness grew to the brink, then spilled over.

And then they fell on the bed, and danced.

Everything about Besai radiated contentment. Her smile, sleepy and content, and her breaths, that rising and falling in cadence with his. She had waited- gathering up her courage ever since their first kiss- to do with him what she had tonight. She could feel his penetrating warmth deep in her womb, throbbing in time with Kai's heartbeat. His gift to her, in the form of seed for her fertile soil.

"Kai?" she whispered.

"Yes?"

"What if..." she trailed off. "I am worried about your father. If I have a baby-"

"That would be wonderful."

"But-"

"No, Besai. Don't be afraid of my father. He can't do anything to us."

Besai let the matter drop. She rested a hand atop her belly- which really did feel quite warm, if not a little queasy and achy. "Kai?"

"What is it?" Kai said patiently.

"I want us together," she said. "Not just tonight, but forever. Can...can we do that? Have a ceremony?"

Kai kissed her forehead. "We don't need a ceremony, Besai. We already are together. We always will be." To prove his point, he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hold.

"I love you," he said for what must have been the hundredth time that night. The feeling of warmth only grew as he pressed his body to hers. She closed her eyes. "Let's sleep," Kai said. "Tomorrow, we'll be traveling to the Middle Realm for a meeting with King Garmadon. We'll need all the rest we can get for that stress."

Besai giggled softly. "Okay," she said. "I will sleep."

"Good. I..." Kai said, then faltered. "Thank you, Besai."

"Why are you thanking me?"

"Because you came back. You could have chosen the Overlord, but you didn't. You chose me instead. So...thank you."

He was thanking her. It made her face flush, so she hid her face between his shoulders and neck to ensure that he would not see. "Nanesh," she murmured. "No, Kai. Thank you."

They slept peacefully that night, warmly embraced by blankets and moonlight.

"That can't be true, Lloyd."

Cole sat at a table, wishing he was anywhere but between Lloyd and Jay as he ate quietly, trying to stay out of their...interesting conversation.

"It's completely true," Lloyd said, cutting his sausage with a knife as he spoke. His enthusiasm seemed to carry into the force of his strokes. "I heard one of the guards last night. He was saying to another guard- and making him promise not to tell a soul, of course- that he heard very distinctive noises from Sir Kai's bedroom."

Jay was uncharacteristically quiet as he processed this. "I've...heard of such things," he said. "You know, since I work with women like Besai on a daily basis. But so early in the relationship?" He turned to Cole. "What do you think?"

"I think you should stay out of it," Cole said. "You'll only end up hurting people if you constantly gossip."

This answer seemed to surprise both of his companions. They gazed at him for a long moment as though he had a spider on his nose and were wondering why he hadn't noticed it.

"What?" Cole asked.

"You just said something...kind," Jay said.

"Did I?" Cole asked. "Terribly sorry. I'll have to work on that. Sitting around with you two all morning has me thinking like a rationalized man."

"Terrible habit, that," Jay said.

"Yeah," Cole sucked a breath through his teeth, dabbing the corners of his mouth with a napkin. "Anyways. You were saying..?"

"Umm...nothing."

"Good. I hate you less when you don't say stuff."

"...It looks like you finally got over your depression," Lloyd remarked with little tact.

"You could say that." Cole cut four of his five remaining sausages into three equally sized pieces and set them in rows of three. Then he realized that it didn't work, so he made four rows of four instead. He ate the one on the top left corner first, chewing ten times before swallowing.

Jay watched the whole thing with fascination. And concern. "I see," he said, clearing his throat. "Don't you want that fifth sausage?"

Cole looked at the untouched sausage and shook his head. "No. I can't eat five of them."

"I'll have it," Lloyd said. Without waiting for an answer, he snatched it from Cole's plate and dropped the entirety of the thing down his throat like a bird.

Cole ate the last sausage of the first row, then picked at the second row's left piece. He put it in his mouth, chewed ten times, and swallowed.

Jay stood abruptly. "Cole," he said, reaching across the table and snatching the fork from his fingers. "Eat like a normal person. Please. You're driving me crazy."

Cole snatched the fork back and ate his fourth piece. "At least I'm eating," he said.

"You're not eating," Jay said. "You're filling your body with sustenance in an unhealthy, obsessive-compulsive way."

"Exactly," Cole said. "But I said it in one word instead of eleven."

Jay slumped in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

I shouldn't enjoy annoying him as much as I do, Cole thought smugly. He sipped at a glass of water that had been set before him, then decided he didn't like it. Next time he saw a servant he'd ask for coffee or wine. Preferable wine.

Kai walked into the room. His wet hair and disheveled clothing gave Cole the impression that he had just climbed haphazardly out of a bathing tub.

"Good morning," Lloyd said pleasantly. "Did you sleep well?" His tone suggested...well, did it need to be said?

"Hmm?" Kai looked at Lloyd, startled. "I- Oh, good morning, Lloyd. Yeah, I slept fine, thank you. Excuse me." He went for the door across the room.

"Hold on," Jay said. "What's the rush? Can't you sit down and talk for a bit? Haven't seen you since the banquet last night."

Kai offered a polite smile. "I'd love to," he said. "But Besai isn't feeling well. I was just on my way to get some herbs from the kitchen."

"All right," Jay said. "But be warned. Last night kinda...got around."

Kai stopped mid-stride, his full attention on them at last. "How?"

"A guard heard you two while he was making his rounds," Lloyd said. "So, what exactly-"

A voice down the hall Kai had just entered from cut Lloyd off. "Out of my way!" it snapped. Footsteps followed.

Cole leaned forward, then picked up the fifth and sixth pieces and ate them together. Chewed ten times. "Here comes trouble," he said.

Kai blanched.

"What is it?" Lloyd asked.

"Kaytake, of course," Cole said. "He's looking for a certain young man with bad hair and a record of kissing people he shouldn't be kissing. Usually without their permission, too."

"Ah, let me clarify," Jay said, looking nervous as well as concerned and fascinated. It was...well, fascinating to see all three emotions playing on his face at once. "Kai didn't kiss you. He gave you cardiopulmonary resuscitation."

"Same thing, just in three words instead of one."

"...It's only two words..."

"That's what I said. Hush. Here he comes."

Kaytake came storming through the door, an expression on his face similar to that of a wolf who'd just realized that his tail was on fire. His crazed eyes fixed on Kai. "You," he said, "my office. Now."

Kai swallowed. "Can it wait a few minutes? I have to get some herbs-"

"Absolutely not," Kaytake said. He turned to Cole. The fire spread to his hindquarters. "Come with me," he said.

"Can't I finish my breakfast?" Cole asked. He pinched his fork between two fingers and jabbed it at the air as if to underscore his words.

"Now, Sir Cole," Kaytake said. He pointed at his the floor in front of him.

What, does he think I'm a dog?

Cole made a show of sighing slowly and exasperatedly. "Yes Master," he said. "Might as well, since my cover's been blown."

The fire spread up the wolf's belly.

"If you want to avoid the full extent of my wrath, come now," Kaytake demanded.

Cole almost wanted to laugh. Kaytake thought he was scary? Try meeting Overlord sometime...

Kaytake turned to Jay and Lloyd, expression softening momentarily. "Blue Knight, My Prince. Continue with...whatever you were doing."

Cole grabbed his cane, then stood and fell into line beside Kai. "I just want to say before we die," he said. "It was an absolute pleasure knowing you. And I mean that in a very sarcastic way."