STORY 6 - ZHURRICK WEEK, DAY 4 - DANCING

Watertribe dances are known all across the world. Varrick himself is an excellent dancer. Zhu Li, wanting to be a perfect assistant, tries to learn on her own. Until Varrick finds her out...

As a proud Watertribe man, Varrick was obviously a good dancer too. Some said that it was in their genes. Reality was that a great deal of events or celebrations in the Water Tribes had dancing in them, so learning them was close to mandatory and one would have time to practice.

Zhu Li wasn't born in a Water Tribe, nor did she grow up in one of them. As a result, she never learned their styles of dancing. However, working for Varrick would require knowledge in that area too, in case they had to dance. Zhu Li, being aware of that, procured herself with all the books dealing with the issue. She was going to learn.

She usually trained during the night, when Varrick was asleep... She went to bed later than Varrick and got up earlier than him, which could be judged as exhausting, if Zhu Li wasn't the machine that she was. Besides, she never required lots of sleep either. As for Varrick, he had the tendency to sleep quite a lot, so despite sleeping less than him, Zhu Li still had the needed rest.

And so she trained on her own.

One night, however, Varrick was taken out of his sleep by a strange dream. He dreamt of a spirit dancing on the water and when he woke up, he thought about how amazing it would be if we were able to take shots of movements, as we are able to do with still moments.

The obvious thing to do would be starting to work on it immediately. With a little bit of luck, Zhu Li would still be awake... Varrick walked down the hall to reach Zhu Li's room. Zhu Li was an extremely light sleeper, so she was probably already awaken by the sound of Varrick's footsteps in front of her door. Varrick was about to knock, when he heard some noise from the inside... He heard the sound of feet lightly sweeping the floor, followed by some more punctual kicks... All in rhythm, as if dancing. And something else...

"One... Two... Three... One... Two... Two... Three..."

Zhu Li was dancing! Zhu Li was counting dance steps! She was so focused on it that she didn't even notice that Varrick was in front of her door. He finally knocked on the door and Zhu Li opened.

"You were dancing!" he said with a huge grin on his face.

For a moment, Zhu Li seemed fiddling with her thoughts, as if she was embarrassed that he found out. After regaining composure, she still felt the need to justify herself:

"I was trying to learn," she said. "You are a Watertribe man and in case dancing is required during one of our meetings, I want to be prepared. I read several books on dancing and now I'm practicing."

"Alone?" he asked.

"Yes."

"May I come in?"

Zhu Li moved from the doorframe, which allowed Varrick in her room. He walked up to the open book on her counter.

"Hah!" he said. "Still images! You know what would have been more to learn dancing?"

"No, sir."

"Moving images! Moving pictures!"

"Those do not exist, sir," said Zhu Li.

"Not yet!" he smiled. "And until then, you need to see how a given move is done... In movement. With someone who could teach you!"

Zhu Li frowned slightly, wondering what Varrick was getting at.

"Zhu Li," said Varrick bowing, with his hand extended towards Zhu Li, "Allow me to be your dancing teacher."

The dancing lessons were every day, eight P.M. sharp. Varrick wasn't one to keep to the schedule or even to have a schedule of any sorts, but surprisingly, he was the one who insisted that they have these dancing lessons every day at a fixed hour. The idea of being Zhu Li's dancing teacher amused him so much that he seemed to be looking forward for their lessons every time. Just like Zhu Li, who made a considerable effort to contain her enthusiasm.

"First thing you must learn when it comes to Watertribe dances," started Varrick, "is to remember that the sequence of movements must be done in a fluid way."

He leaned towards her as to demonstrate with the opening moves of one of the basic dances. He did the first movement, extending his arms and opening them, drawing a semi-circle, and then executed three fast steps with his feet. Zhu Li knew this dance. She had read about it and memorized the sequence of moves. So she did the same as him, or so she thought.

The expression on Varrick's face told her the opposite.

"Zhu Li..." he started, confused. "Your moves are..."

She wanted him to say "perfect", but he went for something else.

"...military," he finished. "You're not supposed to be rigid when you dance. Here, let me show!"

He made a step towards Zhu Li, took her hand and made her spin. Then he led her towards him and made her slightly bend backwards.

"The moves must follow one another like waves of the sea," he explained. "Make them soft and liquid, elegant and graceful, pleasing, yet powerful."

Zhu Li was silent. Too silent even, the look in her eye strangely unfocused and her body tense.

"Oh..." said Varrick, straightening her up and relaxing his grip on her. "I see... You're not used to this sort of contact in dancing."

"No sir," she said. "Where I come from, dances are fast and full of energy, but they require little to no touching. I apologize for making the situation awkward. As soon as I get used to it, it will be easier."

Varrick kept silent for a while, but soon resumed his trademark Varrick smile and shouted.

"Don't apologize, there's nothing to be ashamed of! Nobody gets it right the first time! Plus, it's normal that a master-dancer such as me makes you intimidated!"

Varrick offered another pearly white grin and winked. Zhu Li remained stoic.

"But I'll take that into account," he said, more softly. "And we will take it slow from now on. We will first learn the single moves and then we will go for moves done in duo. In order to be able to execute them correctly, you need to trust your partner. But in order to trust your partner, you first need to be at ease with him and to trust yourself."

To this, Zhu Li finally smiled.

"Thank you sir," she said.

"You're welcome, Zhu Li," he screamed, overcome with the sort of joy that would be most confusing to everyone but himself.

"Shall we... Try again?" asked Zhu Li? "Now?"

"Of course!" said Varrick. "The training has only just begun!"

Zhu Li was a fast learner and soon enough, her skill could measure up to that of any Watertribe girl. Varrick proved to be an excellent teacher, having taught Zhu Li every single known dance.

Every dance, except one. The nuptial dance. The dance that Watertribe people learn for the day when they'll get married.

"I'm not Watertribe, sir," said Zhu Li when Varrick told her about that dance. "I've read about it, but... If I get married... Not being Watertribe myself I don't know if..."

"But you may marry a Watertribe man one day!" interrupted Varrick. "You better be prepared!"

Zhu Li's cheeks went red. She could feel it. Worse than that was the fact that Varrick noticed it, judging by his smirk.

"It's a bit hot in here, I should go open the window," said Zhu Li, trying to escape the embarrassing situation. She would be dancing the nuptial dance... With Varrick.

Zhu Li opened the window. The fresh air helped her get her ideas clear. Yes, indeed, she was going to be dancing the nuptial dance with Varrick. Good. Let the dream begin.

She walked back towards Varrick, making her moves as gracious as she could. They were ready to start dancing. So they took the initial position of the dance, facing one another and holding hands. At that moment, they didn't know that this was not the only time that they would get to do this dance and that next time, they won't be dancing it alone in a room, but in front of everyone to see.

A/N: For some reasons, it always seemed logical to me that people from the Watertribes would be good dancers and that dance would be a huge part of their culture. As for the moves, I imagined them being reminiscent of waterbending, but with more physical contact.

I've also explored this idea in another fic of mine "The Silver Tides", which is a multichapter fic, and one chapter features a dance scene between two waterbenders :)

Hope you liked it ^^