Chapter 4

Two-step

In the ballroom...

Gourry liked to dance, he hadn't gotten to dance much since he had left home so long ago, but he enjoyed it. Girls in his village had always asked Gourry to dance with them, and his grandmother had told him it was impolite to turn them down. Gourry had taken a more active interest in dancing when he had been told dancing was a good way to work on staying light on your feet, which helped improve your footwork as a swordsman. If there was one thing Gourry took seriously, aside from food, it would have to be his swordsmanship. After that he had gone from agreeing to dance with the bolder girls of the village, to asking girls to dance. His grandmother said it was a shame that shy young girls so often didn't get to dance, so Gourry obediently asked them. Gourry's grandmother would say "Isn't Mary a nice girl? It's a shame she's so shy, John will never notice her and she thinks the world of him." Gourry didn't have a clue why Mary thought John was the world, that sounded silly, but he asked Mary to dance. Mary proved to be a good dancer, and John proved jealous of her attention. He asked her for the next dance, and Gourry politely bowed out just like he'd been taught to. Gourry had wondered about it, but his grandmother said he'd done exactly the right thing. Gourry didn't think too much about it after that, his grandmother was always right about these things and besides he liked to make her happy.

So when Sylphiel had asked him to dance tonight, he'd said yes. Sylphiel was certainly a nice young girl, Gourry might have even thought she was shy, but either way he was sure his grandmother would have approved of him dancing with her. Sylphiel also happened to be very good looking, Gourry couldn't help but take glances at her chest and wish Lina's was like it. Thinking of Lina made Gourry slightly anxious, she'd been acting funny lately and he didn't know why. It had started the day that evil man had been pricking him with pins. Gourry really had thought it was a good idea that Lina wear a dress, she'd looked so different the time she'd worn one to pretend to get married that Gourry had lifted her skirt to check that it was really her. In fact it hadn't really reassured him because he could have sworn Lina's legs were neither as long or good looking as what he'd glimpsed beneath the skirt. That was, of course, before he felt the all encompassing pain of Lina's wrath, and that had reassured him. He'd never met a girl who could hit as hard as Lina. Lina had looked very pretty dressed up, he wondered why she had been so upset. Amelia had told him he shouldn't mention things like that to Lina, so he'd tried his best not to mention anything about dresses. Though since he hadn't seen Lina very much this week he didn't know if it had worked.

Then Sylphiel had shown up with these really great cookies, she was such a good cook. He smiled down at Sylphiel fondly, she was a nice girl. So different from Lina. He wondered where Lina was, he hadn't seen her for a while now. She'd looked really good in her dress, but he'd remembered what Amelia said and kept his mouth shut. Lina hadn't hit him, so he'd probably done well, and he was having fun dancing with Sylphiel. Still he wondered where Lina was, he thought about Lina often. Lina was important to him, and he wanted to make sure she was always safe. He knew she was powerful, but it didn't stop him from wanting to protect her. He had been a little worried that after he lost The Sword of Light Lina wouldn't want him around anymore. He knew that Lina was really a good person, but he'd been unable to help his fear. Giving the sword back to it's true owners was the right thing to do, but it hadn't made Gourry feel any better. When Lina had declared they had to go find him a new sword, Gourry had been relieved.

He and Sylphiel had been dancing for a long time now, and the band was starting a more formal song. All the songs up until now had been waltzes and country dances, but Gourry didn't know any court songs. He should probably say something before the dance started, girls got embarrassed if you did these kinds of things wrong.

"Sylphiel?"

"Yes Gourry-dear?" she said smiling up at him.

"I don't know this dance," he said smiling back, Sylphiel was always so cheerful.

"Ok Gourry-dear, I was getting a little tired anyway. Would you like to get some desert from the buffet?" Gourry beamed at the mention of food. "I'm a little thirsty too, let's get a table and eat together!" It was a bold move for Sylphiel, and she was blushing but Gourry just smiled back at her.

"Ok I'll go get some food, and a drink for you, why don't you find a table?" Gourry's grandmother would be proud of his politness.

Sylphiel's smile was brilliant, a much better smile than the shy grin she usually had. Gourry had just offered to get a drink for her, just like he was her date. Sylphiel nearly squealed in excitement. She carefully chose a table that was back from the dance floor, and near the buffet. She sat down and fiddled with her skirts. She couldn't help being nervous around Gourry, he was so wonderful and she hadn't seen him in so long. She'd come as soon as she got Amelia's invitation to the ball, waiting only long enough to pack and make some of her best cookies. Gourry was so gentlemanly, she knew that if she really wanted him she had to make the first move. She had thought about it, quite a bit in fact, and while she would gracefully bow out if he and Lina were together, she had decided to try and win Gourry's heart. It was hard for her to be so forward, but Gourry was worth it, he meant so much to her. Just then Gourry showed up with a mountain of dessert and the drink he had promised her. Sylphiel thanked him for her punch and watched as he attacked the cake and cookies.

Looking up from his food for a minute he smiled when he spotted Zelgadis heading towards a balcony, he'd have to remember to say hi to him later.