Elena was clearly restless, not that Scarlet could blame her - it was unnerving to be brought to the Planet's Weapon's home as part of Rowan's courtship, and Scarlet wasn't happy about the way his consort had left making these arrangements to Tseng. She'd made the arrangements for their visit to Rowan, but that was because Rowan hadn't found a consort, and she wasn't sure if it was a case of Sephiroth not feeling comfortable making arrangements for them, or a subtle insult.

"Scarlet, do you know if there's anywhere I can go to practise my mariatha?" This was something she could deal with, and Scarlet found Elena's clear uncertainty kind of cute - although she did wish Tseng had told them where they were allowed to go, or assigned them a slave to show them around.

"There should be somewhere we can adapt if we have to. I'll go and find out. Cathryn, Nadia, do you want to practise your mariatha as well?"

"Yes please."

"If that would be possible." Nadia had to be really bored then, she'd made sure Tseng had someone available to spend time with him throughout the time he was visiting Rowan, but he'd probably assumed they could entertain each other. A fair enough assumption, although she did wish they'd had a slave placed at their disposal for any errands or to give them directions if they needed or wanted to go anywhere during their visit. Scarlet shook herself mentally and walked out of the room, looking for someone she could ask for directions - it would probably be a bad idea to ask someone who was busy with something else, but if she had to then she would.

"Can I help you madam?" Scarlet wasn't sure who the woman who stopped her was, but she could tell that she was a warrior caste Cetra from the glow in her eyes, so probably one of the Planet's Weapon's guards, a conclusion reinforced by the axes at her hips. She certainly didn't have looks going for her, with muscles like a man's, breasts that were barely a handful, mousy brown hair, cut in a short mannish style, emphasising how much her face looked like a man's too.

"Are you always this polite to slaves? And yes, some of the other concubines want to practise their dancing, and there isn't room for it in our quarters." Scarlet knew that she shouldn't have asked that first question, but she'd been so shocked at being addressed as 'madam', with every indication of respect, that she'd answered the Cetra's courtesy with rudeness.

"You aren't here as a slave, you're here as one of Cloud's guests. And you're a concubine, concubines always have special privileges. I take it your fellow concubines want to practise a pretty active form of dance, one with a lot of jumping around?"

"Yes. It's called mariatha." She offered the name of the style as an apology of sorts for her earlier lack of manners, without expecting the way the other woman seemed to recognise it.

"The oak training hall should be available now. I can show you and your fellow concubines there if you'd like?"

"Yes please. Ah...I'm Scarlet, would you like to watch the practice?" She turned to return to the rooms Tseng had assigned them as she spoke, noting absently that the other woman almost automatically took up a protective stance as she walked beside Scarlet.

"If none of the dancers would mind. And I'm called Brangwen."

"They're used to having people watching them, even when they're just practising." Scarlet shrugged one shoulder and smiled at the guard. "But you can ask if they have any problems with it if you think it's necessary." And she did, although Scarlet wasn't sure whether or not her reference to Scarlet's invitation for her to watch was a subtle manipulation of the dancers, or a veiled rebuke to her. It didn't really make a difference - both would imply a level of subtlety she could respect, and it was no concern of Brangwen's how Rowan allowed Scarlet to run her harem.

The hall Brangwen took them to was empty, as she'd expected, and from the look on Elena's face it fitted the dancers' needs. A pity the seating was so limited, but she didn't say anything as she took a seat on one of the benches near the door, and Brangwen joined her without commenting.

Scarlet always enjoyed watching Elena dancing, but she felt obliged to pay as much attention to the others as to her lover, especially when Nadia went for a particularly spectacular leap she'd been having problems with. She managed to land safely, and Scarlet applauded briefly, calling out congratulations. Maybe she shouldn't have done that, because Cathryn lost her balance on her next spin, and Scarlet wasn't quite sure how Elena managed to not only avoid Cathryn's flailing hand, but catch her briefly, giving her enough support that she stood up unharmed afterwards.

"Wow! The dancer in amber is very good."

"Yes, and she's the youngest of our dancers. Gorgeous isn't she?" Even in the loose trousers and shirt that made up Elena's mariatha costumes you could see how slim she was, and she displayed her grace and athleticism in a way Scarlet could only envy. She was far too top-heavy to be a dancer of any sort, and she'd regretted that when she was younger, even though she wouldn't give up her large breasts for anything.

"I suppose so. But...she dances the mariatha as it was created, with energy and leashed aggression, not as part of the passionless show the other two are putting on." Scarlet didn't understand that comment, but then all she knew about mariatha dancing was that it looked beautiful and Elena had to spend a lot of time training for it.

"This isn't something they've rehearsed, or agreed beforehand. They're just each practising whatever moves they want to use." And if she could see that then Brangwen should be able to.

"Oh yes." Laughter filled Brangwen's voice as she responded dying away when she began discussing Elena. "I can see that it's nothing like a polished performance, but the one in amber is dancing around the other two, reacting to and anticipating their movements, and you can see how much she enjoys it. The other two ignore their surroundings to a large degree, expecting the floor they land on to be perfect, and that there's room for what they want to do, and their pleasure in the dance doesn't show."

"You have a point there." Nadia didn't like dancing the mariatha at all, and even Cathryn didn't love it the way Elena did. Scarlet was expecting a very pleasant session of lovemaking to follow this.