Olivia is hiding behind the curtain, peeking at the whispering crowd gathered in front of the stage.
"Ohh. What was I thinking? Agreeing to dance in front of these people? Sheesh. This is so embarrassing!" by the illumination of the lights placed at the sides of the stage, Olivia's eyes landed on Inigo, who's sitting in front. He's fidgeting in his seat and keeps looking down to avoid conversing and making eye-contact with his seat mates.
Just seeing her shy son makes Olivia's resolve stronger. "I can't let my stage-fright overcome me. I have to do this! I'm going to do this for you, Inigo." and she looks down at the unsheathed killer edge she holds. "For you, Lon'qu..." she blinks repeatedly to avoid spilling her tears. A sniff, then inhales and exhales. With a determined look, she passes through the curtain and stands on the stage.
When the crowd started to applause, Inigo knew Mother appears on stage. Quickly, he looks up. There's his mother, Olivia, blushing and smiling at the crowd. 'Mother looks so beautiful.' Inigo thought. 'But why she's having a sword? She said she's going to perform a surprise and special dance, not a swordplay.'
When the crowd stopped applauding, Olivia starts her address. "Good evening, everyone. Before I start my performance, I want to give my condolences... I understand your grief, your loss. Because I also lost someone I love, too." she looks down before looking at the crowd again. "But we need to continue living. To be strong." she smiles and wears a look of determination. "And I know they want us not to be sad anymore. And for them, we'll stay strong, and be happy!"
The crowd applauses, touched and pleased by what Olivia said. And Inigo, too, was moved of what his mother said. When the applause dies down, Olivia continues. "And this dance tonight, I dedicate it to all of us, to our lost loved ones." Olivia looks at Inigo with love before facing the crowd again. "To my husband, Lon'qu." she gives the musicians the signal to start playing.
When a strong and sharp beat of the drum sounded, Olivia promptly did a stance by putting her feet together, elbows raised sideways, sword held with two hands in front of her, the blade pointing upwards, and eyes are close. Another beat of the drum, Olivia promptly changes stance. Eyes still close, she moved the sword sideways, the sword's handle is near her cheek, blade now pointing towards the crowd, left leg moved forward, right knee bends sideways.
Olivia remains still as the soft beating of drums are accompanied with whistling flutes. When the music pauses, that's the time Olivia opens her eyes. And as the music becomes lively, Olivia moves in with the rhythm.
Olivia slashes the air, then turns her body as she balances on one leg, the other is raised and helps her to spin while her arms spread out, her right hand still holding the sword. After her first spin, she jumps and spins fast and before she ends, she holds the sword with both hands and did a vertical slash as she landed. Then she rolls forward, stands to twist and slashes the air. She repeats her twist and slashes the air before changing her moves.
The mesmerized crowd watches in awe as Olivia twirls the sword like a baton, tossing the sword and catching it by the handle in midair, swaying her hips and moving her arms and legs with grace. To Inigo, she's the most wonderful dancer and mother of the whole world. His admiring eyes follows her every move, seeing her genius and love when she combined swordplay and dancing.
Olivia continues to enchant the crowd with her dance. Twists and turns, spins and flips, expressive moves of limbs and fingers, sash flows along with her moves, and the sword she wields moves along with her dance in grace and deadliness.
To end her dance, Olivia jumps in the air and did another somersault. Like she is suspended in the air and her position is upside-down, she holds the sword close to her and spins fast like a top. Then she landed, her sash follows behind. And timely stands up gracefully, with her free hand down and the sword raised above her, when the music ends, and bows her head to the crowd.
The crowd and Inigo stands up, cheering and applauding Olivia's breath-taking and inspiring dance. The blushing and happy Olivia thanked everyone. Her smile widens when her eyes landed on Inigo. She goes downstage to meet Inigo. But that's also the time the crowd converges on her, thanking and telling her how wonderful her dance is. Olivia graciously thanks and gives encouragements to her well-wishers as she looks for Inigo. She saw Inigo and before she knows it, Inigo quickly runs and hugs her hips tight. Olivia bends her knees so that she could hug back Inigo.
Blushing, Inigo pleads. "Mother, can we go home now, please?"
Olivia hugs him and gives him a smile. "Okay."
Inigo smiles back before burrowing his face on her neck, trying to hide from the crowd.
"Inigo, I can't breathe. And you're too heavy for me to carry."
"Sorry, Mother." Inigo loosens his arms. "Can we go now, please?"
Olivia nodded. She stands up and grabs Inigo's hand, and tells everyone goodnight. Giving Olivia final praise, the crowd disperses to return to their homes.
...
"Mother, you're so beautiful and wonderful back there!" Inigo praises after they reached home. "And putting dancing and swordplay together, that was genius!"
Olivia blushes. "Thanks. I'm glad you liked it."
"No, Mother. I loved it! Did you make that dance for Father? Does it have a name? Will you teach me? When are you going to teach me?"
"Slow down, Inigo." Olivia said and chuckles. "I made the dance for you and Father. And of course, I'll teach it to you."
"Do you mean everything you said back there, too?"
"Hm? Oh, yes. I do... Lon'qu would never want us to be sad. He wants us to be happy and move on. And I want you to be brave and put a smile because not everyone can be happy, to move on. Just like what we're doing right now." replied Olivia as she gives Inigo a warm smile.
Inigo smiles back too. "Mother, do you have a name for it?"
"Name for it? You mean the dance? Well, no. But I'll think of a name for it. Hmm..."
"I know! I know! How about 'Blade Dance'? I think it's a good name. What do you say, Mother?"
" 'Blade Dance'... Yeah, it does sound good. Blade Dance it is. Very good, Inigo."
Inigo laughs then yawns. Olivia chuckles. "I think it's past your bedtime. C'mon, let's sleep."
"But I still want to learn..." sleepy Inigo said.
"Tomorrow in the afternoon, okay?"
"Okay."
Olivia leads Inigo to his room, tucks him in bed, and kisses his forehead. After greeting each other goodnight, Olivia gently closes the door and left.