Chapter Fifteen
It was the thunder that woke her up in the middle of the night, the sounds crashing and echoing all around.
Nel shot up in bed, eyes wide with panic, until she realized it was only the storm. Forcing herself to calm down, she laid back in her bed, knowing it would be a little while before she could go back to sleep. It had always been that way for her. If she'd wake up in the middle of the night, it would be hours before she got back to being blissfully asleep.
A bright light flashed through her window, lighting up her room before another loud 'crash' of thunder followed a few seconds later.
The storm brought her mind back to the memory of the first night she met her fiance. They had talked about storms then. She wondered how he and the others were doing with this one now.
Nel tossed and turned for the better part of an hour before finally deciding to get up. If she couldn't sleep, she may as well do something. Throwing a robe on, the timid girl lit a candle and began making her way to the library. It was perhaps her favorite place in the castle, filled with tall shelves that were covered in books spanning decades of writing and countless authors, and now was as good a time as any to grab a few of those books and confirm some information for her encyclopedia.
The library was on the second floor and she didn't run into anyone on the stairs. However, turning the last corner into the corridor, she saw a figure standing at a window halfway between her and her goal.
Nel made to leave, not wanting to interrupt whoever it was, but they turned, catching sight of her.
"Aranel, I didn't expect to see you out here so late." the Emrikir's voice greeted her.
"T-The storm woke me," she whispered, the words echoing down the quiet halls.
"Ah, of course," he said understandingly before moving to the side, making space at the window, "Please, join me. We've barely talked to each other despite everything going on."
Nel blushed, fully aware that she was dressed in only a bed shift and robe, but moved to stand by him. Her candle light illuminated the immediate area, showing his own unlit candle. She reached forward, offering her own to light it, "M-May I ask what you're doing?"
He accepted her offer, the flame flickering over to his own candle in a few seconds. "The storm woke me as well. I haven't been in a thunderstorm since I was a child, so my curiosity got the better of me and I came to get a better view than my own room. What about yourself?"
"I-I was going to the library," she murmured, "I th-thought I would take the chance to grab some books. I've been busy lately and couldn't before now."
He nodded, turning back to the window, which she now noticed was cracked open a few inches. Nel watched, curious, as the Emrikir stuck his hand out there, letting the rain fall onto it.
"It smells different here." his voice was quiet.
"E-Excuse me?"
"The rain," he explained, "It smells different here than it does at home. I didn't know it could do that."
"I-I've never noticed."
Atanyan laughed, "You will, trust me. You won't forget your first rainstorm in the desert. There's no lightning, but it almost seems as if the world will flood, the water rushing through the wadis. It's like an entirely different place, completely transformed."
Nel was silent, thinking over his words thoughtfully before she asked, "Do you…like the desert?"
He also fell silent, thinking over his words almost like a parallel of her. Eventually he said, "It is my home. I don't know who I would be without Arrida. Do I wish that I had traveled more, seen more of the world, before I became Emrikir? I suppose so, but without the desert I wouldn't be me. I'd be…incomplete."
He turned to look at her, watching as Nel stared out the window at the raindrops, "Are you nervous? To move to Arrida?"
Nel bit her lip, trying not to sound too scared, "I-I think anyone would be nervous to move to a new country."
Atanyan smiled at her, "Very true. Not many would even be willing. And yet, you are."
Nel felt her cheeks heat up at the comment, "My country needs this. I have to be willing."
"And that's why you're doing this?" he asked, tilting his head a little, "Not your father or your king, but your country?"
"I-I-" Nel forced herself to take a deep breath, fighting the urge to rub her palm, "I'm like you. Araluen is to me, what Arrida is to you. I'm not a warrior or a diplomat. My skills are limited to tying bandages and drying herbs. This will probably be the only way I will ever be able to truly help my country, and that's all I want to do; help."
Atanyan's smile grew at her words, "Your father raised you well."
"Th-Thank you." she stammered out, hoping that the flickering light would help hide her blush.
A moment later he spoke up again, "I hope we spend some more time together. I'd hate to be strangers."
"Me too Your Excellence."
He waved his hand, "Please, just call me Atanyan. Unless there is some formal reason saying otherwise, my name will work just fine."
Nel smiled at him, "I will. Um…if you wanted to, you could call me Nel."
The Arridi leader bowed his head, "Goodnight then, Nel."
He made his way back to his rooms, and after a moment, she continued to the library, feeling much better about her pending move than she had before.
Selethen held back another wince as Nel trod on his foot for the umpteenth time that day.
"Sorry!" she cried, looking incredibly embarrassed.
It was a few days since they had last seen each other, when she'd helped Aloom, and Pauline had accosted them both, leading them to an empty room where they found Will awkwardly holding his mandola.
It took about 2 seconds for Nel to realize what the older lady had in mind and she immediately tried to protest, doing everything short of actually running out of the room, although she had greatly considered it.
"Oh no, don't even think about it," Pauline said sternly, "I know for a fact that your father never taught you how to dance so today you are learning! I won't have you tripping over your own feet on your wedding day!"
Nel grumbled to herself and wondered when exactly Pauline had been put completely in charge of the wedding. Surely as the bride she should get some say in all of this, right?
Selethen, for his part, had found the entire thing to be very amusing…for the first ten minutes. Being the ward of the Emrikir, he had had an abundance of teachers growing up, including one for dancing. Sure there were different styles of dancing, but it hadn't taken long for him to pick up on it.
Then Nel revealed what an uncoordinated klutz she was. It seemed she couldn't go 30 seconds without stepping on his feet, which made Pauline sigh and Nel apologize and Will to cringe at the sight. Now the Wakir was just trying not to hobble around in pain.
"Maybe instead of fighting the Temujai, we could just make them dance with Nellie," Will put in after seeing his pain.
Nel groaned, dropping her face in her hands and Pauline turned to glare at the young ranger.
He shrugged an apology, trying not to laugh.
Pauline sighed yet again and turned back to face the couple, "Nellie, I'm not asking for anything complicated, just a basic waltz box."
"I know, I know, I-I'm trying!" Nel protested.
She really was. Nel did fairly well when she could watch her feet and see where to put them. It was when she looked up, away from the floor, that she had issues.
"It's ok, let's try again," Pauline said softly, gesturing to Will to start playing again.
Selethen and Nel took their places again and listened as the courier began counting the beat, moving along to it as best they could.
"1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. Not, as, stiff," she said, placing the words to the beat, "There, you, go. Nice, and, easy. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2- Nel!"
"Sorry!" she cried again, quickly moving her foot off of Selethen's. She groaned to herself as he brushed off her apologies. That attempt had been going better than the last ones, right up until Nel messed up…again.
"I don't know why you aren't getting this!" Pauline huffed, "It's the same move over and over. You're stepping in the same spots!"
"I don't know!"
Pauline shook her head, "Let's take a break. I'll get us some coffee."
Nel watched her go, feeling guilty. It took a lot for Lady Pauline to get so annoyed she 'took a break'. Sharing a glance at Will, he only looked at her in sympathy.
"It's alright." Selethen tried to reassure her. "No one expected you to be perfect immediately."
Nel actually did let out a groan this time.
"Nel prefers getting it right the first time," Will called out, smiling.
"I'd settle for not getting it wrong 50 times," she muttered.
Selethen held out his hand, "Let's try again. You'll get it."
Nel gave him a look of full disbelief, knowing he was pitying her, but took his hand anyway.
Leading her back to the middle of the room, he said, "You need to relax. You're so focused on messing up that it's causing you to mess up. I've seen it happen dozens of times in sparring practices. Loosen up and let me lead. Trust me."
He nodded to Will and put his hand on her back again. He waited for Will's simple waltz beat to start again. When it did, Selethen began gently leading her through the motions. She kept her eyes fixed on where his shoulder met his neck for the next few minutes, desperately avoiding eye contact and focusing on the gentle pressure of his hand, telling her when to step forward or backward.
"Relax," he whispered, "You're doing fine."
With a start, she realized that he was right. This was the longest they had danced without her messing up! The steps suddenly didn't feel as difficult or tense. She looked up at him in shock and he smiled at her, "See? You can do it."
"H-How did-"
"You just need to relax."
Nel began blushing again, only now for an entirely different reason, suddenly acutely aware of every place he was touching her.
Will smirked as he watched them, changing the song from a simple waltz to 'Together Forever', Araluen's traditional first dance song.
Feeling emboldened by the song change, the tall Arridi led her into a gentle spin, keeping a steady grip on her as they pivoted together. Whereas before she had avoided eye contact, now Nel was having a very hard time not looking up at him.
Will continued to watch, musing to himself.
Horace was right, he decided. He needed to get ready for a brother-in-law. But, if the way Nellie looked at him right now was any indication, he'd be a good one.
The moment was ruined by Pauline coming back into the room, gasping in delight at the sight of them waltzing and nearly dropping the coffee.
Shocked out of whatever dance-induced stupor she had fallen into, Nel jerked, foot going right back on top of Selethen's. Her sudden movement caused their shoulders to collide as well, reducing their easy rhythm into nothing and almost toppling them to the ground. Selethen caught them, his quick reflexes the only thing stopping them from crashing to the floor while Nel squeaked out her hundredth apology for the day.
Lady Pauline though, tactfully ignored this, smiling brightly, "You can dance! Oh, this is wonderful!"
"Did you not see the giant crash just now?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
She waved off his comments, turning an appraising eye on the couple who were getting situated after colliding, "Exactly how did you do that?"
Nel opened her mouth to try to explain, but no words were coming out. She stared up at the taller woman, completely speechless. Selethen decided to answer.
"Just nervous, Lady Pauline. Once we relaxed, it was fine."
"Well then, I certainly hope neither of you get nervous at your reception." she said, "Let's practice again then."
Nel gulped, feeling the tension return.
"Actually, I do have an errand to run," Selethen said apologetically, "Perhaps we could pick this up tomorrow?"
Pauline nodded, "Of course, we understand."
He said his goodbyes to everyone before leaving.
Nel sighed in relief and took a drink of her coffee, but almost spit it back out when she heard Pauline's next words.
"Will, be a dear and find Gilan, would you? He's a fabulous dancer, I'm sure he wouldn't mind filling in."
Professor: Shorter chapter today, but the wedding is only a few chapters away, promise!