Sitting off to the side, snapping pictures with Mrs. Cormaci's camera, watching Gregor teach about a hundred kids the Hokey Pokey, Grace almost feels like everything is back to normal. This could be any birthday party. This could be any little boy's celebration.

It's a bit wild. That she had once thought of this place as just blood and war and nightmares for her children. Would she rather be up, whole and hale tucking her kids safely into bed? That is a question that does not even need answering. The Underland almost killed them. It almost killed her.

But it's a place too. The people are people. Not just soldiers, not just people wanting to make her boy some figurehead. They're people who are kind and who are good to her. They are friends. The kids are kids, beneath all the gearing up for war.

It's nice to find a bit of normalcy in this celebration.

Gregor appears beside her. The Underlander kids have already caught on to the Hokey Pokey, no longer needing him to teach them. "Thanks a lot, Mom," he says.

Grace smiles because oh, what a delight it is to hear him annoyed with her only because she embarrassed him in front of his friends. "My pleasure."

There is another dance, then. Luxa takes place in the middle of a circle of kids who spin about her. There's a song accompanying it. Grace blinks. Her brow twitches.

Catch the nibblers in a trap

See the nibblers spin and snap

Quiet while they take a nap

Something eerie about those words. Grace's first thought is of a trap snapping shut — mouse thrashing, clamped beneath metal, squeaking in alarm. But then, nursery rhymes do have a tendency to be strange.

The dance ends. Time goes on. Grace snaps as many pictures as possible. Kids playing. Hazard beaming as he holds his gift. Boots and Temp giggling side by side.

And then, there's another dance. One with partners.

Gregor is right in the middle of it. With Luxa.

Grace's lips curl upwards, but she tries not to smile too widely. Gregor can't know she's watching. She grasps the camera in her hands. Music plays, easy words that her son clumsily follows. She shakes her head. Two left feet, that boy. Got it from his father. But he's enraptured. She raises the camera. Oh, that smile on his face. How lucky she is to get to witness her little boy's first dance with a girl.

And then, four beats after the other pairs, he awkwardly lifts Luxa into the air and twirls her around.

SNAP

The picture pops out of the camera.

Yes; if there is one good day in the Underland, it is this one.