Lucas had not expected much from dancing lessons. He’d never been much at parties, but it turned out that his limited repertoire of bumping and grinding combined with a few novelty moves like floss dancing and the sprinkler were less than useless, and only the aging bard that had been hired to teach him the convoluted steps to these horridly archaic dances were even the least bit amused by his clumsy moon walk.

The whole thing was made somehow worse by his borrowed monkey suit. He looked the part of a noble, finally, but the clothes were a poor fit, and itchy to boot. Still, he did his best not to completely embarrass himself and tried to emulate the steps as best he could while the old man pounded the hardwood floor of the now-empty dining room with his staff.

That was how he, Adin, Danaria, and her lady in waiting Elsbeth spent the next few hours as he learned the fine art of switching partners as they circled each other and clasped hands, or more often, never touched each other at all.

Adin breezed through it, showing real talent at something for the first time that Lucas had ever seen. He was a natural. He might be a blue-addicted weasel, but the man flowed smoothly, always on the beat and never missing a step. His sister was almost as good, though she was less sure of herself and prone to getting distracted by some of the more complicated partner changes.

She was more distracting too, and though Elsbeth was his partner most of the time, whenever they swapped, and Lucas ending up dancing with her for a few beats, he couldn't help but notice how much prettier she was when she smiled.

Elsbeth was pretty, too, of course, but she looked at him like the garbage he was whenever he screwed up, which meant she was scowling a lot more often than she was smiling. She put up with it, though, and with him, largely because she was now being paid double, along with the rest of the staff. She still probably wasn’t making a silver coin every week, but with Adin showing his face around the house so much, they’d decided it wouldn’t hurt to buy a little extra loyalty.

Lucas made progress, but it was hard-fought. When they finally stopped for a break, he thought that if he did this for another year or two, he might not embarrass himself entirely.

“Well, this was fun, guys, but I have to—” Lucas started to say, but the bard quickly corrected him.

“Oh, we’re not done yet,” the man snapped retrieving a small box from his bag and placing it on the window sill. “Now that you’ve gotten the basics of the footwork down, its time to start on the hand gestures, and all the other little details to be expected of someone in your position.”

“I kinda thought we were doing that already,” Lucas complained. “I don’t know if I can do much more complex than this.”

“Nonsense,” Adin said with a smile. “Look, it’s easy. You’ve already learned the line and the pivot just fine, but if a circle dance is called, or heaven help you a carol which is sort of like a circle, but with singing, then—”

“Then I’ll go outside for a smoke,” Lucas sighed. “I’ll just tell them all about my injury I got in the war or something.”

“You were injured?” Danaria asked sweetly. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Does it hurt?”

“It…It’s fine,” Lucas answered after taking a moment to make sure she wasn’t making fun of him. “I’m just saying, I don’t have to dance to chat people up at a fancy party.”

Adin looked like he was about to disagree, but they both stopped when the bard opened his little wooden box and began to channel mana to the smaller golden box inside of it. To Lucas in just looked like a gaudy gem encrusted music box, but then it started to glow.

“What the hell is that?” Lucas asked as he saw shapes begin to emanate from it, and at the same time, the music started up.

“This is no more than a trifle that was given to me by the Countess of Lastrasia,” the man said with a smile. “This was in my younger days, of course, when I still traveled widely. Her and I had… many fond memories, and this was just a bauble she gave me to mark her favor.”

Magical items weren’t exactly uncommon in Lordanian, and Lucas had seen a few before, but he’d never seen one quite so lovely, and he certainly wouldn’t call this a bauble. In a world where everything had to be played by real musicians, a boombox, even a magical one, struck him as one of the greatest things one could possibly own.

So, for a moment while the man explained what ridiculous dance they were going to do next and what he was supposed to do, Lucas tried to pay attention, but he found it hard the way that the small flock of ghostly musical instruments that twirled and danced as they played themselves. Aside from the beauties from the Red Lantern gang and Danaria, it was probably the most beautiful thing he’d seen in a long time. The magic of this world was, in his experience, rarely so delicate.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Still, he couldn’t just stand there and try not to gawk forever. Eventually, he was forced to participate and practice, not just the way that he had to spin around his partner and the way that she would, in turn, spin around him, but all the gestures and looks that went with it. As hard as all that was, the hardest part was trying not to roll his eyes. He’d never been much for clubbing, but he would have taken that any day because as beautiful as this music was, it was not exactly danceable as far as he was concerned.

Well, most of it wasn’t. He changed his mind when they finally switched from the group dances to the slow ones. Those, at least, were something he’d done before. Though he had to hold both women at a very slight remove rather than holding them tight to him like he might have done at Senior Prom, it was still always enjoyable to hold a pretty woman close to you. That was even true when they sometimes stepped on your foot, the way Danria did when they changed directions with their box step.

Still, after hours of dancing, the bard finally put away his instrument and said, “I’ll be back for our next engagement at the end of the week then.”

Lucas was irritated to see that Adin was paying the man four silver kings, but he had to admit that a man that could summon a magical orchestra on command was probably a pretty rare gift, and he said as much once he’d left and Lucas, along with Parin siblings adjourned to the front porch for tea while the dining room furniture was put back in place by the servants and the table was remade for dinner.

“I have to say, that music box of his was pretty crazy,” Lucas said, trying to make conversation. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“Well, that’s because you’ve been mixing with the trash at the bottom of society,” Adin said with a smile. “But little trifles like that are common enough, and there’s more than a few wild talents to wield them. I dare say that you could without too much of an issue if our dance instructor felt like teaching you the trick to it.”

“Wild talent?” he asked. He’d heard the term before, but he’d thought that it referred to a specific form of mage. “Nah, man, I just get these little screens that pop up and—”

“It’s different for everyone, of course,” Adin shrugged, brushing him off after he finished sipping his tea. “I wouldn’t know, of course. Sadly, I was born without such a gift, my dear sister, though…”

“Adin, stop,” she said, putting an end to that topic. “I’m not… you know I’m never going to use that power. It’s too horrible.”

“She’s a lover, not a fighter,” Adin said with a wink. “Sometimes people get talents that are unsuited for them, but most of the time, they go on to define a person’s life. The older and purer the bloodline, the stronger the talent, generally speaking.”

Lucas said nothing for a moment as he tried to figure out what was being hidden here. Adin wasn’t a great liar, but Lucas was fairly sure he was using his sister’s discomfort to hide something else. Was it possible that Adin had a talent as well, and he just didn’t want anyone to know it? Lucas made a note to circle back on that later, but for now, he focused on the task at hand.

“So, these are things nobles get normally?” Lucas asked, trying to learn more, “Because I’m not—”

“Anyone can end up with a talent,” Danaria said. “They’re uncommon, but not nearly as uncommon as being a proper mage. Why Mr. Hardeson, the blacksmith and even Mr. Twill the tailor have one.”

“Is that so?” Lucas asked. “And what is it they do?”

“Well, I don’t really understand the powers completely, but…” Danaria started to say before her brother cut her off.

“These things are kept pretty close to the vest, you understand,” the Viscount said with a smile, “But rumor has it that old man Hardeson used to be a mercenary before he hung up his sword, and he can boost his strength somehow. As to Mr. Twill, while I’ve seen him play little tricks for children. He can make his thread dance and needles fly when he desires. Quite a handy trick if you’ve got a huge backlog of dresses to make. ”

Lucas let the conversation drift on to other topics, but he made a mental note to talk to the tailor about how that worked exactly when he went back to pick up his clothes. Eventually, though, the call of his lab could be avoided no longer, and Lucas stood.

“Well, time to head back to the barn,” Lucas said finally, but Adin merely smirked and shook his head.

“I’m afraid we’re not going back to hang out with those dregs just yet,” Adin said. “Dancing was just the first lesson. Next, we have to work on your table manners, which means you and I are eating here at the manor until you can tell your salad fork from your dinner fork.”

Danaria smiled at that, which was just enough for Lucas to suppress the theatrical sigh he was going to make. It’s going to be a long night, he’d been about to complain, but instead, he just smiled so as not to ruin the moment. She was probably eating alone a lot these days, so there was no need to rain on her parade if she wanted to spend time with her brother. Besides, the food was probably better up here.