The Land Set Aflame

Chapter 5: The Dancing Flame

Svenden had to admit that he'd always found elementals fascinating: spirits clothed in a sheath of a natural element. Nothing about that seemed plausible or comprehensible to him. And yet, he'd seen enough elementals in the past month to know they were real. A living fire bounding across the land with human-like intentionality was truly a remarkable sight, as terrifying as it was.

But the thing on the stage was just an illusion, designed to look like an elemental, albeit an unnaturally human-like one, shamelessly adorned with feminine curves to engage and titillate an enthusiastically appreciative crowd. The same crowd that pointedly steered clear of fairy folk on the streets. No one was comfortable with fairy magic, unless it was some kind of performance.

For his part, Svenden preferred the streets to this place: the streets had fewer fairies, and fewer people to judge him. He rubbed his thumb against the wooden ring again, feeling oddly self-conscious about what it was hiding from everyone around him.

Magic.

He could scarcely bring himself to look at the dancing girl illusion. The hairs on his neck were prickling at the magic and the ember in his heart was sucking at his soul.

But Leofric applauded louder than anyone and leaned over towards Callyndia. "I picked the name for her," he was saying, "In the primordial language of the spirits, 'Kithana' means 'pretty' or 'sweet'."

Svenden exchanged a look with Callyndia, who smiled and applauded Melser's illusion. "Oh, is that what it means?" she asked Leofric while winking at Svenden, "How fascinating!"

Svenden sighed. "She's a fairy, Leofric," he said, "She speaks the language of the spirits better than you do."

"Oh, but it's a good name for her," Callyndia said quickly, "She's very pretty."

Melser seemed to have overheard her from his position on the stage. "I do the best I can," he said, bowing to Callyndia. Dark hair tumbled about his face, and there was a look in his beautiful eyes that made Svenden feel a little jealous, in spite of himself. "But had I known beforehand that a beauty such as yours would grace my tavern this evening, I might not have tried to compete."

"Oh, she's every bit as pretty as I am," Callyndia said, "Does she also dance?"

"'Does she dance?' the lady asks," Melser said to the crowd, "What do you all think? Should I have Kithana dance?"

The crowd erupted into cheers and applause.

"Well, my lady," Melser said, looking down at Callyndia again, "It seems we know what they think! So, let's see, shall we? Kithana! Will you dance for us?"

He gestured towards the flame shaped like a woman, who curtsied demurely as he backed away, off the stage, hooves clopping lightly. At another wave of his hands, the lamps around the room dimmed and a lute appeared in his hands. He strummed a series of soft arpeggios, and the illusory woman began swaying gently in time with his music.

As the music picked up, accompanied by an unseen ensemble of other stringed instruments, the 'Kithana' illusion gracefully and delicately executed a flawless series of slow, graceful dance steps that would have made any flesh-and-blood dancer envious. In the dim light of the tavern, she was a mesmerizing sight: her long hair trailing behind her in whirling tails of flame, her long skirt billowing and flapping like angel wings, and small, roiling blobs of flame trailing behind her as she moved elegantly to the next dance step.

Her face didn't show a lot of expression, though.

The music jumped into a faster pace, and the illusory dancing woman burst into an excitingly shapeless blaze that erupted like a fountain, then reformed into Kithana again, dancing and spinning vigorously across the stage.

Svenden had seen this show before: Leofric had dragged him along to see Melser's rehearsal a couple days ago. And while Leofric's enthusiasm for the dancing-girl illusion never seemed to fade, Svenden was feeling anxious and wary, assaulted on all sides as he was with wave after wave of fairy magic, inundating his senses and raising the hairs on his neck.

Like Leofric, Callyndia was apparently fascinated with the illusion, but her face, normally the habitat of warm smiles, was surprisingly measured and contemplative as she watched. She turned to make eye contact with Svenden, as if she had felt his eyes on her. He felt her fingers lightly caress his hand, causing him to jump ever so slightly in surprise.

Her voice echoed in his mind and tingled on the back of his neck: Relax, Sven, she said, though her lips didn't move, It's just illusion magic. It won't hurt you.

He quietly pulled his hand away from her and pretended to turn back to the illusory woman on the stage. Callyndia didn't try to speak in his mind again.

The performance wrapped up with a dramatic finale in which Kithana whirled into a maelstorm of flame before collapsing back into the little fireball and rolling off to the side. Melser stepped back onto the stage and let his final chords ring through the tavern before the lute vanished into thin air.

The gathered crowd loved the performance, and responded with wild applause and loud cheers. Melser waved his hands, transforming the fireball back into Kithana, and the two of them bowed to the audience.

"He's a remarkable magician!" Callyndia said to Leofric as she applauded, "What a wonderful performance!"

Svenden was just glad the magic was over.

Well, most of the magic, anyway. There was still a tiny, magical ember of nymph charm burning quietly in his heart.

At least that magic was quiet.

Sort of.

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Okay, at this point, I feel like Svenden's not coming off as very heroic anymore. I mean, Callyndia seems really nice, doesn't she? Maybe he should try to give her another chance.