2024 Story Collection

The Wizard Starweaver & His Apprentice X

After dinner, Jane runs outside and begins humming, clapping and stomping her feet on stones. With her stomach full and the sky erupting in a beautiful array of colors making the transition from day to night, she couldn't help herself.

She notices a curious Abel follow after her and watch her from a distance.

She hits her heel on the stone and claps her hands in rhythm with the old tune her mother had taught her. It was an old folk song lost to most, but it was one of her favorites. She starts out by using her voice in a low, vibrating tone.

Her mother was from the cold north that used a singing technique with their throat that made it into its own instrument. She liked to add it into places it shouldn't be, her mom would say. Her mother had taught her everything.

She makes the beat stronger and louder as her voice crescendos, and then she stops. The whole forest seems to wait in complete silence for what was to come, as if excited by the new life within it.

Then she explodes into dance and song, clapping, and clicking her heals in perfect rhythm with the tune. She spun around and around. The old dance enhanced the flowing skirt she wore. Much like the women wore during the time when the dance was popular.

Her mother passed down to her all her clothes, most being in the style of that time, a few generations old. She'd never minded because of how beautiful they were. She wasn't much a fan of the skirts girls wore nowadays. They were too tight, no fun to dance in.

Abel smiles as he watches her. So much energy, joy, and excitement. It made him feel alive. He'd been alone for so much of his long, long life that he'd forgotten moments like this with others. It was the kind of thing that made him want to join her.

Not to mention the song choice. It had been a few hundred years since he heard this one. It was one of the few he'd cared to learn.

Then suddenly the beat changes and her voice stops. She spins to the side and reaches out a hand to Abel. This is the moment when the men would join the women for the dance. Abel had never been much of a dancer but Jane made him want to, so he joins in. Taking her hand.

And with the force of a strong summer wind, she pulls him into her arms and they spin. Quickly, he takes the lead and they clap and spin and stomp and sing together. Normally this song was done with a tambourine for the woman and symbol rings for the men that would add to the performance, but without them, it was not lacking.

He smiled at the young woman as they danced, unable to help it. She was different from the other students he'd had, mainly because she was female. The first female student, but more so because she was so unafraid of him. It usually took his students years to warm up to him and trust him, but here they were dancing this centuries old song under the stars.

He hasn't been this happy in a long time.

They sway, swing, spin, clapped and stomped in time with the song as she sings. He joins in again, singing the lower part as the pace speeds up and they dance faster.

The finally was drawing near.

He held her arms in a certain way and she hoped off the ground, putting her full trust in him as he spun her so fast that she looked like she was flying. He managed to keep in time and as the finally he stopped, pulled her into him and pushed away. Then they spun. One spin, a heel click and then they clap by hitting their palms against eachother. Then again, and again as fast as they could until they both collapse to the ground, exhausted.

They lay there for a while, panting.

"That was surprisingly fun," Abel says after catching his breath.

"Suprisingly?"

"I'm not much of a dancer," he tells her.

"I beg to differ," she giggles. "I've never had such a good dance partner."

For some reason, that makes him flush.

"How many partners have you had?" he asks, turning his head to look at her who lay beside him.

"Just a few," she says with a slight blush.

"I have a hard time believing that. You are one of the finest dancers I've had the pleasure of accompanying."

"Flattery with get you nowhere," she jokes, looking at him.

"How about bribery?" He asks with a smirk, "how does chocolate sound?"

"Can I bring some to my mom?" she asks. Ever the negotiator, he thought.

"I don't see why not," he replies, liking the idea. "Lets continue the dance there. I have a feeling your mother is a better dancer than I."

"It isn't even a competition," she jokes.

He gasps dramatically, placing a hand over his heart.

"So you lied to me earlier?" he asks, feigning hurt.

"Flattery may not work on me, but it seems to work just fine on you." She winks before getting up.

"I cannot believe this," he says as he watches her run up the stone steps to the cottage with a wide grin.

To be continued...

April 15, 2024